Jayden carried the two glasses of tea to the table and motioned for Skyler to sit down. “David must be rolling in money to afford a ring like that.”
“David isn’t rich himself. His grandmother has all the money in the family, and he’s an only grandson, so it will all go to him someday.” Skyler sat in the folding chair, but she pushed the tea back. “I don’t drink anything with sugar in it. I’m dieting so I can get into a size two wedding dress.” She cut her eyes around at Jayden and drew her perfectly arched brows down. “Have you gained a few pounds since you got here?”
“Maybe,” Jayden answered. “If my jeans fit, then I don’t worry about that too much. Did you just come by to show me your ring?”
“Pretty much. I want to talk to you about something else while I’m here, but before I do . . . since you’re my sister, I should ask you to be part of the wedding party, but”—she pursed her lips and frowned—“you’d be uncomfortable since you’re taller than even the groom and his party, and all my bridesmaids are tiny like me. I’m thinking of you.”
“Yeah, right,” Jayden said.
“Don’t get all pissy about it,” Skyler said. “I might let you help serve the cake or maybe you can sit at the guest book.” She held up her hand and flipped it around so the gem would catch the sunrays pouring in from the window. “David’s great-grandfather had this designed for his bride and it was passed down to his grandmother and now she’s let David give it to me. I’m such a lucky woman.”
“You said you had something to talk to me about?” Jayden prodded. Better to cut this short.
“David and I won’t live in Texas this next year. We’ll be running our own little private school in Mexico for the children of diplomats and folks who need our services. His grandmother is setting it all in motion, and we’ll be very busy with his side of the family and with Daddy when we do get to come back to the States for a short visit.”
“Does that mean you won’t be wasting your time coming to see me?” Jayden asked.
“Our wedding has to be in late August, so we don’t have much time to plan for it, and I sure won’t have time to come see you.” Skyler sighed. “I’ll have to buy a dress off the rack instead of having a designer make it special for me, but”—another long sigh—“at least I can get a nice one. I won’t have time to save up the money for my dream wedding, and with all his family’s doing for us, I can’t possibly let them pay for the wedding.” Skyler pulled out her little package of tissues.
“With what you got from the sale of Mama’s house, you should have plenty of money to pay for a wedding.” Jayden thought again of their childhood home occupied by another family.
A single trained tear dropped from Skyler’s eyelash. “That money has been gone for years. It wasn’t all that much anyway after I paid off the mortgage she still owed, and I really needed a new car. I know that she left you what she had in savings . . .” Another tear made its way out to the end of her eyelash.
“You took three-fourths of the profit from the house and all of the money from the sale of the contents. You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to have some of the smaller things that meant a lot to me, like Mama’s old teapots. Are you asking me to give you the little I got after you divided the money?” Jayden asked.
“Yes, I am.” Skyler dabbed at her eyes. “I should have the wedding of my dreams—some cheap little thing would be an embarrassment to this gorgeous ring. You don’t need that money, and you’ll probably never get married anyway.”
“No,” Jayden said.
“As in no, you do plan to get married?” Skyler asked.
“I’m not giving you my money.” Jayden could feel guilt floating out of the sky like a big black cloud and settling in her heart. Refusing her sister was so tough that it put a lump in her throat. Her mother would be disappointed, and her father would hate her even more.
Skyler’s chin quivered. “I’ll let you go with me to pick out the dress.”
Jayden shook her head. “The answer is still no.”
“You’re being mean and selfish, just like you always have been,” Skyler accused.
“Maybe so, but I’m not giving you my savings.” Jayden had trouble even saying the words.
“Then I guess this is goodbye.” Skyler stood. “I never want to see you again. I will have my dream wedding if I have to borrow the money, and you aren’t invited.”
“I wish you all the best,” Jayden said, “but step back and listen to yourself. You sound like a teenager, not a thirty-four-year-old woman.”
Skyler crammed the tissues back in her purse. “I hope you are happy that you’ve reduced me to taking out a loan. What’s family for anyway, if you can’t support me? I’m leaving.”
Elijah had left the barn when he saw Skyler coming across the yard. He waved and pointed toward the dining hall, but she kept coming toward him. They met about halfway and she held out her hand.
“I’m engaged.” She held up her hand for him to see the ring.
“Congratulations,” he said. “Did you get my message about working the rest of the summer?”
“No, but Jayden told me. I can’t take another job. David and I have so much to do the rest of the summer. We’ll have to really rush to get the wedding ready and then we’re going to Mexico to begin our exclusive new school at the first of September. It’s all so rushed that I simply wouldn’t have time to help you out,” she answered. “Do you know where I can find Novalene and Diana?”
“They’re around here somewhere, probably overseeing a job. You remember how busy we are from daylight to dark most days.” He wondered why he’d never noticed how self-absorbed the woman was.
“I do remember, and FYI, darlin’, Jayden just broke my heart, so I don’t care if I ever see her again.” Skyler’s tone was full of hate, but then she smiled, and everything changed again. “There’s Novalene coming out of the barn. Bye, now,” she yelled across the distance and left him standing there without any more explanation.
Holy hell! What had happened that Skyler would say such a thing? His thoughts were spinning like they were on a merry-go-round. He had just realized how much he was counting on the idea of Skyler helping, but after that comment she had made, he was worried about Jayden. He lengthened his stride and hurried to the dining hall. He scanned the whole place, but there was no Jayden. He had turned around to go to the Daydream Cabin when he heard a whimper.
“Jayden?” he called out.
“Right here.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
He rushed into the kitchen to find her sitting against the back side of the buffet bar, weeping into her hands. He sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? What’s happened?”
“I told Skyler no and now she’ll have to take out a loan for her wedding, and I feel so guilty, I probably should just write her a check,” she said between sobs.
Elijah could barely make out the words. Something about taking out a loan.
“You did what?” He massaged her back and drew her even closer.
“I said no,” she told him.
That was what Skyler was talking about when she said Jayden had broken her heart. Why would the woman need money? That rock on her hand had to cost thousands, so evidently she was marrying into wealth. He could have wrung her skinny neck for making Jayden feel guilty.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “Talk to me.”
Between sobs she blurted out what Skyler had told her. “She’s used all the money she got from the sale of Mama’s house and now she wants my savings so she can have a beautiful wedding. She said that I’d never get married anyway, and she meant that I was too big and ugly for anyone to ever fall in love with . . . I’m sorry that I’m acting like a big baby.”
He kissed her on top of her head. “Shhhh, don’t cry. You’re just sad that she’s been hateful, but you did the right thing.”
She leaned back and wiped her eyes on the tail of her apron. “I need to suck it up and
get back to work.”
“Work can wait. You need a few more minutes, and I need to hold you for a little while longer. I’m so sorry things worked out like this,” Elijah said.
“Why do you need to hold me?” she asked.
“Because you are my friend, and that’s all I know to do for you right now, other than listen. It’s not much to offer . . .”
She reached up and laid a finger across his lips and then snuggled down even closer to him. “Thank you. That means the world to me.”
Elijah had liked the tough Jayden a lot, but he could so easily fall in love with the vulnerable Jayden. His pulse raced at the thought of the L-word. Maybe he was confusing that word with feeling bad for her. After all, her only living relative had just treated her like dirt.
It’s about damn time you woke up and saw what’s right in front of your face. Don’t make excuses. You have had feelings for her ever since she got here. The voice in his head sounded an awful lot like Mary.
Jayden didn’t hear the dining hall door open and wasn’t even aware that Novalene was standing in front of them until the woman spoke.
“Is she hurt?” Novalene whispered.
“Yes, but not physically,” Elijah answered. “Is Skyler still here?”
“Nope, we just waved goodbye to her and that little red-haired feller. He’s not more than an inch or two taller than she is. But what happened in here?” Novalene asked.
Jayden remembered her dream about her sister carrying flowers picked from their mother’s flower beds when she got married at the courthouse. She had been with a red-haired guy in that dream. Skyler might be an annoying, narcissistic woman, but she deserved a better wedding than that. Maybe she should call her and offer to give her half her savings.
Don’t you dare, Gramps’s voice was scolding her. She’s made her bed. Let her lay in it.
Jayden didn’t want to move away from Elijah. She was safe in his arms. As long as she didn’t move, nothing could hurt her ever again, but Novalene deserved an answer.
“That’s Jayden’s story to tell,” Elijah said.
Jayden took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s all have a glass of sweet tea, and then I really have to get back to work.”
“Hey, Jayden, what did you think of Skyler’s ring?” Diana called out as she headed across the room to the coffeepot. “Did she ask you to be maid of honor?”
“Of course she did,” Novalene said. “How can you drink that hot stuff when it’s a hundred degrees outside? I need iced tea to cool me down.”
Jayden untangled herself from Elijah. He stood up and offered her a helping hand. She took it, and, strangely enough, just his touch gave her strength.
“I’m leaving now so you can visit with these ladies. If you need me or just want someone to be close by, call me.” He squeezed her hand gently and then let go.
“Thank you.” She managed a weak smile and then turned around to look at Diana and Novalene. “I’m not invited to the wedding because I won’t give her my savings for her wedding.”
“Good God!” Diana gasped. “Are you all right? No wonder you were crying. Doesn’t she have her own savings?”
“She probably went through that within a month,” Jayden answered.
Diana poured two glasses of iced tea. “Come on over here and sit down.”
With his hand on the small of her back, Elijah guided her to the table and pulled out a chair for her to sit in. “See y’all later.”
Novalene and Diana both waved him away.
“Now talk,” Novalene said as she sat down right beside Jayden.
“Hey, Jayden, we got done with the bathrooms and wondered if you need some help in the kitchen,” Tiffany yelled from the door.
All three Daydream Cabin girls headed over to the end of the bar to get bottles of water, and then, as if on cue, noticed Jayden in a collective double take. Tiffany’s eyes went big and she ran across the floor to hug her.
“Did somebody die?” Carmella came right behind her.
“You don’t have to leave, do you?” Ashlyn asked.
“No, I’ll be right here until the last day.” Jayden could feel the love surrounding her even though these people didn’t share a bit of DNA with her. She had to be honest with her girls, but she only told them the bare bones and didn’t mention the cruel things Skyler had said.
“Holy crap on a cracker!” Novalene whispered. “I knew she was a little on the vain side, but that’s downright mean.”
“Is that the blonde that we saw talking to you out by the laundry room?” Carmella asked.
Diana nodded. “She was showing me her engagement ring, and she asked me to walk back to the yard with her to meet her fiancé, David. He didn’t even get out of the car. She sure didn’t tell me about all this, or I would have given her a talkin’-to.”
“I don’t think it would have done a bit of good,” Novalene said. “Skyler is who she is, and until she sees a need to think of other folks more than herself, you’d be wasting your time and breath.”
“You can’t change a leopard’s spots,” Diana added.
“I would take a demerit to get to knock her on her butt,” Tiffany said through clenched teeth. “That’s no way to treat your sister. My older sister and I argue all the time, but I’d never be that ugly to her.”
“Thank you for your support and love,” Jayden said, “but right now we need to get dinner going, so yes, I’ll be glad for your help. Just because I got my feelings hurt doesn’t mean we won’t have a bunch of hungry girls coming in here pretty soon. I’d planned on making meatloaf for supper, and it can be done in an hour, so we’ll get it in the oven.”
“I’ll peel potatoes for loaded mashed potatoes,” Carmella offered.
“And I’m real good at opening a can of green beans and making a salad.” Tiffany grinned. “What’s all those pie shells for?”
“Chocolate pies, but I still need to make the meringue.” Jayden said.
Whoever said you had to share DNA with a person for them to be family had rocks for brains, Jayden thought.
“I hate meringue,” Ashlyn said. “I’ll put the pudding in the shells, set them in the fridge to cool, and just before we serve them, I’ll put whipped cream on the tops. That’s a lot better than calf slobbers and you won’t even have to make meringue.”
“Where did you hear that? I haven’t heard egg whites referred to like that in years.” Novalene took all the dirty glasses to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher.
“From my daddy,” Ashlyn said. “He doesn’t like meringue, either.”
Jayden finally giggled and looked around at her new little family—folks that wouldn’t ask her to give them her savings, who were there to support her. “My gramps used to say the same thing.”
Compartmentalize, Jayden kept telling herself through the day when her mind would wander back to the revelation her sister had sprung on her. Put it in a box and close the lid.
Finally, everything was finished and she turned the lights out, carried a bottle of orange juice across the yard, and slumped down into a chair. Her girls came out of the cabin, and soon, one by one, all eight of the girls at Piney Wood Academy had gathered around her on the Daydream Cabin porch, and all of them wanted to talk about Skyler. Drama was a teenage girl’s lifeblood, and this was big news.
“With a sister like that I bet you wish you were adopted,” Tiffany said. “I’ve thought I might be sometimes. My parents are such beautiful people, and my sister is, too, and I’m so plain.”
Carmella threw up a palm. “That’s enough of that kind of talk. Every one of us are beautiful.”
“That’s right,” Jayden said. “Beauty is the light within you that shines out, not the jewelry you hang on your body, the fancy clothes you wear, or the makeup you use. A person can be gorgeous on the outside, but the evil inside them ruins every bit of the prettiness.” She wasn’t sure if she was preaching to herself or to the girls—maybe they all needed to hear it.
> “Why not be both? Pretty on the outside and inside?” Ashlyn asked.
“Yes, but the inside one is the most important,” Jayden said.
“I’ve wished a bunch of times that I was adopted,” Keelan said, “and that I’d find my real parents, and my mama would be a stay-at-home mother, and my dad would have time to spend with me.”
“I’m so sorry.” Ashlyn got up from the porch step and gave her a hug. “I’ll be your sister if you’ll let me. I always wanted a big sister to talk to. I’m an only child.”
“If you’ll be my big sister, Jayden, I’ll come stay a week with you in the summer and spend Christmas with you,” Tiffany offered.
“Are we puttin’ up a tree at your house?” Carmella asked. “If we are, then don’t decorate it until I get there.”
Violet shook a finger at them. “Hey, just because y’all are Daydream Cabin girls don’t mean you get to be her only little sisters. I vote that we all adopt her as our big sister.”
“Lose one, gain eight.” Jayden smiled. “Seems like I’m like that man Job that we heard about last week in church. I lost everything, but in the end, I’ve got more than I had in the beginning.”
“So have we,” Tiffany whispered. “But you didn’t answer us. Will you be our big sister?”
“Of course I will.” Jayden smiled through the pain.
The girls had been playing a card game while they visited. Jayden realized it was close to their bedtime and raised her voice a little. “Okay, ladies, as the old song says, ‘Turn out the lights, the party’s over.’ Thank you all for coming to cheer me up, and for adopting me. I love all of you.”
“Love you!” they chorused as Bailey gathered up the deck of cards and they all left her porch.
“But we love you the most,” Tiffany said as she and the other two Daydream girls started inside. “Bet you never thought you’d hear me say that after I dumped my food on the floor that first day.”
“I had high hopes.” Jayden smiled.
The Daydream Cabin Page 17
