Page 70 of The Merry Matchmaker

Frankie gave a gasp of delight and hurried to hug her daughter.

“A great-grandma again,” Adele said happily, and held up her own T-shirt. Its amended message said Great-Grandkid. “Oh, baby.”

“‘Oh, baby’ is right,” Natalie said happily. “Another reason I don’t want to work full-time and have a long commute. We’ve waited too long for this one, and I want to enjoy it.”

Elinor congratulated her, then moved off to help a customer who’d come in and was inspecting the snow globes.

“I was going to tell you guys tomorrow, but I already told Aunt Stef, so it didn’t seem right to make you wait.”

“You already told Aunt Stef?” Frankie repeated. Of course, Natalie could tell who she wanted what she wanted when she wanted, but being the second to hear stung a little.

“We were having a shrink session,” said Natalie.

Frankie could only imagine what had been said at that shrink session and decided she didn’t want to hear any more. “Well, this is the best Christmas present...since Warner,” she said, and Natalie beamed. “When does present number two come?”

“August.”

“That will be here before you know it. And it gives us lots of time to plan a baby shower,” said Adele.

Elinor was back, their customer behind her carrying a huge snow globe with an angel at its center, and that ended the personal sharing.

“I gotta go,” Natalie said. “I need to run some errands.” She hugged Frankie and Adele, and then was gone.

Frankie was doing the happy dance as her daughter went out the door. “I’m going to be a second-time grandma,” she informed the snow-globe purchaser.

The woman, who looked about Natalie’s age, smiled. “We just had our first last March. My mom has gone berserk buying presents. I’m not bothering to get a baby’s first Christmas ornament because I know she’s already been in and gotten one.”

“Children and Christmas, they go together like sugar cookies and milk,” Frankie said. She turned to Adele. “Oh, Mom, this is the best news ever.”

Here it was, her Hallmark sequel. The joy of it all kept her smiling the rest of the day.

“Want to get Chinese and stream a movie?” Frankie asked her mother later. They’d closed the shop and were walking to their cars.

“Sorry, I’ve got plans.”

Adele was usually up for hanging out and watching a movie. “Did one of the bunco babes claim you?” asked Frankie.

“One of my friends. I’d have thought you’d be with Viola. Isn’t her husband still working nights?”

“He’s home sick, so they’ve quarantined themselves. I was going to go over there and help her paint her bathroom.”

“Are you sure he’s really sick? Maybe Viola’s hiding from you until she can get her painting project done,” Adele teased.

“Funny. Not.”

Adele wrapped an arm around Frankie’s shoulders. “You have a night free. Call that handsome young man and see if he wants to do something.”

“That’s over,” Frankie said.

Adele studied her and frowned. “That was quick.”

Frankie shrugged. “I knew it wasn’t right.”

“You didn’t give it much of a chance.”

“I gave it all the chance it needed.”

Adele let out a frustrated breath. “Daughter dear, I understand that desire to wall yourself off, but don’t give in to it. Hurt will find you no matter how careful you are, and if you spend all your life making sure you won’t get hurt, you’ll also deprive yourself of a lot of happiness.”

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