Angels Everywhere - Debbie Macomber [79]
He didn’t answer her right away. Instead he carefully studied her upturned face. “Something’s different.”
“It is?” she asked, beaming him a smile.
“I don’t know what, but it’s there in your eyes.”
Leah knew what it was. She was pregnant. Oh, heaven help her, she was diving into the deep end again and she hadn’t meant for that to happen.
She knew she was pregnant. Felt it to the very marrow of her bones, but she’d believed the same thing a hundred times before.
Now was different. The feeling she had now was as powerful as the night she met Andrew, but she couldn’t allow her sanity to rest on something as unmeasurable as a feeling.
“You’re sure you’re all right?” he asked, looking concerned.
“I feel wonderful,” she said, tightly hugging her husband’s waist. She closed her eyes, praying with all her heart that this wasn’t a sick joke her mind was playing on her.
From the moment she’d received the call claiming Jeff was alive, Jody had dreaded contacting her mother-in-law. She carefully bided her time and waited until Timmy was down for the night. Even then it had taken Jody another half hour to fortify her courage enough to reach for the phone. She didn’t know where she’d find the grit to face Jeff’s mother when she was in one of these moods.
“Hello, Gloria,” Jody said calmly, knowing she’d probably woken her mother-in-law from a sound sleep.
“Jody,” she said groggily, “is that you?” Not giving her time to answer, she immediately continued. “I’m so pleased you called me back. I know this news is as much of a shock to you as it is me, but—”
“Gloria,” Jody cut in calmly, unwilling to listen to any more. Her only chance of reaching Jeff’s mother was when she sounded composed and confident. “Jeff is dead.”
Someone had played the cruelest of hoaxes on them. “Who phoned you?” Jody demanded, and a telltale wobble came into her voice, betraying her slipping poise.
“I didn’t get his name,” Gloria explained. “You see, I was so excited that I wasn’t thinking clearly, but he sounded very professional. He gave me details.”
“What sort of details?” It was clear this line of questioning was flustering Jeff’s mother all the more, but for the sake of them all Jody had to get to the bottom of this.
“I can’t really tell you right this minute.”
“Did he say where he was calling from?” Jody asked more calmly this time.
“Oh, yes, he was in Germany. Such a nice young man. You see, the call woke me in the middle of the night. I didn’t believe him at first and then the more he talked the more I realized he was telling the truth. Jeff is alive. In my heart I always knew he was and now it’s coming to pass.”
“But wouldn’t the authorities have contacted me?” Jody asked.
“I . . . don’t know, dear. Maybe it has something to do with the divorce.”
“But surely they’d want me to know. After all, Timmy is Jeff’s son.”
“I can’t answer your questions, Jody. All I know is what they said.”
“And what was that?”
“I should have written everything down, but I was too excited, and I’m on this new heart medication that makes my mind go all fuzzy at times.”
Jody’s grip on the phone relaxed. “Was this one of those times, Mom?” she asked softly.
“Oh, no, this was all very real. I thought to call you right away, but—”
“But you didn’t,” Jody concluded when the older woman hesitated.
“No,” she admitted reluctantly.
“And why didn’t you?”
“Because,” Gloria said, following a heartfelt sigh, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me, and I was afraid we would end up arguing and I do so hate the thought of us disagreeing. You and Timmy are the only family I have left.”
Left. The details were quickly tallying in Jody’s mind. Her mother-in-law was taking a new heart medication, one that, at times, confused her and she’d been woken abruptly from a sound sleep. The episode was probably a very lifelike dream. Not entirely sure the phone call had happened herself, Gloria had delayed contacting Jody until the following evening.
Because she’d been so desperate to believe her son was alive, Jeff’s mother had clung to the dream, building it in her mind,