Back on Blossom Street (Blossom Street #4)(91)

Susan came out of the kitchen, her face wreathed in a smile. She hugged each in turn, and Alix could tell that her welcome held nothing back.

“I brought a cake and a salad,” she told her, setting the cake on the table. Jordan put the cooler on the kitchen counter.

“Alix,” Susan said, “that wasn’t necessary. My heavens, your wedding’s next week! You must have a hundred things to do.”

“Oh, no, everything’s under control.” Or it was now that the wedding had been scaled down to just Jordan’s family and their own close friends. Alix loved the simplicity of it—especially compared to the five-act play, complete with sets, props and a cast of thousands that Jacqueline and Susan had tried to produce.

Jordan’s father came inside, and father and son exchanged hugs.

Alix liked the fact that her fiancé and his father had such a good relationship. When it came time to start their family, she knew Jordan would be a wonderful dad and his parents would be ideal grandparents. That was a comfort—although the thought of motherhood still scared her. She told herself repeatedly that it was something she didn’t need to worry about yet.

Susan had prebaked the spareribs and while Alix set the outdoor table, Larry and Jordan stood on the lawn by the barbecue. They chatted as Larry slathered the ribs in sauce, and their laughter floated over to her. Alix enjoyed their easy camaraderie.

“I talked with Grandma Turner,” Susan said, joining Alix on the patio, carrying two glasses of lemonade. “She’s very pleased that you and Jordan are using the lake house for your wedding.”

“She’s been so good to us.” Alix didn’t know what she would’ve done without the love and support of Jordan’s grandmother.

Susan handed Alix her lemonade. “I invited her to join us today, but she called this morning and said she was feeling a bit under the weather.”

“The wedding isn’t too much for her, is it?” she asked anxiously. Although she and Jordan had done everything they could to ensure that none of the burden fell on his grandmother, Alix was still concerned. Sarah was eighty-six, after all.

“No, no.” Susan dismissed her question. “Grandma would be terribly disappointed if you and Jordan were married anywhere else. Besides, your wedding will be like a family reunion for her.”

Alix took a small sip of her lemonade.

“What’s going on with Colette’s friend?” Susan asked next as they sat at the picnic table across from each other. “I was at the flower shop and Susannah said Colette’s been off work because someone she knows—her former boss, apparently—has gone missing.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “His name’s Christian Dempsey.”

The word was out to the media now, and there was plenty of speculation. “Isn’t it bizarre?” Christian Dempsey’s disappearance in China had made all the local newscasts.

“There’s a front-page article in this morning’s paper,” Susan told her. “No one seems to know what’s happened to him. When’s the last time you talked to Colette?”

“Yesterday.” Alix remembered their lengthy conversation. “She’s staying with Christian’s great-aunt Elizabeth. He’s like a son to her and she’s taking the news badly.”

“I’m so sorry,” Susan murmured. “We’ll keep all of them in our prayers.”

Alix mumbled her thanks. Extra prayers certainly couldn’t hurt, and she’d given it a try herself, as well.

There was a pause as Susan leaned forward, tension in every line of her body.

“Uh, Alix.” She cleared her throat. “I hear that Margaret Langley asked a favor of you.” Susan seemed to be making an effort to sound casual.

Alix hid her frown behind the glass, sipping while she composed a response. She’d told Jordan about Margaret’s request and while she hadn’t explicitly asked him to keep their conversation to himself, she hadn’t expected him to run tattling to his parents, either.

“Apparently she wanted some…help from you?” Susan elaborated.

Setting her glass on the picnic table, Alix wrapped her hand around it. “Jordan talked to you about that, did he?”

“I hope you aren’t upset, but he did mention it to his father, and Larry told me.” Susan seemed surprised by her reaction. “I would never have brought it up if I’d known…well, actually I would have. Do you mind if we talk frankly?”

Alix pushed the glass aside and nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

“I’ve come to love you, Alix. I want you to know that. I remember you as a child, attending Sunday school classes. You were always a sweet little girl, so eager to please and learn. When my husband started the bus ministry, we were so happy that both you and your brother were part of it.”

It was difficult to hold back a snicker. “My parents were willing to send us anywhere as long as we were away from the house for a couple of hours on Sunday morning.” She stared right into Susan’s eyes. “You know, so they could sleep off their hangover.”

Susan ignored that. “I remember how hard you tried to fit in with the other girls,” she went on.

Alix remembered, too. She hadn’t owned any clothes other than what she wore to school. There were no pretty dresses for her at Easter or Christmas. She felt fortunate if she got a piece of clothing that didn’t come out of a secondhand store.