Weekend Warriors (Sisterhood #1)(59)
“Everyone close their eyes! I have a surprise for all of you!” Charles walked over to the table and placed the box of beignets in the center of the table. He then placed a copy of The Tattler in front of each woman, keeping one for himself. “You can open your eyes now!”
“Oh myyyy Goddd!” the women said as one.
“As you can see, this sleazy tabloid only mentions the men as Gentleman One, Two and Three. For privacy reasons, of course. The doctor all three men consulted had an assistant who spilled the story to The Tattler for fifty thousand dollars. She no longer works for the doctor, saying fifty big ones was a lot better than seven bucks an hour. That’s a direct quote, by the way.
“She said, and this is another direct quote, One, Two and Three brought their…ah…bags with them and wanted to know if there was a way to…ah…reattach them. The contents, not the bags,” Charles guffawed. “They were told modern medicine hadn’t made any inroads in that department. The assistant also said the men were prominent businessmen, cycle enthusiasts, and two of them were married and one divorced.
“The men told the physician that it happened on a motorcycle run for a charity benefit. All three of the men think some women on their way to a Harley-Davidson show drugged their drinks and did the dirty deed while they were knocked out. One of them recalls hearing a dog bark all night long. As the paper was going to press, no police reports had been filed.
“By the way, the assistant moved to New York the day she received and cashed her check. She is now represented by the William Morris Agency.”
“Oh my goodness,” Myra said.
“Hot damn!” Alexis said.
“No one said anything about my stitches. I do the best stitches in the business,” Julia grumbled. “And you were all worried they might bleed to death. When I sew ’em up, they’re sewed up.”
“This is so exciting,” Yoko babbled. We did that!” she said, pointing to the paper in front of her.
“Yes, we did,” Nikki smiled.
Both of Kathryn’s fists shot in the air. “This is the first time I’m actually glad that modern medicine is lagging behind.”
Isabelle burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. Charles thumped her on the back. “I’m sorry,” she continued to laugh. “I can just picture them walking into that doctor’s office with their nuts in those jars.”
“No, no, Isabelle, I sent them in Ziploc bags in padded envelopes,” Julia said.
“Like when you get goldfish at a pet store! Kathryn, you are truly vindicated,” Isabelle said, going off into peals of laughter again.
Charles opened the box on the table. “Beignets, anyone?”
Here is an excerpt from
another Sisterhood book,
VENDETTA,
which is Myra’s story,
now available from Zebra Books.
Myra walked over to the kitchen door to peer outside. She eyed the temperature gauge and gasped. “Charles, it’s twenty-seven degrees! Good heavens! Do we have enough wood for all the fireplaces? We did have an oil delivery, didn’t we? We’re going to freeze down in the war room.”
“Darling, relax. We have two full cords of wood. I carried several loads in earlier this afternoon. Oil was delivered three days ago. We are not going to freeze. Don’t you remember, dear, we had special heaters installed in the war room in early September?”
“You’re right, I forgot. I am just so overwhelmed that I am finally…Never mind, it’s all I’ve been talking about today. Your ears must be sore by now. The girls are late, aren’t they?”
“No, Myra, the girls are not late. We said seven and it’s only six-thirty. Please try and relax. Do you think they will like my dinner? I thought about doing something fancy and elegant but decided that, with the weather, the girls might like some comfort food. And I know how you like my pot roast.”
“It smells wonderful, Charles. The potato pancakes are my favorite. We have both sour cream and apple sauce, right?”
Charles wagged his wooden spoon in the air. “I have it all under control, right down to the wine, salad and dessert — and no, I did not forget Murphy.”
“Oh, Charles, whatever would I do without you? Never mind, I don’t even want to think about that. They’re almost late.”
“Almost doesn’t count, my dear.” Charles pointed to the security monitor positioned over the back door. “I think they’re here now. I see Kathryn’s rig in the lead. I think they wait at the end of the road so they can all arrive at the same time.”
“I think so, too. One car is missing, Charles. The girls will want to know all about Julia.” Myra started to fret again. “It’s not going to be the same without her. The empty chair is going to…Oh, Charles, I feel like crying.”
“There’s no time to cry, Myra. I hear Murphy barking. I think that means he’s glad to be back. Open the door, welcome our guests. We’ll talk about Julia later.”
There were squeals of delight, backslapping, high-fives and hugs galore as the five women and Murphy raced into the kitchen. The jabbering was so high-pitched that Murphy went into the huge family room to lie by the fireplace.
“Oh, I missed you all,” Isabelle said happily.