Page 27 of Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa

A woman pushed a double baby stroller with adorable twin girls with flaming red hair. Marina had just passed a park, so she assumed that was their destination.

She slowed her car, peering through the windshield while consulting her GPS. “Here we are, just up ahead,” she murmured.

Parking along the curb, Marina exited her vehicle and halted on the sidewalk in awe. She faced a pristine white two-story mansion surrounded by wrought-iron railings and porches that wrapped around each side.

White columns graced the front porch while hanging baskets of greenery and lilies and roses overflowed.

The house was partly in shadow due to the mature trees in the large front yard. A manicured rose garden with bright reds and pinks graced one side. Stone walkways had been laid to stroll between displays of wild, overgrown azaleas and flowering bushes.

Marina sighed happily. She had always dreamed of living in a house like this in the Garden District. But it was a wild, unattainable dream. That was for sure.

Only the rich and famous lived here, and the homes were well over a century old, built in the early to late 19thcentury. The upkeep must be particularly costly.

Taking a breath, she climbed the brick staircase to the front door in the center of the wide porch. Rocking chairs and rugs and more flowers adorned the area.

The passing vehicles—commuting neighbors on their way to work at this early hour—seemed to fade when she rang the doorbell.

A woman wearing a pencil skirt and blouse opened the door. “Are you the woman from the antique store?” she inquired.

“Yes, I’m Marina Cormier from Miss Ruby Rose’s Antiques. I hope I’m not too early.”

“Not at all. Right on time.” She smiled pleasantly. “I’m Natalie Dixon, Mrs. Sutton’s assistant. Please come in. She’s expecting you.”

She opened the door wider and escorted Marina down a parquet floor with thick, soft rugs to an open door on the left side. Up ahead was a magnificent stairwell that wrapped downward from the second floor in two staircases. A chandelier hung high, high above Marina’s head.

“Here is the library, Miss Cormier. Please wait here.”

When Marina stepped inside, the instant scent of musty old books, paper, ink, and worn easy chairs permeated the air. So far, every ceiling was at least ten feet high—although the entrance hall had to be an impressive sixteen, if not more.

A desk was situated on one side. Family portraits on the walls. Windows that overlooked the side gardens. Morning sunlight streamed in, growing brighter with each moment, the shadows of oak leaves dancing on the carpets that covered more parquet wooden floors.

Marina stood at the window admiring the view. The neighbor’s backyard was lush with vegetation, trees, and a sparkling fountain.

“Miss Cormier,” a woman’s voice said from the doorway.

Marina whirled, as if she’d been caught spying. A blush rose up her face. “Yes, I’m—I’m Marina. From the antique store.”

The woman was at least eighty years old if a day. But she gazed at her with a pleasant smile as she strode forward totake Marina’s hand in her warm, dry one. “Miz Dorothy Sutton. Pleased to meet you, my dear. I knew your grandmother.”

“Wh—what?” Marina stammered. “You did? That’s—lovely—wonderful. I had no idea when I got the call to do a Garden District estate estimate.”

“Oh, my, yes, we go way back to high school days, if you can believe I was ever in high school with all these wrinkles and leaning on a cane I wish I could break in two and toss in the trash bin,” she joked with a sly smile.

Dorothy Sutton was remarkably self-effacing and seemed to be enjoying herself. Dressed in trim slacks and a cream-colored blouse with pearl earrings and necklace, only the flats she wore on her feet belied her age—and the cane, which Marina only noticed when Mrs. Sutton called attention to the physical assistance.

“Ruby and I palled around and got into mischief like all young people—teenagers now. I was at her funeral, you know.”

Marina chewed on her lips. “I’m sorry I don’t recall.”

“I wouldn’t think so since we had never met in person before. You were like a second daughter to Ruby, and you were in mourning. Quite overwhelmed with grief.”

Marina nodded, struggling to keep the emotion from filling her eyes at the kindness in the older woman’s voice. “She was my world for most of my life.”

Mrs. Sutton peered into her face, nodding knowingly. “Because of the early deaths of your parents. I even held your mother when she was a newborn. Our families go way back.”

“That’s so strange to me,” Marina said, trying to picture her Granny as a young married woman, Mrs. Sutton as her best friend, and her mother as a baby.

“Oh, I probably have a photograph somewhere in the bowels of this house! But,” she continued slowly, “I can take a guess at what you’re thinking. How did a woman who obviously comesfrom “old” money become friends with a wild spirit like Ruby Cormier?”

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