Home Free - Fern Michaels [45]
Annie laughed. “I know you didn’t mean that to come out the way it did, but the answer is yes and no.”
The three women laughed just as Fergus turned to look at them. Annie wiggled her fingers in his direction, and he threw his head back and let loose with a bear of a laugh.
“Life is lookin’ good, girls,” Annie said, moving off toward the dining room.
The Sisters looked up, their eyes questioning.
Annie threw her arms in the air. “Nothing. Myra and I are going to go with you all to Yoko’s. We’re four extra hands. I’m sure we can fetch and carry and help out. Make coffee or hot chocolate. Whatever . . . We are on board with the exception of Nellie, who is going back home after breakfast. Did the boys say what they’re going to do?”
Nikki and Kathryn looked at each other, then at Yoko, who nodded.
“We think they have an intervention planned. They’re going to relocate Harry’s second master with a dummy in another room. They said the master will never know the difference since he sleeps all day, the same way the first one did. Jack and Bert are going to take over Harry’s training. Yoko gave her approval, so now it will be up to Jack and Bert to convince Harry to accept their help,” Nikki said.
A bell tinkled.
“Time for breakfast,” Isabelle said.
“I’ll call the boys,” Alexis said.
“I’ll help set up the food on the sideboard,” Kathryn said.
The Sisters fell to it and worked like the well-practiced machine that they were.
The rule at Annie’s was the same as at Myra’s: no business was discussed at mealtime. Charles’s rule, a rule the Sisters adhered to.
New to their game, Fergus asked how they all thought Maggie Spritzer’s visit to Camp David was going.
Myra explained Charles’s rule. Fergus looked properly chastised until Annie patted his shoulder and whispered, “It’s okay. You couldn’t be expected to know about all our rules, even the silly ones.” She glared at Charles to make her point.
The Sisters all grinned from ear to ear. Annie definitely had a thing going on, and they approved.
Breakfast progressed and, for some reason no one could explain, the Sisters and the boys split. The girls cleaned the kitchen; the boys rushed back outside to finish clearing the snow. And then it was time to leave. All questions about Maggie and any other pending business were left back in the dining room.
Ted Robinson and Espinosa brought two bright, shiny snowmobiles as close to the back door as they could. Elias and Nellie waved jauntily and sped off across the fields to their own house. Jack and Bert roared up right behind Ted and Espinosa, and Charles and Fergus hopped on two yellow snowmobiles and, with an airy wave, headed toward Pinewood.
The boys clambered into Bert’s SUV, and the Sisters split up into two vehicles, Nikki’s BMW and Annie’s Mercedes.
Maggie looked in the mirror. She made a face at herself. She would never be a fashionista like Nikki or Alexis. And she wasn’t as sporty and elegant as Kathryn or Isabelle. And there was no way she could even come close to Yoko in dress or demeanor. She was herself, Maggie Spritzer. She cocked her head from side to side. “Casual” meant casual. She decided she was casual in her black pantsuit with the leather belt that rode low on her hips. Now, if she put on the rhinestone belt, the black pantsuit would have qualified for casual evening wear. Well, it wasn’t going to get any better no matter how long she stared at herself. She was even satisfied with her hair, which she had pulled back and wound into a French twist. There was nothing she could do about the stray tendrils that curled around her temples and ears. All in all, she decided she was more than presentable.
She slipped into her coat for her walk to Aspen Lodge, the president’s private residence at Camp David.