A Sister's Promise (Promises) (26 page)

“Mommy!” Sammy exclaimed, running over to hug her.

Nancy lifted him into her arms. Mutual adoration shone in their eyes. Not only was Sammy lucky to have Nancy for a mom, but Nancy was just as lucky to have him.

Nancy kissed Sammy on the cheek repeatedly as if she wanted to taste him. Without hesitation, she took Kate’s life vest away. “I’m bringing Sammy to see Lance tomorrow morning. I think it would be good for both of them.”

“Do you want me to come over in the afternoon?” Kate asked, hopeful.

“No. I won’t stay at the hospital long. Whenever Sammy gets antsy we’ll come home.” He was antsy right then, in fact, so she put him down.

“I see.”

Nancy opened up her purse. “Let me pay you for watching Sammy.”

Kate shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. It was my pleasure.” She bent down to Sammy. She gave him a bear hug and told him how much she would miss him. She hoped that he would say “Wuv you” again. But instead he smiled, showing off his four teeth. Apparently losing interest in the adults, he walked over to play with his red car.

Kate followed him with her eyes. She couldn’t believe how attached she felt to him after only a couple of weeks.

Was it possible that having a kid wasn’t really a decision you made so much with your brain as it was with your heart?

# # #

On the drive home Kate knew. It was time. Time to stop obsessing about all the things that might go wrong. She might lose her patience sometimes, she might have to write her own motherhood script, she might even get sick or get hit by a bus. But it was time to let go and take a chance.

She could hardly wait to tell Mitch. She could hardly wait to make their house into a home.

# # #

That night Kate dreamed of a little girl with cobalt blue eyes and a dimple in her left cheek. Early the next morning she was still smiling when the ringing telephone woke her.

Across the miles, she heard her sister plea. “I need your help.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Nine months later, Kate knew how she wanted to spend her inheritance.

Her sister, Joely, had taken her up on the invitation to move in. During the day Joely sat on the living room couch Monte used as a scratching post and at night she tried to sleep on it, unable to climb the stairs to the guest bedroom.

The doctor said Joely had pleurisy, which meant the sacs surrounding her lungs were inflamed and causing her pain. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and explained that this was a common complication in lupus patients, making it sound as if it weren’t as serious as it seemed. Kate hoped he was right. That this was just another part of the lupus magic show that could disappear as randomly as it appeared. Then Joely could once again join her and the baby when they went to the grocery store or the park.

Kate and Joely watched as the infant in the baby swing started to wake from her nap. Back and forth she moved, like a pink metronome. Yawning, Anna Jo revealed her tiny tongue. Despite being born four weeks premature and spending eighteen days in the NICU, she now appeared perfectly healthy.

Scooping Anna Jo into her arms, Kate took a whiff of her blond, Johnson & Johnson-scented curls. She looked just like the baby picture Uncle Burt had pulled out of his wallet and given to her when they ran into each other at the grocery store. He’d found it tucked inside an old book and thought she should have it, even though he wasn’t sure whether it was a picture of her or Joely.

Turning toward her sister, Kate took a deep breath. “Remember, after my art class, Mitch and I have an appointment at the fertility clinic.”

She looked into Joely’s sympathetic brown eyes, thinking Jake was such a fool.

Kate kissed the infant’s sticky cheeks and smiled. Then she handed Anna Jo to her mother.

THE END

Find out what Joely and Kate are up to in the sequel, "What Happiness Looks Like",

Joely Shupe had a vision of what her thirties would look like: she’d be the mother of two, finger painting with her kids during the day and cooking dinner for her loving husband at night. Instead, the onset of lupus robbed her of her optimism and her chance for happily ever after. Now she’s a single mother unable to provide for her young daughter.

To make matters worse, her ex-fiancé, Jake, shows up—unemployed and reeling from a personal tragedy. He claims he’s ready to parent the daughter he abandoned five years ago. Joely is more interested in Dalton, a devoted father to his own son, who offers to take care of her the way no man ever has. Should Joely risk her daughter bonding with someone new or with the man who broke her heart?

Meanwhile, Joely’s sister, Kate, has the husband and the home, but no baby. After several failed attempts at fertility treatments, her husband is ready to give up. Kate believes his solution to their problems will tear them apart.

For Joely and Kate, one thing is for sure: this is not the life they expected. Is it time to adjust their idea of what happiness looks like?

About the author:

Karen Lenfestey, a Midwest Writer's Fellowship winner, studied communication at Purdue University and counseling at Indiana University. Her first novel, "A Sister's Promise," was one of the top-selling dramas on Amazon.
 
Its sequel, "What Happiness Looks Like", will be published in November 2011.
 
She enjoys speaking to readers at libraries, conferences and book clubs and would love to hear which character you'd like to see in her next book.

Visit her webpage at
karensnovels.weebly.com

and check out her semi-humorous "Thoughts on Motherhood" blog.

You can also follow Karen Lenfestey on FaceBook, Twitter and GoodReads.com