Page 57 of Wishes on Wildflowers
“Nobody putyouin a stair-stepping lineup with your three perfect brothers and your perfect sister.”
“Perfect?” Alex chortled. “You have got to be kidding me. Except Jasmine, of course. Always Daddy’s little angel.”
Seriously. “I got in my share of trouble. The disappointment in Dad’s eyes killed me every time.”
Basil shook his head. “You don’t know what it’s like to be me.”
“And you don’t know what it’s like to be me,” Alex agreed.
“I always envied you guys,” Peter put in. “What I wouldn’t have given to have a brother. All I had was two little sisters, way younger than me. And while Ava and Dafne are a long way from perfect — trust me — I’m kinda proud of both of them now.” He jerked his chin toward Basil. “Daf screwed up. But she’s letting God work in her life through the pregnancy. From what I can see, all of us are going to do stupid things from time to time—”
“Though driving drunk takes the cake,” muttered Alex.
“—but it’s how we handle ourselves in the aftermath that counts for the long haul. Like, are we going to be bitter? Keep going on the stupid path? Or learn from it and make changes?”
Jasmine had wandered the stupid path long enough. The bitter path. She held up her pointer finger. “I’m choosing the learn-from-it side. The repentance-and-forgiveness side. The it’s-not-all-about-Jasmine side.”
Basil sighed and held up both hands. “Fine, fine. Yes, I’ve been thinking a lot. A night in lockup and the prospect of many more to come does that to a guy.”
“I’ve got a question.” Alex handed a chocolate chip cookie to his brother.
“Yeah?”
“Why Dixie, of all people?”
Basil ran his hand over his eyes. “About that. So ignorant.”
At least he was seeing it now, even if it was a bit late.
“I wasn’t going to do anything with her, if you mustknow. Definitely not while she’s living with Dan. Just a few drinks and a dance or two. Dumbest night of my life.”
Peter took a bite of his cookie and looked around the kitchen. “Where’d Nonna go?”
Jasmine surged to her feet. “Oh, no. I didn’t even see her leave.” She jogged into the living room then down the hallway to her grandmother’s bedroom. “Nonna? You okay?”
Nonna knelt by her bed, hands folded on the quilted cover. She opened her eyes and turned toward the door with a little smile. “I needed to thank my Heavenly Father for what He’s doing in the lives of my precious grandchildren. He is so good.”
Tears misted Jasmine’s vision. “Yeah. I guess I’ve been about as stupid as Basil.” Just not as visibly… but she needed to stop thinking like that. How did that scripture go?Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
Nonna held out her hand. “Can you help me up,mi tesoro? I forgot how it is difficult these days. I usually pray sitting in my chair, but I forgot.”
Nonna’s treasure. Jasmine smiled through her tears as she grasped the outstretched hand. “I’d be happy to help you, Nonna. As long as you need me to.”
But Peter stepped around Jasmine, tucked both hands under Nonna’s armpits, and hoisted her to her feet. “There you go.”
“Thank you, Pietro.” She patted his cheek. “You are a fine man. When are you going to get married and give me babies to hold?”
Peter chuckled. “God hasn’t sent me the right woman yet, Nonna. You and me, we need to be patient.”
She sighed. “And Basil. And Alex. And Antonio. Howlong do you all think I will live? Time to get busy.” She pointed to the rug beside her bed. “I will pray.”
“You go ahead and do that, but maybe from your chair.” Peter waggled his eyebrows. “It’s Jasmine you should be nagging, you know, not me. She’s got a perfectly fine guy who’d love to get hitched. Maybe now that she’s repented of her stubbornness, she can get on with it.”
Jasmine slugged Peter’s arm. “Mind your own business.”
“I am, Jas, I am. Anything that’s the business of one Santoro is the business of us all. Basil’s right about that.”
Maybe he was.
