Winter Legacy -10-

"Do you want a piece of cake?"

"No Claus, I already told you that I don't like that kind."

"Why?"

"Because I don't! Shut up!" Erika screamed at her younger brother and stormed into her bedroom. Claus shrugged, "More for me then."

His room was underwater themed, it was obvious that the boy liked to read, so Jack built a bookshelf and Agnes began to collect books that she thought her son would find interesting. He enjoyed following his mother to the bookstore to purchase books to read.

Meanwhile, Jack had gotten into sports and joined the local football team. Agnes took up pretending to be interested in the boring exercise videos.

"Boy, are you eating again?"

"No." 

"There's a bowl right there."

"It's not my bowl."

"Don't lie to me Claus."

"Okay."

"You know what your problem is, you've got a smart mouth."

"I'm a smart kid."

"No, you're my kid." Jack tousled his son's blond hair.

Claus grinned at his father and skipped to his room then busied himself building a tower out of blocks.

The next day Agnes was preparing her daycare when the door opened and she had to do a double-take at the beautiful blond woman who stepped into her living room with a familiar looking toddler. She'd never met the woman but the woman knew her. 

"Agnes, can we talk?"

Agnes took a moment before she answered, she was too surprised to function. "I uh..." She cleared her throat, just to give herself a second.  "Jamie. Jamie, if you want me to keep your daughter I will, it's kind of my job, I don't discriminate or show favor."

"Thank you." Jamie had already had an image of Agnes in her mind, and the woman she met was not it. 

Agnes picked up the baby, Jaylee immediately clung to her. "Well, I don't think she could lie and say that you're not Erik's even if she wanted to."

By the end of the day Agnes had fallen in love with her ex-husband's daughter. Jaylee was a sweetheart who smiled faster than she frowned. The kid came along after she and Erik had broken up, so Agnes decided that it would not be right to hate the little girl.

Jack had built a tree house in the backyard, and he regretted it. The kids fought over it all the time. Erika said that she was the eldest so she had dibs, Claus argued that he was the boy and he wanted it to be a boy's only clubhouse, of course Erika was having none of it.

"You're not allowed to fight over the tree house, or so help me I'll take it down." Jack warned.

"Help me with my homework." Claus demanded.

"No figure it out." His sister snapped.

Claus grumbled, he was quite capable of doing his homework on his own, he just really hated math.

"Do you think they're ever going to stop fighting?" Agnes asked. 

"Doesn't matter, it's pretty clear that they love each other, you should have seen what me and my brother used to do to each other, now that was hate."

"Oh Jack, you're so messed up."

"I know, that's why you love me."