AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dotty’s expression was a little surprised. “Oh, that’s far.”
“It is, but I am used to it.”
A taller woman who looked a lot like Mandy came in carrying a baby. It seemed that all Nordskov’s looked the same. “Can someone hold James? I have to deal with Josiah.”
Kit’s mom eagerly turned towards the baby, but Kit had already decided who would hold the baby before she had even asked. Kit walked over to her sister, Mandy, and tried to hand the baby off, but Mandy deflected. “Tess, you can hold him. I bet you don’t get to hold babies all that often.”
Tess only laughed and took the baby. Mandy obviously didn’t want to. Tucking him into her arm, she looked at the blond baby with familiar features and laughed. “Do all Nordskov’s look the exact same?”
“Yes, they do,” Mia and Dotty said from the kitchen.
Tess grinned at their answer. “How old is James here?”
“Just over two months,” Mandy replied. She was looking at the baby with a longing and sadness Tess had never seen from her friend before. Did that have something to do with why Mandy hadn’t wanted to hold him?
Tess looked at Mandy. “That little?”
Math’s daughter, Juniper, came running into the kitchen, stopping when she saw Tess had the baby. “Is that the baby?”
“Yes, it is, Juniper,” Tess replied.
She climbed onto Mandy’s lap to look at the baby. “His name is James. I can’t remember his middle name.”
“Lee,” Dolly provided her granddaughter.
“Lee,” Juniper repeated.
“What’s your middle name, Juniper?” Before meeting the little girl, Tess had never heard that name before, which might be why she had instantly liked the girl. It wasn’t because of who her father was.
“Madison.” Juniper was still looking at the baby, who was still sleeping.
“Juniper Madison Nordskov?” she asked.
“Yup, what’s your middle name, Tess?” The little girl looked up at her.
Smiling at the girl, she replied, “Alexandra Sophia.” It was really Aleksandrina Zsophia, but Tess was not going to explain that today.
“That’s beautiful,” Dotty said.
“Thank you. I have always liked it.”
“Mine is Marie.” Mandy winked, directing her fake disappointment towards her mom.
“Next time, Mandy. I will do better next time,” her mother said with a smile.
“So, how far are you from the cities in New Paris?” Mia asked.
“About two hours, I think,” Tess replied, bouncing the baby since it was thinking about waking.
“You must get there all the time,” Dotty said as she checked on the ham in the oven.
“No, I have never been.” She watched the baby to make sure he’d gone back to sleep. Looking up, she saw all eyes on her.
“Never been? It’s two hours away.”
“Never had a reason to.”
“Would you be opposed to me riding with you and going there next weekend?” Mia said in half jest.
