by Joanne Fluke
“I agree. It’s just great!” Michelle turned to Sally who was waiting for their opinions. “How does your chef get all that lemon flavor into one slice of cake?”
“He grinds up the whole lemon,” Sally told them, “minus the seeds, of course. But everything else goes into the grinder. That’s pectin, zest, everything.”
Hannah tasted another bite. “You’d think it would be bitter, but it’s not.”
“He says that’s offset by the sugar and raisins.”
“Well, he’s right,” Michelle said, taking another bite. “It’s wonderful!”
“I’ll tell him you said that. And I’ll definitely add it to the dessert menu.”
When Sally left, Hannah saw her signal to their waitress. The girl was there almost immediately to take their dessert and coffee order.
“Have chocolate,” Delores told Hannah.
“I was planning on it, but why do you want me to have chocolate?”
“Here’s one reason.” Delores pulled a large box out from its hiding place under the table. “I know how much you liked your old parka. I’m sorry it’s gone for your sake, but not exactly for mine. It really was disreputable, Hannah. It certainly didn’t reflect the fact that you’re a smart, successful businesswoman.”
Mother took my old parka, so that she could buy me something that she liked better! The thought flashed through Hannah’s mind. She probably threw it in the trash. Or maybe she took it back to Helping Hands.
“What’s the matter, dear? You’re frowning.”
“Was I?” Hannah responded with the first excuse that came to mind. “I was just trying to decide between Sally’s flourless chocolate cake and her chocolate angel pie.”
“Have both then. If you can’t finish them, I’m sure one of your sisters will help you out.” Delores gave a little laugh. “But first, open this.” She thrust the box into Hannah’s hands. “I do hope you like it.”
I don’t care what kind of parka it is. What I’d really like is to have my old parka back! but she didn’t say that. Instead she forced a smile and said, “I’m sure it’s lovely, Mother.” And then she lifted the lid of the box.
Hannah blinked in surprise. It was her old parka reborn. It had come back to life as a smart, stylish quilted coat with exactly the same number of pockets her old parka had possessed. There were two large patch pockets with zippers, two side pockets sewn into the side seams, and even a small breast pocket for handy access to sunglasses or keys.
They were seated in one of Sally’s private booths with curtains that could be drawn for privacy and a lovely chandelier-type light fixture directly overhead. As Hannah slipped her fingers into one of the side pockets to see how deep they were, the material of the parka glinted in the light. “Oh, wow!” she said, realizing that what she’d thought was simple olive drab, the same color as her old parka, was completely different. This olive drab wasn’t drab at all! It had a design embossed on the material in gold.
“I was wondering if you’d notice,” Delores said with a smile. “It’s your favorite flower.”
“Lilacs.” Hannah tipped the box slightly so the light caught the design. “It’s beautiful!”
There was a hood. Hannah felt like cheering. She loved parkas with hoods. That was probably because she often forgot to bring her hat, and winter mornings in Minnesota, an hour or so before the daybreak, were frequently the coldest part of the day.
“Fur?” Hannah’s fingertips touched the trim around the ends of the sleeves and the collar.
“It’s not real fur. I thought that might be a bad idea with Moishe.”
“You thought right. He leaves fake fur alone, and so does Cuddles.”
Hannah looked up just in time to see her mother and sisters exchange glances. “What?” she asked.
“Your sister has something to tell you, Hannah.” Delores nodded toward Andrea.
The waitress chose that instant to arrive with the coffee pot. Once they’d given their dessert orders, everyone fell silent while she refilled their cups. Hannah was just as silent as her mother and sisters, but her mind was a claxon blaring out a warning. They all know something that you don’t know. And that can’t be good!
“Well?” Hannah said, the moment their waitress had left them.
“Well ...” Andrea faltered, and she turned to Delores. “Why do I have to do it? The last thing I want to do is hurt Hannah’s feelings!”
“None of us want to hurt Hannah’s feelings. We all love her.”
“Yes, we do,” Michelle said with a little sigh. “But I know exactly what you mean, Andrea, and I don’t envy you a bit. I don’t want to hurt Hannah’s feelings, either.”
This had gone on long enough. Hannah stood up to get their attention. “Hello? You’re talking about me as if I’m not here. It’s like a wake. And I’m not dead yet. Quit talking about me and talk to me!”
“You’re right.” Andrea turned to her. “Remember when I told you I called home and talked to Grandma McCann?”
“Sure. You said the kids were fine, Grandma McCann was fine, and Bill was fine.”
“They are. What I didn’t tell you was that the mail came. Grandma McCann said there was something that looked like an invitation, so I had her open it. It was an invitation to Doctor Bev and Norman’s wedding and it’s taking place next Saturday.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes. Norman came in at noon and told me that Bev had mailed them. Mine will probably be waiting for me when I get home tonight.”
Michelle looked confused. “But ... aren’t you upset? They actually set a date. And it’s only eight days away!”
“What are you going to do, dear?” Delores asked her.
Hannah gave a big sigh. “I’ll have to go. I don’t want to, but it wouldn’t look right if I didn’t. And that brings up an even bigger problem.”
“What’s that, dear?” Delores leaned forward in anticipation.
“I don’t know what I should wear. I want to look good, but I don’t want to be overdressed.”
“Wear white,” Delores said, her eyes narrowing.
“But Mother! Isn’t that a fashion boo-boo? I thought only the bride should wear white.”
“That’s right. And you should have been Norman’s bride!”
“Please, Mother. Let’s not get into that now. It just didn’t work out that way.”
“You should wear blue,” Michelle offered, “because that’s what you’re going to be when Norman’s new bride won’t let you see him anymore.”
Andrea shook her head. “I think Hannah should wear black. She might as well start mourning Norman now, because Doctor Bev is going to be the death of him!”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Delores asked, facing her eldest daughter squarely.
“I ... don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t go at all. Or maybe I should skip the ceremony and just go to the reception.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Delores said. “I meant what are you going to do about Norman and Bev getting married?”
“What can I do? You know why he’s getting married. Bev won’t let him be a part of Diana’s life unless he marries her. And since Norman’s her father, he wants to be a part of her life.”
“So you’re just going to look the other way and do nothing.” Delores summed it all up the way she saw it. “You’re going to be polite, and nice, and take the crumbs Bev is willing to give to you. A little hi if he happens to see you on the street, a wave if he drives by, a Christmas card from the newlyweds.”
Hannah shrugged. “I hope it’s not that bad, but if it is, I’ll just have to cope with it.”
“You even took his cat!” Andrea said accusingly.
“What else could I do? Norman loves Cuddles and so do I. I couldn’t bear to see him agonize over finding her a new home. Norman and I are still friends. It’s just that we won’t see each other as often. He feels terrible about that, and so do I.”
“We all talked abou
t this,” Michelle said. “All three of us think you’re enabling Norman.”
“Enabling?” Hannah snapped her mouth shut as their waitress arrived with their desserts. The flourless chocolate cake had lost its appeal, and so had the chocolate angel pie. She picked up her fork anyway, but put it back down on her plate when the waitress left them alone again. “How am I enabling him?” she asked.
“For one thing, you’re making things easy for Norman,” Andrea said, and Hannah noticed that she hadn’t taken a bite of her own dessert either.
Michelle shoved her dessert to the side. “You let him take the easy way out with Cuddles. He never even had to try to find a new home for her. You said you’d take Cuddles right away.”
“But ...”
“Just listen to me,” Michelle interrupted her. “Because of you, Norman never had to make a hard decision through this whole thing with Bev. If he’d been forced to make those hard choices, he might have decided that it wasn’t worth it.”
“Let me,” Delores said, shushing Michelle. “Think about it, dear. Norman didn’t have to give up Cuddles to a stranger because the minute he mentioned it, you took her. He might have had second thoughts if you hadn’t volunteered so quickly.”
“And how about the birthday party?” Andrea reminded her. “Norman didn’t have to find somebody else to make a dessert for Bev’s birthday party, because you told Mike you would. Norman might have realized exactly how upset you were if you’d refused to bake something for Bev.”
“Your problem is you’re just too understanding,” Michelle accused her. “Last night you told me you thought Bev was just saying she was allergic to cats to keep Norman from seeing you. Isn’t that right?”
“Well ... yes. I do suspect that she isn’t as allergic as she tells Norman she is.”
“Then why didn’t you act on that suspicion?” Delores asked. “You could have set some kind of trap for her and proved that she was faking it. You let her get away with it. Norman thinks she’s allergic to cats. He might have thought twice about believing anything Bev told him if you’d set a trap to prove that her cat allergy was fake.”
“I thought about doing that.”
“But you didn’t do it,” Andrea pointed out. “Do you really think Norman’s going to be happy with Bev?”
“Well ... no. No, I don’t. But he’s doing the right thing.”
“Is he?” Andrea asked.
“Yes. I told you all before. Norman wants to be a part of his daughter’s life.”
“How do you know she’s his daughter?” Michelle spoke up again.
“Bev was pregnant when they split up in Seattle, but she didn’t tell Norman about it.”
“Let me get this straight.” Delores took over again. “You do suspect that Bev is lying about her cat allergy to keep Norman from you. But you don’t suspect that Bev is lying about her daughter’s paternity to keep Norman from you.”
“Well ... when you put it like that ...” Hannah’s voice trailed off.
“You say you’re going to miss Norman a lot if you don’t get to see him very often,” Andrea said.
“It’s true. I will miss him.” Hannah blinked away the tears that threatened to form in her eyes.
“But don’t you see what you’re doing?” Michelle asked. “You’re making things easy for Bev by not confronting her. Because you’re polite and you don’t want to make waves, you’re shoving Norman straight into her arms.”
“If you really care for Norman as much as you say you do, you’ll fight for him!” Andrea said.
“But ... I don’t know what I can do at this point.”
“We do,” Delores informed her. “The way we see it, you have two choices. You can either fight for Norman, or you can roll over and give up.”
“But I wasn’t trying to roll over and give up. I was just trying to be nice.”
“There are times to be nice, and times to stand up for what you really want from life. Did I raise my daughter to be a spineless quitter?”
“You did not!” Hannah said. And as she said it, she felt a giant weight slide off her shoulders. “You certainly did not!”
“Atta girl!” Delores said, reaching out to touch Hannah’s cheek. Then she picked up Hannah’s dessert fork, cut off a generous bite of flourless chocolate cake, and handed it to her. “Have some chocolate. And after we finish our desserts, we’ll tell you all our ideas for giving Doctor Bev the boot.”
PUCKER UP LEMON CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Hannah’s 1st Note: I think it’s possible to make this cake by hand, but it will take a strong arm to do it. Lisa and I use an electric stand mixer. Some people may still have a food grinder in their kitchen cabinet. If you do, get it out and use it. If you don’t, use a food processor and the steel blade.
1 large lemon (choose one with perfect skin—you’ll be using that, too!)
1 cup golden raisins (Regular raisins will also work.)
cup pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour (Don’t pack it down. Just scoop it out and level off the top of your measur- ing cup with a table knife.)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and ½ cups white (granulated) sugar
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound) softened butter
1 teaspoon lemon extract (Use vanilla if you don’t have lemon.)
¾ cup whole milk
2 large eggs
¼ cup whole milk (This brings the milk total up to one cup.)
Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan. (Alternatively, you can spray it with baking spray, the kind with flour in it.)
Wash the outside of your lemon. Then juice it and save the juice. (You’ll use it in the cake topping.) Pick out the seeds and throw them away, then cut the pulp and rind into 8 pieces.
If you have a food grinder, grind the lemon pulp and rind with the raisins and the pecans. If you don’t have a grinder, simply put the lemon pulp and rind into the bowl of your food processor, and add the raisins and the pecans. Process them with an on and off motion until they’re chopped as finely as they’d be if you’d used a food grinder.
Set the ground lemon, raisin, and pecan mixture aside in a bowl on the counter.
Measure out one cup of flour and put it in the bowl of your electric mixer. Add the salt, baking soda, and white sugar. Mix them together at LOW speed.
Add the second cup of flour. Mix that in at LOW speed.
Add the softened butter, the lemon extract, and the ¾ cup of whole milk. Beat at LOW speed until the flour is well moistened. Then turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH speed.
Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Turn the mixer on LOW and add the eggs, one at a time, beating all the while. Then beat in the rest of the whole milk. Once the eggs and the milk are incorporated, turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH.
Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. You’re going to finish this cake by hand.
Gradually add the ground lemon, raisin, and pecan mixture to the mixing bowl, folding it in gently as you go. The object is to keep as much air in the cake batter as you can.
Pour the cake batter into the pan you prepared earlier, smoothing out the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake the Pucker Up Lemon Cake at 350 degrees F. for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a thin wooden skewer or a cake tester that’s been poked into the center of the cake comes out clean. (I started testing my cake at 40 minutes, but there was still sticky batter clinging to the tester. The last time I baked this cake, it took the full 50 minutes.)
When your cake is done, take it out of the oven and place it on a wire rack or on a cold burner on the stovetop.
Pucker Up Lemon Cake Topping:
cup lemon juice (from the lemon you juiced ear- lier)
½ cup white sugar
/>
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped pecans
Hannah’s 2nd Note: You must make the topping and put it on your cake while the cake is still piping hot from the oven.
Drizzle the cup of lemon juice over the top of your hot cake.
Mix the ½ cup of sugar with the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. (I usually mix them together with a fork.)
Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top of your cake.
Sprinkle the finely chopped pecans on top of the sugar and cinnamon.
Let your cake cool to room temperature. Cover it, and refrigerate it. You want to keep it nice and moist.
You can serve Pucker Up Lemon Cake at room temperature or chilled. It freezes well if you wrap it in foil and put it in a freezer bag.
Chapter Fifteen
“Ready?”
When Michelle opened the door, Hannah braced herself for the orange and white, fur-covered bundle that would arrive in her arms with the same impact as a bowling ball. But nothing, absolutely nothing, happened.
“Where is he?” Hannah asked, racing inside to see why Moishe hadn’t greeted her in his usual way, and leaving Michelle to follow her.
“Moishe?” Hannah called out, but there was no answering meow. “Where are you?”
“Hiding,” Michelle said, coming into the living room from the kitchen where she’d been looking for Moishe.
“Hiding? Why?”
“You may not want to know. Let’s just say that you need a new flour canister and new flour to go in it.”
Hannah turned, intending to go into the kitchen to see for herself, but Michelle stopped her.
“Here,” Michelle said, holding out her cell phone. “A picture is worth a thousand words. You’ve had a rough day already, and I thought I’d better prepare you before you saw the actual disaster.”
Hannah stared at the small screen on Michelle’s phone and groaned loudly. It was a disaster, even in miniature, and Hannah groaned again. It was clear that a game of chase had included the kitchen as a venue. Her plastic flour canister was on the floor on its side. The top had popped off and flour was spread all over the floor. To add to the mess, one of the cats had tipped over the water dish, and there was a puddle of flour mixed with water in front of the sink. Moishe’s self-feeder was also on its side, and red and brown kitty crunchies had spilled out all over the mess on the floor.
