Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(43)

“What can I do? You know why he’s getting married. Bev won’t let him be a part of Diana’s life unless he marries her. And since Norman’s her father, he wants to be a part of her life.”

“So you’re just going to look the other way and do nothing.” Delores summed it all up the way she saw it. “You’re going to be polite, and nice, and take the crumbs Bev is willing to give to you. A little hi if he happens to see you on the street, a wave if he drives by, a Christmas card from the newlyweds.”

Hannah shrugged. “I hope it’s not that bad, but if it is, I’ll just have to cope with it.”

“You even took his cat!” Andrea said accusingly.

“What else could I do? Norman loves Cuddles and so do I. I couldn’t bear to see him agonize over finding her a new home. Norman and I are still friends. It’s just that we won’t see each other as often. He feels terrible about that, and so do I.”

“We all talked about this,” Michelle said. “All three of us think you’re enabling Norman.”

“Enabling?” Hannah snapped her mouth shut as their waitress arrived with their desserts. The flourless chocolate cake had lost its appeal, and so had the chocolate angel pie. She picked up her fork anyway, but put it back down on her plate when the waitress left them alone again. “How am I enabling him?” she asked.

“For one thing, you’re making things easy for Norman,” Andrea said, and Hannah noticed that she hadn’t taken a bite of her own dessert either.

Michelle shoved her dessert to the side. “You let him take the easy way out with Cuddles. He never even had to try to find a new home for her. You said you’d take Cuddles right away.”

“But ...”

“Just listen to me,” Michelle interrupted her. “Because of you, Norman never had to make a hard decision through this whole thing with Bev. If he’d been forced to make those hard choices, he might have decided that it wasn’t worth it.”

“Let me,” Delores said, shushing Michelle. “Think about it, dear. Norman didn’t have to give up Cuddles to a stranger because the minute he mentioned it, you took her. He might have had second thoughts if you hadn’t volunteered so quickly.”

“And how about the birthday party?” Andrea reminded her. “Norman didn’t have to find somebody else to make a dessert for Bev’s birthday party, because you told Mike you would. Norman might have realized exactly how upset you were if you’d refused to bake something for Bev.”

“Your problem is you’re just too understanding,” Michelle accused her. “Last night you told me you thought Bev was just saying she was allergic to cats to keep Norman from seeing you. Isn’t that right?”

“Well ... yes. I do suspect that she isn’t as allergic as she tells Norman she is.”

“Then why didn’t you act on that suspicion?” Delores asked. “You could have set some kind of trap for her and proved that she was faking it. You let her get away with it. Norman thinks she’s allergic to cats. He might have thought twice about believing anything Bev told him if you’d set a trap to prove that her cat allergy was fake.”

“I thought about doing that.”

“But you didn’t do it,” Andrea pointed out. “Do you really think Norman’s going to be happy with Bev?”

“Well ... no. No, I don’t. But he’s doing the right thing.”

“Is he?” Andrea asked.

“Yes. I told you all before. Norman wants to be a part of his daughter’s life.”

“How do you know she’s his daughter?” Michelle spoke up again.

“Bev was pregnant when they split up in Seattle, but she didn’t tell Norman about it.”

“Let me get this straight.” Delores took over again. “You do suspect that Bev is lying about her cat allergy to keep Norman from you. But you don’t suspect that Bev is lying about her daughter’s paternity to keep Norman from you.”

“Well ... when you put it like that ...” Hannah’s voice trailed off.

“You say you’re going to miss Norman a lot if you don’t get to see him very often,” Andrea said.

“It’s true. I will miss him.” Hannah blinked away the tears that threatened to form in her eyes.

“But don’t you see what you’re doing?” Michelle asked. “You’re making things easy for Bev by not confronting her. Because you’re polite and you don’t want to make waves, you’re shoving Norman straight into her arms.”

“If you really care for Norman as much as you say you do, you’ll fight for him!” Andrea said.

“But ... I don’t know what I can do at this point.”

“We do,” Delores informed her. “The way we see it, you have two choices. You can either fight for Norman, or you can roll over and give up.”

“But I wasn’t trying to roll over and give up. I was just trying to be nice.”

“There are times to be nice, and times to stand up for what you really want from life. Did I raise my daughter to be a spineless quitter?”

“You did not!” Hannah said. And as she said it, she felt a giant weight slide off her shoulders. “You certainly did not!”