Misty attempted to remember what Trey had said about the original Wildcat Bluff settlers. Independent cusses or something like that. Now she believed it. She slipped the smooth, knotted macramé over her head. She stroked the pendant that dangled from it.
“In case you don’t know, that brass piece is horse harness hardware. The hardware works perfectly for pendants since it comes in all sorts of designs like swans, animals, and such. Back in the day, a shiny row of those sewed on leather looked pretty on horses pulling conveyances.”
“I had no idea.” She didn’t say it, but she wasn’t even surprised that folks in Wildcat Bluff would wear horse harness hardware around their necks. Somehow it suited the place. And oddly enough, she thought the necklace pretty.
“That’s your guardian angel. Everybody needs one, particularly a Christmas angel. I knew there was a special reason I wore that necklace this morning.”
Misty stroked the wide wings, long gown, and bare feet of her angel. More Christmas. As soon as she got to her room, she’d better stow the necklace with the harp-playing angel in her closet.
“Now, you’ll do fine to teach macramé classes.”
“Teach? I’m sure others around here are better suited to help you. Besides, I’ll be back in Dallas.”
“Never try to predict your own future.”
Misty nodded again. Maybe she could make headway in her investigation. “Thank you. I just might need this guardian angel. I understand there’ve been a number of fires around here.”
“Bad mojo.”
“Have they all been grass and tree fires, like the one I helped with?”
“No. Buildings, too.”
“Good thing you’ve got such good fire-rescue volunteers.”
“That’s the truth of it. Great bunch.” Morning Glory whirled away. “I’m off to mix up a little of this and a little of that.”
As Morning Glory sashayed away, Misty wondered if the pretty woman had ventured a little too far on the wild side in her early years or if she was simply a creative personality. Either way, Misty couldn’t help but like her.
She glanced down at the necklace. She appreciated the thoughtfulness. The pendant didn’t look too overbearingly like an angel. Artfully avant-garde. She’d wear it a little while so as not to offend Morning Glory, but she didn’t need any extra reminders of Christmas.
Maybe she’d sit in the tearoom and wait for customers. Now that she thought about it, this situation could be a blessing in disguise. She’d have a great opportunity to start up conversations about local fires with shoppers as they looked around at merchandise.
She admired the bluebirds again, then sat down and looked out the front window at folks hurrying to and fro. Suddenly, a loud Klaxon sounded in the store and outside, above the boardwalk. She stood up in alarm.
“Misty, quick!” Morning Glory called from the back of the store. “Come on.”
She glanced around. Morning Glory wore a firefighter jacket over her shirt and a helmet on her head. She held similar bright yellow items in her hands.
Shocked, Misty looked from Morning Glory toward all the noise outside. Folks were streaming out of the stores, pulling on firefighter gear as they ran toward their vehicles. Hedy must have gotten the system back online and was testing to make sure it worked correctly.
“You can wear Hedy’s gear.” Morning Glory ran to the front door and quickly locked it.
“This is a fire drill, right?”
“No! We’ve got ourselves a real fire. A big one based on the number of blasts. And everybody helps out on a big fire. My pickup’s out back. We’ll take it.”
“Another fire?” Misty hated the thought. She pushed back the threatening edge of darkness as she clutched her new guardian angel. She’d fought a fire once for this town. Surely with all these people and something more than three towels, she could do it again.
“Quick. I’ve got a bad vibe about this fire.” Morning Glory tossed the extra firefighter helmet and jacket toward Misty.
She caught the gear and took deep breaths as she followed in Morning Glory’s wake.
Chapter 12