Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
AT HALF PAST TEN , Helen entered the visitor’s apartment at Mountain Vista Retirement Community carrying a tray of goodies for the pantry and refrigerator. In a moment of good timing, the housekeepers had visited yesterday, so she expected to find the place guest-ready. A quick perusal assured her that all was well and ready for the bride-to-be.
She’d just finished loading a wooden bowl with a selection of fresh fruit when she heard a knock at the front door. She set the bowl at the center of the kitchen table, then went to greet the visitor.
Helen opened the door and couldn’t help but laugh. Zoey Hillcrest stood holding a black-and-white schnauzer in her arms. The bride-to-be’s hair was a tangled mess. Her shirt was streaked with what appeared to be ketchup. Helen hoped it was ketchup and not blood. The look in the young woman’s eyes bordered on wild. “Oh my. Difficult trip?”
“Like nothing I ever imagined,” Zoey fervently replied.
Helen motioned her inside, and as the young woman glanced curiously around the apartment, she continued, “I’ve been on a transatlantic trip seated next to a mom traveling with a set of eighteen-month-old triplets. That wasn’t nearly as chaotic as a road trip with Freeway.”
“Freeway?” Helen reached out and scratched the dog beneath his muzzle. “That’s a fun name.”
“His former owner named him. Apparently, he was found on the freeway. Please don’t report me to PETA, but after traveling with him from Houston to Lake in the Clouds, I totally get why he might have been abandoned on a roadside.”
Helen made kissing sounds at the dog. “Poor abandoned baby. You obviously have a good reason for hating car rides.”
“I promise he was perfectly well-behaved when I had him at my home and last night in our hotel,” Zoey assured her. Her brow creased with concern as she added, “He’s house-trained. He didn’t chew or tear anything up. He didn’t bark all night long. I’ll do everything possible to ensure that Freeway and I are good neighbors for you here at Mountain Vista. If he doesn’t calm down and behave now that I have him out of the car, then you have my word that I’ll pack up his crate and my toothbrush, and we’ll go sleep in the car.”
“Oh, honey, don’t you fret. Chances are the poor little guy gets carsick. I had a dog with that problem once upon a time.”
“I hope that’s all it is,” Zoey said fervently.
“Now, let me show you around. First, I put water and kibble bowls down in the kitchen for Freeway. Through here.”
The schnauzer’s stomach wasn’t too upset because he all but dove for the kibble.
While Freeway ate, Helen gave Zoey the rest of the nickel tour. The wild look in the young woman’s eyes faded, and exhaustion took its place. Taking pity on her, Helen offered to dog sit while Zoey took a nap.
The bride-to-be all but wept in gratitude.
“I’ve already told Willow I want to wait until tomorrow to visit her chapel. I am too tired to appreciate anything today.”
“You sleep as long as you want,” Helen told her. “I have nothing on my calendar until later this afternoon when I’m supposed to meet Genevieve downtown. We have a vendor booth in the Lake in the Clouds’ Christmas in July Festival that opens tomorrow. We need to put the finishing touches on our booth.”
“A Christmas market! How cool. I love Christmas markets.”
“Genevieve and I have a family-themed booth. You’ll have to come to check us out.”
“I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll find a Christmas gift for my dad.”
“Well, first, you go get your nap. I might take Freeway and my pup to the dog park here on the property, so text me when you wake up, and I’ll tell you where to find us. My number is on the pad in the kitchen.”
“Thank you so much, Helen.”
The girl was swaying on her feet. Helen reached out and gave Zoey a quick hug, and then Helen and the schnauzer retreated to Helen’s condo. There, she introduced him to her dog Cookie, short for Cookie Monster, whom Genevieve’s son-in-law Noah had convinced Helen to adopt. The two dogs took to each other immediately, and Helen followed through on her idea to take them to the dog park to play. She threw a ball for a bit, then sat on a bench to read a few chapters of her current murder mystery while the dogs ran wild and wore themselves out. Upon returning to the condo, they plopped down in front of the living room picture window and watched the squirrels, birds, and bicyclists go by.
Zoey texted Helen when she awoke after a nearly two-hour nap. Helen called her, told her the dogs were doing fine, and assured her that she had time to shower before picking up Freeway. “Why don’t you take a little more time for yourself, then pop over to my place in about an hour for a late lunch? I haven’t eaten yet. It’s salad day for me, and it won’t be any trouble at all to throw in a little extra lettuce.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Zoey said. “Thank you.”
Helen shared her condo number and location, and exactly thirty minutes later, she heard a knock at the door, and invited the young woman inside. Helen was once again struck by Zoey’s resemblance to Willow. “You look like a new woman. Feel better?”
“I do. That steam shower is beyond awesome.”
“I have one of those here, too. They are awesome.” After Zoey stopped to meet Cookie and give both dogs a scratch and a pet, Helen led her through the condo, saying, “I thought we’d eat on the patio if that’s all right with you? We had rain earlier this morning, but that’s cleared off, and it’s a bright, beautiful summer afternoon.”
“I’m thrilled to do anything outside this time of year. It’s hot and humid at home, so this Lake in the Clouds weather is a treat for me.”
Helen showed Zoey to a bistro table set for two on her patio. They discussed the gorgeous view for a moment before Helen went inside for the salad and fresh croissants that she’d picked up at the bakery on her way home from yoga class that morning. They made small talk while they ate, discussing Zoey’s drive from Texas and the potted rose bushes that decorated Helen’s patio.
It was when Zoey picked up a knife to butter her roll that Helen noticed what was missing. No engagement ring?
Helen remembered the ring. It had been a lovely square-cut diamond on a platinum band and had reminded her of the ring her second husband had given her. They’d picked out the ring together in the jewelry store. Helen had always loved square-cut gems.
She debated whether to ask about Zoey’s ring or not. There could be a perfectly harmless reason why the bride-to-be wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. She might have taken it off to shower and forgotten to put it back on. But what if she’d left it in a gas station bathroom somewhere? Helen’s next-door neighbor had done that exact same thing during a trip to visit her daughter in April. Luckily, an honest traveler had found it in a ladies’ room in Raton and turned it in. So, when Helen’s neighbor inquired at the station and identified the ring, she was able to get it back.
Of course, another reason why Zoey wasn’t wearing her engagement ring could be because there was trouble in paradise. If that were the case, Willow should know. Right?
Helen should explore this mystery.
She took a sip of her iced tea, then said, “Zoey, I can’t help but notice that you’re not wearing your engagement ring. Is everything okay?”
Zoey slowly and carefully set down her croissant. She flexed her fingers and stared down at her left hand. Her voice sounded a little tight as she said, “I haven’t come to Lake in the Clouds to cancel the wedding.”
Oh dear. Definitely trouble in paradise. “I’m sure Willow will be relieved to hear that.”
“It’s pre-wedding jitters, I’m sure. It’s been a difficult few months.” She looked away from Helen and focused on her view of Granite Mountain. “My mother died recently.”
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“It’s caused me to think a lot about family, especially siblings.” She shifted her gaze back to Helen and asked, “I know that you and Genevieve are sisters. Do you have any other siblings?”
“We had three brothers. Sadly, they’ve all passed.”
“Oh.” Zoey sat back hard in her seat, her expression crestfallen.
Curious reaction, Helen thought. Although, she did just lose her mother. Grief affected everyone differently, so it was understandable why she might wear her feelings on her sleeve.
Zoey cleared her throat. “Losing a sibling must be so hard. Were your brothers older or younger than you?”
“I had two older brothers, and then our brother Mark was the baby of the family. I’m older than Genevieve.”
“Wow. There were five of you,” Zoey blinked away a sheen in her eyes. “That’s a big family. I would have loved to be part of a big family.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“No. I was an only child. I always wanted siblings. I thought it would be nice to have a sister, but what I really wanted was a brother. Brothers, plural. My biggest want was to have big brothers, to be precise.”
“Oh?” Helen resisted the urge to reach over and give Zoey’s hand a comforting pat. “Why is that?”
Zoey shrugged. “My dad was pretty wonderful, but he worked a lot. I thought brothers would be like Dad, only more available. A girl in my class had two big brothers, and they were always her champions at school and in the neighborhood. They were her protectors. I thought that was awesome.”
Helen nodded and offered her a rueful grin. “My brother John was that way. Paul, not so much.”
“I also wanted brothers who would play ball with me. I was a real sports fanatic. Football. Basketball. Baseball and soccer. I wanted to be the first female pitcher in our district. Dad would play catch with me when he had time, but that didn’t happen often.”
“What does your father do for a living?”
“He’s a scientist. A cancer researcher. His work is vitally important, so I tried not to complain when he didn’t have time to play ball with me. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a great dad, and he always made the time we did have together count.”
“Balancing family and career life is a challenging thing for a parent. Especially a single parent. If your dad is working toward curing cancer, wow. I’m sure that he appreciated having your support.”
“I grew up knowing how important his work is, so I tried to be supportive. I admit I slipped sometimes, but we soldiered through.” Zoey diverted the conversation away from her family and back toward Helen’s by asking, “Were your brothers into sports? Did they play with you?”
Helen sat back in her chair and considered the question. “My elder brother, John, played football in high school. However, he was ten years older than me, so he didn’t have much to do with me.”
“That’s a big age difference.”
Helen nodded. “Our entire family was spread out, age-wise. My brother Paul was four years older than me, and he wasn’t into sports. He was all about machines. My most vivid and frequent memories of Paul during our childhood were of him lying on the driveway beneath Dad’s car. All you could see of Paul were his legs.”
“What about your younger brother?”
“I do recall playing ball with Mark.” Helen remembered her baby brother running across the front yard chasing a baseball with their dog, Blackie, nipping at his heels. “However, he was ten years younger than me, so once again, we were at different life stages. Our parents basically had two families—I was the baby of one, the eldest of the other. I think the siblings in family number two were closer to one another. Mark used to accuse Genevieve and me of being his ‘smothers.’”
At Zoey’s curious look, she clarified. “Smothering mothers. We tended to practice our mothering on him.” Shrugging, she added, “That’s the lot of being the baby of the family, I think. And Genevieve and I did have quite a maternal way about us. Genevieve is still a Mama Bear with her kids and grands.”
“That is a gift to your children. My mother had rare bursts of maternal feelings.” Zoey’s rueful gaze met Helen’s. Casually, she asked, “What about you? Do you have children?”
“No,” Helen replied with a sad smile. As always, the question gave her a twinge. “Unfortunately, I suffered multiple miscarriages. Not having children is the biggest regret of my life.”
Zoey reached across the small table and gave Helen’s hand a squeeze. “I’m so sorry.”
I like this girl, Helen thought. She has a compassionate heart. Bet she’s an excellent physician. “Me, too. Luckily, I had lots of nephews and nieces to smother with love.” She winked and added, “All that practice I had with my little brother.”
“So, how many nieces and nephews do you have? I recall that Willow is one of four?”
“Yes. She has two brothers and a sister. Plus, we have a bunch of Bennetts running around. John had three, Paul had six, and Mark had three.”
Zoey pursed her lips thoughtfully. “So, twelve.”
“Sixteen, counting Genevieve’s.”
“That’s a big family. Do you see your brothers’ children often?”
Something about the oh-so-casual way in which she asked the question had Helen studying her with a suspicious eye. “Okay, spill the tea, Dr. Hillcrest. Why all the questions about my family?”
Zoey’s cheeks stained pink. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“You’re not being rude. You’re being inquisitive. I recognize inquisitiveness because I share that trait, myself.” Helen leaned back in her chair, folded her arms, and considered her guest.
Something was happening here. This wasn’t a general lunch conversation. Zoey was digging for nuggets. Why?
The answer was staring her in the face. Literally. Helen never was one to beat about the proverbial bush, so she challenged Zoey head-on. “This is about your resemblance to Willow, isn’t it? You think there’s some sort of family relationship between you and Willow, don’t you?”
Zoey opened her mouth, then shut it without saying a word. It didn’t matter. Helen could read the answer in her expression, and her analytical mind went to work.
Zoey had said her mother had recently died. Had she made some sort of deathbed confession? The resemblance between Zoey and Willow was striking, and Willow did take after her mother’s side of the family. Helen snapped her fingers as she figured it out. “You suspect one of my brothers was your father! You’re what, thirty-two? Thirty-three? Mark would be the logical suspect due to your age, but I guess we shouldn’t rule out—”
“No!” Zoey interrupted, the denial so fierce that Helen was taken aback. “That’s not it at all. I know that my dad is my dad. And my mom was my mom, too, for that matter.”
“Then I don’t understand. What… oh, wait.” Helen pursed her lips and then reasoned aloud. “If not your parents, then…”
Helen’s eyes rounded in surprise. She sat up tall. “You’re thinking grandfather? One of my older brothers, then. Whoa.”
She drummed her fingers against the table. “I’ll put my money on Paul. He was a ladies’ man when he was young, though I believed he was faithful to his wife. His children won’t like learning otherwise if it’s true.”
“Wait a minute.” Zoey held up her hand, palm out. “I don’t want to destroy anyone’s memory of their father. That’s not why I’m here. I wasn’t even sure I was going to say anything. This trip is as much about my bridal cold feet and my career doubts as it is the DNA results.”
Helen alerted like a bloodhound on a scent. “DNA results? What DNA results?”
Zoey delayed her response by taking a sip of tea. A long sip. Helen wanted to reach across the bistro table and swipe the glass from her hands so she’d get on with her story.
Finally, Zoey set down her drink and met Helen’s gaze. “I went looking for answers about my mother and registered with an ancestry database company. Instead of discovering something about Mom, I found out why I happened to look so much like my wedding planner.”
“Wait… wait… wait.” Helen was confused. “You did a DNA test, and it matched Willow?”
“No. Willow isn’t in the database. Her sister Brooke is. I am Brooke Prentice’s first cousin once removed.”
Helen sat back in her chair, her thoughts whirling as she tried to put the pieces together. She wasn’t exactly sure about the whole once-removed thing. She’d never paid attention to it. Family was family as far as she was concerned. “So, let me get this straight. Brooke has done one of those ancestry kits, and your mother matched her. Was she related to Brooke through her father or through her mother?”
“No, that’s not right. I didn’t submit my mother’s DNA. I submitted my own to a couple of different databases. The match hit on my dad’s side.”
“I’m still confused.”
“We’ve always known he was adopted, but he never tried to find his birth parents. He never cared about knowing. My grandparents were wonderful people, and they were his family. Our family. It didn’t matter that we weren’t genetically related. But they’re gone now, and my mother was a great big mystery because she was a liar, and she was dying, so—”
Zoey broke off abruptly and shook her head. “Her story isn’t pertinent. She’s the reason why I tested, but she’s not part of these results.”
“Okay, remind me. First cousin, once removed means…?”
“Brooke is my father’s first cousin.”
“So, your father is my nephew. He’s one of my sibling’s offspring.”
“Correct. Dad and Brooke share the same grandparent.”
“And your father is how old? What’s his name?”
“Adam. Adam Hillcrest. He’s almost fifty.”
“He can’t be Mark’s,” Helen surmised. “Then he must be either Paul’s or John’s.”
Helen gave Zoey a measuring look. “I knew you were related to us when I saw you in January. The resemblance is too stunning to be coincidental. Well, then.” She smiled brightly, leaned across the small table, and gave Zoey a hug. “Welcome to the family, Zoey. This is exciting.”
Tears misted the young woman’s eyes, though they did not fall. “Thank you. Oh, thank you so much, Helen. That means the world to me.”
“Auntie. Call me Auntie from now on like Willow does. And none of that great-aunt stuff. I am great, but I’m not old. So, we’re sticking with Auntie. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zoey said with a little giggle.
“I’d open a bottle of champagne if I didn’t have to drive later.” Helen sat back in her chair and studied Zoey. “So, what do you want to do with this information? We gonna whittle it down and find out exactly which branch of the family is yours?”
“I don’t know. I need to think this through. I don’t want to cause anyone grief, especially since neither of your brothers is able to offer information or an explanation. Are their wives still living?”
“Yes, both of them.”
Zoey winced, and Helen added, “We’re not close. We exchange Christmas cards and show up for weddings and funerals, but it’s that first and second family thing. Also, Paul had so many children that they didn’t really have room in their lives for extended family.”
“I see.” Zoey sat back in her chair, lost in thought.
“This isn’t information I can keep to myself,” Helen warned. “We will have to share the news with Genevieve and Willow. My sister would never forgive me if I tried to keep something this momentous to our family to myself. She’ll want to welcome you to her brood, too.”
Zoey’s eyes grew misty once again, and she smiled crookedly. “I didn’t expect this to be this easy. I had planned to try to weasel information from Willow. Didn’t expect to hit the motherlode with you.”
“So, this is the real reason you’ve come to Colorado? You didn’t drive a thousand miles to look at the glass chapel?”
“Oh, I do want to see it. When Willow first told me about it, I thought it sounded fabulous. That spot in the woods is so peaceful.”
“So, you’re thinking about moving the ceremony from lakeside to the chapel?”
Zoey froze. The smile melted from her face and she closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice trembled. “Actually, maybe I have come to Lake in the Clouds to cancel the wedding.”
With that, Zoey burst into tears.
Two hours later, Zoey had decided that calling Helen Auntie wasn’t appropriate. A better name was General Auntie.
Helen took charge.
After Zoey had sobbed out her relationship woes, Helen marshaled her troops. First, she declared that Zoey wasn’t to visit Reflections Inn at Mirror Lake at all today. “Not even to have a nightcap on the deck to watch the sun go down. You need a nice long session of good old-fashioned girl talk, but it shouldn’t happen at your wedding venue. No sense harshing the vibe there in case you decide to continue with your wedding plans as they are now. Wait until you are in a better frame of mind to make that visit.”
Zoey didn’t argue with Helen. It would have been wasted breath.
At so it was that instead of spending the afternoon attempting to find her peace beside a picturesque mountain lake, Zoey found herself seated on a cardboard box on a sidewalk in downtown Lake in the Clouds, sorting Christmas ornaments while Helen and Genevieve talked over her head.
Helen started with the reason why Zoey wasn’t going out to the inn that afternoon. She summed up the story about Zoey’s rocky romance road in a clear, concise manner that put her former attorney skills on display. She ended the recitation by saying, “Her feet are a little chilly right at the moment.”
“Completely understandable.” Genevieve gave Zoey’s shoulder a supportive squeeze. “You’ve gone through a lot since you visited us in January. What you need is a little R&R and TLC. You’ve come to the right place for that.”
Helen used a box cutter to slit the cellophane tape sealing a box. “Genevieve is a world-champion TLC giver. You’ve caught her at a good time at the moment because she has some new grandbabies on the way, and she’s in training for them.”
“Congratulations,” Zoey told her.
“That reminds me. If one of you stumbles across the ‘Baby’s First Christmas’ ornaments before I do, give a shout-out. I want to put a few of them away. I think they’re going to be big sellers.”
Zoey pulled a “World’s Best Sister” ornament from her box and held it up. “Which one of you is this?”
“Me,” the two women chimed simultaneously.
Zoey laughed, her heart lighter than it had been in weeks. Maybe even months. These women are my family.
“Genevieve,” Helen said. “I think you should share the story about how you broke up with David three weeks before your wedding.”
The suggestion obviously shocked Genevieve. “Well, now, there’s a blast from the past. I don’t believe I’ve even shared this story with my children.”
Helen met Zoey’s gaze. “It was all our brother Paul’s fault.”
“Most problems usually were,” Genevieve said. “That said, David and I did more fighting in those last couple months before our wedding than we did our entire marriage.”
“You did?” Zoey’s interest was caught.
“We bickered all the time. We were young. Our families tried to tell us we were too young to get married, but—”
Helen interrupted. “I never said that.”
“—true. I stand corrected. Helen actually encouraged us.” Gen tossed her sister a smile as she added, “I’ve always loved her for that, especially after David was taken from us so young. I’ll never forget my sister leaning against the threshold of my bedroom with her arms folded and saying, ‘Life is too short. Don’t waste a minute of it.’”
“I’ve always been a particularly wise woman.”
“Anyway, back to our story. It just so happened that the biannual Bennett family reunion was being held in Estes Park, Colorado, a month before our wedding. Since not everyone was going to be able to make it to Texas for the ceremony, my parents invited David to make the trip with us so that they would get an opportunity to meet him. They had a little reception for us. It really was quite lovely.”
“Until our great-aunt Dutz had a little visit with him,” Helen added, her eyes twinkling. “She was Irish, don’t you know? Claimed to have a touch of the Sight.”
Genevieve shook her head in bafflement. “I was so gullible. She talked a good story, you have to admit.”
“Woman should have been on Broadway,” Helen agreed. “As playwright, director, and actor. In Genevieve’s defense, we all believed her. So, when she sat David down and read his tea leaves, we all hung on her every word as if it were gospel.”
“What did she say?” Zoey asked.
“She said that David would decide to pursue a career as a musician. He would write and perform a hit song and become famous—then leave her for a pop star.”
“Oh dear.”
“When”—Helen lifted her pointing finger and quoted dramatically—“she was heavy with his children.”
“Heavy!” Genevieve repeated.
A smile flirted on Zoey’s lips. “Children? Twins?”
“Triplets.” Helen laugh-snorted. “Three boys.”
Genevieve rolled her eyes toward heaven. “It didn’t help anything that David took it all as a joke. I was so upset. I could see it happening. Not the triplets part, but him becoming a famous singer. The man had a gorgeous voice. Plus, two of our cousins made it their purpose in life to remind me of all the times Great-Aunt Dutz’s predictions had come true.”
Helen nodded. “They had a point about that. She did have an impressive record.”
“True. That’s part of the reason I called off the wedding.”
“What was the other part?”
Simultaneously, Genevieve and Helen said, “The serenade.”
Helen shook her head as she continued the story. “Allow me to set up the scene. It’s after midnight, long after the official lights-out. Genevieve and I were in a bunkhouse with a bunch of female relatives. Then, out of the darkness comes the strum of a guitar and a deep, velvety voice.” She glanced at her sister and gave an aside observation. “Gave us all girly shivers, it did.”
“What did he sing?” Zoey asked.
Genevieve snorted. “His own rendition of an old song that Neil Diamond made a hit in the ’70s called ‘He Ain’t Heavy… He’s My Brother.’ He rewrote the lyrics.”
Helen sang, “She’s so heavy, she’s a mother.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and Zoey giggled softly.
Genevieve continued. “David didn’t often read the room wrong, but in this instance, he totally blew it. His lyrics basically took Great-Aunt Dutz’s prophecy and made fun of it. It hit me wrong on so many levels.”
She pulled a mug from a box and silently displayed it to her sister and Zoey. Zoey read: Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.
“How appropriate,” Helen observed.
Genevieve set the mug on a display shelf. “I was angry because a tiny little part of me believed the prophecy. I was angry because he didn’t take it seriously. I was angry that he’d joked about me being fat three weeks before our wedding! My nerves were a little stretched.”
“Just a little,” Helen agreed. “She marched out of the cabin and grabbed the guitar away from David, and hit him with it.”
“Oh no!” Zoey said. “You didn’t!”
“I did.” Gazing blindly into the distance as she remembered the moment, Genevieve laughed.
Helen added, “Before you ding her for domestic abuse, you should know that her husband was a big guy. Almost six feet four. Strong and broad. She was even tinier then than she is now.”
“I think I only landed that first blow,” Genevieve said. “I was too busy screaming at him to concentrate on swinging the guitar. I told him the wedding was off, and I demanded he leave the family reunion because he wasn’t my family and never would be my family, and he should just go find his mistress and get her pregnant with triplets.”
“At the top of her lungs,” Helen added. “It embarrassed David, and he got furious and stormed off.”
“By morning, I had calmed down and was filled with regret, but he was gone. Those were the days before cell phones. I waited and waited, but he never came back. I was devastated.”
“Did he go home?”
“No, not at first. That was my hope, but when he didn’t return to the camp, I talked Helen into leaving a day early, and we headed home. He wasn’t there, either. His parents hadn’t heard from him.
“I was so distraught. I cried buckets of tears and didn’t breathe an easy breath until our doorbell rang three days after we got home. We hadn’t spoken for five days at that point. Obviously, we made up. It turned out that the time apart was good for both of us. We each spent that time searching our hearts so that when he finally came home, we were able to talk honestly about the fears and insecurities that bothered both of us. That silly song turned out to be a good thing for our marriage.”
Zoey lifted an “Our First Christmas Together” ornament from the box. Shaped like a heart and three-dimensional, it featured two lovebirds perched on a tree branch, and the date. She traced her index finger over the birds, her smile wistful and bittersweet. “I hear the message. I just don’t know if it’s applicable to my situation.”
“I would say time will tell,” Helen said.
“Have you spoken to Cooper since you left Houston?”
Zoey shook her head. “We exchanged texts about his father’s injury. Nothing personal.” After a moment’s hesitation, she added, “I haven’t told him where I am.”
She’d actually turned off her phone.
She didn’t want to have any contact with him right now. She didn’t want to be listening for the phone to ring or ding with a text. She didn’t want to obsess about whether or not he’d tried to call.
Genevieve and Helen shared a look. Genevieve said, “Sometimes it’s a challenge to find a balance between needing space and being considerate of other’s worries.”
Zoey shrugged and set aside the ornament. She’d reached the bottom of the box. “I have these all unpacked and separated. What should I do with them now?”
Helen rummaged through the stack of boxes they’d yet to open. She found a tabletop Christmas tree and asked, “Where do we plan to put this, Genevieve?”
Genevieve checked their planning sheet and pointed to the appropriate spot. Helen set the tree down and then answered Zoey’s question. “If you would hang one of each on this? The extra stock goes in one of the flat plastic tubs, which sits beneath the display table. We’ll restock the tree as we sell from it.”
“Sounds good. Are there hangers for these, or do I use the ribbon?”
“We have hangers. I think they’re over here.”
Helen found a box of decorative hangers and passed them to Zoey, who accepted them, saying, “Thanks, Auntie.”
Genevieve caught the reference and gave Zoey a curious look. Helen met Zoey’s gaze and asked, “Do you want to tell her, or shall I?”
“You did a good job summarizing my romantic troubles. Please, be my guest.”
Helen met her sister’s gaze. “Don’t unpack anything fragile while I share this story, Genevieve. We don’t want to lose potential sales to breakage.”
Seated on top of a box, Genevieve clasped her hands and leaned forward. “Tell me.”
Helen began. “I’ll start with the money shot. Zoey sent her DNA to an ancestry database, and she discovered that she is either Paul’s granddaughter or John’s. That makes you and me her great-aunts, but I’ve told you before I’m not doing the ‘great-anything.’”
“Oh my heavens,” Genevieve breathed. Her gaze flew to Zoey, who smiled and shrugged.
Helen continued, encapsulating the story as efficiently as she had Zoey’s wedding woes. While she spoke, Zoey finished hanging the ornaments on the tree and stacking the extra stock in the plastic storage tub. Once Helen finished the tale, Genevieve remained quiet for a time, silently tapping her foot as she considered what her sister had told her. Finally, she said, “Willow gave Brooke the ancestry kit for her birthday a few years ago. I don’t recall her ever mentioning having received any results from it. Will she be notified of the match?”
“I believe so, yes. She needed to have checked the box for her results to show up for me.”
Helen gave her sister a keen-eyed look. “So, who would you put your money on? Paul or John?”
“Paul,” Genevieve said without hesitation. “I’m pretty sure he was having an affair when David died.”
Helen was in the process of tearing tissue paper away from a wooden plaque that read: Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city ~ George Burns. She glanced at Genevieve. “What? You’ve never told me that. How come you never told me that? Why do you think that?”
“It was a little crack I overheard his wife say to him at David’s wake. I can’t recall now what it was. I do remember being shocked, though.”
“Interesting. I can’t believe you never mentioned it.” Helen hung the plaque on the pegboard that stretched across the back of the sisters’ vendor booth.
“I can’t believe I remember it. So much of the time between David’s death and his funeral is a blur for me.” Genevieve focused her attention on Zoey. “I can’t have you calling me ‘Genevieve’ when you’re referring to my sister as ‘Auntie.’ We need a name for you to use with me. I tend to agree with Helen that being a great-aunt is not all that great. My brothers’ children all call me ‘ Tía ,’ which is Spanish for aunt. Would you like to use that?”
The warmth of acceptance washed through Zoey. “I’d love to call you ‘Tía.’ Thank you.” Zoey flashed a shy grin and added, “‘Tía.’ I love the name. How did it come to be yours?”
Genevieve and Helen shared a warm smile. Helen said, “Wednesday night Tex-Mex. Growing up, our family ate at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant called Tía María’s almost every Wednesday night because kids could eat for free and everyone loved their chiles rellenos. This was before Taco Tuesday was a thing. Years later, Genevieve brought chiles rellenos that she’d made to a family get-together and one of the boys declared them to be better than Tía María’s. They started calling her ‘Tía Gen,’ it stuck, and the rest is history.”
“Ooh, chiles rellenos are my fav,” Zoey said, sending Genevieve a hopeful glance.
Her aunt laughed. “I’ll be happy to make them for you one day soon. In the meantime, however, we should probably get to work unpacking these last half dozen boxes. While we prepare our family-themed booth for tonight’s opening, I’d like to hear more about my nephew. Helen said he’s a researcher at MD Anderson?”
“Yes.”
“Tell us what you love the most about him.”
“Hmm. That’s both easy and difficult. He has a lot of exceptional qualities. It’s difficult to choose.”
In the process of hanging a plaque that read: Families are like fudge. Mostly sweet with a few nuts , Helen suggested, “Choose your top three.”
Zoey considered a moment. “He always made me feel safe.”
“That’s a good one,” Genevieve said.
“He’s dependable with an asterisk. The asterisk is because he can get lost in his work, and time can get away from him. But in every other respect, he’s as dependable as the sunrise. That one always counted a lot for me.”
Because she’d never been able to count on her mom. Zoey gave her head a shake and brought her thoughts back to her father. “He always protected me enough without being overprotective.”
“That’s sweet,” Helen said. “Give us an example.”
She told a story about her first date with her second boyfriend. She’d been seventeen and attracted to the proverbial bad boy. The guy had a well-deserved bad reputation. Her dad hadn’t forbidden Zoey from going out with him, but…
“The guy pulled up, and rather than coming to the door, my date honked his horn, expecting me to come out. Well, Dad wasn’t having that. He walked me outside and went right up to the driver’s side door. After gesturing for the guy to roll down his window, Dad leaned down, extended his hand, and introduced himself. When my date finally shook Dad’s hand, Dad put a shark’s smile on his face and told him to drive carefully and treat me with respect. Or else he’d invite him to the next autopsy Dad performed.”
Genevieve and Helen laughed.
Zoey finished the story by saying, “Then he slapped the car door twice and told us to have fun.”
“What a great story,” Genevieve said. “I look forward to meeting him.”
Zoey blinked. Crazy as it was, she hadn’t thought about a potential meeting between her father and the family with whom she’d matched. In the midst of all the drama surrounding her mother’s death, she’d failed to mention to her dad that she’d sent off the DNA test.
“Do you have a picture of him?” Genevieve asked. Zoey nodded as Genevieve glanced at her sister. She said, “He might look like Paul. Or like John.”
In the process of removing something encased in bubble wrap from a large box, Helen brightened with curiosity. “Well, I’m an idiot. I didn’t think of asking to see a photo.”
Zoey reached for her handbag and pulled out her phone. She hit the power button. While her device booted up, Helen unwrapped a beautiful glass bowl with the word Family etched repeatedly around the edge. “That’s gorgeous,” Zoey observed.
“Isn’t it? It’s from Whimsies in Eternity Springs. Our friend Gabby Cicero made it.”
Zoey’s phone flickered on, and she swiped to the photo app and then to one of her favorite photos of her dad, taken on a beach at sunset. She handed the phone to Genevieve, saying, “I took this during one of his visits to California when I was in med school.”
“Oh my. He’s so handsome. I love that smile.” She studied it a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know that I see either John or Paul in him. What do you think, Helen?”
Genevieve held the phone out toward her sister. Helen looked down at the picture, and the smile on her face froze. The blood drained from her face.
Helen dropped the glass bowl, and it shattered.