Chapter 2
D ottie was undulating her hips in tune to some smoky-feeling, sexy music when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced at Toni, her instructor, with an uneasy look. The one thing the sinuous, dark-haired woman insisted on was no cell phones during her classes. However, since they were old friends and the class was finished at the end of this piece, she slipped out of the line and retreated to a corner just as the closing refrains were playing.
Slipping her cell phone out of her pocket, Poppy’s number clearly lit up the faceplate as the phone buzzed in her fingers.
Lucerne’s baby!
Frantically she punched the button to take the call, praying it was good news and not the other way around. They had all been worried about the birth because Lucerne’s mother had almost died while having Lucerne. Even when you take every precaution, the worst can happen, and Dottie was a worrier.
“Hiya, Poppy,” she rasped into the phone. Is everything alright? Are Lucerne and the baby okay?” Fear crept up her spine, threatening to take her breath away.
“Yes, he is,” Poppy replied eagerly, her step-mother-in-law’s American accent washing over her ears. “He was just born a few minutes ago and they are both splendid. Lucerne is exhausted of course, she’s been in labor since 3:00 this morning, but Darro the third is healthy and came out screaming his displeasure for being booted out of the oven.”
Dottie slumped with relief. “So, it is Darro and not Aisling then? Good to know.”
Darro and Lucerne had names picked out for a boy or girl ahead of time. A son would be named after Darro and his father before him. A girl would be named after Lucerne’s American mother, Rhonda. Aisling was a favorite name of Lucerne’s from Celtic origins meaning dream or vision, so a daughter’s name would be Aisling Rhonda MacCandish.
“Angus, Jamie, Pauley, Ainsley and I will be headed to Neamh after appropriate pictures and such have been taken, but I knew you would be waiting to hear. Angus is calling Ben and we are all spreading the word while Darro growls at the doctors when they don’t look after Lucerne quick enough. And of course, he’s pleased as punch with his healthy son. The little guy was 10 lbs., two ounces, and 22 inches long.
They only allowed two in the room with Lucerne during the delivery, so it was mostly Pauley and Darro. Lucerne is really taken with Pauley as her step-mother and they have bonded well,” Poppy rambled on. “Her father was in and out, but I think he felt it was more appropriate for Lucerne to have another woman in there. She tried for the natural birth and it didn’t work too well. She finally gave in and had an epidural, but she suffered more than I would have, I tell you.”
Dottie nodded her head as she listened to Poppy’s excited chatter about the events of the day. She wouldn’t be going for a natural birth, no way. She watched one of her friends give birth once and that had told her all she needed to know about pain in labor and delivery. No, thank you. Bring on the drugs, she didn’t intend to suffer any more than she had to when the time came.
We should be back to Neamh by 5:00 p.m. or so,” Poppy added. Then she asked a tentative question. “Were you able to get a dish ready?” She hastily went on. “If not, it’s not a problem, Pauley and I can throw together an omelet or something.”
Dottie’s lips tightened, the swirl of confusing feeling’s she’d had this morning rushing back. “Aye, I prepared food fer ye all tonight. I left the lasagna on the kitchen counter and it should be defrosted by now. It’s already cooked so all ye have to do is heat it up. I also left two loaves of garlic toast that just need warming in their foil cover.”
“Lasagna?”
The wonder and dread in Poppy’s voice grated like dozens of chigger bites all itching at once. “I thought ye all liked lasagna?” Dottie couldn’t help the derision in her question. Poppy sounded like she was about to ingest arsenic or something.
“Oh, yes...of course,” Poppy gushed. “We certainly do. Thank you, Dottie, for going to all the trouble. We appreciate it more than you know. Are you and Ben coming to dinner?” she asked tentatively.
Dottie bit her tongue before she finally replied. “I’m not sure yet. I think we might be; I’ll have to check with Ben. I’m shopping right now, and I’m running over a bit on time, so I don’t know if Ben would prefer to do that or eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup at home. I’ll check with him. But there is plenty if we do come over.”
The lie slipped easily off her tongue and Dottie felt dirty after she said it. But darn it, she didn’t want them to throw her high-priced contribution into the trash. At least if they thought she was coming, they wouldn’t dare throw it away.
“Oh, do come over,” Poppy replied hastily. “No point in going home and cooking after a full day, especially when the food is already prepared.”
Dottie hesitated. Should she? “We’ll see,” she finally replied. “Tell Darro and Lucerne congratulations fer me. I can’t wait to see the baby. Mayhap I’ll run by the hospital before I leave town.”
“Okay, dear. He is a lovely child. Maybe we’ll see you later this evening then.”
Poppy rang off and Dottie stared at the phone trying to make up her mind. She would love to be there, but could she keep up the pretense while right in the thick of it? Would they be suspicious and unbelieving? Would they be surprised and delighted that all their efforts were working and she finally came up with a good dish? She groaned inwardly suddenly wishing she had never started this whole charade. And she had two more weeks to get through with the Christmas season.
“Everything okay?”
The soft voice of Toni behind her had her spinning around. “Aye, the call was from Poppy. Lucerne’s baby is here, a healthy boy.”
Toni flicked back her dark curls. “Then I can forgive ye leaving the line before the last refrain,” she responded with a smile. “A healthy baby is always exciting news. A new addition to the family at Christmas time. What a great gift.”
“Aye, a great gift,” Dottie echoed.
Toni eyed her shrewdly. “Ye don’t sound very sincere about it, hon. Since it can’t be the wee bairn, what else is bothering ye?”
Dottie sighed. “I’ve done something I’m thinking I’m going to regret,” she confessed.
Toni looped her elbow through Dottie’s. “Cripes, ye better come and have some tea with me then and tell me all about it. Get it off yer chest so to speak.”
Dottie went with Toni into her studio office and plopped miserably into one of the two red vinyl cushioned chairs at the tiny round chrome table. She’d met Toni Kavanagh in high school when her family had moved from Edinburgh to Inverness. They’d both been in the drama classes and they both loved to dance. Toni had opened a dance studio after college, Dottie had become a software developer and married Ben, and they’d remained fast friends ever since.
She glanced around the brightly colored office with its vivid paintings of dancers on the walls. Her friend prepared tea at the counter which sported a hot plate, a microwave, and a coffee pot. The office was small but the bold colors made it feel warm and bigger somehow. Even Toni’s desk had been painted a deep red color and her bookshelves were a hot pink and melon combination. The walls themselves were pale yellow which accented the bolder colors of everything else.
In her pale blue body suit and leggings, Toni’s dark curls and flashing brown eyes made her seem exotic.
“Ye know how I hate to cook, right?”
Toni poured hot water into two cups, added a teabag, and plopped down on the other side of the table. “Sorry, all I’ve got at the moment is teabags. My teapot gave out. I’ve ordered a new one but it isn’t here yet,” she apologized. “And aye, I know ye don’t like to cook much. Ye told Ben that, so what’s the problem?”
Dottie stared at her and morosely swished her teabag around in the hot water, watching the brownish color of the Earl Gray tea slowly seeping out. “Ye are no going to believe me.”
“Try me,” Toni remarked dryly.
After Dottie finished explaining, Toni was barely keeping her mirth in. Her eyes were watering and she snorted, guffawed, and finally burst out laughing. Even Dottie couldn’t keep a tiny grin from curving up the corners of her mouth, but she still felt miserable inside.
“Let me guess,” Toni finally gasped, “yer biggest worry now is whether or not yer fine braw man is going to turn ye over his knee when he finds out. Eh?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” she confessed, her face pink. “But that’s not what’s really bothering me. I shouldn’t have let my pride tempt me into doing something dishonest. That’s what’s really bothering me.”
“So? Fess up then.”
“Are ye kidding me? I’ve still got to get through Christmas dinner.”
Toni took a drink of her tea, her eyes twinkling. “Then never fess up. Just enjoy it and rest on yer accolades.”
Dottie snorted. “The only problem with that is that I can’t keep paying someone to make me look good all the time. And Ben will be expecting me to suddenly be a gourmet chef.”
“Not necessarily. We all have our fav dishes we like to prepare and most of us average cooks are better at some dishes than others. These dishes ye paid fer could be yer better efforts, but they don’t always turn out the same every time.”
Dottie’s eyes narrowed. “Ye think I could get away with it and just go back to normal after Christmas?”
“Well,” Toni hedged. “Ye might have to cough up some big bucks fer a better pan now and then, but maybe ye could request yer chef friend to downplay it a bit fer a couple of times. Then ease back into what’s normal but just do those dishes better. Cripes, I’ll even volunteer to make some fer ye if ye need me to,” she offered.
“But what if Ben finds out?”
Toni shrugged. “I’d say he’ll be flaming mad, but it’s yer arse. Either way, ye have done it now so ye are going to have to live with it or fess up and get it over with.”
Dottie glared. “I thought ye were going to help but all ye have done is make me feel worse.”
“Just pointing out the facts, Dottie,” she replied, then her eyes softened. “I can offer ye soft pillows and an ice pack if worst comes to worst.”
Dottie rolled her eyes. “Gee...thanks.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Toni replied cheerfully. “Like I said, I’ll help ye with some dishes if need be. It wouldn’t be the first time we got into a skirmish together.” She winked at Dottie.
“I remember,” Dottie retorted. “The only problem was, I got grounded fer two months fer going to that party and having a hangover. Ye didn’t have any consequences at all.”
“That’s because my parents didn’t care what I did,” Toni replied, her eyes suddenly shadowed.
Dottie felt uncomfortable knowing Toni’s parents were more about throwing money at their daughter than spending time with her.
Toni placed her hand over Dottie’s. “At least I had, and still have, a good friend who cares about me, even though I got her into trouble. And ye have a good man who cares about ye, even if he resorts to warming yer bottom over this. But the decision is yers. I have lots of secrets. Some I might even admit to my parents if they cared enough to ask. I’m certainly not volunteering.”
Dottie’s eyes narrowed. “Ye never know, Toni. They might care more than ye think if they knew some of the things ye have been up to.”
Toni shrugged again. “Maybe. More likely maybe not. At any rate, it’s too late to worry about it now. I’m grown, independent, and don’t have to answer to anyone. And I like it that way.”
There was a wistful note in Toni’s voice that made Dottie wonder though. When her cell phone rang again, she looked at the display. Ben’s face smiled through his number appearing on her phone. “Speak of the devil,” she remarked, picking it up.
Toni laughed. “Fess up and get it over with.”
Dottie scowled at her.
***
A ngus stared at the two aluminum pans sitting on the kitchen cabinet. “Ye say it’s lasagna?” he asked, glancing over at his wife.
Poppy nodded, glancing sideways at the others. “That’s what she told me.”
Ainsley laughed derisively at Angus. “How bad can it be then? I know ye have all said Dottie can’t cook, but I’ve never actually tried anything she’s cooked. But can it really be that bad?” She folded her arms across her red sweater and tapped one stocking foot on the tile flooring of the huge kitchen at Neamh. Her long blondish locks swirled in a lovely display down her slender figure and below her shoulder blades.
Angus glared at Darro’s sister who was home from Boston for the Christmas holidays. “Ye havna been here, lassie, so ye havna had to worry about it. But I’ve had more meals than I care to shake a stick at, the Habanero Roast Lamb bein’ one of the worst. That dish near burned my tonsils out of my neck. If I didna know better, sometimes I’d swear she deliberately sabotages the dish. Those angelic blue eyes have a certain mischief in them now and then when it comes to food.”
Pauley stared at all of them. “Ye think Dottie cooks badly on purpose? To what end, may I ask?” She brushed her long auburn hair back away from her face and flashed her gaze toward the suspicious pans sitting on the cabinet as yet untouched.
“That’s a good question, Pauley,” Poppy replied, scowling at her husband. “Why would she do that?”
Angus lifted one eyebrow towards the ceiling. “Who can understand the vagaries of the female mind?” he asked, tongue in cheek.
Pauley’s eyebrows shot up. “Ye do realize ye are outnumbered, right?”
“Not completely,” Jamie volunteered, grinning at Pauley. “But since it’s Angus’s suspicions and not mine, I’m staying out of it.”
Angus’s eyes narrowed at Pauley’s husband. “Yer no help.”
Ainsley’s mouth curved up in a dimpled grin. “I’ll help ye, Pauley, if ye want to take him down.”
Angus growled and huffed his chest out. “Ye are all about to get taken to the woodshed if ye don’t settle down now. Let’s stick to the problem at hand.” He turned back to the pans on the cabinet amid guffaws and hoots and pointed. “I’m starvin’ and that’s the problem.”
The women burst out laughing and Jamie chuckled.
“You are always hungry, honey,” Poppy replied. “Okay, I’ll be the one to take the lid off since you appear to be scared of the contents.” She walked to the cabinet and lifted the cover on one of the pans, then leaned down to sniff the contents. Then she ripped the lid completely off and stared. “It smells delicious,” she announced in wonder.
The others gathered around her. “Yeah, but does it taste delicious?” Angus asked, his eyes narrowing at the offending pan.
Pauley opened the drawer near her, took out a fork, and handed it to Angus. “Here. Since ye are the man in charge at the moment, taste it.”
Angus stared at the fork. “Why do I have to taste it?”
Ainsley snorted. “Ye are the one always bragging about yer educated palate, Angus. Besides, aren’t ye supposed to be the protector of us helpless women?” She giggled at the expression on his face.
He shook his finger at Ainsley. “Ye ain’t so grown that ye can’t go over a knee, ye know.”
Ainsley just rolled her eyes. “Ye would say that no matter how old I am.”
“And it would still be true,” Angus replied with a snort. “Give me that,” he told Pauley, holding his hand out for the fork. Once he had it in hand, he dug down into the corner of the lasagna and cut off a small portion of the offering and gingerly placed it in his mouth. As he chewed, his eyes opened wider and wider.
“Well?” the other’s demanded to know. “What’s yer assessment?”
“Cripes, but that’s outstandin,” he exclaimed. Then he put his hand over the pan in a possessive gesture. “Turn on the oven, will ye? This pan is mine, ye lassies can have the other one.”
“And what am I supposed to eat?” Jamie asked, his eyebrows going sky high. “I’m not one of the lassies ye know.”
Angus grinned. “I guess ye can share with me and Darro.”
Jamie rolled his eyes.
Among good natured ribbing all around, the lasagna was soon in the oven along with the garlic toast. They quickly set about opening the paper plates and such that Lucerne had handy on the cabinet. Then they moved to the bench style table with fresh tea and waited while the tantalizing odor permeated the kitchen.
They looked up when Ben appeared in the doorway of the back entrance hall to the kitchen, his cheeks and nose bright red from the cold. He sniffed the air appreciatively. “Is that Dottie’s lasagna I smell?” His tone was slightly disbelieving but he took off his gloves and hat and unzipped his coat.
“It might be,” Angus growled, his stomach growling loudly along with him. “I get one pan, the rest of ye have to share the other one.”
“Ha,” Ben hooted. “I don’t think so, Dad. Dottie is on her way home and told me to grab some fer us. She has stuff in the truck that she doesn’t want to keep sitting outside, so she’s going straight home.”
Poppy smiled happily at Ben. “I think Dottie has a prize-winning recipe this time, Ben. You should be proud of your wife. Whatever she did, it more than passed Angus’s taste test.”
Ben scoffed. “Any halfway edible dish passes Dad’s taste test.”
“Need I remind ye heathens that I have a very educated palate?” Angus inserted, glowering at his son.
“We know, we know,” they all chorused.
“It should be ready any minute, Ben,” Ainsley broke in. “Would ye like some hot tea? Ye look like an ice cube.”
Ben nodded and stuffed his hat and gloves into his pockets and then took off his coat. “I’d appreciate that, my hands are pretty cold. I think the temperature is dropping.” He turned and went into the entrance way to hang up his coat while Ainsley went to the counter and poured him a mug of tea.
“Here ye go,” she chirped, handing him the mug when he came back.
He grasped both hands around it and sighed with pleasure. “Now that feels good. Thanks, Ainsley.”
Angus’s cell phone rang as Ben took a seat at the table. He fished it out of his pocket and saw the caller was Darro. “Hiya, boss.”
“What are we having fer dinner?” Darro asked. “Do I need to grab something on my way home? I’ll be awhile yet, visiting hours are no over until 8:00 p.m. so I’ll be staying until then.”
“Dottie brought over some lasagna that we are just heatin’ up.”
There was silence on the phone.
Angus looked at his phone to see if he’d gotten disconnected. “Boss?”
Ainsley snickered. “Suck it up, big brother,” she called out from the table.
Angus grinned at her and then spoke into the phone. “I hate to tell ye because of yer appetite, but it tastes like an angel made it. I don’t know if there will be any left by the time ye get here.”
“If ye’re on the level, there had better be,” Darro growled in his ear. “I’m starving right now. The cafeteria downstairs is closed and my stomach is complaining. It’s not my appetite that has to be monitored. Don’t ye go eating an entire pan on yer own, ye old coot.”
“I did put dibs on one pan, but that was only so I could save some fer ye, boss,” Angus assured him loudly, sending pious glares around at everyone else. “Well, and we have to share with Jaimie.”
Everyone at the table hooted back at him. “I’ve got ye covered, Darro,” Jamie called towards the phone.
“I’m almost afraid to say it, but Lucerne said there’s two chocolate fudge cakes in the walk-in pantry that she baked yesterday and set aside fer her hospital stay. Save some room fer dessert and maybe I’ll get some of that lasagna yet,” he replied with a derisive snort into the phone. “It’s a good thing Corey and Delilah are staying with their cousins until Lucerne gets home as well,” he added.
“I’ve always got room fer dessert,” Angus assured him with a chuckle. “See ye soon.” He rang off and slipped the phone in his pocket. “Chocolate fudge cakes in the pantry, ye heathens. One fer me, Jamie, and Darro, and one fer the rest of ye.”
Ben shook his head at Angus’s shenanigans. “Poppy, have ye figured out yet where Dad puts all the food he eats?” he asked as he turned to his step-mother.
She shook her head, her brown eyes twinkling. Her American accent was very different among the lilting Scottish brogue of the rest of them. “No, I haven’t, Ben. I’m afraid it’s going to be one of the mysteries we will never solve. But do give Dottie our thanks for the meal tonight. And to save that recipe she used. According to your dad’s palate, it’s going to be a real keeper.”
“Ye got that right,” Angus enthused.
“I’ll be sure to do that,” Ben replied, as Poppy and Pauley got up to take the food out of the oven.
As Poppy filled a dish with food for Ben to take home, Angus watched his son take a bite of the lasagna and the subsequent delight and wonder that lit up his eyes. “I can hardly believe Dottie made this,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
“She’s learning,” Poppy replied cheerfully, handing him the dish, plus a covered plate with two hefty slices of cake.
“Neither can I,” Angus grumbled under his breath as his son left the kitchen with his bounty. Something was off about this entire situation, but he’d be darned if he could pinpoint just exactly what it was.