Page 32 of Theirs to Treasure

He gently patted his foster mother’s back as the milk went down the wrong pipe. She shook her head at him. “You are a menace, Sam Booth.”

“We’ve established that. Now answer the question.”

“It was the fishing. Butch had heard from three of his old Telco buddies about Lake Snomish and the great fishing to be had. Then he found this property. The first time we came up here for a visit, I ended up meeting Isla Johansen.”

“Leif’s mom?”

“Yep. She’s more of a sister to me than Lorraine is. I knew that after one afternoon. By the third day of the visit, after spending time with her and her two husbands, I knew that this was someplace I wanted to spend the rest of my life.”

Sam stared at a woman who he could have sworn he knew inside and out and saw a stranger instead. “Why? What made you feel so strongly?”

“It was the tolerance here. Oh, not everybody is accepting. But, Sam, the love, humanity, and compassion I’ve found here is something I just haven’t felt anyplace else. It was something that Butch and I always wanted to give to the children who passed through our doors, and here we found a whole town who lives by that motto.”

Sam thought about his friend, Leif. He knew that his parents were a triad, and that Leif was looking for that in his own life. Betty was right—Fate Harbor was the only place he could think of that would welcome a family like that.

“Why do you feel that Isla is more of a sister to you than Lorraine?”

“Lorraine never understood why I didn’t do IVF, and if not that, she thought I should adopt. When Butch and I explained we wanted to foster children, she spent a long time trying to talk us out of it. She wanted us to have children who would…”

“What?” Sam asked.

Betty gave him a bright smile and shook her head.

He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay, I’m a Marine, you can tell me.”

“Ah, Sam. Lorraine wasn’t a happy woman. I was always sorry she didn’t have a better life.” Sam watched as a tear trickled down his foster mother’s face.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he reassured her.

“Lorraine said that she wanted me to have children who mattered.” Betty gulped. “Can you imagine that?” She clasped his hand in both of hers. “I love you so much, Sam. You mean the world to me. My children matter. Isla got that right from the start. They grow big hearts here in Fate Harbor.”

* * *

As he jogged along the nature trail three days later, Sam was still thinking about what Betty had said. It roiled around in his head along with Chance’s determination to make something permanent between the three of them. That was a lot to take in.

He wasn’t too surprised to see another figure up ahead on the trail. Sam put on the juice and soon caught up to his friend. He didn’t say anything, instead just ran in companionable silence next to Leif Johansen until they stopped at the top of the trailhead.

“That wasn’t half bad…for a Marine,” Leif said as they both took long drinks from their water bottles.

“Army Rangers are nothing but bailing wire and ego. I could have left you in the dust a quarter mile back,” Sam scoffed. He couldn’t have, but it was nice to have been able to finally keep up.

“I need to start doing yoga,” Leif smiled. “I’d probably be able to run circles around Caleb.”

They both laughed at that thought. Caleb Samuels was fast with a capital ‘F’. “Well, if I can’t learn how to beat Caleb, maybe I might find a pretty little baker to date,” Leif suggested.

Sam couldn’t believe how fast he went from friend to The Hulk.

Leif laughed.

“Down, boy. Damn, you’re easy.”

Sam wished it were that easy, but he’d been in a perpetual state of angst since Chance had driven Josie home four days ago. Talking to Betty about it helped, but talking to Chance was of no use whatsoever.

“Spill it,” Leif said as they started toward their trucks.

“My friend is an idiot.”

“No argument from me,” Leif said. “Chance has lived under a rainbow most of his life, and somehow he thinks he can turn flat water into sparkling water.”