Free Showers in Season by Beverly LaHaye

frightened people all around me, but I can’t quit thinking about you. For the sake of a nervous friend, come clean, okay?
    I’ll be saying a prayer for you, honey, because whatever’s wrong, God can fix it.
    Love ,
    Sylvia
    She hit “send,” then dropped her face into her hands and prayed once more for the safety of the people of León as this hurricane tore through their city, and for the spiritual protection of the families in Cedar Circle, where her heart longed to be.

C HAPTER Fourteen
    When Barry suggested they get a babysitter and go out to dinner, Tory hadn’t been very enthusiastic. She didn’t feel they had much to celebrate, especially since Barry had been brooding worse than she. But when he had taken it on himself to ask Cathy’s daughter Annie to baby-sit, Tory felt she had to go.
    She took special care with her looks that night, pulling her hair up and applying retouch to hide the red circles under her eyes. But she didn’t feel pretty. Her husband’s eyes were dull as he looked at her. They had been dull ever since that day they’d sat in Dr. Grent-well’s office and learned how their lives were about to change.
    They got to the restaurant and were seated at a quiet table, but still, he couldn’t seem to meet her eyes, couldn’t seem to muster a smile or reach for her hand. Her heart ached for the struggle he was having with the news of their child, and she began to wonder why he had wanted to come.
    Then she remembered Cathy’s story of the night her husband had asked for a divorce. She had known there were problems, hadeven suspected there was another woman, but he had consistently denied it. Then the night came when he had taken her out to a nice restaurant, had held her hand and danced with her. And then he had offered the punch line.
    Over candlelight and to the romantic piano music, he had asked for a divorce.
    Had Barry brought her here to drop some equally explosive bomb?
    They ate in silence, and finally, Tory reached for his hand across the table. His eyes met hers. “Why did you bring me here, Barry?” she asked. “Neither of us is really in the mood for this.”
    He set his fork down and leaned back in his chair, still holding her hand. “We have to talk, Tory.”
    “Okay. Let’s talk.”
    He swallowed and looked down at his food, as if drawing his words from the peas on his plate. “I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days,” he said.
    “So have I.”
    “I’ve been thinking about the things the doctor said. About the options.”
    She frowned, trying to chart where this was going. “There’s really only one option,” she said.
    Again, his gaze drifted away. He was having trouble looking at her. She let go of his hand and leaned forward on the table. “Barry?”
    Candlelight flickered between them, dancing on his face with wobbling uncertainty. He looked away, casting half of his face in shadow. “We have to talk about this,” he said again.
    “About what?” she asked. “The options? What do you mean? Giving the baby up for adoption? Institutionalizing her? Abortion?”
    His mouth trembled as he tried to hold back his emotions. “I’ve been through it all,” he said. “I’ve turned it all over in my mind, and I’ve thought a lot about Nathan.”
    She had known his brother would play into this somehow, so she wasn’t surprised. “I knew you’d be thinking about Nathan. And you’re right to. I guess it’s a situation that’s real similar.”
    “I look back sometimes and I wonder what would have been different about my family—would it have worked better, would I have been a healthier human being, would things have been different, if Nathan had never been born?”
    She wanted to deny that, to tell him to stop thinking it, that Nathan had been born and there was no point in thinking such things, but she wanted him to talk, so she stayed quiet and listened.
    “His life is one of imprisonment,” he said. “He was born in a prison and he’s in a