A Lasting Impression

his birthday!” He checked to make sure Mrs. Hayes wasn’t nearby. “Besides, it’s completely lacking in etiquette.”
    She gave him a look. “I never said I wanted the girls to win. Out loud, anyway.”
    He shook his head. She and Adelicia were cut from the same cloth. A breeze stirred a curl at her temple, and he smiled to himself, thinking of what she’d arranged for the members of the winning team. Even the weather was cooperating according to the woman’s plan. “I meant to ask you. How did you come up with this game?”
    She lifted her chin. “I thought of it. All by myself.” She looked down her pert little nose at him. “With no thanks to you, kind sir.”
    Sutton eyed her. The snippy little—
    “I got the idea from Zeke.”
    He frowned, not following. “Zeke gave you the idea?”
    She nodded, sipping her coffee. “I saw him one morning digging in the dirt. He was so intent on his task and having such fun. He’d found a nickel and some spent shells. Then later, I thought of Zeke again and began thinking of how much fun it might be for William and his friends to . . . What?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you smiling?”
    Sutton looked at her, finding a satisfaction in her answer that he wasn’t about to explain. “No reason, I just—”
    She reached over and grabbed his arm. “The girls are leaving the icehouse,” she whispered. “But here come the boys!”
    Sure enough, Sutton looked up to see William leading the pack, running full out. The boys crowded into the icehouse and couldn’t have been inside more than thirty seconds before they barreled back out, headed straight for the bowling alley. “So much for the clues that rhyme being harder to decipher.”
    The boys made a dash for their last destination, covering ground much faster than the girls, who were just reaching the steps of the bowling alley.
    Sutton stood. “It’s going to be close.”
    “Very close.” Claire rose too and started toward the mansion. Sutton followed.
    Several of the parents began moving back in that direction as well.
    Not three minutes later, the girls’ team burst through the doors of the bowling alley, decorum and propriety tossed to the wind, skirts hitched knee-high and hair ribbons flying. They raced back across the lawn, glancing over their shoulders and squealing the second they spotted the boys fast on their trail.
    Sutton had never seen anything like it, and was certain Belmont hadn’t either. He looked around to make certain Mrs. Hayes wasn’t having the vapors. But the woman was cheering along with everyone else. For the boys, of course.
    And more than that, the look on Claire’s face was pure delight. As was Adelicia’s, as she stood behind them on the stairs.
    “Come on,” he heard Adelicia whisper, and knew instinctively whose team she was rooting for. Apparently gender outweighed blood relations, at least in competitions. The parents rooted for the teams too, yelling encouragements as they raced toward the goal.
    But the winner was clear.

22

    T he girls’ team, led by the spunky little blonde who had spoken up earlier, stampeded up the stairs. With cheeks flushed and spirits high, the girls crowded together as though intent on guarding their territory as the leader pressed a neat pile of clues into Claire’s hand.
    “Here you are, Miss Laurent.” The little blonde took a breath, her eyes bright. “All the clues, in order.” She smiled. “Oh! That was fun!” Her friends nodded, giddy with triumph.
    Sharing their moment of glory, Claire counted the girls’ clues to make certain they’d found them all, and by the time William and his friends climbed the stairs, she knew the winner. Judging by William’s poorly masked disappointment, so did he.
    Claire stepped forward. “Congratulations to both teams for finishing so quickly. And now, the declared winner of the Hunt for Hidden Treasure is—the girls’ team!”
    Cheers went up from everyone, though the boys’ applause seemed halfhearted at best. Even Mrs. Hayes was wearing a smile.
    Waiting for the cheers and congratulations to die down, Claire turned to see Sutton retrieving the two large boxes stashed inside the entrance hall, right on cue. “Thank you,” she mouthed, appreciating the man more each day. “And now it’s time to award the winners their prizes.” She reached into the first box and carefully removed a resplendent red-and-yellow kite, the one Sutton had helped her assemble that morning.
    She held