Font Size:

“Yes! With Aunt Pittypat!”

“There’s another aunt?” Tessa asked, making them all laugh.

“Four-legged, furry, and about the size of a rat,” Eli explained.

“A very cute rat,” Nolie said, gazing up at Tessa. “She’s out on the deck, sleeping. Are you afraid of dogs?”

“Not rat-sized ones named Aunt Pittypat. Are you afraid of strangers?”

“Not pretty ones like you.”

“Oh!” Tessa threw her head back and laughed as the others reacted. “You’ve got my vote for Princess of the Year. I’m Tessa. You must be…let me guess. Named after a flower? Magnolia?”

A slow smile pulled, revealing one missing front tooth with the glint in the gum of one ready to make an appearance. Her eyes were chocolate brown with hair a few shades darker, a little clone of her mother. She stood about four feet, couldn’t weigh fifty pounds soaking wet, and still had some baby softness around a sweet, sweet face.

Yeah. She’d love this kid whether she wanted to or not.

“I’m named after my grandmother,” Nolie told her.

“What do you know—so am I,” she said, aware of Crista’s sharp eyes watching the interaction. “She was Theresa Katherine, and my sister and I got her names.” She glanced at the child’s work. “Whatchya coloring, Nolie?” “Flowers,” she said softly. “Messy flowers.”

Her heart folded in pity. “There is no such thing as a messy flower,” she proclaimed. “Especially from someone named after them. Can I see?”

Nolie glanced at Crista, who gave an imperceptible nod of approval for this stranger, then walked to the table and Tessa followed. She scanned the surface of the dining table that normally functioned as her desk, taking in the scattered crayons, a few torn-out coloring book pages.

There was an open notebook with some scribbles and a lone yellow pencil that had been chewed on at the end. Oh, heavens, she knew that pencil. Could taste the eraser in her mouth to this day.

“You ever get hand cramps when you write?”

“Yes.” Nolie nodded hesitantly as she slipped into a chair.

“Same, sister.” Tessa leaned over and looked at the letters. Yep, she knew those, too. “Used to happen all the time when I was a kid. And my letters always went a little wiggle-woggly, no matter how hard I tried.”

Curiosity and interest flickered in her dark eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

“It made school a pain in the butt,” Tessa added.

“My grandma says ladies don’t say butt,” she said, straight-faced. “We say bottom.”

“Whoops.” Tessa chuckled, as did the others, who all sort of quietly watched the exchange, making her feel very much like the whole Lawson clan was testing her.

Well, she didn’t care if she passed their test, but Dad was surely watching. He’d want to see if she’d learned more than how to read and write at that table when she was this girl’s age.

“Can I write and color with you?” Tessa asked, sliding into the chair next to Nolie.

The little girl looked surprised and glanced around. She was obviously smart enough to know that some strange adult swooping in and coloring with a kid was not standard operating procedure.

“Sure,” Nolie finally said. “But my letters aren’t very good.”

Tessa grabbed the chewed-up pencil and turned over one of Nolie’s coloring pages to the blank side.

“Okay, let’s try something fun. Want to know a fun way to make sure your letters don’t go ziggy and zaggy?”

Nolie smiled at the words. “That’s what they do.”

“Did you ever go bowling?” Tessa asked, getting another look at the unexpected question.

“I went to a bowling birthday party for my friend Adeline.”