I smiled at that. “I did talk with him a bit about family.”
“You found time to talk with him and not me?” There was no mistaking the hurt in his voice.
“I understand how Big Dog feels. It’s hard always being on the outside looking in, never belonging. But I also think it’d be wrong for him to completely cut his family from his life. I mean, if his brother is truly trying to reach out to him in a gesture of goodwill, he owes it to himself to at least hear what Silas Piper has to say.”
“That’s sound advice. Does that mean you’ve finally answered the texts you’ve been getting from Peach and Florence?”
My smile faded. “It’s Peach that’s sending the texts. Not Florence. And no. I’ve been too busy to answer her.”
“That’s not quite true.” He put his hand over mine. “You’ve been keeping yourself busy.”
Instead of admitting he was right, I dived in with a description of the new chocolate flavors I’d been developing for the upcoming Christmas season. I’d been experimenting with a dark chocolate bonbon with a delightfully tart orange center, a white and dark chocolate mint swirl, and a chocolate gingerbread cookie guaranteed to melt even the hardest of hearts.
“That all sounds amazing, and now I’m hungry. But, Penn, you don’t have to run from me. Please, just tell me what’s bothering you.” When I didn’t answer right away, he added, “I hope you’re not worried about my expectations after what you said three weeks ago because if you are, you don’t—”
“I know,” I stopped him. My smile returned. “You’re patient and exactly what I need. And things would be so very simple if I didn’t feel this awful need to run all the time.”
“It’s okay,” he said being so perfectly patient again. “There’s no need to rush.”
Still too much of a coward to look at him, I nodded.
There. It was done. We’d talk through my blurted admission of love. Why, then, did my nerves still feel so prickly?
“There is something else bothering me,” I admitted both to him and myself.
“I suspected there might be.”
I did look at him then.
He must have read the surprise in my expression. He chuckled, low and sexy. “I’m not so conceited to think your feelings for me are the cause of all your misery. Tell me, Penn. Maybe talking about it will help you feel better.”
“I keep thinking about Joe’s death and our investigations into what happened.” My fingers shook as I touched my hand to my temple. “Brett Handleson spoke to me. Or-or someone who looked like him and claimed to be him spoke to me. Then there is the gold coin I found in Althea’s shop. Where did that come from?” My voice grew louder. “And-and…” I uttered an oath in frustration. “There are no such things as ghosts, so why can’t I come up with a rational explanation—even to myself—for those happenings?”
The wind screamed with a sudden gale as if trying to provide an answer to my questions. It whipped the palm fronds and branches of nearby oaks, causing them to chatter like old bones. Stella jumped up, barking frantically.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped.
“Shush, Stella,” I said and showed her a treat to help calm her down.
“That’s the cold front coming in,” Harley said seemingly unfazed by the weird weather.
“I suppose it—” Before I could finish that thought I spotted it.
A gold coin lay at my feet on the porch deck. I crouched down and picked it up, turning it over in my hand. Like the coin Joe had found and the coin that had somehow gotten into Althea’s damaged shop, this was a Spanish gold coin that looked as ancient as the others.
“Did you drop this?” I demanded.
Harley shook his head. “I-I don’t know how that could have gotten there. Honest.”
“It wasn’t here when I came out,” I said.
Harley and I stared at each other. Neither of us were willing to say it, but I’m sure we were both thinking it.
Maybe ghosts are real.
After several minutes Harley cleared his throat. Twice. “Um... Tell me some more about the orange chocolate bonbons you’ve been making. Are they holding together?”
I jammed the gold coin into my pocket. “Amazingly, they are.”
As the morning broke over the island, the two of us talked about chocolate and spices and fruits. For the first time in weeks, I could draw a breath without having to battle the tension coiled in my chest. Finally, my life on Camellia Beach felt right again.
Recipes Snipped from the Camellia Current, Camellia Beach’s Local Newspaper
Penn’s Pumpkin Spice Bonbons
Penn has done it again. She’s been proving herself quite the genius when it comes to mixing flavors. This time she’s captured the flavor of fall with her pumpkin bonbons with their sweet and salty pumpkin seed butter, and dipped in a slightly bitter dark chocolate. And for decoration, she’s sprinkled pumpkin seeds on the top. This food editor is in pumpkin seed heaven!
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Seed Butter:
1 Cup Pumpkin Seeds (Shelled, Roasted, and Salted)
2 T Honey (Local is best)
Pumpkin pie spice, to taste
Add water as needed
For the Chocolate Dip:
6 oz of Fair Trade 85% Dark Chocolate
Pumpkin Seeds (Shelled, Roaster, and Salted)
Grind the pumpkin seeds in a food processer. Add honey. Continue to grind until it makes a smooth paste. If mixture is grainy, a teaspoon of water at a time to loosen.
Roll pumpkin seed butter into small balls. Freeze.
Melt the dark chocolate chips using either a double boiler or following the microwave directions on the bag. Dip the frozen pumpkin butter balls in the melted chocolate and place on a tray covered with parchment paper. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top. Place bonbons in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour to cool.
Store in the refrigerator. Makes approximately 2 dozen.
Althea’s Cacao Nib Encrusted Salmon with White Chocolate Sauce
Now reader, stick with me. You’re thinking this will taste sickly sweet. And it won’t. Althea Bays fixed this dish for me last Thursday to prove that it’s a wonderful way (chocolate lover or not) to cook salmon. The cacao nibs exactly like one would use any kind of spice, such as black pepper. In fact, the recipe calls for the nibs to be ground in a pepper grinder. It’s a light and flavorful dish that any home chef would be proud to serve. We’re extremely lucky Althea has finally agreed to share her special recipe with us.
Ingredients
For the Sauce
3 T Butter
3 t All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Fish Broth
6 t Fresh Lemon Juice (unsweetened)
1 oz White Chocolate (not too sweet)
For the Salmon
6 T Cocoa Butter (cooking grade)
5 T Cacao Nibs (ground in pepper grinder or in food processor)
2 lbs Filet of Salmon cut into 4-5oz portions
Salt
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, whisk in the flour. Mix until smooth. Add fish broth, stirring constantly to cook the flour. Let the sauce cook on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Add lemon juice, white chocolate, and salt to taste.
Spread 3 tablespoons of melted cocoa butter on salmon skin. Press ground cacao nibs into salmon. Sprinkle with salt. Flip over and repeat. Heat remaining cocoa butter in a pan over medium heat. Fry fish for about 5 minutes per side until it has browned.
Serve with rice, sauce, and cooked leeks, asparagus, or broccoli.
Penn’s Surprisingly Simple Chocolate Chip Brownies
The secret to this recipe is not to over mix the batter. Penn has shared with this editor all the other ways that she’s messed up this ridiculously simple recipe, but dear reader, we know that you have more sense than to repeat any of her appalling mistakes. This is a recipe that was given to her, so she doesn’t
know the original origin. But, let me tell you, I’ve tested this one myself. And although there are only three ingredients, if you use a good quality chocolate, you’re going to find it difficult not to eat all of these brownies for yourself.
Ingredients
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 oz of Fair Trade Chocolate (I prefer dark or semi-sweet)
Mix together all the ingredients. Spread in 9X9 square inch pan (ungreased). Bake 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Depending on how you cut the brownies, the recipe makes about 2 dozen.
Thank you for reading
BONBON WITH THE WIND
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Also by Dorothy St. James
Read all of Dorothy’s delicious mysteries.
Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series
Book 1: Asking for Truffle
Death in a chocolate shop.
Book 2: Playing with Bonbon Fire
Beach music, spicy chocolates, and murder.
Book 3: In Cold Chocolate
Sea turtles, chocolate turtles, and a shot in the dark.
The White House Gardener Mysteries
Flowerbed of State
The Scarlet Pepper
Oak and Dagger
Birds of Paradise
(An Aloha Pete Short Story)
About the Author
Mystery author Dorothy St. James was born in New York but raised in South Carolina. She makes her home in South Carolina. Though writing has always been a passion for her, she pursued an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology and a graduate degree in Public Administration and Urban Planning. She put her educational experience to use, having worked in all branches and all levels of government including local, regional, state, and federal. She even spent time during college working for a non-profit environmental watchdog organization.
Switching from government service and community planning to fiction writing wasn't as big of a change as some might think. Her government work was all about the stories of the people and the places where they live. As an urban planner, Dorothy loved telling the stories of the people she met. And from that, her desire to tell the tales that were so alive in her heart grew until she could not ignore it any longer. In 2001, she took a leap of faith and pursued her dream of writing fiction full-time.
Visit Dorothy St. James at:
http://www.dorothystjames.com
http://www.facebook.com/dorothy.stjames
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