Page 10 of Fighting His Fate
Grace was livid,both from John’s grip on her elbow as he steered her out of the lounge and from this ridiculous turn of events. “Those babies need a safe and happy life with a family who will love them,” she insisted. “Champion looked like he was going to throw up, for God’s sake.”
“What you said to him back there was heartless and cold.”
“What I said to him was true, and you know it. Difference is, I’m standing up for those defenseless children while you’re pretending everything is fine.”
“I know it seems unlikely he could be good with kids—”
“Unlikely? It’s obscene.”
The color in his cheeks had spread to his chin and forehead. “You don’t know that, Grace. Just because he lives a different lifestyle than we do doesn’t mean he would be an unfit guardian.”
“Of course it does! You’ve seen him coming and going with all those women, staying up until all hours, getting drunk. There isn’t a man on this earth less capable of caring for these children than he is.”
“I highly doubt that. Besides, God works in mysterious ways.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, not now, John.” He cocked his head, and she knew she’d made a terrible mistake. Possibly not her first in this conversation.
“Not now?” he repeated.
Fuck.
She blew out air. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that I need to hear there’s somebody else who can watch these children who will take good care of them, and that they will be safe. I’ve been with them all night, so worried about what will happen to them—”
“They are not yours. Their lives, their path, will not be like yours.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” she snapped, instantly resentful of what he was implying, how he was using her past against her to prove his point. She bit down hard, forcing herself to unclench her teeth to plead her case. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to take care of a baby? And twins! Twins are a challenge for anyone. He said himself he can’t do it—”
“After you harassed him and shamed him with his lack of qualifications, yes.” He held up his hand. “He just lost his cousin and his friend. God has given him these children to care for, and we have to trust that is part of His plan.”
“God didn't give him these children, a hit-and-run driver and a weak blood relation gave them to him. You saw his face in there; he looked like he just got saddled with the weight of the world and all he was looking for was a way out.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
She crossed her arms. “Yeah? Well, I’m sure he’ll screw up.”
“Would you rather see them go into foster care? If they can even find an opening, which frankly is not very likely, at least for a few days, possibly weeks. So they’d be institutionalized until then, handed from one shift worker to another, without the familiar faces and sense of their parents.”
Memories assaulted her once more, a darkness she kept hidden beneath layers of security and love opening up to swallow her whole.
“I know that’s not what you want, Grace.”
An announcement came over the hospital address system. PAGING FATHER JOHN, PLEASE COME TO THE SIXTH FLOOR, STAT.
He ran his hand down his face and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry.”
She looked away, frustration and anger warring for the upper hand. “Go.”
He left her alone in the corridor with her thoughts. Foster care for days on end, possibly not even in a home. She bit her nail, her gaze focusing on a scene beyond the hallway in which she stood. Shift workers passing the babies from one to another.
Her heart ached with compassion and the desire to make a difference. But what was the alternative? Champion caring for twins he didn’t want to be responsible for and for whom he couldn’t properly care? And she’d be on the other side of the wall that separated their duplex, desperate to be the one in charge. “There has to be another way,” she whispered.
Champion entered the hallway, freezing when he saw her, then heading in her direction and walking right by.
“Where are you going?” she called.
“Home.”
Guilt tugged her limbs closer to the ground. “What about the babies?”
