Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

his home and do scrapbooking?” Abigail asked incredulously.
    “I don’t see why you’re all being so silly over this,” Carol said. “I dated him years ago, even before Jefferson. I broke his heart, although I didn’t mean to. It was a difficult decision which one of them to stay with. I was engaged to both but of course had to make up my mind when my mother found out. I cried for days.”
    Abigail sank down onto the floor beside Hannah. “You actually dated him?”
    “And cried over him?” Joley asked.
    “I’m feeling faint,” Hannah said.
    Abigail took the rolled-up red panties from Hannah. “Maybe we should give these to you, Aunt Carol.”
    Joley gripped her leg hard. “Abbey! Bite your tongue. Aunt Carol, you cannot sleep with that man. I mean it. He has repressed hostility issues. He could murder you and throw your body into the ocean.”
    “His hostility is hardly repressed,” Sarah said. “He throws fruit at people.”
    “That hardly makes him a serial killer,“ Carol said.
    “Wait a minute.” Libby held up her hand. “You were engaged to both men? At the same time?”
    Carol sighed and patted her hair. “I know, I know. It was wrong of me, but they were so wonderful.
    Two handsome, strong men utterly devoted to me. I couldn’t resist either of them.”
    “Aunt Carol.” Libby chose her words carefully. “Have you set up any other Creative Memories workshops?”
    “Well, Inez wants to have a class at her home and of course so does Donna. I did stop by Irene’s just to say hello and Drew was interested in his own small album so I said I’d help him with that. And I ran into Frank Warner.” She looked at their faces. “It was purely an accident. He was coming up the sidewalk and it was such a good thing. I stepped in a crack and nearly fell. I turned my ankle, but fortunately he prevented me from falling and helped me hobble down to the Sidewalk Café. We had coffee and chatted.”
    “Jonas told you to stay away from him,” Sarah reprimanded her.
    “Should I have been rude when he helped me?” Carol looked pleased with herself. “In any case it turned out superbly. Reginald went by and saw us together and that will definitely get his attention, and Frank invited me to his home to see his collection.”
    “And why would he do that?” Kate asked suspiciously. “He’s never invited any of us to see his collection.”
    “Well, dear, he knew I shared his interest and he was being polite. I told him my hobby was photography and asked if he’d mind me practicing on his art. It’s much more difficult than people think to Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    take great pictures of art objects. I told him I’d give him the photographs in an album along with the negatives. He was very cooperative.”
    “You know, Aunt Carol,” Hannah said, “you think you’re safe from Jonas’s lectures because you’re his favorite aunt, but that won’t stop him. He’ll be awful. He’ll get all snarly and make you feel guilty.”
    Carol smiled serenely. “That’s just not possible, dear. I rarely allow myself to feel guilt. It’s such an exhausting and wasteful emotion. It can actually be self-indulgent and some people get caught up in wallowing in guilt. I prefer to move forward and live my life. Jonas can snarl all he likes, but the fact is, I’m reacquainting myself with Sea Haven and I rather like Frank.”
    Joley put her hand over her ears. “I don’t want to hear this. We have to go to his freakin‘ parties every single time we come home. In fact, I think he only has them when we come home so we can be his celebrities on display. I detest going to those parties. We have to dress up and mingle with tons of people we don’t know and will never meet again.”
    “Your language is atrocious, Joley. And in your business you should be used to dealing with strangers,”
    Carol admonished. “Helping your community is a must for anyone, not just a Drake.”
    Joley grinned impishly. “Fine, if you want to date the man, go right ahead. I’ll show up at his posh open house and poke around a little myself.”
    “You will not !” Carol and Sarah said at the same time.
    “Why is it everyone else can play sleuth and have fun, but not me? In fact, maybe I will take those red panties. Abbey doesn’t need them.” She snapped her fingers and held out her hand.
    “Back off, sister!” Abbey found herself laughing again. It was just that way