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Travis had told him that she’d helped him the first long night, and then she stopped in every day afterward. If he had a hard night, she’d watch the baby for a while so he could sleep. Or she’d tidy up his house or watch the baby so he could get some work done. She still had her own work to do, her dogs and her cows and the various things she did around town, but she always made time for Travis.
“I know you want to protect the mom. I know you felt like she was in some kind of danger, but this might be a hard thing for Ellen to shake if people believe she abandoned her own baby.”
“I know. I’ve just not been answering those questions when people ask, because I don’t want the fact that there was a baby dropped off here that we don’t know who the mom is, that the baby is almost two months old, and have whoever that woman was afraid of tracking the baby down.”
“I appreciate you being so protective of her. Someone might want to use the baby for ransom or to hold something over that woman’s head. I don’t know, but...she could be long gone by now, and Ellen is right here.”
“I know. Ellen is...amazing. The best human I know.”
“I always thought you...kind of liked her.” That was putting things mildly. He always thought Travis had a huge, massive crush on Ellen. In fact, part of the reason Ford had sent him away when he did was because of Ellen’s age, because Travis was an adult, and Ellen was only fourteen.
Four years between a couple wasn’t much once they became adults, but an eighteen-year-old could not be hanging around a fourteen-year-old with romantic interest.
Travis knew it, but Ford also knew that sometimes teenage boys didn’t always act with intelligence. Hormones could be a hard thing to fight.
And Ford didn’t want to see Travis end up in prison or branded as a child molester, just because he’d fallen in love with a girl who was too young.
Ford had his suspicions that when Travis fell, it would be forever, and he’d been right about that. Goodness knew that there had never been anyone but Morgan for him. Not since she walked into his house and broke down all his walls, carried away his heart. Of course, with a woman like Morgan, he could trust her with his heart. She’d kept it safe all these years, raised his children, and stood beside him through everything. He would love her until he died.
“I more than kind of like her,” Travis finally said, his eyes on the baby who slept cradled in his arms.
“Then it might be a good idea to marry her. She’s already spending a lot of time here, helping you with the baby, and if you really don’t want to let the baby story get out, that might be the best way to protect Ellen.” Normally he wouldn’t recommend a marriage happen that quickly, but Travis was as steady as they came. He’d grown as a person, as a businessman. His solid, consistent character had already been in place when he’d been a teenager. And Ellen had a heart of gold. Travis said she was the best human being he knew, and Ford couldn’t disagree that she was a wonderful person, who would keep her word if she made vows.
“I didn’t want to rush that. I’ve liked her since before you sent me away.” Travis looked up, and for the first time, there was a little humor in his eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if you did that on purpose.”
“I guess it’s far enough in the past that I can admit that yes, I did.”
“Thank you. I probably would have done something I shouldn’t have if you hadn’t.”
“I know.” Ford paused. “I don’t think less of you. It just wasn’t the right time.”
“I know. I knew it then. But...” Travis’s voice trailed off, and he never finished his thought. Ford could only imagine he was thinking something along the lines of Ellen had been someone he had never been able to resist. That she pulled him like she had a chain wrapped around him and he couldn’t get away, could only go closer.
That was how Ford felt about Morgan. He’d like to think that was the way the best marriages were. But everyone had their own love story. It didn’t necessarily follow the script. It just needed to be between two people who made vows and meant them. Because, as good as Morgan was, there had been times in their marriage where he hadn’t liked her very much. There had probably been more times in their marriage when she hadn’t liked him at all. But both of them had stuck with it, and both of them had been determined to see the best in the other.
He thought Travis could have a marriage like that with Ellen, and he had to admire the fact that Travis didn’t want to rush it.
“I guess if there’s one thing these last few years taught me, it’s that...life is short. But at the same time, I’ve learned patience. Which seems to be a contradiction, but because life is short, you want to savor the things that are really meaningful.”
Ford stared at him for a minute, wishing that he had had that kind of maturity at that young of an age. “You know, I think most of the time, people have a tendency to run ahead of God. I think you’re on the right track, but I guess I would caution you to make sure that you don’t wait too long and miss your opportunity.”
To his surprise, Travis’s lips pulled back in a slow grin. “That’s something else I learned from you. At first, I was too brash, too hotheaded, but as I learned things, I had a tendency to become more deliberate, more thoughtful, slower, and... You know I screwed a few things up because I didn’t move quick enough.”
“There’s a fine line. And maybe staying in touch with the Lord is one of the ways that you’re able to walk that line.”
“Knowing what God wants, and trying to do it?”
“Yeah. It’s not always easy. And...” Ford paused for a second. He knew he was going to say something that maybe wasn’t something that every Christian would agree with. But it was something that he felt. “Sometimes I think God just allows us to choose. There is no wrong answer, and He allows us to make the decision. I think maybe sometimes we sweat over decisions that we don’t have to. Both are right, so both are good, and either would work.”
“I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about it like that before,” Travis said.
“Yeah. And like I said, that might not be every decision, and it might not even be true. But whether you keep the baby, whether you give her away. Either one could be a right decision, right?”
“There is no biblical mandate that if somebody drops a baby off, I have to keep it.”
“No. And maybe the mandate is to follow the rule of law, and that almost indicates that you should report that to authorities. Except... The mother gave you permission to keep it.”
“Right. So either could be right.”
