Page 21 of This Baby Business
After she gets used to me, and I can’t live without her.
He’d never had that in his life. Never had anyone he couldn’t easily walk away from. He had his parents to thank for that. They’d raised him so that he would depend on himself, and not on them.
But he couldn’t deny there were times he longed to get away. To be free to go back to the air force and let that be his entire life again. It was comfortable. Routine. A life he understood. As soon as that errant thought would cross his mind, though, he’d be consumed by guilt. He’d picture Grace’s angelic face as she slept, tiny mouth suckling in her sleep. He couldn’t leave her behind. She was his, and the truth was he could no sooner give her up than he could stop flying.
“Levi, please don’t say you’re doing this.” Sarah had tears in her eyes. “A baby is such a wonderful gift.”
“Look at what you’ve done! You made Sarah cry,” Cassie said.
“I’m okay.” But she threw her head back, presumably to keep the tears from rolling out.
Cassie sighed. “It can’t go on forever. Sooner or later they’ll give up and regain their senses. Figure out that they’re too old to start over and raise a baby. Then maybe you can just let them see Grace every once in a while. Just to be a part of her life.”
They’d gone so far now he wasn’t sure he could ever trust them with Grace. But he wanted to. She needed an extended family. He still wondered if his own parents ever intended to come back stateside to meet their only granddaughter. Of course, they’d said they would, but they said a lot of things.
“You’re wrong. They requested an emergency screening. Claimed they fear for Grace’s safety in my care.”
Cassie slapped the counter with her newspaper. “What do you need from us? Character witnesses? Whatever you need.”
“Me, too,” Sarah said. “And you know Matt is there when you need him. Anything.”
When he’d held Grace in his arms for the first time, he’d had no idea how much his life would change. And continue to change. The hits just kept coming. When would they stop? By the time all was said and done, he might not recognize his life at all.
Matt came out of nowhere, let himself behind the counter of the Snack Shack, and wrapped his arms around Sarah’s waist. “Hey, babe. What are we talking about?”
“Levi has some trouble.”
“Oh, yeah?” Matt smirked. “Women, right? That’s his usual trouble.”
Sarah turned in the circle of Matt’s arms and smiled at him. “Tell him. Tell him how easy it is to say, ‘I was wrong, and you were right.’”
The idiot man didn’t even blink. He simply appeared to have been hit with the silly stick. “Sure. I was wrong. You were right.”
“See?” Sarah turned briefly to smile at Levi, then to Matt to give him a hug. “Easy.”
Matt took that opportunity to grin over Sarah’s shoulder and mouth to Levi, “I am so getting laid tonight.”
“I told you to listen to her,” Cassie said.
But Levi had already mentally checked out of the ridiculous display. He knew exactly what he had to do. Never one to back down, he’d take action and treat this like any other problem. Deal with it. Head-on. Just slice all the pesky emotions right out of the deal. It was surprising it had taken him this long to do it, which he’d blame on lack of sleep. Not being at the top of his game. He whipped out his phone and while Matt and Sarah were making out, he fired off an email to Sandy’s stepmother Irene, bypassing Frank altogether. Short. Sweet. Simple.
Let’s talk.
CHAPTER10
Irene
When the planelanded at San Francisco International, Irene Lane reached for her husband Frank’s hand and squeezed it.
“Maybe while we’re here we can check out one of those cute little B&Bs in wine country I’m always reading about inTravelmagazine.”
“Yeah, sure,” Frank grunted.
But after more than twenty years of marriage, Irene could interpret Frank’s grunts like an expert. That grunt meant, “Are you crazy, woman? We’re here to get Grace back, not to have a good time.”
She let go of his hand. “Can we stop here in San Francisco and visit the wharf?”
They hadn’t had a real vacation in years. Sue her if she wanted to take advantage of this trip to California. Of course, it helped that, unlike Frank, she had a strong sense of Levi Lambert. And he was no deadbeat dad. The email she’d received, which she’d kept secret from Frank, told the story. Levi wanted to work something out. She knew better than to tell Frank, because, with his usual flair, he’d make a federal case out of it. Accuse Levi of trying to play them against each other. Insist he had a plan to come between them.
