Mrs. Miracle 01 - Mrs. Miracle(63)



1 teaspoon dry mustard

3-4 green onions, minced

2/3 cup chutney

6 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

6 ounces chopped walnuts

Whip cream cheese with sherry, sugar, and spices. Fold in onion, chutney, cheese, and nuts. Chill overnight. Serve with fresh sliced apples and pears to scoop up the dip.



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Chapter 26


It’s all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you’re finished.

—Mrs. Miracle





“What do you mean your aunt Harriett can’t play the piano for the Christmas program?” It was all Reba could do not to clench Jayne by the collar and demand an explanation. “This is some kind of joke, right?”

Jayne retreated one small step. Reba didn’t blame her. She could feel the hysteria rising. The Christmas Eve program was scheduled in less than forty-eight hours. While she was confident that any number of volunteers were qualified to replace Mrs. Foster, Jayne’s aunt was the only one who’d practiced the routine with the children. The only one who knew the program backward and forward.

“She’s taken a nasty fall,” Jayne repeated. “She has to spend the night in the hospital and have her jaw wired. Her arm’s broken, too.”

Reba didn’t mean to be callous about the older woman’s injuries, but she was the one responsible for the performance. All week she’d heard how much this Christmas pageant meant to the church family. How pleased people were that she’d stepped in and taken over for Milly Waters. How grateful they were. Friends and family were planning on attending, people of other faiths. The pressure was on her and the children to give the performance of their lives.

And now she was without a pianist. Without hope.

Reba sank onto her chair and resisted the urge to bury her face in her arms. She didn’t know what she was going to do.

“I realize this isn’t the best time to ask, but would you mind terribly if I left a few minutes early?” Jayne asked, her words soft and cautious as if she were tiptoeing across a freshly polished floor. “I’d like to stop off at the hospital and visit my aunt. I know I complain about her a lot. She drives me crazy at times, but she is my aunt, and the only living relative on my mother’s side of the family.”

“Of course.” Having Jayne leave an hour early wasn’t nearly the catastrophe of not having a piano player for the church program. “Give her my best while you’re there. Tell her not to concern herself about a thing.” No need to heap more trouble on the woman’s shoulders. She had enough on her mind without having to worry about the Christmas program.

Something like this was bound to happen, Reba thought as Jayne silently gathered her things and left the agency. She glanced over her shoulder on her way out the door, and Reba managed a brave smile.

“Don’t worry,” Jayne said, “everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to.”

Reba didn’t believe that for an instant. She was supposed to go through this agony? Supposed to conjure up a piano player at the last minute? If she believed that, she’d have to accept that her sister was supposed to have ruined her wedding and her life. This was one of those clichéd comments she’d come to hate. It made no sense.

“Just remember, God doesn’t close a door without opening a window.”

The door closed, and Reba muttered, “Yeah, right.” She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, releasing her pent-up frustration.

It never failed. Just when she was beginning to see the light at the end of a tunnel, she discovered it was an oncoming train. Just when she was beginning to believe that she’d found a man who would love and accept her with all her faults and foibles, Seth revealed his true self.

He was like all the others, preaching love and forgiveness, telling her how much better it would be if she forgave Vicki. It hurt—far more than she cared to admit. She’d been so hopeful with Seth. She’d started to believe again. And trust. Still, she hadn’t said anything yet about ending their relationship. All the emotional strength she possessed would be focused on getting through Christmas and New Year’s. Afterward she’d deal with the situation with Seth, although there really wasn’t much to say or do. As far as she was concerned, it was over between them. Over before it started.

Their brief relationship wasn’t all that different from the others she’d had in the last four years. Only this time her heart had gotten involved. She cared about Seth, cared about his children.

Working with Judd and Jason, getting to know them, love them, would make parting all the more painful.

The bell over the door chimed, indicating that she had a customer. She looked up, expecting another last minute walk-in desperate for her to part the Red Sea and book Vegas on New Year’s. But it was much worse than that.

It was her mother.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Joan Maxwell strolled inside, as cheerful as a canary. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” Reba returned with a decided lack of enthusiasm.

Her mother’s face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you got a year?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She pulled up a chair beside Reba’s desk and plunked herself down as if she intended to sit right there until all was right with the world once again.

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