Mama Rose swept Crash up and refused to be parted from him—at least until the smell from his diaper indicated that he was in need of a changing. Vanessa was fine with her spoiling him. She was tired and right after dinner she fell asleep in one of the twin beds in Charisma's old bedroom and didn't open her eyes again until the crack of dawn.

Feeling bad for ditching her son, she crept into Charisma's mom and Dad's room where she found Crash sprawled out in the middle of the ...