Page 1 of Her Summer Hope

Chapter One

Madison

“I’m sinking.”

She laid her head back against the cheap vanity and closed her eyes.

She’d painted it two years ago during a spur-of-the-moment whole-house redecorating spree in which she’d attempted to make the home more inviting and comfortable for Rob. She’d wanted him to have a nice, homey place to relax after he’d been working so hard.

She wished she had all the money she’d blown on it now.

“What a waste,” she muttered.

“Mom, I’m sinking,” Jackson said, peering at her over the rim of the tub. “I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Jack, you are not sinking,” she said tiredly, raising her eyebrow at the little blond boy.

“Am too!” he said, holding out a little slick hand and waving it in the air. “Help me!”

She sighed, too exhausted for his game today. “Jackson, there is less than a quarter inch of water in that tub. Pull the plug again and get out, please. I want you in bed before your sister wakes up hungry again.”

Jackson stood, putting his hands on his hips and feet splattering the nearly-opaque water out of spite. His imperious expression was ruined by the toothless grin. He’d lost both his front teeth within the last couple of days.

He was so cute it hurt, especially when he looked so much like Rob.

She felt her eyes burn with tears, but she was sick of crying all the time.

“Come on,” she said, holding out her towel-covered arms.

“Mo-o-o-m, I’m not a baby. I’m a grown man. I can dry myself off,” he grumbled, dumping water out of the toy boat into the empty tub.

“You’re seven,” she said pointedly.

“You are,” he said nonsensically.

“I wish!”

And she did wish. Being seven again would be heaven.

A sudden wail from the bedroom interrupted their nighttime routine and she rubbed her eyes, feeling as if she’d been awake for three days, at least. She eyed the sludge at the bottom of the tub and shook her head. It would have to wait.

She didn’t understand how boys could carry around that much dirt after only two hours of playing outside.

The crying continued and she knew the baby wasn’t going to settle. She was hungry again. Madison thanked God every day that she had decided to breastfeed Emmie. She couldn’t imagine what she would have done if she had to buy formula on top of everything else.

She padded out onto the warm laminate flooring toward her bedroom where Em was demanding the boob. She kept the central air unit off as much as possible to save money, and sometimes it was late in the day before the house cooled off.

The room was dim, only the light of the small T.V. glowed from the wall where she had put on an old movie before Jackson had demanded his bath.

Emmie stopped crying the moment she stepped over the threshold and was now kicking her chunky little legs in the thin baby gown. Her little feet poked out the end before disappearing and reappearing with tiny grunts. She was about to get upset again at any moment.

“Emmie,” Madison sang, leaning over the crib. “Are you hungry?”

She reached in and picked up the warm little bundle, feeling the tiny diaper before sitting on the bed and settling back against the headboard. She propped her nursing pillow under her arms and put Emmie on her breast where the three-month-old nursed vigorously.

She’d gone into the whole breastfeeding thing blind, and it had been one of the best decisions, even if it was hard and exhausting. Emmie was fat and getting bigger, which was a huge relief to her since she hadn’t breastfed Ellie, James, or Jackson.

Speaking of…

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