Free Love of the Game by Lori Wilde Page A

of the family.
    â€œDid you hear my big news?” Trudy’s eyes sparkled.
    â€œI did. Congratulations, Trudy. You deserve this so much.”
    â€œI knew eventually my passion would pay off.” Trudy chuckled. “I got a new tattoo to celebrate. Wanna see?”
    To be polite, Kasha nodded.
    Trudy tugged the corner of her shirt down her right shoulder to reveal fresh ink that said: “Live passionately or not at all.”
    â€œIt’s a statement,” Kasha said. One she didn’t agree with. She’d spent a lifetime squelching passion, because she knew how much damage it could do.
    â€œYou’ve got to let go of the reins sometime,” Trudy said. “And just let yourself feel.”
    A bubble of resistance pressed up Kasha’s throat. She ironed on a smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. Congrats again, Trudy.”
    â€œThanks.” Trudy beamed.
    Kasha caught sight of her sister Breeanne sitting on a lawn chair by herself, underneath the elm tree where a tire swing used to hang when they were kids. Breeanne looked forlorn. Kasha grabbed a lawn chair and went over to sit beside her sister.
    Breeanne had been the first child their parents had adopted, even though she was younger than Kasha and Jodi. She had a heart condition that had been a constant part of family life when they were all growing up, but today, at twenty-seven, after multiple surgeries, Breeanne had made a full recovery.
    â€œWhy you are sitting over here by your lonesome?” Kasha asked.
    Breeanne made a halfhearted attempt at a smile. “Just needed a little time to myself.”
    â€œDo you want me to leave?”
    â€œNo. You’re the one person I do want to see. Just being around you calms me down.”
    â€œIs something wrong? Are you and Rowdy—”
    â€œOh no, no. Rowdy and I are fine. In fact marriage is the most amazing thing.” Breeanne perked up. “I love him so much.”
    â€œI can see it on your face.”
    Breeanne reached over to pat Kasha’s hand. “I know you’re going to find your true love too.”
    Kasha shrugged. “I’m okay even if I don’t.”
    Breeanne’s mouth turned down and her eyes went sad. “Honestly?”
    â€œI don’t need a man in my life to be happy.”
    â€œHave you found a key to the hope chest yet?” Breeanne asked.
    â€œTo tell you the truth, I haven’t been looking.”
    It might seem an odd question to some, but two years earlier, Breeanne had found an antique hope chest at an estate sale. It was an unusual trunk, possessing five individual compartments contained inside one wooden box, each compartment with its own lock. On top of the lid, a cryptic message had been carved.
    Kasha had it memorized because for the past year, ever since Jodi married Jake and she passed the hope chest on to her, it had been sitting in her living room functioning as a coffee table.
    Treasures are housed within, heart’s desires granted, but be careful where wishes are cast, for reckless dreams dared dreamed in the heat of passion will surely come to pass.
    Kasha didn’t have to worry about passionate wishes backfiring. She never did anything in the heat of passion. She knew firsthand just how destructive passion could be.
    The elderly woman who sold Breeanne the hope chest had told her that if she made a wish before she unlocked the compartments, her wish would surely come true. Romantic, Breeanne had fallen in love with the silly legend. The old woman had no keys for the trunk’s locks, but on a wish and a prayer that any skeleton key might work on a skeleton lock, Breeanne bought the hope chest.
    Breeanne, Jodi, Suki, and Kasha had gone through every skeleton key they could find in Timeless Treasures, and none of them worked. Oddly, neither of the two locksmiths in Stardust could open up the trunk without drilling into the locks. Nor could they adequately explain why they