Accidental Dad

by Lois Richer

  “I can’t stay, Sam. What would I do? There are no cruise ships, no ports. I don’t know anything about small towns and even less about ranching.” She cupped his cheek in her palm. “You’ve been so kind, so generous, to me and my family. I wish I could watch the twins and Jacob Samuel grow up. I wish I could be here to spend more time with my dad, but that isn’t going to happen. Sooner or later I have to go back to my life. So I guess you’re right. I’ll cherish every moment that I’m here.” She smiled at him. “Starting now. Shall we go in?”

  Sam nodded but as he walked beside Kelly up the path, his arms full of grocery bags, he realized that in the short time she’d been here, he’d grown accustomed to hearing her perspective and sharing ideas. More than that, he valued her opinion.

  He’d also seen just how the years apart had left her yearning for her father and wondered why she hadn’t come home earlier. Not that it mattered. She was here now and could savor the moments with him while he could still share them. Yet part of Sam ached to make it better for Kelly.

  Can’t You fix this? he asked God. Can’t I?

  The answer circled round and round inside Sam’s head.

  How?

  Chapter Seven

  “I never imagined Sam could actually cook something,” Sheena marveled, nursing her cup of tea at the kitchen table with Kelly. They turned together to look out the window at the twins chasing Sam through the puddles dotted around the yard. “My sister would have loved to see that.”

  “Oh.” Not understanding her meaning, Kelly glanced outside, relieved that the forecasted snow had been changed to light rain, even though it meant that she’d be doing more laundry tonight. “Have I met her?”

  “My older sister was Sam’s fiancée,” Sheena explained. “Naomi.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know.” Kelly covered Sheena’s hand with her own.

  “Of course you didn’t. Naomi died three years ago. I still miss her a lot. I’m sure you know the feeling.” She smiled when Kelly nodded soberly.

  “Tell me about her,” Kelly invited, curious about the woman Sam had loved.

  “Naomi was my business partner, but she had a lot more travel knowledge than I do.” Sheena smiled as she reminisced. “She started traveling as an exchange student in high school. She was in France for a year, and her host family traveled a lot so she saw most of Europe with people who knew the area.”

  “With a local is always the best way to see a foreign place.” Kelly’s brain swirled with questions about Sam’s beloved fiancée.

  “Naomi took her training then worked for a big agency in Calgary. I’d always been entranced by her travel stories, so when I finished school, I took the same training. Before I finished, our parents died. Naomi decided to move back to Buffalo Gap and set up an agency. We became partners and it worked very well.” Sheena sighed. “She died before we could realize her dream to expand our business.”

  “You still have time,” Kelly soothed.

  “Maybe. The internet is encroaching more and more.” Sheena leaned forward, her face serious. “Naomi and Sam intended to organize tours overseas, escorted vacations from Buffalo Gap.”

  “That’s a great idea. Lots of people enjoy having their trip organized so that all they have to do is sit back and enjoy.” She sat back and waited, wondering why Sheena hadn’t pursued her sister’s idea.

  “I’d like to do that.” The light in her bright eyes faded. “My problem is that I never traveled like Naomi did. I don’t know enough to organize tours, let alone lead them. And I’d need someone to cover for me in the office while I’m away.”

  “How can I help you?” Kelly asked, touched by Sheena’s plight. This sprightly woman with her obvious zest for life would make a wonderful tour leader.

  “I haven’t got all the problems worked out yet. I’m trusting God to help me solve those.” Sheena grinned. “But I was hoping you could give me some tips on how to get started organizing my first tour group to Australia. I have plenty of senior clients who want to go, but it’s a long way and they don’t want to travel alone.”

  Kelly nodded, her brain busy.

  “Is it too much to ask?” Sheena worried.

  “Of course not. I have a few ideas,” Kelly said. “If you want them.”

  “I do.” Sheena grinned. “I knew from the way Marina talked that you’d be willing to help me. Your sister bragged on you all the time.”

  “Really?” Kelly stared at her.

  “Uh-huh.” Sheena nodded. “She told me several times that I should take a trip on one of your ships. That’s what she and Jake planned to do before the twins and Jacob Samuel came.”

  “I wish she had,” Kelly murmured. How she would have loved to show her sister her world. All she could do now was honor her memory. Helping Sheena seemed the perfect way.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered you,” Sheena said, eyes downcast.

  “Are you kidding?” Kelly grinned. “I love the ranch, but travel has been my life for almost ten years. I love to talk about it with someone who’s interested. Here’s my thought. First go on a cruise yourself, one that visits some of the highlights where you could take your tour in Australia. That will give you an overview of the kind of things your guests will see. Go on the shore excursions, take tons of pictures and make lots of notes.”

  “Okay.” Sheena scribbled madly on her notepad.

  “You might even want to make a cruise part of the tour you’re planning.” She kept throwing out ideas, pausing every so often so Sheena could keep up.

  Kelly was prepared for the familiar yen for adventure to grab hold while she was talking. But when her glance lifted to the window where Sam and the girls were trying to build a snow fort, she realized that she didn’t want to go anywhere. She was perfectly happy right here, caring for the children and doing what she could to help solidify Sam’s case for fatherhood.

  As she waved an ecstatic Sheena goodbye a half hour later, Kelly glanced at Sam. A glow of warmth suffused her. She actually loved this life. No wonder Marina had been happy here. She’d found everything she most cared about on the Triple D.

  Bemused by the satisfaction she now felt, Kelly pulled out ingredients to make an apple pie. But before she could begin, the phone rang. It was Abby from Family Ties Adoption Agency.

  “Hi, Abby. How are you?” she asked cheerfully.

  “Fine, thanks.” A pause. “Kelly, I need to talk to you and Sam. Now. Can I come over?”

  Fear tiptoed up Kelly’s spine. Abby wanted to talk now, on Sunday? Something was wrong.

  “Kelly?”

  “Yes, I’m here. But Sam’s outside with the girls.” She thought for a moment. They couldn’t keep calling his mother to help any more than her mother could keep calling them. “Come on over, Abby. I’ll set up something to keep the twins busy while we talk.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” Abby hung up.

  Kelly stared at her pie ingredients. Her gaze lifted to the window where Sam was dusting off the snowy twins. They’d come in soon. She plugged in the kettle to make cocoa then decided pie making could come later. Instead, she stirred together a batch of play dough. By the time the three chilled fort builders came inside, Kelly had mugs of cocoa and yesterday’s peanut butter cookies waiting.

  “We had fun.” Sam’s cheeks flushed bright from the cool air. He helped the twins shed their gear. “It’s a gorgeous day, Kelly. I’ll stay with the kids if you want to go for a walk.”

  “Maybe later I’ll do that,” she said, thrilled that he’d thought of her. “Girls, you need to change out of those wet things. After you do that and wash your hands, you can have a snack.” Kelly waited till they’d raced away before facing Sam. “Abby’s on her way over. She needs to talk to us.”

  His face tightened. The joy that had brightened his gre
en eyes a moment earlier snuffed out as shadows crept in. “What now?”

  “I don’t know.” Kelly put her hand on his when he picked up the phone receiver. “I don’t want to bother your mom today. I have something for the girls to do in here while we talk in the dining room.”

  Sam’s countenance lifted a little. “Thank you, Kelly. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I know my mother does, too.”

  “No problem.” She enjoyed the way their styles meshed as he got the girls settled at the table for their snack while she changed Jacob Samuel. She handed the baby to Sam to feed before starting a pot of coffee to brew. “We might need this,” she murmured for Sam’s ears only. “Though I’m praying otherwise.”

  Sam’s lips tightened at her words, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe because just then Abby’s car pulled into the yard.

  Once the excited twins had greeted her and reveled in her praise for their fort, Sam, with Jacob Samuel in his arms, led Abby into the dining room to enjoy their coffee. Kelly could hear the baby’s gurgle and their low voices chatting as she showed the twins the play dough and cutters.

  “You two call if you need help,” Kelly said. “But I don’t want you to come into the dining room.”

  “’Cause this is messy.” Sadie held up a long sausage of dough with bits falling.

  “Messy,” Emma repeated in her soft voice. “We’ll stay here,” she promised.

  “Thank you, sweetheart. You two are the best.” Kelly kissed the top of each head then carried her coffee into the dining room. “We haven’t seen you for a while, Abby.”

  “We’ve had a rash of deliveries at Family Ties,” Abby said with a smile. “I’ve been acting like a stork, delivering babies to their new parents.”

  “That must be fun.” Kelly sat down with Sam on her left. For some reason it felt better to have him within reach.

  “Fun for sure, but it means I get behind on office correspondence. Like this. It came last week when I was out of the office.” Abby selected a paper from her bag and held it out toward Sam. “I’ve been notified that Eunice Edwards had an assessment done on herself, her husband and their home. She’s not waiting, Sam. She’s going ahead full steam with her claim to adopt the twins.”

  “The result?” Sam, face inscrutable, ignored the paper she held to study the baby in his high chair.

  “Very favorable,” Abby said quietly. “She was rated on extremely high standards and passed them all with flying colors.”

  Kelly glanced from her to Sam, worried by both their silences. “So what do we do now?” she asked when no one said anything.

  “Pray?” Abby suggested.

  “You’re saying Sam’s case hasn’t got a ghost of a chance?” she pressed, needing to fully understand the ramifications of Abby’s visit.

  “No. Sam’s strongest card was always that he was younger and you’re younger, meaning more fit, closer to the twins’ ages, maybe better suited to raising a child than this older aunt.” Abby let the paper drift to the table. “But Sam’s a single man. With this report...” She paused, shook her head. “It’s going to be much harder than I anticipated to persuade a judge that the twins are better off here on the Triple D with Sam.”

  “There has to be something we can do.” Kelly could hardly breathe for the heaviness on her heart. The twins belonged with Sam. After spending six weeks at the Triple D, she was more certain of that than she’d ever been. She saw a flicker in Abby’s steady gaze that gave her hope. “Tell us what it is,” she begged, desperate to stop this, even as her brain shot a thousand prayers upward.

  “Sam’s chances of adopting the girls would go up astronomically if he was married.” Abby’s words hit like stones in a pond, sending out shock waves that made both Sam and Kelly gape at her.

  “Not going to happen,” Sam said flatly after a moment’s pause. “My fiancée died, remember?”

  “I know, but I thought maybe—” After a quick glance at Kelly, Abby cut off whatever she’d been about to say and shook her head. “Never mind that. What we have to do now is build the strongest case we can. We still have the fact that the girls consider this their home in our favor. That could count for a lot.”

  “Sure.” Sam pushed back from the table, his face hard as chiseled stone. “Thank you for telling us, Abby. We’ll do what we can but truthfully, I doubt it’ll be enough.”

  “Sam, you can’t give up.” Kelly lowered her voice. “Jake and Marina chose you to be the twins’ father. There has to be a way to make it happen.”

  “How?” he demanded. “Tell me and I’ll do it.”

  Kelly could think of only one way. “We need to pray.”

  One corner of his lovely mouth lifted in a sneer.

  “Because that’s worked so well.” Sam’s voice revealed his bitter disappointment. He folded the paper and tucked it in his pocket. “I’m sorry to interrupt your Sunday afternoon, Abby. Keep in touch.” Then he left.

  “I’m sorry.” Kelly’s heart ached for this man who’d done everything he could to honor his brother’s wishes. “He’s really hurting. He loves the twins so much. To lose them—” She couldn’t say the unthinkable.

  “We haven’t lost them yet,” Abby said sternly. “You’re going to have to help Sam refocus on what he needs to do to firm up his case. Get the loose ends dealt with so there’s nothing to question, nothing to suggest a future problem.” She rose.

  “I’ve been pushing him to get the paperwork in order,” Kelly told her. “Understandably, it hasn’t been a priority for Sam because he’s doing his best to be all things to all people.”

  “As are you.” Abby touched her arm, her smile sympathetic. “I know it isn’t easy, but if you can keep things on an even keel for all of them, I think everyone will feel more secure. You’re an amazing helper for Sam. Keep praying. I will, too, and I’ll alert the prayer chain at church. We need some heavy petitioning of God to work this out.”

  “Thank you, Abby. We appreciate your help so much, even if Sam didn’t say it.” Kelly tried to smile but couldn’t. Her heart was just too heavy at the thought of him losing his precious twins. She lifted Jacob Samuel into her arms, needing the soft warmth of his little body to cheer her. “It’s up to God to work out,” she murmured into the baby’s wispy hair.

  “I’ve been studying Deuteronomy in my devotions,” Abby said thoughtfully. “One verse keeps coming back to me. It’s in the seventh chapter. ‘Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.’” She smiled gently. “Focus on that promise, Kelly. It may be that this circumstance is God’s way of bringing Sam back to Himself.”

  “I hope so.” Her heart weary, Kelly walked with Abby to the door and hugged her. “Thank you again,” she whispered just before Abby left. Kelly turned to find the twins studying her with frowns.

  “What’s wrong with Uncle Sam?” Sadie asked.

  “He didn’t want to play with us,” Emma whispered.

  “He’s got a lot of work to do.” She studied the two precious faces and decided to make today a special day. Because it was. They were all together, though who knew for how long. “Would you like to help me make Uncle Sam an apple pie?”

  With ecstatic agreement and a quick cleanup of the play dough, the kitchen was soon ready for baking. These past weeks Kelly had found comfort in putting together sweet treats for her little “family.” Today she wanted to make something special for Sam, to show him they were together in this.

  Making a pie took much longer than Kelly had anticipated, thanks to the twins’ helping hands. But they had so much fun, she decided to also mix a batch of fresh rolls for dinner.

  “Does God like food?” Sadie paused in her effort to mold a hunk of overworked bun dough into crescents.

 
“I do.” Emma grinned at them then returned to the soapy dishes she was scrubbing.

  “He must,” Sadie said with tightly furrowed brow.

  “Why?” Kelly asked curiously.

  “’Cause Oscar tole me the Bible says God made everything an’ it was good.” Sadie thumped and prodded the last bit of dough. “More flour, please.”

  “Just a tiny bit more.” Kelly dusted a bit of powder over the dough then lifted it to join the other rolls. “We have to let it rise now,” she said to a protesting Sadie. “Otherwise, it won’t be ready in time for supper.”

  “Okay.” Sadie tugged at her apron. “I’ll play with my dolls.”

  “Me, too.” Emma rinsed her hands then held out her arms.

  “Thank you both for your help, darlings.” Kelly slid off their aprons then pressed a kiss to the top of each blond head as she lifted them from their stools.

  Sadie leaned over to kiss Jacob Samuel’s cheek then grinned. “My Sunday school teacher said I’m Jacob Samuel’s big sister an’ I should love him lots.”

  “She was absolutely right,” Kelly managed to squeeze out around the lump in her throat. They’re a family, God. Please don’t let that be broken.

  Something made her turn. Sam stood in the doorway, his lean body slumped, his face gaunt and gray, his eyes totally empty of their sparkle.

  “You and Emma are Jacob Samuel’s sisters,” Kelly said firmly, keeping her gaze fixed on Sam. “You’re his family.”

  “I love my fam’ly an’ I love you and my uncle Sam,” Sadie crooned. She pressed her cheek against Sam’s leg for a moment then skipped down the hall to find her dolls. Emma blew them a kiss then raced after her sister.

  Sam held Kelly’s gaze for a long time before he finally cleared his throat. “I need a refill before I get back to my work in the study,” he mumbled. He filled his mug with coffee then disappeared.

  Kelly longed to follow him, to offer to help, to be there in case he needed her. And then she wondered.

  Who would comfort Sam when she was gone?