Page 72 of The Payback Adventure
“Not since Toby left,” Sam answered.
“Toby?” Henry asked.
“He was going to marry Elisabeth,” Abby explained.
“He was a jerk,” Sam said. “He dumped her.”
That must be the guy she’d mentioned to him. Any man who would leave Elisabeth was definitely a jerk. The thought made Henry squirm.
“Sometimes adults have reasons for what they do, even if it appears bad at the time,” he said carefully, hoping they all, especially Elisabeth, would understand his actions this past month. “Reasons maybe they can’t explain or that don’t make sense to kids.”
“Oh, Toby had reasons,” Sam said. “He didn’t want us.”
Henry glanced in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t want…?”
“Me, Abby, and Caitlin. And Elisabeth wouldn’t leave us,” Sam admitted. “She said we were a package deal and gave Toby his ring back. Then she cried for a week.”
“I don’t remember an entire week of crying,” Abby said.
Sam gave her a lofty look. “You were too little then.”
Henry barely heard their bickering. Guilt deafened him. Swamped him. He’d originally thought the same thing about not wanting to settle down and have kids. But that had changed. He’d changed.
The Wheelers were a package deal. One he wanted.
Up till now, his life had been meaningless. His parties and adventures were fun, but nothing compared to the life he’d found on the farm.
With Elisabeth.
He’d tried to avoid responsibility. He’d tried to hang on to control. He’d tried not to let any of the Wheelers get close.
He’d failed on every front.
“Are you going to leave, too?” Sam probed.
Henry had intended to.
But now…
The thought of losing Caitlin terrified him. He didn’t pray—didn’t know the right way to pray—but he still prayed she would be okay. But if she recovered and he left, wouldn’t he lose her just the same? Lose her and Abby and Sam.
Lose Elisabeth.
What a jerk.
The Wheelers had welcomed him into their home, into their lives, and into their hearts. They loved him for him. Nothis name. Not his wallet. It was what he’d needed all along, but he hadn’t known it until now. Henry might not have started out as a family man, but that was what he’d become, and he wanted to remain one.
“I don’t want to leave.”
It was the truth. He could admit it to this boy when he’d barely acknowledged the truth to himself. Henry wanted to be a husband, a father, and a farmer. The best farmer Berry Patch had ever known. He wanted it all—love, marriage, and a happily ever after. Not only for himself but also for all the Wheelers. Especially Elisabeth.
Henry still had a lot to learn, but he was ready. He wanted the opportunity to try to be the man Elisabeth deserved in her life.
Would she be willing to give him the chance?
* * *
Henry ushered Abby out of the elevator on the neurosurgery floor at the Children’s Hospital, but Sam hung back. “Let’s go.”
