“What!” Pokey screeched. “Seriously? Does this mean what I think it means?”
“Yes,” Annajane said, leaning her head on Mason’s shoulder. “I’m pregnant. We just found out. Can you believe it?”
Pokey looked from her beaming brother to her teary-eyed best friend. “What I can’t believe is that it took you this long.”
Sophie giggled, and Pokey gave her a look of mock outrage. “You already knew, didn’t you? And you kept it a secret from all of us?”
“Yup,” Sophie said. She proudly removed her bulky quilted jacket to display the T-shirt she’d been hiding underneath. I’M THE BIG SISTER! was written on the white shirt in glittering silver letters.
Pete was pumping Mason’s hand. “Congratulations. When’s the big day?”
“Fourth of July,” Mason said.
“Give or take a day or two either way,” Annajane cautioned.
“It’ll be the fourth, no matter what, as far as I’m concerned,” Mason said. “The most important day of my life.”
“Why’s that?” Pete asked, looking from Annajane to Mason.
“Because that’s the day Daddy saved Mama,” Sophie volunteered. “It was a long time ago. She was dressed up like a pixie, that’s an elf, kind of, for the Fourth of July parade, and some bad boys pushed her down, but then Daddy rode up in the fun car and saved her.”
“And she saved me right back,” Mason said, wrapping his arms around Annajane’s waist.
“And they lived happily ever after,” Sophie declared. But Annajane snaked an arm around Sophie’s waist and drew her into an embrace that had finally, finally come full circle. “We all lived happily ever after,” she said, gently correcting her daughter.
ALSO BY MARY KAY ANDREWS
Summer Rental
The Fixer Upper
Deep Dish
Savannah Breeze
Blue Christmas
Hissy Fit
Little Bitty Lies
Savannah Blues
About the Author
MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Deep Dish, Blue Christmas, Savannah Breeze, Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies, and Savannah Blues. A former journalist for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit www.marykayandrews.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SPRING FEVER. Copyright © 2012 by Whodunnit, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Excerpt from “The Runaway Bunny” copyright © 1942 by Harper & Row Publishers. Text copyright renewed 1970 by Roberta Brown Rauch.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Michael Storrings
Cover photographs: sandals by Herman Estevez; wood paneling © Shutterstock
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Andrews: Mary Kay.
Spring fever/Mary Kay Andrews. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-64271-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-0263-6 (e-book)
1. Divorced women—Fiction. 2. City and town life—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3570.R587 S67 2012
813'.54—dc23
2012007411
e-ISBN 9781466802636
First Edition: June 2012
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Epilogue
Also by Mary Kay Andrews
About the Author
Copyright