Page 12 of Upon an April Night

Shannon said nothing else. She hugged her, said she loved her, and went on her way.

Jamie stared at the closed door for a while after Shannon left. Her mind jumped from one option to another and back again, and she became more confused than before. The walls felt as if they were closing in on her, and she couldn’t handle any of it. She wanted out of there. She needed time away to think. And she knew exactly where she needed to go. She had no weddings to photograph until mid-July. She could do this.

Gathering her camera equipment, she opened her case and fished out the memory cards she’d used to help Shannon photograph the wedding rehearsal on Friday. She walked into the kitchen and pulled an envelope, paper, and a pen from the drawer and wrote Shannon a note.

I’m sorry I have to leave like this. I need time to decide.

Please, don’t tell Duncan.

- J

She tucked the note and memory cards into the envelope, scribbled Shannon’s name on the outside, and laid it on the end of the counter. If she didn’t call Shannon in the next day or two, Jamie knew she’d be on her doorstep, and hopefully she’d use the emergency spare key to let herself in and find the envelope.

Shannon would probably freak out and see it as running away, but Jamie couldn’t stay in the same town as Duncan and Dréa. And if she was going to terminate this pregnancy, she couldn’t do it there, after everything Shannon had said to her. At least if she did it elsewhere, it wouldn’t feel like Shannon was breathing down her neck.

It was her choice. But was it the right one?

Chapter 6

Though the family had been asking question after question for an hour, Dréa took it all in stride, calmly answering and showing a genuine interest in their lives too. But Duncan felt the opposite, and he couldn’t seem to shake it.

“Tell us how you met,” Mama said.

“And about the engagement,” Nana added. Deep wrinkles formed around her eyes as she smiled.

Dréa’s face lit up. “My brother introduced us, at church. We got along right away, and I asked him out that same day.” She glanced over at Duncan.

“You asked him out?” Nana asked. “How progressive of you.”

“I’ve never been shy about going after what I want,” she replied. “Anyway, we started spending a lot of time together, and one of our favorite things to do was go hiking. Last week, he took me back to the very first trail we ever hiked together. We were standing in the most beautiful place, next to this gorgeous lake, blue skies, sunshine. It was perfect. And next thing I know, he’s down on one knee, holding a ring, asking me to marry him.”

The ladies all gave a collective sigh.

“What do you do for a living, Dréa?” Papa asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Duncan spotted Shannon walking across the yard. He watched her stop behind Papa and lay her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m an on-air radio personality,” Dréa explained. “I’m on a morning show with another DJ on a Christian music channel.”

“Like Delilah?” Nana asked.

They all laughed.

“Not really,” Dréa answered. “I don’t have my own show or the kind of following she has. Maybe someday.”

Duncan could feel Shannon’s stare, and when he finally made eye contact with her, she tilted her head toward the house. He patted Dréa on the knee as he stood and followed Shannon into the house.

In the kitchen, Duncan reached into the cookie tin and snatched one of Nana’s chocolate chip cookies, taking a big bite.

“You slept with her?”

Shannon’s question caught him by surprise, and his throat suddenly closed up as a chunk of cookie became lodged there. He coughed a few times, and Shannon barely patted his back to help before it broke free and allowed him to breathe again.

“How could you do that and then get engaged to someone else in two months’ time?”

He gave one more cough as his head fell forward in shame. “She told you.”

“Of course she told me. She’s heartbroken, Duncan. How did you think she would feel?”

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