It didn’t take too long before his mom began to respond a bit, but only in relation to the gardens and her disapproval of the plants and flowers that had been chosen. Again, they stopped to chat with anyone they met along the walkway. If her mother had been chatting to him, Levi would have been enjoying himself more, but since she wasn’t, it was a bit discouraging. He didn’t know how long it was going to take her to get over her anger with him.
After having made three loops around the garden walkways, Levi guided the wheelchair toward the entrance back into the care home. He knew that was about the limit of his mom’s endurance, and when she didn’t object, he assumed that was still the case that day. Her nurse spotted them as they came back in and followed them into the room.
“How’re you feeling?” the nurse asked as she bent over the wheelchair once Levi stopped it next to the window.
“I’m fine,” his mom said. “The garden was very nice.”
“Do you need me to bring you anything, Mom?” Levi asked.
“No.” She paused then asked, “Did you go see Davy this week?”
“I didn’t. He won’t see me, Mom.” Which is what he told her each week.
“No surprise there, eh?” She shot him an angry look.
Levi didn’t rise to the bait. Didn’t try to justify what he’d done. He’d already tried that the first few weeks after his mom had found out what had happened. Though he’d tried to keep it from her, that hadn’t lasted a week past news of Davy’s arrest.
“Call me if you think of anything you need, okay, Mom?”
At least she’d stopped telling him that she needed to see her youngest son. Always doing that had made for such a difficult end to each visit.
Levi hated that he breathed a sigh of relief whenever he left his mom nowadays. At one time, he had looked forward to their multiple visits each week, but that was before it had been made abundantly clear that his mom thought he should have just sacrificed his business for Davy’s sake. Didn’t she understand that he had employees who needed to be paid for the work they’d done? Who deserved to be paid? That was more than he could say for the work Davy had done even when he’d been collecting a paycheck from Levi.
Once out of the building, Levi headed for his truck, already planning his next stop which was the grocery store. Because he worked longer hours during the weekdays, he didn’t have much time to tend to many errands. He tried to do all his running around on Saturday so that he could stay home on Sunday and just relax and do a few chores.
By the time he got home and unloaded his groceries for the week, Levi was tired. He hadn’t heard anything more from Sammi, so he hoped that her day had gone well. As he grilled his steak for supper, he thought about texting her but decided not to. He still wasn’t sure exactly what she expected from him, particularly during the pregnancy stage.
He’d just sat down with his steak when his phone chirped an incoming text message. Levi thought it might be Sammi, but he wasn’t disappointed to see it was one of his best friends instead.
Henry: Hey, dude! I’m in town for the next five days. Can we get together?
Henry worked in the mines as a driller in northern Manitoba, and he had a schedule that only brought him home every four to six weeks. With his time off being so limited, Levi was always glad when Henry made time for him.
Busy tonight? I’ve got an extra steak.
Henry: Those would be magic words. Be there in a few. I’ll pick up some beer since I know you don’t have any.
Levi got to his feet and covered his plate with some tinfoil before going to get the other steak out of the freezer. Since he’d only just put it in there, it wasn’t frozen, so he could just throw it on the grill. He knew that Henry preferred his steak medium-rare, so it wouldn’t take long to cook it up. While the grill was reheating, Levi tossed another potato into the microwave.
By the time Henry arrived twenty minutes later, the food was ready, and they were able to sit right down at the picnic table in his yard. Though he’d planned to eat inside, he knew that Henry liked to be outside as much as possible since his work kept him deep underground for long stretches of time. Levi’s yard wasn’t very big, but there were several trees, and he’d set up a table in one corner.
Henry came around the side of the house and let himself in through the gate, a broad smile on his face. “Levi! My man!”
Levi met him halfway across the yard for a quick hug before walking back with him to the table.
“There’s your steak, dude,” Levi said, pointing to the plate across from his. He’d already added a dollop of sour cream to Henry’s potato since he knew that was how he liked it. They’d shared more than a few steak dinners over the ten years they’d known each other.
“How’s the job been?” Levi asked after they’d eaten in silence for a couple of minutes.
“Same old. Same old. Had a bit of a turnover lately, so I’ve had a few different drill helpers over the past few weeks.”
“Bummer.” Levi knew that Henry hated when he had to work with someone new. He was good at his job and preferred having the same people working with him so that they got to know how to work together as a team. Someone new always created the potential for errors and slower work. “What happened to your previous helper?”
“His dad passed away, so he returned to the city and hasn’t made it back out into the field again.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yeah. He was a nice kid, but the news about his dad wrecked him. I’m not sure if he’ll be back, so I guess I’ll have to cycle through a few before one settles in.” Henry set his knife on the edge of his plate and reached out to pick up his beer. “So how have things been in Levi’s world.”
Levi updated him on the latest about Caren and Davy then said, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna be a father.”
Henry’s bottle of beer hit the table with a thud as his jaw dropped. “Dude. Seriously, you need to work on your news delivery. A father? I didn’t know you were even dating.”
“I’m not. Haven’t dated anyone since Caren.”
“Then how exactly are you going to be a father?” Henry asked, his brow furrowed. “Please tell me that Caren isn’t the mother.”
As they continued to eat their dinner, Levi told him everything that had happened between him and Samantha.
“So she just came and told you?”
“Yep. Totally out of the blue.”
Henry stared at him intently.
Levi shifted on the bench. “What?”
“I’m trying to figure out how you feel about the news. As usual, you’re a hard one to get a read on, even though I’ve known you for what feels like forever.”
“I’m not sure how I feel, to be honest.”
“Are you gonna marry her?”
“What?” Levi straightened. “Uh. No. There has been no talk of marriage, and I don’t think there will be.”
“Why not?”
“You heard my story, right? We don’t actually know each other.”
Henry shrugged as he took another sip of beer. “Just thought it might be something under discussion, that’s all.”
“No. There’s no need to complicate a situation by bringing up marriage between two strangers. It’s not like this would be an arranged marriage where our families have decided that we would be good for each other. We literally know nothing about each other…except for the fact that her family isn’t too happy with the situation.”
“In all honesty, Levi, I think that’s probably how most families would feel. Especially if it was their daughter.”
Levi couldn’t argue with his friend’s logic. “Anyway, I’m not even sure how involved she wants me to be. The main reason she contacted me was because if she decided to give the baby up for adoption, she would need my consent.”
Henry stared at him again then shook his head. “Still can’t figure out how you feel about it. Either you’ve gotten even better at keeping your feelings to yourself, or I’ve gotten worse at rea
ding you.”
“Probably me. This whole situation with Davy has made my interactions with Mom a hundred times more difficult. I can’t let her see how I feel about the things she’s saying, so I’ve gotten better at hiding my feelings.”
“Sorry to hear that, man. Your mom has always had blinders on where Davy is concerned. You’ve always had to hide how you feel when it came to how she let him get away with stuff.”
If anyone would know the truth about that, it would be Henry. He’d been the only person Levi had ever confided in about his challenges with his younger brother. The man never talked much about his own family, but he seemed sympathetic to Levi’s struggles.
“I’m guessing that you didn’t tell your mom about the baby.”
Levi huffed a laugh. “Yeah, you’d be right about that. That would have been counterintuitive, especially not knowing for sure what Samantha plans to do with the baby.”
“You need to keep me up-to-date,” Henry said. “Regardless of what happens, I want to know.”
“I will.” Levi felt a knot of stress that he hadn’t even realized was there, loosen within him. He appreciated being able to spill everything to Henry without any fear of judgment.
“And if the baby is going to be in your life, I expect to be an honorary uncle,” Henry said. “Because goodness knows, the baby’s actual uncle isn’t going to be up to the job. You’re lucky you have me to step into that role.”
Levi grinned. “Yes, I really am.”
“You gonna let me watch the game tonight on your big television?” Henry asked as he pushed his empty plate away. “It’s such a pain that it’s not a home game. We could have made use of your season tickets.”
“Yeah, you need to plan your times down here better.”
Henry laughed. “Like I have control over that, but I’ll try.”
“Well, my giant television is the next best thing.” Levi stacked their plates together, grateful for a chance to just check out of all the stress of his life for a little while. “Let’s go watch the Bombers win.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sammi headed downstairs shortly after eleven, not surprised that her parents weren’t around. She knew that they and her teen siblings had plans to be at the church for a pancake breakfast and garage sale to raise funds to send low-income kids to summer camp. Though she’d helped out with the event in previous years, she hadn’t committed this year since she wasn’t sure that she would have the energy to be of much help.
As it was, she’d managed to sleep all the way through the night and several hours into the morning. That was better than she’d slept in…months, and she was grateful to finally be rid of the bone-deep exhaustion she’d been fighting. Not that she wasn’t still tired, but the tiredness wasn’t as overwhelming as it had been.
Before heading to the kitchen, she veered in the direction of the room where her older brother Gabe was staying. He’d been in an accident in Denver which had left him with a badly fractured leg along with internal injuries.
“Good morning, Gabe,” she said when she poked her head in the open doorway and saw him sitting with a book in his lap.
Gabe looked up and gave her a tired smile. It looked like he hadn’t had such a great night. She knew that he was still dealing with a lot of pain, and it often kept him awake. Even six weeks after the accident, Gabe was still struggling mentally as well as physically with what had happened. To have gone from an active lifestyle to one that barely allowed him to move at all was a huge challenge for Gabe.
“Can I get you anything?” Sammi asked as she approached his bed. “Did you have breakfast already?”
“Yeah. Mom made me some before she left.”
“Do you want some coffee?”
Gabe perked up at the offer and nodded. “That would be great.”
Sammi left the room and headed for the kitchen. She put a travel mug into the Keurig along with a pod of Gabe’s favorite coffee, and while that was brewing, she cut a bagel and put it in the toaster. Once the coffee was done, she carried it back to Gabe.
“Is Maya coming today?”
Gabe nodded. “She’s at the church to help out with the pancake breakfast and the garage sale, then she’s coming here later.”
“Sounds good.” Sammi really liked Gabe’s girlfriend, Maya St. James. “If you need anything more before she gets here, text me.”
Gabe nodded and then looked back down at his book, taking a small sip of his coffee.
Back in the kitchen, Sammi retrieved the bagel from the toaster and smeared cream cheese on it before sitting down at the table. It seemed that perhaps her appetite had returned as well because once she finished the bagel, she found she was still hungry, so she added a banana to her breakfast. When she was done eating, Sammi got to her feet and cleaned up her dishes.
For the first time in months, her thoughts weren’t dominated by the pregnancy and her future. There were still uncertainties, to be sure, but at least that stomach-gnawing anxiety was gone. As she made her way back up to her bedroom, Sammi realized that the emotions she’d experienced about the pregnancy had had the one positive side effect of giving her distance from her feelings about Jayden. Thinking of him now didn’t bring forth any of the anguish that it had the night at the restaurant. All that was left was anger that she’d allowed herself to be duped by him.
Back in her room, she found that she was tired again, as if her body wasn’t going to let her just rebound as easily as she’d thought earlier. Grateful that there wasn’t anything pressing for her to do that afternoon, Sammi crawled back into bed and fell asleep more quickly than she would have thought possible.
“Sammi! Wake up!”
The sound of her name drew Sammi from sleep. She opened her eyes slowly to see Makayla lying on her side next to her in the bed, her head propped up on her hand. Her sister was frowning as she regarded Sammi.
“Kayla? What’s wrong?” Sammi shifted onto her back and covered her mouth as a yawn threatened to escape. How long had she been asleep?
“Why don’t you tell me? Mom and Dad are upset, and Danica said she thought maybe it has something to do with you since she’d heard you talking to them last night.”
A sense of dread filled Sammi. She hadn’t even considered how she would tell the rest of the family about her pregnancy. It wasn’t as if she would have been able to hide it, even if she decided to give the baby up for adoption. But of all her siblings, Makayla was the one she was the most uncertain of telling. After all, her older sister was only a month or so further along in her pregnancy than Sammi. She didn’t know how Makayla would take the news that she was going to be sharing her time of pregnancy with Sammi. Though they got along well for the most part, when they’d been younger, Makayla had fiercely guarded things that she believed were rightfully hers, and, as the older sister and first married, she no doubt would feel it was her right to have the first pregnancy and grandchild. She might not be too happy to have Sammi take that spotlight off her and her baby.
Makayla lowered her hand and leaned forward, peering down at Sammi. “What’s going on?”
Sammi saw concern on Makayla’s face and took hope from that that she might be understanding. That she’d realize that Sammi hadn’t gotten pregnant intentionally.
“I’m pregnant.”
Makayla’s jaw dropped. “What?”
Sammi looked away, resting her hands on her stomach underneath the blanket. “I’m pregnant.”
“How? I mean…what? Have you told Jayden?”
Sammi gave a quick shake of her head, then after pushing herself up to sit back against the headboard, she took a deep breath and began to tell Makayla everything—well, almost everything. She looked down at her hands as she talked, not wanting to see any of the emotions that might be evident on her older sister’s face.
“Why would you give the baby up for adoption?” Makayla asked when Sammi finally stopped talking. “It’s not like you’d be on your own. I mean, from what you’ve said, it sounds
like the father would be there to help too.”
Sammi looked up to see compassion on Makayla’s face. “I just haven’t been sure what it would mean. How Mom and Dad would feel about it.”
Makayla sat up cross-legged on the bed next to her. She nodded as if she understood what Sammi was talking about. “Is Levi a good man?”
Sammi thought back to her time with him, not just her most recent meeting with him but their very first time together. Was he a good man? She wasn’t sure she knew enough about him to be able to answer with one hundred percent certainty, but her gut told her that he was, and she said as much.
“Will you bring him to meet the family?”
“Seriously?” Sammi asked with a look at Makayla. “How well do you think that would go over?”
Makayla grinned. “But I think it would be a lot of fun.”
“For you, maybe. Certainly not for Levi or me.”
“Well, sooner or later you’ll have to introduce him if he’s going to be a part of the baby’s life, and it sounds like he’s willing to be.”
Sammi tried to imagine what life might be like, sharing parenting responsibilities with a man who wasn’t her husband. That had never been anything she’d ever considered happening. She was supposed to have had children with Jayden and then raised them together with him. Now there was no marriage to anyone, let alone Jayden, and a baby was on the way.
“Did you think about marrying Levi?”
She didn’t hesitate to shake her head. “I don’t think that would work. We’re strangers to each other.”
Makayla didn’t press the issue, just said, “I still think you should keep the baby.”
“Really? I’m not sure that Mom and Dad feel the same way.”
“I think they’re…yes, probably a bit upset right now, but you need to pray about this decision and make it based on what you feel God wants for you and the baby. I don’t like the idea of my niece or nephew growing up without us, so that’s why I’d rather you keep it, but maybe there’s a reason why you should give the baby up too. Only you can know for sure what the right decision is.”
Believing in Tomorrow: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 4) Page 5
