The boy gasped. “You can teach my mom how to make cupcakes and maybe cookies too!” He tugged on the hem of Mags’s coat. “Please, please, please! You have to teach her so she can keep making me stuff!”
Jess laughed again, shaking her head. “I’m sure Magnolia has better things to do than to teach me how to bake.”
Actually… “I’m pretty open at the moment.” Minus planning the desserts for the extravaganza and working on Betty with her sisters. “I’ll tell you what. We can make the cupcakes together and then you can even help me decorate them.”
Patrick narrowed his left eye and looked up at her. “Really?”
“Yes.” Mags knelt down to his level again. She couldn’t get over those darling eyes. “You can help put the frosting on and all the sprinkles.”
“Please, Mom.” He folded his hands together in front of his chest like a little angel. “Please, please, please.”
“If you’re sure…” Jess almost looked like she was afraid to believe, too.
“I’m more than sure.” Mags stood back up with purpose. “I’m staying at the Juniper Inn with my aunt.”
“Sure. I know right where that is.” Jess’s smile hinted that she might be fond of the place. “It’s beautiful. Everyone says Sassy is the cornerstone of this town, but I haven’t met her yet. We’ve only just moved here, so we don’t know many people. We haven’t gotten out much with the baby. It’s been hard to make friends.”
“Perfect, this will be a great opportunity for you to get acquainted with her.” Sassy would have the young woman acquainted with everyone in town in no time. “Why don’t you three come over on the twenty-third?”
“Yes! We can! Right, Mom?” Patrick launched himself at his mother. “We can come on Thursday!”
“Sure, honey. That should work.” She rested her hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “This move has been so tough for us. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“No thanks necessary,” Mags told her, meaning every syllable. “I love to bake. Especially for someone who will appreciate it so much.”
“I ’preciate it!” Patrick hugged her waist again, and Mags got all teary despite herself. Kids were like little packages of joy leaking out happy feelings wherever they went.
“All right, Patrick. We should get your sissy home.” Jess peeled him away from Mags and gave her one more grateful smile. “We’ll see you on Thursday.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as watery as her eyes felt.
After a final wave, Patrick reluctantly followed his mother down the aisle and Mags went about her shopping. She found everything she needed to make Patrick’s epic birthday cupcakes, including the gluten-free flour blend and the food coloring. As she rounded the corner to the checkout stations, her legs suddenly felt like lead. Good God almighty she was exhausted. Normally she could spend an hour in the grocery store and leave still feeling like she was ready to run a marathon…okay not a marathon. She detested running, but shopping and thinking about baking usually gave her energy. Right now, though, she could climb into bed and take a long winter’s nap.
Yawning, Mags unloaded her cart and went through the checkout, making polite conversation with the clerk.
On the drive home, she had to open the chocolate chips she’d bought so she could munch on something to keep herself awake. After she’d parked the car in front of Sassy’s driveway, she loaded up her arms with groceries, making sure she would only have to make one trip, and stumbled her way into the house.
“Oh goodness!” Sassy met her near the front door. “Let me take some of those, dear girl.” She freed up Mags’s right hand and led the way into the kitchen. Mags all but dropped the bags onto the table where her sisters were sitting and collapsed into a chair.
“Gluten-free flour?” Dahlia pulled the package out of a bag.
“It’s a long story.” Mags rubbed her temples. The warm glow that had engulfed her when she’d met Patrick and Jess still smoldered but the rest of her felt bone-weary tired. And she’d started to get a headache.
“Whatever is the matter?” Sassy asked, stashing the flour and sugar in a cabinet. “You don’t look well.”
“I don’t feel well.” That flu bug she’d been fighting off didn’t want to leave her alone.
“You haven’t been feeling well a lot lately.” Dahlia seemed to assess her from across the table. “I wonder if you should go in and see Ike—I mean Dr. Songer.”
Mags didn’t miss the rosy pink hue that appeared on her sister’s cheeks. Forget the headache, she wanted to know more about that blush on her sister’s face. “How is Ike?” she asked, propping her chin on her fist.
“Dahlia painted with him,” Rose blurted.
Mags nearly fell out of her chair. “I’m sorry, you painted?”
“With Ike,” Rose confirmed before Dahlia could say a word.
Mags blinked at her sister. Dahlia loathed anything that had to do with the creative arts. She always said she appreciated seeing others’ creativity, but she didn’t have any herself. Sure enough, though, the evidence was all over the red paint flecks splattered on her hands.
“You really did paint!” She had to blink a couple times.
“With Ike!” Sassy sang from the stove. She set a teakettle on the burner. “And I couldn’t imagine a more wonderful man to paint with.”
Mags laughed. Suddenly the word “paint” had become quite the metaphor. “He’s very good-looking,” she murmured, watching Dahlia’s face for a reaction.
“We painted a sign.” Her sister huffed, wearing a mask of indifference. But if you asked Mags, her cheeks still seemed rosier than normal. “It’s not like we were painting a romantic portrait of the Eiffel Tower in Paris together or something.”
“Today it’s a sign, tomorrow you’re painting a portrait of the Eiffel Tower together. Maybe even in Paris,” Mags teased. She couldn’t resist encouraging her sister the tiniest bit. Dally had been divorced over a year now, and her sister deserved to have some fun.
“We’re not talking about me.” Dahlia straightened her back against the chair. “We’re talking about your virus. You should get it taken care of before you infect the rest of us.”
Mags didn’t react to the irritability in her sister’s tone. Dally always bristled when she got defensive. “I’ll be fine. I’ll go to bed early tonight and be good as new in the morning.” She’d said that to herself the last three nights, and it still hadn’t done any good.
“I brought a bunch of herbs with me,” Rose started to rifle through her purse. “Some zinc. Oh! Here’s some elderberry lozenges…”
“Tea will be a much better remedy than all that,” Sassy insisted, joining them at the table with a tray. “I’ve added in some honey and cinnamon.”
Mags inhaled deeply. She’d always loved her aunt’s tea. Sipping from the warm mug, she glanced across the table at Rose. “I noticed we don’t have any exterior decorations up yet.” She’d wondered how things were going with Rose and Colt. From the looks of things, they didn’t exactly seem to be jiving, and they didn’t have much time to turn the inn into a Christmas wonderland.
Sure enough, her sister’s face steeled. “We agreed through texting to divide and conquer.”
Dahlia laughed. “Basically, Rose is drawing up a plan and Colt is responsible for doing all the work.”
“But you were supposed to work together.” Sassy cast a disapproving frown in Rose’s direction. Mags remembered seeing that look directed at her a time or two during her childhood when they would bicker. It was a rare show of disappointment from her aunt. “That was the deal.”
“He doesn’t like me,” her sister muttered.
Well, she had knocked over his display at the hardware store, but Mags decided not to bring that up.
“Colt has always been shy,” Sassy said. “I can’t believe you don’t remember him. He spent so much time here when you were all young.”
“I thought I recognized him.�
� Mags still couldn’t quite place him in her memories, but there was something about him that seemed familiar.
“Well I have no memory of him at all,” Rose declared dramatically. “And I can’t think of anything I would’ve done to deserve his attitude.”
“The past isn’t important now,” Sassy insisted. “What’s important is that we get this place in tip-top shape for the extravaganza. And that’s going to mean all of us working together. Even if it’s a bit uncomfortable.”
“I’m not uncomfortable at all.” A subtle shift in Rose’s posture betrayed the words. “If this is how Colt wants to work together, it’s fine by me.” Her sister regally lifted her tea and took a delicate sip. “Besides, I’ve already started to work on Betty, too. I thought the trailer could act as a beautiful warming station where we could serve some of the goodies and hot chocolate during the extravaganza.”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea!” Sassy’s eyes sparkled as though she’d forgotten all about Colt and Rose splitting their duties. Mags hadn’t though. Something about Colt niggled at her. A memory she couldn’t quite bring into focus. Had something happened between her sister and Colt when they were younger? And why had Colt spent so much time at Sassy’s place?
“It will be perfect,” Aunt Sassy went on. “I have some small heaters we can run to keep Miss Betty nice and cozy warm.” Her aunt targeted Mags with a curious gaze. “What are you thinking for goodies?”
“It’s all under control,” Mags assured her. “I’ll get started on the first couple of batches of cookies tomorrow.” She just couldn’t seem to find the energy to do it now. “And we’ll start stockpiling everything in the freezer so we’re ready to go for the big night.”
In the meantime, she’d do a little digging to figure out why Colt was so familiar.
Chapter Fifteen
Rose
Once again, Rose’s love for spontaneity and enthusiasm for a project had come back to bite her in the derriere. “Perhaps I was a little optimistic,” she said as she scanned the piles of clutter that had been crammed into Betty’s every nook and cranny over who knew how many years.
“I tried to tell you.” Mags scooted herself onto the bench at the dinette table with her thermos of hot tea. “But I believe your exact words were, ‘It will be fun!’”
Rose ignored her and pulled down a box from the top of the stack. “I don’t remember us stockpiling this much stuff in here.” There had to be at least fifteen boxes crammed in with the stuffed animals and books and dress-up clothes that had once belonged to them.
“Sassy mentioned she’d been using Betty for storage.” Dahlia took the box from Rose’s hands and set it on the table in front of Mags. “And I think we’re all going to have to help to get through this mess before Christmas comes.”
Rose appreciated the show of solidarity, but…wow. “I don’t know if we could get through all this before Easter.” Seriously. She’d already sewed the new covers for the cushions, but when she’d been in here measuring the other day, she hadn’t bothered to evaluate how they would actually clean the space out.
“It’ll be no problem,” Dally insisted, moving another box to the table. “Mags can go through the boxes while she sits here, and we can get started with the cleaning.”
“Perfect.” Mags tore open the first box. “Oh! Look, it’s some of our old clothes.”
Her excited squeal drew Rose over to the table. “Wow.” She pulled out a pair of purple satin gloves. “I used to love wearing these.” The gloves, the costume jewelry, the old-fashioned hats they’d bought with Sassy at the local antique shop. She pulled out a flashy red velvet pillbox hat with black netting and set it on her head.
“Soooo fancy.” Mags declared, peering into the box and then selecting one for herself. She stood and moved in next to Rose, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Selfie time.”
Rose hardly had a chance to put on her best selfie smile before her sister snapped the picture. “I need to see that picture,” she said, trying to get a look at her sister’s phone screen.
“Absolutely not.” Mags stuffed the phone back into her pocket. “You always look so glamorous. Doesn’t it get a little exhausting sometimes?”
“Okay you two,” Dally interrupted before Rose could admit that, yes, always putting herself together did get a little exhausting. “We have to keep working or we’re never going to finish this. I have to meet Ike soon to go over some ideas for how we can spruce up Sassy’s sad front porch.”
“Ohhh,” Mags crooned. “Meeting Ike again today, huh?” She selected an obnoxious leopard hat and plunked it onto her older sister’s head. “I think you should wear this.”
“Yes,” Rose agreed, snapping a picture on her phone. “And this.” She reached into the box and pulled out a long string of hideous fake pearls, carefully putting the necklace over her sister’s hat.
“Very funny.” Dahlia might’ve sounded a little miffed, but she was smiling.
“Come on. One more selfie.” Mags wedged herself in between Rose and Dally and snapped a few more photos.
“We don’t have time for this,” Dally reminded them both with the stern bossy look she’d perfected throughout their childhood. “Back to work.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Mags sifted through a few more hats while Rose brought down another box from the top of the stack. This one hadn’t been sealed, so she peeked between the flaps. “Sassy must not throw anything away.” She reached in and pulled out a handful of old letters and cards.
“Yeah, that’s the one thing that I wouldn’t look forward to if we decide to keep this place.” Dahlia closed up the box of dress-up clothes and moved it off to the side. “Think of how much work it would take to clean it out.”
Rose had been purposely trying not to think about the work. “We agreed to wait until after Christmas to talk about the inn,” she reminded them. None of them wanted the extra stress of thinking about taking on something else right now. But she wasn’t ready yet to tell Sassy she didn’t want the place, either.
“We’re not considering keeping it though, right?” Mags asked, ignoring Rose. “There’s no way I could live here. I love you two, but seriously…it’s too cold.”
“I don’t know how it would work,” Dahlia said, but Rose was only half listening. Inside the box, she’d discovered an envelope that had come from their mother. While Mags and Dally went on debating the pros and cons of keeping the inn, she opened the letter and started to read.
Sassy,
I received your last letter, and I have to say, I am very disappointed in your decision. You know exactly how I feel, and yet you don’t seem to care. I didn’t want it to come to this, but I’m sure you will understand that I have to protect my daughters from certain influences. In light of your choices, we won’t be able to come and visit you at the Juniper Inn anymore. In fact, I think it is best to go our separate ways. We certainly no longer share the same values, as evidenced by your willingness to move forward despite my protests. After everything we’ve talked about, I can’t get past this. I’m sorry. Please take care of yourself.
Lillian
The words turned Rose’s stomach as she read them again. Protect her daughters? What in the world did that mean?
“We don’t have time to read every letter,” Dahlia informed her.
Rose silently handed her sister the letter, still turning those words over and over in her mind.
Dahlia impatiently held the letter in front of her face, but immediately her eyes widened, and her lips parted with surprise.
“What?” Mags demanded. “What did you find?”
“It’s from Mom.” Dahlia handed the letter over to Mags and shared a look with Rose. They waited for Mags to read it.
“What was she trying to protect us from?” Mags turned the letter over as though looking for the answer on the back.
“I have no idea.” Rose couldn’t begin to imagine what choice Sassy had made that would’ve driven their mother to write that le
tter. “It makes no sense.” All Sassy had ever done was dote on the three of them. Rose took the letter back from Mags. The words were so cold—especially the I’m sorry. Their mother hadn’t sounded too sorry.
“What could possibly be so important that she would walk away from her own sister?” Dahlia sat across the table from Mags, but Rose couldn’t sit. She knelt down by the open box and pawed through the papers, looking for anything else that could help them understand. All she found were Christmas cards and old letters from guests who raved about the inn. There were no other letters from her mother.
“Every time I’ve brought it up with Sassy, she’s refused to talk about it,” Dahlia said, staring down at Rose.
“Maybe she’s embarrassed,” Mags suggested. “Maybe she doesn’t want us to know what decision she made. It must’ve been a pretty big deal.”
“Not necessarily.” Rose pushed off the floor of the trailer and began to pace. “You know how Mom is. If you don’t agree with her—if you don’t do what she wants she gets so upset. It sounds to me like Sassy stood up to her and Mom booted her out of our lives for it.” They hadn’t even gotten a choice. When their Christmas plans had come up that year, their mother had simply told them they wouldn’t be going to see Sassy.
“We all know Mom can be pretty difficult,” Mags said. “But, still, she didn’t make that decision out of the blue. Something obviously happened.”
“And we’re going to find out what.” Rose marched over to the door and pulled on her coat. “We deserve to know the truth, and we deserve to know it now.”
“Whoa.” Dahlia stood and followed her to the door. “We don’t want to ambush poor Sassy. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s time we know.” She tucked the letter into her pocket. “I’m not going to ambush her. But I am going to ask her what happened. I want to understand.” They were adults now, and Sassy had brought them back here. It was time. “Maybe if we figure out what happened we can get Mom and Sassy to patch things up.”
Home for the Holidays Page 14
