Sister's Choice (25 page)

“I don’t think of you as a slave. I haven’t, not for one moment.”

“How
do
you think of me, then?”

He was silent for so long that she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Oddly enough, she felt tears rising in her eyes.

“I try not to,” he said softly.

Then he turned and left the room, the radio crackling as another announcer explained the events of the day in far-off Honolulu. She listened to the sleet striking the edges of the porch and skipping along the painted surface. And she tried not to hear the words that Ben just might have been saying.

J
amie looked forward to Cash’s visits. He arrived early every morning with a different surprise. Some of the gifts were silly: a river stone that looked like Mickey Mouse; a dictionary of Southernisms, since she was now residing in Virginia, and a huge T-shirt that asked Does This Make Me Look Fat? with an arrow pointing to what was now a considerable bump where her waistline once resided.

Some of the gifts were more traditional. He brought chocolate truffles, bouquets of wildflowers and jewelry. The last was inspired by Halloween’s rapid approach, a gaudy witch to adorn her pajamas, along with crystal-ball earrings that flashed on and off when Jamie pinched them.

She would have looked forward to his visits anyway. Cash was always good company, arriving early enough to bring breakfast on a tray, sitting beside her as she ate while supervising her daughters’ preparations for school. Then, when everybody was ready, he scooped up the girls and drove them down the mountain to their schools. He swore he didn’t mind, that having Hannah’s observations and Alison’s chatter to look forward to made the trip seem half as long. But she knew that she and the girls were taking time from his beloved horses, and she appreciated the sacrifice as much as the company.

A little over two weeks from the start of her imposed bed rest, she had good news when he arrived.

“Guess what?” She sat forward, hugging the covers over her knees. “I talked to Dr. Raille. She says if I continue to be asymptomatic, I can move to partial bed rest next week. Two long rests a day and no heavy lifting, but I can be up and around the rest of the time. And if that goes well, I can drive again in another week, at least until I get too big to fit behind the wheel.”

Cash was wearing his Rosslyn and Rosslyn polo shirt, and his brown hair waved lazily over his ears. She suspected he’d used the time he would have spent at the barber shop caring for her and her daughters. She was just as glad. The look suited him, as did his grin at her announcement.

“Hey, that’s terrific. We ought to do something to celebrate.”

“Just getting out of bed and walking around will be fabulous.”

He perched on the bed beside her, a cup of Grace’s coffee in his hand. “How are the quilts coming?”

That was one thing that could be said for four-poster exile. Jamie had completed the first top and was now quilting it with the help of a small hoop that rested on her substantial belly. Her stitches were nothing to rave about, but Grace had assured her they were excellent for a first-time quilter. The babies wouldn’t care, and Jamie had decided to simply forge ahead. When she tired of working with the hoop, she traced shapes for the next quilt on her chosen fabric and cut them to hand-piece. She had four blocks finished and couldn’t decide which quilt she liked better.

She held up the hooped quilt for him to see. “Halfway there. I won’t be entering it in any contests, but I’m pleased.”

He bent closer, making a show of assessing her handiwork, although she guessed he would approve even if her stitches were as long and wiggly as earthworms.

“Good job,” he said. “The girls showed me theirs. Looks like they’ll stay snug this winter.”

“Your grandmother’s a saint. If they’re in the mood, she works with them in the evenings. Hannah’s about to put the binding on hers, and she’s helping Alison tie. I’m glad I always bought Alison shoes with real shoelaces. At least she knows how to tie a knot.”

“Even if she doesn’t have much of a feel about where to put them.”

“Well, there are a couple of blocks in her quilt that will never fall apart, that’s for sure.”

“And a few that are falling apart as we speak.” He stood and felt in his pocket, and pulled out an envelope. “Speaking of celebrating. Got you something.”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “You know, I love all these presents. I’ve learned the meaning of
cattywampus
and
nearabout,
and every single person who visits me wants a witch like this one.” She pointed to the front of her plaid PJs, where the witch rode her broom just above her left breast. “But coming up with something every day has to be a strain.”

“Nothing to it. Are you going to take this or not?”

“Just so you know, you can take a break now and then. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“I’m counting how many times you say that. If I’m not mistaken, you’re into five figures.”

“Am not. Four, maybe.” She smiled up at him. “It’s really not that easy accepting all this good will without giving anything back.”

“We’re just racking up points in heaven, if you want the truth. I’m counting on somebody up there keeping score.”

“That could be good for you, but not so good for me.”

“Oh, I think those babies will give you a point or two. I wouldn’t get all tore up about it.”

“Tore up? Is that in my Southern dictionary?”

“It should be.”

Jamie opened the envelope. “Sal’s Italian Bistro. A menu?”

“Just a stone’s throw from here, and it rivals anything in the big city. And your sister called your doctor. She’s okayed a trip there tomorrow night, as long as we drop you off at the door and pick you up there. A test run. You, me, the girls and Granny Grace. What do you say?”

For a moment Jamie didn’t know how to respond. Something as simple as a trip to a local hangout sounded like heaven. “Can I have two of everything?”

“Not only that, you can eat all my leftovers. Right there at the table.”

She crooked her finger. “Come here.”

He sat down again, and she put her arms around him and pulled him close for a thank-you kiss.

She was still smiling when he was already halfway down the mountain with her daughters in tow.

Sandra brought Alison home from preschool as she did every Friday. Sandra and Cissy had each claimed shifts, and Alison was delivered to her mother’s bedside every afternoon right on time. Hannah usually rode the school bus home, and Martina, a woman who worked in the apple shed and helped Grace with housework, met her at the bus stop then drove her up to the house.

Today, though, Kendra and Isaac picked up Hannah at school. Since Jamie’s move, Kendra had come to visit several times. Each time she’d brought gourmet takeout from D.C. area restaurants and energy to help Grace with anything that needed to be done. Wisely, Grace had let her, even though, between Sandra and Martina, the house was well cared for and so was Jamie.

This time the Taylors brought Asian food, a selection of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese, enough to last Grace and company for a week or more.

“I couldn’t decide which to get,” Kendra told Jamie, as Grace found places to put the overflow in her chest freezer, with Hannah and Isaac’s help. “My decision-making apparatus seems to be shutting down. On a good day, I stand in front of the closet and can’t figure out what to wear. On a bad day, I’m not even sure whether to get out of bed. I’m so ineffectual. The only place I’m still functioning normally is work.”

Jamie wasn’t surprised Kendra was feeling stressed; she was just surprised she was admitting it so freely. “What’s this about? I’m doing great. In fact, I’m sure you know I’m going out for dinner tomorrow night on a minor test run.”

“No cramping? No bleeding?”

“Nope. Babies moving normally and waking me up regularly at night. I think they’re either doing each other’s hair or getting ready to watch the Lions beat the Bears on Sunday. If these are boys, I hate to tell them it won’t be televised here.” She paused. “But you stubbornly refused to find out, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t decide!”

Jamie laughed.

Isaac came in to join them. He leaned over to kiss Jamie’s cheek, repeated Kendra’s questions and smiled at Jamie’s answers.

“Hey, that’s great news, and Italian food tomorrow will be a nice break from the gallons of Asian cuisine now happily at home in Grace’s freezer,” he said.

“I’ll relish every bite.”

“On the way in, I heard you talking about the sex of the babies.” He settled himself in a bedside chair, while Kendra perched on the edge of the bed.

“Kendra admitted she was the hold-up. What did
you
want to do?”

“I like to be prepared. I’d like to tell people, so the babies won’t be wearing yellow and green until they’re heading off to preschool. I’d like to cut the name discussion in half.”

“It could be a boy and a girl,” Kendra said. “We’d still need names that fit both sexes.”

“But only one of each.”

“That just doesn’t seem like enough of a reason—”

Jamie decided to break in with her two cents’ worth. “Sis, I knew ahead of time with both Hannah and Alison. It didn’t spoil anything. There’s so much going on in the delivery room, it was nice to have that part settled. I understand the fun of the surprise factor, but you know, with twins, there’s going to be a lot more hubbub, and there won’t be much time to celebrate whether you had boys or girls or both. You could do that part now.”

Kendra looked at her watch. “It’s too late. By the time I got anybody at the doctor’s office, and they looked up the records, and—”

“Not necessary.” Isaac took out his wallet and pulled out a small envelope. “I figured, just in case you changed your mind, we ought to have it in writing. So the tech wrote it down and sealed it for us to look at if we ever got ready.”

“You didn’t!”

“I haven’t peeked, if that’s what you mean.”

“I mean, you didn’t actually go to all that trouble?”

He reached over and took Kendra’s hand. “They’re already real to us, K.C. Naming them at this point isn’t going to make them seem more so.”

Now Jamie realized where Kendra’s ambivalence came from. Her sister was afraid to feel more attached than she already did. There were months to go, more obstacles to overcome, more complications that might arise. Jamie had never had a clearer sense of what this pregnancy meant to Kendra. By becoming her surrogate, Jamie had opened a door that had been permanently sealed. And some part of her sister was still afraid to walk through it.

“It’s up to you,” Isaac said.

“It didn’t spoil anything for you?” Kendra asked Jamie.

“By the time the girls were born, I felt like I knew them better. I liked that.” She realized she’d given the wrong answer. Kendra didn’t want to know these babies better. Her sister was afraid she might not be able to bear it if something went wrong.

But Kendra nodded, as if she realized that it was time to move on. “Okay.”

“I want you to be sure,” Isaac said. “Don’t just do this for me.”

“No.” Kendra held out her hand for the envelope. “Give it to me.”

Jamie wasn’t sure if Kendra was going to open the envelope or rip it into a dozen pieces. But Kendra opened it and scanned the words. Then she handed the small scrap of paper to Isaac.

“Well, I’ll be.” He grinned. Then he got up and scooped Kendra off the bed for a bear hug.

“Boys,” he said at last. “Two Little Leaguers.”

Kendra sniffed, but sniffing was a useless protection, and in a moment tears filled her eyes. “Sons.”

“Well, wow!” Jamie swallowed hard, thrilled that this moment had come. “We needed some boys in this family.”

Isaac rested his hand on her belly for a moment, a privilege Jamie had extended to him the moment the babies began to move. “Hear that, guys? We need you to round things out. Now we’ve just got to work out some names.”

Kendra started to laugh, though tears were slipping down her cheeks. “It seems just as hard as it did before. Do you know how many boys’ names there are? Thousands.”

“The right ones will make themselves known,” Jamie said. “And you still have time.”

“Boys.” Kendra put her hand on top of Isaac’s. Jamie felt the pleasant weight against her womb and inside her heart.

In response to the news, Grace suggested cheap indoor-outdoor carpeting for the playroom in the new house—since it would have to be replaced regularly—and bars on the windows. Although she said the last with a wink.

“They will need to be taught a lot, since they are boys,” Hannah said. “Boys never seem to know the things they ought to.”

“Does that go for uncles, too?” Isaac asked.

“Uncles are men. By the time a boy becomes an uncle, he has learned to behave.”

“It takes that long?”

Hannah nodded solemnly. “I think it does. And not all boys become uncles.”

Jamie imagined an entire continent filled with grown-up boys who hadn’t made the cut. She was going to have to speak to her daughter about the many ways boys were useful, even if they took a little patience.

“You’re going to like having cousins,” Jamie told her, since the boy lecture had to wait for a little one-on-one time.

“They are not exactly cousins.” Hannah gnawed on the tip of a finger. “And they are not exactly brothers.”

Jamie wished Hannah had saved this comment for a time when her aunt and uncle weren’t in the room. But Kendra saved her from having to explain, once again, that the babies were indeed cousins and nothing but.

“I know what you mean,” Kendra told her. “They seem more important than cousins, don’t they? Since your mommy is growing them for us.”

“Bruzzins,” Hannah said, her eyes lighting up. “Brother-cousins. Bruzzins.”

Jamie looked at her sister to see if there were any signs of distress at this little misconception and linguistic feat. But Kendra looked delighted.

“I love that, Hannah,” she told her niece. “‘Bruzzins’ covers it exactly. And that’ll make them even more special to you.”

Alison sidled up and laid her copper curls against Kendra’s shoulder.

“Will we be special?”

“Of course you will be. You’ll always be special to me.”

“But you will have babies,” Hannah pointed out. “And they will keep you busy.”

“Very busy.” Kendra nodded, her eyes wide. “Very, very busy, I’m afraid.”

“Too busy for us?” Hannah asked.

Jamie wondered if her daughter had saved even one difficult question for later.

“Never too busy for you and Alison,” Kendra promised. “And let’s face it, these
are
boys. And even if boys and girls are not as different as you might think, there are things boys don’t always like to do.”