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“He’s my brother-in-law. I’m family,” he reminded her.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m giving you until the baby’s baptism to get this all straightened up. I want you two idiots to be the godparents, but I want a couple. If you can make it happen, the job is yours.” Ruth set out her timeline.
“But you’ll help?” He needed to make sure, to hear her say it one more time.
“Reluctantly, I’m saying yes. Now get back to work before I call your boss and tell him your lunch has run long.” Ruth picked up her headphones.
He had been dismissed, but he had what he wanted. Actually, he had more then he wanted. He wanted help with the buying process and the local market, and what he got was her help to actually buy the house. Mia’s dream house.
CHAPTER17
The turkey smelledmarvelous when Mia opened the door to her parents’ house on Thanksgiving morning. But she knew it was going to be dry. Her mom had never made a good turkey. Even so, she always showed up and ate, and she always complimented her mom’s cooking as any good daughter did.
Her mom, Dotty, was busy in the kitchen with two of her sisters, Darcy and Kelsey. Both sisters’ husbands were in the living room with her father, watching some sport. Both sisters now lived in Fargo and liked to talk about all the stuff they did all the time. Mostly just to annoy Mia. This year, her sisters, Bianca and Faith, weren’t coming. They were going to see their husbands’ families for the holidays. Kipling, the baby, was probably in her room, avoiding everyone. Mia wondered if her little sister wanted company.
Waving at her dad, Roger, as she passed the doorway to the living room, she walked into the room with all the food. It was her favorite room, even when there were too many cooks in it, like today. Her parents still lived in the old farm house they had raised their girls in. And even if her old room now contained her mom’s sewing stuff, it also had half the stuff she had left in it when she moved to town.
But she would leave it there. It was nice to know where it was when she needed it, if she needed it. So far, she hadn’t, but you never know. Besides, then she didn’t have to have it in her small apartment.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Mia,” Dotty called to her. Her mom’s cheeks were red from the heat of the kitchen and the activity of getting the meal ready. Mia hadn’t been blessed with her mom’s blonde hair or blue eyes, but she got her mom’s wide hips and her red cheeks. Most of her sisters got the better qualities of their mom while Mia and Kipling were stuck as the brunettes like their dad.
“Happy Turkeyday, Mom.” Smiling, she put her bag of wine bottles on the table. She brought four, but they would be gone before the turkey made it to the table.
“Mia, you came,” Darcy said, as if Mia, who lived closest to their parents, would not be here.
“I did. No other offers,” Mia half-joked.
“No boyfriend this year either?” Darcy said from behind the bowl she was mixing something in. Like every other year, her married sisters liked to point it out if she wasn’t dating someone for the holidays, and she usually wasn’t.
“No, no boyfriend,” Mia stated, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying that she did have a husband, he just wasn’t there because they weren’t exactly talking right now. Every few days she saw him, but she didn’t talk to him. Their relationship was the exact same as before they got married.
So far, she had been able to keep every secret she had to keep from everyone. Even during book club after their trip when Mandy had commented that she looked tan—curse her ability to tan easy—after being sick in bed for days. She actually broke down and said she took an impromptu visit alone to Las Vegas, saying she just needed to get away from it all for a day or two. Everyone seemed to buy it, even if she didn’t. After swearing everyone at book club to secrecy, she hadn’t slipped again.
“Maybe next year,” Kelsey stated, and then she gave Darcy the look. You know the one that said how pathetic she was to not have a boyfriend or husband at almost thirty.
Mia ignored the comment and started arranging place settings around the big table. It took some time with all the people who would be there for the meal, even if some of the sisters were missing. Over the years, the once-close sisters were getting more distant. Or maybe it was just her who was feeling the distance. The others all had husbands and offspring, but she was single still. Only her baby sister Kipling was also single, but she was in college, so she was forgiven by the middle four. But Mia knew Kipling’s day would come.
Mia felt closer to her cousins, Dotty’s kids, than her sisters. She had always been close to Julia because they were the same age, but these days, she was way closer to Mandy, who was a part of book club and lived next door. Even if Mandy was six years older than her, it didn’t feel like it.
“Mia, did you hear who bought the Baker place?” her mom asked from across the room.
“No, I hadn’t heard it was sold.” Mia’s heart sank a little. Her house was gone. Her old wish was that Ruth bought it to live in. Then she could visit, probably every two weeks. But now it was in someone else’s hands, and she would never see the inside.
“I heard it was Rafferty Brooks,” her mom said in a whisper. It must have been heard from a secret source, which was probably her sister.
“Why would he buy it? Doesn’t he have a house in town?” Mia asked her mom. His house was a little ranch on the edge of town. Mia had driven by it a few times over the years just to see. And maybe once or twice during the last few weeks—not to check up on her spouse, though.
“He sold his house to buy this one. Maybe he wanted a nicer one. He just had a little one on Kinley. Maybe he met someone, someone special this time,” her mom told Mia’s sisters.
Mia arranged the silverware on the place setting she was working on a little too long. Rafferty had stolen her house. Or the house she wanted Ruth to raise her baby in. How could he? He didn’t even know which one it was when they talked about it. This was crazy.
“Wasn’t that your favorite house in town, Mia?” Darcy asked.
“When I was a kid, it was. I like newer houses now,” Mia lied and continued to lay out the silverware.
“Are there any new houses in town?” Kelsey wrinkled her nose as she asked from by the stove.
“Yes, Kelsey, there are. Not many, but there are some. And the thing about new houses is that you can just build one,” Mia stated to her sister, who was a year younger than her, and she still liked to put her in her place when need be.
