Part 18 (1/2)
”Are you Mrs. Goodwin's daughter?” asked Lissa.
”Almost,” said Jamie. ”I'm her niece.”
”Our mommy's an angel,” said Mandy, taking a big lick of whipped cream.
It was a good thing Jamie wasn't holding the beaters anymore, she'd have dropped them. Dead? His wife was dead? She'd a.s.sumed he was divorced, screwed up.
Like he wouldn't be screwed up from having lost his wife? The poor guy. The poor girls. Jamie felt a sudden nearly overwhelming desire to grab them both and hug them.
”Grandpa says maybe someday we'll get a new mommy,” Mandy continued.
”Maybe you will,” Jamie agreed. They were sweet girls. They deserved another mommy. She could see Emma as their new mom, teaching them to quilt, dunking them in hydrogen peroxide when that demon cat of hers scratched them. But she couldn't see Emma with Josh. Odd.
”Girls,” said Sarah, ”would you like to help us put the food on the table?”
”Sure,” said Lissa as if she'd just been offered a special prize.
Maybe for a little girl who was being raised by men-rather like being raised by wolves-the company of women was a prize. It was easy to take family for granted. You never realized what you had till you lost it.
Sarah became a kitchen general, marshaling her troops. Edna and the girls were put to work hustling steaming bowls of mashed potatoes, savory stuffing, rutabagas, peas, and Sarah's biscuits out to the big mahogany dining table while Jamie served in the kitchen as her right-hand woman, dis.h.i.+ng up from the stove and pulling things from the fridge. The array of dishes seemed endless: candied yams, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, pickles and olives, and, of course, the green bean ca.s.serole Lissa had so carefully carried in. Last of all came the turkey, big enough to feed a whole boatload of Pilgrims.
The guests gathered at the table and Sarah continued directing operations. ”John, Edna, how about taking your usual places over there. And Leo next to them. Then George. Josh, you can sit next to Sam. Jamie, how about sitting by me. And let's put the girls between you and Josh.”
So she and Josh could get some kind of subliminal message about what a great family they'd all make, of course. Boy, Sarah never missed a trick. But it was her party, so Jamie didn't argue. Some of the manners her mom had worked so hard to drill into her had stuck.
She couldn't help smirking when Leo pretended to have misunderstood and took George's seat, placing himself next to Sarah. Just punishment for her meddling.
But she put on her polite hostess smile and sat down. Jamie sneaked a peek in Sam's direction to see how he liked the new seating arrangement. He looked like he'd just guzzled vinegar.
”Sam, would you say grace?” Sarah asked.
”Sure,” he said grudgingly, and bowed his head with a frown. ”Dear G.o.d, we thank you for all the good things you give us, for this feast, and for our family. For those who don't have family, we pray that you'd help them find some.”
The sooner the better? Jamie thought as everyone said, ”Amen.” If that last sentence were meant to be some sort of message to Leo, it was way too subtle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mandy looking up at her. She turned to smile at the child and found her sister also looking her way with an eager-to-please smile.
Josh caught it all. He quickly looked away and reached for the mashed potatoes as Sam set to work carving the turkey.
”Dad, dark meat for you,” Sam said as his father pa.s.sed his plate. ”And white for Mom. What'll you have, George?”
”If n.o.body wants it, I'll take one of those legs,” said George.
”How about you, Leo?” asked Sam.
”I like the breast,” said Leo.
He got the other leg.
Sarah frowned at Sam, who said, ”Sorry, the breast is all taken.”
Leo shrugged. ”No big deal. I like legs, too. These green beans are my favorite,” he said to Sarah, dis.h.i.+ng himself up a hearty serving.
”Don't get too excited,” Sam told him. ”Sarah didn't make them.”
”My daddy made that,” Mandy said proudly. ”We helped.”
”It's good,” Jamie said to her, and was rewarded with a wors.h.i.+pful smile.
”So, you can cook, huh?” Sam said to Josh. ”You're pretty self-sufficient.”
”Between the two of us, Dad and I do okay,” said Josh.
”That's all well and good, but there are some things a man needs a woman for,” Leo said.
Sam frowned and Sarah blushed. She grabbed the bowl of biscuits and handed them to Jamie. ”How about pa.s.sing these around?”
Jamie bit back a smile. Poor Sarah. This was not going to go down in history as the most successful dinner party she'd ever had.
After the main course and kitchen cleanup, everyone settled in the living room to play charades. The grown-ups kept it easy, throwing in plenty of books, songs, and movies the girls would know. George earned applause for acting out Kung Fu Panda, and Jamie helped Mandy act out The Cat in the Hat. A few grown-up songs got thrown into the mix though, and Jamie drew Bryan Adams's ”When You Love Someone.” What a joke. But she gamely acted it out anyway.
After the last charade had been guessed Sarah sprawled in her chair and said, ”I'm p.o.o.ped. Jamie, how about taking care of the pie orders for me?” Edna opened her mouth to offer to help, but Sarah was too fast for her. ”Josh, it's tradition for the men to help with dessert.”
”Since when?” protested Sam.
”Since now,” Sarah informed him.
”Can we help?” asked Lissa.
”Absolutely,” Jamie told her.
In the kitchen, Josh asked, ”Is she always this subtle?”
”Always. It's a family trait.”
”I've noticed.” He shot her a smile. ”You still p.i.s.sed at me for stopping you?”
”You never gave me a ticket. Nothing to be p.i.s.sed about,” said Jamie with a shrug. Just because she wasn't falling all over herself to snag him, he thought she was p.i.s.sed? There was a bit of ego for you. She concentrated on lining all the pies up on the kitchen table. ”Lissa, you can get the whipped cream out of the fridge. It's in that big yellow bowl.”
”What can I do?” asked Mandy.
”As soon as I start putting the pie on plates you can carry them out to people.” She handed a small tablet and pen to Lissa, who had now returned with the whipped cream. ”Now, you can go out and take orders, see who wants what. We have apple, pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate mint.”
Lissa nodded and scurried off.
”What should I do, boss?” asked Josh.
Go away. This man was stirring up hormones that had been hibernating for way too long. ”You know, you really don't have to be out here.”