Her Christmas Pregnancy Surprise. Jennifer Faye

      “Okay.” He rushed to process this information. “Maybe it’s a false alarm. Those happen all of the time.”

      “I have to go.” She looked as though she was trying to figure out how to get around him, as he was blocking the doorway.

      There was no way she was in any condition to drive. Before he could decide the right and the wrong of it, he said, “I’ll take you.”

      “Fine. Let’s go.”

      The fact that she didn’t argue with him let him know how scared she was of losing the most important thing in her life. He texted his driver to meet them in the back. And then he texted Elaine to let her know that she was in charge of the party, as he had an emergency.

      Once they were seated in the back of the black sedan, the driver wasted no time heading south to the city. Simon wasn’t sure what to do to comfort Pepper. She wrung her hands together as she stared out the window at the passing lights.

      He wanted to say something—do something—to lessen her worry. “Everything will be all right.”

      Her head whipped around and her worried gaze met his. “You don’t know that. I was certain I’d forgotten something when we left. What if it was the stove? What if I started the fire?”

      He reached out, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze. “If that’s the case, we’ll deal with it.”

      “Everything I had—everything I dreamed about—is tied up in the bakery. What will I do? How could I be so stupid?”

      “Calm down. You don’t even know if anything happened.”

      She left her hand in his. It felt comfortable there, as though they’d been doing it for years. And though it was a small gesture, at least he was able to do something for her.