Free Seaview Inn by Sherryl Woods Page A

they’d climbed the stairs, they’d kept a careful distance apart, pretending that the spark they’d both felt earlier had never happened.
    Now Hannah deliberately ignored her grandmother, grabbed the biggest mug she could find and filled it to the brim with strong, fragrant coffee. Only when she’d had several sips did she dare to meet Grandma Jenny’s expectant gaze.
    “Why didn’t you tell me about Luke staying here?” Hannah retorted, hoping to buy herself a couple of minutes,since she didn’t have any real answers about the whole lousy situation.
    “Don’t try that with me,” Grandma Jenny said. “I told you yesterday why Luke’s here. Now I want to know why my great-granddaughter has shown up here with a baby on the way. And don’t deny it. I’m not so old that I can’t recognize the symptoms.”
    “I wasn’t going to deny it,” Hannah said. “But to be honest, I haven’t asked her a lot of questions yet.”
    “I left the two of you alone last night precisely so you could talk.”
    “Never happened. She went to bed. Luke stayed.” She gave her grandmother a defiant look. “I asked him to.”
    “I see.”
    “I doubt it,” Hannah replied. “I was so thrown when Kelsey told me about the pregnancy the other night, I couldn’t think of anything to do except get her here so we could talk about it. Now that she’s here, I don’t know where to start.”
    “The father seems like a good place to me. Where’s he in all this?”
    Hannah shrugged. “Not a clue.”
    “Don’t you think maybe you should ask?”
    “I’ll get around to it. With Kelsey, it’s better to let things unfold at their own pace.”
    Her grandmother rolled her eyes. “Up to you, but I’d recommend you get answers before that child’s due date.”
    “Grandma Jenny?” Hannah was surprisingly hesitant. This whole disaster was so far beyond her ability to control or fix, she honestly didn’t know what to do next. “What on earth am I supposed to do?”
    To her surprise, her grandmother pulled a chair up next to her and took her hand. “You keep on doing justwhat you’re doing. You’re here for her. So am I. Together, we’ll figure out what comes next,” she said matter-of-factly. “To do that, though, we need to get all the cards on the table.”
    “You’re not upset that I told her to come?”
    “Don’t be silly. This is your home as much as it is mine,” her grandmother reminded her. For once it seemed as if she was merely stating a fact, not sending a pointed message. “And that makes it Kelsey’s home, too. Where else should she go when there’s a crisis?”
    “When she told me, all I could think about was convincing her to stay and finish college. I didn’t think for one second about how hard that would be or what would come later. She’ll have a baby to raise all on her own. She’s not ready for that.”
    “None of us are entirely ready for a baby, no matter what we like to think,” Grandma Jenny told her. “Before your mama came along, I read every book. Made your grandfather read ’em, too, but it didn’t do a lick of good. Every baby’s different and every cry seems like a crisis until you get to know your own child. Eventually you just settle in and handle whatever comes along. Kelsey will, too. She’s your daughter, isn’t she? I imagine she has enough organizational skills and strength to get through this, even if the baby’s father isn’t in the picture.”
    “Am I wrong to want her to finish her education, no matter what?”
    “Getting a good education is never wrong, but you won’t know if now’s the time for it until you sit down and really listen to her, will you? In the end, this has to be her decision.”
    “I suppose so.” Hannah leaned over and rested her head on her grandmother’s shoulder, taking comfort in the familiar rose scent of her cologne. “I love you, Gran. Iknow I came down here to bulldoze you into doing things my way, but I only did that because I