Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4) (10 page)

After thanking Lucretia, he left and headed for
the wine shop. George and Al greeted him happily.

"What can we get for you?" George asked.

"I need to bring wine for the Thanksgiving
dinner at the Grainger house."

"Ooh, fabulous. Do you have a limit on what
you want to spend?" Al asked.

Eric laughed. "I guess not. I think I'll want
wine for the meal, plus a dessert wine."

"We have something just right for you. Follow
me."

By the time he left he had a box filled with wine
bottles, and George and Al appeared to be ecstatic by the big sale. Eric decided
to drop off the wine at Frank's place. When he pulled into the driveway, he saw
Frank unloading his car.

"Hi, Frank, I've brought wine."

"Good, just set it anywhere in the kitchen. I
need to finish unloading the rest of these groceries."

Eric nodded and headed inside the house. After
he'd put the box of wine bottles in a corner, he went back outside and helped
Frank bring in bags of food.

"Just how big is this dinner going to
be?" he asked, when they brought in the last items.

"Well, now, it's Thanksgiving dinner. It has
to be big. That's tradition. Plus, everyone will be here. Holly and Jason will
be getting in tonight from the city."

"They're the only ones I haven't met. Other
than the rest of Maggie's family. I guess that will have to wait a while."

"Best to have time to prepare yourself for
that meeting anyway."

Eric frowned. "What do you mean? Maggie seems
to love her parents. She's never said anything negative about them."

"Well, she wouldn't. No, her parents are
protective of all their children. You should have seen when they came to meet
Anna after she and Sam got together. Sam and Maggie's mother is...formidable.
That's the only word I can use. Looks like she could have been a model herself
rather than designing the clothes. Very stylish. She sees right through you,
and grills a person until she is satisfied she knows who they are."

"What about the father?"

"He was a cop. He's suspicious of everyone
until he gets to know them. No, their parents aren't hard on their kids at all.
They're just hard on anyone who presumes to love their kids. I'm sure you'll do
fine. But don't rush into it."

Eric laughed. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I
would never have imagined what you're saying, though, based on what Sam and
Maggie have said about them."

"Don't get me wrong--they're good people.
Once they're sure you aren't going to hurt their kids."

"Good to know. As I plan on making Maggie
happy, there shouldn't be a problem. Listen, Frank, I need your help."

"What's up? Here, have a seat at the table.
You want a drink? I need to start chopping some veggies if that's okay."

"Yeah, sure, that's fine. And if you have a
beer I'll take one."

Once Frank had provided the bottle of beer and
pulled out the veggies to be chopped, he sat down at the table across from Eric
and began chopping.

"See, what I want to do is buy a building for
Maggie."

Frank stopped chopping celery and stared at him.
"And why would you want to be doing that?"

"So she can start her own arts and crafts
business.

"She wants to do that? I hadn't heard anything
about this."

"Well, no, she doesn't know about the idea. I
figured that since she loves doing arts and crafts so much, having a space for
a shop would be a way for her to start working at something she loves. Maggie
can be a little flighty, so who knows how long it might take her to get
started. This way I'm helping to jumpstart the whole thing."

Frank resumed chopping for a minute, and then
stopped again. "Okay, Eric, listen to me. This is not a good idea. Maggie
might appear to be flighty, but she also has a mind of her own. I doubt, I
seriously doubt, that she'd appreciate you making that kind of decision for
her."

Eric frowned at him, feeling uncomfortable.
"I wouldn't be making the decision for her. I'd just be providing a
possibility for her, smoothing the way."

Frank shook his head. "Son, you need to
re-think this. Have you thought about talking to Sam about it? He knows his
sister pretty well. He could tell you if it's a good idea."

Eric felt his face flush. "I think I'm
getting to know Maggie pretty well, too. I'm sure she'd love doing this."

"Didn't mean to imply anything. I'm just
saying, maybe you should mention it to Sam."

"Yeah, okay. Listen, I'd better get going. I
have a few more errands before I take Maggie out tonight."

Frank nodded. "Thanks for bringing the wine.
That's a big help. We'll see you tomorrow."

"That's right. We'll be here."

Eric left in a hurry, wanting to get away from
Frank. He hadn't like the way Frank seemed so knowledgeable about Maggie, like
he knew things Eric didn't. True, he and Maggie hadn't known each other very
long...but he felt sure she'd flip over this. She kept saying how she wanted
out of the public relations business. And she spent a lot of time on her arts
and crafts. He'd just be easing her over that first step, plus providing the
costliest item she'd have starting up a new business. As he thought it over, he
felt more confident by the moment. Everything would be fine.

* * * *

Thanksgiving morning arrived with a blast of cold
air. Maggie had not turned the heat up, and she woke to a cold apartment.
Fortunately, there was a man-sized heater in bed with her. She snuggled up to
Eric and sighed with contentment.

"Is it cold in here, or is that my
imagination?" Eric grumbled as he put his arms around her and held her
close to him.

"I think that cold front came through. One of
us needs to get up and set the thermostat higher."

"Hmm. One of us? I vote for you."

"Eric! You're the man. You're supposed to be
willing to slay dragons for me--or at least turn up the heat."

He flung back the covers and she yelped.
"Come on. Let's both get up. I vote for a hot shower."

The promise of fooling around in the shower was
the only thing that could get her out of bed, and he knew it, she thought.
Later, they ate some scones she'd bought at the bakery the day before, for
breakfast. Sipping coffee together at the little table in the kitchen made
Maggie feel all cozy again. She was so comfortable with him.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him.

"Why do women always ask that?"

"Because we're curious."

"I see. I was thinking about how pretty you
are, and how nice it is to sit across from you in the morning, just drinking
our coffee."

She blinked. "Wow, that's almost exactly what
I was thinking."

He smiled at her, that smile that she loved.

"Are you looking forward to the big dinner
today?" he asked.

She bobbed her head. "Yes. It's always fun to
have everyone together. I miss the family gathering at my parents' house, but
being around everyone here seems to lessen that. It will be interesting to see
if Cody and Sam get assigned to kid-watching duty. Anna and Julia always seem
able to maneuver those guys so that the women get a few moments of peace."

Eric laughed. "I haven't been around kids
much in my life. To me, they are kind of like little aliens."

"Eric!"

"But in a good way."

"So are you going home to change
clothes?"

"Yes, I should have brought them with
me."

"Stay away for a while so that I can do some
work on Christmas presents. We don't have to get there until around noon or
whenever the first football game comes on TV."

"You know, I could stay and help you."

"Not if the present is for you!"

"Ah, okay. I'll pick you up later then."
He left shortly thereafter.

Maggie had decided to decoupage a box for Eric,
covered in pictures of her. He had asked just the other day for a photo of her
to keep at his place. This would fit the bill, and also be useful. She wasn't
sure what else to get him, or if she should get him more than one thing. She'd
never had a relationship like this one, where everything felt important. Love
changed it all.

She wished that she'd had time to make him a
quilt, but there was no time. It seemed that ever since Eric had come into her
life she'd been overwhelmed and never had a free minute. It wasn't that they
spent all their time together, but that her mind and heart seemed filled up
with images and thoughts of him.

It had been such a short time that they'd known
each other, and she knew that they were moving fast in their relationship. It
appeared to be a truth, however, that people really could fall in love at first
sight. The new things they discovered about each other were an exploration, but
the die had already been cast. They belonged together, even with their
differences.

They had a date tomorrow night, to go see another
movie at the theater down town.
North by Northwest
was playing and Eric
said it was another 'must-see.' As he introduced her to vintage movies, she was
continuing to make sure he knew all about Sully Point. She'd taken him to the
holiday planning meeting the town held two days before Thanksgiving. He was now
signed up to help with decorations, right along with her. He still seemed a bit
bemused by that.

He was very methodical and logical in his
thinking, where she tended to jump from one thing to another, reaching
conclusions in what appeared to be an irrational fashion. But for all that, she
knew she was a bit more logical than people thought she was. She was just very
good at multi-tasking.

Finally it was time to get ready. Maggie had
purchased a new white sweater, as soft as cashmere, and it fit her body
perfectly. She also had a new skirt, full and in an ethereal material of
shimmering silver-grays. She was wearing low-heeled comfortable black shoes. She figured she'd be standing up a lot in the kitchen helping out. Silver
earrings and bracelets completed her look.

When Eric came up the stairs and opened the door,
she was standing in the living room. He took her in with avid eyes and said,
"You look like a confection. Good enough to eat. Come on fairy princess,
let's go."

She giggled and put on her coat. Fairy princess.
Somehow she didn't resent comments like that when they came from him. Anyone
else, namely Sam, and she'd have smacked them.

It turned out that they were the first ones to
arrive. Betsy, Frank's wife, explained that everyone had called to say they
were running late.

"Put us to work then," Maggie said to
her. "We're not super chefs, but we can both get stuff done in the
kitchen."

"Okay, I will. One of you can start peeling
the sweet potatoes. We're going to roast them, so we need them peeled and cut
up into chunks. Then we drizzle olive oil over them along with some
herbs."

"I can do that," Eric said. "Peel
potatoes, cut them up--easy enough."

"Maggie, thanks for bringing the green bean
casserole. We'll reheat that near time to eat. What we need is someone to put
the ambrosia together. I need to finish making the stuffing. And Frank is
working with the fryer."

"Fryer?" Eric asked.

"Yes, we're having deep-fried turkey this year.
It's supposed to be a wonderful turkey when you do that, but I'm a little
nervous about it."

"I've seen those things on cooking shows.
They're awesome," Eric said with a grin.

"You watch cooking shows?" Maggie asked.

He turned a bit red. "Well, yeah, when I'm
not doing anything, to pass the time."

"Hmm." She wondered how long it would
take to get to know everything about him.

They all moved into the kitchen. When Maggie asked
for an apron, she was given a nice big one that covered the front of her sweater
and skirt. Eric got one too, so that his tailored forest green shirt and dark
brown pants wouldn't get splattered either. The green enhanced his eyes while
the brown was the same color as his hair. He'd worn it down today, but now
pulled it back and tied it with a leather strip. She had to stop looking at him
because he was far too sexy and appealing to her.

Maggie's job wasn't hard at all, but involved
opening cans of mandarin oranges and pineapple, bags of coconut and mini
marshmallows, along with a jar of maraschino cherries. She mixed it all
together with the whipped cream and sour cream mixture that Betsy had already
prepared. Adding pecans to the mix, she finished and covered the large bowl
with plastic wrap. Opening the fridge she was startled to see no space at all
for the big bowl.

"We have a problem, Betsy."

"Oh yes, I know. Fortunately, we have another
refrigerator in the garage. Just run it out there, dear."

Maggie went out the back door to find Frank doing
something with the fryer. She called out 'hi' to him, but he was too absorbed
in a book of instructions. She found the refrigerator and put the bowl in it,
noticing that they had a chest freezer out in the garage as well.

When she came back into the kitchen, she stopped
at the doorway and sniffed. Puzzled, she came on in and went directly to the
double ovens. She opened one to find a pecan pie. As she was about to open the
other one, Betsy stopped her.

"No! Don't open that."

"Why not?"

"Because...well..."

Maggie started to smile. "You've got another
turkey in there, don't you?"

Betsy's shoulders sagged. "You can't tell
anyone."

"Tell anyone what?" Eric asked, coming
into the kitchen from the pantry with more potatoes.

"You two promise me...."

"Okay, okay. But I think a turkey roasting in
one of the ovens is going to be pretty obvious," Maggie said. "Why is
it there?"

"I got worried that the deep frying wouldn't
work out and then we'd have no turkey for the dinner. I sneaked in this turkey
and put it in when Frank wasn't looking."