Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(53)

Chapter Eighteen


The house they entered was neat and tidy, the sort of home that welcomed visitors in from the cold. The decor wasn’t designer perfect, but it was comfortable and soothing. Judy led them to the kitchen, where a close relative to Hannah’s Formica table and padded chrome chairs sat in a breakfast nook.

“I love this kitchen set,” Hannah said as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “I have one almost like it at home. Mine’s yellow, but I wish it was red, like yours.”

“You should buy my house. I’ll probably have to leave all my furniture.” Judy turned to face her. “I’m going to put it up for sale, but not for couple of months. I want to wait to see if this works.”

“You mean ... the marriage?” Andrea asked, jumping to the obvious conclusion.

“Yes.” Judy carried mugs of coffee to the table and went back for cream and sugar. “I have some Raspberry Drop Sandwich Cookies Diana and I baked last night. Would you like one?”

“I would,” Hannah said. “I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like.”

“This is a good recipe,” Judy said, bringing a plate of cookies to the table. “Raspberry is one of Diana’s favorite fruits.”

Hannah bit into a cookie. It was fabulous. The raspberry taste was intense, and the cookie was soft and utterly delicious. There was a little frosting in the middle. It tasted like tart raspberry, and it went perfectly with the sweetness of the cookie. “They’re wonderful cookies, Judy. Could I have a copy of the recipe?”

“Of course.” Doctor Bev’s mother opened a three-ring binder and took out a sheet of paper. “Here you are,” she said, handing it to Hannah.

As Hannah accepted the printed recipe, she began to feel a bit guilty for deceiving Judy, but Norman’s happiness was at stake. Anything they could learn about Doctor Bev and Diana could be beneficial.

“I put all my recipes on the computer when Diana was a baby. Every time she took a nap, I typed at least one into the file. It’s taken me four years, but it’s very convenient to print out a clean copy every time I cook or bake.”

“That’s something I have to do,” Hannah told her. “I have some on my computer, but there are a lot more to type up.”

“You said you wanted to wait and see if your daughter’s marriage works,” Andrea said, getting them back on subject. “Are you worried about the man your daughter is marrying?”

“Not at all,” Judy said, sounding very definite. “I met him last weekend and he’s just wonderful. He’s generous, and kind, and ... just the nicest person. I ...” she stopped and took another swallow of her coffee. “It’s my daughter I’m worried about. She’s just not cut out for marriage.”

“Oh?” Hannah questioned. She gave Andrea a look that warned her to be silent, and then they both waited for Judy to explain what she’d meant by not cut out for marriage.

Hannah counted the seconds as they ticked by. The hardest thing in the world was to wait for someone to speak. But it was imperative that Judy trust them enough to tell them something, anything, that they could use to stop the marriage between Doctor Bev and Norman. The silence stretched on as the second hand on Judy’s kitchen clock made another full round, and then she sighed loudly.

“This is a hard thing for a mother to say,” Judy began, but then she was silent again. After a moment or two, she took a deep breath and confessed, “I don’t think she loves this man at all. I think she’s only marrying him for financial reasons. Of course she doesn’t tell me that. She says she wants Diana to have a normal family life with a mother and a father.”

“But you don’t believe her?” Andrea asked.

“No. She’d like me to think that she’s turned over a new leaf and she really cares about Diana now. But if she really did care about Diana, she’d spend more time with her and less time with her own friends.”

It was a harsh assessment, and Hannah could tell that it hurt Judy to say so. Part of her wanted to say something to make Judy feel better, but the other part of her wanted to hear even more negative things about Doctor Bev.

“To tell the truth, I don’t think my daughter even likes Diana. She was always more interested in going out and having fun than she was in being a good mother to her. It’s clear that Diana is a burden to her. And she wants to pass that burden on to me and her new husband.”

“And you don’t think this man would be a good father to Diana?” Hannah asked. And then she held her breath waiting for the answer.

“Oh, he’d be a wonderful father! I just don’t think it’s fair, that’s all. It’s clear to me he doesn’t love my daughter, and it’s also clear she doesn’t love him. Getting married for the sake of a child never works.”

“Even if this man is Diana’s biological father?”

“That could be different. Then he might feel a certain responsibility, and he’d put up with my daughter for Diana’s sake. But he’s not.”

“He’s not Diana’s biological father?” Hannah asked.

Judy sighed deeply. “I shouldn’t say that. I don’t really know if he is or he isn’t, but he just doesn’t fit the other things she’s said about the man who fathered her baby. When she came back home pregnant, all she’d say was that she’d made a bad mistake, Diana’s father had refused to marry her, and it was too late to do anything about it. That certainly doesn’t sound like this man. He’s just too ... honorable. If he was Diana’s father and Bev asked him to marry her, he would have married her immediately.”