“Well, yeah. We had a still down there back when we was tryin’ to add the vampire wine to some moonshine. The idea was to make it stretch more and preserve it in a recipe my daddy used. Unfortunately, Jules found the still and took it apart. Threw out some perfectly good whiskey too, I reckon.”
“Well, that’s too bad.”
“It’s a damn shame. If the still weren’t illegal in the first place, I’d call it a crime.”
Merry raised her eyebrows. “Is making wine illegal?”
“Nah. Not for your own use. To sell alcohol is illegal, but that’s a racket the government’s got goin’. They want their tax money. If everyone made and sold their own under the table, the liquor stores would lose a lot of business and the government would lose out on all those taxes.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Merry mulled that over, then asked, “So how do you make your own wine?”
“Oh, it’s dead easy. It’s just sugar, water, yeast, and grape juice. When it’s all good an’ mixed together, y’all just pour it in a glass bottle and fix a balloon over the top.”
“A balloon? What does that do?”
“Well, it blows up with the carbon dioxide. You gotta make a few pin holes in the balloon to let it out.”
“Wouldn’t that keep the balloon from inflating?”
“Nah, the balloon gets big anyway. When it loses all its poof and goes flat again, the wine’s done. Y’all have to strain it through a pillowcase to catch the junk at the bottom, but the final stuff is plumb delicious.”
“Speaking of plumbs, I’ve heard of wines being made with fruits other than grapes. Have you ever tried to make other kinds?”
“Oh, heck, yes. My momma made raspberry, peach, and cherry wine. Any kind of fruit juice will do—exceptin’ orange or any other citrus.”
“You know what? That sounds like fun. I should talk to Jason first, but I’ll bet he’ll be fine with it.”
“Then y’all will tell Jules to leave it alone?”
“Yes. I’m sure he’ll be on board with it, if we are. I’ve noticed he takes his responsibilities very seriously.”
“Let’s just hope nothin’ breaks. Morgaine sensed somethin’ weird goin’ on with him.”
“Weird? Uh-oh. What constitutes weird aroundhere?”
“She said she thinks he lies a lot.”
Merry’s jaw dropped. “What has he lied about?”
“Well, she thinks he lied about his whole resume. She don’t think he could fix a clogged sink with a bucket of Draino.”
“Hmmm… Jason’s Uncle Ralph recommended him. Said he had tons of experience, but I’ll admit, no one checked.”
“Oops. Well, I didn’t mean to tattle on him. He seems like a right nice man, and he’s been gettin’ real chummy with Lily.”
“You mean Lillian? That’s the new woman, right?”
“Yeah. She goes by Lily. Have y’all met her?”
“Just once. I’m afraid I’ve been a little preoccupied between the end of my pregnancy, a false alarm, and then Max’s birth. But that’s no excuse. I should go down and see how she’s doing.”
Gwyneth jumped up. “Oh, no need to do that. She’s just fine. Besides, Jules will take care of anythin’ she needs. I’m sure of it.”
Merry rose slowly. “Okay, I guess I could use a little more rest come to think of it.”
“Oh, yeah. You should get all the rest you can while Jason’s around. He’ll be too busy once baseball season starts.”
Merry chuckled. “I hope I’ll be back to normal before then.”
