Page 100 of The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street
I hid my smile as I turned toward the front door, watching it open with the last of the arrivals. I knew that Veronica and Michael had been assigned to dinner at my house, so I wasn’t surprised to see them, but I was quite certain that Rebecca and Marc weren’t on my list. Especially because I’d ensured their names appeared on the dinner list at another house.
“Cousin!” Rebecca squealed as Anthony helped her with her coat. I said hello to Veronica and Michael before they headed into the room togreet Alston and Cooper’s parents. I looked in dismay at Rebecca’s green velvet dress, thankfully adorned with pink shoes and matching handbag so she, Jayne, and I wouldn’t look like triplets. I’d already rethought my whole dressing-the-twins-alike mode in the three seconds it had taken to register that Rebecca was wearing the same dress as Jayne and me.
She hugged both of us before standing back and taking in our dresses. Despite her outward cheeriness, her eyes were slightly puffy and her peaches-and-cream complexion was sprinkled with small, angry bumps along her cheeks. Either pregnancy didn’t suit her or her marriage didn’t.
“Great minds think alike, right? And I hope you don’t mind, but I changed house assignments with another couple so I could come here.”
She looked so sad and pathetic that I had to smile. “Sure.” I glanced behind her. “Is Marc with you?” I asked, resisting the impulse to cross my fingers behind my back.
Rebecca stuck out her chin. “No. He said he had important ‘business’ to take care of.” She swallowed heavily. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here to have fun with my family.” She waved to my mother across the room, then smiled shakily at Jayne and me.
“I’m sorry,” Anthony said, putting an arm around Rebecca’s shoulders. “My brother’s a jerk. He has been my whole life. Why don’t you sit at our table so you won’t have to sit next to strangers?” He looked at me. “Is that all right with you?”
Before I could say no or that I’d spent three whole days and two spreadsheets on planning the seating arrangements, he was headed to the front parlor, where I’d placed Anthony and Jayne at a table with two teachers from Ashley Hall, and I tried not to wince as I noticed him dragging an extra chair to his table. Rebecca leaned close to me. “I hope you were able to use the drawing I gave you.”
“I was, actually. It was very helpful.”
Jayne widened her eyes at me.
“Thank you,” I added.
“So, what was it?” Rebecca asked.
I hesitated, not forgetting that she was Marc’s wife. But I owed her.I couldn’t have figured anything out without the one critical piece of information she’d given me. And, as she and my mother kept reminding me, she was family. “It’s part of a map.”
“A map?”
Jayne nodded. “Yes. Melanie figured it all out. The brick puzzle Anthony was working on is the actual cemetery at Gallen Hall, and the two drawings along with a photo Melanie took of the mausoleum gate are part of the same map.”
Rebecca actually giggled. “Wow. Marc couldn’t have figured that one out in a million years.” She sobered quickly. “You won’t tell him I said that, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “I have no intention of speaking with your husband ever again, so the answer is no.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Never say never. Marc and Anthony will swear up and down that they hate each other, but Marc said he wants his brother to be godfather to our baby.”
“Really?” Jayne and I said together.
We were interrupted by our mother approaching, looking elegant and regal in a dark violet silk chiffon dress and matching velvet pumps. “Mellie, darling, I think it’s time for everyone to be seated.”
With a quick glance at Rebecca, I moved away to find Nola to give her permission to ring the dinner bell; then Cooper appeared by her side to escort her to one of the smaller tables. She hadn’t complained about being seated at one of the “children’s tables,” as she called them, when I told her I’d saved a seat at her table for anyone she cared to invite.
I helped guests find their place cards and take their seats, and I finally headed into the dining room to take my place at the head of the table just as the caterers began serving the soup course. I remembered my manners, taking turns to speak with diners on either side of me, happily answering questions regarding my connection to Ashley Hall, the house, my job, and whether I was wearing a uniform of some sort, which was why there were three of us all dressed alike. I smiled and ate and talked, all the while aware of something niggling at the back of my mind, as tiny and destructive as a termite.
Keenly aware of the time, I listened for the chiming of the grandfather clock in the parlor. As soon as the last guest left, I’d ask Anthony to take me to Gallen Hall. I was already envisioning dumping the rubies in Jack’s hands, and then him kissing me, his anger at me easily pushed aside by his gratitude.
Dessert was served at different houses, so there wasn’t much lingering after the guests had finished eating. I might have been too enthusiastic about pulling out people’s chairs, removing plates, and bringing coats into the foyer in my haste for them to leave, but it had started flurrying again and I could hear an imaginary clock ticking in my head.
Despite a few stragglers wandering around the foyer chatting and examining the decorations, I went in search of Anthony to make sure he was ready to go as soon as the last guest departed. I found Jayne saying good-bye to Veronica and Michael at the front door.
Her smile faded when she saw me approach. “Where’s Anthony?”
“I was coming to ask you the same thing. Wasn’t he with you at dinner?”
“Yes, but right after the main course was served, he excused himself, saying that you’d asked him to come find you before the meal was over because you needed him for something.”
I shook my head slowly. “No. I never said that.” Our eyes met as a sick feeling, as viscous and dark as octopus ink, flooded my insides.
“He must be here somewhere,” Jayne said, an unmistakable note of panic in her voice. “I must have misunderstood.”
