Free Brides and Betrayal (Reconciled and Redeemed Book 1) by Michelle Lynn Brown

meal came to mind.
    I must be going insane. Despite her evaluation of her mental status, she was mindful enough to know that she had played right into the devil’s hands. Just like my mother.
    The doctor came in, and after she told him her symptoms, he asked. “Have you been feeling moody lately?”
    Hunter coughed back a barely restrained chuckle, which caused the doctor to smile. “I’ll take that as a yes. When was your last cycle?”
    “Two weeks ago. It was very light.”
    The doctor just looked at her over his glasses, and she added. “I have been under a lot of stress.” Clearing her throat she added, “Stress always causes me to be a little late or have a light period.”
    “How light?”
    She stammered, “Just spotting, really.”
    “Any chance you could be pregnant?” The doctor asked.
    She blushed and looked at Hunter, searching his face to see if he was questioning her fidelity. Can you blame him? Her inner tormentor asked.
    Holly vehemently shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    While the doctor examined her, he spoke. “Still, I’d like to run some blood work. However, you don’t appear to be dehydrated and it is probably just a little stomach virus. In the meantime, keep drinking plenty of fluids, get some rest, and try not to worry too much.”
    On the way to have her blood drawn, Hunter smiled down at her. “Pregnant?”
    “No!” She cut him off, fairly screaming her denial. Lowering her voice, she added, “Besides, we take precautions, so, I don’t think...”
    “Still,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as they walked down the hall to the lab, “it would be nice.”
    Nice? Her mind screamed in denial. Anything that comes from me cannot be nice!
    But from the smirk on his face, she could see the idea thrilled him. She had never wanted to be a mom - not because she didn’t love kids, but because she didn’t love herself. How was she going to be able to love a little baby and teach that child how to love?
    As the laboratory tech drew her blood, she couldn’t miss the gleam in Hunter’s eye. “All done here,” the lab tech informed them as she stood. “Someone from the doctor’s office will call you with the results.”
    They rode the elevator down in silence. Hunter was still staring at her with a speculative gleam. She, on the other hand, just wanted to get out from under his persistent stare and the oppressive hand of guilt that felt like it was smothering her.
    “I’ll see you tonight.” She said as they stood next to their cars. She would have just slid in, but he wrapped his hands around the small of her back and kissed the tip of her nose. “No stressing, just in case.” The right side of his lips went up in a grin, and she touched his cheek here his dimple appeared
    “Hunter, I really don’t think I am pregnant. Besides, do you think we would make great parents...do you think I would be a good mom?”
    She asked it, but once she said it, she wasn’t sure she really wanted the answer.
    “Of course you will.” He brushed her hair back with his fingertip, trailing it down her cheek, and tipping her lips up for a kiss. “You are beautiful, inside and out. Our kids will be blessed to have a mother such as you.”
    Her heart crushed with his words. If only you knew...

Chapter Nine
    “W ow!” Anya said, “You look a mess!”
    “Thank you for that warm greeting.” Holly tried to smile at her friend, but she couldn’t.
    “You tell me now what is going on.” Anya’s thick accent made her sound brusque.
    With a weary sigh, she sank down into the maroon armchair in the dressing room area, and unburdened herself. The story was reluctant at first, with Holly only admitting small things, but the more she spoke, the more freedom she felt.
    “That was a doozy of a secret.” Anya finally said when Holly was done.
    “And now he is all excited because he thinks I am pregnant.” With a growl of frustration she rose from the seat and began helping pick