A Cold Wife, Sweet Husband

Chapter Twenty

In the morning the next day, Jessica went to visit Helen. She was surprised to see Amber and Mrs. Walker there. Mrs. Walker had brought her four sons over. She occasionally brought her children over so the nursing home residents could enjoy talking to them.

What are you doing here? Helen asked. Shouldn't you be enjoying your honeymoon? Don't worry, Helen. We won't be getting an annulment. Jessica blushed as she recalled the way she and Leo had made that official. If that's true, then what are you doing back? Amber wondered.

Mr. and Mrs. Davidson turned out to be difficult people, Jessica replied. Helen cleared her throat. You should show her your baby, she told Mrs. Walker. Who knows, Jessica? You could be pregnant this very instant and not know it. Jessica shook her head.

Helen. Isn't it enough that I've consummated my marriage? Would you like to hold him? Mrs. Walker offered. Yes, I would. Jessica took the baby and smiled at him. Did you hear about Ryan?Mrs. Walker asked her. No. Jessica felt her blood turn cold. What happened to him? She couldn't bring herself to ask if he was sick, or worse.

Yesterday afternoon when the children were playing outside, he ran into the street. A man happened to be driving a horse buggy and didn't see him jump under it. Ryan's alright but his ankle got crushed. He'll have to go through life with a limp but he should be able to walk without a cane if he receives the proper help. Is he in the hospital?

No, Mrs. Walker answered. He stayed at the orphanage. He's still there if you want to see him. I'm sure he could use some cheering up.

I'll come with you, Amber offered. Jessica handed the baby back to his mother, said good-bye and walked to the orphanage with Amber. An idea came to her.

Amber, are you doing anything for the next two hours? No, I don't have any plans. Do you have something in mind? I was wondering if you would like to try one of Jim's pizzas again? It would be a good snack before dinner.

He does make good pizzas. Alright. They passed by a baby furniture and clothing store and Jessica paused. I wonder if Leo would be willing to adopt Ryan. I think he'd be willing to, especially because his uncle adopted him.

Amber's words broke Jessica out of her thoughts of what kind of crib and toys to buy Ryan. Speaking of Ryan, we should go see him.

***

Two hours later, Leo decided to go to his office. If he guessed right, his uncle would be there and he could explain the promise he made to Jessica the night before.

To his surprise, his uncle had been there the entire night and was carefully double-checking all of their doc.u.ments so they wouldn't face the same situation that Mr. Allen, Mr. Rivers and Mr. Dean had. Leo walked into his uncle's office.

Don't you ever sleep? Jonathan stopped reviewing the papers in front of him and looked at his nephew. You weren't supposed to come back for another week. What's wrong? A grin crossed his face.

Nothing. Well, there was that catastrophe at the Davidsons' house, but Jessica and I won't be getting an annulment. That explains the foolish smile on your face. But what happened with the Davidsons?

Leo sat down and placed his briefcase on the floor. Where do you want me to start? When his uncle didn't answer, he continued, Harrison Jr. was there at the Davidson residence, which I didn't find out until about five in the morning when he knocked on my bedroom door. And he spent the day with me and Mr. Davidson. We sat for twelve hours in that forest because that persnickety old man didn't find the deer that he wanted.

The animal had to be just right or he wasn't interested, and he found something wrong with every single deer that popped up.

Then I had a fistfight with Harrison and decided I had enough so I left and went back to his house. Mrs. Davidson refused to be hospitable to Jessica because Jessica accidentally broke a vase. The older man took a moment to absorb all the information.