Just Like Yesterday

by Brenda Barrett

  Hazel inhaled shakily and then expelled her breath in short bursts. "I am sorry."

  "I know," Curtis said. "I know. I should have realized that you were much younger than you were letting on, but you had me wrapped around your little finger. I might have missed some of the cues. Besides, you had me burning with jealousy about my own father. I couldn't trust him after the Kenya fiasco, where she fell for him when she was supposed to be engaged to me."

  "You told me about that," Hazel whispered, "Was I your rebound girl?"

  "No. Oh no," Curtis laughed dryly. "You were the girl that showed me that what I felt for Kenya was not up to par. I still feel that way about you. I still love you, never stopped, even through your deceit and memory loss. You are my Mildred."

  "Oh Curtis...I still love you, too. I fell in love with you twice."

  Curtis chuckled.

  "It makes sense now, when you kissed me and said this time we are going to do this right," Hazel whispered.

  "Oh yes," Curtis said over the phone. "No matter how tempting you are, Hazel Brown...you are going to make an honest man of me before we make love again."

  "I wonder whatever happened to that letter I wrote you?" Hazel asked.

  "You left it at Kenzy's house and addressed it to me. She found it in her things and gave it to me the other day."

  "So that is why you were at her house?" Hazel laughed. "I was so jealous."

  "And there is absolutely no reason to be, because I love you."

  Epilogue

  Three Years Later

  "It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Patricia Benedict looked through the matron's office window and stared at the house, a satisfied smile on her face. "Bungalow Eight."

  "Here we go again," Matron said dutifully. "How many girls are you thinking of? And are you personally going to choose them this time?"

  "No." Patricia shook her head. "Let them choose." She pointed to Casey, Brigid and Caitlin. "One girl each. Four girls for Bungalow Eight."

  Casey cradled her sleeping baby girl close to her and nodded. "Okay, I agree. Do I have to be this girl's Patricia? Because let me tell you, I am not sure that I can walk in your shoes."

  Matron placed a pile of files on her desk.

  "We should pray about this first," Caitlin said, looking at the pile of files with trepidation. She rubbed her pregnant belly distractedly. "I don't know how you chose the right four girls for Bungalow Seven. It must have been with God's intervention."

  "I wholeheartedly agree too; let’s do this." Brigid looked at her watch. "I have rotation at Sunrise Medical in one hour. I want to at least get some lunch with Nick before I go on duty."

  "Isn't it a conflict of interest, working with your husband?" Matron asked, wriggling her eyebrows.

  "No," Brigid shook her head, "not at all. We are fine. Besides, I have residency at the children's hospital in a couple of months. So any perceived conflict will be over. I can tell you, I am going to miss working at Sunrise for now. Eventually I will be working there again, though."

  Hazel walked in. She was on the phone with Curtis, arranging transport from Sebastian's karate class. "What did I miss?"

  "Patricia wants us to choose the girls for Bungalow Eight," Caitlin said, leafing through the pile of folders on Matron's desk.

  "It's only fitting," Patricia said. "The four of you built it."

  Hazel smiled. They had come together last year and decided to pool their resources to build a new bungalow. Everybody had chipped in: Casey's father, the Benedicts, the Lawsons, the Deckers. It had been a gesture of gratitude on all their parts because without Bungalow Seven, there wouldn’t have been the Magnolia Sisters and each girl had changed the lives of their respective family in some way.

  They had recently had the dedication ceremony for the building and already there were talks of building Bungalow Nine.

  Hazel had suspected that Patricia would ask them to choose the girls this time when she summoned them to Magnolia House today.

  "You do realize that I recently had twins," Hazel said, sitting down between Brigid and Casey. "I can't be a Patricia to a troubled girl at this time."

  Patricia looked at her sharply. "It is one girl and you will do it."

  "Yes ma'am." Hazel subsided in her chair.

  Matron watched the interplay and then grinned. "Okay, let's pray first and then go at it."

  Caitlin prayed. She asked the Lord to show them the girls that each of them should mentor.

  When she finished praying, Patricia looked at them as they rifled through the folders. Tears were in her eyes and in the matron's as well, as they proudly watched the four of them.

  Her girls, all grown up into well-adjusted adults, all of them happy. Her little Casey was now a mother, fiercely protective of her eleven month old daughter Kia.

  Brigid was still her opinionated firebrand self. Recently she had attended her mother Sonia's wedding to another hotelier and she had come back from the experience happy that Sonia had finally found somebody who could love her despite her past.

  Caitlin had given up her Lux career and was now a novelist. She was five months pregnant and blooming with it.

  And Hazel, her niece, had recently given birth to twin boys who looked so much like Curtis that it was now the talk of the family that Sebastian was born to show her who her true family was.

  "I want her!" Brigid declared, pointing to a folder. "She's partially blind and deaf! I could live up to this challenge. "

  "Nuh-uh." Caitlin shook her head. "She is mine. I can feel it, see her foster parents died in a car accident, I can relate to that."

  "Wait a minute," Casey said contemplatively. "If we mentor them and they are like family, like us they can't be called the Magnolia Sisters. We already have that name."

  "I agree. There can only be one Magnolia Sisters." Hazel plucked the folder from between Brigid and Caitlin and skipped through it. "I want this girl, says here she has no idea who her parents are, she was a Jane Doe like I was."

  "But if she's partially deaf. I should be the one to mentor her. I get the whole retardation thing." Casey piped in, "let me get her."

  Patricia shook her head and declined to intervene. Neither did matron. They would work it out. They always did.

  The End

  Author's Notes

  Dear Reader,

  THANK YOU for reading Just Like Yesterday! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and I have run out of Magnolia sisters to write about. Hazel will be making an appearance in at least one of the Baron stories I have scheduled for next year so you will see her again. The Baron's will have their own series, there is that pesky will to sort out; billions of dollars are at stake.

  In the meantime, though, there are other books to read. You can check out my BOOK LIST, for more titles.

  You will find that there is another series coming up. Seven books of Scarletty goodness to look forward to. I included an excerpt from Scarlett Baby for you to read. It will be released at the end of October.

  As usual, if you have comments or suggestions, I welcome them. You can reach me and receive a reply at brenalbar@gmail.com.

  And PLEASE do not forget to leave a review wherever you bought this ebook.

  Continue scrolling for an excerpt from Scarlett Baby.

  Thank you for your support. All the best,

  Brenda

  Keep reading for an excerpt

  from

  Scarlett Baby

  "Good friend why did you have to go…" The Kenny Rogers song belted across the expanse of the yard, held his heart and squeezed.

  Yuri sat heavily in one of the white plastic chairs that his mother had thoughtfully placed around the yard. His eyes were stinging and he swiped his hand over them impatiently. He was bone tired, it was a long journey from Kingston and his tedious middle management job. He had a headache, heartache, a toothache, all of him ached... Excuses.

  He held down his head. He was determined not to let the tears fall. He was sure if he tried to thin
k about something else the song would release its hold on him but it kept pulsing through his head.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and inhaled a refreshing gulp of air when the verse faded away, "And in my memories you'll always be a good, good friend to me…" He had barely, just barely saved himself from an embarrassing crying jag.

  He was relieved when his cousin, who seemed to be acting as the deejay, put in a Temptations album and left it to play.

  But even that was nostalgic especially when he heard the first notes from Soul to Soul. If he was being so tearful now he wondered how he was going to hold up at the burial tomorrow.

  Burial. He hated the word. And he hated it even more when it was attached to his grandfather. Dolby Scarlett had always been more than family. He had been a really good friend to him. They had shared countless memories and numerous confidences. Now he was gone. Why he should feel grief so sharply he didn't know. His grandfather had a good innings, one hundred years old. A solid century.

  Maybe he was feeling ripped up inside because he was not able to get time off from his job to come home and see Pops one last time before he died. Six months ago when he had returned home he had poured out all of his confused feelings and maddening failings to Pops.

  "Want a drink, honey?" His mother asked looking at him sympathetically. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink since you arrived."

  "No thanks, Mom." His voice was low and choked up. "When I am ready I'll come and get it and maybe socialize then."

  His mother patted his hand and moved away, too busy with the scores of people who were trailing into the yard to question him further.

  He watched the goings on, feeling almost detached from it all. He answered greetings in a desultory manner, even had a conversation with a family friend or two and watched as the late sun bathed the spacious yard.

  His family had always lived in this spot. This half-acre of shrub land near the sea, it was rocky in some places, and fertile in others. Through the years they had wrangled with the stony soil and deleterious effects of the wind and had managed to get a few trees going.

  He was sitting under one now, a plum tree. Its gnarled limbs were devoid of leaves. It was that time of the year when it would shed; in a few weeks it would miraculously grow leaves and fruit—juicy red plums that his grandfather loved so much, only this time he wouldn't be around to have any.

  He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. He heard the gentle lapping of the sea a few yards from where he was sitting. The buzz of chatter near the house, a dog barking, somebody coughing, his father's voice and then his sister's finer sweeter tones responding to something that his father said and then the lump of grief that was stuck in his throat subsided.

  He felt a shadow and opened his eyes slowly.

  Terri was standing before him. She had a drink in her hand; she pushed it at him.

  "Drink."

  "What is it?" Yuri asked his voice husky.

  "Fruit juice. Daddy blended it."

  "Ah," Yuri took a sip and then drained the whole thing. It was good. His father always did a mean fruit juice.

  Terri pulled a chair and sat beside him. "You left your bag on the veranda that's how I knew you were here."

  "Sorry." Yuri sighed. "I couldn't go into the house any further, I felt a bit..."

  "Overwhelmed." Terri finished for him, "crazy with grief. I understand. Though I am sure with how tight you and grand pop were, this must be worse for you than anybody, even daddy."

  Yuri nodded. He didn't have to respond. He glanced at his sister; the sun bathed her in a golden glow. He realized that he hadn't seen Terri for months now, and he hadn't even greeted her properly.

  "Hey," he smiled at her.

  Terri smiled back. She was a striking looking woman. She had dark brown skin and light hazel eyes. Grandfather's eyes. The only one in the family to get them as far as he knew.

  One could never tell how many Scarlett's there were because of Peter Scarlet, his grandfather's youngest child. It was said that Peter sired quite a few children. It was just last year that he met his cousin, Oliver.

  "How long have you been here?"

  "I came in last night." Terri sighed. "I am flying out tomorrow after the funeral."

  "That sucks." Yuri murmured.

  "No, it's fine. At least, I got the time off." Terri grimaced, "I am sort of getting weary of the job."

  "You were so excited when you started last year." Yuri grinned. "You were going places, France, Switzerland and all over. What changed?"

  "The thrill wore off." Terri shrugged. "Enough about me, tell me about you. You look like you aren't sleeping much."

  "True." Yuri nodded, "I know I look like hell."

  "No, never. Stop fishing for compliments Big Head." Terri elbowed him. "You have always been seriously good looking and even though you are my brother I can see that you have a little Shemar Moore thing going on."

  Yuri chuckled. "Well thanks."

  "Well why are you looking like half warmed up porridge?" Terri asked. "Apart from the fact that we are here for the funeral and the fact that you always look gutted when you are here whether it’s a funeral or a wedding. Remember Troy's wedding. You sat in a corner and you looked whipped like some evil pixie had given you a beating."

  He remembered Troy's wedding, his little brother had gotten married five years ago, two days before Marla and Ricky. Of course he had been gutted. He had been best man at both affairs and he had thought that he had hid his displeasure quite well, but of course, Terri who had made it her personal job to psychoanalyze him and probe into his mind had seen how devastated he had been at the time.

  "Is there a point to this?" Yuri looked at his sister in disgust.

  Terri's eyes brightened considerably when she saw his expression. "Much better. You look less woebegone when you have that battle light in your eyes."

  Yuri kissed his teeth. "Whatever."

  "So why do you look so sad?" Terri prompted.

  Yuri gave her an assessing look. "This is strictly between us, you can't tell Mom and Dad, or Troy."

  "As if." Terri snorted. "When have I ever let out a confidence."

  "You told everyone that I liked Marla."

  "For goodness sakes, Yuri. You were fifteen, I was ten. Besides, the whole family knew, the neighborhood knew. I am pretty sure that one look at you and everybody in the world would have known! That was thirteen years ago." Terri looked at him slyly. "You still like her after all these years, don't you,?"

  "No!" Yuri protested quickly. "No, of course not. She’s married to my best friend."

  "Ricardo Mills is not worthy to be called your friend." Terri snorted. "Why you still have him in your life is beyond me."

  "He likes to keep in touch," Yuri murmured, "so, we keep in touch."

  "He likes to torture you and let you know that he won, that he got the girl," Terri said harshly. "I am absolutely not sorry that he met in that accident and was paralyzed, that should keep the loud mouthed bully humble."

  "Terri!" Yuri looked at her sharply. "I was responsible for that accident!"

  "No you weren’t. He wants you to think so," Terri said stubbornly, "You know what, enough of this. You were going to tell me something before we went down this route."

  "I don't feel like telling you anything anymore." Yuri grumbled.

  "You'd better," Terri pinched him, "or else I am going to gently suggest to Mommy that you look like hell and it’s not because you are grieving. Then Mommy will hound you and call you all hours of the day and night finding out if you have eaten and if you have brushed your teeth and..."

  "Okay, threat received and processed." Yuri grinned. "She stopped doing that to you yet?"

  "Nope." Terri smiled. "it has gotten a little better though. I think I have passed the adult test because I am a flight attendant now."

  Yuri looked up into the limbs of the tree and then at Terri. "The company where I work is being sold. Three of the guys are planning to buy it from the
owner. They asked me if I want in. It is a good deal. They sell electronic circuit boards and the software division that I manage is on the cusp of a few break-throughs. So this would be a good...no not good... an excellent deal."

  "So what's wrong?" Terri asked innocently as if she had forgotten that the Scarlett's were not exactly the richest people in the world.

  Yuri laughed. "Terri, I can barely afford my rent and I am still paying back student loans. Where would I find millions of dollars to buy into this venture? Unlike the other guys I am not from a wealthy background."

  Terri nodded. "I see."

  "It has been keeping me up at nights." Yuri clenched and unclenched his fingers. "I talked to Grandpa about it couple months ago too..."

  "Really?" Terri said. "Well I should have known, you tell him everything."

  "I got a bit desperate and talked to Ricky about it too."

  "Why?" Terri's voice got frosty.

  "He's rich," Yuri said simply, "and he is my friend. You keep forgetting that."

  "He wouldn't lift a finger if you were in trouble." Terri pointed out. "He is a phony who for some strange reason wants everything you have or want, which is very puzzling to me since he is the one that was born with a silver service in his mouth."

  Yuri sighed. "He said he would help."

  "A deal with the devil." Terri snorted. "What does he want in return, service from your unborn children, a right hand and a foot, no...wait, bet he wants you to paralyze yourself too so that the two of you can be equal."

  "He wants a baby." Yuri sighed. "Well, Marla wants a baby. And instead of some strange sperm donor and all the works. They want my sperm. Someone they know and trust."

  There was silence after his statement.

  Terri looked like she was finding it hard to process what he said.