“It would bother him to know you went through that. Maybe shaking your schedule up and getting out of your comfort zone helped.”
She nodded, her own eyes focused on the view through the windshield. “Skunk trauma.”
He nodded and reached for her hand on the console between them. “Skunk trauma.”
Still a little tired from the drama of the day before, her humorous snort was muted. “Skunk and skank trauma. I’ll be making a decision by the weekend about Abilene.”
“Good. What about what happened with Vincent?”
“I’ll talk to Emma today and ask her how long we have to wait to see if I’m pregnant. If it turns out to be positive and I decide to go to Abilene, I’ll make things as easy as possible for everyone. Before you say anything, I’m trying to keep a long-term perspective on all of this. Lots of professional women are single moms.”
James squeezed her hand, warming it a bit. “Honey, you know if you’re pregnant, we want to take care of you, make a commitment to you…”
“Pregnancy is no reason to get married, if that’s what you’re suggesting—”
“No, but love is. And what if you decide to stay in Divine?”
“I won’t deny it would all be easier. But James, I do honestly have an interest in the store there. You need to know that.”
She braced for his anger but he just kept driving and his expression didn’t change. “Then you need to know I’ll do everything in my power to make you want to stay in Divine. I won’t force you, and neither will Vincent but we won’t make it easy for you to go, either.”
“You’re not upset?”
“No. I’m determined.”
Leah looked over at him. “You’re something else, you know that?”
He grinned at her. “I do. You’ll never find another man like me or Vincent.”
She nodded. “I know. Thank you for not getting upset.”
“I got an interesting e-mail this morning.”
“Oh yeah?” She was relieved by the change in topic but not surprised. James wasn’t the type to belabor a subject.
“Yeah. Maybe you can help me and Vincent decide what to do. He mentioned that he got a copy of the e-mail this morning, too, when you were brushing your teeth.”
“How can I help?”
“The lady who helped with coordinating the harvesting and donation of Patterson’s organs got in touch because she’s had a request from one of the recipients.”
“Oh?” Leah remembered how she’d felt when they’d had to physically remove her from Patterson because it had been time for the harvesting. She wasn’t sure how she could offer an unbiased opinion. “What do they want?”
James clasped her hand and rested it on top of his thigh as he drove. He stroked her palm and looked down at it for a second. She could see regret in his eyes as if he was reliving the memory, too. “The guy who received Patterson’s heart would like to meet us. She said he’d like to thank us in person and see a little of Patterson’s home and where he lived and worked.”
“How do you feel about that?”
He gazed out the windshield, focusing on the road ahead, and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Part of me says shouldn’t he just be happy that he got it and leave us alone? But…it’s a part of my brother. How could I deny him the chance to know about the man responsible for him still being alive?”
“Do you think maybe it’s his heart longing for home?” she asked softly, almost feeling silly for asking such a fantastical question.
He lifted her hand to his lips and said, “I wouldn’t discount the possibility, honey. Thanks for putting it into words. Would you be willing to meet him?”
She’d been afraid he’d ask that. “I don’t think…I don’t know. I don’t think I could do that without going back through what I went through the day he died.”
“Well, I definitely don’t want that to happen and I can promise you Vincent wouldn’t either.”
“Can you bear it? To know that his heart is beating and so close but Patterson is gone?”
“If this guy is wanting closure or to fill in the blanks, I can’t deny him that. To me, the right thing seems to be letting him come but you don’t have to be there if he does.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. She was just putting out a feeler for him. I’ll know more after we reply.” He jostled her hand to get her to look at him. “Don’t worry about it, honey, all right?”
Should she meet the recipient of Patterson’s heart? She’d probably clam up and not even be able to speak and put herself through the emotional roller coaster for nothing. Or worse, she’d break down all over again. It was probably flight of fancy, but a little voice whispered that although his heart no longer beat for her, this was someone Patterson had saved, with his precious gift, and he might want her to be there.