Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Anger bubbled up but Jayna shoved it down. She’d dealt with this so many times when she was a kid. The idea of sweet, smart Ivy going through it made her heart ache. She got on one knee. “You can do anything you put your mind to, Ivy.”
Her niece’s bottom lip trembled. “Granny says it only makes it worse when you say things like that. She says it’s cruel to tell us we can do things we can’t. There’s no money for college. Momma worries about money all the time. My dad . . . he doesn’t help at all. I barely see him since he got a new girlfriend. He’s not going to help me, and college is expensive.”
“I promise you that if you work hard and make good grades, I will make sure you go to college. It might not be your dream school, but it will be a good school. I’ll pay for what I can, and we’ll find every scholarship and loan we need. I will not let you down. There was no money for me to go to school, either, and Granny wouldn’t sign for loans. I had to do that all by myself. And I made it. I worked my way through law school.”
“Granny says you’re up to your ears in debt and it would have been better if you’d stayed in your place.” Ivy put a hand on her cheek. “Do you think my mom would be happier if she hadn’t had me and Kelly?”
Oh, her mom had so much to answer for. “Never. Your mother loves you so much, and that’s why she’s getting a better job. She wants to be able to spend more time with you. She won’t be on her feet all day, so she won’t be as tired as she is now. She’s going to get a certification that she can use anywhere she wants to go, and she’ll get insurance. This is a good thing, and she’s doing it because she loves you and wants to give you the best life she possibly can. Now, let’s get you back in bed and I’ll have a talk with your granny about being nicer.”
Ivy sniffled again, and her arms went around Jayna’s neck as she hugged her.
Emotion swept through her, and she felt that guilt again. She’d spent so much time staying away, and they’d needed her. Her nieces and her sister needed her for more than the money she’d occasionally given them. She walked Ivy back toward her sister’s trailer, Luna trailing behind. The door was unlocked, and she could hear her sister crying as she walked in.
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be all right. You’ve done nothing that can’t be fixed.” Her mom was sitting beside Sienna on the sofa, her hand on her knee. “You can talk to Dixie and get your job back. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“Hey, I found this one out wandering around. Thought I’d bring her back.” Jayna had to keep a happy attitude around Ivy, but inside she was seething. How many times had her mom tried to talk her out of something she wanted because she “wasn’t being realistic”?
How many times had her mother cost her an opportunity because she didn’t want her daughter being arrogant?
Sienna gasped and stood up, wiping her eyes. “I didn’t see her slip out. Ivy, you can’t do that. It’s dangerous out at night. Hey, baby, everything’s okay. Your granny and I were only talking.”
She moved in to take her daughter’s hand.
Ivy yawned and wrapped her small hand around her mom’s. “You were arguing.”
“Naw, honey. We were discussing something that you shouldn’t worry yourself about,” Jayna’s momma said. She was still wearing the jeans and T-shirt she’d worn to work, her gray-streaked hair back in the same ponytail she’d worn for as long as Jayna could remember. Her mother was a slender woman, but there was a worn and tired expression on her face at all times, as though the years weighed heavily on her. “You get some good sleep and everything is going to be back to normal tomorrow. You don’t worry about nothing, girl.”
She was not going to correct her mother’s grammar because that was rude, but she was going to correct a few things. Just not where the girls could hear her. “Mom, I’d like to talk to you over at your place.”
Her mother’s lips pursed in that stubborn way of hers. “Yes, I think we should.”
“They’re going to argue, too,” Ivy said as Sienna walked her back to the bedroom she shared with her older sister.
Oh, they were absolutely going to argue.
Jayna could barely contain her anger as she made the short walk that proved exactly how not far her sister had come. A whole lot of that was their mother’s fault. “What the hell, Mom? What were you saying to Sienna to make her cry?”