“A little bit. I know it supports caregivers, but I didn’t apply for any support. I would have been able to pay my bill; I was going to get a payment plan set up. I don’t want to take away funds from someone who needs it more than I do.”
Caleb knew that his feelings for Taylor were deeper than he was ready to admit, even to himself, but hearing her concern over using resources other caregivers might need when, untilveryrecently, she didn’t have any support system, made him fall even deeper in love with her.
“Someone nominated you for assistance before you were hospitalized. Aurora told me she’d wanted to speak to you about it at the book club, but then, obviously, that didn’t happen.”
“Who nominated me? Did you?”
“No.” He shook his head. He would have if he’d thought about it, but he’d had a lot of other things on his mind. Like having a son he didn’t know about. “I don’t know who it was.”
His watch vibrated again, and at the same time Taylor’s phone dinged. Caleb looked down and saw that it was an alert saying Owen’s blood sugar was over two hundred. He glanced up and saw that Taylor’s cheek hollowed. Whenever she was nervous, she bit the inside of her cheek.
Over the past couple of weeks that he’d been receiving the messages about Owen’s blood sugar, he knew that it would be at least ten minutes before his blood sugar would begin to go down once he administered insulin. He figured he would try to keep her mind off of things until then.
“You know Jonah and Owen have a lot in common.”
“Yeah, that’s what Owen was saying. The basketball, video games, and dogs.”
“No, I was actually talking about how Jonah found out Gabe was his dad.”
Taylor stopped cutting and looked up at him. "Oh, Owen didn’t tell me about that.”
“Jonah’s mom, Emily, and Gabe hooked up in Vegas one weekend and then never saw each other again. She didn’t know how to get ahold of him and thought his name was Jake because he used his cousin Jake’s I.D. when he was there. Sadly, Emily passed away, which is why he was living with Adriana, who is his mom’s cousin. Adriana saw Gabe on TV when he was doing an interview for his comeback fight. She recognized him and realized he wasn’t Jake. Then she came to Hope Falls and basically did exactly what you did; she wanted to make sure that he was a good guy, which he was, or is. They ended up falling in love, and the rest is, well, history.”
“Was Jonah happy when he found out Gabe was his dad?”
“I think so, yeah. But Gabe was also his hero. He was a Gabe Maguire fan.” Caleb didn’t have any idea how Owen was going to take the news about him. He wanted to believe that he’d be happy, but he really had no idea.
“You’re not…” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you worried that Owen won’t be happy?”
“It’s not something I dwell on, but I’m sure he’s probably always thought about who his dad is. He’s probably imagined him a thousand times. I don’t know if I can live up to whoever that guy is.” Caleb rarely felt insecure, but this was definitely a time that he did. “I’ve missed out on so much of his life, and it would be completely fair if he was mad at me, even if he wasn’t sure why he was. I’m not putting any expectations on his reaction. Whatever it is, he has the right to feel it. I’m hoping that he’ll give me a chance to make up for the time I haven’t been in his life. But if he doesn’t want that, if he doesn’t feel comfortable with me, I’ll stay in the apartment above the garage and give you guys the house. Whatever he needs, or you need to feel comfortable.”
Taylor grinned. “I really don’t think it will come to that. Owen is very…pragmatic.”
“That’s not usually a word that describes an eleven-year-old.”
“I know, but he is. It’s one of the reasons people have always described him as having an old soul. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. If anything, he’ll be upset that I kept it a secret from him that you were his father. He’ll have every right to feel like I betrayed him. But, I’m hoping that he’ll understand my reasoning. He usually does. Sometimes it feels like he knows what I’m going to do before I do, like he’s two steps ahead of me.”
Like when she asked him to pack her a bag for the hospital, he’d already done it.
“Are you going to tell him that we got married?” Caleb found himself holding his breath.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I can’t keep something like that from him. When I tell him that you’re his dad, I’m going to tell him that we got married while I was in the hospital and the reasons why.”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that, actually.”
Her expression changed, and she began speaking very fast. “If you want to get it annulled, I completely understand. Or if Belinda didn’t file the license and you were scared to tell me it’s total?—”
“No, it’s not that at all. She did file it, and I don’t want to get it annulled.”
“Oh.” She exhaled.
Caleb was trying to figure out if it was a sigh of relief or regret.
“But if you’re having second thoughts, we can?—”
“No.” She shook her head.
“What I was going to say is, I’ve been feeling a little bit guilty, like I may have taken advantage of you. I prayed about it, and from the bottom of my heart, I truly believed that I was doing the right thing and still believe that. I do not have any regrets. I mean, I would love for you to wear my ring and wish that the wedding was more than just us exchanging vows while you lay in a hospital bed and we signed paperwork, but as far as you being my wife, zero regrets. But I am concerned that you agreed to marry me when you were vulnerable?—”
