Married for Christmas (Willow Park) by Noelle Adams Page B

shifted. “Eat your salad,” she said, pushing the container
toward him.
    He made a face at her, but she gave him a steely glare so he
obediently started to eat.
    “Speaking of the choir,” he said, “you should think about
joining.”
    Her eyes widened. “Me? Why?”
    “Because they can use some more members. I think you’d enjoy
it.”
    “I can’t be part of a choir.”
    “Why not? You’ve got a good voice.” When she opened her
mouth to object, he spoke over her. “I heard you. Remember? At the reception.”
    “Yeah, but…” She trailed off, mostly because she didn’t have
a good excuse.
    “It might be good for you.”
    “Why would it be good for me?” She was starting to feel a
familiar defensiveness. She didn’t like the idea that Daniel might think she
wasn’t doing everything she needed to do as a pastor’s wife, when she’d been
going out of her way for the first couple of days to fill the role.
    “Because you like to sing and you can contribute. And
because you have a tendency to hide.”
    “I do not have a tendency to hide.” Now she was feeling
defensive for another reason. She hated it when he brought this topic up, and
it didn’t matter whether he was right or not. She hated the idea of having
everyone stare at her and listen to her in the choir.
    “Yeah, you do.”
    “I’m not a super-social person, but I don’t hide. I talk to
people plenty.”
    “So then the choir wouldn’t be a big deal for you.” He
twitched his eyebrows at her, in a way that was supposed to get her to smile.
    She rolled her eyes at him instead of smiling.
    “What’s that look for?”
    “That’s for you being annoying.”
    He chuckled. “It was just a suggestion.”
    “Right.”
    “So are you going to do it or not?”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “They practice on Wednesday evenings. Just for an hour.”
    “I said I’ll think about it.”
    “Okay.” He paused for a beat. “Do I get any of those
cookies?”
    She passed the bag to him, muttering, “Not that you deserve
them.”
    Maybe Daniel thought she needed to be more involved in the
church, participate in a lot of activities because she was married to him.
Maybe the rest of the congregation expected it too, and he didn’t want her to
give them any reason to doubt he was a good fit. If she needed to, she would do
it—whether she wanted to or not.
    She was getting up to leave a little while later when Daniel
said, “Oh, Martha said she was bringing by a casserole this afternoon.”
    “Why is she bringing a casserole?”
    “Just being nice, I think.”
    “But why do we need a casserole? We’re not sick or
anything.”
    “What’s the big deal? She’s trying to be nice. I think
they’ve arranged to bring us dinners all week.”
    “I’m perfectly capable of making something for dinner.”
    She actually wasn’t perfectly capable of cooking
dinner, but she was certainly planning to try. And it made her feel stupid and
helpless that the ladies of the church had evidently decided she needed extra
help—that she wasn’t equipped to even be a normal wife, much less a pastor’s
wife.
    “What are you so sensitive about? People are trying to be
nice.”
    “I know.” She bit back her initial response, since she knew
it was irrational, but it bothered her unduly.
    She’d wanted a husband and family and now she had one, thanks
to Daniel. She wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. She was going to be a
good wife, and in a traditional community like this, part of that role involved
cooking dinner—at least some of the time. She couldn’t even try if all the
church ladies insisted on bringing over dinner.
    She was still bothered when she went to spend the afternoon
at her mother’s nursing facility, working on her laptop while her mom dozed and
then taking her outside for a walk when she was awake.
    And she was still bothered when Martha came by late that
afternoon with an entire delicious meal and stayed for an hour to chat