Sadie-In-Waiting by Annie Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

for a while,” Hannah said from behind the door.
    “Mind if I brew some herbal tea?” April asked, her soft brown braid bouncing against her back as she hurried ahead of Sadie.
    “Tea, coffee, get that roasting hen out of the fridge and stuff or glaze or presoak or whatever you’re supposed to do to one of those things, if you have the inclination. Just leave me be for a while.” The hinges on the door between the master bedroom and bath whined and Hannah’s next order came out loud and clear. “No matter what the results are, I want a minute alone and then a minute to call Payt and tell him the news. I want him to be the first to know.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” April and Sadie called out together as they headed down the stairs.
    April’s sandals hit the hardwood floor of the foyer first. She paused there only long enough to grab her backpack and half turn to ask Sadie, “Was Ed the first to know about your babies?”
    “Was he?” Sadie held on to the faux antique finial at the bottom of the handrail and cocked her head. “I don’t remember. I do know it didn’t come as much of a surprise when I told him.”
    “Of course not.” April chuckled and headed off for the gleaming black-and-white kitchen.
    “Of course not? Why do you say that?” Sadie hurried to catch up.
    “Well, you have to admit, Sadie, as far as your life has been concerned, things have pretty much run along the tried-and-true steady course.” She clunked the hunter-green backpack onto the glossy imitation-marble countertop and began opening drawers and taking out spoons and napkins.
    “Tried-and-true?” Sadie sat on one of the mismatched kitchen stools Hannah had gotten from the church thrift shop and so proudly painted, following instructions from a magazine. “What do you mean by that?”
    “You know, college, marriage, babies.” She filled the teakettle with water. “I’ll never forget how you told me after the Christmas Eve candlelight service that you and Ed had decided to start a family. Olivia arrived in time for Advent the next year.”
    “You make me sound so predictable.”
    “No.” She shut the water off and set the kettle on the stove, flipping on the heat then stepping back to make sure that everything met her standards. “I wouldn’t call it predictable. More that when you set your mind to something, Sadie, it happens.”
    Sadie rested her cheek in her hand. “I think you’re describing yourself. You’re the planner. The planter. The one who has seen her goals and aspirations take shape. I’m the one who rushes headlong here and there and lets other people make my mind up for me, remember?”
    “I remember a lot of things, Sadie. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I remember too much, or if…” She drummed her fingertips over the protected handle of the teapot then straightened her shoulders and turned to face Sadie. “Well, the point is, you’re the one who has so much to show for her life. I have a business and, of course, our family, but you’re the one who’s got it all together.”
    The praise rang hollow in Sadie’s ears. And on top of the longing in her sister’s tone, it almost broke Sadie’s heart. If she were made of sterner stuff and if her sister weren’t the stoic type, she might have gone to April then, put her arm around her and…she had no idea what.
    So she sighed and shook her head and bent down the corner of the napkin in front of her. “Me? I don’t have anything together that didn’t already come prepackaged. Having it all, that’s Hannah’s bailiwick. She’s the organizer. Her Imperial Highness delegating, always delegating.”
    “Not anymore.” April pulled a dented cardboard box from her bag and took out two tea bags that smelled of chamomile and peppermint. “She isn’t going to delegate someone to have this baby for her. Though—”
    Footsteps overhead cut her off.
    They both waited and listened.
    More footsteps. Then quiet.
    Sadie curled her fingers into tight fists.