The Doctor's Bride. Patt Marr

push him into marriage, yet he’s not the kind of guy who can say, ‘Back off, Mom,’ especially when she’s celebrating her birthday.

      “That’s it. Zack’s been a good friend, and I’m willing to help him by playing the decoy, but I’m terrible at acting. I won’t be believable playing the role of prospective bride.”

      “Then use my motto. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and pray before you act…or in your case, try to act.”

      “What is it with you and prayer?” Carmen asked, exasperated. She turned on the ignition of her car and backed out of her drive very fast. “I pray for the Lord to guide my hands in surgery. I pray for Him to do what medicine can’t. But I’m not going to bother God with prayers about things I should handle myself!”

      “Okay, but the Bible says you’re supposed to.” She’d prayed for openings like this. “The Word says we’re to pray about everything…all the time!”

      Carmen shook her head.” I don’t know. Every day I see situations where God is a person’s only hope. It just doesn’t seem right for me to take God’s time with whiny prayers about the little stuff.”

      “There is no ‘little stuff’ with God,” Chloe said, unwilling to argue past that. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll pray that Bonnie will relax and not worry about her son. I’ll pray that God gives you the words you need for tonight, and I’ll pray that Zack—” What should she pray for him? “I’ll pray he’ll enjoy his mother’s vacation as much as she does. How’s that?”

      Carmen shrugged her shoulders as if it didn’t matter.

       Lord, You gave me an opening to talk about You, and I think I blew it. If You give me another chance, I’ll try to do better.

      “Chloe, if you’re really going to do all that praying could you throw in something about Dad’s reaction when he realizes Zack and I aren’t seeing each other?”

      “He doesn’t know that?” Chloe didn’t want to be around when he found out. “Why haven’t you told him? Having second thoughts?”

      “No! I’ve tried to tell Dad, but he’s just obsessed with Zack becoming part of our family. He’s never gotten angry with me before, but I’ve seen how he gets with you. You can take it, but I don’t have your courage.”

      Courage? It was more like she’d had no choice. Dad could lose his temper with her any time, any place, and she’d never known when it was coming.

      “Carmen, I can pray that Dad takes the news calmly, but that’s a very big prayer. I’ll need your help with that one.”

      The corners of Carmen’s mouth twitched. “You’re probably right. Tell me what to say.”

      Chloe laughed out loud. “To begin with, you don’t need a script. When I talked to the Lord while I was getting dressed—“

      “You did that?” Carmen sounded shocked.

      Chloe nodded. “I asked the Lord to keep my head straight tonight. Since neither you nor Cate fell for Zack, there’s no reason to think I will, but he was all I could think about this afternoon.”

      “And what’s wrong with that?”

      “Everything. Nothing. It just makes me nervous to be this interested in a guy.”

      Carmen grinned knowingly. “You could always try praying that away.”