TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES (A ROSE GARDNER MYSTERY, BOOK 1)

CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter Four 

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t believe it was after nine. I wondered what the Henryetta Southern Baptist Church would do since Momma didn’t meet her pie commitment. Then, I reminded myself it didn’t matter. Momma was dead.

I sat up in Ashley’s frighteningly pink princess room feeling like a little girl, but finding myself a suspect in Momma’s murder seemed like a very grown-up thing. I couldn’t let myself act like a child anymore. After twenty-four years, it was high time I grew up.

I walked out of the bedroom and leaned against the wall in the hallway, watching Violet and her family in the kitchen. Mikey sat in his high chair and Ashley played with a small pony at the table. Violet stood in front of her stove, a spatula in hand. Mike walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist before kissing her on the cheek. My heart ached for this, this sense of belonging. Violet would let me live here the rest of my life, and Mike, God love him, would too. But this was their family, not mine.

“Good morning,” I said as I sat down at the table next to Ashley.

Violet twisted around, a bright smile etched into her face, but worry lines wrinkled the corners of her eyes. “Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

I yawned. “Yes, actually I did. I can’t believe I slept so long.”

A frown crossed her face. “It was a long night.” She turned to the skillet and flipped pancakes. “We need to go to the funeral home today.”

I hadn’t considered that, but it didn’t surprise me. I picked up one of Ashley’s ponies and fingered the pink mane. “Okay.”

“I thought I could send Mike over to get some of your stuff,” she said with a forced brightness. “You just make a list and he’ll get whatever you need.”

It would have been an easy habit to slip into, letting Violet take care of me, but I felt a rebellion brewing deep inside. “Thanks Vi, but I think I’d like to go home.”

Violet and Mike, who had been reading the Sunday paper, both gawked at me as if I had announced I was becoming a Tibetan monk.

“Rose, don't be silly. It’s not like you’re putting us out. We want you here. Isn’t that right, Mike?” Violet turned back to the stove and dismissed the silly thought.

Mike smiled. “Rose, you’re welcome here as long as you need to stay.”

“I know, Mike, and I appreciate that so much, but I don’t want to stay here. I really need to go home.”

Violet spun and faced me again, frowning like I was a misbehaving child. I worried she was gonna get whiplash with all the twisting around. “Rose, you cannot go back there! Momma was,” she lowered her voice, “murdered there.”

“I am well aware of that fact, Violet, considering I was the one to discover her.”

“I’m not puttin’ up with this foolishness. You’re staying here, and that’s that.”

I looked at Mike. Our eyes locked and I could see he read the seriousness of my decision. He patted my hand and winked. “Violet, Rose is a grown woman and is capable of making up her own mind. If she wants to go home, then I’ll take her home. When do you want to go?”

I smiled a thank-you. “Right after breakfast, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all.”

“Rose! You can’t go right after breakfast! We have to go to the funeral home at three o’clock.”

“Then I’ll meet you there.”