Chapter Thirteen
It was morning and Hannah had just finished taking the last pan of Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies out of the oven when Lisa hurried into the kitchen. “Doug just called you, Hannah. He’d like to see you and Mike down at the bank at nine.”
Hannah was surprised at the request. Had Ross somehow managed to intimidate Doug into giving him the money? “Did Doug tell you why he wanted to see me?”
“No, he just asked me to pass on the message and said he’d explain everything when he saw you.”
“I’ll call Doug and tell him you’ll be there,” Mike offered, getting up from his stool at the work station. “And I’ll ask him what this is about if you want me to.”
“Yes, please do that. Doug’s never asked me to come in before and I know my business account isn’t overdrawn. Neither is my personal account, so I know it can’t be anything like that. And since he wants to see you, too, it’s got to be about Ross.”
“I’ll see what more I can find out,” Mike promised, slipping into his parka and going out the back kitchen door to make the call.
“What did you bake, Hannah?” Lisa asked after Mike left.
“Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies. Mike tasted some from the first batch and told me that they were way too good to serve at The Cookie Jar.”
Lisa laughed. “Because Mike wanted them all for himself?”
“That’s probably right. He was on his second plateful when you came in from the coffee shop to tell me about Doug’s call. Mike really gobbled those cookies before I could frost them with Brown Powdered Sugar Glaze.”
“Did Michelle leave?” Lisa asked.
“Yes. She went to Jordan High. She had some papers to grade before class on Monday and she has tryouts for the play this afternoon.”
“How does she like teaching?”
“She loves it, especially the drama classes. She told me a couple of days ago that she thought she wanted to go into teaching.”
“If she does that, she can settle down right here in Lake Eden with the rest of the family and get married.”
“Well . . . I’m not sure about the married part, but maybe. I don’t think Michelle is ready for marriage yet.”
“Does she still have dreams of making it on Broadway?”
Hannah shook her head. “I don’t think so. Michelle’s realistic. She’s just trying out various things to see which ones she likes best. And it seems that teaching high school is at the top of her list right now.”
“That’s good,” Lisa said, heading back to the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the coffee shop. “Let me know when those cookies are cool enough and we’ll test them on our customers.”
“I will.” Hannah turned back to her cookie baking once Lisa had left. And that was when a dreadful possibility occurred to her concerning Doug’s call. What if Ross had somehow managed to get into the bank and he was there right now with Doug, holding Doug hostage? And what if this was part of a trap that Ross had set for Mike and her?
“Please tell me I’m paranoid,” Hannah said aloud, sinking down on a stool and holding her head in her hands.
“Paranoid about what?” Mike said, coming back into the kitchen just in time to hear Hannah’s comment.
“I was thinking about Doug’s call and why he wants to see us at the bank. I know this will probably sound crazy, but I was worried that maybe Ross was there and he forced Doug into calling to lure both of us there.”
Mike shook his head. “That doesn’t sound crazy to me. It sounds careful, which is exactly what you should be. And I don’t think you’re paranoid, Hannah. I think you have good cause to be afraid of Ross. He’s not the man either of us thought he was.”
Hannah gave a long, heartfelt sigh. “I know. I realize that now. You’re going to the bank with me, then?”
“You bet your . . .” Mike stopped speaking and Hannah waited, wondering what word he’d substitute for the one he’d been about to use. “You bet your boots,” Mike said.
Hannah smiled and accepted the substitution. “Did you ask Doug why he wants to see us?”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. He just said it was a personal matter that he needed to discuss with you.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, even though she still had no idea why she’d been summoned to the bank. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
* * *
Hannah settled back in the chair in front of Doug’s desk as he made a cup of cappuccino for her. Mike had stayed in the lobby of the bank when Doug had asked to see her alone. Hannah knew that Mike was on the job, watching the entrance and the traffic on Main Street outside to make sure that Ross didn’t pay a surprise visit to Lake Eden.
“I love the way you make this coffee,” Hannah told Doug. This was the second time in as many days that she’d had a cup of cappuccino and she especially liked the way that Doug prepared it with frothy milk over the coffee and a sprinkling of sweet chocolate on the top.
“Here you go, Hannah,” Doug said, carrying his own cup of espresso to his desk and sitting down in his leather chair. “Do you want one of these cookies you brought?”
“No, thanks. I sneaked several before they were completely cool. Go ahead, Doug. Try them and tell me what you think.”
Doug took a big bite of Hannah’s Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies and smiled. “They’re great, Hannah. Do you want me to go out and ask Mike if he wants some coffee and cookies?”
“Don’t bother, Doug. Mike already ate two platefuls of cookies and drank most of a pot of coffee at The Cookie Jar earlier this morning.”
“Okay then. I suppose you’re wondering why I wanted to see you privately.”
“Yes, I am,” Hannah replied.
“Let me ask you a question, Hannah. Did you know that KCOW-TV bought the rights to show Crisis in Cherrywood at their film festival?”
Hannah shook her head. “I didn’t know that, but I guess it makes sense.”
“Well, they did. And Ross signed a direct deposit slip when he started working at KCOW-TV.”
Hannah wasn’t sure where Doug was going with this conversation, but she nodded. “All right. I’m with you so far, Doug.”
“The check from KCOW-TV for fifty thousand dollars just came into the bank and it was automatically deposited into Ross’s business account.”
“I understand. But what does that have to do with me?”
“You’re a co-signer on all of Ross’s accounts, including his business account. I thought you should know that several additional sums had been deposited since the last bank statement.”
“Thanks for telling me, but I still don’t know what that has to do with me.”
“It means that you could withdraw any amount you want right now from that account or from any of his other accounts. They now have a combined total over a million dollars.”
“Oh!” Hannah gulped. “That’s . . . a lot of money!”
“Yes, it is. Would you like to make a withdrawal, Hannah?”
“I . . . no. No, I wouldn’t.”
A smile spread over Doug’s face. “That’s because you’re an honest person, Hannah. But you’d probably get even more than that in damages if you sued Ross for bigamy.”
It took Hannah another moment to frame what she wanted to say. “You’re probably right, Doug. And I do appreciate the fact that you told me all this. But . . . no. That’s not my money. I didn’t earn it and . . . I don’t want to feel beholden to Ross in any way. I just want to put this behind me and do my best to forget that he was ever a part of my life!”
MOLASSES WALNUT DROP COOKIES
DO NOT preheat the oven yet. This dough must chill before baking.
1 and ½ cups melted butter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, ¾ pound)
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
½ cup molasses (I used Grandma’s Molasses)
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
¼ teaspoon cardamom (if you don’t have it, you can substitute more cinnamon for the cardamom)
4 and ¼ cups flour (don’t sift it—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
Walnut halves to place on top of the cookies before baking if you DO NOT plan to glaze them with Brown Powdered Sugar Glaze. (Recipe follows.) If you DO plan to glaze your cookies, wait until you glaze them to place the walnut halves on top of your cookies.
Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat it on HIGH for 1 minute. Leave the bowl in the microwave for another minute and then check the butter after to see it’s melted. If it’s not, give it more time, in 20-second increments, until it is.
Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix in the white sugar. Mix until it’s all combined.
Add the molasses to the bowl and mix it in. Mix until it’s thoroughly incorporated.
Let the butter, sugar, and molasses mixture sit on the counter while you get out the eggs.
When the mixture in the bowl is not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, add them to the large bowl and stir them in thoroughly. Be sure to mix until they’re well combined.
Hannah’s 1st Note: This is a recipe that you can stir by hand if you wish, but it’s a lot easier if you use an electric mixer.
Sprinkle in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Mix until all of the ingredients are well combined.
Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing after each addition.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you coat the inside of your measuring cup with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray before you measure the half-cup of molasses, it will slide right out of the measuring cup into your mixing bowl.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: Once you add the flour, your cookie dough will be very stiff. Don’t worry. This is exactly as it should be.
Mix in the chopped walnuts. If this is too difficult with a spoon, simply add the walnuts to the top of your mixing bowl and knead them in as you would if you were making bread.
Once the walnuts have been added and are incorporated into the cookie dough, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. (Overnight is even better.)
When you’re ready to bake, take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit, still covered with the plastic wrap, on your kitchen counter. It will need to warm just a bit so that you can work with it.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
While your oven is heating to the proper temperature, prepare your cookie sheets. You can either spray them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is more expensive, but easier in the long run. If you use it, you can simply pull the paper over to the wire cooling rack, cookies and all. It’s also easier to glaze the cookies if they’re still on the parchment paper.)
Remove the plastic wrap from your cookie dough. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls with your impeccably clean hands and place them on a prepared cookie sheet, 12 dough balls to a standard-size sheet.
Press a walnut half down into the top of each dough ball.
Hannah’s 4th Note: If you form the dough into smaller dough balls, the cookies will be crisper. If you choose to do this, you’ll have to reduce the baking time. If I roll smaller balls, I start checking the Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies after 8 minutes in the oven.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re nicely browned. The cookies will flatten out, all by themselves. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Hannah’s 5th Note: Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, the same way you’d roll coins in a wrapper, put them in a freezer bag, and they’ll be fine for 3 months or so.
Yield: 6 to 10 dozen (depending on the size of your dough balls) tasty, molasses-infused, and delicious cookies.
Once your cookies have baked and cooled, move them all to parchment paper on your kitchen counter and glaze them with Brown Powdered Sugar Glaze (recipe follows).
BROWN POWDERED SUGAR GLAZE
⅓ cup salted butter
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
4 to 6 Tablespoons milk
Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. (I use a quart Pyrex measuring cup.)
Pour the Tablespoon of molasses on top of the butter.
Heat the butter and molasses on HIGH for 15 seconds or until it has melted in the bottom of the bowl or cup.
Set the container with the melted butter on your kitchen counter.
Stir the butter and molasses together until they are well mixed.
Add the vanilla extract to the melted butter and stir it in.
Measure out two cups of powdered sugar. Pack the powdered sugar down in the cup when you measure it.
Hannah’s 1st Note: There’s no need to sift the powdered sugar unless it has big lumps in it. You are going to pack it down in the measuring cup anyway.
Fill a small cup with 6 Tablespoons of whole milk. You probably will NOT use all of this milk in this glaze, so don’t add it to your bowl quite yet.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Sometimes, when I make these cookies for adults, I like to use rum instead of the milk. I don’t do this when I make the cookies for children because the alcohol is not baked into the cookie and may not fully evaporate.
Add the milk (or rum) to your bowl, one Tablespoon at a time, stirring it in as you go. You will add only enough milk (or rum) to make this glaze liquid enough to brush on top of your cookies.
When your glaze reaches the proper brushing consistency, brush the tops of your Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies with the glaze with a pastry brush.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: For years, I didn’t bother using a pastry brush. I took a small brush home from my father’s hardware store, washed it thoroughly and dried it, and used that. It worked just fine and if it got sticky and I couldn’t rinse it off well enough, I just stuck it on the top rack of the dishwasher and washed it that way.
Hannah’s 4th Note: If you don’t brush the glaze fast enough, your glaze may harden a bit. If this happens, simply stick the microwave-safe container back in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds until the glaze is thin enough to brush again.
