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But would they tell him any more than they already had?

Thor made it seem like the conversation ended because everyone else waited on them to start eating dinner, but was that the whole truth?

With a sigh, he pressed a hidden button on the wall. The heavy curtains closed, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. If there had been more to tell, more theycouldtell, they likely would have said something about talking more later.

Instead, he went to the bathroom and changed into a pair of pajama pants and an old t-shirt he’d left in the room when he’d stayed there some time in the past.

A few minutes later, he laid his head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling in the dark.

Bekah’s quiet breathing told him she’d already fallen asleep.

But he had to clench the sheet in his fists to keep from doing something he’d never really wanted to before.

His willpower was the only thing that kept him from rolling over and wrapping an arm around Bekah as they slept.

With a sigh, Josiah rolled onto his side, facing away from Bekah and the now darkened wall of windows. Maybe someday.

He just found himself hoping someday soon.

* * *

Two days after they arrived,Bekah found herself saying goodbye to her parents. They gave her big hugs and promised they’d be back before long. They were headed to Trumanville for a few weeks to take care of some things with work and other stuff. She wasn’t quite sure what their plan was. They were fairly vague about it.

Maybe they were going to wrap everything up in Trumanville and move back to Øyanord now that Ginny - no, Regina - had taken her rightful place as the Crown Princess. Their jobs as her guardians were complete.

Meantime, she and Josiah needed to decide if they were going to stay at the lake or return to Akushla. Bekah wasn’t sure what her preference would be.

If they returned to Akushla, her pregnancy wouldn’t remain a secret very long. She’d had trouble buttoning another pair of pants, ones that had been a little too big before.

With a sigh, she flopped back on the bed, her eyes closed.

“Everything all right?”

She felt Josiah sit near her.

“Just trying to decide if I want to stay here or go back to Akushla when none of my clothes fit. I’d have to get bigger clothes or maternity clothes, and there would be no hiding it the next time we were in public. I could just stay here or stay in the palace and never go out, but that would drive me crazy.”

“Then we go shopping or you and Gen go shopping or one of the palace stylists goes shopping for you and brings it all back for you to choose from. Then we go out to dinner and just let everyone say what they will. We’ll have the PR office put out a press release telling a slimmed down version of the truth. You were pregnant when you were widowed. In Athmetis, we realized we wanted to get married - no mention of why. I’ll be the legal father of this baby from the beginning, and that’s all that matters.”

“Is that what it’ll say?” She turned her head enough to see him.

“If we want it to. Or we don’t say anything. The downside to that is then the media and everyone else makes up their own story until and unless we do decide to tell it.” He looked down at her, and Bekah could see the compassion on his face. “I’ll back whatever you want to do. Just say the word.”

She turned her options over in her head. “I think I want to go back to Akushla. Probably have someone shop for me. I don’t want to go out and shop. I don’t particularly like to in the first place, but especially not given everything else at the moment.” Blowing out a breath, she made sure her shirt was pulled down then rolled to the side. “And dinner sounds nice.”

He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her forehead. “Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll let them know to make arrangements.”

Bekah had no idea who “they” were, but at least she didn’t have to take care of planning anything.

Josiah opened the door and stopped, looking at her over his shoulder. “You’re welcome to borrow any of my clothes if you’d like. I left a pair of joggers I decided not to wear in the closet, and I’m sure there’s a t-shirt, too.” With that, he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Joggers? It took most of her energy and uncooperative stomach muscles to sit up. Standing proved to be easier. In the closet, she found a pair of sweat pants lying over the chair in there. She’d never had a closet big enough for furniture.

Was that what he meant by joggers? She slipped off the pajama pants she was wearing and put the joggers on. She breathed a sigh of relief as they turned out to be much more comfortable. But it meant her shirt was too nice, so she pulled one of Josiah’s t-shirts out of the drawer. It was comfortably big on her. Very nice. She could get used to this.

Before long, they were in an SUV headed back to Akushla. Bekah found herself grateful for the neck pillow Josiah had given her. She didn’t know if it was his or someone else’s, but it made it easier for her to doze off.

Josiah seemed to be doing work of some sort in the front passenger seat, though she didn’t know what.