Four Times the Trouble (20 page)
EPILOGUE
“S
HH
. Y
OU
'
RE
GONNA
get us in trouble.”
“But Allie, Mommy says she's our baby, too.”
Meggie barely heard her sisters' whispers as she peeked over the edge of the crib in the nursery Daddy'd had built onto the side of their cottage. He and Mommy were in the kitchen, supposedly doing the dishes, but Meggie could tell by Mommy's giggles that the dishes weren't getting done as fast as they could be.
At first she'd been a little hurt that Mommy sometimes wanted to be with Daddy more than her and her sisters, and a lot hurt when Daddy paid attention to Mommy and didn't always hear everything she and her sisters said, but her parents had gotten better about not going off in that funny way where they forgot that somebody else was in the room, and besides, Mommy said Noby was hers and Allie's and Jessie's, too, and Noby slept on Meggie's bed. So now Meggie was mostly just glad that Mommy and Daddy loved each other so much. None of her and her sisters' friends had parents who smiled at each other like Daddy and Mommy did. And secretly Meggie thought that none of them had parents who smiled at their kids as much as Mommy and Daddy either. And Daddy and Mommy didn't go out and leave them alone a lot, or read the paper all day or do chores all the time they were home. Daddy still played basketball with them, and Mommy had even played, too, until the baby made her too big.
Little Brianna made a sound and bunched her bottom up in the air. Meggie hoped that meant she was waking up. It was her turn to pick her up and take her to Mommy and Daddy.
“How long till you think she can play?” Jessie whispered.
“Shh. Not for a long time, silly,” Allie whispered back.
Meggie thought Allie's whisper was just as loud as Jessie's, but she didn't care. She hoped her sisters
would
wake up the baby. Brianna had been sleeping ever since they got home from school and Meggie'd been waiting hours for her turn to hold her.
Meggie had never felt anything as good as holding Brianna. Her baby sister was so warm and cuddly, and made her feel like she was really important even though she was only eight. Nobody knew it, but Meggie had made a promise to Brianna the first day she was born, when Daddy had taken them to Mommy's hospital room to see her. That was the first time Meggie had gotten to hold her, and while everyone had been talking to Mommy, Meggie had told Brianna she'd never have to worry about not having somebody, because Meggie'd be her person for her whole life.
Jessie ran around to the other side of the crib, jolting it as her foot knocked into one of the legs. Brianna stirred and Meggie held her breath, hoping the baby wouldn't go back to sleep. Nobody had ever told her that babies slept so much. It was the only thing she didn't like about having a baby sister.
One of Brianna's eyes popped open and then closed again. Her little mouth yawned and Meggie had never seen anything so cute in her life. Meggie reached down, sliding her arms beneath the baby.
“Wait, Meggie, she's not awake yet,” Allie said, her voice warning of dire outcomes if the baby was woken up.
“She is too. She opened one eye,” Jessie said.
So, she wasn't the only one who'd seen it. That was enough for Meggie. She lifted the baby into her arms.
Allie and Jessie walked on each side of her as she carried the baby into the kitchen, and Meggie knew the best part was coming. Mommy and Daddy quit kissing and moved toward her and her sisters as they came into the room. Michelle smiled, looking at each one of them so no one felt left out, and everybody cooed over baby Brianna for a few minutes while Meggie held her and then, right before Michelle lifted Brianna up to go change her, Daddy pulled them all into their nightly group hug, just as Meggie had known he would.
“I must be the luckiest man alive to have five such beautiful girls,” he said.
Meggie figured he was right.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459227958
Copyright © 2011 by Tara
Lee Reames
Originally published as JACOB'S GIRLS
Copyright © 1995 by
Tara Lee Reames
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