Page 10 of The Wish List
“No, I do.”
One of the twins pushed the other, who retaliated by jumping on his brother.
“I do, Zach.”
They went rolling across the front yard as Beth watched, strangely fascinated. She and her sisters had never been much for physical roughhousing or altercations, although there’d been plenty of sass thrown back and forth between them.
Once their mother had become a bestselling author and in-demand speaker, Beth had put a stop to any playfulness she might have had with Freya and Trinity. Her entire focus had been making sure things ran smoothly without drawing the attention of anyone who could have possibly separated the sisters or called out May on her negligence.
Beth didn’t feel the least bit confident that her mother would have chosen to make her daughters a priority if she’d been pushed into a corner. And there was no way Beth would allow any of them to end up sent to live with their father or a random relative somewhere.
She was still staring at Shauna’s house as Declan emerged. When she’d apologized to Shauna at the hospital, the woman had explained she was May’s neighbor. So seeing Declan shouldn’t surprise Beth, but it did.
“Get off the ground,” he bellowed, which made Beth’s lips twitch.
“I get to sit with Mommy in the back seat,” the boy wearing the red jacket yelled. He was on top of his brother now. Although at first glance they were identical, Beth could see that the red-jacketed kid was huskier, and by the looks of it, stronger than the one in the blue jacket so had the advantage.
“Both of you are going to sit in the back,” Declan said, hauling the two boys to their feet by their collars. “Your mother has already made it extremely clear that you have to be in your booster seats buckled at all times. It’s the law,” he said as if that explained everything.
“I want to sit by Mommy,” the kid in the blue jacket said, his voice a plaintive whine.
“We need to get her from the hospital first. Your mommy will be doing plenty of sitting when she gets to the house. You two are lucky I don’t leave you here with how you’re acting.”
“You can’t leave us,” Red jacket, who Beth thought was Timmy, told Declan with a look of wide-eyed shock. “That’s child abuse.”
Declan glanced up at that point and noticed Beth. There was an instantaneous sizzle in the air between them before he gave a small shake of his head and looked past her. He lifted his hand in a wave. Beth turned to see Freya on the front porch of their mother’s house.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” her sister called to Declan and the boys. She didn’t bother to greet Beth.
“We’re going to pick up Mommy from the hospital,” one of the boys called.
Freya walked down the steps. “It’s so nice she can be home for Thanksgiving. Our mom is coming home, too.” Now she did glance at Beth. “Despite the objections of certain people.”
“I’m worried about her recovery,” Beth said under her breath.
Freya narrowed her eyes then continued forward. “Are you guys cooking a big Thanksgiving feast?”
The two boys looked up at Declan. He ran a hand over his jaw, and although Beth couldn’t hear the sound of stubble scraping his palm, the sight still sent a shiver through her.
“I’ll pick up some food at the grocery after I get Shauna settled.”
“What if they don’t have any pumpkin pie left?” Zach asked, sounding alarmed.
Freya grimaced. “Is the store even open on Thanksgiving?”
“You have to get extra whipped cream.” Timmy tugged on the sleeve of Declan’s leather jacket. “Zach always eats the whipped cream right out of the tub. Mommy only lets us because it’s a holiday.”
Beth almost laughed at that. She didn’t know Shauna well but couldn’t deny that she’d judged the woman for the kind of mother she assumed her to be. The young single mom reminded Beth of May with her flowing skirts and music always coming from the house.
She could guess the kind of lackadaisical rules that had led to her injury. What kind of mother went skydiving? Probably not the type who worried over whipped cream, whether it was a holiday or not.
“You should join us for Thanksgiving dinner,” Freya said.
Beth felt her jaw go slack. She couldn’t imagine sharing a meal already destined to be fraught with tension with Shauna, her unruly sons and most of all, Declan.
The first time Beth had gotten pregnant, before the miscarriage at nine weeks, she’d already started reading books and blogs about routines for a baby.
She wasn’t going to make the mistakes her mother had. The ones she assumed Shauna might make. Nonexistent rules ended with kids running wild and mothers breaking their legs doing stupid stunts like going skydiving.
