“Text me the address, and I’ll take care of it for you,” Noah told him.
“Will do.” Daniel ended the call, and the text came through in seconds—name, address, and a picture of the guy.
Noah fell backward onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. He was anxious to be home, but he couldn’t very well refuse to give Daniel a hand, not after all the help he and his dad had given him.
This will give you a while to think about what you want to do with your life going forward. The voice in his head sounded an awful lot like his granddad Luther Jackson.
Knowing what Noah did now about Miss Janie’s past, he suspected that his grandfather did know about his sister’s pregnancy. Were there more skeletons in the closet?
“We all have skeletons,” he whispered. “I know a little about Teresa’s past, and the investigator in me would like to dig deep into her life, but that’s her privacy and her story to tell me if and when she trusts me enough with it.”
Yeah, right. You want to know everything about her, he thought. You want her to trust you, and you’re just dying to trust her enough to tell her your story.
“Maybe so, but it probably won’t ever happen,” he muttered.
“Why are you doing this today?” Teresa asked Kayla when she got the cleaning supplies out. “Haven’t you ever seen all those embroidered tea towels in fancy stores? Monday is cleaning day.”
“I don’t go by what fancy towels say. I don’t care if it says Monday is cleaning day. This week it’s going to be on Tuesday,” Kayla answered. “In the house where I grew up, every day after school was cleaning day. That way I could get rid of all Billy Joe’s empty liquor bottles from the night before, and I could wash the sheets from my bed,” Kayla said. “You got a problem with me cleaning the place today?”
“Not a single one,” Teresa said, “but stay out of my room. I’ll keep it clean.”
“Afraid I’ll steal something?” Kayla asked.
“Do I have reason to be?” Teresa asked.
“Not anymore, and when I did shoplift, it was only food because I was hungry. I haven’t had to do that in years.” Kayla took her bucket and marched up the stairs without a backward glance.
“Nurse! Nurse!” Miss Janie’s weak voice called out. “I’m ready for the babies now. Can you bring them to me?”
“Of course, I can.” Teresa hurried up the stairs to get the dolls. She’d worried about what living with Kayla as an adult would be like, but so far it was pretty much like living with her as a teenager. She still had a chip the size of a cruise ship on her shoulder and blew up at anything Teresa mentioned.
Kayla’s door was open, so she dashed inside and grabbed the doll from the cradle. She was coming back out when Kayla blocked her way.
She popped her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. “You’re like the pot calling the kettle black, aren’t you? Why are you stealing my doll?”
“Miss Janie wants the babies. Here—carry one of them.” Teresa handed Kayla’s doll to her.
“What in the hell are you talkin’ about?” Kayla asked, but she followed her down the stairs.
When they reached the bottom, Teresa looked back and shook her head. “Don’t hold it like that. Pretend it’s a real newborn baby. She thinks these dolls are her babies. Today she’s sixteen.”
“How long will she be that age?” Kayla asked.
“Two minutes, two days.” Teresa cradled her doll in her arms like a real baby. “Or maybe two seconds. We play along with whatever age she is.”
“We don’t call her Mama at this age, then?” Kayla asked.
“Nope, that’s only when she’s about forty or fifty,” Teresa answered.
“Is she ever in her seventies?” Kayla whispered as they entered the room.
“Seldom. We cherish those times.” Teresa smiled at Miss Janie. “Here you go. They’ve had their baths and been fed. They were such good babies all night long—you should be so proud.”
Miss Janie smiled shyly. “Aunt Ruthie was right. We can raise them ourselves. Who is that?” She pointed at Kayla.
“She’s a new nurse that Noah hired. Her name is Kayla. She’s very good with babies, and she’s had lots of experience.” Teresa wasn’t lying about that. Kayla had practically raised several younger siblings before she got put into foster care.