"Then there's no reason to feel guilty."
"You may sing a different tune if we get back and they're bouncing off the ceiling."
The kids were, in fact, in the middle of a high stakes game of Monopoly with Livia and Evan.
"Ginny's going to bankrupt us all," Livia declared. "Do you have any idea how many times I've landed on Boardwalk? With hotels? I'm in hock up to my eyebrows."
Tara scooped Ginny up and snuggled her into her lap. "I should've warned you. She's ruthlessly competitive at board games. And she should also be finding a stopping place because it's past her bedtime."
"Aw, but there's no school tomorrow."
Livia rolled the dice and ended up at Park Place. "I fold. I don't feel like going through all the hassle of selling my mortgaged properties back to the bank.”
Austin picked up the thick stack of colorful Monopoly money. “I think it’s safe to say Ginny won. As usual.”
Linda wandered in from the kitchen. “Oh you’re back. Did y’all finish your shopping?”
“And wrapping,” Tara pronounced. “Thank you for keeping the kids.”
“We had a good time. Made up a big batch of sugar plums to pass out as gifts to the rest of the family.”
“Did you know they have twenty-six people in their family?” Ginny asked.
“Tw—seriously?” Tara waited for somebody to say they were kidding.
“Counting all the cousins, yep. You’ll meet most of them at Christmas dinner when we all load up and head to the grandparents’,” said Jace. “Everybody within driving distance comes in.”
“I’m sorry, you’ve just boggled my brain. I can’t imagine that many people in one family. You have your own football team.”
"We have our own version of the Egg Bowl at Thanksgiving,” Livia said. “Except instead of the golden egg, we play for Grandma's chess pie. Competition is fierce."
“Since we don’t know any of our cousins, Miss Linda says we can borrow theirs this year,” Ginny said.
Tara felt a pang. “That’s really nice of her. But won’t we be intruding?”
“We’re an always changing motley crew. Family. Friends. Staff. You won’t be the only unfamiliar faces. It’s always the more the merrier at the Applewhites,” Linda said.
So Jace had told her.
“Well, you just let me know what we can do to contribute.”
“Whatever your best side dish is. There will be an army to feed.”
“I can do that.” Tara stood. “C’mon, you two. Time to get ready for bed.”
Ginny made her rounds, doling out hugs to everyone.
Tara thought back to the shy, wounded child she’d met when she first moved back to Mississippi. Over the last eighteen months, Ginny had blossomed. Even Austin, who trusted so rarely, seemed relaxed and happy, grinning as Livia and Jace ruffled his hair.
This. This was the danger of staying here. They were falling in love with this family. Putting down tender roots that would inevitably be yanked free after the holiday when all the goodwill toward men attitude faded. Not that she thought the Applewhites would ever be deliberately cruel. But taking on three veritable orphans for Christmas was a far cry from keeping them as a permanent part of the family. That kind of transience was exactly why Tara had given up everything to keep Austin and Ginny out of the foster system. Because they needed as much permanence and stability as someone could give them. What would the loss of the Applewhites do to them?
“You’re thinking deep thoughts again,” Jace said softly.
“Just tired,” Tara lied. “It was a full day.”
His eyes searched her face and she suspected he saw too much.
“Walk you back?”