“I think she wants you to keep going,” Maggie said.
“Oh, hey.” Linc crooked a finger at the girl. “Don’t bother Miss Grace, JoJo.”
“She’s not bothering me,” Grace said without looking up. She turned her attention to the girl. “Your name is JoJo?”
The girl nodded.
“Would you like me to read more?” Grace asked.
The child nodded eagerly, settled in, and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Leaning against Grace, she pointed to something on the page.
“I apologize for the interruption.” He turned to Liddy. “I just need to run upstairs for a minute. Dad can’t find his cell phone, and he thinks he might have left it here.” Linc made his way to the back stairs and ran up to the second floor.
Liddy and Maggie stood side by side and watched Grace’s interaction with the children.
Grace directed her attention to the other little girl, who had remained standing next to the bookcase. Like her sister, she had jet-black hair and startling blue eyes. They looked remarkably alike, their faces heart-shaped and their noses equally pert. Grace asked, “Are you twins?”
“No. Mama said I’m just small because I was premature,” the girl replied. “I’m older than her.” She pointed to her sister. “She’s five. I’m seven.”
“Would you like to sit with us?” Grace patted the floor next to her.
The girl gave her head a fierce shake.
“Well, if you change your mind, you’re welcome to join us.” Grace resumed reading.
Liddy watched for a few minutes, then nodded in Grace’s direction and whispered to Maggie, “Looks like Gracie has a fan.”
Maggie smiled as JoJo touched Grace’s dark hair and told her, “You have pretty hair.”
“Thank you,” Grace said. “So do you.”
JoJo nodded. “It’s like my mommy’s.”
“Well, I’m sure your mommy is very lovely.”
“I don’t remember.”
The child’s eyes filled with tears, prompting her older sister to say sternly, “Stop being a baby, JoJo.”
“What’s your name?” Grace’s inquiry addressed to the older girl was met with a defiant stare but no response. “What’s your sister’s name, JoJo?”
Her thumb still in her mouth, JoJo replied, “Bliss.”
“I can speak for myself,” Bliss said.
“Then you might have done so when I asked you directly.” Grace softened her tone. “Sure you wouldn’t like to join us, Bliss?”
“That’s a baby book.” Bliss wrinkled her nose disdainfully.
“I don’t know,” Grace said. “I like it. I’ve read it countless times.”
Bliss muttered something that sounded like “good for you” but remained where she stood, leaning against the nearest bookcase.
“Suit yourself.” Grace resumed reading to JoJo.
When she finished the story, Liddy said, “Looks like you’ve got yourself another job to add to your résumé.”
“What does that mean?” Grace asked.
“It means don’t make plans for Saturday mornings.” Liddy smiled, then turned as Linc rounded the corner from the bottom of the steps. “You’ll be bringing the kids for Saturday morning story hours, Lincoln.”
“What?” He laughed. “What did I just walk into?”
“We’re doing children’s story hour on Saturdays. What do you think of eleven a.m.?” she asked.
“Not sure. Could be tight. The two older kids have sports, but we haven’t gotten the final weekend schedules yet.”
“Any idea of the time?”
“Not yet, but softball and soccer are usually in the afternoon for the younger kids, but the older kids play in the morning. If they’re on a travel team, like Duffy is, it could take up most of the day.”
“I don’t want to play soccer,” JoJo piped up. “I want to read books with Miss Grace.”
“You don’t have to play if you don’t want to.” Linc knelt next to JoJo and brushed her hair back from her face. “We talked about that, remember?”
JoJo nodded.
“If you want to come to story hour, we’ll make sure you get here,” he said gently. “If I can’t bring you, we’ll ask Pop, okay?”
JoJo smiled and put her arms around Linc’s neck.
“I can read my own books,” Bliss announced. “I’m going to play soccer.”
“You’re already signed up for soccer, Bliss.” Linc cast a weary glance at Bliss.
“Kids can be tough,” Liddy said. “So did you find your dad’s phone?”
“No. He must have lost it somewhere else.” Linc stood, JoJo still wound around his neck.
Liddy paused to remember where else in the store Tuck had been that morning. “Oh, maybe over here.” She pointed to where she and Tuck had discussed building shelves. “Let’s take a look.”
Linc lowered the little girl to the ground, and she walked back to Grace, who said, “So JoJo Shelby, looks like you’re the very first to sign up for Saturday’s story time.”
“Our name’s not Shelby,” Bliss snapped. “It’s Brown.” She turned her back on Grace and fell in behind Linc and Liddy, who’d started toward the front of the store.
Liddy glanced over her shoulder as Maggie and Grace exchanged a long, puzzled look. There’d be time later for her to relate the little she knew about the mixed-up situation with the Shelby family.
“Why is their name Brown and not Shelby?” Grace barely waited until the door had closed behind Linc and the two girls before asking. “I thought they were Linc’s kids.”
“The kids are his sister Brenda’s. Brown’s her husband’s last name, apparently.” Liddy sighed. “I’m not sure why they’re here in Wyndham Beach, but I do know they are hers, and she isn’t with them, but they’re living out on the island. So it seems Linc has taken most of the responsibility for them.”
“That’s a lot for a young single man to take on,” Maggie observed.
“Linc was always solid. Dependable. Worked hard, never got in trouble I heard about. Whatever happened that brought those kids to Wyndham Beach, I am not at all surprised Linc’s stepped up.”
“So what’s Brenda’s story?” Grace asked.
“Oh, that one. What a wild child she was. She took off at seventeen, and as far as I know, she hasn’t been back. At least, I haven’t seen her. Tuck doesn’t say much about her, and I’m not going to be the one to ask. If he ever feels like talking about it, I’ll be glad to listen.”
“How long have the kids been living with Tuck and Linc?” Grace asked.
“The first time I saw them was about two months before you moved back in the spring,” Liddy said. “But why they’re here . . .” She shrugged.
“Well, I know I’m shocked.” Maggie placed a hand over her heart.
“Yeah, it’s tough to understand how a mother could just walk away from her children,” Liddy agreed.