Chapter 12 - The Child Garrett Feared to Love
Marriage changed less than Sarah expected.
Garrett remained stubborn.
Sarah remained independent.
Penny remained Penny.
But one issue lingered.
She called him Mr. Garrett.
Never Papa.
Garrett told himself it didn't matter.
Thomas was her father.
He would never replace him.
Then one afternoon Penny returned from Laramie crying.
Another child had told her Garrett wasn't her real family.
Sarah comforted her.
Garrett stood outside the door listening.
That evening Penny found him in the barn.
“Were you Jonathan’s papa?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still?”
Garrett swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Even though he's gone?”
“Always.”
Penny nodded.
“Papa Thomas is still my papa too.”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“Can I have two?”
Garrett stopped breathing.
“If you want.”
Penny looked up.
“Can you be my other papa?”
Garrett knelt.
His eyes filled instantly.
“I would be honored.”
Penny wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Papa Garrett.”
He shut his eyes.
Sarah watched from the doorway.
Garrett held Penny tightly.
But never possessively.
He understood that loving Penny did not erase Thomas.
Just as loving Sarah did not erase Elizabeth.
A heart was not a room where one person had to leave before another entered.
It could expand.
That evening Garrett showed Penny Thomas’s photograph.
“We should put this somewhere important.”
Penny chose her bedside table.
Then she placed Jonathan’s wooden horse beside it.
Two fathers.
Two sons and daughters.
Past and present.
Not competing.
Belonging.
Sarah found Garrett later on the porch.
“You did something beautiful today.”
“So did she.”
Sarah placed his hand on her stomach.
The baby kicked.
Garrett startled.
Then smiled.
“He's strong.”
“He?”
“Or she.”
Sarah laughed.
Penny shouted through the window.
“BISCUIT!”
Both parents yelled simultaneously.
May you like
“No!”
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