Page 76 of The Kiss Keeper
“It’s lovely to see you. What brings you to town?” Natalie asked the women.
“Gin,” Sister Evangeline, the sassy nun who had a thing for Jake, answered as she swallowed him up with her eyes.
“Gin! Wow, I didn’t think nuns drank,” Natalie replied.
The little nun shook her head. “Nobody bats an eyelash at a bunch of drunk monks brewing beer, but when a nun has a hankering for a nice gin martini, people think that the Savior himself should send a swarm of locusts to stop her.”
“When we’re in town, we sometimes enjoy an alcoholic beverage, in moderation, of course,” Sister Anne said, then leaned in. “And it keeps Sister Evangeline from getting too cranky and too handsy with the gardener. Poor, Dominic,” she said, then made the sign of the cross.
“I can feel Dominic’s pain,” Jake said under his breath as he blushed under Sister Evangeline’s penetrating gaze.
“Will you be leaving Maine soon? The anniversary celebration is set to conclude in a couple of days, right?” Sister Anne asked.
Natalie grinned as a wave of excitement laced with trepidation coursed through her body.
“Actually, Jake and I are staying. We’re going to be taking over the camp for my grandparents.”
Sister Anne made the sign of the cross again. “I’m so glad to hear that. It would have been a shame if they’d had to close. Your grandparents do so much for this community.”
Natalie shared a look with Jake. “Why would you say that?”
Sister Anne’s features grew pensive. “We were very worried and kept your grandparents in our prayers. It was touch and go about a year ago.”
“What was touch and go?” she asked, completely in the dark.
Sister Anne cocked her head to the side. “When your grandfather had pneumonia.”
Pneumonia? This was the first she’d heard of that. But that could explain his thinner frame and lingering cough.
“I didn’t know that my grandfather had been sick.”
The nun patted her arm. “He was quite ill. I believe he spent a week in the hospital. I visited him and your grandmother a few times.”
“I don’t understand why they didn’t tell me or anyone in the family,” Natalie replied.
The nun smiled sympathetically. “I don’t think your grandparents wanted to burden any of you, dear. They got through it, and your grandfather seems to be doing much better now. It must be such a relief for them to know that they’ll have some time to relax and enjoy life. They work so hard.”
Natalie’s mind was reeling when Sister Evangeline piped up.
“I’d like some time to relax, too! We just finished volunteering at the library, in the children’s area of all places. The polar opposite of relaxing!”
“How about we go in and have that drink,” Sister Anne suggested, biting back a grin as the women entered the tavern.
Natalie shook her head. “What do you make of that, Jake?”
“Six nuns walk into a tavern? It sounds like the beginning of a pretty bad joke,” he offered, but she wasn’t in the mood to laugh.
“No, my grandfather’s illness, and how they didn’t tell anyone in the family.”
He took her hand and threaded their fingers together as they continued down the sidewalk. “Not everyone is an open book, Natalie.”
“Yes, but if my grandfather was sick, I could have done something to help.”
He squeezed her hand. “You are doing something to help. You’re taking over the camp. They’re lucky they have you.”
She glanced up at him. “You mean us. They’re lucky to have us.”
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. But, Natalie, your grandparents are getting older. There are probably things they’d like to do while they can. Maybe this bout of pneumonia made them realize that.”
