Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
“Thanks. To bed with you. I’ll put away all the delicious food I selected for us while you take a nap.”
“I just woke up from being unconscious. Do you really want me to go back to sleep?” she asked, appalled.
“How about resting while I tend to things out here, and then I’ll come curl up with you.”
“Promise?” she asked.
“You have my word.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Tiffanie! I’m so glad to see you,” Essie said, greeting her warmly as Phineas walked her up the stairs.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Essie,” Tiffanie said, returning Essie’s hug when her boss wrapped her in a fond embrace. “Someone made me stay home yesterday.” She pointedly glanced at Phineas, who stood behind her.
“Be good, or I’ll take you there today too,” Phineas said, without a hint of remorse in his voice.
“Of course he did!” Essie said as she stepped away. “I think collapsing and spending hours in the hospital unconscious requires at least one full day at home. Are you sure you’re okay to be here?”
“I am perfectly fine. Please let me work. Phineas is hovering like a mother hen.”
“I heard that, Princess,” Phineas said with a stern look.
“Maybe a Daddy hen,” Essie whispered under her breath. Immediately the two Little girls giggled. Tiffanie loved having someone to share the fun parts of her new lifestyle.
“Phineas, clue me in if I need to adjust anyone’s attitude,” Zander said from the doorway into the mansion.
Tiffanie and Essie whirled to see Essie’s handsome Daddy watching them with knowing eyes. “Oh, no, Daddy. I’m being a complete angel.”
“Right,” Zander said, drawing out that word to signal his doubt.
“Come on, Tiffanie. We should review those arrangements for the Blue Ribbon Knowledge Fair.” Essie grabbed her hand and led Tiffanie inside.
“Whew! I thought I was going to get a second spanking this morning,” Essie said before her cheeks turned pink as she realized what she was admitting.
The two women stopped before reaching Essie’s office. From the portrait, Edmund and Esther Ferguson seemed to watch them with a knowing gaze. A cold draft floated over her. Tiffanie straightened, staring up at them as she realized she experienced that chilled breeze often here.
“Edmund alerted me to help you right before you collapsed. He knew something was wrong,” Essie said to her friend.
“Really?” She expected to be spooked by that idea but didn’t. Instead, she felt warm for the first time in that spot. Like the two founders of Ferguson’s Folly had just embraced her.
Tiffanie peered up at Edmund’s portrait and said, “Thank you for warning everyone.”
Essie cocked her head as if she were listening to someone. After a few seconds, she reported, “He says you’re welcome. And that you’re not to scare him to death again.”
“Scare him to death?” Tiffanie repeated, turning to meet Essie’s gaze. The two women laughed. How could a ghost be afraid of dying—twice!
“And Marmalade!” Essie said as the big tomcat strolled out of her office. “Do you remember him running over to rub along your shins? He stopped you from walking closer to my desk. If you’d advanced a few more steps, you would have crashed down on the corner of this wooden atrocity. I bet you would have hit your head.”
“The minutes right before I passed out are pretty foggy. Thank you, Marmalade, for protecting me,” Tiffanie said to the cat and received another round of cat caresses on her legs. She leaned over to return the cat’s affection with some face scratches.
“Come sit down now. Are you sure you’re ready to dive in?” Essie asked, searching her face.
“So ready. Put me to work.”
The women worked on the final placement of the vendors who had applied to participate in the event. When they leaned back in their chairs an hour later, both breathed a sigh of relief. Some changes would happen closer to the event, but for now, Tiffanie could focus on enhancing the ballroom to showcase the talents on display.
“That was a chore!” Essie said. “Thank goodness you grew up here and have an insider’s view of the local feuds to make sure the wrong people aren’t wrestling in the aisles.”
“Most of the residents get along great. But that row of pie bakers is cutthroat. Especially Millie and Pete. They’ve both competed so frequently against each other for the top pie award at the state fair that they have to hire baking experts from outside our town to judge that event. The last time, a riot broke out on Main Street in front of The Pie Hole restaurant when the owner judged Millie’s caramel apple pie superior to Pete’s Dutch apple pie. Pete’s fans held a grudge for two months at least before forgiving the owner of the Pie Hole. They’ll never agree to judge pies in the future.”
“Oh, my God. An actual riot?”
“They arrested Millie’s supporters and threw them in the neighboring town’s jail for their safety. The police held everyone for eight hours to cool down and then all of them had to pay for the damage,” Tiffanie said.