Limitless (Journey Series)
Read Limitless (Journey Series) Online
Authors: C.A. Williams
Limitless
By
C.A. Williams
~Dedicated
to all of the people who have supported me throughout this whole process. Thank
you, I truly appreciate it. ~
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events
portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously.
All rights reserved. This edition is copy-written by C.A.
Williams and any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written consent of the author, except for the
brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Tanya Keetch
Cover Photo:
Istockphoto.com
Cover Design:
C.A. Williams
of Contents
Text Copyright 2013 C.A. Williams
Leah
"Al, can you throw me that bag over there, please?" I swiped at
a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, almost completely drenched in
sweat after packing for half the day. I needed a serious shower, but that could
wait until I was completely finished. Might as well get it all over with now. I
would be glad when it was finally done and over with.
"Here you go, Leah. You need help with anything else? It looks like
you have pretty much everything you need. I’m going to head over to Kilroy’s to
see the band play if you’re good."
I rolled my eyes at her knowing exactly why she was heading to Kilroy’s
and it wasn’t to see the band play. She and Teddy had been dating, or whatever
you wanted to call what they were doing together, for a little while now. They
were both seeing other people still, so I wasn’t really sure what exactly was
going on there and I really didn't want to.
"Yeah, go ahead I think I have just about everything packed up. Now
I just need to move onto Caleb’s stuff, I’m sure that will be a ton of fun. I
can’t wait to get started. I’m sure you’ll have tons of fun," I added
sarcastically.
Ally laughed and rolled her blue eyes at that. I still had to do a double
take whenever I saw her lately. I wasn't used to her smoky makeup compared to
the bright colors she used to wear when I had to have sunglasses on just to
look at her.
I swear she was schizophrenic when it came to her look. Her neon colors
and flowing clothes had been replaced by more of a rocker chic look with old
band shirts and skinny jeans or frayed denim skirts but Ally could pull off
anything. I think Teddy was somewhat rubbing off on her lately. It seemed like
that happened with whomever she was dating.
"Well, I am most definitely getting out of here now. Good luck with
that! And you’re right, I’ll be having boat loads of fun." She wiggled her
eyebrows at me before she skipped out of the room and I heard the front door
slam behind her. I walked down the hall to Caleb’s room, which seemed
suspiciously too quiet, that was never a good sign with a four year old.
"What’s going on in here?" I swung the door open and folded my
arms over my chest to survey the damage. Caleb was jumping up and down on his
special suitcase that he had picked out all by himself and I could see it was
overflowing with just about everything from his room; clothes, toys, books, and
his poor giant giraffe that was being squished to death.
"I'm all packed up and ready to go, Mommy. Is it time to leave
yet?" I shook my head at him, which instantly led him to give that cute
puppy dog face of his that I loved so much. Who could really ever resist that?
His curls and brown eyes completed the look he was going for so perfectly.
"We aren't leaving till tomorrow morning, remember?" And tomorrow
couldn't come soon enough. I was so ready to leave. I heard the doorbell ring
from down the hall and ran to get it, figuring Ally had forgotten something.
Maybe her dignity.
"Don't pack anything else, Caleb," I shouted over my shoulder.
"Mommy will be right back to help you." At this point, we would be
paying a fortune for Caleb’s luggage alone. I might just need to borrow some
money out of his piggy bank to cover the costs.
I opened up the door but it wasn't Ally standing there, instead it was some
middle aged guy in a suit and tie that I had never seen before. Probably
someone trying to sell me something or convince me to come to their church, it
happened often in this neighborhood, almost daily, and I would not miss it one
bit.
I placed a hand on my hip and leaned against the door frame, waiting for
the usual spiel that I knew was coming and was dreading. “Can I help you?"
His dark brown eyes looked me up and down before stopping and staring at
my face, like he was studying me or checking me out, I really wasn’t sure which
one and I was starting to get a little uncomfortable under his roaming eyes.
Maybe I shouldn’t have opened the door to a stranger, like I beat over and over
into Caleb’s head all of the time. When would I learn?
He ran a hand through his graying hair and then shifted on his feet like
he was nervous about something before he spoke. Maybe this was his first time
out alone, well he wasn't getting this girl to buy anything and I was most
definitely not going to be attending church.
"Hello, I'm Roy Barnum. I'm looking for Leah Rossi, would that be
you?"
"Well, that depends. What are you trying to sell? Just know there’s
about a ninety-nine percent chance I’m not buying, before you waste your
breath."
He scrunched up his nose at me and gave a small shake of his head before
stuffing his hands into his pockets and pulling out a piece of crumpled up
paper.
"I'm not trying to sell anything, trust me I wouldn’t be this
nervous if that was the case. I, um...I knew your mother, Marie, and she sent
me this letter awhile back. It took me a little bit of time to track you down, but
she had said in her letter that she had left one for you too."
A light bulb went off in my head and I remembered exactly what letter he
was talking about. The guy that my mom had ditched Caleb and me for, Tank
Harvey, had given me a letter that my mom had written before she had selfishly
killed herself. When I had gone to the police station to sign the paperwork
before I could make any kind of arrangements, Tank had been waiting for me.
The guy had intimidated me a little with his overbearing size and stereotypical
biker look. I mean, his name fit him to the T. Luckily, once he handed over the
letter, I had never seen him again. I had tucked the letter away and figured I
would read it someday, but I had been a little busy. I had assumed nothing too
important had been in it, except for how sorry she was about being such a
horrible mother and blah, blah, blah. Like I would believe that.
"Well, judging by your silence and that you didn't recognize my
name, I'm guessing you never read it. I guess I could understand why, judging
by the circumstances of your relationship with Marie.”
"You sir, are a mind reader. Care to share the important details
that my fabulous mother left behind for me? I could only guess the wealth of knowledge
she wrote in a letter before she decided to selfishly off herself.” I guess I
had a little more anger built up about that whole situation than I thought. I
had gotten one good cry out after I had found out she died and closed the lid
on it tightly. To say I was a little bitter about my mother was putting it
mildly.
"Well," he drawled out, shuffling his feet around a bit more
and kicking around a few stray rocks that had found their way onto the porch.
"This will probably be a little bit of a shock, just to warn you. Your
mother wrote me a letter in which she said that she had left one for you too,
explaining the situation as well, so you wouldn’t be taken by surprise. I met
her awhile back at some little bar she was working at, I don't even remember
the name of it. I was just passing through on business and, well, one thing led
to another."
I rolled my eyes at him, okay buddy, tell me something I don't know; I
knew my mother had serviced her customers very well. I had to listen to it
almost every night growing up with her and had learned early on how to drown it
out. Her promiscuity was one of the many reasons I had never wanted to date. I
really didn’t want to be labeled a whore and I most certainly didn’t want to
end up with a kid, not having any idea who the baby’s daddy was.
But this guy didn't look like her usual customer, they tended to drive a
motorcycle, have bad hygiene, and drink. A lot.
"Marie
seemed to believe that the little boy you are raising, which let me just say is
a great accomplishment for a young woman like yourself, is mine. Now, obviously
we'll need to do a paternity test to confirm her suspicions but…"
I don’t think I
heard much after that. My heart was pounding in my ears and I felt a cold sweat
break out all over my body. I just knew one thing, this man was going to try to
steal my Caleb from me. The boy that I had taken care of, on my own, for
practically his whole life. I had been the one to change almost every one of
his diapers, make sure he had clean clothes to wear, and fix endless amounts of
bottles in the middle of the night. All while trying to keep up at school and
keep myself slightly sane. I think I had done a pretty good job at that. For
the most part.
Of course, dear
old Mom just had to go and mess everything up, even from beyond the grave.
Figures, seemed like something she would do. How did she even know how to
contact this guy? She normally hadn’t exchanged contact information and I
didn’t see very many repeats. She had always said that she had no clue who my
father was and I was sure that was the truth. But those big brown eyes looked
so familiar…
“Of course, I
know this might come as a little bit of a shock to you and I just want to
reassure you I’m not trying to take him away from you or anything. I just want
to make sure that is absolutely clear to you before we go any further.”
My eyes snapped
back to his at that and the whirlwind going on in my head paused for a minute
as he continued on. “But I would like to be a part of his life as much as I can
if the results come back that I am, in fact, his father. I can’t be for sure,
but the timing does add up.”
I nodded my head
at him slowly, trying to put myself in this guy’s situation and I could see how
he would feel that way, even though I felt a strong urge to grab Caleb up and
run away, never to be seen again. No, I couldn’t do that. If this really was
Caleb’s dad, both of them deserved to be in each other’s lives. I had grown up
without a father; I knew how it felt. And I think I had turned out pretty well
for the hand I was dealt in life. I had basically raised myself without much
parental supervision.
“That’s…understandable.
So what’s the next step, how do we go about getting a paternity test?”
He pulled out a
yellow sheet of paper from his briefcase that I just noticed he was carrying
and then grabbed a small business card out of one of the divided pockets.
“This is all of
the information you need for the lab that I found around this area. Don’t worry,
it’s just a simple swab of the cheek, no needles required. I made sure to
check, I really don’t want to put him through more than necessary. I actually
live in Indianapolis and when I found your new address here I figured I’d drive
down and see if I could catch you. I thought maybe you were trying to avoid me
after reading your mother’s letter.”
Well, maybe if I
had read that letter right away…No, just stop, negative Nancy. Just because I
was feeling a little selfish, okay maybe a lot selfish, didn’t mean I could
just push this guy out of Caleb’s life if he really is his father. Now, maybe
if this guy was one of the usual customers I would run and hide until he
decided to give up. But this guy seemed to be pretty decent.