Legacy of Love by Donna Hill Page A

celebrating.” She rested her head against his chest and he held her as she cried.
    â€œYou are what’s important right now. And it’s going to be all right.”
    â€œI can’t stay here forever.” She sniffed. “Shay has school.” Her body shook. “I just can’t go back there, Jack. I can’t.” She buried her face in his shirt. “What am I going to do?” She snorted a derisive chuckle. “At least I don’t have to worry about a job.” She sniffed hard and swiped at her wet eyes. “Travis made sure his wife didn’t have to work. Biggest mistake I made other than marrying him was not holding on to some part of my identity.” Her chest heaved. “I was just Travis Holder’s wife and Shay’s mommy.” She cried harder.
    â€œShh. It’s going to be okay. You are a helluva lot more than that bastard’s wife and Shay’s mother. You’re my sister. That’s what matters,” he said in a teasing tone hoping to get her to smile.
    She glanced up through tear-filled eyes and a smile crept across her mouth. She playfully socked him in the arm. “See what I mean? There’s no me.”
    â€œThere’s plenty of you,” he said seriously. “Look, we have the weekend to come up with a plan. On Monday, you’re going to call Shay’s school and tell them that there was a family emergency and she will be out for a few days. We’ll take it from there. One day at a time.”
    Michelle sighed heavily and rested against her brother. “All right,” she whispered.
    Jackson leaned his head against the back of the couch and momentarily closed his eyes. This hasbeen a day for the record books, he thought as he gently rocked his sister in his arms. First it was Victoria’s cryptic bombshell, then Michelle showing up with her horrible news and then meeting Zoe Beaumont. It was almost too much to process. But he had to.
    He didn’t know who had it in for him at the college or why. Travis had an ass-whipping coming and Carla… Well, like his grandmother always said, God don’t like ugly. Her day was sure to come. He gritted his teeth. Then there was Zoe. In the midst of all the turmoil and confusion she was the calm, the peace amid the storm. When he was with her, even for that short period of time, his mind and his spirit were at rest, as if he’d come home after a long journey. He didn’t know how it was possible to feel that strongly about someone that you barely knew. But he did know her. A part of him knew her. He had no idea how or why, just that it was a truth that he accepted without question. Did Zoe feel the same connection?
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    â€œWait, wait, tell me again,” Sharlene squealed with excitement. “You find this little girl and it’s his niece? O-M-G.” She shook her head in amazement. “You know this is fate, girl, no two ways about it. And you can kick all that logic crap of yours out of the window, ’cause there is no explaining this.”
    Zoe hugged herself and scooted to the corner of the couch. “I’m really finding it hard to stick to myguns. I mean it’s all so surreal.” She reached for her glass of iced tea from the coffee table. “But what if it is true, that someone, some cosmic force or family legacy really brought us together. And what if we fall for each other and what if it doesn’t work out, just like all the others? What then?”
    â€œZee, you can’t think like that. Remember what Nana said. You’re the one, girl, but you have to believe.”
    Zoe closed her eyes for a minute. She didn’t know what to believe. The struggle in her mind still raged—logic versus the inexplicable. She had to admit that the instant she’d laid eyes on Jackson Treme, a trip wire went off inside her. There was a connection, a vibe, a sense of awareness that she had no way of explaining. And if she