Page 111 of Keeping Sarah

“Oh.” I chuckled. “Well, I did not believe it to be my place to tell them.”

“Fine, fine.” She glanced around, fidgeting nervously and seemingly avoiding our gazes. “I can’t very well call you a chicken and not own up to…” She faced us, her expression vulnerable. “I have something to tell you both, as well.”

“What is it?” Jac asked.

A tremulous smile touched her lips. “According to Ode, I’m definitely pregnant. I…uh, hope you’re okay with that, because I’m scared out of my mind.”

Jac and I grinned at one another and immediately pulled Sarah into our embrace, both of us clearly elated with the news.

I kissed the top of her head. “I couldn’t be happier,” I said, and meant it.

She pulled back to glance up at Jac, who looked at her with pure adoration. “You areeverythingto us, Sarah.” Then he glanced at me, too. “Thank you both for giving me a family that is ours.”

We hugged Sarah again, and she melted against us, the moment emotional and heartfelt. A quiet celebration between the three of us, despite all the upheaval and potential uprising that still lay ahead.

None of that mattered as we basked in the joy of what the future held for us, and our child together.

EPILOGUE

Sarah

Deacon had kindly loaned us Drift as a pilot forAllegiantfor the journey to the temple. I smiled at my sisters in the café, as we flew over the forest to our destination. I had so much to tell them. So much to share.

I thought back to the chat I had with Deacon and Jac about this trip, and my smile widened when I thought about Deacon’s timid reaction to my sisters, which was adorable considering he was usually so confident.

When I had explained I wanted to take my sisters to the temple, he had suggested, “Perhaps it would be best for you to take them alone. Just you and your sisters. You have a lot to tell them, and I do not wish to distract them—"

“You’re skittish around them, aren’t you?” I asked him playfully.

He hesitated, then said, “Elizabeth is quite a serious person.”

I giggled at the uncertain look on his handsome face. “She scares you?”

“Scare is not the correct word, though it is not far off,” he admitted. “I want her to like me, but I am unsure how to go about it.”

Jac laughed at Deacon’s flustered attempt to figure out my oldest sister. “She does not warm up to strangers easily, right?”

“No,” I agreed. “And she is very protective of Jenny.”

“It will be a bonding experience for you three at the temple,” Deacon said, and brushed his lips lightly across mine. “Good luck. With…everything.”

Jac kissed me, too. “You can do this.”

He knew Deacon was not the only nervous one. I had much to tell my sisters about our paternity, and every thought of it made me wish I had an alternative. But I did not.

Now, as I looked at my sisters staring in awe out the window from where we were seated at a table in the cafe, I knew I couldn’t keep anything from them. Not anymore. No matter how tense I was about telling them the truth, it had to be discussed.

I cleared my throat and broke the quiet of the café with, “So, ghosts are real.”

Jenny laughed, but it died quickly when she realized I was not joking.

Elizabeth met my gaze from across the table, a haunted look in her own. “I am sorry, Sarah.”

Her apology surprised me. “What for?”

“All of this…if I had…” A thought seemed to traipse through her mind and stick there. “If I had been open to the idea of ghosts, then maybe Mom wouldn’t have put you in that institution.”

Yeah, that had definitely sucked, but I didn’t hold it against my sister. “How could that possibly be your fault, Liz?”

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