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“No. I believe in you. I know you’ve changed, not because of you, but because of Jesus.”
“Amen.”
“When she came up to me, I didn’t think about all of that, and I just believed it, because that’s kind of what I was conditioned to do for a long time.”
“Because of me. I can’t expect you to totally forget what I used to be. Even if I feel like it’s completely passed.”
“All right. So you’re sure this baby isn’t yours?”
“I’m sure.”
Now what?
“What are you gonna do?” Roger asked, and although the situation was serious, and their conversation had not been less so, there was humor in Roger’s voice, as though he were just now realizing that Travis was in quite a predicament. Since he didn’t know the name of the mother and he was holding a baby that someone was going to have to take care of.
“I’m not sure. I...never had this kind of situation dropped in my lap before.”
“You’re the only person I know who would call a baby a situation.”
“Well, it is.”
“So is there anything else you wanted? Or were you just going to make me assume my parental responsibilities, mistakenly.”
“No, that was it. And you don’t have to rub it in.”
“I guess I think it’s kind of funny. Maybe next time, you have a little more faith in me before you just take a baby from any woman who wants to give you one.”
“Shut up, bro.” Travis rolled his eyes. He was going to be hearing about this for a long time. “See if you can get that paternity test figured out.”
“Now you shut up.”
“You want me to believe you. Prove it.” Travis was ninety-nine percent sure that Roger wasn’t the father, but if Roger was going to give him a hard time, he could push the paternity test. Just to push back on Roger. Although, when it came up that Roger wasn’t the father, Roger would never let him live it down.
“So how do you go about getting a paternity test?”
“I’ve had no reason to ever research the question. In any way.”
“There is a very small circle of people where you can actually say that and it sounds like bragging.”
“The circle might be bigger than you think it is. And it’s got the most important Being in the world in it, so yeah. Call it bragging if you want.”
Roger laughed without humor, knowing that Travis was rubbing it in just a bit.
“All right. I’ll call you some other time when I’m not panicking.”
“My big brother, panicking. You know, this sounds like a job for Ellen.” Roger laughed and then slid his phone off, leaving Travis standing with a dead phone to his ear.
Actually, Roger might be onto something. This did sound like a good job for Ellen.
Chapter 12
When Travis came back to the table, he was serious and quiet, the baby still tucked in his arm and thankfully still sleeping. Ellen wasn’t sure he knew what to do with a crying baby, and she was pretty sure that Travis wasn’t going to want to learn in front of Shanna.
Both of Shanna’s kids were fussy and tired, and Shanna didn’t have a whole lot of patience with them.
Ellen felt bad for the children and did as much as she could to help, but knew the three of them all needed a good night’s sleep.
Finally, Shanna packed up and said she was leaving, but instead of heading to her car, she walked toward the community center, like she didn’t want to leave the fellowship of the town.
