Beneath the Patchwork Moon (Hope Springs, #2) Read Free Page B

knew the significance of today’s date; it was the same date Luna’s hip had been broken, the same date her month-long confinement to bed had begun and she’d taken up weaving. But her mother didn’t know what had happened the weekend before the accident. Or all Angelo had meant to her before walking away for what she’d thought was good.
    “Huh. Does he know you bought the property?”
    She nodded. “I don’t know how, but yes.”
    “Do you think he’ll get in your way?”
    The very question had plagued Luna since she’d driven away from the house. She shrugged, curling deeper into her father’s chair, his dip in the cushions, his imagined warmth. “I’m more worried about the Gatlins’ reaction, but Angel has it in him to cause trouble. He’s still very angry.”
    “Angel.” Her mother smiled, then sighed. “I’d forgotten you called him that.”
    “I don’t know why I ever started. He’s not the least bit angelic.”
    “Do you want him to be?”
    The question surprised her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Her mother took another sip of her soda, returned the glass to the table, and pulled a cracker from its sleeve. “He’s beautiful, yes, but he possesses few other angelic traits. If hedid, he wouldn’t have been the boy you had such a crush on in high school.”
    Heat flushed up Luna’s neck to her face, and she wondered, not for the first time, if her parents had suspected how far her relationship with Angelo had gone. “He’s who he is. I’m who I am. High school was a long time ago. Though since I still have the same bedroom, it’s hard to tell,” she said, latching onto the change of subject and leaving Angel behind. “Seriously. Who lives with their parents until they’re twenty-eight years old?”
    Her mother laughed softly. “In this economy? More young people than you think.”
    But Luna was shaking her head. “I understand staying for economic reasons. But I don’t have that excuse. I lucked into a very lucrative profession. I’ve just been too lazy to pack.”
    “I don’t think your still being here has anything to do with being lazy.”
    But it had everything to do with Sierra and Oscar and the accident. “The baby is going to love having her own suite of rooms. If you wanted to buy her a pony, there’s almost enough space to build a stall.”
    Her mother chuckled, then grew pensive. “It’ll be strange, Skye filling those rooms with her things instead of yours being there. It’ll be even stranger not to have you here to run my errands.”
    That made Luna smile. She’d been running them since the day she’d gotten her driver’s license. “I’m happy to stay and help out. I’ve waited this long, and the loft isn’t going anywhere. What’s a few more months?”
    “No, you’ll go because it’s time.”
    It had been time for years. Her mother was just too nice to say so. “You mean you don’t like having your adult daughter still living at home as if she were a child?”
    “Of course I love having you here,” she said, closing her eyes for a moment as she drew in a slow, steady, stomach-settling breath. “You’ve needed to be here, and I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like not knowing you were just down the hall. But a new baby means a new schedule, new priorities, new everything. It’s a turning point in all of our lives.”
    Was that what Angelo’s return was? What the next five days would bring? “You didn’t have to get pregnant to get me to move out, you know. You could’ve brought in movers while I was weaving.”
    “Funny girl,” her mother said, reaching for her soda again and bringing the straw to her mouth. “I’m glad you’ll have enough space for your loom, too.”
    “The light in the loft is amazing. I can’t wait for you to see it. I’m so used to holing up in my shed, all that sun and blue sky might distract me.”
    “Who knows? It might show you new ways to tell your stories.”
    Except she wasn’t sure what