Page 87 of Already Home

* * *

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Tom asked, pointing to a pictureof a very young and very pregnant Serenity.

Jenna stared at the photo, seeing a lot of herself in it. Anodd reality she was slowly getting used to.

She sat between her birth parents on the sofa in Beth andMarshall’s family room. Somehow they’d all gotten through dinner. Thecombination of traditional and vegan food had been consumed, and there had beenenough wine to smooth over any rough edges.

Jenna turned to the next page, which showed young Tom and youngSerenity together. They looked happy and in love.

“My parents insisted I give you up,” Serenity said with a sigh.“They didn’t believe that Tom and I would stay together. Having me pregnant washard enough on my family—keeping a baby and being a single teenage mother wasmore than they could handle. But I wonder...”

“Coffee anyone?” Beth asked briskly, rising to her feet. “Ithink I’d like some.”

“I’ll take some as well,” Tom told her.

“No, thanks,” Serenity said.

Marshall nodded.

Jenna felt her mother’s tension. While she felt badly that Bethdidn’t like how things were going, she wanted to remind her that this had beenher idea. Beth had been the one to insist they all get to know each other.

The last picture in the album showed a very scared Serenity ina wheelchair as she was taken into the hospital to give birth. Jenna feltsympathy for the young girl whose life had been so changed by her pregnancy.Although she suspected most women found the process altered everything. Still,Serenity had been a teenager and not a grown woman who’d been ready to getpregnant.

“Here’s a few pictures of the winery,” Tom said, taking thatalbum from Jenna and replacing it with a slimmer one. “They’re recentpictures.”

She studied the vineyard at sunset, the light streaming acrossthe grapevines.

“It’s beautiful.”

Beth returned to the family room and glanced at the picture.“It is.”

Serenity took Jenna’s hand. “I have to go back. I need to seeWolf and Jasmine. She’s seven months pregnant and I want to commune with herunborn baby.”

Jenna barely blinked at the thought. “I’m sure they’ve bothmissed you.”

“They have, and I’ve missed them, but this was important.”Serenity squeezed her fingers. “Jenna, please come back with me.”

“What?”

Jenna pulled her hand free, then closed the album and rose. Shestepped out from behind the coffee table and faced her birth parents.

“Just for a little while,” Tom added, making it clear they’ddiscussed this already. “For a few days. We want you to see everything. Thewinery, our home. Meet Wolf and his wife.”

Visit them? She’d barely gotten used to the fact that theyexisted.

“Dragon will be there, too,” Tom added.

Jenna had to admit seeing her brother again was an enticement.He’d only stayed in town overnight and then had flown back to San Francisco. Butthe rest of it was less appealing.

“You have Violet to take care of the store,” Serenity said.“She can handle things.”

Jenna looked at Beth, who was carefully ignoring theconversation.

“Mom?”

Reluctantly, Beth looked up. Her smile was forced. “Why notgo?” she said, her tone neutral. “It would be fun. It’s only for a fewdays.”

Because it was weird. Because the thought of it made heruncomfortable. She found herself back at the same set of questions she’d hadwhen Serenity and Tom had first shown up. Why now? What made this timespecial?

---