"Aye, I heard," she said softly. She shook her head briefly. Then the woman was explaining the situation. Then the words registered about the child and her hands instinctively touched the taut roundness of her belly. She closed her eyes against tears for a man she didn't even know. How horrible that was. Her own problems seemed less significant than his.

She sighed a shuddering sigh and couldn't help but bleat out an uninvited sob, placing a hand over her mouth in chagrin, for she easily cried these days.