Christmas Sisters by Tess Thompson

Author:Tess Thompson [Thompson, Tess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Stevie stretched in the luxurious bed, loving the smooth cotton against her bare legs and reveling in the scent of coffee wafting to her room and the soft clank of dishes from whoever was already up and puttering in the kitchen. It was one of the best parts of this bedroom, the homey feeling of being included—when she wasn’t even in the room yet!

Suddenly her eyes flashed open. It was Christmas morning! She was hit with very conflicting feelings: Excitement. Disappointment. She was thrilled the big day was here. She, Jo, Alissa, Hailey, and Maddie had been looking forward to it so much. The downside to its arrival, however, was a biggie. It meant, no doubt, that her time here would wrap up soon.

The last few days had been a lovely, surreal blur of shopping, baking, playing board games, and visiting with Maddie's mother, Claire. There were so many highlights that Stevie couldn't have picked any particular favorites. No wait, that was a lie. Three things did stand out.

The first occurred when Stevie helped Hailey decorate a sugar cookie, and Hailey had looked up at her with a big grin instead of her usual tentative smile. “I always wanted a big sister with hair like mine.”

Her comment made Stevie choke on her cookie. Hailey's hair was a lovely strawberry blond, so soft and shiny and gently curly that she looked like a little angel. Stevie's mop was definitely more carrot than strawberry—but she didn't want to put her low self-esteem on this precious kid, so she just smiled. “I used to daydream about having sisters too.”

Her words made everyone go quiet for a second. Then Jo and Alissa both exclaimed, “Me too!” at the same time. The whole table laughed.

The other really special moment wasn’t a moment at all; it was a constant so wonderful it made her heart hurt even though she was happy to be a part of it. Stevie was awed by Maddie and Claire, Maddie’s mother, and couldn’t help but watch them. They were like some really funny, really heartwarming, really educational TV show or something. She didn’t have any experience with other adult daughter/mother relationships, and she didn’t know if Maddie and Claire were the norm or what, but studying them made her think. She hadn’t been enough for her mom obviously, and/or, one could argue, her mom was bad at the whole parenting thing. But in her mom’s defense, Marilyn had never had anyone like Claire around to love her either. That was what was so cool about Maddie and Claire. You could see their love for each other, even when they were teasing each other—maybe especially then. For as long as Stevie had been with Marilyn, it was always just the two of them. She couldn't help but wonder. . . . Maybe if Marilyn had someone like Claire in her life, things would have gone really differently than they had. But that was too sad for Christmas.

Stevie popped out of bed and smoothed down the beautiful flannel nightie Maddie had given her the night before.

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