Page 32 of Christmas Secrets

Dottie caught the wink and wondered what that was about?

Pauley walked in with Jamie and surveyed the goodies with a practiced eye, then smiled at Dottie. “I see two Clootie Dumplings, Dottie. Did ye bring both?” she asked, her sparkling brown eyes giving no indication that there was anything amiss.

Dottie studied her carefully. Mayhap Jamie and Pauley didn’t know. “Umm...nay...mine are the ones with the red string. I don’t know who brought the others.”

Lucerne spoke up. “There was a note saying they were a surprise fer someone special, that’s all we know. We don’t even know fer sure how they got there. They just appeared.”

That was when Dottie realized this probably was the treat Ben had made to surprise her. She had the best husband.

Pauley’s eyebrows lifted in excitement. “Sounds like another mystery. As if All Hallow’s Eve wasn’t bad enough this year,” she added with a chuckle.

“Yer the detective, lass, figure it out,” Jamie teased.

Pauley cocked her head to consider that. “Mayhap I should taste one...just to be sure someone isn’t playing a trick on us and made them with salt or something.”

Darro groaned and pointed the carving knife at Pauley. “That’s the weakest detective strategy I’ve heard yet.” He chuckled and shook his head.

“Well...someone has to volunteer,” Poppy added, her eyes twinkling. “So far, no one we’ve asked has admitted to bringing them.

“Volunteer fer what?” Angus asked, coming through the kitchen doorway.

“To taste the mysterious Clootie Dumplings,” Poppy replied. “No one has admitted to bringing them.”

Angus rubbed his stomach. “This is a job fer an expert palate. I’ll have to be the one to taste them.”

They all hooted at him, but Pauley stepped aside and waved Angus to the table. “Be my guest. If they are laced with arsenic, there is a doctor in the house and I know the symptoms of arsenic poisoning.”

Angus’s eyebrows crawled to the top of his head. “Only a detective would come up with a theory like that about a simple food dish. Jamie, control yer wife, lad.”

Jamie grinned. “She has a point, ye bampot.”

Darro walked over to the table. “Since ye are the one with a bottomless pit fer a stomach, I say ye should taste them. Ye will still have plenty of room fer everything else on the menu.”

“I’ve already put in three hours herdin’ strays into the north pasture,” Angus protested. “Ye work me hard and then expect me to have a dainty appetite? Not goin’ to happen.”

Darro grinned. “Dainty is nae the word fer yer appetite, ye old coot. Go ahead, open up one of the sacks and take it out. Let’s see this dumpling that has everyone so curious.”

Dottie was more than relieved that no one even shot a furtive look her way. Mayhap Ben was right, mayhap most of them didn’t know. The relief was overwhelming.

The advent of a mystery food donor seemed to be keeping everyone speculating. She knew there were several other women there, including the Chief Inspectors wife who had a good reputation as a cook. Chief Inspector Quinn Tannock was a good friend of Darro and Jamie both, so they had been on the guest list for today. She had to assume Poppy had somehow sneaked it in for Ben.

Dal and Luca, Pauley’s son, walked in together and the circle opened to let them in. “Why is Angus getting dessert first?” Dal asked curiously. “Oh...it’s the mysterious Clootie D,” he added. “Maybe Ainsley made it,” he offered.

Lucerne shook her head. “No way Ainsley made it. Not that she couldn’t, but ye can’t make Clootie Dumplings and no one know about it unless ye live alone. It’s time consuming and messy. If she made it, it wasn’t done here.”

“It looks good,” Luca offered with a boyish grin. Luca and Dal had become friends when Luca was hidden at Heaven’s Gate during a murder investigation. “Sure ye don’t want some help with that, Angus?”

Angus shot him an affronted glance. “Ye just be keepin’ yer hands to yerself, laddie. This requires a professional palate.”

They all laughed as he removed the sack from the dumpling and admired it. “It has good color, that’s fer sure. Someone hand me a knife so I can cut a slice.”

Poppy brought him a cake knife. “Here you go, honey.”

Angus carefully cut a small slice of the rounded cake and laid it on a paper dessert plate then picked up a plastic fork. “Here we go.” He cut a piece off with the fork and placed it in his mouth.

They could all see his tongue swirling around in his cheek, his eyes closing, and a groaning sound coming from his closed mouth. Everyone watched closely, especially Dottie. She was wondering how Ben’s dumplings would stack up against her professionally made dumplings.

At last Angus opened his eyes. “Verra verra good,” he pronounced, digging his fork in again. “Excellent in fact. Almost as good as Lucerne’s.”

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