Page 29 of Tilly's Tutus
“What?” she asked as she hung her purse on the hook where she always left it and slipped off her shoes.
“You’re smiling,” Carri said, sounding in awe.
“And humming,” Lottie added looking suspicious.
Tilly shrugged, determined not to tell them the real reason. “I had a good day at work.”
She walked through the house to the kitchen, hoping someone started dinner. The room smelled like meatloaf, and she saw a big salad waiting on the counter. Her sisters followed her.
“No, I don’t think it’s just that,” Lottie said. “Something else happened. Like maybe a police captain stopped by the center because he couldn’t abide by your asking him to stay away until Sunday. Does he think he’s so high and mighty that he doesn’t have to abide by your wishes? Are you sure that man is really a Daddy?”
Tilly froze at her sister’s accusations. The anger she felt at not being able to see Carter again until Sunday flamed sky high. Turning to face both sisters, she slapped her hands on her hips and glared. “Yes, Lottie, I’m sure that Carter is a Daddy. And don’t go poking around my love life unless you want me to look into Travis. You may be the oldest, but we are also adults and can run our own lives.”
Both her sisters looked stunned at her anger. She didn’t blame them since she’d never lost her temper like this before. Especially not at them. She was usually the one that smoothed the waters, not roiled them up.
Tilly’s emotions were so stirred up she could feel tears pressing for release. She focused on breathing deep and not crying as she waited for her sisters to react to her blowup.
Then Carri shifted to stand beside her. “I’m with Tilly. The last couple of years you’ve been running our lives like we were still ten years old. We’ll all abide by the staying away from our men until Sunday agreement to show you that what we’re feeling for them is real, but after that, if Rooker still wants me to move in with him, I’m there.”
With that, Carri left the room on the crutches Rooker had given her. Tilly stared at the kitchen door as she listened to Carri slowly thump up the stairs and into her room. A moment later, her bedroom door slammed behind her.
She finally turned her attention to Lottie who looked frozen and a bit pale with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Lottie?”
“I’m sorry,” Lottie whispered as she wiped her cheeks dry only to have more tears fall. “I just wanted to keep you two safe. I didn’t mean to force you to choose between the three of us and your new men. I would never do that. I love you two more than anything in the world, though I have to admit that Travis is coming in a close second.”
Tilly crossed the kitchen and hugged her sister tight. “We know you love us and want us to be safe. But it’s time to loosen the reins. We’re strong women, too, otherwise we would never have been able to stand up to you just now. Why don’t I finish up dinner while you go apologize to Carri Then we can have dinner together and watch a movie.”
“All right, I’ll apologize, but I get to choose the movie tonight.”
Chapter Eighteen
The rest of the week passed too slowly. The children kept her busy during the day, but the nights seemed to go on forever. She and Lottie went over the contract for the Little boutique in Raleigh and decided it would be a good opportunity to spread the word about Tilly’s Tutus.
She spent the evenings making tutus and cutting out dresses to fill the orders she’d take at the convention. The sisters also spent a couple hours each night sorting and purging, packing and claiming the items they wanted to take with them when they moved out. They had to move out because the state was planning to build a highway where the farm now stood. Lottie had worked with an attorney and gotten them a good settlement, but it was still a challenge to downsize from the big farmhouse.
She worked late each evening and then tossed and turned as she tried to sleep. Every morning she crawled out of bed well before her alarm went off to start all over again.
By Sunday morning, she was exhausted, but she’d completed the dresses and tutus that had been ordered at the convention. They were finished, packed, and ready to be dropped at the post office on her way to work the next morning.
After helping Carri and Rooker load their vehicles, she stood in the yard and watched through tears that refused to stop falling as her sister left for her new life. As they drove down the road, she watched Carter’s big black truck pull into the driveway.
While she wanted to run out to meet him, his frown and wave had her backing up until she stood on the porch. He turned around and backed in so the empty bed of the truck was closest to the house. Only after he turned off the engine and his door opened did she leave the porch and run to him.
“Papa! I missed you so much!” she cried, throwing herself at him and having no doubt that he would catch her.
Despite Lottie’s accusation that Carter wasn’t a real Daddy continuing to eat a hole in her brain, her heart knew better.
“Hello, little dancer. I missed you, too. And good girl for backing onto the porch until Papa parked.” Carter hugged her and lifted her into his arms before twirling them around. “Are you packed and ready to go?”
Immediately Tilly felt guilty. Dropping her gaze from his warm brown eyes, she slowly moved her head side to side. “Not yet. I’ve been busy this week filling the orders I got at the convention. And…”
She stopped speaking, not sure how to explain why she was hesitant. She couldn’t explain it to herself, so how was she supposed to make him understand?
“And?” Carter asked as he carried her up onto the porch and set on the bench that no one wanted.
“And I wanted to be sure you really, really wanted me to come and live with you. That you hadn’t changed your mind since the last time we saw each other.”
Before he could answer, Lottie stepped out of the front door. “Captain McGee, would you like to come in and have a glass of iced tea?”
