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She pro her hair done in town, again Or if she did anything, she would go see Morgan She doubted he would bother her with a lot of personal questions

Asking about Josh was one thing, but hinting she , she thought Just because everyone knew Josh didn’t ht to butt into his personal life There were rules in polite society Expectations and--

"Here you go," Julia said and turned the chair

Charity was prepared to si anyht of herself in the mirror, she couldn’tplain brown hair was now rich and shiny There were hints of gold and a tiny whisper of red threaded through the strands But evenwas the cut

Julia had shortened her hair to just below her jaw, then blown it under in a perfect bob Feathered bangs e When she moved her head, her hair swayed, then fell perfectly into place It was the best cut she’d ever received in her life

"It’s perfect," she breathed "I love it"

"Good Do you have a big round brush?"

Charity nodded her head, mostly to watch her hair ht, explained what products worked best and how to use them Charity listened carefully, then paid her bill and left a large tip The fact that everyone in the salon would talk about her after she was gone didn’t bother her one bit Not when her hair looked so good

She walked back toward the hotel, catching her reflection every now and then and san’s bookstore, the old ood, pretty lady"

She laughed "Thank you"

"Hope Josh knows he’s a lucky man"

"I’ll tell hi fabulous, she could think about the conversation in the salon and tell herself no oneJosh was i hiotten out of hand with the whole pregnancy topic That wasn’t a subject to kid about Talk about a disaster An unplanned pregnancy would…

Charity stopped in front of the hotel and stared at the beautiful old building But instead of seeing the i s, she stared at the mental calendar in her head and tried to do the math Exactly how many days had it been since her last period?

She hurried inside, calling distracted greetings when the staff welcomed her When she reached the third floor, she ran to her room, raced inside and closed the door behind her Her date book was on the desk by the wall She flipped back until she found the day with a little daisy by the date--her private notation of her period’s arrival--then counted forward

As the numbers ot the same nuht was to rush to the nearest drugstore, buy a test and find out Then she thought of all the people ould see her and how the information would be spread from one end of town to the other in a matter of minutes Which meant what? That she had to drive to the next town?

She was halfway across the roonancy test Josh had bought when Enant with his baby He’d handed the kit to Charity who had brought it to her room and put it where?

It took twoto find it, another few seconds to get in the bathroo until she could know one way or the other

She stared at the two straight lines, then at the chart in the instructions

She was pregnant

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHARITY STARED AT THE stick for a long time, then carefully wrapped it in tissue and put it in her pocket She would have to get rid of it somewhere other than her room Because the maid would probably tell the entire tohat it said

After circling the room several times, Charity realized she couldn’t stay here Not with herand her hands shaking Maybe walking soht now a destination seehly overrated

Once she reached the street, she moved purposefully, which o back to the office, but wasn’t sure what she would do there After turning down a couple of streets, she found herself in front of Marsha’s house Maybe this was the best place to start

She walked up to the porch The front door opened before she could knock

"Look at your hair," Marsha said, sotten about her sassy new style "Julia did it"

"It suits you The highlights are great You look even more beautiful than you did before"

"Thanks" Charity walked in

Marsha closed the door "This is a nice surprise I was just thinking about what I wanted for dinner Would you like to join elo’s I do love the bread" She patted her hips "Even though I shouldn’t"

Charity drew in a breath "I’nant"

She hadn’t meant to say that, exactly, but now that she had, there was no going back

Marsha’s eyes widened and her nant?" she whispered