Christmas Recipe for Murder: Berkshires Cozy Mystery by Andrea Kress

Author:Andrea Kress [Kress, Andrea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ibáñez Literary Group
Published: 2021-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

She held out her hand. “Julia Morris. This is my brother Kent.”

“I’m so sorry for the intrusion, but we were hiking and suddenly the weather started to get bad, so we made our way back to the main road,” he said, his face getting red.

“I stupidly twisted my ankle, and it took us forever to get back to the road. And then nobody was driving on it anyway because of the storm.”

“We had a devil of a time even finding what looked like a road with all the snow piling up so quickly. Thank God for Mr. Mowbray and Mr. Browne chugging along slowly in their truck, or we would have been run over.” Kent tried for a laugh.

“Oh, Allan! What were you thinking?” Joan said, pushing herself between her husband and the young woman he was partly holding upright. Kent moved and put an arm around his sister, looking uncomfortable.

“Well, then. Let’s get organized. We haven’t introduced ourselves, have we? I am Hextilda Cumming Browne, this is my eldest son, Frederick, you’ve met Allan, this is his wife Joan, my daughter Caroline, her friend José, John Taylor, a family friend, and Aggie Burnside.

Now, John, could you look at Julia’s ankle? Bruce, please ask Eleanor to make up another room for these two young people.”

Bruce scowled.

“All right then, perhaps Julia could share with Aggie? The room is made up and wouldn’t it be nice to have your nurse in attendance?”

“Excellent suggestion,” John said.

“Kent can bunk with José,” Hextilda went on, not asking José if that was acceptable. She looked the men up and down as if measuring them up. “Fred, surely you have some extra warm clothing that Kent could wear. If not, there must be something of Daddy’s lying about. Caroline, what can you rustle up something for Julia to wear?”

It was a noisy event, with Joan admonishing Allan for being away and in danger, Kent and Julia both protesting about the intrusion and imposition while simultaneously thanking Hextilda for her generosity, and Caroline grumbling about having to dig in the back of her closet for the unexpected guest.

“Chop, chop!” came Hextilda’s familiar command for everyone to get moving and do as they had been instructed.

John and I helped Julia over to the couch in the Great Room and she gingerly removed her boot onto the Persian carpet. It was a good thing Eleanor was not in the room or she would have had a fit over that sight. Then very slowly and carefully, John removed the thick sock that revealed an ankle that didn’t look very swollen yet, although there was a bruise on one side.

She sucked air between her teeth in an effort not to cry out as he gently pressed around the perimeter searching for signs of bone damage.

“Sorry, this is going to hurt a bit.” He prodded a bit more and she grimaced.

“I don’t think anything is broken, probably just twisted. But once we get it bandaged up and elevated, it should feel a lot better.

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