Addie moved slowly. She more than likely shouldn’t be up yet, but the nurse told her so long as she was careful, didn’t lift anything over a loaf of bread, and made sure she sat down a lot, she could get up. Just taking a shower had made her feel like she needed to return to bed, but she wanted to explore and made herself work through the exhaustion.
“Hello.” The woman standing next to a large butcher block table caused her to pause. She was the tiniest thing she’d ever seen. “I’m making bread and rolls for dinner. But I have you some breakfast here should you want it.”
“That’s fine. There’s no reason for you to stop what you’re doing.” But she did, pulling her hands from the soft-looking dough and wiping her hands off on a towel that hung from her apron. “I didn’t know people made homemade bread anymore.”
“I do when I’ve a problem to work through. Sit before you fall down.” Addie gladly took the seat. And before she could even begin to think that she should have gotten something to drink before sitting down, there was a large glass of orange juice in front of her and an empty cup. “We’ve no coffee in the house. Tea that’s as black as the night, and strong. Would you like a cup of it?”
“I would love a cup of tea. And some toast if you have some. I’m still feeling a little off.” The woman nodded. “I’m Addison West. But everyone…well, everyone used to call me Addie. I don’t know that many people any longer.”
“Izzy Manchester. My husband Jake is about somewhere. He said something about going to clean out the closet. I think he’s hiding from me.” The food that Izzy started to pull from the refrigerator was massive. She saw two dozen eggs, three pounds of bacon, and a platter of what looked to Addie like a ham. When she turned and looked at her, Izzy smiled. “The boys are coming soon. Most of them will have eaten a little something just to hold them over, but the rest will be starved. They left here last night to help out with a problem.”
“You mean ghosts.” She knew that she sounded skeptical, but she was having a hard time believing this thing. Izzy nodded, and Addie started to stand to help with breakfast when another tiny little woman came in and started buzzing around the room like she was on something.
“Steele just called me. They’re at the airport. You should have woke me up. Now I’m so far behind that I’ll never be able to—” Izzy put her hands on the woman. “I’m nervous. I go to the doctor today.”
“I can see that, Miss Kari. Why don’t you have a seat with Miss Addie here and we’ll get you both fed before the boys come in? And so you know, they told me that Nick is hurt. Fell or something when one of them tried to talk to him.” Addie stood up and started for the door when Izzy stopped her. “There’s nothing you can do for him right this minute. When he comes in, you just give him some pampering and he’ll be fine.”
“I’m not pampering him.” Her voice was high and her face heated up with it. “I’m not going to pamper him. I’m not sure what I feel about him, but we’re not in the pampering stage of…well, at anything right now.”
Plates of food were placed in front of her and Kari. Addie liked her, and wondered if she was a necromancer as well. When Aster came into the room with an elderly lady, Addie tried to ignore them, but Kari introduced them to her.
“My, but you’re very pretty, aren’t you?” Addie blushed hotly when Connie spoke to her. “You must look like your grandmother, because you don’t look a thing like your parents.”
“You know them?” Connie nodded and said that she’d known them for some time. “I’ve not been home in a long time. I’m assuming that I’m no longer welcome in their home. I was never what you’d call a very gracious child.”
Connie and Aster laughed, along with Kari. Aster put her hand on Kari’s belly and told her that she was doing fine. Addie felt slightly dizzy when she realized what she was seeing. Aster didn’t just put her hand on her belly, but had reached inside it. The next thing she knew, her head was between her knees and someone was shouting at her.
From the boots, she figured it was a male. From the sound of the voices, she could hear now that there were more than one, and that it was Aster and Nick arguing. When Addie tried to lift her head up, he shoved it back down, and that was when she got pissed. Putting her fingers into her mouth, she did something that she’d not done in years. She whistled like it was her job.
Lifting her head now, she looked around the room. Aster and Kari were smiling, Connie was staring at her with some sort of awed look on her face, and Izzy was covering her mouth with her towel and laughing too.