Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
K risten leaned against the cool, antique dresser in her room, her gaze fixed on the open suitcase sprawled across the bed. A couple of sweaters lay inside, their bright colors muted in the dim, candlelit room. She rubbed her eyes, exhaustion seeping into her bones as the flickering light danced on the walls.
She’d spent the past hour in a state of indecision, torn between two choices: stay in the manor despite the questionable electrical situation, or brave the cold night and return to her condo on Diamond Island. Leave everyone she loved here. Leave the holiday house and all its festivities.
She let out a long breath, trying to weigh the risks, then a flash of annoyance sparked through her. She hated feeling this indecisive, but the idea of leaving the manor felt wrong, too. She didn’t want to abandon everyone else or cut short the holiday Eloise had so lovingly planned.
Yet, the thought of an electrical fire lurking in these old walls sent a shiver down her spine. At least in her condo, she knew she wouldn’t wake up to smoke or flames.
Her phone vibrated on the dresser, a faint glow piercing the darkness. Kristen picked it up, the screen lighting up with a message from Julia: Are you staying?
Kristen pondered her response for a moment. She hadn’t heard from Maddy or Tessa, and the idea of being one of the few to leave felt isolating. She replied quickly with, Haven’t decided yet. You?
The reply came almost instantly: Liam and I are staying. Power can’t stay off forever, right?
Might get cold, though. Kristen allowed herself a small smile, fueled by Julia’s optimism. Her heart felt a little lighter, knowing she wasn’t alone in her thoughts. She didn’t want to leave, and as her suitcase still sat mostly empty, she knew she wouldn’t.
Kristen set her phone back down, determined to make a decision. With a deep breath, she removed the sweaters, closed the suitcase, and slid it under the bed. As she lay down, her mind wandered to the electricians still working somewhere in the manor.
“I hope they can get things sorted out,” she murmured to the flickering candlelight in her room. She’d turned off her flashlight to preserve the battery, and darkness pressed down on her open eyes.
With a sigh, she finally closed her eyes, exhaustion pulling her under. She drifted in and out of sleep, her thoughts a jumble of wires, floating curtains, and flickering lights.
Sometime in the deep of night, she woke to the sudden hum of power returning. The soft glow of the bedside lamp flickered on, and a laugh bubbled up from her chest as relief washed over her.
She plugged in her phone, the tiny battery icon glowing reassuringly. She felt the chill in the air as she got up to switch on the fan beside her bed, simply to have the noise. Then she quickly snuggled back under the covers, whispering a silent prayer of thanks for electricity and the warmth it provided.
“Then you just brush the butter on.” Kristen’s heart lifted as she instructed Billie for what to do next with the cinnamon rolls. She loved working with her hands, loved the scent of yeast and cinnamon and sugar, loved the feeling of sticky dough against her fingers and of flour dusting her apron.
Billie, Jamie, and Grace stood around the counter, eagerly waiting for her to tell them what to do. She had Jamie make a roll with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, and she now cut the rolls into one-inch rounds with a piece of unscented and unflavored dental floss.
Grace was still sprinkling on her cinnamon-sugar mixture, and Billie had waited the longest to get her piece of dough for the cinnamon rolls.
Kristen was just so glad they’d all gotten up early with her to make breakfast for the whole manor, and she smiled as the three of them talked and giggled. Their presence filled the kitchen with a warmth Kristen hadn’t realized she’d been missing.
“Look what is happening in here.” Robin entered the kitchen wearing a pair of Spandex exercise pants and a sporty jacket. She smiled at her daughter and Eloise’s. “This feels just like the Seafaring Girls.”
Kristen gave her a fond look, then a side-squeeze. “Except we made cookies for Seafaring Girls.”
“Right.” Robin lifted a visor and put it on. “I’m going running.”
“Okay,” Kristen said.
“My pin is on,” she said. “I’m not going to go far, so check with Duke if I’m not back in forty-five minutes.”
“‘Bye, Mom,” Jaime chirped, and Robin slipped out the back door to the deck. Kristen watched as she breathed in deeply, lifting her shoulders into a tight box. Kristen’s heart pumped out an extra beat full of worry for Robin, because she knew that stance.
She knew why Robin needed to go running this morning, and it was so she could pound out the frustrations and irritations from her life.
“Then I roll it up,” Grace said slowly, and Kristen focused back on the baking happening in the kitchen.
“Okay, you want to get that first fold pretty tight,” she said. “Use the parchment to help.”
Grace went down the length of the roll, folding it over tightly, and then it started to roll up nicely, with cinnamon and sugar spilling out both ends.
Making cinnamon rolls here in The Starlight Manor did remind her of baking cookies with her Seafaring Girls. The memories warmed her, and the newfound lightness settling in the manor lifted her spirits.
“Maybe I’ll tell Mom this should be our new family tradition,” Jamie suggested, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Kristen smiled, thinking of all the traditions that had come and gone in her life. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Jamie,” she said, knowing full-well that Robin would not do that.
The girls continued to chat as they worked, and Kristen watched them fondly. In each of their faces, she saw hints of the young women they were becoming, and a swell of love moved through her. They were kind and capable, and she was grateful to be a part of their lives, even in this small way.
The kitchen became a flurry of activity as Alice arrived and made coffee. After that, a steady stream of adults moved through the room, filling their mugs and stirring in cream and sugar. The rolls raised, and Kristen got the oven preheating to the correct temperature.
The day promised to be bright and clear, the perfect backdrop for the holiday getaway Eloise had envisioned. That Kristen really wanted for everyone—and herself. For the first time in days, she felt truly at peace.
“What time is the pool party today?” Grace asked, her voice breaking into Kristen’s thoughts.
“I think it’s at one,” Kristen said, carefully bending to place a tray of cinnamon rolls into the oven. “Alice said she’d send a text.”
“I’m typing it up now,” Alice said.
“I can’t wait to see the candy cane raft,” Billie said. “Maybe it’ll be big enough for me and Ian.”
“You better watch it with Ian,” Grace said. “And it’s Mom you need to worry about. She’s been watching you two.”
“She’s the one who sent us to the movies together with Dad,” Billie said.
“She just wanted to be alone for the afternoon.”
Kristen simply listened, because she knew Eloise worried about Billie and Ian. She didn’t need to say anything, and the girls weren’t asking for her advice.
No matter what, it felt good to be talking about boys and parents instead of something crazy that had happened with the lights.
As the scent of baked bread and cinnamon filled the house, Kristen got out the strawberries and cantaloupe and started cutting up the fruit. It didn’t need to be refrigerated, and thankfully, the power hadn’t been out for long enough to ruin too much.
Then she said, “Jamie, we need to make the frosting.” She detailed how to do that with the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter, and a touch of milk, and Jamie put together the first batch.
The over timed beeped, and Kristen handed the oven mitts to Billie. “I’ve got a cooling rack right here.”
Billie pulled the first tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven and slid them onto the tray, and Kristen nodded to Jaime. “It’s best to put the frosting on while they’re hot,” she said. “It’ll melt down into all the little crevices of the roll.” She smiled, because she loved nothing more than perfectly golden cinnamon rolls with such a perfect swirl.
“Breakfast is ready,” she called to the house, but she didn’t have a great big voice like Robin, so only the few people sitting at the table looked up.
Ben got to his feet and came to refill his coffee. “This looks amazing,” he said as he took in the tray of cinnamon rolls. Jamie continued to spread the frosting across the tops of them, and it melted down in just the way Kristen wanted it to.
“Breakfast!” Billie yelled.
Grace quickly laid out plates, and within moments, the girls had assembled a beautiful spread on the kitchen island. “Oh, the juice,” she said, and she quickly stepped over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of orange juice and one of apple.
Eloise came into the kitchen, her eyes lighting up at the sight of breakfast. “Oh, this looks amazing,” she said, taking a plate from Grace. “I knew I could count on you, Kristen.”
Kristen waved her off, though the compliment filled her with warmth. “It was all the girls. They’re the real experts here.”
El gave her a quick hug. “How’d you sleep?”
“Good enough,” Kristen said.
El watched her, but Kristen moved to help Billie check the rise on her rolls. “The ones in the oven still have twenty minutes, and they’ll be ready then.”
“Maybe we should’ve waited until all three trays were done.”
“It’s eight-fifteen,” Kristen said. “I don’t even see half the people down here yet.” None of the boys had come down from the third-floor male bunk room yet, and she hadn’t seen her son or daughter or their families yet either.
She set another pot of coffee to brew; Robin came back from her run; the third and final tray of cinnamon rolls went into the oven, baked, and came back out.
Billie frosted them, and she put the mixing bowl in the sink with a big sigh. “And now, we eat,” she said with a smile.
She took two ooey gooey cinnamon rolls and put her fruit in a bowl, then took it all over to the table. She sent a text before she started to eat, and Kristen hid her smile when Ian showed up less than sixty seconds later. “Wow,” he said as he crashed into the seat next to her. “You made these?”
“Go get one,” she said with a flirtatious smile, and Kristen looked around for El. She didn’t see her, but Aaron sat in the living room, looking at something on his phone.
“Miss Kristen,” Jamie said. “Can we make cinnamon rolls every year when we come to the holiday house?”
Kristen blinked at her, because she didn’t know how to answer. Putting together a twenty-three-day retreat for people to come and go certainly wasn’t easy, and Kristen wouldn’t be volunteering for the job.
“If we do this again,” she said. “We should definitely make sure we take a breakfast slot so we can make cinnamon rolls.”
As a round of laughter lit up the kitchen, Kristen felt like they’d made it through the darkness—literally. Now, they could embrace the light and create memories that would last a lifetime.