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In the kitchen, Sariah browned ground beef for their shepherd’s pie, and Cass cleaned up the potato peels from the sink.The pot bubbled on the stove, softening the potatoes so she could mash them and put them over the filling.
The front door opened, already drawing Cass’s attention before Jane yelled, “All right, folks!I’m here!”
Sariah squealed and abandoned her post at the stove.She ran for the front door and engulfed her twin in a hug.The two of them laughed, and the beauty of that moment touched Cass’s heart.
At the same time, she hardly recognized the person standing in the doorway.Jane’s hair wasn’t its normal color, but a deep blue-black that obviously came from a bottle.And it had been shaved on one side.The other side bore three braids that connected into one ponytail below her ear, and she sure looked like she could use a hot shower and a square meal.
She separated from Sariah and held up a white plastic bag.“I stopped and got brisket.”She beamed like this was fabulous news.Cass actually looked at the sizzling ground beef in the pan, hoping Sariah would say something about it.
She didn’t, but she towed Jane into the kitchen by the hand, her face alight too.“Mom, look who’s back.”
“Hello, dear.”Cass took Jane into a big hug too, feeling her younger daughter melt into the embrace.Cass did the same, because she hadn’t seen Jane in such a long time, and she did love her daughter with her whole heart.
“Mama.”Jane’s voice broke, the only sign Cass would get that she missed having a permanent place to call home.That she missed Cass at all.She sniffled and pulled away only a few seconds later.“Sorry I’m a little late.It was hard getting a ride out here.”
“You should’ve called,” Cass said, refusing to think about her petite, slight daughter getting into a truck with someone she didn’t know.If Cass didn’t think about it, and she didn’t see it, then it didn’t happen.She peered at Jane, whose light brown eyes sat halfway between milk chocolate and copper.The perfect mix of Cass and West.
She reached out and touched Jane’s ponytail.“When did you get your hair done like this?”It couldn’t be more than an eighth of an inch on the right side, so it had been shaved recently.
“Last week,” she boasted.“I met this guy in this tiny little town in Canada.You wouldn’t believe how small.”She laughed, and she did radiate life to those around her.Cass marveled that she and Sariah were the same age and had been born within minutes of each other.
Of course, they weren’t identical twins, but fraternal.In essence, they’d shared the womb, but nothing else about them was the same.Sariah wore her hair straight and shiny, without a stitch of color in it.All the same, she beamed at Jane like the best friends they were.
“Tad asked about you,” Sariah said, to which Jane burst out laughing.
“Did you tell him I’m not interested?”
“Of course not.”Sariah stirred the beef around and shook her head.“I said you’d be here this weekend, and I’d give you his number.”She left the stove again and opened the drawer beside it.After plucking out a bright pink piece of paper, she gave it to Jane.
Jane looked at it with wide eyes, then looked at Cass.“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“You settle down and stop traveling the world,” Sariah said with a bit of bite in her tone.
Cass swung her gaze to her.She’d never said anything about Jane’s choices or lifestyle.
“Mama’s going to sell the house,” Sariah continued.She picked up the nearby cutting board with chopped carrots and onions on it.They went into the pan with the meat, and she got stirring that all together too.“We have to do something, and I can’t do it while you’re off in Peanutsville, Canada.”
Jane burst out laughing, and Cass had the smallest glimmer of hope that she’d be on Cass’s side.But the moment the laughter started to die, she zeroed in on Cass.“You’re going to sell the house?”
Cass lifted her chin, because she had to face the girls alone now.Just like she did everything now.Alone.
“Yes,” she said.“I’m going to list the house for sale on Monday morning.”
