Against the Odds

Against the Odds

By Brenda Kennedy

***

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright 2015 by Brenda Kennedy

Cover Photo Copyright by Natalie Grasso
Photography

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This story is part of a trilogy. Books 1 and
2 have cliffhangers. 

Dedicated with much love to my Uncle and
Aunt, Tim and Sue Angle.  

 
***

Chapter One: Living a Nightmare

Leah

We go to the cemetery and visit Jamie. We
tell her no matter what she is our little girl, and we will always
love her. We drive to Bruce’s office mostly in silence. My sobs are
the only noise breaking the silence. I walk into the office through
blurred vision. I can barely remember how we got here. Robert and I
are led into a conference room. Bruce is already there waiting for
us.  

“
I’m sorry we’re late;
traffic was heavy,” Robert lies.  

“
That’s all right. Do you
need anything? Leah?” 

I shake my head no. I don’t look at him or
say anything. I can’t see through the tears. 

“
No, thank you,” Robert
says as he pulls out a chair for me to sit
on.  

When we are both seated, Bruce says, “I
haven’t opened these yet.” I look at him; he is holding up two
manilla envelopes. “We have the results from the hospital and also
the results from Mason and Alec’s office. Once we have the results,
then we’ll discuss a game plan if we need one.”  

I nod, again. I swallow the lump in my
throat. I can’t talk.  

“
Are you ready?” Bruce
asks.  

Robert holds my hand and says, “We
are.” 

My hands are sweaty and my knees are shaking
up and down. Robert tries to slow the movement of my knees with his
hands, but it doesn’t work. I hear the sound of the envelope
opening and I still. I can’t move. I can’t breath. I wait for what
feels like hours before Bruce speaks. I hear him say, “I’m sorry.”
I scream. I don’t hear anything else. I already know what the
results are. If she were our daughter, he wouldn’t have started a
sentence off with, “I’m sorry.”  

He continues, “Jamie is not your biological
child.” 

“
No!” I scream. I slide
from my chair onto the floor and cry. I can’t see through my tears
and I can no longer hear what is going on around me. I feel like
the dark cloud has consumed me and is choking me. This is almost
worse than her death. Now it’s like we never had her at all.
“Jamie,” I cry between sobs. 

Robert grabs my arm and pulls me into him. I
cry and try to crawl into my body. I don’t want to be here. I don’t
want to hear anything else. This can’t be true; this can’t be real.
I hold onto Robert as if he can keep the black cloud from claiming
me. It’s hovering close and I can feel it pulling at
him.  

“
Leah, it’s all right,”
Robert speaks with a cracked voice. 

I know that Bruce is in the room, I can feel
his presence, even though he is quiet. I take some deep breaths and
try to control the tears.  

“
Leah and Robert,” Bruce
says. 

I open my eyes and sit
carefully back into my seat. Robert follows me, never taking his
sad eyes from mine and never saying a word.
Be strong, Leah
, I beg
myself.
Be strong for yourself and for
Robert. He needs you.
  

“
Both results are the
same? The one from the hospital and the one from Mason and Alec’s
office?” 

“
I’m afraid so. It says
that you and Robert have O negative blood types while Jamie had B
positive. Parents with O blood types can have only a child with the
same blood type. There is no possible way that Jamie is your
biological child. I’m very sorry.” 

 “
Now what?” Robert
asks, quietly.  

“
Now we decide what you
both want to do. Do you want to meet her? Do you want visitation?
Do you want custody?” 

“
Yes,” I blurt out. “We
do.” 

“
Leah?” Robert says. “We
need to think this over. We need time to think this
through.” 

“
Robert,” I say as calmly
as I can. I am a wreck on the inside, so I need to appear calm on
the outside. “It’s all I have thought about. I tried to think
positively through all of this, but a part of me already knew that
Jamie wasn’t our biological daughter. She didn’t look anything like
you or myself. I didn’t care, she had her own beautiful, unique
look.” 

Bruce interrupts and says, “Leah and Robert.
I want you to understand, this won’t be easy. The other family will
be very upset that their child has passed. They may say things that
are unspeakable.” 

“
I don’t care. If our
biological child is out there, I want her.” I look at Robert and
then at Bruce. “I want to see her, meet her, and raise her. Robert
and I are wonderful parents, and we deserve to have our daughter to
raise.”  

“
Leah, I’m worried that
maybe you’re not strong enough.” Robert looks at me and I can see
the sadness and concern in his eyes.  

“
Robert, after the
accident you turned to drugs, and I got depressed. Never do I think
that you’ll ever make that mistake again.” I try to smile and I
hope he can see the strength in my eyes. “Please, don’t always
assume that when something gets tough, that I’ll get depressed. I
know you worry about me, but have faith in me. I’m not fragile and
weak.” 

“
I just worry about
you.” 

“
I know you do. This is
sad news and I’ll be sad, but it doesn’t mean I’ll get depressed.
Robert, we have a daughter.
Our
daughter is out there and she needs us. I can be
strong for her.” 

Robert holds my hand and squeezes it. “I know
you can.” 

“
Thank you.” I lean in and
kiss Robert. 

Robert

I kiss Leah before I look over at our
attorney, Bruce. “What do we need to do?” 

“
You don’t need to do
anything. The hospital will be in touch. I’ll let you know when
they do and I’ll start preparing the paperwork to file. Are you
sure this is what you want to do?” 

“
It is,” Leah and I say in
unison. 

We leave the attorney’s office and I call our
parents to meet us at our house. Leah and I go to the florist to
get Jamie some flowers. The florist also sells a variety of
trinkets and Leah searches a small bin of miniature stuffed animals
until she finds a bunny.  

“
Jack?” I
ask. 

“
Baby Jack,” she
corrects.  

We visit the cemetery and lay the flowers and
bunny down. Leah picks the weeds and brushes the leaves away. We
talk to Jamie like nothing has changed. The news we received today
doesn’t change anything when it comes to Jamie. She is still and
always will be our little girl. I loved her yesterday, I love her
today, and I’ll love her tomorrow. No matter what. 

We drive the distance to the house mostly in
silence. I know Leah is in deep thought trying to work everything
out in her head. I have no idea how all this will work out. Bruce
said people could say things that are unspeakable. Like what kind
of things? What could anyone possibly say? 

We pull up to the house and our parents are
already there waiting for us. They are on the front porch
talking.  

“
Are you ready, Sweets?”
Robert asks. 

“
I am.” 

I walk into the house after everyone. Dad and
Tim are carrying bags of food. We didn’t tell them why we wanted to
see them; they already knew. Leah, Sue, and Mom set the table while
Tim, Dad and I set the food and drinks out. They don’t ask why we
asked to meet them. Other than the clanking of the glass dishes,
the room is otherwise quiet. 

We say a prayer before we eat and I watch as
Leah fills her plate. I was worried she wouldn’t eat. We sit down
and Leah begins. “Our attorney called us this morning.” 

“
Are the results in?” Dad
asks.  

Leah looks over at me and I hold her hand
under the table. “They are. They revealed that Jamie couldn’t be
our biological child,” I say. Just saying those words out loud
causes a pain in my chest. I rub my hand over my heart to ease the
pain. It doesn’t work.  

“
I’m sorry…,” Mom begins
to say.  

“
Don’t be,” Leah says. “It
doesn’t change anything with Jamie. She was ours and she still is.
Nothing will ever change that.” 

Dad says, “What does this mean? What happens
next?” 

“
We wait. The attorney
will contact the hospital and he’ll file a motion for us to see our
daughter.” I look around the room at all the sad
faces.  

“
You want visitation
rights or custody?” Sue asks.  

“
Yes, we do,” Leah says,
sternly. “She’s our daughter; we want her. She belongs with
us.” 

Tim and Dad look at each other before looking
at me.  

“
Have you thought this
over?” Dad asks. “I know she is your daughter, but have you thought
about the repercussions of this?” 

“
What do you mean?” I ask.
Leah squeezes my hand under the table.  

Mom speaks up and says softly, “Robert and
Leah, have you thought about the other family?” She pauses and then
continues. “They will also want to see their daughter.” 

“
Jamie’s gone; I can’t
help that,” I say. 

“
I understand that. What
if they want to claim her body, or move her gravesite? What if they
want to exhume her body and have her cremated?” 

Leah stands and runs into the bathroom. “I’ll
go with her,” Sue says as she stands.  

“
I’ll go, too,” Mom
says. 

I stand from the table and pace the floor. “I
didn’t think about that. I didn’t think for one minute about Jamie
being taken from us.” I pace again and say, “We’ll lose all rights
to her. They could exhume her tiny, little body and take her
someplace else. We may not have access to her,
ever.”  

“
Robert that is a
possibility. There’s no way to know what will happen. We just
wanted you to consider that as a possibility,” Dad
says.  

“
I need to check on
Leah.”  

I walk into the bedroom and I can hear Leah
dry heaving. I walk into the bathroom and Mom and Sue wiping Leah’s
forehead with a damp cloth.  

“
I’ll help her,” I say as
I dampen the cloth to make it cooler.  

She stands up and flushes the toilet. “We
can’t win, can we? Right when I thought it might be easy, it’s not.
Nothing we ever do is easy.” I watch as Leah walks over to the sink
and washes her hands. “I love Jamie, I don’t want someone
prohibiting us from visiting her grave, or relocating
it.” 

I don’t know what to
say.
They won’t, they’re not.
I can’t say that and know for certain it’s the
truth. The truth is, I have no idea what will happen. We gain a
daughter and we lose Jamie. “I hug Leah close to me and wrap my
hands in her soft black hair. I don’t say anything. I can’t.
Everything I say will be a lie. There’s a tap at the door and Leah
wipes her tears before answering it.  

“
I just wanted to check on
you.” Leah’s dad is standing on the other side of the
door.  

“
I’m fine. Just facing
reality.” 

Leah

Everyone leaves and I lie down next to Robert
in bed. He turns off the light and we just lie there listening to
our breathing. I don’t talk, I can’t voice my concerns. The baby
kicks and it reminds me of what’s important.  

A dream wakes up in the
middle of the night and I walk downstairs. I pass Jamie’s room and
the small nightlight is on. Jamie was afraid of the dark. I never
understood it, until now.
The monsters and
demons can and will haunt you.
  

It’s just after four and I make a pot of
decaffeinated coffee. It will be a long day. I am grateful that I
made arrangements with Dove and Bethany to manage the shop for me
this week. Once the coffee is done, I go out onto the deck
overlooking the pool. The warmth from the hot coffee warms my
otherwise chilly hands. It’s a hot summer night, but I feel like I
have ice running through my veins. I rest my head on the back of
the chair and close my eyes. I pray to God and talk to Jamie. I
can’t imagine how all of this will end up.