And Baby Makes...?

Chapter 31

Josh and Debby and Brendon and Sarah went back to California before the New Year. As with the year before, Sam was sad to see them go, but less so than last year.

She had more friends now, and her baby sister and knew that vacations were a thing.

We had a quiet New Year at home with just our small family and my parents and siblings. My parents had fallen in love with Samantha when we adopted her and she had a great relationship with them and her uncles and aunts.

"Sam," Zack said, sitting down next to her on the couch. "What are you hoping for this year?"

Sam pondered that for a minute. We'd told them all about Mark and the possibility of him being related.

"Um. I guess what I'm really hoping for is that nothing changes too much. Except Rosie. She has to change because she's a baby and babies grow," she smiled.

We had a fantastic evening, and before ten o'clock, Sam's phone rang. She looked at the display and saw it was Mark.

I followed her into the kitchen to take the call. She put it on speakerphone.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hello, Sam. It's Mark. I'm heading back to England tomorrow and I wanted to wish you and your family a Happy New Year," he said.

"Happy New Year to you, too," Sam said, looking at me. I nodded. So far Mark had been nothing but congenial. He hadn't pushed any boundaries that put up any red flags for me, and had kept his communication with Sam fairly limited.

He told Sam that he would share her wishes for a Happy New Year with his family back in England, and he hoped they'd keep in touch while we waited for the test results.

"Okay," Sam said. "Have a safe flight."

They hung up and I looked at Sam.

"You okay sweetheart?"

Samantha looked away from me for a second and then back up.

"I dunno. I'm torn. Part of me wants him to really be my mom's brother so I can learn more about her. But part of me is worried that if he is, he's going to want me to come live with him. And then part of me is worried he's tied to Stanley somehow.  I guess when we get the test results, I'll have a better idea how I feel."

I pulled her into a hug.

"Samantha Joseph," I sighed, kissing the top of her head, which was much more difficult, since she was almost as tall as me now. "You are wise beyond your years.  You're becoming such an amazing young woman. I am so proud of you."

"Dad?" She said, pulling away a bit.  "Do you think we could make an appointment with Doc?"

"Sure? But why?"  She hadn't asked to make an appointment, well, ever. But if she felt she needed an appointment, I sure as hell was going to make sure she got one.

"Well, you and Mom are awesome to talk to, but I want to talk to Doc about everything that's happened. My head feels kinda messed up from it."

"My darling daughter, I will call after the New Year, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Dad," she smiled and gave me a hug.

We joined the rest of the family in the living room again. Samantha's phone kept going off all night with New Years' wishes from her friends and ours. Gerard sent her a really long message, Pete and Patrick must have been together, seemingly with Brendon, because they all sent pretty much the same message and a photo that definitely looked like Brendon's house.

Sarah and Debby both messaged her separately. Her face was awash with smiles all night from her texts and being with us and our family.

Once the ball dropped, and we'd all said Happy New Year, it was time for Sam to get to bed. She protested a little, but once my mom told her to listen to her father, Sam said good night to everyone and headed up to bed.

My parents left shortly after and my brothers and my sister left around 2.

I checked the app and Sam's blood sugar was in range. I checked on her and she was all curled up in her bed, with her fist under her chin. It was too cute.

I went to check in on Rosie, who apparently had just woken up. Jenna was feeding her, so I sat on the footstool by the rocker and watched.

"That was a fun night," Jenna said, smiling at Rosie who was sleepily feeding.

"It was," I agreed.

"Who called that you and Sam went into the kitchen?"

"Mark," I said. "He just wanted to wish us a Happy New Year and tell Sam he's headed back to England in the  morning. And that he'd like to stay in touch."

"I'm still a little wary about him," Jenna admitted, putting Rosie on her shoulder and burping her.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, too. But we should have the test results in a few weeks and we'll see then what course of action we need to take."

"What do you think?" Jenna asked me.

"Part of me thinks he's really her family. She's told me that she feels safe with him. When he hugged her, she said she felt safe, remember?"

"I do."

"But part of me worried he's going by to want to take her from us. And part of me worries Stanley is behind this somehow."

Jenna sighed as she put Rosie into her crib.

"Me too," she admitted. "The man's been dead a year, and we're still living in fear of him."

"I feel worse for Sam. We were supposed to be her escape from worrying about Stanley, but she's still got this worry that he's going to have set something up.

But I mean, he couldn't have known he'd be dead by now, he couldn't have planned something again, could he?" I asked.

"You know me," Jenna said. "I try to stay positive. So I'm choosing to believe that Mark might be her uncle and he just wants to get to know her."

"Me too," I said.

And with that, the two of us went into our room and went to bed.