Irene Hannon - It Had to Be You

Cover Page

About the Author IRENE HANNON has been a writer for as long as she can remember. This prolific author of romance novels for both the inspirational and traditional markets began her career at age ten, when she won a story contest conducted by a national children’s magazine. Today, in addition to penning her heartwarming stories of love and faith, Irene keeps quite busy with her “day job” as senior manager of corporate communications for a Fortune 500 company. In her spare time, she enjoys performing in community musical theater productions. Irene finds writing for the Love Inspired line especially rewarding because, ‘Inspirational romances allow me to focus on the three things that last—faith, hope and love. It is a special pleasure for me to write about people who find the greatest of these without compromising the principles of their faith.” The author and her husband, Tom Gottlieb—”my own romantic hero”—reside in St. Louis, Missouri.

Title Page It Had to Be You Irene Hannon www.millsandboon.co.uk

Epigraph Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. —Isaiah 43:18

Dedication With deepest gratitude to the One who makes all things possible.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Copyright

has been a writer for as long as she can remember. This prolific author of romance novels for both the inspirational and traditional markets began her career at age ten, when she won a story contest conducted by a national children’s magazine. Today, in addition to penning her heartwarming stories of love and faith, Irene keeps quite busy with her “day job” as senior manager of corporate communications for a Fortune 500 company. In her spare time, she enjoys performing in community musical theater productions.

Irene finds writing for the Love Inspired line especially rewarding because, ‘Inspirational romances allow me to focus on the three things that last—faith, hope and love. It is a special pleasure for me to write about people who find the greatest of these without compromising the principles of their faith.”

The author and her husband, Tom Gottlieb—”my own romantic hero”—reside in St. Louis, Missouri.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not.

—Isaiah 43:18

With deepest gratitude to the One who

makes all things possible.

“I’m sorry, Maggie, but…I just can’t go through with it.”

Maggie Fitzgerald stared in shock at the man standing across from her, his words echoing hollowly in her ears. He looked like Jake West, the man she’d loved since she was sixteen years old. But he didn’t sound like that Jake. Not even close.

Maggie felt a cold chill crawl up her spine despite the Midwest heat and humidity, and she wrapped her arms around her body for warmth. He was only an arm’s length away, close enough to touch, and yet she suddenly felt more alone than ever before in her life. Because always, through all the losses in her life—her mother, her father, and just three weeks before, the tragic deaths of her sister and brother-in-law in a smallplane crash—she’d still had Jake. He’d been her friend for as long as she could remember, and though their relationship had transitioned—quite unexpectedly—to romance, their friendship remained strong and sure.

But now he was leaving—less than five weeks before she was scheduled to walk down the aisle as his bride. It was inconceivable. Incomprehensible. But true. The stoic expression on his face told her so more eloquently than his words.

The knot in Maggie’s stomach tightened as she sank down onto the couch, her legs suddenly too shaky to support her willowy five-foot-six, hundred-and-tenpound frame. Nothing in her twenty-four years had prepared her for this…this betrayal. Maybe that was a harsh term. But what else could you call it when the man you loved bailed out just because things got a little rough?

Even in her dazed state, however, Maggie had to admit that “a little rough” wasn’t exactly an accurate description of the situation. The sudden responsibility of raising six-year-old twins—one of whom needed ongoing medical care—wasn’t a minor complication. Not when they’d planned to spend the first ten years of their marriage child-free, exploring some exotic new corner of the world each year on vacation, living the adventures they’d always dreamed of. It was a situation that demanded huge compromises, and Maggie knew it marked the death of a dream for both of them. But she had wanted to believe that Jake would realize there simply was no other option. As their only living relative, Maggie had to take her sister’s girls. But clearly Jake hadn’t been able to accept it. And where did that leave her?

Apparently alone.

As Jake sat beside her and reached for her hand, she glanced at him with dazed eyes, blind to the anguish in his. The strongly molded planes of his dear, familiar face were only a misty blur. When he spoke, the appealing, husky cadence of his voice—edged with that smoky quality that was distinctly his—sounded suddenly foreign to her ears, and his words seemed to come from a great distance.

“Maggie, I’m sorry,” he whispered, knowing the words were inadequate, his gut twisting painfully at the wretched, abandoned look in her eyes.

So was she. Ever since her sixteenth birthday, when their relationship changed forever—from childhood friends to sweethearts—she’d never even looked at another man. She’d built her whole future around Jake. A future that was now crumbling around her.

“This…situation…doesn’t change how I feel about you,” he continued when she didn’t respond. “But…well, I guess I never expected a ready-made family. It would be bad—” He cut himself off and deliberately changed the term. “Hard…enough if they were normal kids. But they’ve just lost both parents, and Abby has years of medical treatment ahead of her. And what about our plans for seeing the world? For not being tied down by responsibilities, at least in the beginning? And I’m not ready to take on the responsibilities of parenthood. I just feel so…trapped,” he finished helplessly. With a sigh, he reached for her cold hands, his gaze locked on hers. “Do you understand at all?”

Slowly Maggie shook her head, trying desperately to restrain her tears. “No,” she replied brokenly. “No, Jake, I don’t. I thought…well, I know we haven’t actually said the vows yet, but I thought, in our hearts, we’d already made a commitment. For life. For better or for worse. What if this had happened six weeks after the wedding instead of six weeks before? Would you have walked out then, too?”

Jake cringed, and he felt his neck grow hot. He deserved that. It was more or less the same question his father had coldly asked. Though his mother had been less vocal in her disapproval, he had seen the look of disappointment in her eyes, as well. But if the vows had actually been spoken, he would have stuck it out.

“You know better, Maggie.”

She looked at him, suddenly skeptical. “Do I? I’m not so sure anymore, Jake.” She shook her head and gave a short, mirthless laugh. “But I guess it was a lucky thing for you it happened now. You won’t be put to that test. You’re free to walk away.”