Dear God…please help Samantha find happiness with her life and the baby. Help me to know what to do to make things right with her. Amen.
His prayer hadn’t had the confident fluidity of the men who had prayed that night in Bennett’s apartment, but he hoped his simple but heartfelt words were enough. And next time he had a chance to talk to Keenan, Levi wanted to find out how to make sure that God would hear his prayers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Why are we sitting here?” Amy asked as Sammi stopped next to a pew near the back.
Sammi slid into the pew and sat down. “It’s where I like to sit now.” She hesitated. “In case I have to get up.”
That was partly true, and, from the look on Amy’s face, she understood what Sammi wasn’t saying. Without making any further comment, her friend sat down next to her and looked around. A few people came over to talk to Amy since she had attended church there for most her teen and adult life so knew many of them.
Just as the worship team was coming out on the stage, there was movement at the opposite end of the pew. Glancing over, Sammi’s heart skipped a beat when she spotted Levi moving toward her. After giving her a slight smile, he settled onto the pew beside her. Close, but not as close as he’d been the last time they’d sat together in a service.
“What is he doing here?” Amy whispered in her ear.
Sammi turned to look at her, keeping her voice low as she responded. “That’s Levi. He’s been attending church the past few weeks.”
“No, not Levi. Henry. What is Henry doing here?”
Sammi leaned forward a bit to see the man sitting on the other side of Levi. He had dirty blonde hair, and when he saw her looking at him, a corner of his mouth lifted in a grin.
“I don’t know why he’s here,” Sammi muttered as she leaned close to Amy. “But Henry is Levi’s best friend.”
“Are you kidding me?” Amy rolled her eyes. “Well, I hope Levi’s a better man than Henry.”
Before Sammi could ask further questions, the worship team began to play. Dalton and Danica were still not back to leading with the team. If anything, the stress in their lives had increased over the past week. Though they didn’t have to go to the hospital anymore to see their mom, it seemed that for all of them, her being at home was overwhelming. Emily’s presence in the house was a constant reminder for all of them of how much everything had changed.
Sammi found it hard to concentrate on the service because of the turmoil in her mind. Thoughts of her mom, Levi, and the baby constantly swirled in her head. It was a relief when the service finally ended, though she planned to be back again that night.
“Are you busy this afternoon?” Levi asked before Sammi even had a chance to stand up.
She leaned back in the pew. “I was just going to have lunch with Amy and then go back to the house. There’s also a concert here this evening that I’m planning to attend.”
“Can Henry and I join you for lunch?” Levi glanced over at his friend. “My treat.”
Thinking back to Amy’s reaction, Sammi said, “I’m fine with that, but Amy might have some thoughts on it. It seems that she knows Henry, and it doesn’t appear that he’s made a very good impression on her.”
“Seriously?” Levi gave Henry an exasperated look. “What did you do to her?”
Henry lifted his hands, palms up, and gave a shrug, apparently trying to present an innocent look. “I just complimented her and asked her out on a date.”
Amy leaned forward, pressing her shoulder against Sammi’s. “Over and over again. You don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
“I just can’t figure out why you wouldn’t want to go out and have some fun.”
Amy huffed and rolled her eyes. “Our ideas of fun are definitely not the same.”
“How would you know?” Henry asked. “It’s not like you gave me a chance to show you.”
Levi lifted a hand between the two of them. “How about we continue this discussion over a meal?”
“Sounds good to me,” Henry said without hesitation.
Amy was a little slower to agree. She looked at Sammi. “Did you want to go with them for lunch?”
“As long as you want to. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable though.”
Her friend scoffed. “Henry doesn’t make me uncomfortable. He’s annoying. Like a mosquito that keeps buzzing around. I just want to smack him.”
“Hey now,” Henry protested even as Levi gave a short laugh.
Sammi watched as Levi’s serious features were transformed with his laughter. It wasn’t an expression that she had seen on his face very often. In fact, she recalled it more from that night at the bar than she did from any of the recent interactions they’d had.
“Why don’t we continue the discussion of Henry’s annoying personality at a restaurant?” Levi said.
After a quick discussion about what restaurant they would meet at, the foursome got to their feet and filed out of the pew into the foyer. Sammi found that she was actually looking forward to the lunch, something she might not have said earlier that morning. She hoped that having Amy and Henry there would help ease the tension that still existed between her and Levi.
“Of all the best friends in the world, I can’t believe that your baby daddy’s is Henry Mendall.”
Sammi gave her friend a quick look before turning her attention back to the road. “How exactly do you know him?”
“Well, the first meeting was when he came into the clinic in Snow Lake. He asked me out on a date. Of course, I said no.”
“Of course?” Sammi asked.
“Let’s just say that his language didn’t leave me any question as to whether or not I could spend much time with the man. I hear a lot of that kind of language from the guys who work in the mines, but it’s not anything that I’m interested in hearing from a man I’m dating. So yeah, I said no.”
“And after that?”
“After that, he made a point of coming into the clinic once or twice a week to ask me out. Like I said, he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He hadn’t been around for a couple of weeks, so I thought he’d finally gotten the message.”
Sammi laughed. “And then you come here and see him again—in church, no less.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely the last place I thought I’d ever see the man,” Amy admitted. “And now he’s going to get me out to eat with him.”
“Would you rather not go? I can explain to Levi. He’d be okay with it.”
“You know him well enough to know that?” Amy asked.
Strangely enough, Sammi realized that she did. “Yes, I do. He wouldn’t want you to do anything that made you uncomfortable.”
“He sounds like he’s not very much like his best friend,” Amy observed.
“I don’t know Henry at all,” Sammi said as she turned her car into the parking lot of the restaurant. “Levi had mentioned he worked up north, and we’d wondered if the two of you had ever met. I guess we now have the answer to that question.”
“Yeah, you do.” Amy laughed. “Well, I’m willing to put up with Henry if it means I get to know Levi a bit. I handled Henry just fine up in Snow Lake. I’ll handle him just fine here too.”
They got out of the car and headed toward the entrance of the restaurant. The guys had arrived first and were waiting outside the door. Levi reached to hold the door open for them as they approached.
It didn’t take too long before they were seated in a booth. Amy had maneuvered it so that she and Sammi sat side by side across from the men. For the next few minutes, they talked about the menu and then placed their order with the waitress.
“So what brought you down from the north?” Henry directed his question at Amy, who was seated across from him.
“I hadn’t had a break in awhile, and I was getting ready to start another contract. I figured it was a good time to come and see Sammi and my family. How about you?”
Henry shrugged. “I’m down here once a month or so, de
pending on whether or not I have appointments or family stuff happening. Lucky me, I came down here this weekend. I get to see you and I got to watch a Bomber game from the best seats ever.”
“Did Keenan get you tickets?” Sammi asked.
Levi nodded. “I have season tickets, but his were much better.”
“It seems that getting you pregnant has elevated Levi’s social circle.”
“Henry!” Both Levi and Amy glared at the man.
When Henry said, “Ouch!” and bent to rub his leg, Sammi got the feeling that Amy had added a shin kick for good measure. She had always been a feisty one.
“Well, it’s true,” Henry insisted. “Your friendship with me certainly never got you tickets like those. And we both know that I am pretty much the limit of your social circle.”
“Now you’re making me sound pathetic.”
“Your lack of friends didn’t make you pathetic. Proposing to Caren is what made you pathetic.” Henry grinned. “But you’ve redeemed yourself by not only moving on, but also not wimping out when your brother stole from you.” He pounded Levi on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you, man.”
“And that is just one more reason I’ve said no,” Amy said, gesturing to Henry. “You are uncouth.”
“Uncouth maybe, but not uneducated. I know what that word means.”
Amy laughed. “And yet it still doesn’t bother you.”
Henry shrugged. “It’s who I am. Love me or leave me.”
“That would be leave you,” Amy retorted.
Sammi found that she was able to relax as she watched the two spar verbally with each other. It took the pressure off her to have to make conversation with Levi. She wondered if he felt the same way.
“So are you two going to get hitched?” Henry asked as he lifted the burger the waitress had just brought with the rest of their order. “Before the baby’s born?”
“Ignore him,” Levi said as his gaze met Sammi’s. “He knows the answer already. He’s just trying to stir up trouble.”
“Or move things along,” Henry said. “I may be an uncouth hooligan, but you’re a good guy. She could do a whole lot worse than you for a husband.”
Sammi’s thoughts went briefly to Jayden, and she had to admit that Henry was right. That still didn’t mean she was going to marry him. The situation was so complicated right then. Levi was right that she had issues that she needed to deal with, but there were things on his side that were stopping them from marrying as well. Sammy wasn’t sure that his offer to marry had been for any reason other than to grant him more access to his daughter.
“Whether they get married or not has nothing to do with you or me, Henry,” Amy said. “That’s a decision they have to make because they’re the ones who have to live with it.”
Sammi shot Amy a grateful look.
“Samantha has a lot going on in her life right now,” Levi said, pinning his friend with a glare. “Pressure about something like marriage is not necessary.”
“So your dad didn’t have a shotgun loaded when he found out about the baby and who had knocked you up?” Henry asked, waving a French fry in Sammi’s direction.
“No. My dad isn’t like that,” Sammi said, although she wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t have done that had it been Jayden who’d fathered her baby.
Fortunately, the conversation drifted away from the baby and marriage, and even Henry seemed to settle down a bit. His comments were still off-the-wall, and at times his language made Sammi cringe, but she could see that he seemed to hold a genuine affection for Levi. Like Sammi, Henry was not impressed with Davy, or how Donna had treated Levi.
“She was better the other night,” Levi said as he ran his fingers up and down the sides of his water glass. “I couldn’t believe it when I went to visit her. She actually talked to me, and she thanked me for the flowers I’d brought her. Not sure what happened, but the change was a welcome relief.”
Sammi felt her heart lighten at Levi’s words. She had really hoped that Donna would take her words to heart and try to mend the rift between her and her son. It was nice to see that their conversation hadn’t just been brushed aside. After all Levi had done for her, Sammi was glad to have been able to have helped bring about this change of attitude in his mom for him. Though, if his mother hadn’t mentioned it, Sammi had no intention of sharing the details of the conversation she’d had with Donna.
“So if I go to visit her, she’s not going to kick me out?” Henry asked.
“No clue,” Levi said. “I don’t know if what happened the other day was an aberration, or if it’s really a change of her heart from this point forward. As long as you don’t mention Davy or Caren, you’d probably be okay.” He looked at Sammi. “Have you talked with her again since you went back to work?”
Sammi hesitated, not wanting to tell him about their conversation, but also not wanting to lie. “I did speak with her briefly the other night. She was still awake when I started my shift, and she was one of my residents for the night. We spoke for a few minutes before she went to sleep.”
None of that was a lie, and Sammi hoped that Levi would just leave it alone. Of course, that wasn’t to be.
“Did she treat you okay?”
“At first, she was kind of…harsh. She had stayed up specifically to talk to me. Perhaps had even asked that I be her nurse. I’m not sure.” She gave a shrug. “Anyway, by the time I had to move on to the next resident, she was calm and had listened to what I said to her.” She kept her gaze on Levi. “Perhaps she took what I said to heart.”
“It would seem so,” Levi said, a curious look on his face. “Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed my mom until I had her back.”
Sammi was relieved that Levi wasn’t upset with her for interfering, although it hadn’t been her fault since his mom had specifically asked for the conversation. She felt tears prick her eyes as she thought of what she had lost so far with her own mom. Though there were times when she would look at Emily sitting in her bed, and it would be like nothing had happened. But then everything would change when Emily tried to move, and her body would not respond the way she wanted, or she’d try to say something, and the words would come out jumbled. Frustration moved to anger quickly for her nowadays. Too quickly.
Amy asked some questions about what had happened with Donna, and Levi shared information about the accident. Sammi hadn’t known the exact details of what had occurred, she’d just read the charts to know her physical condition. The details of what had led to her paralysis hadn’t been included there except that she had sustained her injuries in a car accident.
As he related details, Sammi couldn’t imagine how it would be if she’d had to deal with her mom’s situation all on her own the way Levi had to with Donna. Knowing that others could step in when it became too much for her, was a blessing. One that Levi had not experienced.
When they had finished eating, Levi took care of the bill despite their protests. As they were leaving the restaurant, Levi touched her arm, bringing her to a stop. Amy and Henry continued walking toward where their cars were parked.
“Would it be okay if I joined you for the service tonight?” he asked, his blue gaze serious. “Keenan said that I might enjoy it.”
Sammi nodded. “I think it will be a good service. Not entirely entertainment though, just so you know.”
“I know. Keenan gave me a brief run-down on what to expect.”
“I’ll see you there then,” Sammi said. “Thank you again for lunch. You didn’t have to do that.”
“You’re welcome.” Levi dropped his hand, and they turned to walk to where Amy and Henry stood watching them.
“I approve,” Amy said as Sammi started up her car a few minutes later.
“Approve?” she asked, looking over her shoulder before backing out of the parking spot.
“Of Levi. He’s way better than Jayden. They’re not even in the same stratosphere.”
“Levi will be a good dad to the baby.” Sammi exite
d the parking lot in the direction of Amy’s house. “I got lucky with that. I could have ended up with a real dud getting pregnant the way I did.”
“Yeah, you could have. But I think Levi will make more than just a good dad.”
Sammi gripped the steering wheel. “I don’t think that’s something I can consider right now. For now, all it can be is him being a dad.”
“I understand,” Amy said, not giving Sammi any more hassles about it, for which she was eternally grateful.
After dropping Amy off, Sammi drove home, wondering what would greet her when she got there. The nurses were a big help on the physical side of caring for Emily, but her mom was still resisting having them around, even though she was aware that they were there to help her. The therapy she needed was going to start up in the next week. Equipment had been purchased once again by Max Zevardi so that they didn’t have to take her mom out to any more appointments than absolutely necessary. Apparently, he was also providing the therapists who would work with her to help her with her speech and to begin to regain use of the limbs that had been affected by the brain bleed.
The house was quiet when she arrived, so Sammi scooted upstairs to take a nap before going to the evening service. For the first time in a week, she wasn’t plagued by anxiety and worry over things between her and Levi as she lay in her bed. She was happy that even though they hadn’t had a chance to talk, the tension between her and Levi had eased to the point where she was actually looking forward to seeing him that night. She hoped that he felt the same way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Maya and Gabe had offered to stay with their mom, so their dad was able to attend the evening service. He was seated down near the front with the rest of the family, but Sammi had once again chosen to sit closer to the back. This time it wasn’t so much about avoiding being with her family, but more about wanting Levi to be able to find her when he arrived. Amy sat with her, having asked more than once, in a few different ways, if Sammi thought that Henry might be coming again.
A few minutes before the service was scheduled to start, Levi slid into the pew beside Sammi, Henry in tow. He gave her a quick smile that did more to her heartbeat than she wanted to think about right then.
Believing in Tomorrow: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 4) Page 24
