Page 140 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“She’s a horse girl.She’s not going to get with anyone until her 20’s, if we’re lucky.”
“Speaking from experience?”
Victor snorted.“If it weren’t for Diego, then yeah.”
“Well, she comes from a long line of white trash.If she ain’t knocked up by 20, we can pat ourselves on the back for setting her right.”
“Yeah, what kind of trash gets knocked up accidentally?”
Johnny laughed.“God saw me make it to thirty without a baby mama and fixed that mistake real quick.”His smile faded, but his expression stayed serene.He grasped Victor’s hand.“I had a scare once with a girl I dated for a few months back in my early twenties.I knew for a fact I wasn’t gonna stick around with her, but before the test came back as negative, I remember thinkin’ God was givin’ me a chance to fix my daddy’s mistakes.I was ready for it.I almost felt sad when she told me she wasn’t pregnant.ThankGodshe wasn’t cuz I was a mess then and so was she but…” Johnny pulled Victor’s hand to his mouth to kiss the ring on Victor’s finger.“Maybe God really is lookin’ out for me.He heard my prayer back then and chose the right time in my life to deliver it.”
“Thought you weren’t religious.”
Johnny shrugged.“Desperate times and all that.
Victor was probably even less religious than Johnny, but he would like to believe in this idea of a dream deferred.They were always saying God worked in mysterious ways.Victor probably never would have chosen to pursue this particular dream, so God forced it on him.Victor still wasn’t sure whether to be mad about that or not.If he survived through it all, if everything fell into place in the way it should, then Victor would have the one missing piece in his life.He had his farm, his man, his niece—and now, a promise of a child.A curse right now, perhaps, but in the end, a miraculous gift he’d have the rest of his life to enjoy.
