Free Coveting Love (Jessica Crawford) by Victoria Schwimley

sweetie, did you have a nice time?”
    “ Hmm,” she moaned dreamily. “I really did, but I’m really tired. I’m going to call it a night.”
    She left the four of them and climbed wearily up the stairs to her room.
    As she was drifting off to sleep, she thought of Amy’s attraction to Randy. She made a mental note to speak with Amy first thing in the morning.
    It wasn’t long before she was asleep. She dreamt of Brandon kissing her. She wondered how it would feel to be held in his arms, go to sleep with him at night, and wake up with him in the morning.
    She slept soundly, most likely due to the comfort of being in her mother’s home. The sun streaming through the window awakened her. They were lucky to have the sunshine two days in a row. The storm that had been a threat yesterday did not exist today.
    She dressed quickly and went downstairs to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table. She was reading a magazine and drinking coffee.
    “ Good morning, sleepy head,” she said, glancing at the clock.
    Jessica followed her gaze toward the clock, dismayed to discover it was already ten.
    “ Did I really sleep that late?” she asked; as if the clock might actually have skipped ahead just to play a trick on her.
    “ You sure did.”
    “ I don’t do that often. No wonder I feel so refreshed.”
    She went to the cupboard, pulled down a cup, and poured herself some coffee. She took a seat at the table next to her mother, picking up the magazine she had been looking at. It was the latest issue of Modern Fashions.
    “ You did a good job on that layout,” Sarah said. She pointed to a double page ad displayed in front of her.
    “ I tried a different setting of lights. Do you see that shadow cast behind her? I brought one light from above and one light from below to cast just the right angle.”
    “ Well, it worked.”
    “ Thanks.” She shoved the magazine aside and picked up another magazine that was lying beside it.
    “ Cosmo, I swear, Mother, what has gotten into you lately? First you’re wearing seductive dresses, and now you’re reading Cosmo Magazine.”
    “ Never mind my reading and dressing habits. I want to talk to you about Amy.”
    “ Yeah, where is Amy? Is she still asleep?”
    Sarah rose to pour herself another cup of coffee as she prepared to answer her daughter’s question.
    “ Amy has been up for hours. She got up early this morning and went to breakfast with Randy. She seems quite enthralled with that man.”
    Jessica could hear the disappointment in her mother’s voice.
    “ I’m sorry. I know things didn’t work out as you had planned. I just don’t think things were meant to be for Randy and me. However, I do think you are right about Amy. She does seem to have taken an interest in him.”
    “ I want to ask you something about Amy, and I’m going to ask you right out. I realize you two are friends, and friends don’t betray confidences. But I have to know, is Amy pregnant?”
    Jessica stared at her mother in wonder, mouth agape. She would never understand this woman’s ability to see through anything. She shook her head “Man, I sure hope I never have anything to hide from you. How did you know?”
    “ A wise woman sees and pays attention to everything. I happened to notice how quiet and withdrawn she has been since she got here, my number one clue that there is a problem. I also noticed the way she kept falling behind us to look at baby clothes when we were shopping, which gave me a direction to look to discover what kind of problem she’s having. And then there’s the way you jumped to her rescue when I asked her to climb up and get the dishes down, which means you are concerned about her health. And do I have to mention how peaked and tired she looks. Basically, I just put two and two together.”
    Jessica frowned. “Were we really that obvious?”
    “ Yes, I’m afraid you were. Is she going to keep the baby?”
    “ She isn’t sure. I think she was planning to until