Page 8 of Christmas Secrets

“What are we having fer dinner?” Darro asked. “Do I need to grab something on my way home? I’ll be awhile yet, visiting hours are no over until 8:00 p.m. so I’ll be staying until then.”

“Dottie brought over some lasagna that we are just heatin’ up.”

There was silence on the phone.

Angus looked at his phone to see if he’d gotten disconnected. “Boss?”

Ainsley snickered. “Suck it up, big brother,” she called out from the table.

Angus grinned at her and then spoke into the phone. “I hate to tell ye because of yer appetite, but it tastes like an angel made it. I don’t know if there will be any left by the time ye get here.”

“If ye’re on the level, there had better be,” Darro growled in his ear. “I’m starving right now. The cafeteria downstairs is closed and my stomach is complaining. It’s not my appetite that has to be monitored. Don’t ye go eating an entire pan on yer own, ye old coot.”

“I did put dibs on one pan, but that was only so I could save some fer ye, boss,” Angus assured him loudly, sending pious glares around at everyone else. “Well, and we have to share with Jaimie.”

Everyone at the table hooted back at him. “I’ve got ye covered, Darro,” Jamie called towards the phone.

“I’m almost afraid to say it, but Lucerne said there’s two chocolate fudge cakes in the walk-in pantry that she baked yesterday and set aside fer her hospital stay. Save some room fer dessert and maybe I’ll get some of that lasagna yet,” he replied with a derisive snort into the phone. “It’s a good thing Corey and Delilah are staying with their cousins until Lucerne gets home as well,” he added.

“I’ve always got room fer dessert,” Angus assured him with a chuckle. “See ye soon.” He rang off and slipped the phone in his pocket. “Chocolate fudge cakes in the pantry, ye heathens. One fer me, Jamie, and Darro, and one fer the rest of ye.”

Ben shook his head at Angus’s shenanigans. “Poppy, have ye figured out yet where Dad puts all the food he eats?” he asked as he turned to his step-mother.

She shook her head, her brown eyes twinkling. Her American accent was very different among the lilting Scottish brogue of the rest of them. “No, I haven’t, Ben. I’m afraid it’s going to be one of the mysteries we will never solve. But do give Dottie our thanks for the meal tonight. And to save that recipe she used. According to your dad’s palate, it’s going to be a real keeper.”

“Ye got that right,” Angus enthused.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Ben replied, as Poppy and Pauley got up to take the food out of the oven.

As Poppy filled a dish with food for Ben to take home, Angus watched his son take a bite of the lasagna and the subsequent delight and wonder that lit up his eyes. “I can hardly believe Dottie made this,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

“She’s learning,” Poppy replied cheerfully, handing him the dish, plus a covered plate with two hefty slices of cake.

“Neither can I,” Angus grumbled under his breath as his son left the kitchen with his bounty. Something was off about this entire situation, but he’d be darned if he could pinpoint just exactly what it was.

Chapter 3

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