The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

13. Tyler

I woke up to a text from Samantha. It was vague though.

'Having fun. Everything's good. Call later. Love you.'

I frowned at the text.

"Tyler, what more do you want from her?" Jenna asked. "She's 15, and she's having fun."

"It's not the 90s, Jenna," I said. "She doesn't have to pay per character. She could have explained where she was yesterday. Or why she didn't answer when we called."

Jenna came over and hugged me.

"Tyler Robert Joseph, when you were 15, did you tell your parents everything you did all the time?"

"Well, no," I admitted.

"So why are you expecting paragraphs from Samantha? She said she'll call later. I'm sure she'll tell us then," Jenna said.

"I hate this," I said. "I hate not knowing what's happening, I hate feeling like there's something wrong."

"I know, baby, but you've got to give her some room to spread her wings. She needs to learn that the world isn't a terrible place and that she can manoeuvre through it without us."

I sighed. Jenna was right. I was worrying too much. But again, this is a kid we've nearly lost three times. She's nearly died twice and her... Stanley... nearly killed her once. After that, she wouldn't leave the house or speak for three weeks. Now she was an entire ocean away.

I tried to relax some. Rosie was a good distraction. We played with her in the pool and I took photos of Jenna and Rosie and Jenna took photos of me and Rosie and I texted them to Sam.

Josh called around lunch to say he and Debby were arriving the next day and wanted to go for dinner tomorrow night.

All in all, it was a pretty relaxing day.

My phone rang around three thirty and I saw it was Sam calling from Mark's house.

"Sam!" I cried, as I answered the phone and put it on speaker. "You've been one busy little bumble bee! We missed hearing from you!"

"Hi Dad!" She said brightly. "Is Mom there?"

"She is. You're on speaker."

"SaSa?" Rosie said looking at my phone.

"Hey Rosie posey!!" Samantha said.

"So, honey, what have you been up to? Everyone treating you well?"

There was a slight pause before Samantha answered.

"Yeah. Everyone's good. Emma had a bit of an accident yesterday but she'll be okay."

"What happened?" Jenna asked.

"We went to the community pool and she was showing off for a friend of hers. Someone jumped into the pool and either landed on her or got her mixed up or something. But she nearly drowned. Beth, Emma'a friend, screamed and the lifeguards didn't even notice. I saw and jumped in and got her flipped over like you had Brian teach me, and got her to the side of the pool where the lifeguards took over. She spent last night in the hospital and she'll stay again tonight, but Mark says she should be home tomorrow."

"That's horrible!" Jenna said. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Mom."

"So, are you all alone in the house?" I asked, annoyed that Mark and Carol would leave my kid alone in a strange house.

"Not exactly. I have Benji here and Mark or Carol will be home in a little while. One of them will stay at the hospital."

"So you're babysitting?" I asked, even more annoyed. Jenna shot me a look.

"No. I'm hanging with my little cousin. Today we watched some TV, went to the library and then the playground, then went and got some lunch at the snack bar near the pool, and then came home and sat in the garden and read for a little. Mark brought dinner home and we had dinner together and then he went back to the hospital."

"Okay," I said, relaxing a bit. "But you're okay? And you're having fun?"

Samantha paused again.

"Yeah. I mean, Emma nearly drowning wasn't fun, but otherwise, yeah. We went to the city the other day and walked around all over the place and had lunch in a pub and tea at a hotel and then dinner in a restaurant and got home super late. Then yesterday we were at the pool and today I told you about."

"I'm so glad to hear from you," I said, trying not to cry. Jenna smiled at me.

"I gotta go. It's getting late, I'm tired and Benji wants to sleep in my room again because of Emma."

"Okay, sweetheart. Sleep tight. Try to call tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Oh, and thanks for the pictures you sent. Rosie is so adorable!"

"You're welcome. Take lots of pictures and send us some," I said.

"I will!"

We said goodbye and Sam hung up the phone.

"See," Jenna said. "She's fine. Well, mostly."

"I guess. There was something in her voice when I asked if everyone was treating her well."

"Tyler, you really need to stop reading into things," Jenna said.

She was right. Sam was probably just worried about Emma.

We went on with our day. I mentally crossed one more day off the calendar I was keeping in my mind, until Sam came home.