"She likes to watch kissy movies." Striking back, Kayla pursed her lips and made smacking noises. "She wants Brandon Reno to kiss her on the mouth."
"I do not." Mortified, Ali flushed scarlet. It proved there was no secret safe with a little sister. "You're just a baby." She dug for her deepest insult. "A baby pig-face."
"Allison, don't call your sister names," Laura said wearily. Her two little angels had been sniping at each other for weeks.
"Oh, and she can say whatever she wants. Just because she's the baby."
"I am not a baby."
"I thought you were my baby." Thomas sighed sadly. "I thought you were both my babies, but I guess if you're all grown up and don't need me anymore…"
"I'll be your baby, Granddaddy." Eyes wide and sincere, Kayla gazed up at him. Then she
saw, to her delight, that a miracle had happened. The dreaded Brussels sprouts were gone from her plate. They'd made the leap to his. Love swarmed through her. "I'll always be your baby."
"Well, I'm not a baby." Far from ready to surrender, Ali jutted out her chin. But her lip was quivering.
"No, I suppose you're not." Laura cocked a brow at her daughter's mutinous face. "And since you're not, you won't fight with your sister at the table."
"Oh, I don't know." Margo picked up her wineglass. The fairy light of crystal chandeliers and flickering candlelight shot through it in red and gold glints. "I always fought with Kate at the table."
"And you usually started it," Kate added, forking up a bite of lamb.
"You always started it."
"No, I always finished it." Kate peered around Josh to grin. "You always got sent to your room."
"Only because Mum felt sorry for you. You were so outgunned."
"Outgunned, my butt. When it came to a verbal showdown, you were always playing with blanks. Even when I was Ali's age, I could—"
"Isn't it nice to be home, Tommy?" Susan lifted her glass in a toast. "It's so comforting to see that no matter how life goes on, little changes. Annie, dear, how are you managing all our girls without me?"
"It's a trial, Mrs. T. Now, my ma, she kept a switch in the kitchen. A good hickory switch."
War forgotten, Ali gaped at Ann. "Your mother hit you with a stick?"
"Once or twice she did indeed, and sitting down after was a punishment itself. Mostly just seeing it there on the peg by the door was enough to keep a civil tongue in your head."
"Your weapon of choice was a wooden spoon." Remembering, Margo shifted in her seat.
"A fine deterrent it was to a sassy mouth, too."
"You walloped me once with it, Annie, remember?" It was Josh who spoke.
"Really?" Intrigued, Susan studied her son. "I never heard about that."
Josh sampled his wine and watched Ann squirm out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, Annie and I decided it would be our little secret."
"And so it has been," Annie muttered. "Until now." She cleared her throat, dropped her hands into her lap. "I beg your pardon, Mrs. T. It was hardly my place to spank the boy."
"What nonsense." Intrigued, Susan leaned forward. "I want to know what he did to deserve it."
"I might have been innocent," Josh objected, to which his mother merely snorted.
"You never had an innocent day in your life. What did he do, Annie?"
"He'd been hounding me." Even after all the years that had passed, Ann could remember the insistence in his voice, the demon in his eye. "I tell you the truth, I've never known a child so tenacious as Master Josh. He could devil you beyond-death, and that's the truth."