Have you ever had news to tell someone that you were afraid to tell them because you really didn't know how they would respond? You don't want to tell them, but you know eventually you will have to? In my mind, that is how it happened.

All the way back from the well, Mary stewed. Would he be angry or sad, or say nothing at all? Would he go away, or stay here? For months he had been paying close attention to everything John had been doing. He had questioned every traveler through town for news of John, the baptizer. Mary didn't understand the deep interest, but something inside told her it would lead to no good. But she didn't know what to do about it. And she didn't know how to tell him now that John had been arrested and thrown into prison.

It began innocently enough with Herod Antipas …