Page 60 of Not the Bodyguard's Widow
The pastor gave Kimberly’s baby bump a significant look. “It looks like you’ve had other things on your mind.”
Kimberly placed a protective hand on her belly. “Yes, among other things. Do you have a moment we could talk in private?” The question surprised her as much as it seemed to surprise Alex, who dropped his hand from her back.
“In my office.”
Kimberly looked at Alex before answering. His face remained passive. Since it wasn’t a no, Kimberly said, “Yes, please.”
The pastor led the way to the small office at the end of another hallway. Alex and Elle remained outside. Pastor Baxter showed Kimberly a seat. “I see you have a new set of bodyguards. Much nicer than your old ones. Oh, before I forget—here is the key to the storage unit I moved your mother’s worldly belongings to.”
Kimberly took the key, and the pastor sat down on his side of the desk. “What is troubling you?”
“I’m married.”
“Well, technically not anymore. Jeremy is dead.”
“No, I married Alex Hastings four weeks ago under false pretenses, and I don’t know what to do.”
“If there is fraud, you can annul it.”
“That is part of the problem. Even though neither of us thought about it at the time, we got married so I would have insurance and could get an ultrasound to make sure the baby was safe. And that is insurance fraud.”
“Oh, fraud is a complication. I suppose as well as an annulment you would need to pay a fine or something.”
“What if that something is jail? I don’t want to lose my baby.”
The pastor leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his nose. “Definitely a problem.”
They sat in silence for a moment.
Pastor Baxter opened his bible. “Have you ever considered Adam and Eve?”
“I have.”
“Did you realize they were the first arranged marriage?”
Kimberly thought about it for a moment. “I’ve never thought about them as an arranged marriage.”
“For thousands of years, people have arranged millions of marriages among all cultures of the world. The two of you might not have married for the traditional reasons, but if you choose to work on your marriage as Adam and Eve must have, the insurance fraud goes away, doesn’t it?”
“But what if it doesn’t work out? I can’t live in another failing marriage like I did with Jeremy.”
“How hard did you try to make the marriage with Jeremy work? And I’m not talking the last few months before his death. I am referring to day one, day two, and so forth. How much effort did you put into your relationship?”
Kimberly squirmed in her seat. “Not very much.”
“The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Adam and Eve, but they didn’t have very many options. Who else could they have married? Divorce hadn’t been invented. I am sure they had rough times. Eve burned the stew, and Adam brought home a pheasant hardly big enough to feed themselves, let alone the boys who had been fighting all day as only Cain and Abel could. Yet they made it work. So you didn’t marry Alex under ideal circumstances. What do you know of him? Does he treat you with respect?”
Kimberly nodded.
“Could he be a good father to your child?”
Again, she nodded.
“Do you respect him?”
“Yes.”
“I saw him in Bible study with you. He seemed to know his way around the scriptures. You both share your faith. You can build on that and learn to pray together. It may be cliché, but in my years here, I have found that couples who pray together stay together.”
