Moonlight Masquerade (Edilean 8)

“Better than Henry?”

Sophie laughed. “Oh yes! He is so very serious about all of it. He wants to win awards and prizes, and I think his goal is to have a piece of his work put in a museum.”

“And what about you? You don’t want awards?”

“I—” She broke off because the children had found her. Nell was trying to herd them around the house but they were escaping her.

“Miss Sophie!” one of them yelled, as she was now their favorite person on earth.

They grabbed her hands and pulled her away with them.

Sara came out of the bedroom, one of her twin baby boys in each arm, and handed one to Reede. “You should keep that girl.”

“I’m trying,” he said.

“Whatever you have to do, you should do it,” she said to him, and there was no humor in her eyes. “You’re not exactly a man who falls in and out of love easily. If you lose Sophie you’ll be an old man before you recover.”

“Thanks for telling me what I already know,” Reede said.

“Any time,” she answered as she went back to the kitchen.

Every day Reede and Sophie grew closer, their lives intertwining. It quickly got to the point where Reede couldn’t imagine a life without Sophie.

But Roan had told him that Sophie was staying only until the middle of January. “Think you’ve changed her mind?” Roan asked. “Think you’ve talked her into moving into your house and the two of you settling down in Edilean? What are you going to do when Ariel comes back and Tris does? Aren’t three doctors too many for little Edilean? Or are you hoping for a spread of cholera?”

Reede glared at his cousin. He didn’t have an answer to any of the questions. Ariel was Sheriff Frazier’s sister, and as soon as she finished her residency in California she was going to return to Edilean and work with Tristan—when he got back from New York, that is. Ariel was married to Mike Newland’s best friend, and the two men planned to open a big gym that would have members from Edilean to DC.

It was all family, Reede thought. It was all cozy and warm and friendly. And it was maddening to Reede! Just last night he’d seen a TV show about a doctor who equipped a boat as a hospital, and he went to remote areas of the world to help people.

If Reede could get the funding he’d love to do something like that. But what kind of life was that for a woman? And by that he meant Sophie. How could she do her sculpture while moving around the world?

And then there was her growing love for Edilean and the people in it. They’d accepted her quickly. And why not? She was kind and thoughtful. If someone told of a favorite sandwich, the next day it was on the menu.

Sophie had become friends with the young woman Kelli. They were an unusual pair, Sophie so pink and blonde, Kelli so dark with her heavy eye makeup.

Sophie had shown him Kelli’s sketches of her plans to cut into the building next door and make a real bakery. Since Roan owned both buildings, it was all up to him. Sophie laughed at how Kelli was working hard to make desserts to please Roan. Pears with almond cream and chocolate. Apples with a rice custard, orange with cardamom. There were savory tarts of pumpkin with garlic, potatoes with ham on puff pastry.

“Kelli takes them out of the oven and hand feeds them to Roan while he’s at the cash register,” Sophie said, laughing. “One day I thought Roan was going to faint in ecstasy over Kelli’s apricots and cream, and he asked where she came up with all the things she made. She said”—Sophie grinned at Reede—“Kelli said she had an old cookbook from her French grandmother. Carter and I looked at each other and burst into laugher. Kelli and Roan knew we were laughing about the famous Treeborne cookbook but, as you know, there was a lot more to it than that.”

She smiled at the memory. “But what’s best about it all is seeing Carter’s face get red with rage every time Kelli feeds Roan. P

ersonally, I think Carter’s anger is why she does it.”

Reede turned away so Sophie wouldn’t see his frown. He couldn’t help the jealousy he felt. She’d gone from hating Carter to laughing with him. Every time she said, “Carter thinks we should . . . ” or “Carter says . . . ” Reede had to swallow his jealousy. She was spending most of the day near him.

One evening after dinner and a couple of glasses of wine he said, “I thought you were angry at Carter. Hated him, even.”

“I was,” she said. “I was furious. When I drove to Edilean I was so angry I could have torn a bronze statue apart with my teeth.”

“Sounds interesting,” he said, smiling, preferring to hear this than whatever Treeborne had said at work that day.

“No, I’m not kidding.” She paused for a moment. “I know Carter cared about me. I was sure of it, and when he talked about having to make the ‘most important decision of his life,’ I still think he meant us.”

“Probably did,” Reede said but didn’t add his opinion. He wanted her to go on.

“But it all changed in one evening. Instead of having what I had seen as my glorious future, I ended up with a dead car and a stolen cookbook, and standing in the middle of a highway trying to get a cell signal. Then some jerk ran over the phone and the cookbook.” She looked at Reede with wide eyes. “Sorry. Maybe not a jerk. I’m sure you—”

He was coming toward her with the eyes of a predatory animal. “Say all that again.”