Home Free - Fern Michaels [36]
“TMI, Annie.”
“One can never have too much information, Kathryn. It is, after all, the information age.”
Just then, another horn sounded. Kathryn craned her neck. “It’s Jack and Nikki. While you greet them and fill Nikki in, do you want me to crack the champagne and set out the nibbles for the guys?”
“Yes, of course. I was so caught up in my . . . Well, I was caught up.” Annie started to giggle and couldn’t stop.
Kathryn doubled over, slapping at her sides. “I can’t wait to hear what Myra and Nellie have to say.”
That comment took the wind out of Annie’s sails. She looked so crestfallen, Kathryn set the nibble tray on the table and hugged her. “They will be so jealous, Annie. Trust me. Plus, I know they’ll be as happy for you as I am.”
The door flew open, and Nikki and Jack walked in. “It’s snowing harder,” Nikki said as she wrapped her arms around Annie. She held out a bottle of champagne.
Jack waited his turn, then said, “Nothing smells as good as a Thanksgiving dinner. I sure hope you outdid yourself this year, Annie.”
“I really did, dear, and you have no idea how tired I am right now.”
Kathryn winked at Nikki, then raised her eyebrows. She whispered, “That lady has one hell of a story to tell you girls,” before she scampered off with her nibble tray.
Myra, Charles, Nellie, and Elias were the next guests to arrive, followed by Yoko and Harry. Barely five minutes passed before Espinosa, Alexis, and Ted arrived. The only guests not yet accounted for were Isabelle and Pearl Barnes.
The men clustered in the family room while the women settled themselves around the kitchen table, where women had congregated for hundreds of years. Or as Annie put it, “The kitchen table is the very essence of family life, and that’s what we’re all about.”
“We picked up an extra guest to take Maggie’s seat,” Annie said. “You will never guess who appeared on my doorstep after midnight. Fergus Duffy! I was sitting right over there at the island, scanning all those cookbooks, and there he was! And . . . get this, he was also invited to Camp David, but when I invited him for dinner, he blew off the president of the United States.”
“You must have been very persuasive, Annie,” Myra said.
“Myra, you have no idea how persuasive I was. I even gave my first recital on the pole, and I want you to know I aced it!”
“Oh, myyyy Godddd!” Myra said, her jaw dropping. The others simply looked stunned as Annie went into her spiel, adding and making up as she went along to make her encounter even more interesting.
“And now you expect us to sit at the dinner table, across from that man, and not . . . explode into laughter?” Nellie said.
Myra rose to the occasion and said, “Congratulations, Annie. I guess you really are a cougar.”
“Oh, Myra, no. You’re only a cougar when the guy is younger than you. But, I will say this. I roared like a lion, I stalked him like a panther, and then I pounced like the sleek fox I am. I showed him no mercy. Not that he asked for any, mind you. That’s why I’m tired today, girls.”
Yoko clapped her hands. “That was a wonderful story, ‘Mom.’ How much of it was true?”
“Every last word,” Annie said gleefully. “Fergus is extending his visit. By the way, after dinner I have something to tell you all about his meeting at the White House and the invitation to Camp David. I really had to perform to get him to squeal. Aren’t you proud of me?”
“Annie, there are no words to describe what I feel right this minute,” Myra said primly.
“Stuff it, Myra. You are such a poop sometimes. You’re just jealous that I am having fun, and you aren’t. Stop with fingering the damn pearls. They aren’t going anywhere. Oh, I hear a car. That must be Isabelle and Pearl. Isabelle had to pick Pearl up at a secret rendezvous. That’s why they’re