Read Online Highness by Latrivia Nelson - Free Book Online

nervous.”
    Bree looked around at the finely decorated kitchen and all of the crystal, pottery and fine pots and smirked. “I’m sure she’ll be nice, I just pray that she’s not a thief.”
    Hope heard Bree mumbling under her breath and laughed.
    “Can you hear me?” Bree asked, amused.
    “I can hear everything now that I can’t see,” Hope answered.  “It’s strange.  I never thought so much about the five senses until I lost one.”
    “Well, at least you’re up in spirits.  It seems that being home has made you feel better.  Before you know it, you’ll have your sight back.”
    Going rigidly straight when she heard the front steps creek, she paused.  “She’s here,” Hope said, standing up.
    Bree quickly stood up from the stove, placed the hot bread on the oven and pulled off her oven mitten.  “Okay. Here I come. Just sit down.” Hearing Bree breeze past her and her perfume linger, Hope followed her friend’s footsteps to the front door. 
    “I’m coming with,” Hope insisted.
    As they came to the door, Bree saw a shadow behind the white linen drapes.  Opening the door up slowly, she saw a boney little woman in teddy bear scrubs and a painted smile on her thin lips stood in front of her.  The woman’s hair was pulled back in a bun, streaked with gray. She looked at Bree and then at Hope.
    “Hi, I’m LouAnn. The Prichard’s sent me over,” she said waiting for them to invite her in.
    Bree looked her over while Hope simply looked passed her. 
    “Thank you for coming,” Hope said first, “please come in.” 
    Bree smiled and moved, allowing the woman to come into the open foyer of the home.
    “You have a lovely place here,” LouAnn said, tucking her purse under her arm.  She looked up above her at the crystal chandelier. 
    “Thank you,” Hope answered. “It’s been passed down for generations.”
    “Please come have a seat in the living room,” Bree said, grabbing Hope to guide her.
    Hope liked LouAnn’s voice, although she could do without the loud perfume.  It smelled like a knock-off of Sunflower by Elizabeth Arden. 
    “How have you ladies been managing?” LouAnn asked sitting down on the brown antique Allistair sofa.  She looked around as she talked, admiring everything, perfectly placed in the house.
    Hope sat across from her on the wing-backed chair directly under the painting of her great grandmother.  “We’ve been doing okay considering…”
    “She’s doing much better now that she’s at home,” Bree followed up by saying, taking a seat in the opposite chair.
    “Well, Sean told me about the situation.  He said that Hope might need some in-home assistance for a while…indefinitely.”  She reached inside her purse and pulled out a small folded piece of paper. “I have about 27 years in home health as a nurse. I recently retired, but I’m looking for work now that my grandson is in private school.  I need to help my daughter out.  She’s a single mother.”
    Hope smiled.  A saint.  
    Bree took the folded paper and read it out loud to ensure that Hope could hear her.  When she was done, she set it on the coffee table and nodded at LouAnn, pleased with her experience. 
    “Well, you have all the proper training,” Hope said impressed. 
    “When can you start?” Bree asked.
    Hope frowned.  That was a bit premature.   She didn’t know if she wanted this woman in the same house with her…at least not yet.  “Would you like some tea or coffee so that we can talk?  Get to know each other,” she said, turning toward Bree’s voice.
    “Coffee would be fine,” LouAnn said, standing up.  “Why don’t you tell me where it is and I can fix us all a nice cup.”  LouAnn was a simple woman who believed a lot stronger in actions than pretty words.
    “I’ll show you were it is,” Bree said standing. 
    As they walked off, Hope sat in the living room listening to birds chirping out in the trees near the open windows and contemplated how