Doesn’t matter if they’re called Baby A and Baby B or whatever, I love them just like I love Gregory.

Each day this love grew, and with it came fear. A crazy, terrifying kind of fear that was far different from the anxiety of paying bills or finding new work.

Jenny put her hand on her belly. “Whatever we call Baby B, he sure is an active one. Feel.”

Kevin put his hand and felt the movement, like slight little kicks.

That’s good. You keep at it. You keep stretching and turning and growing. And maybe, God willing, we’ll see you and your brother in a short while. Not too short but short enough.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Kevin said.

Jenny didn’t need to ask what “it” referred to. He was touching it. She was it. They were living in it. Every day it showed up at the doorstop. This was their life and it was changing quickly and dramatically.

“I hope he’s okay,” Jenny finally said.

Kevin didn’t need to ask how much it weighed on her. He knew she thought of the babies every other second, especially this little one that wasn’t growing the way it should.

I think of them every other second that I’m not thinking of saving the company and trying to keep the employees working for me.

He wanted to tell her to continue to be strong, to keep having faith, that God was going to take care of them. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell her what he himself didn’t believe.

Maybe I really should go to church. Maybe then I could have the courage to come before my Maker and ask for a little help.

He hadn’t asked for help in a long time. But Kevin knew that eventually, he was going to need as much help as they could get.

Windows

The bell rang and the students filed out of the library, but Thomas sat there, at the desk in the corner, staring at the screen. Staring at himself.

He wasn’t sure he could stand up. If he could, he sure didn’t want to go back out there, out into the wild. Now he could understand why others stayed away from him out there in the hallways and classrooms.

For the entire fourth period before lunch, all fifty minutes, Thomas had sat looking at this Facebook page on Carlos’s laptop wondering why. Wondering why and how someone could be so mean and cruel. It didn’t make him angry. It just made him sad.

Had this all come from the basketball game and Vic’s fear of competition?

I love basketball but there’s still more important things in this world than ball.

Maybe someone dropped Vic West on his head when he was young. That had to be why the guy was so mean. So mean and so stupid.

Of course, Thomas wasn’t going to tell that to Vic’s face.

He was a good-looking guy and seemed to be popular enough.