Page 38 of A Touch of Spring Magic

It’s been a strange day.

And it’s not even end of day.

Jessica smiled at Chloe’s answering text. The time hadn’t sprung forward yet, so that even though it wasn’t yet five, the sun’s rays through the open barn door were a pink-tinged gold. Beautiful. She looked around the barn that she’d cleaned out and had set up a collection of round folding tables, hoping to fill them with plants tonight and early tomorrow. She’d checked on the progress several times this afternoon when she’d brought a second carafe of coffee, a jug of sweet tea, sandwiches and oatmeal butterscotch cookies to Storm and his crew of three. They’d all been so busy and focused, working smoothly like a team that she hadn’t wanted to interrupt.

She’d just waved when Storm’s piercing gaze snagged hers. She needed to stop thinking of him as some kind of sexy savior. She glanced down at Chloe’s next text.

I can come over to help with cleanup.

No. We’re good.

All of her sisters were helpful and supportive, but Chloe—not technically a blood relative though Grandma Millie had adopted and raised her when she’d been abandoned on her front porch twenty-six Christmases ago—was the sweetest.

We.

Of course Chloe would jump on that. Jessica’s fault for being careless.

Since my bossy three sisters hired Storm, they forced me into the we.

Cousin.

Jessica glared at the word. It killed her—just made her shrivel inside that Chloe doubted that she was not a full Maye sister, no matter what her beginnings had been.

Sister.

A tear slipped down her cheek and hit her screen. Chloe called. “Do you think I’ll be a good mother?”

“What? Why are you asking that? Are you…?” Jessica trailed off a little shocked she’d asked the question, but Chloe and Rustin had been spending a lot of time together and the engagement was fast. Maybe Rustin was more of a traditionalist than any of them had suspected. And she wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“No, but Rustin and I want a family,” she said in a rush. “He’s worried about his family tree because of his family’s reputation, but I told him he’ll be a fantastic dad. He’s been such a good big brother to Lucas and his sisters. Suzannah has finished college and is a nurse. And Wren is in her last year of her physical therapy program. And he helps his mom out, and she’s doing really well now. Her RA is in remission, and she’s working as a receptionist at a large medical clinic so Rustin can really focus on himself and his dreams for once, and I want to surround him with love but…”

Jessica FaceTimed Chloe.

Chloe looked like she was sitting, curled up in a chair like a cat, on one of the outdoor chairs on Rustin’s Wild Side restaurant’s deck that looked out over the swollen Catawba River. She was bundled up in a long, brightly colored cardigan that she’d probably knit. She knitted a lot of loud sweaters that she would donate instead of torturing friends and family with. Even though the sweaters weren’t her style, Jessica felt sad she’d never received one of Chloe’s projects. Chloe hoped her bright colors and unusual blends would cheer up someone who was struggling in life—‘keep them from being invisible.’

“But what?” Jessica demanded. Rustin had better not be undermining her sister.

“Should I order the Twenty-Three and Me kit?”

Jessica was shocked. Hurt. But she forced herself to take a calming breath. “Are you thinking about doing that?”

Was Rustin asking about Chloe’s parentage? Had Meghan interfered with some legal questions? Had her mother said something again to ‘other’ Chloe? She’d always made it clear that Chloe was Grandma Millie’s oh-so-gracious ‘charity’ project. And she hadn’t stopped saying that until her three daughters had confronted her on the steps of church one summer day when Jessica had been nine and Meghan eleven, Sarah thirteen.

“No. Yes.” Chloe’s sigh tickled her ears. “I don’t know. Rustin being so worried about his genetics had me thinking about mine. I don’t know anything about my parents, only that when I was a few months old someone left me on Grandma Millie’s doorstep like a Christmas fruit basket.”

Jessica closed her eyes and counted to ten. And then again. Still didn’t help. Her mother had said that about Chloe several times when they’d been growing up, reinforcing the ‘not sisters’ over and over, though none of them had treated Chloe differently, and yet, clearly she was still carrying around the baggage.

“So, Jessie, do you? Do you think I’ll be a good mom?”

Jessica’s eyes prickled with tears at the doubt in Chloe’s voice.

“Clo, you’ll be an amazing mother. You’re so full of love and life. You have so much spark and kindness. You take care of your students—love and support them and help them to grow. You collect and care for stray cats. You even tamed Rustin.” She laughed a little, trying to avoid the emotional maelstrom. “You’ll be the best mother.”

“Jessie, why are you crying?”

“I’m not.” She was. She dashed the tears away and laugh-cried. “It’s been a day—a week, really, but I hate, hate, hate, that you…that you…doubt yourself, or don’t feel like our sister.”

Chloe’s eyes filled with tears too. “I’m sorry.”

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