Oh Ms Believer

13. Tyler

Samantha was back at school the following week. She still had a bit of a cough, but she was feeling much better.

She seemed happy to be back and said her friends were happy to see her back. They welcomed her back and her first day back she came home smiling.

Josh and I were working on another tour and another album, so I wasn't home as often as I liked. Or I was downstairs with Josh, working. We had a tour starting soon and we were in rehearsals most of the day.

Jenna told me Sam was very helpful around the house when I was away.  The high school basketball season was over so Sam was switching between wearing her leg or just using her crutches, depending on how she felt. Jenna laughed telling me that Sam had come downstairs without her leg on and said she was feeling too lazy to bother with the socks and the leg.

I tried to be home as often as I could before everyone went to bed, so I could catch up with my kids.

"Hey Dad!" Sam said, one afternoon when I came home not long after she'd gotten home from school. She was in the kitchen, doing homework and having a snack.

"Hey Sam. How was school?"

She shrugged.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Just, you know. Exams coming up. And our teachers are talking about the PSATs."

"Aren't those not until next year?" I asked.

"Yeah, but apparently they want us to start freaking out about them a whole year early," Samantha smiled.

"You aren't actually nervous, are you?"

She shrugged again.

"I'm pretty sure I'll ace the Math section. I'm not too nervous, because like you guys say - why borrow trouble. But it's annoying how much they keep going on about how 'next year is a very important year and you really need to focus on your studies'." She dropped her voice to sound like a person of authority.

"They're not wrong, Dean's List Kid," I said.

"You'd think this test would determine the rest of our lives. As if there aren't alternative ways to get a college degree," Sam said.

"Well, you still have a year. Where are Mom and Rosie and Junie?" I asked.

"Rosie's playroom. She has an alligator infestation again," Sam laughed. I did, too.

I gave my teenager a hug and a kiss on her head, then went into Rosie's playroom to find the rest of the family.

"Are all the alligators taken care of in here?" I poked my head into the playroom."

"Daddy!" Rosie cried with a huge smile on her face. "You home early."

"Hi," Jenna smiled, coming over with Junie on her hip, and gave me a kiss.

"Hi yourself. And hello to you, too, little one," I smiled, taking Junie from Jenna. She babbled at me and smiled.

"Mama gotted rid of all the alligators," Rosie smiled up at me.

"Of course she did. Mama is the best alligator fighter in the world," I smiled down at my middle daughter. She nodded in agreement.

"Did you see Sam?" Jenna asked.

"I did. She's doing her homework. She's not wearing her leg."

"She said she was too lazy to put it on this morning," Jenna said. "But I'm wondering if it's bothering her and she just doesn't want to say."

"Did you ask her?"

"No. I might though. I'll see what happens tomorrow."

I nodded. That made sense. If Samantha was avoiding wearing her leg because it was bothering her, we needed to address that. If it was because she just didn't feel like putting it on that morning, so be it. Everyone's entitled to have a lazy moment/day now and then.

"I was just about to start dinner," Jenna said. "Can you watch Rosie for a little?"

"Of course," I said.

"I do Daddy's toes!" Rosie said. She loved doing nail polish on my toes.

Jenna smiled and I submitted my feet to my pedicurist.

After a little while, Rosie was done and Jenna called us for dinner. I helped Rosie clean up then walked, awkwardly, into the kitchen. Sam was putting a bowl of bread on the table and looked at my feet.

"Purple. Nice," she snorted.

"Hey, you're just jealous," I said.

"Of what? That I only have five toes to paint?" She smirked. Sam was much more accepting of her amputation now. She had started joking about it in the hospital after her surgery. She'd called the her stump Patrick. As in Patrick Stump. From Fall Out Boy.

"That. And that I can rock purple on my toes."

"Right. Because exactly how many people see your feet?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I'll do this next tour barefoot. And bring my pedicurist with me," I said, picking Rosie up and raspberrying her stomach. She giggled and laughed.

"No, Daddy!" She cried out, laughing.

"Yeah, okay," Sam smirked.

I got Rosie settled into her booster seat. Junie was in her high chair, even though she wasn't on solid food yet. We liked having her at the table. Sam sat down beside Rosie while Jenna and I got the rest of dinner on the table.

Sam was tolerant of the fact that we prayed before meals. She still didn't believe in god but she was respectful that we were raising her siblings to. And she still came to church to help out in the Sunday school with the little kids. Rosie liked to show her off at church and Sam was great with the little kids. The church leaders knew her story, knew she considered herself an atheist and said that they were very happy that she never contradicted anyone's beliefs. If a child asked her a question with a religious connotation to it, Sam always either answered by saying she didn't know and would direct them to a church leader or a teacher, or helped the child look up the answer in the books in the classroom. Because of the respect Samantha showed the church, the elders and leadership, no one ever bothered her about her own beliefs. It worked well for everyone. Samantha got treated with the respect she deserves and treated everyone at church with respect.

We knew she was going to grow up well, and respectful. And her stubborn streak would only serve to help her as time went on.