Silver Bells at Moonglow by Deborah Garner

Author:Deborah Garner [Garner, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780996996013
Publisher: Cranberry Cove Press
Published: 2016-12-01T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

As Mist added a dish of toasted sweet corn pudding to the dinner buffet and arranged the basket and sign for customers to “pay what your heart tells you,” her own unique philosophy of restaurant pricing, a chattering of voices accompanied the sound of the front door opening and closing.

“Why do we have to go through this every year?” a female voice said. “Every Christmas, for that matter?”

“Because that’s when it happened, of course,” a second, equally exuberant, female voice replied. “When the holidays roll around, I’m reminded, that’s all.”

“As if I’m not since I have to hear about it all over again every Christmas,” a third voice chimed in.

Mist peeked around the corner, observing all three Anders sisters hovered together just inside the entry. It was difficult to tell who was the most perturbed, but if Mist had to guess, she would put Deirdre, the aloof one from Boston, at the head of the line, with Lydia, red scarf and all, second, and Helen, the third, doing the softer protesting about having to endure whatever was being repeated on a yearly basis.

“It was supposed to be me,” Deirdre said, her tone accusatory.

“You were sick!” Lydia exclaimed.

“I should have just cancelled,” Deirdre said.

“Well, you agreed.” Lydia huffed. “So don’t blame me, especially after all this time.”

“Every year...” Helen sighed, pulling off her winter gloves. “Every single year...”

Mist felt movement and turned to see Betty behind her, a basket of dinner rolls in one hand and a serving dish with butter in the other.

“What’s going on?” Betty whispered.

“Some sort of sisterly sibling disagreement,” Mist said, her tone hushed. “Or rivalry, I suspect is more like it. Sounds like something that happened a long time ago. Not really our business,” she added, a tinge of guilt washing over her for eavesdropping.

“Well, they did pick a public location to discuss it, whatever it is,” Betty pointed out, leaning in closer. “You can’t hold a conversation in a hotel lobby and expect no one to hear.”

“You have to admit it was a clever idea,” Lydia said.

“At the time,” Helen interjected.

“It was a terrible idea. If I hadn’t been feverish, I would have called it off,” Deirdre said.

“Come on,” Lydia persisted. “We were all tempted. We hadn’t pulled anything off like that since we were kids.”

“True...” Helen mused. “And we’re still hearing about it after all these decades...”

Mist and Betty looked at each other and mouthed the word “decades,” before leaning forward again.

“Anyone have popcorn?”

Both Mist and Betty jumped at the sound of Clive’s voice. Looking over their shoulders, they saw he had come up behind them without making a sound.

“Hush,” Betty whispered.

“It was just a date,” Lydia said. “A trick to play on someone.”

“Just a date?” Deirdre’s voice rose.

“Here we go...” Helen murmured.

“You married him!” Deirdre exclaimed.

“Yikes!” Clive raised his hands and backed away. “This has ‘catfight’ written all over it. I think I’ll just grab a dinner plate and take cover in the kitchen before the fur flies.” His retreat was unnecessary, as the front door swung open with the arrival of the first dinner customers.

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