Read Online And Then Came You by Maureen Child - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Maureen Child
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tried to hide it from her family, Jo knew that a part of Sam had been missing since that long-ago August 8, when she’d held her baby close and then given her up. Losing her daughter had carved out a slice of her soul that she’d never been able to recover.
“Oh God, look at me.” Sam sniffled and pushed back out of Jo’s arms. A smile that was more sheer determination than anything else crossed her face. Admiration for her younger sister bloomed inside Jo and pride was right behind it. “I just found her and I’m acting like it’s the end.”
“True.” Jo forced a smile to match her sister’s. She’d play this any way Sam wanted to. And anything big sister could do to make things easier, she’d do it. “So what’s next?”
Swiping her fingers across her cheeks, Sam wiped away the last of the tears, then dusted her palms together as if ridding herself of the pain that had caused them. A hesitant smile wavered on her mouth and then strengthened as she sat up straight. “It’s not the end of anything, Jo,” she said and her voice took on a note of fierce resolve. “I’m getting another shot at this. She’s back in my life, and I’m not going to lose her again.”
“Not a chance.”
Sam grinned. It was watery and still a little shaky but it was filled with a kind of joy Jo hadn’t seen in her sister in way too long. “Wait’ll you see her.”
“She’s one of us, huh?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Not a surprise. Marconi genes are hard to defeat.”
Sam nodded. “That’s something Jeff’s going to have to learn.”
Chapter Five
It was too early in the morning to be dealing with this.
Sam took a deep breath and gripped the cardboard cup holding the last of her coffee a little tighter. What she wouldn’t give for a refill.
Grace Van Horn, tiny tyrant, smiled benignly, like some benevolent good fairy. But Sam wasn’t fooled. She’d been down this road before. Three summers ago, in fact, and the nightmares were
still
close enough to give her cold chills.
Short and trim, Grace was sixty and looked years younger. She was dressed in pale brown slacks and a lemon-colored silk shirt. Her snow-white hair was styled close to her head and her dark eyes sparkled with enough ideas to drive construction crews to strokes. The remodeling magazines Grace held clutched to her chest made Sam want to jump back into the truck and peel out of the driveway, leaving behind nothing but tread marks.
Under the best of circumstances, a summer of working for Grace was trying. Grace, a huge animal lover, gave her menagerie the run of the place and construction crews spent most of their time moving cats out of the way, chasing off dogs, shooing chickens, and tryingdesperately to keep the goats and sheep from eating the equipment.
But now, Sam didn’t even have the luxury of a concentrated focus. Instead, her brain kept wandering far away from construction, to settle on Jeff and Emma.
She was
married
.
And having a hard time getting past that.
Plus, trying to think about work when all she wanted was another look at her daughter was nearly impossible.
“I’m so excited to be getting started,” Grace said, sweeping her gaze across the gathered Marconi sisters and their crew, waiting in trucks parked in the driveway. She practically vibrated in her eagerness. “It’s going to be a wonderfully creative summer.”
Someone groaned.
Sam was really afraid it had been
her
.
When Grace started throwing the word “creative” around, it was time to hide. Since her husband’s death ten years before, Grace had made it her mission in life to transform her home into a miniature version of the Winchester Mystery House.
Rumor had it that in 1881, a medium had convinced Sarah Winchester that she was being haunted by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifles her husband’s company produced. The medium had assured Sarah that if she built a grand house for the spirits to visit, she could appease them—and that as
“Oh God, look at me.” Sam sniffled and pushed back out of Jo’s arms. A smile that was more sheer determination than anything else crossed her face. Admiration for her younger sister bloomed inside Jo and pride was right behind it. “I just found her and I’m acting like it’s the end.”
“True.” Jo forced a smile to match her sister’s. She’d play this any way Sam wanted to. And anything big sister could do to make things easier, she’d do it. “So what’s next?”
Swiping her fingers across her cheeks, Sam wiped away the last of the tears, then dusted her palms together as if ridding herself of the pain that had caused them. A hesitant smile wavered on her mouth and then strengthened as she sat up straight. “It’s not the end of anything, Jo,” she said and her voice took on a note of fierce resolve. “I’m getting another shot at this. She’s back in my life, and I’m not going to lose her again.”
“Not a chance.”
Sam grinned. It was watery and still a little shaky but it was filled with a kind of joy Jo hadn’t seen in her sister in way too long. “Wait’ll you see her.”
“She’s one of us, huh?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Not a surprise. Marconi genes are hard to defeat.”
Sam nodded. “That’s something Jeff’s going to have to learn.”
Chapter Five
It was too early in the morning to be dealing with this.
Sam took a deep breath and gripped the cardboard cup holding the last of her coffee a little tighter. What she wouldn’t give for a refill.
Grace Van Horn, tiny tyrant, smiled benignly, like some benevolent good fairy. But Sam wasn’t fooled. She’d been down this road before. Three summers ago, in fact, and the nightmares were
still
close enough to give her cold chills.
Short and trim, Grace was sixty and looked years younger. She was dressed in pale brown slacks and a lemon-colored silk shirt. Her snow-white hair was styled close to her head and her dark eyes sparkled with enough ideas to drive construction crews to strokes. The remodeling magazines Grace held clutched to her chest made Sam want to jump back into the truck and peel out of the driveway, leaving behind nothing but tread marks.
Under the best of circumstances, a summer of working for Grace was trying. Grace, a huge animal lover, gave her menagerie the run of the place and construction crews spent most of their time moving cats out of the way, chasing off dogs, shooing chickens, and tryingdesperately to keep the goats and sheep from eating the equipment.
But now, Sam didn’t even have the luxury of a concentrated focus. Instead, her brain kept wandering far away from construction, to settle on Jeff and Emma.
She was
married
.
And having a hard time getting past that.
Plus, trying to think about work when all she wanted was another look at her daughter was nearly impossible.
“I’m so excited to be getting started,” Grace said, sweeping her gaze across the gathered Marconi sisters and their crew, waiting in trucks parked in the driveway. She practically vibrated in her eagerness. “It’s going to be a wonderfully creative summer.”
Someone groaned.
Sam was really afraid it had been
her
.
When Grace started throwing the word “creative” around, it was time to hide. Since her husband’s death ten years before, Grace had made it her mission in life to transform her home into a miniature version of the Winchester Mystery House.
Rumor had it that in 1881, a medium had convinced Sarah Winchester that she was being haunted by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifles her husband’s company produced. The medium had assured Sarah that if she built a grand house for the spirits to visit, she could appease them—and that as
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