The Doctor's Unexpected Family: (Inspirational Romance) (Port Provident: Hurricane Hope) (17 page)

He felt good about the work he was doing. It was the most basic of medicine, but with each and every patient he saw, he knew he was making a difference—even if it was a small one. It reminded him of why he’d applied to Mercy Medical Mission in the first place.

He had expected to hear from the team at Mercy Medical Mission by now. The date that they’d given him as a follow-up had passed late last week, but he’d been so busy here at The Grace Space that Pete hadn’t realized they hadn’t contacted him when they said they would.

“Pete Shipley?”

His patient appointments were through for the day, so the voice behind him caught Pete off-guard.

“Yes.” He stood from the table and turned around.

“I’m Jake Peoples, Executive Director of the Peoples Family Foundation here in Port Provident.” Jake put out his hand, and Pete returned the gesture with a hearty shake.

“Gloria’s brother-in-law, right?” If he recalled correctly, Jake Peoples had married Gloria’s sister Gracie about two years ago and they now had a young daughter. Gloria had delivered the baby, but Pete remembered seeing them around the clinic.

“Her favorite brother-in-law.” The man laughed. “I’m her only brother-in-law, but as picky as she is, I’m claiming the title.”

Pete gestured toward the nearby plastic chair. “She is that. Please, have a seat. How can I help you today, Jake?”

Jake sat down and rested a leather-covered portfolio in his lap. “Actually, this visit is about how I can help you.”

“I don’t understand,” Pete said. He didn’t really know Jake Peoples, except in the most six-degrees-of-separation kind of way, so he didn’t know how Gloria’s brother-in-law could provide any kind of assistance. “I’ve got the clinic well-staffed with residents and doctors from Provident Medical Center, and volunteers from the church are filling the positions in the main store area of The Grace Space.”

“Right. And they’re doing a great job. Your little project has gained a lot of notice both in and out of Port Provident. At the Peoples Family Foundation, our mission is to fund projects that build into the lives of the residents in Port Provident. My great-grandfather was one of the key townspeople to help rebuild Port Provident after the Great Storm of 1910. Since then, my family has tried to stay active in bringing out the best in our city. Projects like The Grace Space are a special favorite of my grandmother’s, and she asked me to reach out to you.”

“I’m glad to hear the work we’re doing here is resonating. But I still don’t quite follow where you’re heading.”

“The Peoples Family Foundation would like to see The Grace Space become a permanent fixture in Port Provident.”  Jake opened his folder and held out a few pieces of paper and one blue rectangle and handed it to Pete. “I’d like to give you that check today as a sign of our commitment to the project, plus a contract for a one-year lease on a Peoples Property Group building at Avenue K and 34th Street. It’s a great historic building, a corner market that was built in 1907. The downstairs would be perfect for your store and donation center and the upstairs residence can be easily retrofitted into a primary clinic space. We’re prepared to cover the costs on that and help make the project a success. Are you interested?”

Pete looked at the check. Several zeroes were written on it—a substantial sum and a substantial endorsement of the work that had been done at The Grace Space.

“I almost don’t know what to say, Jake. This is very unexpected.”

“I figured it would be, but I like surprises. Gloria told us about closing the birth center. She said you were looking at some other options. Nana really likes this project, so she asked me to offer you one more option.”

Pete could feel different parts of his heart being tugged in different directions—right, left, up, down. Nothing was easy.

This was an incredible opportunity. When he started organizing that first truck of donated goods, Pete had no idea that it would become a project he had so much pride in, or that it would grow so quickly. But at the same time, Mercy Medical Mission had been his dream for years.

And then there was Angela.

Of course, if she didn’t accept his apology—whatever that wound up being—that would be one direction closed to him forever. And he’d have no one to blame but himself.

“When do you need an answer by, Jake?”

“How about Monday at the latest?”

He had a lot to think about, and a maximum of five days to do it in. “I can make that work.”

He and Jake both stood and shook hands, and Jake left the clinic area.

Now it was time to see if he could make his apology to Angela work. Whether he stayed in Port Provident or got the call from Mercy Medical Mission and moved to some far-flung corner of the world, Pete knew he could not just leave the charged conversation on the beach as the last word between him and the woman he realized he’d come to love.

Angela sat at a window side table in Porter’s Seafood, waiting on David to join her for what she was certain would be the most awkward meal ever.

She did not want to talk to him. She did not want him to talk to her daughter. She did not really know why she was even here, much less early.

Waiting gave her too much time to be alone with her jumbled thoughts.

And while she couldn’t make sense of most of the words floating around in her mind, over and over and over again, she heard Pete’s voice, talking about the hope to be found in Hurricane Hope.

Angela didn’t think Pete was right about giving David a second chance, and anyway, she was not a woman to give second chances easily. She’d been on her own for far too long, burned by too many people—David Carbajal included.

Pete Shipley was included, too, if she wanted to make the list complete. She’d never expected him to say what he said Monday night. She expected him to say David was crazy and that she needed to tell him to take a long walk off the 89th Street Pier.

But he didn’t. And his stupid take on this stupid situation had kept her up for the last two nights. Even moving out from underneath Pete’s house to her new RV had not allowed her to get any rest.

“Angela, thanks for meeting me.” Her ex-husband pulled out the chair directly across the table from her and sat down. “I know I took you by surprise on Monday. We haven’t been on good terms for years—I just wanted to get in front of you, not on the phone, not by text or email, not your assistant calling mine. I wanted to speak directly to you. I know you don’t have any reason to trust me where Celina is concerned, but I need you to know I’m coming at this from the right place. There’s no ulterior motive.”

Angela took a long sip of her iced tea while she collected her thoughts. “If it was the hurricane you were so worried about, why didn’t you call before landfall—like when the evacuation order was issued—and make sure she had a place to stay? That makes more sense than weeks later when we’re about to move into our own place. If it was that you’re a father now, why didn’t you call when your baby was born? I just don’t understand, David.”

The waiter came and took their order. Angela declined an appetizer. No sense in dragging this out. She’d skip straight to dessert if she could.

“I’ve messed up, Angela. A lot. All your questions are valid. My only response is I could have done everything better. But I’m hopeful that you’ll give me the chance to get to know my daughter and to prove that my priorities in life are different now.”

Hopeful?

Angela’s ears perked up at the sound of that word. Pete had been hopeful too. She was the only one without hope in this situation.

“I was selfish, Angela. I was focused on myself. I don’t really deserve a second chance, but I have a family now. My perspective has changed. And I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I have a great relationship with the family that’s under my roof, but I don’t know my daughter at all. I want to know I at least tried to change the situation. I don’t want to take her away from you. I don’t want to go back to court and argue custody. I just want to know my daughter—and if I can help her in this crazy time for you both, then I want to do that.”

She’d heard this speech before. Monday night on a granite rock, to be exact. Was God trying to get her attention by making her hear it again?

Angela knew she couldn’t just erase more than six years of hurt. She didn’t even really know how to start. But what if he was sincere? What if her own stubborn heart and her own years of hurt kept her daughter away from something that could be good in her life?

What kind of parent would she be?

She thought again of Pete, taking Celina fishing at the small pier at the end of his street. In her mind’s eye, she clearly saw the joy on her daughter’s face as she shared in that father-daughter type of experience.

Celina had loved the attention from Pete—the stuffed bear, someone to play dance-style video games with, someone who talked with her, made sure she was safe and well-cared for at The Grace Space, and someone who baited her hook.

Angela knew that now that David had opened the door, she couldn’t just kick it shut. She still didn’t know if she wanted to throw it wide open, but she had to steel the nervousness in her veins and at least have this conversation with David.

“What did you have in mind?” Her mouth felt dry as she formed the words, but as soon as she got them out she felt a little bit of relief. They were out there.

She inserted a prayer in her mind as she waited for David’s answer.
Please God, take this conversation where You want it to go. I can’t decide this on my own. Make it clear to me.

“Maybe we could just hang out.” David shrugged. “There’s a beach right over there. Does she like sandcastles?”

Angela relaxed a little bit. Sandcastles seemed like something small but possibly meaningful. “Yes, she does. But everything in our house was ruined in the hurricane. I’m pretty sure we don’t even have a bucket or shovel to use.”

The waiter placed an entrée in front of each of them. “That’s okay. I bought one on my way down here. I hoped you’d say yes.”

More hope.

He’d come prepared, thought ahead, thought of someone else. The David she used to know never would have done that. He was too busy chasing stories and taking care of his own needs and goals.

Angela felt a stir in her heart. Maybe she could have a little hope too. Maybe it would be enough.

After they’d finished eating, Angela called Emmy and asked her to bring Celina to the beach. Once they arrived, Angela steadied herself and with a deep breath, introduced her daughter to her father. Angela was amazed by the generosity of her daughter’s spirit.

Celina wasn’t fazed by the six years of absence. She didn’t ask why he left before she was born. She didn’t question where the Christmas presents were the year she was four.  She didn’t need to know where he’d been. After the introductions, Celina just smiled, grabbed the bucket, and started digging in the wet sand by the shore.

And that was that.

They spent two hours there, building sandcastles and watching Celina splash through the ankle-deep water. Never in a million years would Angela have thought she could spend an afternoon in David’s presence and enjoy it. He had taken the day off from anchoring the six o’clock news, but had to be back in time to sit in the anchor’s chair at ten o’clock, so as the afternoon began to roll into evening, David headed back home.

He didn’t bring up anything about Celina’s living arrangements again. Angela’s mind began to second-guess things and start running through worst-case scenarios. He said he didn’t want to take her back to his house or rehash a custody arrangement…but what if…

Angela shut the runaway train of thought down. She would not let her mind engage in these scenarios.

No. She would judge David based on his words and actions from today, not those of the past.

She would have hope.

She would hope for the best. Celina deserved that, and so did her own heart. She had been entrusted with the honor of leading Port Provident, a job that would require vision and optimism in these crazy days ahead.

Shouldn’t she lead her own life in the same way?

Later that night, Angela sat on the edge of the bed next to Celina. She tucked the sheet around the little girl’s shoulders and tuck-tuck-tucked all the way down to her feet.

“Snug as a bug in a rug, little one.”

Celina wore a tired but pleased smile. “I had fun today, Mama.”

“I could tell, Sweetie. How do you feel about everything—meeting your dad and finding out you have a half-brother and a step-sister?”

She yawned satisfyingly. “I think it’s great, Mama.”

“You do?” Angela wasn’t sure what answer she expected, but this one still took her a little bit by surprise.

“Well sure,” Celina reiterated, matter-of-factly. “You can never have too many people who care about you.”

The simplicity of her daughter’s assessment almost brought tears to her eyes. This had to be what the Bible meant about faith like a child. This simple trust, this face-value acceptance struck her heart, and Angela knew she’d be thinking about that one sentence for a while.

“No,
mija
,” Angela said, addressing Celina with the Spanish endearment for daughter.  She pressed a gentle kiss to her baby’s forehead. “You certainly can’t.”