Page 14 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

Mila chuckled. “I can totally live with being called Mila Rabbit.” It was terribly sweet that the kid was associating her gift with the woman who’d given it to her. She added beneath her breath for her stepbrother’s benefit. “Believe me. I’ve been called worse.”

He snorted. “Haven’t we all?”

Mila sniffed the air. Her mouth was watering from the scents wafting from the kitchen. “Where’s Chanel?”

“Making final preparations for dinner.” He pretended like he was going to tweak the nose of the stuffed rabbit, which inevitably started another wrestling match with Gwen.

“I’ll help.” Mila took a step toward the doorway on the opposite end of the room, astonished at how long the table was and how exorbitantly decorated it was with pine boughs, ribbons, and candles.

“No need, but thanks.” Chanel breezed into the room, looking like she’d just stepped off a runway at a fashion show. She was holding a crystal bowl filled with dinner rolls. A swirl of steam rose from them.

Mila blinked at her sister-in-law, wondering how in the world she’d prepared dinner in a beaded ivory jumpsuitwithout spilling anything on herself. Chanel designed high-end clothing for a living, which she displayed and sold at her upscale boutique downtown. Mila had never darkened the door of it. Modello’s was way out of her price range.

A tall, gray-haired woman in a crisp white apron followed Chanel, bearing a charcuterie board. It was loaded down with meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in a spectacular Christmas tree-shaped arrangement.

That’s when the truth dawned on Mila. Her sister-in-law hadn’t prepared dinner. She was having it catered, which made a lot more sense.

“Wow!” Mila stared hungrily at the tray as the woman in the apron set it on the buffet cabinet against the wall. “It looks too pretty to eat.”

Chanel gave Mila an unexpectedly warm smile that made her sophisticated French twist and perfect makeup look less snooty. “It seemed kinder than making you suffer through my poor cooking.”

“You cook?” Decker met his wife in the middle of the room and leaned in to touch his lips to hers.

“Haha,” she murmured against his mouth.

Gwen managed to scramble out of his arms like a little monkey into her mother’s arms. She immediately held up her new stuffed animal. “Mila Rabbit,” she said carefully, pointing happily at Mila.

“That’s me.” Mila spread her arms, chuckling.

“Cute.” Chanel busied herself tucking Gwen in a high chair. Then she whisked a baby carrot and a stub of celery off the charcuterie board and set them on the tray in front of Gwen. “This is rabbit food,” she announced cheerfully. “Yum, yum!” She pretended to nibble the end of the carrot.

Gwen gave a yelp of girlish protest and yanked it away,holding it high above her head. Then her little arm moved in a blur to her mouth. She swiftly took a bite and held the carrot back over her head.

Chanel continued to pretend she was going to steal a bite, thereby coaxing the entire carrot down her energetic toddler.

“Genius parenting skills,” Mila murmured, stepping closer to her brother, who was dunking a broccoli floret in one of the vegetable dips.

“Agreed. She’s an incredible mom.” Decker looked so besotted by the two lovely ladies in his life that Mila had to stifle the urge to roll her eyes.

Wow, but they had him wrapped! Somehow, though, he’d still summoned the generosity to keep the stepsister he barely knew in a set of wheels for the past year. And today, he’d given her the job of her dreams.

Her hunger finally got the best of her. She reached for the charcuterie tray and selected a piece of cauliflower. They stood there together, munching on veggies, mixed nuts, and fruit. He finally reached for one of the paper-thin slices of ham that was artfully curled to resemble a rose.

“It’s too pretty to eat,” Mila wailed softly as he popped it into his mouth in one bite.

“Not true.” He reached for another one.

Before his fingers closed around it, an explosion outside the house rattled the arched dining room windows.

Decker yanked his hand back and sprinted around the table to peer out the nearest window.

Mila was right at his heels. What she saw on the other side of the glass made her whimper in horror. The front passenger seat of the Lexus had erupted into smoke and flames. Tears rolled down her cheeks at the realizationthat the luxurious vehicle her stepbrother had lent to her only hours earlier had been destroyed.

Somewhere in the house, the two Golden Doodles she had yet to meet were barking and howling frenziedly.

“I’m so sorry, Deck,” she gasped.

He gave her an incredulous, white-faced look. “I’m just glad you weren’t inside the vehicle when it happened.”

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