Limitless (Journey Series) (2 page)

“Would you like
to come in for a minute so we can talk more about things?”

A look of relief
passed over his face and I noticed his shoulders visibly relax at my words. He
was probably relieved that I hadn’t slammed the door in his face. I was kind of
surprised at myself that I hadn’t done it. I gave myself a pat on the back for
controlling my urges and made my way into the living room, kicking toys aside
and moving a pile of clothes off one of the couches to make room for him to sit
down.

“Sorry, there’s
a little bit of a mess. We’re packing right now, so it’s a little bit chaotic
to say the least.”

“Oh, where…” He
was interrupted by a shrill scream and the sound of a bike racing down the
hardwood floors of the hallway.

“Caleb! You know
you’re not supposed to be riding that in the house.” I stood with my hands on
my hips and saw Mr. Barnum studying Caleb the way he had just done to me as he
skidded to a stop at my feet. I’m sure it was a bit of a shock to see your
supposed child for the first time.

“But Mommy, I
already packed all of my other toys, this is all I got. Can’t I just ride it in
here this one time? Please?” He gave me one of those puppy dog looks again but
saw that I wasn’t budging this time and hopped off the seat of his bike
quickly.

“Who are you?”
Caleb asked bluntly, eyeing Mr. Barnum up, who looked at me with a confused
face like he wasn’t sure exactly how to answer that. Truthfully, I wasn’t
either.

“Um, my name’s
Roy.” He crouched down to Caleb’s level and reached out a hand to shake Caleb’s,
who answered with a fist bump instead. Chase had really rubbed off on him.

“I’m Caleb, do
you wanna see my room? I can show you all of my toys, but they’re all packed up
right now. You can help me re-pack them if you want. Mommy says I can’t take
all of ‘em anyway. I don’t know why, they’ll miss me when I’m gone and I don’t
want them to get lonely.”

Yes, I’m sure
all of his toys would be a crying heap when Caleb left. Tears of joy would be
more like it, if the toys really had feelings, they would probably be excited
for his departure. No more getting thrown around or colored on. What the hell?
Am I actually thinking about talking toys? I really needed a break. “Maybe some
other time, buddy. Can you go back in there and work on packing for a minute? I
need to talk to Mr. Barnum for a little bit. And this time let’s limit it to
two toys and the rest clothes. I don’t think you want to be running around
naked, right?”

“No, silly Mommy,”
he answered back with a giggle and took down off the hallway once again on his
bike. I had a feeling that thing was seriously going to end up in the garbage
before the day was over.

I turned back to
Mr. Barnum who watched Caleb until he was out of sight with what seemed like a
look of awe on his face. I had to admit, the kid was pretty amazing. I was
pretty proud of myself for how he had turned out so far.

“So, we’re
actually getting ready to leave town tomorrow morning. Do you think it’ll be all
right if we wait until we get back to do this? I don’t think I really have the
time to add anything else on my to- do list at the moment.”

Not that I
wanted to put it off any longer than necessary but I already had enough going
on, at least I could wait until we got back to worry about this more, even
though I know that’s what I would do the whole time.

“Sure, not a
problem, Leah. I know I just dropped all of this onto your plate, it’s a lot to
handle and I don’t expect you to put a halt to everything you’re doing. I gave
you my business card, I travel a lot for my job but get a hold of me when you
get back to town and we’ll work something out. Sound good?”

I nodded my
head, looking at the lab paperwork and his business card that he handed me.
Well, at least it looked like he had a pretty good job working for an
advertising agency. I glanced at him again and didn’t see a wedding ring, so I
assumed he was not married, so at least he didn’t cheat on his wife and Caleb
would end up to be hated by a step-mother. I think I was getting ahead of
myself a little bit, I just needed to put this on the back burner for now.

“And please call
me Roy.”

“Okay, Roy…that
all sounds good. I’ll be in contact with you in about a week or so then.” I led
the way to the front door and couldn’t help but feel self- conscious the whole
way. The house was nice but it was definitely difficult to keep it clean with a
kid around. And it probably had to do with the fact that I was probably the
world’s worst housekeeper. Roy left with a wave and made his way to a newer
looking midsize car.

Roy seemed nice
and like a good guy. But one thing was for sure, I would fight tooth and nail
if anyone ever tried to take Caleb away from me. That was for sure.

Leah

“Can you believe we’re finally on
our way?” Chase’s muscular arms wrapped around my waist and I buried my face
against his solid chest, wishing I could just take a nap right there. His chest
was the perfect pillow for that.

We had left home super early for a
six o’clock flight, leaving out of Indianapolis which was about an hour drive
from us. So basically, we rolled out of bed around two o’clock and headed out
half asleep to Chase’s truck that was all packed up and ready to go the night
before. Luckily, I had been thinking ahead or I would have been even grouchier
if that were possible.

“Yeah, it’s been so long. I mean,
why did we wait this long? We should’ve just eloped or something, it would have
been quicker.” My voice came out muffled against his chest and I could feel him
vibrating with laughter. That man had no patience.

Just a few months ago, he had
proposed to me at his graduation party in front of all his family and friends.
After getting over what I think was a small panic attack, I had finally
answered Chase back with a yes. A million different things had been running
through my mind, but I knew that in the long run Chase was the only guy I would
ever want to marry. Whether he asked me then or ten years from now, I was
always going to say yes.

As soon as that simple word left my
lips, Chase scooped me up and ran towards the house, leaving the party behind.
I’m pretty sure it was some sort of record that he set and we ended up in his
old bedroom at his mom’s house. Apparently, my answer turned him on, but I
wasn’t complaining.

We rejoined the crowd that had
started to disperse, leaving just Chase’s immediate family behind which was
still a pretty good size with all of his sisters. Ally and Teddy had slyly
disappeared, probably together. Ew. I really did not want to know what those
two were doing. Like ever. But I had a very serious discussion with Ally about
it after I was able to hunt her down. Those two were still doing whatever they
were doing, so I guess none of my ranting about Teddy’s promiscuous ways
actually got through to her.

All of his sisters pounced on us
immediately wanting to see the ring; which was amazing, something that I had
never imagined being on my finger. It had an antique look to it, which was confirmed
by Chase as his grandmother’s, and he added a few special touches to make it
completely my style.

Then, they all started questioning
when the wedding would be. Really? We had just gotten engaged but it didn’t
surprise me as much as it should have. Chase liked things to move quickly and
apparently, so did his family. It must be genetic or something.

So after a lot of talk for a few
weeks, Chase and I finally decided that we wanted a beach wedding. And what
better place to have it then the all- inclusive resort trip Mary and Chris had
gotten us all for Christmas?

Which brought us back to why we
were at the airport so freaking early. After much discussion it had been me
that actually suggested we set the big day right before Chase started his new
teaching job and I went back to school to finish up my last semester for my
nursing degree. Why not?

So here we were in August, getting
ready to head out to get married. I don’t think it had completely sunk in yet,
because for some reason I wasn’t nervous. Yet. I’m sure the nerves would set in
soon enough, but I just had to ignore them. Chase was perfect and he was all
mine.

“Here Leah, I know you probably
need this.” Ally came up from behind us and shoved a to-go cup of steaming hot
coffee at me with a bright smile pasted on her face. No wonder she was my maid
of honor. Except she was sort of annoying me right now with how she was so
bright and cheery. Seriously, something was wrong with her.

 She sat down next to Caleb, who
was sprawled across two seats, sound asleep. He hadn’t woken up once since we
left the house, checked in our baggage, and went through security. Why couldn’t
I do that? Chase would’ve gladly carried me if I had suggested it.

Along with all of Chase’s family,
Ally, Remy, Mark, and Teddy were also coming along on the trip. I tried to tell
them all they didn’t need to come since I knew it was kind of an expensive trip
but they all insisted they wanted to be there. And really I was glad, we were
sort of like a dysfunctional family and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ally’s parents couldn’t make it. I
understood that it was a little short notice, but I was a little sad about them
not being there. They had been a family to Caleb and I while I finished high
school and Mr. James had really helped out during the first year of college.

But the group we had going, was a
large one and we were all flying together. Combined with all of the kids and
some of the obnoxious adults, namely Teddy, I was sure this was going to be a
very interesting and long plane ride.

                                                                              
**********

We touched down in Jamaica and were
welcomed at the airport by a driver with a huge cargo van that surprisingly fit
all of us. The weather was balmy with a tropical feel to it. It was still warm
back in Indiana but this felt different and I couldn’t wait to get out onto the
beach. I had been studying the brochures and website ever since we decided when
we were going for sure and had been working back and forth with a planner from
the resort to hammer out all of the details for the wedding.

“I think that’s everything.” Chase
gave the driver a pat on the back and handed him a tip after he slammed the
back doors shut, which was loaded down with all of our luggage. The only thing
bad about getting married down here was all of the stuff we had to haul down,
so to say we had a lot was kind of an understatement. When Chase had paid for
baggage at the airline counter, I had quickly turned my head the other way so I
wouldn’t have to see the damage being put onto his credit card.

“Mommy I’m hungry, when are we
gonna eat? And I want to go to the beach and build sand castles and play in the
water. And Chase said that we could get boogie boards, where do we buy those
from? I want a red one.” I placed a hand over Caleb’s mouth to quiet him down,
he hadn’t stopped talking since the plane took off and I hadn’t been able to
get a wink of sleep. Mary turned around from the bench seats in front of us to
give me a knowing look. How that woman dealt with so many kids was beyond me.

“Don’t worry Caleb, we’ll be there
in a bit and do everything you would like to do. How about you look out the
window and try to see the ocean?” Mary leaned back to pat him on the head and
the rest of the kids all tried to get a look by smashing their noses against
the glass of the windows and looking at the scenic view. It was the first time
I had heard any form of silence since we had left. I think I needed to borrow
some of Mary’s patience.

We pulled up to the resort, which
looked like something straight out of a movie. Mary and Chris had really
splurged on this place. I couldn’t believe that this was where we would
actually be getting married. It was kind of surreal.

The lobby was decorated with lush
wicker furniture done in tropical patterns and sleek tiled flooring. There were
actually no windows stopping you from the ocean and you could feel the breeze
coming in while we all gathered around the check in desk.

The water was an almost see through
blue and the beach had pure white sand with cabanas dotted up and down the
private stretch. It was truly heaven. And we were getting married here. I
wasn’t the type to get giddy, but holy shit!

After being shown to our rooms, we
were finally able to get settled in for the next seven days. Luckily, Mary
hadn’t insisted on being traditional and Chase and I were in our own honeymoon
suite, even before the wedding.

Mary and Chris were keeping all of
the kids, including Caleb, in three adjoining rooms with Chase’s older sisters
helping out. Mary insisted on it being that way so we wouldn’t have to worry
about anything on our trip and just to have some fun like a normal young
couple.

 Ally and Remy were rooming
together while Mark and Teddy shared another room. Mark and Remy were still
dating and going strong, but I really didn’t want Ally and Teddy to share a
room, they were far from official with each other and both had already been
talking about scoping out the beach later on for some new hookups.

 I think they had some kind of
competition going on to see who could pick someone up first. My money was on
Ally. I still didn’t get the appeal of Teddy. He was a nice guy and yeah, he
was good looking but the things I knew about him made my skin crawl.

“So, you think you’re ready for
this, baby?” Chase asked as he unpacked his suitcase and hung things in the
oversized closet that was tucked in the corner. I swear it was as big as our
bedroom back home. This place seemed to pull out all of the stops, especially
in the honeymoon suite.

“Well, I would really hope so. It
would be kind of awkward to leave you at the altar down here and then have to
wait for a plane ride home,” I teased. Really, there was no doubt in my mind
but I’m sure Chase was a little nervous that there was. To say he had been
shocked that I had accepted his proposal, was kind of an understatement.