Those Sweet Words (Misfit Inn 2)

Kennedy reached out to cover the girl’s hand with her own. “Ari, Xander and I love you. It wouldn’t be like that.”

Ari pulled away, wrapping her hands around the mug Pru gave her. “You and Xander lost ten years. You deserve some time to be just together.”

Pru couldn’t argue with the truth of that. But it was Kennedy who’d first managed to pull Ari out of her shell after the funeral, so maybe she was the best sister for the job. Pru didn’t care to analyze the pang she felt at that thought. “The home study will take some time. I expect, if you wanted it, Mae would be happy to do home studies on all of us. Then, you could stay with me, while the lovebirds have their time, and go to them when you felt like you were ready.”

Ari was already shaking her head. “I want to stay here, with you. I want to keep my room and help with the inn.” She dropped her gaze to her mug, jiggling the tea ball. When she spoke again, her voice was small. “You were there from the beginning, and I want to be a Reynolds, not a Kincaid.”

Pru’s throat went thick. She exchanged a glance with Kennedy, who nodded slightly. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Ari looked up and the guarded hope on her face cut Pru to the bone. “Really? You’ll really adopt me, like Joan was going to?”

It wasn’

t a decision she made lightly. She knew what it meant to be wanted, to have the stability of a good forever home. Joan had done that for her, for her sisters, and provided a safe place to land for countless others, over the years. Pru might not have any intention of stepping fully into her mother’s shoes, but for this one child, she’d do whatever it took.

“If that’s what you want, then yeah. I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”

Ari grinned, her temper fading with the speed of a summer storm. “Then I guess I’ll have to start working on calling you Mom.”

The word hit Pru in the chest like a sucker punch. Mom. She was going to be a mom. This was going to be her daughter. She was going to be fully responsible for another person’s…everything. Holy crap.

“It’ll take us both some getting used to,” she managed.

Ari slid off the bench and came around the table to give Pru a quick hug. She wasn’t touch shy like so many kids Pru had known, so Pru gave her a hearty squeeze, as her own mother would have done. Over the girl’s thin shoulder, she saw Kennedy beaming.

“Just to try out my mom voice, have you done your sweep of the guest rooms to see if any of the TP or linens or complimentary toiletries need restocking before the next guests arrive?”

“Not yet.”

“Hop to. The Johnsons are supposed to be here by six-thirty.”

Ari saluted and scurried off.

“Congratulations, Mom. And you even did it without the baby weight,” Kennedy teased.

Pru sagged back in her chair. “Jesus.”

Her sister sobered. “Are you really okay with this?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t have told her I’d do it, if I wasn’t. I’m just…a little overwhelmed.” And a little bit jealous that she’d be doing this alone.

Oh, Kennedy and Xander would help out. So would her other sisters, Athena and Maggie, whenever they were in town. But there’d be no husband helping her share the load or the joys. She envied Kennedy that. She’d assumed she’d meet someone eventually, but Eden’s Ridge was a tiny town, with a shallow dating pool. Unlike her sisters, she hadn’t left, other than to finish her training as a massage therapist. Eden’s Ridge was home. She’d found no grand passion here, and up until they’d begun planning Kennedy’s whirlwind wedding, Pru had been fine with that.

She’d be fine with it again. Her mother had led a full and rich life without partner. She could do the same. If she felt a twinge of self-pity at that, she shoved it away. Ari was the priority. Taking care of her was what Joan would have wanted.

“It’s a big step,” Kennedy said. “I’d be worried if you didn’t feel a little overwhelmed.”

“That’s probably been a little exacerbated by the fact that we’ve planned your wedding in a month. Thank God for Cayla Black.” A friend from high school, Cayla was divorced and back in the Ridge with her four-year-old daughter, trying to get an event planning business off the ground. She’d jumped at the chance to use Kennedy as a guinea pig.

“She is, indeed, awesome,” Kennedy concurred. “I don’t even think Maggie could’ve done better.”

“It helps that you don’t care too much about the details beyond being married to Xander in the end.”

“True enough. Speaking of, I want to swing by the house to see my other half before I head into work for the night.” She rose and came around to hug Pru herself. “Mom would love that you’re doing this for Ari.”

“I know. And it helps a little bit. She feels kind of like a last piece of Mom.”

“Are you gonna call Maggie and Athena to tell them the news?”