the baby okay?”
Was it okay a baby was involved? No. Was it acceptable that Karin’s pummeled body would have that to cope with, too? Okay that his wife—his wife—would be a mother but he wouldn’t be a father?
He cleared his throat. “So far, the baby’s fine.”
“Thank the Lord for that. Where are you now? At the hospital?”
“I’m home. Getting a few things.”
“Ah. Karin’s satin pillowcase. She hates regular ones. Me? I prefer Egyptian cotton.”
Josiah headed for the bedroom to grab the satin pillowcase. He should have thought of it earlier.
“How are you holding up, Josiah? How are you feeling?”
Truthfully? Like a prisoner of war robbed of every trace of normalcy, every smidgen of joy. “I’m doing all right. Tired.”
“I’ll get the prayer team mobilized.”
“Thanks. That means a lot.”
“When do you think I can see her? Should I wait a day or two?”
Or six. Or a dozen. “I don’t know, Janelle. I really don’t know at this point. I’ll stay in touch.”
“Please do. Wow, what a mixture of joy and sadness, huh? The baby, but now this?”
She thinks the baby’s mine, or she wouldn’t say that. Karin didn’t tell her friend everything. “About the child, Janelle.”
“I understand. Keep it quiet for a while. You let me know when you and Karin have had a chance to talk about the right moment to share your news.”
“Yeah. I’ll do that.”
She hesitated longer than her normal millisecond before filling the blank space with more words. “I’m so grieved over this.”
“Me, too.” Deeper than you know.
“You’re heading back to the hospital then?”
“Yep. Woodlands. Did I mention that? As soon as I find Sandi. She bolted on me.” Seems to be a habit among my womenfolk.
“Woodlands? Okay. Please know we’re going to pray Karin through this.”
“Thanks. I’m counting on it.”
He ended the call before Janelle could invent something more to say. Where did he leave his coat? Time to locate that fool dog.
If you’d told him a week earlier that both his wife and his dog would leave him—sounded like a sappy country-and-western ballad—he would have blasted both ideas out of the water. Faithful as the day is long, both of them.
Shows how much he knew. Perceptive. His counseling clients used the word perceptive to describe him. Boy, did he have them snowed.
Josiah knew he was rough around the edges. He hadn’t known he was rough around his core. Deep inside breathed a monster that considered abandoning his wife’s bedside to search for his dog.
The pain in his brain over driving away from the house without locating Sandi ran a ridiculously close second to the sensation he felt when he didn’t find Karin waiting for him in the kitchen.
He’d made the tough calls to let the neighbors know he was looking for his dog and, oh, by the way, his wife was in the hospital. Sympathy on all fronts. Yes, they’d keep an eye out for Sandi. Did he need anything? Anything they could do?
Anyone know the name of a good lawyer?
He wrapped the vile thought in an imaginary paper towel and threw it in the garbage can.
Driving past the impound where Karin’s car lay in state probably wasn’t the smartest idea in his current string of dumb ideas. The sight crumpled him with creases deeper than those in the mangled steel. Her car looked like a public service announcement for not texting and driving. The driver’s side took the hardest hit. Despite what Wade had done to steal Karin’s heart, no one deserved to be pancaked like that. Josiah’s stomach cramped as he stared, hands gripping the cold wire fencing that kept him from getting closer without permission. He didn’t have to search for someone to blame. Wade had volunteered. Probably driving too fast for conditions. Or in the process of trying to text Josiah. But why? Wade wasn’t the gloating kind on the golf course. Josiah couldn’t see him gloating over this. Probably driving too fast.
But that didn’t make any more sense than the rest of it. The man single-handedly ran a six-day-a-week delivery service. He’d logged more miles on the road in bad weather conditions than most. How could he have lost control?
Josiah pushed away from the fence. The same way Wade lost control of his morals, it appeared. The same way he took his hands off of his marriage vows with Leah so he could convince Karin there was something better for her than Josiah. That’s how.
Leah. Josiah waited, bracing himself now against the roof of his completely intact vehicle while he said a prayer for the woman who’d lost her husband. Had she driven past this mangled steel? What must Leah be going through?
In professional mode, he would have called and offered to talk her through the early stages of loss. But Leah’s friend and coworker Karin had apparently attempted to run off with her husband. And at the moment Josiah and professional didn’t belong in the same sentence. Who does a marriage counselor call when his own marriage is in shambles?
No one. He couldn’t let his father be right about him, that Josiah created shambles, not fixed them. That Josiah didn’t measure up as a son worthy of respect, despite his accomplishments. That Josiah was an embarrassment as a man.
He couldn’t let his father be right.
Another of Karin’s sins. She’d made Josiah paranoid. As he crawled his way back through the entrance of Woodlands Hospital, tugging a wheeled duffle behind him, he dodged the glances of visitors and medical personnel alike. When had he ever been afraid to look someone in the eye? Did that person know the Chamberlains’ story? How many knew who he was? Did hospital gossip create its own version of why his wife lay broken and pregnant? The radio news reported the fatality and the fact that another injured party remained in critical condition. “No names released until family members are notified.” That must mean Leah hadn’t gotten to the end of her need-to-know call list.
Hey, Aunt Sally. Yeah, good to hear your voice, too. Just wanted to give you a quick call to let you know that Wade is deader than dead. We’ll send word around when we know details about the funeral. Oh, and can you bring your hot potato salad for the meal after? It’s always a hit at family gatherings. Love to Uncle Ross. Talk to you later.
Everything about this reeked. It stunk that Leah had to make calls like that—although
