A Life Less Ordinary by Victoria Bernadine Read Free Book Online Page A

always busy!”
    She
smacked the cash out button with more force than necessary and walked rapidly
to the ticket-cashing machine, Hub hard on her heels.
    “So
you come here – abandon your children -”
    “Oh
my God – I’ve been gone for two hours!  You’ve been emotionally gone for the
last five years!”
    Hub
growled, “I don’t appreciate being pulled away from work -”
    “Yeah? 
Well, I don’t appreciate being a single parent while I’m still married!  It’s
time you picked your head up from your work and started paying attention to
your children!  And while you’re at it, you’d better start paying attention to
me, too!  Before it’s too late.”
    * * * * *

Minus One Day
    TJ
and Leah anxiously waited for the doctor to arrive.  TJ glanced at Leah as he took
her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
    “No
matter what he tells us, we’ll find a way to have a baby,” he told her softly.
    She
smiled although she remained tense and alert.
    “I
know we will,” she said and squeezed back.
    TJ
shifted his chair closer to hers and kept a firm, warm grip on her hand, their
fingers laced together, as the door opened and the doctor walked in carrying a
file.
    He
greeted them with a gentle smile as he sat at his desk.  He opened the file,
then met their anxious stares. 
    “As
you know, the test results have come back.”  His gaze shifted to TJ.  “I’m
sorry.  Your sperm count is very low.  Which means Leah’s chances of getting naturally
pregnant by you aren’t good.”
    TJ
and Leah’s faces fell, devastation in their eyes.  The doctor gave them a
reassuring smile.
    “There
are, of course, many other options you can explore.  A donor, perhaps IVF,
fertility treatments, adoption.  There’s no need to decide immediately, of
course.  I’ll pull together some information on the options for you to review,
if you’d like.  Please.  Take your time, think things over.  There’s still a
very slim possibility you could conceive naturally, but – I’m sorry - the odds
are extremely low.”
    TJ
glanced at Leah.  She looked as sick as he felt.  He gave her a twisted smile.
    “I...I
guess you can’t call me Stud anymore,” he joked weakly.
    Leah
stared blankly at him before she half-chuckled then burst into tears.  TJ
pulled her to him and held her as she sobbed into his shoulder.
    ~~~~~
    Zeke
sat in the spare room at TJ and Leah’s house, his laptop open in front of him. 
He stared at the blank screen, the blinking cursor, for a few moments and
thought about everything that had happened in the last two weeks leading up to
tomorrow’s departure.  He thought about Manny, Daisy and Rebecca; about TJ and
Leah’s disappointment; about Dixie’s decision.  He took a sip of his beer, drew
in a deep breath, and began to type.
    Is
it ever too late to change?  To make an effort to grasp life in both hands and
wring every ounce you can out of it?
    Rebecca
put the finishing touches on her outfit just as the doorbell rang.  She greeted
Jackson with a smile and a kiss, then led him by the hand into the living room
where she fixed him his favourite drink.
    Sometimes
change happens without our consent or even our knowledge.
    Daisy
checked on each of her sleeping children in turn, and smiled at the sight of
their tousled heads on their pillows.  They each looked much younger than
seventeen and fifteen.  She quietly shut the door on Janika’s room, and walked
out to the living room.  With a significant look at Hub, she grabbed her purse
and left the house. 
    She
strolled from her car to the casino, and smiled when she saw her favourite slot
game was free.  She sat down, fed a twenty into the machine and ordered a drink
from the waitress.  She sighed, leaned back and began to play.
    Sometimes
it happens because of past mistakes.
    Zeke
glanced at the small framed picture beside the computer.  It showed him with a
huge grin on his face, his arms around a smiling Dixie.  TJ had taken it