despite the gray, cold day. Most compelling of all, however, was the table laden with pots of tea and, thankfully, coffee, crisp bacon, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and steaming oatmeal.
“I’m going to kiss the cook,” Eva exclaimed, pulling out a chair, “right after I pig out.”
Magnolia chuckled, seating herself. “What will you have?”
“Just don’t let any body parts get too close to my plate.”
Clucking her tongue to hide her smile, Magnolia poured tea for herself while Eva heaped her plate. A large woman with brownish-gray, chin-length hair came out of a side door and carried a basket of ridiculously fragrant muffins to the table.
“Hilda,” Magnolia said, “this is our guest, Miss Eva Belle Russell. Miss Russell—”
Shielding her full mouth behind her hand, Eva corrected her. “Eva. Just Eva.”
“Eva,” Magnolia went on, “this is our cook, Mrs. Hilda Worth. Her husband, Chester—”
Whatever else she might have said got lost when Eva jumped up and smacked a kiss on Hilda’s cheek.
Hilda screeched an “Oh!” and started to laugh. “That hungry, are you? I was told to fatten you up. No one said you were starving.”
“I’ll kiss your feet to keep eating like this,” Eva said, dropping back into her chair and reaching for a muffin. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply. Lately she’d found that she couldn’t always smell as well as she should, but the ginger aroma made her head swim. Biting off a huge chunk, she let the flavors infuse her mouth before she chewed, moaning with delight, and swallowed. Hilda waddled back into the kitchen, chuckling and shaking her head.
“You’ve made a friend there,” Magnolia told her. “Feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen that doesn’t need cooking, and if you like reading or want to use the computer, I’ll show you the library.”
That caused Eva to pause in her feeding. “You have a real library?”
Magnolia nodded. “And a music room. Just off the ballroom.”
“You’re pulling my leg.”
“Hardly.”
“Huh. Sure beats a roadside park for amenities.”
Eva went on eating, aware that she was behaving like a perfect glutton but unable to help herself. It had been so long since she had been able to simply eat her fill that she couldn’t stop until she was stuffed. When she finally put down her fork, Magnolia was looking a little worried.
“Are you going to keep all that down?”
“I think so, but if you don’t mind, I’m just going to sit here for a minute to let it all settle. I wouldn’t want to upset the Muffin Queen by upchucking her delicious food.”
Magnolia laughed, waved a knobby hand and picked up her teacup, long since having finished her own breakfast. Eva stretched out her legs beneath the table and folded her hands over her packed middle.
“The doc said he’d take me to get my things out of my van today.”
“It’s his half day at the office,” Magnolia told her, “so I imagine he’ll be around this afternoon, but I can call him to remind him, just in case.”
“Ah. You know him pretty well, then.”
“I should say so. We’ve known Brooks Harris Leland his entire life.”
Eva sat up straight again. “Do tell.”
Magnolia looked down, picking up stray crumbs from the tabletop with her fingertip and transferring them to her plate. “He’s a family friend, the best friend of our nephew Morgan. His father was paralyzed in a fall when Brooks was in grade school and died while he was in college. His mother wore herself out taking care of her husband and died before Brooks married.”
“He’s a widower, right? He mentioned his late wife last night.”
Magnolia’s amber gaze speared Eva’s. “That’s right. His wife, Brigitte, died only a few years after they married.”
“And he hasn’t remarried?”
“No. It’s been, oh, sixteen, seventeen years, and he’s never remarried, never even come close, that I know of.”
Eva realized that her mouth hung open and snapped it shut. “Dr. Gorgeous has been single for that long?”
Lifting her eyebrows, Magnolia disciplined a smile. “He is rather...handsome, isn’t he?”
Rolling her eyes, Eva said, “Yeah, well, there’s eye candy and there’s handsome. In my book, handsome is as handsome does.”
“And as I said, Brooks is handsome,” Magnolia insisted. “He’s a fine Christian man.”
“Which is three reasons to avoid him,” Eva told herself, only to realize that she’d spoken aloud when Magnolia frowned at her.
“Three reasons?”
Eva cleared her throat. So much for that interior monitor. Still, might as well lay it out for the old girl. “One, he’s a doctor.”
“Not usually a negative,” Magnolia mused, obviously confused.
“Two, he’s gorgeous.”
“Again, not usually a strike against a man.”
“And three,” Eva went on, only to realize that number three might actually insult her hostess, an outspoken Christian. “He, um, is obviously still in love with his late wife.”
“I suppose that might be true,” Magnolia mused, frowning.
“How about kids?” Eva asked, more to distract Magnolia than from any true desire for an answer. As a rule, she tried not to think about other people and their kids.
“None, sadly,” Magnolia told her with a shake of her iron-gray head.
“Well, at least he’s not raising them alone,” Eva said, quickly adding, “I mean, since he hasn’t remarried. I can see why he might not, really. If his experience with happily-ever-after was anything like mine, he’ll have sworn off forever-after, believe me.”
“You’ve been very hurt, haven’t you?” Magnolia observed more than asked. “Was your husband a professing Christian then?”
Eva snorted. “Not hardly.”
“Perhaps that was part of the problem,” Magnolia suggested before abruptly getting to her feet. “Now, let me show you the library.”
Sheepishly, Eva got up and let the garden gnome in her cardigan and penny loafers lead her back through the house to the library just off the foyer across from the formal parlor.
* * *
First a phone call,
