Page 48 of The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street
“Great,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Can I invite Alston and Lindsey over to help?”
I nodded. “Sure. And you can order pizza. Just make sure it’s not vegetarian and you save some for me. Jayne’s coming with us, and the twins are with my parents, so your friends will be good company. They can spend the night if they want.”
“I’m sure they’ll come over, but they won’t spend the night. They say our house after dark is creepy.”
“Only after dark?” Jack asked.
I elbowed him. “That’s fine. We’ll be happy to drive them home when we get back—shouldn’t be too late, if that makes you feel better.”
“Finding out who that was in my bedroom window would make me feel better, but no pressure.”
“We’re working on it, Nola,” Jack said as he bent to kiss the top of her head. He indicated the paper with his chin. “Maybe that will help. All we know so far is that it might connect a treasure from the king of France to the Americans during the Revolution.”
“All right,” she said, her fingers already flying on her phone as she texted her friends. “Have fun at the cemetery.”
I grinned, finding it somewhat amusing that a comment like that in our house sounded perfectly normal.
We took my car, since Jack’s minivan was full of baby toys, cracker crumbs, and spare diapers. He’d come a long way since his Porsche days, and he never seemed to have any nostalgia regarding the lost days of his bachelorhood. For his Christmas stocking, I’d purchased a bumper sticker thatreadREAL DADS DRIVE MINIVANS. Nola had been with me and had wanted to get one that readCONDOMS PREVENT MINIVANS, but I wouldn’t let her.
Jayne was waiting outside her house on South Battery as we drove up, and she slid into the backseat.
“You ready?” Jack asked, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She buckled her seat belt as Jack pulled out onto the street. “Mother gave me the rundown of what to do, so I feel confident that Melanie and I can handle whatever’s waiting for us. And don’t forget I have a little experience from that incident in my attic.”
I felt Jack waiting for me to say something. “Yes. Absolutely. And Mother and I have faced enough evil spirits on our own that it’s practically second nature now.”
“I’ll follow your lead,” Jayne said with conviction.
Feeling a little embarrassed, I said, “As Mother says, we’re stronger together. We just need to remember that.”
“Good plan,” Jayne said. “Speaking of Mother, have you thought yet about what to get her for Christmas?”
I turned slightly in my seat to get a better look at my sister. “Yes, actually. I already got her a skirt at Finicky Filly that I know she’ll love. And she adores the Woodhouse Spa, so I decided to give her a spa-day gift certificate. The owner, Kim, is amazing and said she’d wrap it up in a gorgeous gift basket with candles and skin products.”
“That’s a great idea. How about I contribute and add stuff to the basket—maybe a whole weekend of pampering? Mother would love it.”
My throat felt as if it had been coated in sawdust, and I couldn’t speak for a moment, even though I could feel the weight of the silence in the car.
“That’s a terrific idea, isn’t it, Mellie?” Jack prompted. “Your mother has been so great with the twins and Nola—I think double the pampering from her daughters would be the perfect gift.”
I nodded, trying to swallow the sawdust so I could speak.
“Great,” said Jayne. “And for Dad, I thought we could arrange for a master gardener to give him personalized instruction in his own garden. Sophie said she knows someone from the college who would be perfect and she gave me his number—I just wanted to check with you first.”
I finally managed to open my airway so I could speak. “Sounds wonderful. For both of them. I’ll call Kim at Woodhouse if you want to take care of setting up the master gardener.”
“Actually, I already did. And I have this great design software, so I made this really cool laminated poster that explains it all so we’d have something to wrap.”
Jack poked me on the side of my leg. “Thanks,” I managed. “That will save me a lot of time, and I’m sure he’ll love it.”
Thankfully, I was saved from coming up with anything else to say when Jack’s phone rang. Jack looked at the dashboard screen. “It’s Yvonne. I’ll put her on speaker.” He clicked a button on the steering wheel. “Hello, gorgeous. I’m in the car with my wife and sister-in-law, so don’t say anything compromising.”
Yvonne laughed, and I pictured her soft hands patting her white coiffure. “Oh, Jack Trenholm. You’re incorrigible.”
“Thank you. I try. We’re on the way to Gallen Hall now. I hope you have good news for us.”
“I’m not sure if it’s good news, but it is interesting. I was out power walking this morning with my posse....”
