The next morning, at the Donnellys’ house, Micah accepted Gemma’s invitation to come inside and have a cup of kaffi while Sean finished his breakfast. Glancing around the kitchen, he saw no sign of Katie Kay.
“She’s been sick every morning,” Gemma said when she noticed him looking around. “As I’ve told her, morning sickness should pass in a week or two.”
“I hope she realizes how blessed she is to have you,” he said as Jayden crawled in his lap.
The two-year-old wanted to show off the plastic cow he’d found at the bottom of the toy box. Because the little boy hadn’t seen it in a few weeks, he was as excited as if it were a brand-new toy.
Across the table, DJ was eating his cereal as if afraid someone was going to snatch it away from him. Drops of milk clung to the table, his chin and the napkin stuck in the neck of his shirt. Olivia nibbled delicately on her toast, and Micah smiled. There was something extra precious about a little girl amidst her rowdy brothers.
A no-longer-unexpected throb of jealousy cut through Micah. He’d hoped to have a family like this—or at least be beginning one—by now. If Katie Kay had been the woman he’d once believed her to be, maybe they would have been working together to have the life Sean and Gemma had.
He pretended to be enthralled with Jayden’s black-and-white plastic cow. He realized he was overdoing it when Sean shot him a curious glance. His partner knew him too well, but Sean didn’t know the whole truth about how Katie Kay had humiliated him.
As if his thoughts had summoned her, Katie Kay walked into the kitchen. She faltered and gasped when she looked at him.
“I thought you’d left already. That is, I heard—” She fled out of the room.
Setting Jayden on his feet, Micah stood and followed her. He stopped in front of her. If she pushed past him or edged around him, he wouldn’t halt her, but he hoped surprise would pause her in her tracks.
It did, and she gave him the frown he was familiar with. The frown told him she didn’t want him in her life any longer. Well, too bad. As long as she was living under his friends’ roof, she was going to have to put up with seeing him. He’d rescued her from beside the road, so he was responsible for her...as he would have been if she’d been an abandoned kitten. And he couldn’t ignore her unborn boppli.
“Are you going to keep running away forever?” he asked.
She blanched, and he regretted the words. As he started to apologize, she waved his words aside. “I don’t want you lying to me, Micah.”
“I don’t want to lie either, but I could have been nicer.”
“You could have.” A faint smile played at the corners of her mouth. “I’m assuming you have something to say to me other than less-than-nice questions.”
“Ja. When are you going to see a doktor?” He shook his head. “Knowing you, I guess that’s not the question I should be asking.”
Her whisper of a smile weakened. “No, it’s not.”
Before she could tell him—again—that he needed to stay out of her life, he hurried to say, “The question I should be asking is, have you seen a doktor yet?”
“I just found out I’m... I’m going to have a boppli.” Color rose in her cheeks with the vibrant pink hue that had fascinated him from the time they were kinder. She’d been brimming with excitement back then, and he’d been drawn to the shade like a rabbit into a snare.
Telling himself to focus on the present and forget the past, he said, “You should see a doktor or a midwife right away. There’s a birthing clinic in Paradise Springs. I’ll take you there.”
Her face seemed to thin as it paled once more, as if life had been sucked out of her. “I can’t go to a clinic in Paradise Springs. Not yet.”
He jammed his hands into the pockets of his work coat so she wouldn’t see how they curled into frustrated fists. “Stop thinking only of yourself! You need to make sure your boppli is growing well.”
“I’m not thinking only of myself.”
“No?” He was pushing her, but she had to be sensible. Hiding at his friends’ house was preposterous. He’d guessed she’d stay with the Donnellys for a night or two and then go home to her own family.
She walked to the front window. When Gemma hurried past them with DJ, making sure he wasn’t too late to catch the school bus, Katie Kay didn’t turn to look at them or him.
The moment the door closed behind Gemma and her son, Katie Kay said, “All I’ve been thinking about is the boppli. I’m trying to figure out what’s best for him or her.”
“Keeping the boppli away from its family is...” He amended what he was about to say, knowing she wouldn’t take it well. “It can’t be right.”
“I know. It should be simple, but it’s not, Micah.” She looked at him.
He wondered if he’d ever seen such honest emotion on her face. It revealed the uncertainty she was wrestling with. He was crossing the room to her before he realized what he was doing. He pulled her into his arms and wasn’t surprised when his shirt dampened with her tears.
Lord, he prayed, it hurts to see her brought low. I know she is too proud, but please lift her up so she can see the right way to go.
A throat was cleared behind him, and he glanced toward the kitchen door to see Sean and the younger kids there. His friend looked concerned, but Micah couldn’t guess if his anxiety was for Katie Kay’s tears or because Micah was trying to comfort her. Should he have avoided trying to ease her pain?
With a sigh, he knew Katie Kay wasn’t the only one who needed to make tough decisions...and stick with them.
* * *
Katie Kay wasn’t sure how Micah had arranged it, but the following morning, he told her he’d set up an appointment for her in two days at the birthing clinic in Paradise Springs after it closed for the evening.
“That way, nobody will see you go in or out,” he said as he held out the page where he’d written the name of the midwife she would meet with.
Beth Ann Overholt, she read.
“Do you know her?” Katie Kay asked. “Will she say anything to anyone?”
“Beth Ann is a professional and doesn’t gossip about her patients. She’s delivered several of the bopplin for our family.” He shook his head. “How did you get suspicious of everyone and everything?”
She looked again, ashamed of what she had to admit. “The hard way. People I trusted turned away from me.”
“People? What people other than your ex-boyfriend?”
Astonished, she raised her eyes, and the intensity of his gaze seared her. “Isn’t that enough?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Because if you keep acting as if you expect to be ambushed any minute, you’re never going to fit into our community.” He raised one hand to halt her before she could retort. “Don’t say it. I know you haven’t decided to return to the plain life.”
“I haven’t.”
“But what are your plans if you don’t go home?”
Katie Kay was glad when Sean called out from the kitchen to let Micah know he was ready for work. Sean had been avoiding her since he’d witnessed Micah trying to console her yesterday. Her host hadn’t said anything, but she caught his glances, swiftly disguised, in her direction. He wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt his friend again.
How much did Sean know about what had happened between her and Micah? Enough so he felt protective of his partner.
She should find another place to live, but where? Micah’s question echoed in her mind. What were her plans if she chose not to return to her daed’s house?
Katie Kay knew she couldn’t put off making the decision much longer. To do so, she needed to come to terms with her past. Not just with Micah, but with Austin. Being around Micah made her feel confused because he was her sole connection with the life she’d lived until a few months ago.
But it was time to move forward. She owed the boppli that much. Hoping she wouldn’t regret it, she picked up the telephone and called Austin’s number.
* * *
“Eyes on the job, Micah,” Sean warned.
Micah knew his friend was half joking. All day, he’d been distracted, replaying the conversation he’d had with Katie Kay over and over. The memory of their sharp words matched the tempo of the drill he was using to prepare the roof for the solar panel frames.
When he’d given her Beth Ann’s card, she’d seemed... What was the word he was looking for? Not quite relieved, but that was the closest description he could come up with.
If only Sean had waited a couple more minutes before they left for work. Micah had hoped he’d get an answer from Katie Kay about her future plans. He knew he was getting too mixed up in her drama, but how could he walk away when her daed was going to marry his mamm? And there was the boppli to consider. He knew she was in shock about being pregnant, but he couldn’t let her risk the little one while she came to terms with her changed life.
“Sorry,” Micah said, realizing he’d wandered off into his dilemmas again. “Lost in my thoughts, I guess.”
“No need to ask you whom you’re thinking about.” Sean adjusted the belt they used to keep them safe on the roof. “Be careful, Micah.”
“I’m trying to be.”
“Are you? You’re getting more involved every day.”
“I know.” Micah drove the screw into the framework and checked to see if it was square. He hoped Sean didn’t push further. In fact, if they weren’t standing on a roof, Micah would have found an excuse to walk away and put an end to the conversation.
Sean meant well. Other than his brothers, Sean was the man he trusted most in the world. Yet, Katie Kay was one subject he wasn’t ready to talk about with anyone, not even his best friend.
However, Sean didn’t seem to feel the same. Shifting the metal framework an inch lower, he asked, “Do you think she’ll leave again?”
“I have no idea what she’ll do. I learned that last year.” He hated the bitterness in his voice, but he’d always been honest with his partner. He wouldn’t let Katie Kay’s reappearance change that.
“When she dumped you?”
He paused as he was about to screw in the next bolt. Looking at Sean, he asked, “How do you know she dumped me?”
Sean gave a derisive snort. “Man, you’ve got the truth written all over your face. Every time you see Katie Kay, you either have a lovesick puppy expression or look like you wished you were a million miles from her.” He set the bolt he held into the metal beams to connect them together. “Even if I didn’t know you’d dated her, I’d know there had been some serious history between you two.”
“History is in the past.” He said that as much to convince himself as Sean.
And he failed, because his partner said, “But she’s here. It’s got to mean something.”
“Ja.” He couldn’t argue with that, but he wondered if she would have ever returned if her former boyfriend hadn’t forced her out of his car and into her old life.
Micah struggled to keep his mind on the day’s tasks. Every hour seemed to drag until it felt like a year. He was clumsy, and more than once, he had to dig another nut or bolt out of his pocket because his numb fingers had dropped the one he held. It wasn’t only his fingers that were numb but every inch of him.
The break for lunch didn’t help because, as he took a bite of the sandwich with the roast beef his mamm had made last night for supper, guilt flashed through him. He’d kept his promise to Katie Kay and hadn’t told anyone about her return, but each time he thought about Reuben, he recalled how sad the older man looked whenever someone mentioned his runaway daughter.
“Why don’t you come to supper tonight?” Sean asked as they threw their lunch trash into the dumpster in front of the house and put their lunch boxes in the van.
“You don’t have to feed me every night.”
“I know we don’t, but Gemma likes to have a chance to see you, and you know the kids adore you.”
“Tell Gemma some other night. Mamm mentioned she wanted to discuss her wedding plans with us tonight.”
Sean screwed up his face. “Be grateful she doesn’t want you to wear a rented monkey suit for the big event.”
Micah chuckled because he knew Sean was trying to jest him out of his dismal mood. He played along the rest of the afternoon, but he doubted Sean believed his joking and easy talk about sports and future jobs they had waiting for them.
Why should Sean believe that when Micah didn’t?