Back The Hope Chest
Chapters (30)
  1. Dedication
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Epilogue
  29. Dear Reader . . .
  30. About the Author

“Guess our DNA is a little bit alike.” April almost grinned. “But what do you intend to do to stay busy all summer, or until we get the quilt done? Whichever comes first.” April hung her purse on her shoulder and headed out through the front door this time.

“Rewire this house, put in new electrical outlets, and hang some air conditioners to start with,” Flynn answered as he headed toward Nessa’s SUV. “After that, I’ll either find something to do, or I’ll sit on the porch and listen to the birds sing.”

April opened the door and slid into the back seat. “Or go down to the waterfall and listen to the water rushing over the stones, like I intend to do if I can’t find a job.”

“I love that waterfall, and the time we spent there—except for the last day.” Flynn fastened his seat belt.

“That was the highlight of my visit when we were all here. How could you not like the last day?” Nessa frowned. “That was when Nanny Lucy fixed a picnic and spent the day with us. I always thought it was a perfect ending to the time we got to spend here in Blossom. At the end of that day, Mama either picked me up here or at the café when I got a little older.”

“I liked swimming, but I didn’t like that picnic,” Flynn admitted. “It meant our time here was over, and I had to go back to Dallas to live in a fifth-floor walk-up apartment. I missed the open space and the waterfall, having y’all to talk to even on the days when we bickered and argued. Every time I climbed the steps, I wished I was back here in the country.”

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April hadn’t liked the day that her cousins left the place, either. Once a year, in the summer, then maybe again on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, were the only times she got to be with them, and those were special days for her. She and the cousins might argue and fuss the whole time they were there, but when they were gone, she was all alone for the rest of the summer with only one of the Waylons for company. Just thinking of the loneliness of living out in the country on a dead-end road made her stomach hurt like it had when she was a kid and her cousins left.

In those days, if Nanny Lucy wasn’t packing up patterns and quilt kits to mail off to her customers, she was either sewing up a quilt top in the house or doing the hand-quilting out in the shed. April quickly learned to stay out of her way and to entertain herself.