Patricia Johns - The Deputy's Unexpected Family

“So it was never personal,” he said with an arched eyebrow. “Is that what you’re saying?”

She sighed. “Maybe it was personal. If someone’s against your relationship, it’s hard not to be, right? So I’ll take responsibility for that. I thought you would use my friend, and I didn’t hide my opinion.”

“I didn’t use her.”

“But you weren’t good for her.”

“Yeah, well, we might agree there,” he said with a shrug. He turned away from her again and started scanning the store’s floorboards. He was being thorough if nothing else. She couldn’t help but follow his gaze, wondering what he was expecting to find.

“How does it feel to be home for a little while?” she asked after a few beats of silence.

“Awful.”

She started to laugh, thinking he was joking, then she sobered. “What? Oh, you must mean with your grandmother’s passing—”

Gabe walked away again, heading toward the counter. He peered into the back room, his head swiveling around to get a good look. When he remerged, his expression was different...gentler.

“Now that she’s gone, I guess there’s no harm in telling the truth,” Gabe said. He turned his arm over and tapped a scar. “That was from her.”

“What?” Harper looked closer—it was long and pale. He’d been cut deeply.

“She came at me when I’d been caught with a cigarette. I fell into some rocks.”

Harper’s mind reeled. “Wait... Came at you?”

“She wasn’t the woman everyone thought she was,” he said bitterly. “And I was a constant disappointment.”

“Gabe, I had no idea...” Harper ran a hand over her brow. “Did you tell anyone?”

“Nope.” Gabe shrugged. “We all have baggage. Mine is a little harder to set down, I guess.”

“So being back here in Comfort Creek...it’s not ideal,” she clarified.

“You could say that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” He shot her a small smile. “It’s just life.”

It wouldn’t be Zoey’s life; that was for sure. Zoey would be loved and supported. She’d be appreciated, and when she was disciplined, it would be with gentle firmness. No child should have to live like that. It wasn’t “just life.” Harper sighed.

“Andrea told me that you didn’t want kids. Was your grandmother part of that?”

He shot her a quirky smile. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me now, Harper.”

“I’m not. I’m just curious. Like...if you’d somehow stumbled into parenthood, would that have been so bad?”

“Oh, like you did, you mean? Let’s put it this way—I’m not anyone’s first pick for godfather,” he said with a chuckle. “I know better than to agree to those roles.”

“No, I meant—” How could she even say this? It was delicate, and he wasn’t making this any easier. How was it that Gabe hadn’t pieced any of this together yet? Gabe raised an eyebrow and gave her a sardonic look.

“What if you’d gotten Andrea pregnant?” Harper asked, lowering her voice.

“I didn’t.”

“Just for argument’s sake.” Harper pressed, glancing over to where Zoey sat at the counter with her crayons, just to make sure they weren’t overheard. “What if you had? Would you have just walked away?”

Gabe shook his head. “Look, Andrea and I weren’t going to get married. I know she wanted all of that, and I really didn’t. But it was more than that. She was a good woman, but she wasn’t entirely right for me. So if you’re thinking that we split up because of that alone—”

“No, no...” Harper heaved a sigh. “Let’s put Andrea aside. What if you did have a child out there somewhere?”

“I don’t know how to answer that,” he said. “I don’t tend to live my life by what-ifs. I’m a more pragmatic kind of guy. I’m not interested in the family life, and I take the necessary precautions. Or I did. I’m a Christian now, so I don’t cross those lines anymore, and I don’t play games. I don’t toy with women’s expectations. I put it out there pretty straight.”

“Would you want to know about that child, though?” she pressed.

“Hypothetically, yeah. Sure.” He eyed her curiously.

Zoey traipsed back across the room, a page fluttering in her grasp. It was just some swirls and dashes, but Harper knew the dedication her little girl put into those expressions of her feelings.

“It’s for you,” Zoey said, handing the picture up to Gabe with a proud smile. “It’s a house. And a dog. And a sun. And another dog.”

“Oh, very nice. Yes, I can see that clearly.” Gabe looked at the page for a moment, then folded it and put into his back pocket with the other picture. “Thank you.”

“Zoey, why don’t you draw a picture for me?” Harper asked with a smile. “I love your pictures.”

“Okay.”

Zoey headed off again, leaving Harper and Gabe in relative privacy once more. She knew what she had to do here. The longer she put this off, the harder this conversation would be. But more than that—this was for Zoey. Her daughter would ask questions, and if Harper stood between Zoey and her biological father now, she knew who the bad guy would be—her. Gabe was in Comfort Creek, and deep in Harper’s heart she sensed that there were more reasons to his arrival than just sensitivity training. God worked in weird ways, but it was always effective.

“Look, Andrea and I were over a long time ago,” Gabe said. “I’m sorry that I was a disappointment to her, but that’s all in the past.”

“Yes, of course.” Harper nodded. “I’m not trying to guilt you over the past. You two didn’t work out, and that’s not the end of the world. I’m asking because Andrea never told Zoey’s father about her, and now that I’m her mom, I’m left in a bit of an ethical dilemma.”

Gabe nodded. “So why didn’t she tell him?”

“I think it was a complicated situation,” Harper said delicately. “The relationship obviously didn’t last, and she had...her own worries, I suppose. But she decided not to. And now that the adoption is underway, I don’t want to do wrong by Zoey. I want to make sure that she has everything she needs, emotionally and physically, and I truly believe a little girl needs her daddy. I don’t want to raise her so that my own heart is full, but hers has a hole in the size and shape of her father. When kids grow up with a hole in their hearts, they spend a lifetime trying it fill it, and it seldom works out well.”

“Don’t I know it,” Gabe said softly.

His grandmother...she was still rolling that over in her mind. She’d never once suspected that Imogen Banks was anything less than the solid Christian woman she appeared to be.

“So do I tell him?” Harper asked. “That’s my question. Do I tell the father that he has a child, even if that news wouldn’t be welcome?”

Gabe was silent for a moment. “And you know this guy?”

“A little.”

“I could do a background check on him, if you want. Just to make sure he’s not...creepy, or something.”

Harper laughed softly. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. He’s a guy from town. So...not exactly a stranger.”

“Oh. Well—” Gabe shrugged “—I’d tell him. At least he’d know, and you could tell Zoey that you did your best.”

Tell him. She knew in her heart that she had to. Zoey’s needs had to come first, and while Andrea had done her best by her daughter, Harper wasn’t going to face God with Andrea, public opinion or her own excuses to back her up. She had to do the right thing.

“Besides,” Gabe said with a slow smile, “you can rest easy that most guys aren’t as messed up as I am.”

“That doesn’t really help.” Harper licked her lips, closed her eyes for a moment in a fleeting prayer for guidance over her words, then blurted out, “Because Zoey’s yours.”