Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
E loise followed Laurel out of the control room and into the library. She paused in front of the sliding bookcase, because it truly was a marvel. “I can’t believe we missed this.”
Laurel gave a breathy laugh. “I know. It’s so obvious.”
“Well, not really,” Eloise said.
“It’s a hidden room behind a bookcase,” Laurel said. “They’re in every spy movie made.” She grinned at Eloise and shrugged. “I only found it, though, because I felt the air moving.”
Eloise squeezed her forearm, though she wasn’t sure what would happen next. “I’m glad you found it.”
Aaron came back into the library and held up his phone. “Kevin is here.”
“Already?” Eloise hurried to go with him, because night had fallen while they’d been getting out candles and running up stairs to see secret rooms.
“He lives here on Rocky Ridge,” Aaron said.
Eloise was glad she could accompany him downstairs to face the others. They’d want answers, and she didn’t have any. She only had more questions, one of which was really loud and really pressing.
Could they stay in the manor tonight?
The doorbell rang as she reached the bottom of the stairs, and she nearly stumbled over her own feet. Aaron did touch her to steady her, and she exchanged a worried look with him.
“I’ll go see where we are with dinner,” she said, slipping her hand into his. “Come tell me everything the moment you know anything.”
His dark eyes searched hers, and Eloise could get lost in his gaze. “Of course I will.”
She knew he’d follow her anywhere, and that he’d protect her from anything and anyone he could. She nodded and ducked her head, because she didn’t want him to see her nerves. “Okay.”
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple, which sent a shiver racing down her arm. “It’s going to be okay, El,” he whispered.
She wanted to ask how he knew that, because she knew Aaron didn’t say things idly. But she didn’t ask, and he separated from her to go get the door while Eloise continued into the kitchen and living room, where everyone had gathered.
Robin stood at the stove, candles flickering as the only source of light in the kitchen. Someone had placed a row of flashlights down the middle of the dining table in the kitchen, and the fire gave off light in the living room.
“The electrician is here, and he’ll get things fixed right up,” Eloise said, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say. The moment she did, the overhead lights blazed back to life. The refrigerator hummed, the fan in the vent above the stove started to turn, and someone started to clap.
“Oh, wow,” Robin said with her trademark smile. “He must work fast.” She turned to Alice, and the two women laughed and embraced each other.
The lights flickered again, and then went off.
A groan moved through the crowd, and Eloise wanted to be the strong and powerful one making the decision that the lights—or lack thereof—wouldn’t affect her. She reached for Robin and Alice, and the three of them hugged. Robin broke the circle first and said, “Okay, let’s get dinner on the table. We don’t need electricity to do that.”
Eloise knew there was a huge green salad in the fridge, and she went to get it. She tried not to look at the rest of the food in the fridge, because if the power didn’t come back on, they’d lose it all.
Or have to eat a lot, really fast.
She set about opening bags of lettuce, croutons, and shaved parmesan cheese, totally inside her mind. She heard talking around her, but she didn’t bother to try to make what they said into something coherent.
The doorbell rang again as Laurel and Kristen started to set out plates and utensils on the island, and Eloise hoped the electrician, or electricians, could fix the problem quickly, so they’d have power and wouldn’t have to leave.
So many people had spent time packing and traveling here, and she wasn’t even sure where they’d all go if they couldn’t stay here tonight. Her mind wandered to the Cliffside Inn, but she only had six rooms—nowhere near enough for everyone here, and the inn was booked out for the holidays.
She’d looked at several rentals for this holiday, and she wondered if she could perhaps book two of them, they could split in half, and…somehow they’d be able to get into the new houses in the next couple of hours.
That is so not happening, she told herself, because she currently stirred a mega-bowl of Ceasar salad with tongs, and she wouldn’t be able to access the Internet without power.
Suddenly, everything felt too heavy, and she couldn’t smile or stir it away. She left the bowl of salad on the island and ducked into the mudroom, her nose now running as she fought tears.
She wasn’t sure how long she paced in the mudroom, taking three steps toward a door that led onto the back deck, and then returning to the wide doorway that led to the rest of the house. She’d just reached the back door and turned when someone came in from the garage.
“Excuse me?” a man called. “Chief?”
Eloise met him in the doorway. “Are you looking for Aaron?”
“Yes.” The man actually gave her a smile. “I’m Kevin, and I think you’re his wife.”
“Yes.” She smiled back, and how she pulled that off, Eloise would never know. “I’m not sure where Aaron is right now.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Weren’t you upstairs with him?”
“I came down to check out the other breaker boxes.”
“How many others are there?” Eloise asked.
“One in the basement, and one in the garage,” Kevin said. “Oh, and the host is here, and she said she didn’t even know about that room on the third floor.” He smiled again. “I think Jerry and I can get this figured out tonight.”
Hope bloomed in Eloise’s chest. “You do?” She pulled her phone from her pocket. “Let me text Aaron.” She did that while Kevin ducked back into the garage, and then she faced the house again.
The bustling activity in the kitchen, the dining area, the living room. Almost forty people all-told, and Eloise pressed her eyes closed and prayed as much as she ever had. The candles continued to flicker, and the power stayed steadfastly off, but Eloise could rejoin everyone now without feeling like the walls would crush her where she stood.
“How are things looking?” she asked Robin, who stood at the stove, whisking, whisking, whisking the turkey gravy.
“Good,” she said. “When this timer goes off, it’s going to be the rolls.” She nodded to a pair of oven mitts. “Could you get them out. I’m afraid of leaving this for even a moment.”
“I’ve got it,” Eloise said.
“I have the butter and jam on the table,” Alice said. “Along with the salt and pepper.”
“Thank you,” Robin said, flashing a smile as she kept whisking. “The potatoes need butter and cheese added to them, and I told Mandie to get out all the pies from the freezer, because we’re going to lose them anyway.”
Eloise’s heart crashed somewhere down near her stomach. The frozen pies they’d bought were for the pool party tomorrow, not for dinner tonight. But Robin was right. If they didn’t eat them, they’d lose them. Eloise had lived through a storm or two that had knocked out the power, and she couldn’t describe how drippy and wet everything was as it thawed from a freezer that didn’t work.
“I don’t see any pies,” Eloise said.
“She got a phone call,” Robin said. “She ducked out onto the deck.”
“Okay.” Eloise moved over to the freezer and opened it to get out the pies. With several people helping, everything got done and laid out on the countertop and island, where they’d all file past the food and fill their plates. With the soft glow of candlelight, it was almost fun.
“Okay,” Robin called loudly. “It’s time to eat. Come on over, and we’ll get started.”
People started to get up from the couches and come out from where they’d settled in the formal dining room. Eloise automatically opened her arm for Billie and Grace to stand under, which they did.
“Where’s Dad?” Billie asked.
“He’s dealing with the electricians,” Eloise said with a forced smile. She found Ben and Maddy in the room, with Julia, Liam, and Ian, then Scott, Clara, and Lena, and Alice stood with Mandie and Charlie at the end of the table. Jean, Kristen, AJ, Kelli, and Laurel hovered right behind the back of the couch, all of their kids in their arms.
She didn’t see Duke or Paul or Aaron, and Robin apparently wasn’t going to wait for them. “Okay,” she said. “The food is done and hot, and we can eat by candlelight.”
“Are we going to have to leave the house tonight?”
Robin hesitated, so Eloise took a step forward. “We don’t know yet,” she said. “Anyone who doesn’t feel safe should, uh, make their own decisions about what they want to do. We have electricians here, and they’re doing their job.”
“Let’s eat,” Alice said. “Everyone has to eat.” She nudged Charlie forward, nodding toward the kitchen where the platters, bowls, and dishes waited like soldiers, all lined up and waiting.
Charlie and Mandie led the way into the kitchen, which got the other teens to go, with the adults bringing up the rear. Eloise felt a little lost without Aaron, but she attached herself to Robin, who didn’t have Duke either. She’d folded her arms, and she watched as Jamie picked up two rolls and balanced them on the edge of her plate.
“What are you going to do?” Eloise asked. She didn’t have to spell out what she meant.
Robin sighed, rolled her head, and said, “I don’t know. Mandie and Charlie just got here.”
Eloise nodded, because she didn’t want to pull Billie and Grace from their vacation either. Heck, she didn’t want to leave the manor. But if it was unsafe…
“Let’s get some food,” Robin said as Alice glared them down while she and Arthur went by. Eloise filled her plate with sliced turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and creamed peas, then grabbed a roll and a can of ginger ale before following her friends into the formal dining room.
She sent a quick text to Aaron. Food’s ready. Can you come eat?
Be down in a minute , he sent back, and Eloise relaxed enough to pick up her fork and take a bite of mashed potatoes and gravy.
Sure enough, Duke, Paul, and Aaron returned to the first level only a few minutes later, and their appearance stalled all the conversation happening across the two tables.
“All right,” Aaron said. “I know everyone wants to know exactly what’s happening, but that’s kind of impossible.”
“They’re going to rewire the electrical box on the third floor,” Duke said as he picked up a plate. “The other two have passed inspections—and fun fact: there are doubles of some places.”
“Doubles?” Robin asked from where she’d gotten up and leaned in the doorway leading into the kitchen from the formal dining area.
“Yeah.” Duke loaded mashed potatoes onto his plate. “What did he say, Paul?”
“The pool has two breakers,” he said into the gap. “One being controlled from the garage, and one from that wonky electrical box upstairs.” He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Laurel, and then Eloise. “They think that’s why the heater in the eaves has been going crazy. It’s actually wired twice.”
“Wired twice,” Eloise repeated in a whisper. “This is insane.”
“Maybe they can just deprogram that one upstairs,” Laurel said.
Paul grinned at his wife. “I don’t think you deprogram electricity, babe.”
She smiled back at him too. “You know what I mean.”
“They’re pulling the wiring out now,” Duke said. “Apparently jobs like this can take a couple of hours.”
“And cost thousands,” Aaron said. “They’ve been talking to the host.”
Eloise nodded, and she waited for her husband to join her in the dining room. She gave him the best smile she could, and he beamed light back at her. He swept a kiss along her cheek and whispered, “I think they’re going to be able to fix it.”
“Do you?”
“I do,” Duke boomed. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Duke,” Robin chastised. “You’re so loud.”
“Well, it’s going to be fine.” He pulled out a chair next to Robin and sat down. “Neither of the electricians is moaning and groaning. Neither one of them said we should evacuate the house.” He looked around at everyone, finally meeting Aaron’s eye.
“They didn’t,” Aaron said. “He’s right.”
“Everyone should do what they want, though,” Robin said. “The last ferry off Rocky Ridge is at nine o’clock.”
The clock had just ticked to six, so there was still time.
Eloise met Aaron’s eye. “We’re not going to leave, are we?” she asked.
“I don’t think we need to, El,” he said. “I can ask the girls if they’re scared.”
She nodded, though she didn’t want to leave. Since she’d lived alone for such a large part of her life, she sometimes still had to get used to the idea that decisions got made that she may not have made, based on how someone else felt.
Aaron set his phone next to his plate. “I just texted them.”
“They’re in the next room.”
“And they’ll answer me honestly if I text them.” He gave her a smile and tucked into his turkey dinner. Eloise looked down the table to Robin, who’d started talking with Alice about the pool party tomorrow.
So apparently, they’d stay too, and somehow that made Eloise feel even more safe.
Aaron’s phone buzzed, and he craned his neck to look at it. “Billie doesn’t want to leave.”
“Then we’ll stay,” Eloise said, and she met Kristen’s eye across the table.
“You’re staying?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Eloise said. “What about you?”
Kristen looked at Kelli and then Shad. “What are you guys doing?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” Kelli twisted to look at Parker, who sat beside Grace and Ian, and he fit so well there. When Kelli faced her again, she wore pure indecision on her face. Eloise knew this look, and it would be up to Parker whether they left the manor tonight—and he wouldn’t want to leave.
Eloise hid her smile behind a buttered bite of roll, because maybe if they got the house fixed up electrically, the next nine days would truly be made of Christmas magic.