I Wish... Read Online Free Page A

across the yard with mom trailing silently behind me, but my mind was reeling with all the things I suddenly knew about myself in such a short time. My name was Jane and I was born in a town called Desire. This town. I had a great grandmother and an aunt and uncle. I had cousins.

    I followed Ramona up the stairs to the third story of the house which appeared to be an enormous master suite with a sitting room. All the doors were open and I could see that there appeared to be two walk in closets and a full bathroom. The focal point of the room was the massive four poster bed where an old woman lay. I thought at first she was sleeping, but her eyes opened when we approached. Our entire group surrounded the bed except Shep who had disappeared back into the RV when the rest of us went inside.

    "Ramona?" Her voice was weak, but it didn't crack. "So you made it back?"

    "I did, Mother." She reached out and ran her fingers through the older woman's hair, fingering combing it.

    "I didn't think Marla would call you." There was no accusation in her voice and Marla didn’t appear disturbed by the old woman’s candid statement.

    "She didn't. Tamara Claphan let me know."

    "You made a good choice in aligning yourself with that girl. She's been very helpful to you." The touch of sarcasm confused me.

    "She has, Mother. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to come here to you in your time of need."

    "Oh, for God's sake, stop playing the part of the concerned daughter." Georgina actually slapped Ramona's hands out of her hair. This was getting good.

    "Did you bring the girl back with you?" Georgina's pale watery eyes sought me. I was a little creeped out by the way her lower eyelids drooped loosely away from the bottom half of her eyes.

    "Yes, Mother. This is Jane." There was an unmistakable hint of pride in the way Ramona said that. Not something I was used to hearing in connection with me. Of course, I also wasn't used to hearing myself called anything but Thistle either.

    "Come here, daughter." Daughter? Weird. It was beyond creepy when her skeletal hand reached for me, the skin hanging off the bones in loose fleshy folds. Reluctantly I walked to her side.

    She examined my face for an uncomfortably long period of time before she picked up a fistful of my hair and actually smelled it. I wasn't generally a rude person, but oh my God, how much is a girl supposed to handle before she finally says, "See you whackadoos later, I'm out of here."?

    Lucky for me, my mom uncharacteristically took the initiative and said, "Jane, why don't you go find your cousin, Darcy? I'm sure she's around here somewhere. We need to have a family meeting. We'll find you when we're done.

    I managed to walk out of the room, but by the time I was halfway down the stairs I was taking them two at a time.

    The second level of the house appeared to be bedrooms so I continued down the stairs until I was back on the main floor. If I didn't find Darcy in the living room, I decided I’d go hang out in the RV. I had several new books waiting for me on my ereader and I didn't mind the idea of settling in for a long afternoon of reading at all.

    I found the living room fairly easily after a wrong turn into the kitchen. There was a girl with silky straight red hair stretched out on the overstuffed sofa. She had ear phones tucked into ears and a thick textbook open in front of her. I assumed that's how she managed to miss the commotion of us rolling up and the subsequent sounds of five pairs of feet going up three flights of wooden stairs.

    She looked older than me. I guessed her age around twenty one or twenty two. She wore a pair of oversized black rimmed glasses. She looked too much like Ramona for there to be any doubt that this must be Darcy. Not being an especially shy person, I took a fortifying breath and approached her.

    To her credit, she didn't seem startled to see a strange girl looming over her in her living room. She sat up in a manner that reminded