The Second Chance

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Peyton woke up Saturday morning with a terrible headache. Her conflicting emotions and stress had given her vivid nightmares that caused her to toss and turn all night. It’s not that it wasn’t normal for her, but last night was just so much worse, and she briefly remembered her mom coming in to console her. She sat up to look at the clock to see that it was ten o’clock in the morning. She bolted straight up from her bed and started scrambling around looking for some running clothes. By now, she should have had her run in, been showered, dressed, and ready for the day. Granted, it wasn’t like she did much during the day.

Her mornings consisted of waking up around seven, going for a run, feeding the cows and the goats she had out back, showering off the stench she had accumulated throughout the morning, and then hanging with her mom or working with her dad. Sometimes she would help her in the garden or help with dinner. Other times, they would run errands or read together. Most of the time, since Peyton hadn’t been going to church, they would study the scriptures together and read past conference talks.

It wasn’t that Peyton didn’t believe in the church, she did. Admittedly, the first few weeks after the accident, she was angry and repeatedly questioned in her prayers why Derek had to be taken away from her. She felt like she was being punished and didn’t deserve it. Time passed, and she slowly began to understand that everyone has their time, and to her dismay, everything happens for a reason. She still didn’t understand what the reason was, but she hoped one day she would.

Peyton finished her run, only doing a couple of miles due to the accidental sleep in, cleaned herself up, and entered the kitchen. Her dad—Peyton assumed he was out working on the fence—had left his homemade waffles for her with some eggs and bacon. Every Saturday, her dad made a big breakfast for the family, usually involving his homemade waffles. Since he would go to work so early during the week, he hardly had any chances to make them then. So, Saturday became the day for waffles. It was a tradition that even Chris would make an effort to not miss, but she hadn’t seen him anywhere around the house.

“Hello!” As if right on cue. “Hello? Anyone in here?” Chris called.

“Always,” Peyton said.

“Peyton! Oh, sweet. I’m glad you’re here. I was dying to ask you if you liked Gloria!” he said ecstatically.

“Yeah, I thought she was very nice.” Peyton smiled at him for encouragement.

“Awesome! Where’s Mom?” he asked, looking around in an attempt to find her.

“I don’t know. I just got down here,” Peyton admitted.

Chris raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t it a little late for you?” he teased.

“I thought the same thing when I woke up. I didn’t even realize.”

“Well, sleepyhead.” He picked up a waffle and took a bite of it. “I’m going to go find Mom,” he said with a mouth full of food.

“Sounds good. I’m going to go find Dad.” Peyton didn’t know she had any intention of finding her dad, but it had just slipped out. However, she figured it was a good idea since she bailed on him with the chores this morning.

She grabbed a piece of waffle and headed outside to the field. Her dad was hunched over, dripping in sweat and trying to fix part of a fence that a dumb cow had run into.

Her dad was a man who never liked to sit still. He always had to be doing something, especially on Saturdays. He liked to find projects to do and make the most of his time. Sometimes, it drove her mom nuts because she liked to have her dad home, but whenever he was home, he was trying to get something done.

“Hey, Dad,” Peyton said.

Her dad spun around and chuckled to himself, “Did the Sandman get you last night?”

Everybody had noticed she had slept in longer than usual.

“Apparently. He didn’t let me know he was coming, but, yes, he visited.” She decided to play along with the joke.

“Are you doing alright today?” he asked with concern on his face.

“I think so. I don’t know. Thursday was a very off day for me, I guess, and my sleep clearly reflected it. I feel completely jumbled this morning.”

“Yeah, I never thought I’d see your brother settle down or even attempt to. But adventures are better when you have someone by your side enjoying them with ya.” He looked up at Peyton, and tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart. Sometimes I say the wrong things at the wrong times.”

“It’s okay,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes. “You’re right. It is better to have someone by your side. To tackle the world with, to laugh with, to enjoy it. He should want that, who doesn’t.” She knelt in the tall grass and sobbed.

She heard her dad walk over and wrap his arms around her. “Oh, Peyton, my little bumblebee. Someone took your sting.”

“I don’t want to cry anymore, Dad. I don’t. I really don’t. I feel pathetic every time I do, but I still cry. It still happens, and it makes me so frustrated.”

“Listen, Sis. You have been through a tough time. Most people go through life not understanding the amount of loss you have gone through. It’s okay to cry. Your mother and I understand. I can’t imagine what I would do if I lost your mother.”

“It sucks. I know there’s a time to mourn, and Mom was telling me that Derek wouldn’t want me to still be sad and crying, but I’m having such a hard time moving past this. And then seeing Chris with his new girlfriend and how happy he was. I had that, and it was taken from me. I had complete happiness. I did everything right, but it was short-lived.” Peyton was blubbering now and could hardly utter any words.

“At least he got to finish out his life with you! He couldn’t have been any happier than what he was,” her father said soothingly. “He married you, and he left this world knowing he was going to be a dad. What better way to end this life. If there’s any advice I could give you, it's to count your blessings and think of all the people who love you and will always love you for eternities to come. Including Derek. Also, keep in mind that you were left here for a reason. We almost lost you in the accident, but you miraculously recovered. Make the most of this life that you have been blessed with even if you think you're being punished.”

Peyton nodded her head and leaned into her dad’s hug. She knew he was right. It was time to make the most out of life. “Thanks, Daddy, I’ll do my best. I’m going to try and take your advice. I really am. And you’re right, Derek was happy, and I thank heaven that he left this world feeling nothing less.” She had her breathing under control now and wasn’t crying as hard.

Her dad kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. “You can do it. I know you can. Now I’m going to get back to this stupid fence. If that cow runs into the fence again, I just might shoot it,” her dad teased and winked at her.

“Do you want any help?” Peyton asked.

“No, you head back to the house. I think your mom wanted to see if you wanted to go shopping with her,” her dad informed her.

“Ah, I guess I should probably go, huh?” Peyton hated shopping. Not only because her mom took “shop ‘til you drop” literally, but every time they went out shopping, they ran into people, and the questions began.

“I think you know the answer to that, sweetheart. Go have fun!” He turned away from her and headed back toward the warped fence.

She stood up and walked back toward the house. She was surprised to hear her dad mention that she had been pregnant when the accident had happened. It was as if there was an unspoken rule throughout the house to not mention that she had, in fact, lost the baby. Peyton wasn’t sure if it was because of the actual accident or the emotional toll it took on her body once she realized Derek was never going to wake up that had caused her miscarriage. She had concluded that it was probably a good mix of both.

During her walk back to the house, Peyton remembered the day that she had found out she was pregnant…

She had been throwing up for the past week out of nowhere. She thought it was food poisoning because they had tried out a new Mexican restaurant the night before. Then nausea and the puking had continued, and she thought she had a bug. So, she went to the doctor concerned since she had been throwing up so much over the week. He decided to take some blood samples and sent her home to wait for the results.

Not an hour later, she received a call back from the doctor. “Miss Peyton, I got your lab results back, and you show no sign of infection or anything. You’re just pregnant.”

“Excuse me?” It was all she could say.

“You’re pregnant, just barely though. It’s been about five weeks. Have you noticed whether or not you’ve had a period yet?”

“Uh…” As she was thinking about her cycle, she ran into the bathroom where she kept a calendar to track her cycle, and her jaw dropped. She hadn’t even realized that she was a week late. She had been so distracted that she didn’t even think about the timing of her period.

“Peyton?” The doctor snapped her out of her daze, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, sorry. I guess I didn’t even notice that I was late. Um, should I be making an appointment or doing anything at all?” She could hardly get the words out. She was in shock.

“You should think about getting some prenatal vitamins, and when you're eight weeks pregnant, then you should come to see us. Do you have any other questions for me?” the doctor asked.

“No. No, I think that clears up everything for me. Thank you so much, Dr. Peterson.”

“No problem. See you in a few weeks.” Then he hung up the phone.

Peyton started jumping up and down with excitement and running around the house squealing like a little girl. Then she started becoming dizzy and ran to the bathroom to throw up. After that, she wanted to tell her husband so badly that she picked the phone back up and started dialing. Once the phone started ringing, she quickly hung up before he could get the chance to answer.

She didn’t want to tell him over the phone since he would be distracted at work, and she wanted to see his face. She looked at the clock and realized he would be home in three hours. She had three hours to prepare.

Peyton zoomed around her apartment like a tornado. She cleaned the entire house, did the laundry, made the bed, and even made his favorite dinner—lasagna with garlic bread and a green salad. Luckily, lasagna was a long process, and it kept her busy to help the time pass quickly. She kept looking at the clock and expected him to be home within the next fifteen minutes. She quickly set the table, lit a few candles, and then turned some music on in the background. She looked at the clock again and saw that now it was ten minutes. She wasn’t the most patient person in the world, so she sat at the table and waited as best as she could.

As time ticked on, she became more and more irritated and aggravated. This was the best possible news she could ever tell him, and he was taking forever to get home. She couldn’t stand it. Peyton stood up from the table to finish the dishes and clean off the counters. When those were done, she started looking at the floors and decided to grab the broom, sweeping the entire floor. She was starting to become so meticulous in her sweeping, she would brush the same corner over and over again to get every last crumb off the floor.

Then, of course, she noticed a smudge on the floor, so after the pile was swept up, she grabbed a rag and started mopping on her hands and knees.

She was so distracted with her cleaning that she didn’t even hear the door open.

“Peyton? Peyton, where are you? I’m home!” he called.

She jumped right up, threw the rag into the sink, and straightened out her clothes before replying, “I’m in the kitchen!”

He walked in and was covered in grime from head to foot. He was a mechanic and worked on cars all day long at his shop. He always had a faint oily smell to him that she always loved, and it had become a homey smell. Peyton looked at him and just admired him, thinking how lucky she was and how he took her breath every time he was in her presence. He was pretty tall, about six feet, which was good, because she was not very tall at all. He had piercing blue eyes and messy blonde hair. It was always messy, but she didn’t mind. She couldn’t expect it to be perfect when he was under cars all day. He had a smile that could wake a whole room up with laugh lines all around his eyes. He was always laughing or smiling, because he was just happy, and it was contagious. He was her little sunspot, her shooting star. He lightened up her world every day and reminded her of how blessed she genuinely was to have a man like him in her life.

“Boy, does it smell good in here! I’m hungry! I haven’t eaten since this morning. I’ve been so busy.” He looked over at the table, and his face lit up, “Lasagna! Oh no, what did you do?” She couldn’t fool him.

“Oh, you shut up. Do you want to eat now or wait until you shower?” she asked.

“What, you think I need to shower, huh?” He started coming closer to her. She knew what was coming.

“Don’t you dare,” she started to back up slowly. A playful grin spread across his face. Then he darted into a sprint towards her, and before she could escape, he grabbed her and started hugging her tightly.

“Aw, come on. You’re going to make me smell too!” Peyton whined.

“I guess you’re going to need a shower too.” He winked and smiled. He thought he was so funny. Before she should reply, he started talking again, “Let’s eat though. I’m so hungry.”

“Okay, that’s fine with me.” They sat down at the dinner table, said a prayer, and started dishing out the food.

“Man, this looks so good. Thank you for making this, sweetheart,” he said.

Her heart started thumping harder in her chest; should she tell him now or later? She had been waiting for what felt like forever, and anticipation was practically bubbling up to her lips from excitement. Instead of spoiling his dinner, she decided to at least let him finish his plate.

Peyton sat there and tried not to eat fast but couldn’t help it. She was so excited. There were a few times she almost just blurted it out, but she didn’t want to. She just listened to him talk and tried to enjoy the nice dinner as much as she could.

He finally finished the last bite of his lasagna and started reaching for the spoon for seconds.

“Honey, do you mind waiting? I wanted to tell you something,” she said abruptly.

“Aha! I knew there was something!” he exclaimed.

“It’s not what you think. I have some news to tell you…” she started trailing off.

“Oh, so you didn’t break anything or spend lots of money?”

“No.” She took a deep breath and contemplated how she was going to tell him. Then she started freaking out about whether or not he was going to be happy or upset.

“Peyton, whatever it is you can tell me. Sorry, I was just teasing you.” He grabbed my hand, looked right at me, and smiled.

“I know, I know. It’s okay.” She took a minute to collect herself and looked at him. She slowly started to calm down and get her breathing back to normal. The look of reassurance in his eyes helped her believe that no matter what, he was going to love her and take care of her little family for the rest of her life.

“Derek, I’m pregnant,” she whispered.

“What? Really?” Derek whispered back.

“Yes, I went to the doctor this morning because I was so sick. They took a blood sample, and well, they found out I was pregnant. It explains why I’ve been sick.” She looked into his eyes, and she could see the wheels turning in his head. “Are you okay, honey?”

He picked her up, spun her around, and kissed her forehead. “I have never been so happy in my life. I love you.”

It had been one of the happiest days of her life and a treasured memory that she liked to look back on and remember. Pure joy emulated throughout both of them, and they couldn’t stop smiling for days. It was a good reminder to her that true happiness was possible, and it could be found. Even though, at times, it felt like a sad memory because of the tragedy that followed weeks later. It was still a memory that brought her a little hope. Hope that she could find that kind of true happiness again.