Jillian's Promise by Kristin Noel Fischer

Author:Kristin Noel Fischer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Kristin Noel Fischer
Published: 2017-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Jillian

When I returned home later that afternoon, I was pleased to see Matt had finished painting the fence. He’d also touched up the front door, weeded the flower bed, and cleaned out the gutters.

Yesterday, I’d asked Keith if he was making Matt work too hard, but he’d just laughed. “After being expelled from school for drinking? No.”

Drew met me at the front door, his little face beaming with excitement. “Come on, Mom, you have to see the tree house we built today.”

“A tree house?” I followed him through the house to the backyard, imagining a few boards randomly nailed to the big oak tree, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The tree house boasted a roof, two cutouts for windows, and a wraparound porch.

Above me, Keith leaned against the railing of the tree house and grinned. “Well, what do you think?”

I thrust a hand to my hip. “What I think is that someone still recovering from surgery shouldn’t be building or climbing into tree houses.”

“You sound like Hannah,” he said with mock disgust. “Anyway, the kids did all the work. I directed them and climbed up when they finished.”

I tugged on the rope dangling from the tree. “Is this the only way up? Don’t tell me you climbed up with just one good arm.”

“I used my good leg, too.”

Hannah, followed by Matt, stepped from the inside portion of the tree house to the porch. “I told him not to do it, Ms. Jillian, but he climbed up when I went inside to get a drink of water.”

“I had to,” Keith protested. “I couldn’t complete my inspection from the ground.”

I raised my hand to block the setting sun. “How in the world did you build this and finish the fence on the same day?”

“The fence only took about an hour,” Matt explained. “We’ve been cutting boards and collecting the materials for the tree house all week. Besides, both Hannah and Drew helped.”

Drew smiled, thrilled to be appreciated by his older brother. “Come on, Mom,” he hollered, leading the way up the rope ladder.

I ran a hand over my dress. “Let me change first.”

I started to walk away, but Keith called after me. “There’s no dress code to climb the rope ladder. What you’re wearing is fine.”

I turned around to see his self-satisfied smirk and my insides tingled. “I’m wearing a dress.”

“I noticed,” he said, his voice deep.

Even though I willed myself not to blush, heat inflamed my cheeks. What was wrong with me?

“Come on, don’t be a chicken,” Keith persisted. “If I could climb with one arm and one leg, I think you could manage in a dress.”

“It’s not that I can’t—”

“Chicken,” Drew hollered, a gleam in his eye.

Hannah leaned over the railing. “Come on, Ms. Jillian! Women throughout history have ruled the world in a dress. Surely you can climb one small rope.”

I laughed and succumbed to their pressure by slipping off my sandals and grabbing the rope. “Okay, here goes nothing.” Climbing proved harder than expected, but eventually I reached the top, victorious.

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