Claiming Hannah (Bear Creek, Texas)

Ben stayed silent as if not knowing how to respond. Hannah was throwing too many questions at him at once and he couldn’t think.

Hannah hung up the phone before he could come up with more excuses and cried herself to sleep. At least she had her baby to love and a supportive family who would stand by her. She’d have to be satisfied with that.

* * * *

She met with Grace at Flo’s Cafe the next day after work, feeling tired, and her head was killing her. All she wanted to do was go home and fall into bed but she had promised Grace to look at some dresses in a catalog. She didn’t want to dampen Grace’s enthusiasm for her upcoming wedding.

When she walked into the diner, Grace was busy so she sat at a booth by the window and enjoyed a quiet moment. Why did she feel like everyone was staring at her? Was she imagining things?

Finally Grace took a break and came and sat down with Hannah and handed her a dress catalog. “Thanks for helping me, Hannah. I really appreciate you doing this. Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m fine. I want to keep busy, Grace. It helps me not brood,” Hannah replied, trying to smile but it was too hard. She leaned across the table toward Grace and whispered, “Why do I feel like there are a hundred eyes on me? Is it because of my breakup with Ben?”

Grace frowned and turned to glare at a table behind them where two women sat staring at them and whispering to each other. When they saw Grace’s angry face they looked down at their plates with sudden interest.

“Those two are Dorothy’s friends. Lisa and Jane said they heard them telling people you were lying about being pregnant and Ben found out and dumped you.”

Hannah sighed, wishing she could just go and confront Dorothy herself. But she knew Dorothy would run to Ben with an exaggerated tale and Ben would believe her. “I bet I can guess who started the whole rumor thing. I’m so fed up with Dorothy. I’m tempted to go and give her a piece of my mind, but I’m not stooping to her level.”

Grace grabbed Hannah’s hand, hating the bad deal Hannah was getting from not only Ben but the gossipers of the town, too. “I can go and accidentally spill coffee on them. Flo won’t fire me.”

Hannah laughed and said loudly, “That’s okay. Their opinion doesn’t really matter to me. I have my family and Richard and Amy on my side.”

Sammie came up to the table with a smile. “And me, too. I hope you think of me as your friend, Hannah. I have only been living here in Bear Creek a short time. You are one of the few people besides Grace and Lisa who have actually treated me normally. I usually get a polite but you’re not one of us smile out of people when I try to make friends.”

Hannah stood up and hugged Sammie, feeling bad that she hadn’t seen how lonely the young woman was. “Of course you’re my friend, Sammie. Who cares what people think of us? Some people are so bored with their own boring-as-hell lives that they have to talk about other people. Now that’s what I call pathetic.”

Several people, including Dorothy’s friends, all had the grace to look down in shame as Hannah’s loud voice carried over the restaurant. All of a sudden everyone was interested in their lunches and no longer paid attention to Hannah.

Chapter Eleven

Hannah, Grace, Amy, and Sammie piled up in Hannah’s truck and drove it down to the creek. They planned on having a girl’s night of fun. Since Hannah was pregnant, she offered to be the designated driver for the night. She didn’t need to drink to have fun, but she desperately wanted to forget her painful fight with Ben and the awful rumors circulating around town about her fake pregnancy.

Hannah parked by the water. The night was still hot and being near the water would help make the breeze feel cooler. She turned her radio on to her favorite country station and Luke Bryan’s song, “Crash My Party,” came on.

Sammie smiled as she took the ice cooler out of the back of the truck with Amy’s help. She opened it up and grabbed a beer. “I love this song. Let’s dance, girls.”

The four of them laughed and started dancing to the song and laughing at their silly moves. They would probably never be professional dancers, but they were enjoying themselves and that’s what this night was all about. Friends hanging out and having a good time.

Hannah opted to sit down on one of the several bales of hay she had asked one of the ranch hands to place out there earlier. She opened her bottle of Sprite and took a long, soothing drink. She was sweaty but she felt energized. She took off her short-sleeved shirt, leaving her in a tight pink tank top. Grace and Amy stood on her tailgate, still dancing and laughing. Sammie sat next to Hannah. “Feeling okay?”

Hannah smiled and looked up at the bright full moon in the sky and took in a deep breath of fresh country air. “Yeah, I feel good. Thanks for being such a good friend, Sammie. I needed this.”

Sammie took a little sip of her beer and for a brief moment she looked very sad but then she smiled at Hannah. “I’ve had my heart broken before. I know it hurts, but time really does help and keeping busy. Look at Gracie up there, dancing as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She told me her story and I was blown away by her courage to find love again. I’ve had my heart broken and that was enough to make me hide emotionally for a long time because I was too scared to try again.”

Hannah looked over at her future sister-in-law, who was shaking her butt to the music and giggling with Amy like a schoolgirl. A few months ago she had been shy and quiet with eyes filled with nothing but sadness and fear but a second chance at love had changed everything for her.

“She is one brave soul,” Hannah admitted, wishing she could be that brave, too. Instead of standing up to Ben like she usually would, she had avoided his phone calls. She was scared to mess things up to the point that they were unfixable, or worse, that Ben would just give up on them and move on with Dorothy. No way wou

ld she ever share her child with that woman. She loved Ben but he had hurt her deeply by not having faith in her. Didn’t he know she would never purposely accuse someone of awful things out of jealousy?

“Amy told us how Ben reacted at the shelter. It makes me want to kick his ass for being so stupid, but at the same time, I do think he loves you. I’ve seen the sappy look on his face whenever your name is mentioned by someone. I waited on him once a few months ago and you walked by the window of the café and didn’t notice him. I saw such longing on his face as he stared at you walking by that I almost cried.”

“I know he loves me, Sammie. I love him, too. Love is not our problem,” Hannah admitted, feeling that familiar ache in her heart when she heard Ben’s name. She was afraid it would never go away. “If he can’t trust me when I say I feel someone is threatening me, how can I ever feel safe with him? How can I trust him to protect me and our child? Sometimes love doesn’t fix all our problems.”

Sammie patted Hannah’s hand in understanding and nodded. “You’re right. Okay, this is our first girls’ night, so let’s get up and shake our groove thing and not think of any stupid men. We’d be here all night crying our eyes out if we did that.”

Hannah laughed and went to join Grace and Amy dancing to “Drunk On You,” by Luke Bryant. They sang out loud with the song in off-key but happy voices.