If the Ring Fits by Cindy Kirk

ready?”
    “That’s so nice of you, Travis.” Linda smiled at her husband. “Isn’t that sweet of him, Bob?”
    Mary Karen’s father nodded, but there was a curiosity in his eyes that told Travis the man sensed something more was going on here.
    “Are you sure?” Mary Karen asked as Travis headed to the door with her parents. “I mean you have to drive all the way home tonight then back over here in the morning. That’s a lot of driving.”
    Travis paused, his hand on the doorknob. He cocked his head. “Are you suggesting I spend the night?”
    Linda and Bob turned as one, their shocked gazes shifting from him to their daughter.
    “Absolutely not,” Mary Karen stammered.
    “Travis, I hardly think that would be appropriate—” Linda began.
    “I thought if Mary Karen was worried about time, I’d stay and sleep on the couch.” He smiled brightly. “But you’re right. Unless we’re married, spending the night wouldn’t be appropriate.”
    Mary Karen made a little choking sound, and he knew if he was close enough he’d have gotten another kick to the shins. But this was part of his plan. Her parents needed to begin thinking of them as a couple. That way they wouldn’t be so shocked when they heard he was already their son-in-law and the father of M.K.’s fourth child.

Chapter Eight
    M ary Karen caught the look of surprise on her sister-in-law’s face the second July walked into the church and saw Travis. Mary Karen wasn’t sure if it was seeing him in church when it wasn’t a holiday or seeing him sitting beside her. Moving over to make room for July and her brother, Mary Karen took Adam from David while he helped his wife get settled into the pew.
    Adam squirmed in her arms, reaching out for his cousins.
    “Let him go.” July pushed her hair back from her face, looking exhausted although the day was only beginning. “David will grab him if he gets out of control.”
    Travis, who sat on Mary Karen’s other side, lifted the boy from her arms. “I’ll watch him.”
    Adam blinked solemnly at Travis, until Travis made a face that caused the child to squeal with delight and spit up all over the front of his new white shirt.
    Travis glanced down. He opened his mouth then shut it.
    Mary Karen’s eyes widened.
    Her brother smiled, tossed Travis a cloth diaper and took back his son.
    “What’s with you two?” July whispered in her ear. “Are you together?”
    “No, no, no,” Mary Karen whispered back. “Absolutely not.”
    She rose to her feet for the opening hymn, while Travis remained sitting, scrubbing baby puke off the front of his expensive shirt.
    The fact that Travis didn’t complain told Mary Karen that he was up to something. If she had to hazard a guess she’d say he was trying to convince her that he wanted to be a family man. She knew better. She knew him.
    Mary Karen knew she probably should have called Travis’s cell after he left last night and told him not to bother coming this morning. Letting him attend church with her and the boys only gave him false hope that she would weaken and eventually give in. She couldn’t. Mary Karen had to look out for what was best for her boys.
    From the moment Connor and Caleb had made their appearance in this world, her children had become her priority. Their welfare always came first.
    She’d tried to make her marriage work. Her father had been such a big part of her life that she’d wanted the same for her sons. But when Steven had decided he wanted out, there had been no changing his mind. Before he left he’d confessed he never wanted to marry her. In fact, he said he’d been planning to break up with her the day she’d announced she was pregnant.
    Mary Karen clenched her teeth. So she hadn’t beenwhat he’d wanted. He hadn’t exactly been her Prince Charming, either. She shoved the bad memories aside and sang with extra fervor.
    The sermon followed the second hymn. Mary Karen caught sight of her parents sitting near the front with