Shelley wasn't the best listener when she was excited. But, then again, nine years old.
"How about after breakfast you help me shred up some lettuce and carrots and we can put them out there for the bunnies?"
"Yes! And raspberries! Bunnies like raspberries!" Her blue eyes shone. "Jack said so!"
"How does Jack know bunnies like raspberries?"
Jack, now stirring eggs in my biggest cast-iron skillet, shrugged. "Everybody knows that."
Shelley's mouth widened to an O. "JACK! You would never eat a BUNNY, would you?"
He gave her a very serious look. "Never. No bunnies, only bacon."
She looked doubtful. "Not even when you're a tiger?"
"Not even then. I promise."
Sunshine and joy spread across her adorable little face. "YAY! You couldn't marry Tess if you ate bunnies."
Then she raced across the kitchen and out the door, leaving me standing in a room filled with total silence, except for the sounds of the bacon crackling on the stove.
Aunt Ruby made a sound I'd never heard from her before: a cross between a gasp and a squeak. "Tess? Is there something you need to tell us?"
Uncle Mike, meanwhile, was staring at Jack with eyes that had narrowed considerably. "Ruby? Is my shotgun still in the back of the truck?"
I blew out a breath, feeling my cheeks get hot. "Stop it. Just stop it. You know how Shelley is. She got some gossip mixed up that she heard third-hand from Eleanor by way of her grandson Zane. Nobody is getting married. We just had our first date!"
Uncle Mike said nothing, just looked at Jack, who kept stirring the eggs, although I could see a grin quirking the corners of his lips.
"Jack? Back me up here," I finally said.
Jack gave Uncle Mike an innocent look. "Can I call you Dad?"
"Argh! I've had enough of all of you." I threw up my hands and stomped out of my kitchen, just in time to see Mellie at my front door.
"Mellie!" I hurried over to open the door, took the box of donuts and put it on a table, and threw my arms around her. "I'm so glad to see you! Are you okay?"
(I'd known Mellie since grade school. My gift didn't kick in with her.)
She hugged me back. "Oh, Tess. Thank you so much! If you and Jack hadn't figured out what was going on, who knows what might have happened to me! I still can't believe my cousin is so evil."
"I'm not sure he's evil, so much as seriously disturbed," I said, moving back to let her come in. "I hope he can get help. I just wish we could find out what happened to poor Ann Feeney."
Ann's finger had been in the box Vern sent to me that kicked off the entire ordeal. She'd been missing for a while, and we were afraid he'd killed her and disposed of her body—the rest of her body—in the swamp somewhere.
Mellie smiled at Dallas, her dimples flashing. She was all blonde curls, tanned skin, and sparkling blue eyes, even though there were still shadows beneath her eyes from her ordeal. Then she turned back to me. "Oh! Tess, didn't you hear? They found Ann."
"Is she… was she…"
"She's alive! Alive and well, except for her finger, of course. She was tied up in a little fishing cabin our uncle owned I didn’t even know Vern still had." She shuddered. "Who knows what else went on in there? The police are scouring it for evidence. CSI stuff, I guess."
The relief sweeping through me made my entire body relax. "Thank goodness!"
"Good news all around," Mellie said. "Dallas just texted me you're getting married!"
I seriously needed a new group of Known Associates.
11
