“You aren’t cooking,” Adam said sternly. “You just got out of the hospital. ”
“Not to mention we don’t want her to put us in the hospital,” Ryan muttered.
Holly scowled at her husband. “I heard that. ”
“She’s a wonderful cook,” Lily said, rising to throw her glare in with Holly’s.
Holly slid her arm around Lily’s waist and beamed at her daughter-in-law. “Thank you, baby. ”
Ethan sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Everyone looked like they were preparing to face their executioner.
“Anyone want to hear the menu or shall I just surprise you all?” Holly asked, her eyes brimming with excitement.
Another series of groans echoed over the room.
She pursed her lips and shook her finger at all her naysayers. “You’ll see. I’ll expect apologies from each and every one of you. ”
She turned and marched toward the kitchen but stopped midway there to turn and frown at everyone. “No one better set foot in my kitchen until you’re called for dinner. Is that clear?”
“God help us,” Adam said wearily.
“Her kitchen?” Ethan choked out. “When has it ever been her kitchen?”
Feeling compelled to show support for a woman who’d been nothing short of wonderful to her, Lauren stood and fixed the rest of the room with a disapproving frown. “How could you all be so mean to her?”
For a moment they all stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Th
en they dissolved into laughter. Callie wiped at her face and attempted to explain through her merriment.
“We aren’t being mean, Lauren. You have to understand. My mom is a disaster in the kitchen. ”
Seth grimaced. “That’s one way to put it. ”
“She’s … terrible,” Callie went on. “There’s no other way to explain her culinary skills, or lack thereof. In the thirty-plus years she and the dads have been together, she’s never cooked. It’s not that she hasn’t occasionally tried, but in an effort to prevent her from burning down the house or poisoning the offspring, the dads banned her from the kitchen. ”
Another round of laughter filled the room.
With a sigh, Lily shot them all reprimanding looks. “I don’t care how awful this meal is, you’ll eat it and you’ll love it,” she said fiercely. “She’s worked hard for the last several weeks learning this menu. All she wants is to make Christmas dinner one time for her family. ”
Understanding dawned in Ryan’s eyes. “So that’s what she’s been up to. Hell, we had no idea why she’s been sneaking off to your house all the time and refusing to allow us to drive her. ”
Lily nodded. “We’ve spent countless hours in the kitchen while she labors over this meal. It’s actually quite good. If she doesn’t get flustered and can remember everything I taught her, I promise you won’t be disappointed. ”
Adam turned to fix each of his children with a menacing glare. “You’ll not say a word to your mother no matter how bad it is. I want her happy, and if making us a meal makes her happy, then by God, we’ll sit down and enjoy it even if it kills us. ”
Ryan coughed and Adam turned his glare on his brother. “That goes for you and Ethan too. ”
Ethan chuckled.
“There’s always leftovers from last night if things go really bad,” Callie said.
“Just everyone sit like your mother said and wait for her to come get us,” Adam said.
It was hard to sit in the living room when the kitchen might indeed be in peril. Every once in a while, someone could be seen sniffing delicately at the air as if trying to discern whether anything was burning. But after an hour, delicious smells floated through the living room.
At the end of two hours, the smells were so wonderful that the rest of the family began to grow restless and check the time as if they were impatient for dinner to be served.
And then Holly appeared in the doorway of the living room, her smile triumphant even if she looked decidedly harried and bedraggled.
“Dinner is served,” she declared, her smile bright enough to rival the meadow the night before.
Everyone scrambled up and jockeyed for position going into the dining room. It was as if they all wanted to be the first to see the results of Holly’s cooking.
When they all crowded into the doorway, exclamations and sounds of surprise rose. The table was set with a red tablecloth and a beautiful poinsettia centerpiece. Each place was set with sterling silver utensils and Holly had dragged out her rarely used fine china for the occasion.
But what everyone focused in on was the mouthwateringly fragrant food.
“Sit, sit,” she urged. “I don’t want it to get cold. ”
Neither did anyone else.
They scrambled into their seats and discovered steaming bowls of lobster bisque accompanied by an appetizer of crawfish-stuffed shrimp. Homemade rolls were passed around and then silence descended as everyone glanced around to see who would be the first to try it.
Max didn’t hold back, but then he’d never been a victim of Holly’s attempts at cooking. He spooned a mouthful of the bisque into his mouth and then took a bite of the hot roll.
He looked up when he realized everyone was staring at him. He laughed. “I suppose I could pretend to keel over and die an agonizing death, but that would probably get me banned from any future family meals. ”
“Damn right it would,” Holly muttered.
“It’s excellent, Mrs. C. ,” Max said. “You outdid yourself. ”
The others looked surprised and then suddenly they were all dipping into their bowls and the reactions were comical.
“Oh my God, this is heaven,” Ethan groaned. “My wife made this?”
Holly huffed at him and shot him a quick glare.
No one spoke for a long moment as they all savored the wonderful-tasting bisque. When they all finished, Holly began dishing up the grilled fish fillets. When she opened the covered bowl containing the étouffée, there were looks of amazement all around.
She carefully ladled the étouffée onto the plates, covering the fillets.
“What the hell did you do to our mother?” Dillon demanded as he forked another bite into his mouth.
The entire table cracked up at his irreverence. Even Holly grinned. “You like?”
“Like? I damn well love,” Dillon said around another mouthful. “Did my wife teach you how to make all this?”
Holly shot a proud glance in Lily’s direction. “She sure did. ”
Adam, Ethan, and Ryan all looked over at Lily, and Ethan said in mock reverence, “How can we ever thank you? You’ve performed a miracle. We never thought we’d see the day she didn’t burn the house down after two hours in the kitchen. ”