Blessed Vows by Jillian Hart Page A

wasn’t affording the actual house,” Heath added as he took a cake. “It was figuring out how to pay for the repairs it needed just to make it halfway livable.”
    â€œIt’s a tight market.” Amy bit into her cupcake with a moan. She slumped against the chair back as she chewed. The chocolate seemed to be doing the trick. Amy already looked five times more relaxed.
    â€œThis is great, Rachel.” Heath said around a bite of the crumbly goodness. “I feel better already.”
    Rachel poured two cups of cold milk and grabbed the chocolate syrup. With a few long squirts and a brief stint in the microwave, she had two cups of steaming goodness that made her sister smile. As she served the drinks, she thought she heard a car in the driveway, but it was the wind knocking the lilac bushes against the siding.
    She had to stop thinking about Jake while she could. What she ought to be concentrating on was her sister, who had a real problem. Three people living in a single-wide trailer was do-able, sure, but it was a small trailer. Rachel knew that they needed something bigger, especially since they were hoping to add to their family. Not that Amy had said anything, but Rachel knew from the looks Heath and Amy had been sending to one another. They were so in love, so joyful, just so everything.
    â€œI know of a house that would be perfect for you.”She couldn’t help grabbing one of the cupcakes for herself, not that her hips needed more padding than they already had. “This house I’m thinking of has four big bedrooms on the main floor, a roomy living room and this great country kitchen.”
    â€œNo way. We’re not arguing about this again.”
    â€œNot unless these cupcakes are included in the deal,” Heath quipped before he took another healthy bite and said to Amy, “What? What’s wrong with that?”
    â€œThat’s an offer I’m gonna accept.” Rachel ignored her sister, who was giving her new husband the narrow glare that all men learned to fear. “It’s too late to back out. Your word is binding, Heath.”
    â€œWow. And I was kidding about the cupcakes. We don’t want your house, Rachel.”
    â€œYeah, Rache, you’ve lived here nearly all your life.” Amy abandoned her cupcake and caught Rachel’s free hand with hers. “You deserve this place. I know what you’re going to say, that this is where I grew up, too, but I left home, remember? I ran off and left you and Paige with the diner and when I came back, I didn’t have the right to oust you. I still don’t.”
    â€œThis isn’t about your feelings.” Rachel couldn’t believe she sounded so irritated—and she was irritated. Because even as she tossed the cupcake wrapper in the garbage, she wanted to whack it upside her sister’s head—not hard, of course—to make her see. “This place is too big for me.”
    â€œBut you’re happy here. You love the memories that are here. I’m not taking that from you. The right house for us will turn up.”
    â€œThis is the right house.” Couldn’t anyone else see it? “This is a house for a family, and I don’t have one of those.”
    â€œOne day you will.”
    â€œGood, I would love nothing more, but one day isn’t today. And today your family needs a larger place—this place. Look.” She gestured to the window where a movement caught her eyes. Westin and Sally were leaping from the deck. “He’s happy here. Look at him. Plus, there’s already a swing set and the roof is good for another fifteen years.”
    One of these days, Amy was going to see reason. Until then, Rachel wasn’t giving up her cause. She took a big bite and savored the rich fudge frosting and moist chocolate cake crumbling across her tongue. The secret whipped-cream filling was so sweet that it ought to make her forget her upset over