Christmas Past: A Cozy Mystery by Patti Benning

Author:Patti Benning [Benning, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2021-05-11T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

They were still exchanging greetings with her aunt and her cousin when Sophia heard a car door slam shut. She excused herself, moving to the front of the house in hopes of catching her brother and her sister-in-law before they could track snow down the hall. She had caught her mother’s unhappy glance at Diana and Annalise’s feet when they came in.

She reached the door just as her brother pushed it open and immediately ambushed him with a hug. He laughed, squeezing her, then pushing her back enough so he could step inside.

“Don’t you dare step one foot on the wood floor until you take off your boots,” she told him before turning to her sister-in-law, Marianne. She gave Marianne a hug as well, this one a bit gentler, then jumped back as something nudged her leg. Looking down, she saw a gangly, half grown golden retriever puppy staring up at her. Its tail was waiting frantically and its soft brown eyes gazed at her in instant adoration.

“You two got a dog?”

“Yeah, isn’t he cute?” Luke asked. “His name is Wesley.”

“I hope it’s all right,” Marianne said as she reached down to unclip the dog’s leash. “Luke said it would be, but I’m not sure if he ever actually called to check in with your mother.”

“Mom loves dogs, it will be fine,” her brother called back. He was already halfway down the hall. The puppy followed him, pausing every few feet to sniff at something.

“She might be a bit annoyed, but only because Luke didn’t tell her first,” Sophia confided to Marianne as her sister-in-law came into the house. “She’ll get over it, though. She does love dogs, and he’s pretty darn cute.”

“He’s house-trained – well, for the most part,” Marianne said as she took off her coat. Sophia took it from her to hang it up in the closet. “We brought cleaning supplies just in case he has an accident. But he’s been over to our friends houses a couple of times and he hasn’t made any messes there. We were going to board him over the holidays, but by the time we called, everywhere was full. We can keep him locked in our room most of the time if it’s a problem, though.”

“It will be fine,” Sophia said, giving her sister-in-law a reassuring smile. “Harry will absolutely love him. Actually, on second thought, you should probably lock him away before anyone else sees him. Harry is going to start bothering me for a dog nonstop once he lays eyes on Wesley.”

Marianne giggled, and Sophia grinned back. Her sister-in-law was the sort of person who always seemed nervous. She was perfectly nice, and Sophia liked her a lot, but Marianne never seemed comfortable, not even after five years of being married to Luke and officially being part of the family. Every time they got together, Sophia did her best to convince her that it was all right if she let her guard down. None of them were going to throw her out of the family for any of the slight missteps she was so worried about.

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