I knew I should get up and check on the livestock—before going to bed, I'd made a last round to be sure the cows and goats were tucked away safe in the barn and the chickens were all in their coop—but I lingered a moment, enjoying the light and the feel of the chilly morning air on my nose contrasted with the warmth under the comforter.
Finally, my sense of duty got the better of me, and I emerged from under the covers. Chuck just burrowed in deeper, although I knew once he heard the clatter of dishes in the kitchen, the lure of breakfast would have him running to join me. I threw on a pair of jeans, some wool socks, and a thick woolen sweater and headed toward the kitchen.
The first stop was the woodstove; I tossed in a few scraps of wood and coaxed the fire back from the embers, and then turned to the morning's next task: coffee. As I scooped the fragrant grounds into the coffeemaker, I gazed at the frozen world outside my window. The rain had turned to ice at some point during the night, leaving a wintry, ice-glazed wonderland behind. The slender branches of crape myrtle outside the kitchen window were coated in ice, weighing down the tips, and the bird feeder was surrounded by fluttering, puffed-up birds. An old plum tree in the corner of the yard had suffered a broken limb from the weight of the ice, and I found myself worrying about the stately live oaks with their wide-spreading branches; how many of them had lost limbs, too?
I slipped my sock-clad feet into boots, grabbed a jacket and gloves, and headed out into the near-silent world. The rain gauge, though icy, showed almost two inches of rain—good news for drought-plagued Texas, and particularly for me, because my well had run dry a few months earlier—and the thermometer was hovering at just under 30. I'd planted my more tender winter veggies under hoops I'd covered with cloth; I hoped the protective cloth—and the veggies sheltering beneath it—had survived the winds. The grass crunched under my boots as I walked to the barn to let out the cows and goats, who were excited at the opportunity to explore the frozen world, and then checked on the chickens and the veggies.
The farmhouse was much warmer and redolent of coffee by the time I closed the door behind me, with two pails of milk, enough eggs for breakfast in my jacket pocket, and a sense of relief that all the living things on the farm had survived the storm. I wasn't milking much right now—Blossom, Hot Lips, and Gidget were all pregnant, so I was gradually "drying them off"—but I was hoping to have time to make another batch or two of cheese before the final day of the Christmas Market, which wasn’t far away.
I fixed myself a cup of coffee, adding a bit of fresh milk before pouring the rest of it into two pots on the stove to process, then cracked a few eggs into a bowl and popped two slices of Quinn's Christmas bread into the toaster. That got Chuck's attention.
A few minutes later, as I was just sitting down to the table after splitting the eggs with Chuck, there was the sound of a vehicle coming up the drive. I recognized the truck; a moment later, Tobias appeared at the front door, smiling and waving at me through the rippled glass.
"What a nice surprise! What brings you here?" I asked when I opened the door. His dark hair was speckled with a bit of frost, and his cheeks were ruddy with the cold. He looked so handsome he literally took my breath away.
He kissed me, and I thought I might die of a heart attack right then and there. When he let me up for air, Chuck was dancing around his feet, begging for attention.
Tobias bent down to greet him. "Hi, buddy! You're full of energy this morning." He glanced up at me, a glint in his eyes. "The diet must be working."
"Right," I said, glad Chuck had already scarfed down all the evidence of the eggs I'd slipped him. At least I hadn't added cheese or bacon to them this morning.
"I've got a few more eggs from the chickens if you're hungry," I offered. "And some toast from Quinn's Christmas bread."
"I already ate," he said, "but I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee."
"You're on," I said, feeling almost giddy as we walked into the kitchen. If you'd told me five years ago, as I slaved away in a cubicle in Houston, that I'd be waking up in my grandmother's farmhouse on a frosty morning, cooking my own eggs and entertaining a handsome and extremely diverting veterinarian boyfriend, I would have laughed.
But here I was.
"What are you up to today?" I asked as I poured him a cup of coffee and added a bit of milk from the pot on the stove.
"I'm visiting a few ranches and farms nearby, checking on some animals who had a tough time last night."
"How are the roads?"
"They're pretty good, actually. I just go slowly."
"Be careful," I warned him. "I don't want you to end up in the hospital."
"I wouldn't drive if it wasn't safe," he reassured me. "Besides, I'm back at the clinic this afternoon with back-to-back appointments."
"I'm here until late this afternoon getting ready for the Market," I told him. I had a couple of dozen more soaps to cut and package, and I was hoping to pour another batch of beeswax candles. "Did you hear about what they found at the courthouse?" I asked.
"Old bones." He grimaced. "Sometimes I think there's too much history in this town."
"I like it," I said. Which was a good thing, because I’d signed on to renovate a historic house a few months ago. Progress had been... well... slow. I was hoping to get to it in January, budget permitting; the first bids for work had been more than I’d anticipated. "Are you coming to the Christmas Market tonight? Flora Kocurek's going to help me out at my stall."
"How did that come about?"
"I offered," I told him with a shrug. "She's lonely."
"That was nice of you," he said.
As he took another sip of coffee, the phone rang.
"Lucy? It's Quinn."
"What's up?" I asked. Her voice sounded urgent.
"Remember how we were talking about Mandy's sister being in town last night, and how she and her husband weren't getting along too well?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Well, Mandy's brother-in-law's dead."
Want to read more? You can find Mistletoe Murder and the rest of the Dewberry Farm mysteries here!
Recipes
Natalie’s Emergency Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk (3 if you like slightly thinner hot chocolate--this is super thick!)
1/2 cup milk powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup bittersweet (60%) chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1.5 - 2 oz. Bourbon, Kahlúa, peppermint schnapps, or other liqueur
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a boil over medium-high. Lower the heat to medium and add the chocolate, whisking constantly until the chocolate is completely melted. Then whisk in the milk powder and cornstarch until everything is dissolved and the mixture is smooth and thick. Whisk in liqueur if using.
Serves four.
Gray Whale Inn Gingerbread People
Ingredients:
2-3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
6 tablespoons molasses
Royal icing for decorating
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and black pepper. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes), then beat in the egg and molasses.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined, then divide the dough in half and shape into two flat rounds. Wrap the rounds in plastic wrap and chill
in the refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
While dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place two racks near the center of the oven.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if the dough has been in the fridge for longer than an hour, let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes and knead it briefly before rolling.) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and dust the dough lightly with flour. Roll, turning and adding more flour under and over the dough as necessary, to about 1/8-inch thick for crisper cookies or 1/4-inch thick for softer cookies. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, using a spatula if necessary. Gather the dough scraps and knead into a ball, then roll out and cut again, adding more flour as necessary. Repeat until all scraps are used up.
Bake the cookies, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through, for 8 to 10 minutes or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes until set, then transfer to a rack. Repeat until all dough is used up.
When the cookies are completely cool, decorate with icing. Let the icing set completely, a few hours, then store in an airtight container.
Royal Icing
Ingredients:
3 egg whites (pasteurized if you have concerns)
4 cups confectioners sugar
Food coloring (optional)
Directions:
Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or beaters. Beat on medium speed until frothy.
Add the confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until sugar is blended in. Increase the speed to medium-low and beat until the mixture is thick and shiny, 3 to 5 minutes. Divide the icing into bowls, use food coloring to tint the icing, and then add water until icing reaches a good consistency. Cover the icing with a damp paper towel to keep a skin from forming on top. For longer storage, cover bowls tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
More Books by Karen MacInerney
To download a free book and receive members-only outtakes, short stories, recipes, and updates, join Karen’s Reader’s Circle at www.karenmacinerney.com! You can also find her on Facebook at facebook.com/AuthorKarenMacInerney and facebook.com/karenmacinerney.
And don’t forget to follow her on BookBub to get newsflashes on new releases and sales!
The Dewberry Farm Mysteries
Killer Jam
Fatal Frost
Deadly Brew
Mistletoe Murder
Dyeing Season (Spring 2019)
Wicked Harvest (Fall 2019)
The Gray Whale Inn Mysteries
Murder on the Rocks
Dead and Berried
Murder Most Maine
Berried to the Hilt
Brush With Death
Death Runs Adrift
Whale of a Crime
Claws for Alarm
Gray Whale Inn #9 (Summer 2019)
Cookbook: The Gray Whale Inn Kitchen
Blueberry Blues (A Gray Whale Inn Short Story)
Pumpkin Pied (A Gray Whale Inn Short Story)
The Margie Peterson Mysteries
Mother’s Day Out
Mother Knows Best
Mother’s Little Helper
Tales of an Urban Werewolf
Howling at the Moon
On the Prowl
Leader of the Pack
About the Author
Karen is the housework-impaired, award-winning author of multiple mystery series, and her victims number well into the double digits. She lives in Austin, Texas with her sassy family and a menagerie of animals, including twenty-three fish, two rabbits, and a rescue dog named Little Bit.
Feel free to visit Karen's web site at www.karenmacinerney.com, where you can download a free book and sign up for her Readers’ Circle to receive subscriber-only short stories, deleted scenes, recipes and other bonus material. You can also find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorKarenMacInerney or www.facebook.com/karenmacinerney (she spends an inordinate amount of time there). You are more than welcome to friend her there—and remind her to get back to work on the next book!
P. S. Don’t forget to follow Karen on BookBub to get newsflashes on new releases!
www.karenmacinerney.com
[email protected]
Iced Inn Page 5
