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Chapter 11
Jubilee walked homewith her girls, smiling the whole time. She had so much fun playing in the lake with her daughters. For a little bit, she’d forgotten all about her problems. The fact that she had no money, that she wasn’t sure whether she would have a job this fall and winter, that she was depending on the kindness of an almost stranger in order to house her and her girls.
Charity. She’d never depended on charity before.
Lana made it easy, easy to forget that it was charity, easy to think that she actually was being helpful and that she enjoyed the company of her girls and herself, too.
She determined that she would do as much as she could to make the bed-and-breakfast and any of the other farm businesses a success.
That was the thought in her heart as she laughed with her daughters while they walked up the main street in Strawberry Sands to the bed-and-breakfast. Lana and a woman about her age that she hadn’t met, but that she would bet was one of Lana’s daughters, sat on their shady front porch.
Sure enough when she walked up the walk, Lana stood and greeted her. “Jubilee! Scarlett and Penelope. You guys are smiling and look like you had a great time.”
“We did!” her girls said, and then they both launched into tales of sandcastles and cold water and how they chased each other and played and how they wanted to go back again the next day.
Lana listened until they talked themselves out, and then she said, “Why don’t you guys go upstairs and change out of your wet clothes, and then if it’s okay with your mom, we’ll have some ice cream and chocolate zucchini bread on the back porch.”
The girls squealed and then looked at Jubilee, who nodded with a smile, although there was guilt in her heart. She appreciated Lana so much, but she felt like there wasn’t much she could do in return, and she wanted to.
Once the girls had left, Lana said, “This is my daughter, Clara. She usually does the garden for me, but she’s just been too busy this year, so it’s a real godsend that you were going to take over. If you don’t mind, she has time this afternoon to run out and show you what she does.”
“Of course. If I can change my clothes first, I’ll go right away.” Jubilee took a step toward the door. “And thank you. I... It just feels so homey and cozy here, because you’ve been so welcoming and kind to us. You don’t have to entertain my girls if you don’t want to.”
“I love having them around. I wish my own grandchildren were around more. Although, hopefully once Nora gets settled in with Matt, she’ll be here every day too. Typically she walks up the street to visit at least a little.”
“She might be here this evening. Matt and I were going to go for a horse ride along the beach.” Maybe Jubilee shouldn’t have said that, since both Lana’s and Clara’s brows went way up at her words.
“Matt’s taking you on a horse ride?” Clara said, standing up and coming over. “By the way, it’s really nice to meet you.” She held her hand out, which Jubilee took and shook.
“You have a wonderful mom, and you grew up in a beautiful house.”
“And right beside Lake Michigan. A kid couldn’t ask for more. Although, I think as children we don’t always appreciate what we have. There was a lot of work involved, and sometimes I just couldn’t wait to leave. Now most of the time, I wish I would never have left.” She smiled and didn’t look particularly unhappy, but Jubilee knew what she was saying. That a person didn’t always appreciate what they had until it was gone.
“Just give me a couple minutes to change, then I’ll meet you out back in the garden.”
Clara nodded with a smile, and Jubilee had the feeling that she and Clara were going to be good friends.
She changed quickly, noting that her girls were laughing in their room and getting along. Sometimes it seemed like all they did was fight, but a couple of days in Strawberry Sands had them acting like friends rather than constantly bickering. She hoped it would continue. Of course, Lana was such a good influence on them too. Always cheerful and looking for something to do, someone to bless, someone to give a smile to.
Matt had said that she reminded him of his mother. She felt like she wasn’t even close to being like his mother, but Lana was someone she aspired to be like eventually.
Some day.
She put her wet clothes over the back of the chair and checked her girls to make sure that they had not left theirs in a heap on the floor either. If they were going to go to the lake every day, they probably were going to be wearing the same clothes over and over again, and it would save on laundry and work if the clothes were hung up somewhere where they could dry.
She smiled when she saw that both of the girls had thrown their clothes over the foot of the bed.
They would dry just fine.
With a song in her heart and a smile on her lips, she walked down the stairs, listening to Lana in the kitchen as she talked to the girls and got them ice cream, before she cut through the sitting room and walked through the sunroom and out the back door.
The sunroom was probably her favorite room in the whole house. She could only imagine how nice it would be in the winter to be able to see the lake from inside and to enjoy the sunshine without the cold.
