“Me?” Faith placed her hand on her chest. “What do I have to do with you working in Charleston?”
“Everything, actually. There’s no way I can commute every day, so I’ve signed a six-month lease on a carriage house in Charleston. Bill has agreed to move back in here with the boys. It’s not what you think,” Jackie said in response to Sam’s raised eyebrows. “He will sleep in the guest room.”
“I predict the two of you will be back together by Christmas,” Sam said.
“I doubt it’ll take that long,” Faith added.
“Will the two of you let me finish, please?” Jackie said, in an exasperated tone.
Sam pretended to zip her lips.
“Faith, I would very much like for you and Bitsy to move into the guest cottage. I know you are busy at the market, and if you don’t like this idea, I totally understand. But I thought it would be good for the boys to have you here. I need someone to help with their laundry, get them off to school in the mornings, and cook them dinner a couple of nights a week. I will pay you, of course, and I don’t expect you to do the heavy cleaning. I’ve hired a maid service for that.”
Sam could tell by the twinkle in Faith’s eyes that this was an answer to her prayers. Even if the judge sentenced Curtis to twenty years in prison, she had too many bad memories from her trailer to continue to live there.
“That would solve a lot of my problems,” Faith said.
“And a lot of mine as well,” Jackie said.
“I don’t know what to say, other than thank you.” Faith gave Jackie a hug, then turned toward the stairs. “I can’t wait to tell Bitsy. She’ll be thrilled.”
“Wait,” Jackie called after her. “Before you go. We need to take a family photo.”
The three sisters gathered together, and Jackie snapped a selfie.
“What are you planning to do with that?” Sam asked.
“I’m texting it to Donna Bennett.” Jackie read the message aloud as she texted. “Headline for your morning paper. The Amazing Sweeney Sisters Survive Ordeal and Live to Tell About It.”
After Faith disappeared downstairs, Sam helped Jackie stack the china plates on the sideboard and prepare the table for the buffet.
“You’re doing a good thing for Faith,” Sam said.
Jackie looked up in surprise. “One good deed can’t compare to all you’ve done for her. You had your house destroyed, a bucket of paint thrown in your face, and thousands of dollars worth of seafood ruined. And you never even complained.”
“I internalized my problems, Jackie. I certainly didn’t handle it with grace.”
Jackie held Sam’s shoulders in her hands. “After our argument in the parking deck at the hospital, you got me thinking about who I really am, and I realized one of the important qualities missing from my life is empathy. I’m a selfish woman, Sammie, but I’m doing my best to change. I took your advice. I put myself in your shoes, and I realized how much you’d sacrificed to help Faith. Then I put myself in Faith’s shoes and I asked myself what I could do to make her life easier.”
Sam glanced down at her sister’s feet. She hadn’t noticed earlier that Jackie was wearing Sam’s favorite pair of worn-out espadrilles, her bright-red toenail poking through the hole at the tip of her big toe. She looked back up at Jackie and smiled. “They’re comfortable, aren’t they?”
“And to think I’ve been cramming my feet into those bone-crusher heels all these years.” Jackie drew Sam in for a hug, the only one Sam ever remembered receiving from her older sister. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep them. For some strange reason, like magic, they give me confidence. I believe in myself when I’m wearing them. Just as you have always believed in me.”