“Hey, Matthew. Come take a look at this.”
At the sound of Trina Scott’s voice, Matthew pushed through the kitchen door and headed down the hall. His mother’s friend waved to him from the entrance to the formal living room.
“What is it?”
Despite the fact that she’d just called out to him, Mrs. Scott held her index finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. She indicated the Queen Anne-style sofa his family used only on holidays. Sprawled across it his favorite person in the world lay sound asleep.
Elizabeth’s Easter basket remained wrapped in her arms, and evidence of the last chocolate egg she’d nibbled on remained in the corners of her mouth. Matthew only hoped she hadn’t wiped her sticky fingers on the sofa.
“It’s been a long day for her,” Mrs. Scott said in a low voice.
“For all of us.”
Though the words had come from his mouth, Matthew found that he didn’t mean them the way he would have a week ago. Sure, it had been more than fourteen hours since he’d led an enthusiastic refrain from the old hymn, “He Arose,” at the sunrise service and he was tired, but it was a good tired. It had been a great day, from the special music at the midmorning formal service to the egg hunt to the Easter dinner where his mother had outdone herself, serving ham, turkey and roast beef with every side dish imaginable.
“It’s been a good day,” Trina said, as if she’d read his mind.
“Caroline loves your mother’s roast beef.”
“It’s one of my favorites, too.”
“Oh, really? It never ceases to amaze me how much you two have in common.”
“Can you believe what a great hit Elizabeth’s colored eggs were?”
Matthew looked back at her, silently thanking her for redirecting the conversation. Otherwise, he could have expected to hear another litany of Caroline’s many personal qualities.
“Eating an art project wasn’t so bad after all,” he said.
“Well, big brother, I guess I’m out of here,” Logan said from the doorway.
Matthew startled at the sound of his brother’s voice. He hoped he hadn’t been staring at Haley.
“Yeah, me, too,” Dylan chimed. “I’m sure people are going to want to see tomorrow.”
“They won’t want to see you?” Matthew asked with a lifted brow at his brother’s optometry humor.
“That, too, hopefully. But seeing is pretty important for most people.”
“It’s great to have job security.”
Their mother was the last to enter the room, still wearing her apron. “Now everyone, are you sure you don’t want any more to eat? I could warm up that ham and—”
“No,” the rest of the Warrens and Scotts in the room said in a chorused groan that made Elizabeth rouse from her sleep.
Amy Warren sighed. “Well, I never.” But she was smiling as she said it. She had force-fed them all afternoon, so it had been a good day for her, too.
“Thanks for dinner, Mom.”
Matthew crossed the room, gathered her in his arms and planted a kiss on the top of her head. Then releasing her, he hugged his brothers by turns, giving each of their backs several firm pats.
Haley was right. His brothers had turned out pretty well, even if they did skip out on his mother’s events sometimes. They were just better at avoiding her manipulation than he was. Maybe that was just the burden of being the eldest child.
Trina Scott stood up from the sofa and collected her purse. “Amy, thank you again for inviting us today. It was a lovely dinner, and it was so nice having most of us together again.” She stepped over to hug her friend. “We should do it again soon.”
“How about next Saturday night?”
“Sounds good to me. What do you think?” Trina looked from Matthew to his brothers and then to Haley, waiting for someone to jump on board.
Matthew jumped first. “Sure, Mom. That’s a great idea. Count Elizabeth and me in.”
“I don’t even need to check mine,” Dylan told them. “I’ll be there.”
“Can you put me down as a ‘maybe’?” Logan said with a sheepish expression.
Matthew couldn’t help but to chuckle. “He’s waiting for a better offer.”
“You should know,” Matthew said with a smile.
Logan shrugged, not bothering to deny it. At first, no one said anything, as they all exchanged uncomfortable glances, but then Haley snickered. A chorus of chuckles followed, and even Amy couldn’t help grinning.
Something hadn’t felt right to Haley from the moment her mother had told her that they should drive separately to Mrs. Warren’s home. Any other time her pragmatic mother would have insisted that two people going to the same place must ride together for both convenience and energy conservation. But not today.
Just as she pressed her hand to the swinging kitchen door, voices came again from inside.
“Do you think she’s figured it out?” Mrs. Warren asked.
“Of course not. She’s curious, but she hasn’t put it all together.”
That came from Haley’s mother. She started to push through the door and confront the two women with whatever it was, but they spoke again, causing her to hesitate.
“What about him?” Trina Scott asked.
“I don’t think so. When he called a few minutes ago, he said he’d be right over.”
She put her hand on the door again just as it swung out, narrowly missing hitting her in the head.
“None?” Haley pointed to the stairs. “Then who’s up there?”
“Caroline’s just freshening up after her flight,” Trina explained.
Trying to clear her thoughts, Haley took a few steps away from her mother. She stopped in the doorway to the dining room. Instead of arranged for a big family gathering, the formal dining table was set for two, with china, crystal water goblets and cloth napkins. Tapers jutted out from two crystal candlesticks set with enough room between them for the centerpiece Haley’s mother still held.
It all made sense now: the pleasant invitation last week, her mother’s secretiveness this week. The two women had a plan, all right, and it hadn’t changed a bit from before. Did Caroline know that she was being set up? When Haley had spoken to him earlier in the day, Matthew hadn’t had a clue.
“Oh, Mom, this isn’t a good idea.”
Why she was saying it, she wasn’t sure. Was she speaking out in Matthew’s defense, or Caroline’s? Or was this a selfish plea to stop her mother’s attempt to set up Matthew with the wrong Scott sister?
The front door opened then, and Dylan galloped inside, carrying Elizabeth on his back. Matthew followed him inside, carting a few plastic grocery bags, probably containing items his mother had asked him to pick up at the last minute.
Like Haley, they had dressed for the family dinner, Matthew in one of his dark suits from work and Dylan in gray trousers and a navy sports jacket.
“Great. We’re all here.” Mrs. Warren’s smile was a little too bright, her movements stiff.
“Logan isn’t coming?” Matthew said.
“No, but we have another surprise instead.” Haley’s mother turned to look up the stairs just as Caroline took her first step downward. “Look who made it back to Markston to join us tonight.”
“Hey, everybody.” Caroline bent to hug the child and then waved at the others below.
“It sure was a surprise,” Haley quipped.
Trina shook her head. “She couldn’t make it this time.”
The worse part was he didn’t know the half of it yet.
Dylan cleared his throat to break the awkward silence that had settled in the room. “So, what’s for dinner, Mom? Something smells great.”
“Well,” Amy said, pausing for effect, “that’s part of the surprise.”
“Hey, what is this?” Dylan called out. “Where are the rest of the place settings?”
“Where are all the plates, Grammy?” Elizabeth asked.
“Oh, Mom,” Dylan said sadly. “You didn’t do this.”
“Of course, I did. You know how much I enjoy gathering everyone together.”
But one look at Caroline squashed every accusing thought in Haley’s mind. Her sister’s skin was as pale as Amy Warren’s lace tablecloth. Caroline’s mouth had gone slack, and she stared at the floor. It couldn’t have been clearer that she hadn’t been involved in the ambush. Haley felt guilty for rushing to judgment.
Caroline shook her head. “You know, Mom, I can’t stay for dinner after all. I…”
“Of course, you can stay,” Trina said, but she looked worried.
Had she waited until now to have second thoughts about her plan with Mrs. Warren? Well, Haley wanted to tell her that her questions had come too late.
“Okay, let’s just get this meal on the table, so the rest of us can be on our way.” Amy brushed her hands on her apron, turning toward the kitchen.
“Mother, stop!”
Matthew’s loud voice stilled all the murmurs and fidgeting in the room. Amy did stop and slowly turned to her son. Noticing that Elizabeth stared at her father with wide eyes, Haley slipped an arm around her shoulder.
Matthew appeared too angry to notice his daughter’s reaction or even the worried glances the others were exchanging. His infuriated focus was on his mother alone.
“I don’t know what gave you the idea that you could humiliate Caroline and me by forcing us together like this, but I never agreed to any of it.” Without looking at Caroline for confirmation, he continued, “And you know full well she didn’t agree to it, either.”
Amy pressed her lips together before bravely meeting his gaze. “I’m sorry, Matthew, but we just wanted you to be happy, and we—”
“Don’t you understand that it doesn’t matter what you want or what Mrs. Scott wants?” He paused, giving Haley’s mother the same withering look he’d trained on Amy. “These are our lives you’re talking about. We’re not pawns in some matchmaking game.”
“Get what you wanted by whatever means necessary,” Matthew finished for her.
“Come now, Matthew,” Amy said. “It wasn’t like that.”
He asked the question, but he appeared to be too incensed to wait for her answer.
Amy opened her mouth as if to answer, but he cut her off again.