Chapter 37
“Are you okay?” Benjamin eyed Summer, who had curled into a ball on the couch the moment they’d gotten home from a celebratory lunch at Dad’s. She’d grown quieter and quieter as the day went on. Not that Benjamin blamed her. After the weeks of stress and wondering what would happen to Max, finally having the answer they’d been praying for was overwhelming.
Summer looked up with a start. “Where’s Max?” she asked quietly.
“Playing in his room. I told him we could all go to the park in a little bit, but I can take him by myself if you don’t feel up to it.”
Summer shook her head, but he wasn’t sure if that meant no, she didn’t feel up to it, or no, she would go along.
“It’s been an overwhelming day.” He lowered himself to the couch next to her, resting his hand lightly on her leg. “It’s okay to need some time to process it.”
“Stacy didn’t come,” she whispered.
“I know.” He brushed at a stray hair hanging over her cheek. “It was an answer to our prayers.”
But she shook her head. “We got married because Stacy was going to contest the guardianship. But she didn’t.”
“I know,” Benjamin said patiently. Clearly Summer was trying to work through something. “God worked everything out.” He had been a fool to ever doubt that God had things in his control.
Summer shook her head harder. “No. Don’t you see? We wouldn’t have had to get married at all. I could have gotten the guardianship myself, and you would have been free to—”
“You don’t know that,” Benjamin interrupted. “Even before we knew Stacy planned to contest it, Don said he wasn’t sure you’d be able to get guardianship on your own. That’s why I asked you to marry me in the first place. You were just too stubborn to say yes until Stacy came along,” he teased.
But instead of easing into a smile, Summer’s frown deepened. “I have guardianship now,” she said, her voice oddly detached.
“We have guardianship,” Benjamin corrected, his stomach suddenly tightening.
“But we don’t have to be married to keep it.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, but it lashed at Benjamin.
“What are you saying?” He was pretty sure he didn’t want to know the answer, but he couldn’t keep himself from asking.
“I’m saying.” Her lips trembled, but she didn’t look at him. “That we can still get an annulment, since we haven’t . . .”
Benjamin reared back. Was this why she had kept her distance from him, so she could use him and then leave him?
“When I said, ‘for as long as we both shall live,’ I meant it.” He had to work to keep his voice under control. “Did you?”
“I’m not going to hold you to that.” She finally turned to him, but her eyes were too guarded for him to read anything in them.
“Hold me to it?” Benjamin grabbed her arms. “It’s not something you’re holding me to. It’s a vow I made before God.”
“I think he would understand,” she said, “given the circumstances.”
“The circ—” Benjamin got up and paced to the window. “For heaven’s sake, Summer, do you even hear yourself right now?”
A blast of sound made them both jump, and Summer snatched her phone up off the coffee table.
Her face went chalk white as she looked at the screen.
“What’s wrong?” He strode toward her.
“It says Fuller County,” she whispered. “You don’t think Stacy decided to contest it now?”
Benjamin shook his head. “I’m sure it’s only a follow-up call. Everything has already been decided. They can’t change it.”
Summer swallowed and nodded, but her voice shook as she said, “Hello?” She paused a moment, then said, “This is Summer Ellis.”
Benjamin flinched a little at her use of her maiden name.
The silence stretched as Summer listened, sinking deeper into herself and biting her lip. Benjamin retook his seat on the couch next to her. She reached for his hand and gripped it, and a little knot of fear worked its way through him. He stared at the phone as if that would make the unintelligible sounds he heard from the other end arrange themselves into words.
“Today?” Summer finally asked. She listened again. “Okay. Yes. I’ll be there. Thank you.” She closed her eyes and sat with the phone still pressed to her ear, though there were no longer sounds coming from the other end.
“What is it?” It took all of his strength not to let impatience leak into his voice.
Summer lifted her head but seemed to be looking through him. “It was the medical examiner’s office. I forgot that I agreed for them to do postmortem genetic testing on TJ. It was some sort of pilot program or something . . .”
“And . . .” Benjamin squeezed her hand, and she seemed to shake herself, withdrawing her hand from his.
“And they want me to come in to discuss some of the findings, that’s all.”
“What kind of findings?” The knot of fear in his gut cinched tighter. He’d never mentioned to her the research he’d done into sudden heart failure after TJ’s death because he hadn’t wanted to scare her. But if the genetic testing had found something . . .
Summer looked away. “They didn’t really say. But they can see me today at four, so if I leave now, I should be able to get there on time.”
“Should we bring Max?” Benjamin asked. “Or do you want me to call Mia to see if we can drop him off on the way?”
“Mia has class on Friday afternoons,” Summer reminded him. “You stay here with him, and I’ll go.”
“You’re not going alone.” Benjamin had already pulled his phone out and sent a quick message to the family chat.
“I’ll be fine,” Summer argued. “Really.”
“I’m coming. Really.” His phone buzzed, and he quickly read the replies to his message. “Lydia says she can watch Max. Let’s go.”