Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests (A Scarlet Wilson Mystery #3) (5 page)

“I...I don’t know what to say. Thank
you. How did you know what she looked like?”

“You showed me a photograph,” Laurel
told her. I leaned over Jenny’s shoulder to admire the
figure.

“She’s beautiful.”

Bur had a folding step ladder at his
side. “What do you say, squirt? Want to do the honors?”

“I do!”

He opened it up and placed it at the
side of the tree, so the teenager could climb up. Reaching
carefully past the other ornaments that adorned the tree, she
carefully slid the new Christmas angel onto the highest branch. I
held my breath as I heard the tinkle of glass balls clinking
together, but nothing fell. Bur steadied the girl as she carefully
withdrew her arm from the boughs and stepped down off the
ladder.

“I love it,” said Jenny. “Thank
you.”

“Here’s another early Christmas gift.”
My mother handed her a second package, this one a little larger.
“Open it now.”

Jenny’s nimble fingers removed the red
ribbon and carefully placed it on the coffee table. Gingerly, she
slid her index finger under the flap on one end of the
paper-covered package. Peeking inside, her face suddenly lit up and
she eagerly tore at the snowman wrapping paper, exposing the
beloved denim shirt. My mother had been busy. Not only had she used
the damaged sleeves for the Christmas angel’s dress, she had
reworked what was left of the shirt, so that it now sported short
sleeves.

“You saved it! You saved my shirt!” The
teenager wriggled into it and twirled, to show us how it looked on
her, delighted by the gift. “I can’t believe it! This is awesome.
I’m going to take it to California with me.”

“There was no reason to throw out a
perfectly good shirt. Sometimes it just takes a little ingenuity
and creativity,” my mother announced.

“You’re the best,” was the reply as the
teenager wrapped her arms around Laurel and hugged her tightly. My
mother beamed, happy that she had given Jenny something meaningful.
Mozzie, watching his excited mistress, gave a little bark. “I know,
boy! Isn’t it great?”

We spent the rest of the
night basking in the glow of Christmas lights, as we sat down to
watch
It’s a Wonderful Life
for the umpteenth time.

“It was my mother’s favorite movie,”
the teenager told us as she, Lacey and I crowded onto the sofa,
Huck and Mozzie tucked between us. My mother and January were
snuggled next to us in the wing chair. My mother had her feet up on
the ottoman, her legs covered by her Black Watch
blanket.

“Don’t you just love how George finally
figures it all out?” I asked, as I cued up the movie. “He’s so sure
everything is hopeless, that he doesn’t have a ghost of a chance to
turn it all around.”

“Sometimes the best gift at Christmas
is to believe in life again,” Laurel decided. “When your spirit is
refreshed, all things are possible. I think that’s why I never get
tired of this story.”

“True, true,” the other Googins girl
agreed, as she dug into her bowl of popcorn. “It’s always best to
find the real meaning of Christmas. It’s never about the material
goods. It’s about the relationships you have. People
matter.”

“You have to invest in those people who
will make a difference,” my mother declared, “the ones who will go
out and get things done. They’ll inspire other people to do the
same. You can’t waste your time on folks who don’t get it and don’t
want to get it.”

“Pearls before swine,” Lacey nodded as
she waxed philosophical. “People have to accept, even embrace,
their responsibility to make the world a better place, or they just
squander the opportunities.”

I glanced at Jenny, sitting beside me.
Her eyes were on the TV screen, but I saw the corners of her lips
curl into a smile as she listened to the Googins girls discuss
their views. These were words she needed to hear. They would
sustain her through those tenuous moments of doubt, when life was
hard and unfair. They would remind her to reach out, to believe
that humans could do incredible things if they set their minds to
it. Maybe all these hokey holiday traditions we shared as a family
were what helped to keep us together, and what brought this teenage
to the Four Acorns Inn. Jenny had lost so much in her young life,
and she probably never thought she could ever belong
again.

But even as she joined our ever-growing
circle, Jenny wasn’t just taking from us. She was also giving. We
needed her energy, her spirit, her promise...even her youth. The
Googins girls were fountains of wisdom on occasion, but without
anyone to share it with they were sometimes prone to believe that
nothing really mattered in society any more. Having Jenny living
here at the inn gave them a new connection to a world that
sometimes seemed to disappoint of late. When they saw the
excitement, the wonder in her eyes, they could believe again. And
when she reached out to them, for comfort, for compassion, they
knew they still had work to do in the here-and-now. They were not
ancient, lumbering creatures doomed to extinction. They were
vibrant, interesting people who mattered to a teenager who needed
them.

And if I was honest with myself, the
same held true for me. Sitting there, I realized how much richer my
life was with this teenager in it. Jenny was the daughter I never
had the chance to have, and I was a better person for taking that
big risk back in Bay Head, New Jersey. I let her into my car and
into my heart, and I was so glad I did.

Chapter Five --

I stood in the front hall with Jenny
the next day, waiting for Bur to pull the car up to the front
porch. She had a large suitcase, a carry-on bag, and her purse
ready to load into the car. Mozzie, her Cavalier King Charles
spaniel, was sitting patiently by the luggage, expecting to go with
his mistress, blissfully unaware of the coming reality.

“Do you have everything?” I
wondered.

“I do.”

“Money, credit card, boarding
pass....”

“I’m fine, Miz Scarlet. Don’t worry
about me.”

“Okay,” I smiled. “You call us if
there’s anything you need. And have a wonderful time with your
family. I hope this Christmas is everything you dream it will
be.”

“I do, too.” For a brief moment, she
seemed to hesitate. “I’m kind of excited, but....”

“Be patient with yourself. No one
expects you to forget your past. It’s okay to miss your
mom.”

“I know, Miz Scarlet.” A single tear
splashed down her cheek before she wiped it away. “Oh, I didn’t
want to cry!”

“Come here.” I wrapped her in my arms
and held her tight. “You go and have a great time. Give my best to
Tony and Maria. And bring me back some almonds.”

“I will.” Jenny picked up her dog,
hugging him tightly. “You be a good boy while I’m gone.”

“We’ll take very good care of him,” I
promised. “We’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. I hope you have
fun with Larry and her family.”

“I’m sure we will.”

“I still don’t understand why Larry and
Mickey don’t stay with you. It seems kind of dumb.”

“It does, doesn’t it? It would give
Mickey the chance to spend more time with her
grandparents.”

Bur honked the horn as he pulled his
car up outside. I opened the door and picked up the largest
suitcase. Jenny, still clutching her dog, grabbed the other bags.
We made our way out to the driveway and loaded the bags into the
trunk of Bur’s sedan.

“If it’s about money, why not put
Michaela in my room, Scarlet? I don’t mind if she sleeps in my bed.
Put her to work, so you don’t have to charge a guest
fee.”

“What a sweet thing to offer, Jen. She
might like that.”

Three hours later, while I was catching
up on my correspondence at the ancient Mac in the library, I sent
Larry a quick email, confirming the details of her father’s
arrival. I added a note about Jenny’s offer to Michaela. A minute
later, my cell phone rang.

“Did you mean it? Can my kid stay with
you?” She sounded a little breathless.

“Sure, Larry.”

“Thank God!” I heard her exhale on the
other end of the line.

“Is there something wrong?”

“All hell has broken loose. This case
just got ugly. I can’t tell you about it, but I really need to get
Mickey somewhere safe until we sort this out. Can I drop her off
after school today?”

“Absolutely. No problem.”

“And you’ll pick my dad up at the
airport tomorrow?”

“We’ll be happy to collect him,” I told
her, as Huckleberry pawed my leg, wanting to be picked up for a
hug. I obliged.

“Thanks. I’ve got to go.” The call
ended abruptly, without any of the normal conversational
pleasantries.

“Well, Huck,” I said, giving him a
scratch behind his ear, “Larry’s more than a little stressed. It
doesn’t sound like the case is going well at all.”

I gave this some more consideration as
I got back to my innkeeper duties. This was not typical Larry
behavior. There must be more to this mess than meets the eye, I
decided.

At quarter after four, Larry’s police
sedan pulled into the driveway of the Four Acorns Inn, and
fourteen-year-old Mickey got out of the passenger seat. Almost as
tall and leggy as her mother, the dark-haired beauty waved to
me.

“Hey, Miz Scarlet. Sorry you got stuck
with me,” she told me through a mouthful of metal.

“Stuck with you? Are you kidding me?
We’ve been begging your mother to let you come. It will be nice for
your grandparents to spend time with you. And now that you’re here,
I’m going to put you to work.” I grabbed Mickey’s suitcase and led
the way into the house.

“You are?”

“Absolutely. We have to finish
decorating the inn for the holidays. Do you mind?”

“Depends. How much work are we talking
about?” The teenager didn’t want to commit until she knew the full
extent of her duties.

“Well, I baked gingerbread cookies to
hang on the tree and I have to ice them.”

“Oh, that I can do,” she laughed. Her
smile was contagious. “I thought you were going to ask me to scrub
the kitchen floor or something.”

“It’s Christmas, kiddo. You’re here to
have fun, and fun you shall have.”

“Mickey, why don’t you go see if Bur’s
home?” Larry told her daughter. “I want to ask him
something.”

“What do you want to ask him?” Mickey
wanted to know.

“Can you please go see if he’s around?”
Larry put on her “mama” voice, adding that warning tone, which
Michaela seemed to ignore completely, in typical teenage
fashion.

“He’s going to ask me what you want to
talk to him about, so what should I say?” She was pushing that
envelope; it wasn’t the smartest move for the daughter of a state
trooper. Larry was, after all, used to dealing with some pretty
unsavory suspects.

“You can say that your mother wants to
speak with him and you don’t know what the subject matter is. Now,
do you have any other questions for me, or can I have a
conversation with Scarlet?”

“Geez, what a grouch!” Mickey headed
toward the front door, but not before I saw a sly glance aimed at
her mother. Was she just testing the limits or was Michaela aware
that her mother wasn’t her usual self? “What if he doesn’t hear me
knock?”

“Ring the doorbell,” I broke in, hoping
to prevent Larry from going ballistic. “Trust me, he’ll hear
that.”

When he’s not at the inn, my brother
can usually be found working in his office in the carriage house
behind the inn, where he has his own quarters. As an expert on the
forest industry, Bur is a consultant for big companies looking to
engage in sensible reforestation projects and conservation
practices. Today, he had plans to work on a new project for a
company out in Colorado to find new uses for pulp waste. I thought
he might welcome the interruption.

As soon as the teenager was out the
door, Larry grasped my elbow with fierce fingers that dug into my
flesh. “That child tests my patience, Miz Scarlet. I swear she does
it deliberately.”

“It’s a tough age, Larry. She’s trying
to figure out how to be an adult.” As a tutor to teenagers looking
to get into good colleges, I’d had some experience with the
soon-to-be-out-of-the-nest crowd.

“She’s constantly in my business,
wanting to know what I’m doing. I don’t have to justify my actions
to her,” she scowled. “She’s fourteen!”

“Maybe she’s worried about you,” was
the only thing I could say. Frankly, I understood the feeling. I
was starting to worry myself. I’d never seen her so
frazzled.

“Horse hooey!”

“I saw her watching you. She knows
you’re tense. She knows something’s not right. Maybe she’s worried
something’s going on in your life that affects her.”

“She’s a kid! It’s my job to handle the
adult stuff! I’m supposed to protect her from all that,” Larry
insisted. “Lord, ever since her father remarried and decided to
have another kid....”