Page 106 of Already Home

“I don’t have your eye for baking,” she admitted, “but my guessis another couple of minutes.”

Yet another family meal. This time brunch—without eggs, ofcourse. Yesterday she’d seen Wolf and Jasmine’s house—a smaller version of thebigger log home that Serenity and Tom lived in. Jasmine had also shown her thebaby’s room and had tried to teach Jenna how to weave cloth.

From what she could tell, the Johnson family was very close.Dragon had gone off the previous afternoon to visit a couple of his localfriends, but otherwise he’d been around. Wolf and Jasmine had spent more timehere than at their own place, and Tom was never far out of sight.

It was family intimacy at a new level. Jenna believed it wasgenuine, but something lurked in the background. Something she couldn’t put herfinger on.

“I should show you pictures of the boys when they were little,”Serenity said when Jenna had returned to sit across from her.

“I’d like that,” Jenna said, “but I think it would be more funwhen they’re in the room to watch.”

“Tormenting your brothers?”

Jenna laughed. “Yes. I do like that part of havingsiblings.”

Serenity sighed. “I wish you’d been here when you were little.We missed you so much. I talked about you all the time, trying to make you realto Dragon and Wolf.” She paused, her green eyes flashing with humor. “Wecelebrated your birthday every year.”

Which fell under the category of creepy, Jenna thought. “Butyou never came to find me,” she said. “Why? You knew how to find myparents.”

Serenity flinched slightly as Jenna said the P word. Jenna felt both guilty and defiant. Beth andMarshall were her parents. If Serenity had wantedthat to be different, she shouldn’t have given her up for adoption. It was as ifshe wanted it both ways—to have the world as it was and to have changed thepast.

“Why now?” she asked for maybe the twentieth time.

“There are things we can know right away,” Serenity saidcalmly, “and knowledge that comes with time.”

“What does that mean?”

“I always thought it was up to you to come to us. Then thatchanged. So we came to you.”

She spoke so calmly, with such certainty.

Jenna wanted to argue, but knew she couldn’t win. Thisconversation reminded her of being with Jasmine the previous day. She’d asked ifJasmine knew the sex of the baby.

“We’re having a boy. Serenity told me.”

Jasmine had spoken with the same quiet confidence.

“Did you get that confirmed by an ultrasound?” Jenna hadasked.

“Oh, no. Serenity knows those kinds of things.”

Jenna refused to believe her birth mother had mystical powers,but did that matter? Life was different here. Maybe she should stop fighting itand simply accept the truth. Accept that they were her family, too.

“I was never sure that Beth and Marshall were the right parentsfor you,” Serenity said unexpectedly. “My parents picked them because I wouldn’tmake up my mind. I think I was trying to find the courage to keep you myself.Tom and I talked about running away together, but we were so young. And not verybrave. But yes, I think that would have been better for you and for us.”

The complete dismissal of her parents drove Jenna to her feet.Anger coursed through her. How dare Serenity assume Beth and Marshall had beenanything but loving, supportive parents who had given her every advantage andmade her feel special and adored?

The timer dinged.

Literally saved by the bell, she thought as she crossed to theoven and pulled out the muffins. She stared blindly at the tray, then shook herhead.

Getting annoyed served no purpose. She would only say thingsthat would make the rest of her visit uncomfortable, and what was the point ofthat?

She could almost hear Beth’s voice in her head telling her thatSerenity believed what she had to in order to accept what she’d done. Thatgiving up a child was never easy, regardless of the circumstances or outcome.Serenity’s decision had been harder than most because she had married the fatherof her child and knew that things would have worked out.

Jenna knew Beth would urge her to be compassionate and remindher that she had less than forty-eight hours left until she could get on a planeand head back to her regular life.

She carried the tray of muffins over to Serenity. “What do youthink?”

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