Chapter 112

Sarah POV

I lay alone in bed that night, and along with my usual preoccupation with Zane’s hands and eyes and mouth and my desire for him to be with me, I was dwelling on those few minutes I had spent with Grace, Chloe, and Jordan.

The girls had immediately been taken by their cute cousin, greeting him like a shiny new toy and asking him a million questions. For his part, Jordan had been well-mannered and gentle. His large blue eyes shone out over a pert, slightly upturned nose, bowed lips, and a dimpled chin all framed by an adorable mop-top cut, and he’d been wearing a yellow button-down with a pair of brown corduroys and brown deck shoes.

The girls had noticed the outline of a phone in his pocket and expressed envy, and he’d told them he only got to carry one because he was so far from his home in Madrid. When the girls had known that was in Spain, he’d said he was impressed with their knowledge, and then they played a little game trying to name capitals and their countries. He’d stumped them but hadn’t made a big deal out of it.

In all, he’d been a lovely new playmate, and the girls were soon asking him to come over and play. I agreed and smiled and said something about school, and they’d said they had another half-day tomorrow. It had all been so nice and sweet.

So why had it made me so uneasy?

First, I admitted, there had been an odd look in Grace’s eyes when I said Jordan was at the school with his Aunt Ella. She hadn’t looked fearful or nervous, but the light in her eyes had definitely dimmed.

Then there was Jordan, who was so nice, and so sweet, and so, so friendly. What pup actually acted like that? The whole time, I felt I was watching someone who was behaving, as though their parents were in the room taking notes.

Of course, I might have been the “parental” audience.

I turned over from my left to right side, fluffed the pillow a little, and closed my eyes.

“Jordan is your cousin, and he’s here with your Aunt Ella.”

“Oh?” Chloe asked, intrigued, while Grace just sort of looked . . . I wasn’t sure.

I rolled over on my back.

The next morning, I had a little more coffee than usual.

“Is that your fifth cup?” Zane asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Didn’t sleep well?”

“No, but it’s nothing.”

Zane gave me a lingering look but said nothing more. We were both going through our email, and the girls came down in a bit in their school clothes. I looked at Chloe’s grumpy face.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

She shrugged and got up on her chair. “Grace takes forever to get ready in the morning.”

“You just had to wait while I brushed my hair,” Grace objected.

“You should cut it off,” Chloe muttered.

“Chloe,” I said sharply, drawing a surprised face from her. “If you don’t want to wait on Grace to brush her hair, then you can make the decision to come down by yourself. You do not have the option of suggesting that Grace change herself for you. Do you understand why that’s mean?”

Chloe frowned, but I knew that was her thinking face, not her pouting face. She shrugged. “I just meant it wouldn’t take as long to get ready.”

“You made it sound like your sister has done something wrong. She likes her long hair, just like you like your short hair. Would you like it if Grace said you were wrong to have short hair?”

Chloe looked at Grace, who was sitting there awkwardly, which was unfortunate, but this sort of thing needed to be nipped in the bud before some sort of major misunderstanding happened.

Chloe shook her head. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then tell Grace, not me.”

She looked across the counter. “I didn’t mean it like that, Grace.”

Grace shrugged. “OK.”

“For my part,” Zane said, coming in right when he was needed, as always, “I like that you girls have different hairdos. I would hate to mix you up.”

That drew some smiles. “Silly Daddy,” Grace murmured.

Breakfast went on as normal after that, and then the girls went to the car so Ollie could drive them to school.

“Did I handle that OK?” I asked Zane when we were alone.

“Of course you did.” He winked at me and then went to his study.

I spent the morning going over preparation for the Children’s Hunger Back meeting that was coming up and sorting through my quickly expanding closet—it was time to let go of some of the things I’d worn before Zane and I met as I’d never wear them again.

The girls showed up at lunch with Jordan in tow. I’d expected Ella would be with him, but he explained Ella was happy to leave him to ride in the car with Ollie, the girls, and their two bodyguards.

“I suppose the car would be pretty crowded with all of you,” I said with a smile, relieved by the normal-looking boy standing in front of me. Nothing was odd about him, nothing at all. I had been silly last night and lost sleep over nothing.

“We want to play Monopoly,” Chloe told me. “Will you be banker?”

“As long as I get to be the top hat,” I said.

“Man on the horse!” Jordan said.

“Car!” Chloe said.

“Moon!” Grace finished.

After a brief lunch during which Zane put in an appearance and said it was nice to see Jordan again, we met up in my room and laid out the board.

“I only got four ones,” Jordan complained when Grace was about to roll and start the game.

“My deepest apologies,” I said with a little waist-bow and handed over another white bill. He took it looking a little uncertain, but then it was a new social situation for him.

We did the first few rounds as quickly as possible. Grace, as always, went after the railroads and the dark blue properties. Chloe went after the orange and green ones, making a face when Jordan snapped up New York Avenue. As usual, I just played and bought things as I went.

“Hah! You go to jail, Grace!” Jordan shouted, pointing his finger. “Stinky girls go to jail!”

“Jordan! Grace is not a stinky girl, and I must ask you to keep to your inside voice.”

“Yes, Miss Sarah.”

Grace moved the moon to jail with a frown, but she got out in the next round on doubles and proudly tapped the moon all the way over to Chance, which got her a Get Out of Jail Free card, which made us all laugh.

“Too late for you!” Jordan crooned.

We did another round, and finally I saw Jordan’s strategy, which was to buy up one and only one of the railroads, dark blue, orange, and green properties.

Little stinker, I thought, though it was a perfectly legal strategy.

When it was Chloe’s round, she held the dice in her hand and looked at Jordan. “I want New York Avenue.”

“Tough,” he said.

“It’s no fun if you don’t trade,” Chloe said.

“Well, I suppose I could let it go for Park Place.”

Chloe scowled. “Grace has Park Place.”

“And I have Boardwalk, so I want Park Place.”

“But I don’t have Park Place.”

“Talk to me when you do.”

Chloe frowned at her deeds, including two very nice properties that would have each made for a good trade for New York Avenue, and then she frowned at Grace’s two railroads, two light blues, and Park Place.

“I want Park Place,” she told Grace.

“It’s mine, and I’m not giving it up,” Grace said defiantly.

Almost instantly, they were arguing, which was bad enough, and then I spotted Jordan smirking to himself.