She couldn’t be mad at him of course. “Maggie knows, too,” she confessed. “For the same reason—she made an educated guess.”
Had any other members of her family reached the same conclusion? Her parents? Her aunt or uncle? She doubted that Mimi had, because her grandmother would never be able to keep quiet about it.
“Then it’s definitely time you tell your parents,” Andrew said. “Your dad’s going to give me enough evil-eye looks as it is.”
“Dad won’t blame you.”
“Dads always blame the guy,” he retorted. “Just wait a few years and see how I react to any guy who comes sniffing around our daughter.”
She bit her lower lip, trying to imagine what it would be like to share a teenage daughter with Andrew.
He cleared his throat, drawing her thoughts back to the present. “How, um, how do you think your family is going to react? Really?”
She’d been trying to predict that since she’d first realized in utter shock that she was pregnant. She’d known from the beginning that eventually she would have to tell them about that night in Dallas—after she’d told Andrew of course. She still didn’t know exactly how they would feel about it.
“I think they’ll be fine with it,” she answered him cautiously. “Everyone likes you. Maggie was certainly pleased when I confirmed her guess.”
“Are you prepared for the questions? About how we got together, I mean.”
Her cheeks warmed. “To an extent. They don’t need too many details of course.”
A quick flare of heat in his eyes made her suspect he was remembering a few of those details himself, but he moved on. “You know your grandparents—and maybe your parents, too—will ask if we plan to marry.”
She winced. He had just stated the very reason she’d been so resistant to telling her family. “Yes, probably. Especially Mimi.”
“Yeah, she was already trying to push us that way. She’ll be even more determined now.”
Hannah lifted her chin. “We’ll just have to tell her to butt out. I’ll try to be gentle about it, but if she persists, I’ll have to get firm with her.”
“And that’s all the answer you plan to give them?” He watched her face closely as he asked, making her wonder just where this was leading.
“I’ll make a general statement that we haven’t yet worked out the details, but that both of us want you to be an important part of our child’s life,” she said. “We still have so much to discuss, but the family needs to back off while we make our decisions.”
“Just so you know, I think marriage is one of the options we should consider.”
She felt her jaw start to drop, and quickly snapped it shut again. Surely he didn’t consider that a proposal. If so, it had to be the least romantic attempt ever! Not that she wanted him to go on one knee or anything, she quickly assured herself. More likely, he was just outlining all the options, feasible or not, in that ultraorganized and compulsively thorough manner of his.
She abruptly rose from the couch, having looked ahead just about all she could for the moment. “Maybe we should head on over. I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to give Mom a hand with dinner.”
He stood, sliding his phone into his pocket. She thought she saw him square his shoulders before he said, “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
* * *
Even though they were a few minutes early, the rest of the family—with the exception of Lori—had already gathered at the home of Hannah’s parents. Andrew noted that his entrance with Hannah was greeted in various ways—beaming approval from her grandmother, distracted welcome from her parents, barely veiled excitement from the younger members of the family who were in on the secret. A big brisket had been in the smoker all day to be served with roasted vegetables and yeast rolls. A carnivorous family, this, but then, most of his were, too. While he was generally just as happy with veggies, he had to admit the Texas mesquite-smoked meat smelled delicious.
Like the other two houses in the compound, this one had an open floor plan with bedrooms set off down a hallway on one side and few walls in the common living area. Kitchen, dining and living areas flowed together so that visiting was easier. A large-screen TV hung above a fireplace in one cozy corner formed by a sectional sofa and comfortable chairs; a game table and bookcases filled another corner. Framed photographs covered nearly every surface, mostly of Hannah and Maggie in various stages of growing up, but also quite a few of the rest of the extended family. There was plenty of seating for eating around a table with eight chairs and a quartz-topped bar with four tall stools with padded leather backrests. Because there were exactly twelve for dinner, Aaron, Shelby, Steven and Maggie claimed the barstools, leaving the table for everyone else.
“Is Lori not joining us?” Maggie asked as she helped set out silverware. “She and I had talked about taking a trail ride tomorrow. We haven’t done that in forever.”
“I haven’t heard from her,” Sarah complained. “She left this morning without a word to anyone. Your dad and I didn’t even see her leave. We were still getting ready for the day. Heaven only knows when she’ll be home.”
“I know one thing for certain,” C.J. said with a scowl, “she and I are going to be having a talk when she finally gets home. This running around at all hours, neglecting her responsibilities at home and work, not even giving us the courtesy of telling us when she’s going to be home has got to stop. We’ve been too lenient with her. We never would have let Steven or Shelby get away with this behavior—not that eit
her of them were ever so inconsiderate.”
“Dad, Lori is twenty years old,” Shelby pointed out. “You aren’t really putting her on a curfew, are you? Not unless you want her to move out.”
“We don’t want her to move out,” Sarah insisted with a hard look at her husband. “We’d just like to know when to expect her so we know when we should worry. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.”