Page 89 of The Merry Matchmaker

Once she had Mitch pointed in the right direction, she hurried off to fetch Adele away from the hot drinks stand. Of all the times to be thinking about her stomach.

“Mom,” she said, catching Adele just as she was about to order. “What are you doing?”

“I should think that would be obvious. Did you get the house fixed?”

“Yes, but Elinor is in panic mode. I’m sure she’s ready to bolt.”

“Well, then let her. This is supposed to be fun. If it’s not, quit pushing the poor girl.”

“I’m not pushing. I’m helping.”

Adele rolled her eyes. “That again.”

“Come on, please go over and give her some moral support.” Elinor loved Adele. Having Adele nearby along with Mitch would surely be a calming influence.

“I’ll be over as soon as I get my hot cider.”

“Honestly, Mom, where are your priorities?”

“Right now? Here. She’s fine. Quit fretting.”

Frankie frowned at her mother, then started back to where Elinor stood. Oh no! Carly Rae was making a beeline for Elinor and her destroyed house.

Frankie hurried over, threading her way through the crowd and narrowly missing getting hot cider spilled on her by one excited reveler.

She got to the table just after Carly Rae and in time to hear Mitch say, “This makes me think of when I was a kid. I loved dinosaurs, and I’d have loved a gingerbread house like this.”

Elinor looked up at him with adoration, and Carly Rae stepped in with her microphone. “That’s pretty high praise. What inspired this?” she asked Elinor.

Elinor’s cheeks succeeded in matching her loaner red dress. “We had an accident in the parking lot. But you have to make the best of things, right?”

Great fast thinking. Frankie smiled at Elinor. Her smile grew into a self-satisfied grin when she saw William Sharp making his way toward Elinor and the little crowd around her. She would be fine now.

Sure enough, Elinor’s confidence appeared to increase as the minutes ticked past. Finally, it was time to collect the gingerbread ballot boxes, and Frankie took Elinor’s to the far corner of the room where James was in charge of tallying votes.

“Looks good for your candidate so far,” he whispered.

“Good,” she whispered back. Hopefully, Elinor had a big enough lead that no matter what happened with the houses she’d still be sitting in Santa’s sleigh the next morning during the Santa Walk parade.

More time passed, and then the microphone squealed again. Once more Barbara asked if it was on.

“You’re on,” James called.

“All right, everyone, let’s bring up our candidates,” Barbara said.

Tony Errico, the high school music teacher, had been strolling around the room, serenading people on his accordion. As the contestants made their way to Barbara, he played “Here Comes Santa Claus” accompanied by hoots and applause from the attendees.

The hall was packed, and it took a while for the women to get to Barbara, but they finally made it. Frankie followed in Elinor’s wake and squeezed in right in front of Barbara there on the stand. Barbara looked over her head, pretending not to see her.

Viola joined Frankie. “She looks terrified,” she whispered, looking to where Elinor stood.

“She’ll find her groove,” Frankie whispered back, sounding more confident than she felt. Elinor did indeed look terrified.

“Ladies, we know each of you would make an excellent Mrs. Claus,” Barbara said to the women, who stood lined up next to her. “Can you each tell us why you’d like to be our Mrs. Claus this year?”

Elinor’s face turned as white as Santa’s beard, and she looked at Frankie in terror. What have you done to me?

Frankie nodded and smiled at her.You’ll be fine.

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