Page 36 of The Magical Bed & Breakfast

Rory stood and stretched and felt his back pop. He shook himself out a little, stretching his fingers and cracking his neck muscles. He had been at it for a long time. With a glance back at his work, he stroked the wood on the piano and went in search of his innkeeper. He found Kate in the kitchen, polishing the handles on her cabinetry.

“I didn’t mean to chase you away from your own piano.”

“You didn’t. I needed a break, and I have other work to do.” She set her brass cleaning aside to wash her hands.

Rory nodded. “Can I take you to dinner at the diner?”

Kate glanced at him, surprised. “Really, you don’t need to do that.”

“If I needed to do it, it wouldn’t be fun.” He grinned. “Come on, I’ve heard they have new Mexican specials.”

“In Hazard? Seriously?”

“Crazy, isn’t it? Let’s live dangerously.”

“I’d love that. Thank you.”

*

Kate stepped outinto the hall with Rory and glanced at the stairs just in time to see the cat’s shadow on the wall. But there was no cat on the stairs. Had she imagined it? She put a hand on his arm. “Did you see that?”

Rory was shrugging into the jacket he had hung on the coat tree earlier. He turned.

Kate pointed up at the landing. “The cat on the stairs.”

“Just now?” He shook his head. “No, but I do think I know how kitty is getting around. I think it travels through the walls.”

“The walls? Inside the walls?” Kate gave a backward glance at the stairs. She was certain she’d seen a shadow, and this time was certain there had beennothingon the stairs to cast it.

Chapter Fifteen

Kate and Roryfell into step on the cement walk. Kate listened as Rory told her about the tiny compartment in his closet.

“It’s possible, I suppose,” she said. But it still didn’t explain what she had just seen on the stairs. “I’m beginning to wonder if the cat is real.”

“It slept with me last night. I could see the indent where it curled up on the bed with me.”

Kate pondered this. That confirmed the reality of the cat, but the mouse skeleton had been truly odd. What cat picked the bones clean without breaking them?

They jogged across the street to cut through the green to get to the diner, pausing at the statue of Edwin Hazard. “He’s so imposing, don’t you think?”

“The captain?”

“Yes. He must’ve been important to have a statue.”

“He was a local hero, helped establish the community and defeat the British here locally. He worked with the owner of your inn, actually, Franklin Worthy.”

“I didn’t know. I haven’t been able to learn much about local history, only bits and pieces, and, well, Hazel has a lot to say on the subject. But everything she shares about her ancestor is so glowing that I can’t think anyone was everthatperfect.”

“Not perfect, no—human, but still a hero. That’s what makes a hero, isn’t it? That someone does a great thing, even as a mere human.”

“So, not larger than life?” Kat waved at the clearly larger-than-life stone replica. “But a life that accomplished something extraordinary.”

Rory nodded. “They were extraordinary times. The future of our country hung in the balance.” They fell back into step together in the dusky dark, wind rustling the branches above their heads as they crunched through leaves scattered on the walkways winding through the square.

“What is it they say? The birth pangs of a nation? It always sounds so weighty, but it was small incidents, all combined together, that set a blueprint for freedom.” Kate knew her American history, of course. You couldn’t not, growing up and going through school on the East Coast. She had been to many a battle site and historical monument on school field trips as a youth.

“Hazard had its own struggles. Personal struggles and serious efforts to contribute to the success of the American rebels.”

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