Cookies in the Cottage

by Kathi Daley

  “And shortly after he left town, she found out that she was pregnant with our father, Denver.” Sierra wiped a tear from her cheek.

  “She raised that baby on her own,” Shelby said in a strong voice. “She did the best she could to bring him up to be a good man, but we all know how that turned out.”

  “The poor woman,” Georgia said.

  “Tex leaving seemed to have devastated her, and based on what we read, the experience seemed to further destroy her trust in people in general,” Sierra explained.

  “So she spent the rest of her life alone,” Shelby said. “Well, mostly alone,” she qualified. “She seemed to have business acquaintances, but no real friends and definitely not another man, and she had staff who came in most days of the week.”

  “I wonder why she kept that huge house if she lived in it alone,” I asked.

  “Actually,” Sierra said, “there is one diary where she seriously contemplates moving to Boston. She talks about liquidating the estate and donating the proceeds to charity. I guess this occurred shortly after Denver’s death, but before she found out about us. Up to that point, I think she was keeping the house for the future grandchildren she very much seemed to hope to have one day.”

  “But then her only son died, and she realized there wouldn’t be any grandchildren, so she considered selling,” Shelby said. “She even told her attorney to look into the idea.”

  “But then she found out about us,” Sierra added.

  “And she abandoned her idea to sell the house and came up with the plan to leave the house and the rest of her estate to us,” Shelby said.

  “From what I understand, she found out about you over four years ago,” Georgia said. “In all that time, she never reached out to you. I wonder why.”

  “Sierra and I have been asking ourselves that same question since we began reading the diaries,” Shelby said. “Henri seemed to find out about us within a year of Denver’s death. She changed the idea she’d been contemplating to sell the house in order to hold onto it for us. Yet never once, in the four years between finding out about our existence and her death, did she reach out and attempt to make contact with us.”

  “If she had reached out to you, would you have wanted to see her?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Shelby answered. “I’d like to think I would have, but I grew up knowing that my father deserted my mother after he found out she was pregnant. I hated this nameless, faceless man, and there is a good possibility that my nineteen-year-old self would have hated Henri as well.”

  “I agree,” Sierra added. “While I feel nothing but compassion for the woman after reading her diaries, I’m not sure I would have felt this way had I met her at some point before her death. I mean, here was a very wealthy woman who did absolutely nothing worthwhile with her money. She could have used her riches to help others, but she never did. She could have lived a full and meaningful life, but rather than establishing a foundation or participating on charitable boards, she simply locked herself away and did nothing.” She paused and then continued. “I hate to admit it, but in the absence of knowing what I know after reading her diaries, if this woman had come to me with a grand announcement that she was my grandmother, I think I very well might have shunned her.”

  The conversation paused when the waitress came by to see if we needed food or refills. This gave me a minute to stop and ponder the idea that Henri had been intentionally terrorized. It sounded as if the woman had lived a mostly solitary life. She hadn’t seemed to interact with people much, which made me wonder what she might have done that would cause anyone to want to harm her. She did seem to have had a lot of money. I supposed that, in the end, we’d find it was her fortune that not only directed her life but had acted as the catalyst which had led to her death as well.

  Chapter 2

  It had been a week since the tree lighting. The inn was decorated inside and out, and Georgia had been busy baking up a Christmas storm. We had a full inn all the way through New Year’s Day, so I knew we’d be busy from here on out.

  Georgia had set up sleigh rides every weekend through the end of the month. The sleigh rides were designed so that the sleigh took the guests along a course we’d mapped out that started off hugging the coastline and then winding through the deep forest where the sleigh would eventually arrive at a bonfire we’d set up. Hot cocoa, hot coffee, and hot cider would be served at the bonfire, along with Christmas cookies and the makings for s’mores. Carols would be sung and stories told, and once everyone had their fill, the guests would return to the inn where board games, jigsaw puzzles, and a roaring fire could be enjoyed until it was time for a Christmas themed cocktail party and dinner.

  This particular evening, all the guests were adults, although we did have three families checking in the following weekend. The families planned to be with us through Christmas, which was a situation that nine-year-old Annabelle was more than just a little bit excited about. I worried at times that it was hard for her to be the only child in the household, but her uncle, Jeremy, did a good job making sure she had plenty of friends and access to those friends whenever she wanted.

  “I ran into Sierra in town and invited both she and Shelby to come out for the sleigh ride,” Georgia informed me that morning when I wandered over to the inn for breakfast.

  “Do we have room?” I asked as I poured coffee into a mug decorated with the image of a snowy landscape.

  She nodded. “We do. In fact, we didn’t have any guests sign up for the ride today. Many of the guests staying with us this weekend are seniors who don’t seem to be into spending time outside in the cold, and those guests who did sign up, all chose to go tomorrow.”

  “The sleigh holds twelve. Who else is going today?” I asked.

  “Nikki, Mylie, and Annabelle are going, and I invited Lacy and Lonnie and their kids. I guess Lacy tagged along with Lonnie and Colt when they went out to the house the sisters inherited to look for tampering and immediately hit it off with Sierra and Shelby.”

  “I can imagine. Lacy must have been in seventh heaven to have the opportunity to spend time with so many antiques.”

  “She was pretty excited about the possibilities. The sisters still need to decide what to do with the house, but if they choose to sell, I have the feeling that Lacy is going to want first dibs on some of the furniture.”

  I poured a dollop of cream in my coffee before sliding onto one of the stools that lined the bar. “It might be a good thing that we’re able to do a trial run today with friends rather than guests. Is Jeremy planning to take the snowmobile out and start the bonfire ahead of time?”

  Georgia nodded as the Christmas carol in the background changed to an instrumental. “That’s the plan. He’ll take the hot beverages, cookies, and s’mores fixings with him. I agree it’s good that we’re able to do a trial run today. It will help us to get the timing nailed down, so everything is ready when the sleigh arrives at the fire pit.”

  “Sounds like you have everything under control.”

  “I think I do,” Georgia said. “Mylie has a new Christmas to-do list ready to go this year, and there are multiple events set up every day between the eighteenth and the twenty-fourth.”

  “Are you going to do the photo board again this year?” I asked.

  Georgia nodded. We’d set up a printing station and a photo board last year where guests could share their photos. We’d also posted a master list where everyone could mark off each activity they participated in.

  “The list was such a huge hit last year,” I added. “I suppose not every guest will be into it, but I’m hoping that at the very least, the families with children will participate in it.”

  “Actually,” Georgia said, carrying a tray with scrambled eggs and sausage links to the buffet table, “I think the guests we have staying Christmas week will be really into it.” She set the platter down and went back for a platter loaded with country-fried potatoes and crisp bacon strips. “We’re lucky that all the gue
sts who will be here for Christmas plan to check in on either the seventeenth or eighteenth.”

  “Annabelle said there will be children.”

  Georgia nodded. “Four of the six suites are going to be occupied by families. The Covington family has reserved suites two and three. The parents, Adele and Howard, will be in suite two, and their two teenage children, Bethany, who is thirteen, and Bryce, who is fifteen, will be in suite three.” She paused to pour orange juice into a pitcher. “We also have a single dad, Blaine Beckett, who will be with his twins, Elliot and Emerson, who I seem to remember are around six. I put them in suite four, right next to a woman named Poppy Sinclair, who will be here with her niece, Avalon, and nephew, Alex. I forget their ages, but I think they’re around Annabelle’s age.”

  “And suites one and six?” I asked.

  “Warren and Whitney Westlake are newly married and will be spending their first Christmas as a married couple in suite six, and Paul and Greta Samberg, who are here celebrating their fiftieth anniversary will be in suite one.”

  I had to smile. “It sounds like a wonderful group this year.”

  “I really think this is going to be our best Christmas so far.” Georgia smiled.

  Georgia picked up a basket with biscuits and blueberry muffins and carried it out to the sideboard as the guests we had this weekend began coming down the stairs. I greeted them while Georgia went back for the orange juice and coffee.

  Once all the guests had been settled around the table, Georgia and I returned to the kitchen, where we both topped off our coffee.

  “Is Colt still planning to visit his family this weekend?” Georgia asked.

  “No, actually, he’s not leaving until the fourteenth. I guess the kids will be in school this week but will be out next week, so he wanted to make the trip when they were free to spend time with him.”

  “Will he be back for Christmas?”

  “He said he’ll be back on the twenty-second.”

  “I guess it’s nice he’ll be here to spend it with you, but I’m sort of surprised he didn’t just stay with his family through Christmas Day.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. “He might have, but Colt volunteered to be on call Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so his guys could take time off.”

  “That was nice of him.”

  “Colt’s a nice guy, and he wanted to do something nice for his men. Dillinger is actually going out of town for the holidays, but Conroy will be around if something happens.”

  “Hopefully, nothing will happen, and Colt can enjoy the day with us.”

  “I totally agree.” I picked up a cookie that had been sitting on a plate on the counter and took a bite. “I’m really looking forward to Christmas, although for some reason, I’m feeling nostalgic as well.”

  “Sad nostalgic or happy nostalgic?” Georgia asked.

  “Both. My life here is so different than my life in San Francisco. Mostly better, but there are things I miss. People I miss.”

  “Yeah. I get it. It’s too bad Annie couldn’t come for a visit over the holiday,” Georgia said, referring to my sister.

  “She’d hate Maine in the winter.” I laughed. “But maybe she’ll visit this spring. To be honest, I’m just happy she’s talking to me again.”

  Georgia and I continued to chat about Christmases past. I told her about Christmas memories from my childhood, and she shared similar memories. After breakfast was over, Georgia started in on the dishes, and I went back to the cottage to return a few emails I’d been meaning to get to. I had to admit that with so much going on, it was hard to think about my writing career. I loved what I did and didn’t plan to quit anytime soon, but where the weaving of fiction had at one time been one of the most important things in my life, these days, I often found it to be little more than a distraction. I supposed I’d have to sit myself down and really think about that, but not today, and not even this week. While I might have emails to return, I’d officially taken time away from writing until after the first of the year, and given my current mental state, I’d decided that it might be best to try not thinking about that part of my life until I had to.

  “Move over and make room for me,” I said to my Maine Coon cat, Rufus, as I settled into the overstuffed high back chair next to the fire and set my laptop on the table in front of me. Rufus repositioned himself as he laid his head in my lap. He started to purr as I opened the cover of my computer and logged into my mail program. Looking back to the first time Rufus and I had met, I really did have to marvel at the changes in my life. When I’d first found the huge orange cat wandering around the house I’d just purchased, I’d simply wanted him out, but now I loved him, along with my dog, Molly, and Georgia’s dog, Ramos, equally as much as any human in my life.

  After I checked my emails, I decided to look through one of my old photo albums, which I’d left on the bookshelf. I had one dedicated to Christmas that I’d created after I’d found out I was pregnant with Johnathan. At the time, I’d been feeling nostalgic and wanted to have my Christmas memories assembled in a single place so that I could add to them and share them with him as he grew up. Of course, Johnathan never had the chance to have a Christmas. He died just before Thanksgiving when he was only five weeks old. I’d been grieving much too intensely to even look at the album until now, but somehow, given my current mental state, I felt like a trip down memory lane on a snowy morning was just the thing I needed.

  It was fun to revisit Christmases with my mother, who’d loved the holiday and had always tried to make it special. There were photos of the family as I grew up and then Christmases with Ben before we found out we were expecting a child. There were a few photos of gifts I’d purchased for Johnathan, including a Baby’s First Christmas bib. I ran my finger over the photo and allowed myself to feel the loss that still ran deep. My baby might never have had the opportunity to wear that bib, but I knew in my heart that I would never forget the excitement I’d felt when I’d seen it in the children’s section at Macy’s that year.

  Closing the book, I set it on the coffee table. The memories contained within the album were both sweet and painful. I supposed any life worth living was made up of both sorts of memories, so maybe I’d leave the album out on the table and look through it a little bit at a time over the course of the next few days.

  Chapter 3

  “The sleigh ride through the forest was like a fairytale come to life,” Mylie said after the group returned from their snowy experience later that afternoon.

  “My favorite part was when we stopped at the fire pit in the woods and made the s’mores.” Annabelle grinned.

  “Mine too,” Shelby seconded. “Lacy’s youngest sure was cute when you handed her a marshmallow.”

  “Maddie loves anything sweet,” Annabelle agreed.

  “It seems like you’re really good with them. The younger kids,” Shelby specified.

  Annabelle shrugged. “I’m nine now, so I’m not a baby anymore. I try to be part of the team, like Uncle Jeremy and Georgia. Part of being a member of the team is making sure that the guests are happy.”

  Shelby smiled. “You know I’m not normally all that comfortable around kids since I’m an only child and never was one to babysit when I was a teenager, but you are definitely the exception. You’re okay, Annabelle Cole. In fact, if I had a little sister, I’d want her to be exactly like you.”

  Annabelle grinned. “I don’t have a sister, so I guess I can be your honorary little sister. We could send each other letters and stuff after you leave.”

  “I’d like that very much.” Shelby looked around the mostly empty room. “It seems quiet in here today. For a Friday, I mean.”

  “Two couples called to let me know they were behind schedule and requested a late check-in, one couple who checked in yesterday went into Bar Harbor and plan to have dinner there,” Georgia explained. “Suite five and six are occupied by single men who checked in and then headed into town. I guess they won’t be here for dinner either. The coupl
e in suite one requested to be served dinner in their suite since the husband isn’t feeling well, so I guess I made a lot of food for nothing.”

  “I’m hungry,” Mylie said.

  “Yeah, me too,” Jeremy agreed.

  I looked at the two sisters. “Do the two of you want to stay for dinner?”

  “I have pot roast, baby carrots, and new potatoes along with my famous homemade gravy,” Georgia persuaded.

  The sisters looked at each other.

  “I’m not sure we’re dressed for dinner,” Shelby said.

  I glanced at her new jeans and bright red sweater. “You look fine. This isn’t a formal dinner. In fact, it sounds like it will be just us.”

  “I do like pot roast,” Sierra said.

  “It would be a shame for it to go to waste,” Shelby agreed.

  “Well, then I guess we’ll stay,” Sierra replied.

  “It’s too bad that Lonnie and Lacy had dinner at his mom’s tonight,” Annabelle said. “It would have been fun if they could have stayed as well.”

  “It is too bad,” I agreed. “But we’ll plan to have them over soon.”

  “Nikki mentioned that she has a date tonight, but I’ll call Tanner and see if he wants to come by as well,” Georgia said.

  “And I’ll call and invite Colt,” I added.

  “Oh good,” Shelby said. “I wanted to speak to him about the new sounds we heard last night.”

  “Do you still think the house is being haunted by someone?” Georgia asked.

  “Not necessarily. The noises seem to have changed since Colt and Lonnie came by and had the locks changed. While it sounded like someone was inside the house before, we heard noises coming from the garden last night.”