The Heart of Teaberry Read online

  Heart of Teaberry

  A Teaberry Farm Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery

  R. A. Wallace

  2019

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, dialogue, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Material in this book is not intended as a substitute for legal or medical advice from qualified professionals. The author has no connection to any software or website mentioned.

  © 2019 R. A. Wallace. All rights reserved.

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Megan’s Recipe

  Books by R. A. Wallace

  Chapter One

  She leaned against the doorway and assessed her work so far. She wanted the room to be perfect for their guests when they arrived. There would be several last-minute touches that would need to be added, of course. The chilled champagne, the flowers, and the chocolates, for instance. But much of the rest was already in place. The scented soaps and bath oils, the seasonal decorations, and the extra quilt were examples of the small touches that she made certain were always in every room. She had learned their significance to a successful stay for her guests over the years. A stay that she hoped they would cherish with fond memories.

  This particular room was her favorite and the one most requested by honeymooners and couples celebrating anniversaries. Megan didn’t know which category the Franklins fell into yet, but she assumed they were celebrating something. Either way, she wanted to do everything she could to ensure their happiness. Having a large suite with a gas fireplace and a large tub for two with jacuzzi jets was a great start.

  Smiling to herself, she returned to the first floor and the kitchen. She could see through the window that Dan was on his way back to the house. She’d already finished making their breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes made with other vegetables grown in her own garden from the past summer. She removed the casserole dish from the oven where she had been keeping it all warm and placed it on a pad on the center of the table.

  She was slicing the homemade loaf of bread when Dan entered the kitchen with a swirl of cold air. He hung his coat on the back of a chair and washed his hands in the sink before reaching around her to grab his coffee mug, nuzzling her neck as he did.

  “Good morning,” he murmured.

  He felt pressure against his ankles and looked down. Emma was winding her way around Megan’s feet again.

  “She’s been doing that a lot lately. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she’s trying to trip you.”

  Megan looked down at serene green eyes. “She has been different lately. I don’t know why.”

  “Maybe we haven’t been paying enough attention to her.” Dan sat down at the table and watched as Megan lifted Emma.

  “Maybe. I can’t see how that could be though. Lately, she’s been jumping in my lap every time I sit.”

  “Maybe she figures she better do it while she can.” He lifted the lid from the casserole dish and transferred a healthy portion to his plate.

  “Maybe she’s just cuddling for warmth.” She brought her mug of decaf tea to the table and sat across from him with Emma in her lap.

  He added a thick layer of homemade raspberry jam to his bread. “How are we doing today?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I’m thinking I’ll try some plain toast in a bit. That sounds good.”

  He knew it was an improvement over other mornings. He studied her as he ate his breakfast. Her color looked better today also.

  “I have an appointment with an architect later today to get things started on the addition.”

  She thought about the new nursery and smiled. It would take months until the project was completed. She understood that. But it was nice to know that they were moving forward.

  “I’m going into town today. I want to see Lauren and then I have a meeting at the mayor’s office.” Megan rubbed Emma’s ears and was rewarded with a loud purring.

  Dan picked up his empty plate and carried it to the dishwasher. He paused to kiss the top of her head on the way out of the room.

  “Tell Lauren I said hello.”

  The drive into town later in the morning was short. Lauren’s mother-in-law, Bev, answered the door when Megan arrived. She was holding a fussing baby Grace.

  “There you are, good morning.” Bev turned and walked away from the front door, rubbing Grace’s back gently the whole time.

  Megan marveled at the woman she followed through the house. Although Bev would spend most of her day looking after her grandchildren, she always looked perfectly put together. Her blonde hair, now shot through with silver, was attractively styled. Megan thought again of her own mid-length brown hair. She rarely did more than pull it back into a tail. She doubted that would change in the foreseeable future with her own baby on the way.

  Her cousin’s work kitchen smelled of cooked fruit. Megan knew it had come from her own farm the previous year. Megan cleaned the fruit and froze it, then brought it to Lauren’s so that her cousin could use it for her business. Lauren was in the process of making pies from the frozen fruit.

  “Wow, this looks like a large order.” Megan leaned against a counter as Bev excused herself and left with Grace.

  “I’m not complaining but I am looking forward to my night off.” Lauren flashed her cousin a grin.

  “What do you two have planned this year?”

  “Honestly? We haven’t decided yet. In fact, we haven’t even talked about it.” Lauren went over to the oven and swapped out the pies.

  “Dan said this will be good practice for him.”

  “Talk about trial by fire. His first time spending an evening with kids and he’ll have his hands full with mine.”

  “He thinks it’s a great tradition,” Megan said.

  “That you watch my kids on my anniversary every year?” Lauren went over to the sink to wash out some bowls. “Did you tell him I volunteered to do the same for the two of you?”

  “Mm hmm. That’s why he thinks it’s an awesome tradition.”

  Lauren laughed. “I hope he still has his sense of humor after spending the evening with my kids.”

  “I don’t know why you say things like that. They’re always perfect angels when they’re with me.”

  Lauren shook her head. “I hope so. I guess all parents worry about how their kids behave when they aren’t around.”

  “Any last instructions?” Megan went over to the sink to wash out her tea cup.

  “I’m sure we’ll have a list by the time you get here.”

  “He said he’s meeting with the architect to get started on some drawings.”

  “That sounds exciting,” Bev said as she returned to the kitchen.

  “Is she sleeping?” Lauren asked.

  Bev nodded. “For now. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was already teething.”

  “Isn’t that a little
early?” Megan asked.

  “Maybe, but not by too much. I guess it helps when you know to expect it. You don’t have to wonder why they’re a little fussier than normal,” Bev said.

  “What are you and Vince planning for Valentine’s Day?” Lauren asked.

  “We haven’t decided yet. It might be dinner and a movie. We don’t get too crazy with it, but we do enjoy spending it together.”

  Megan looked at the time. “I need to go. I have to be at the mayor’s soon. I’ll talk to you again before your anniversary.”

  As she drove to the administration building in the middle of town, Megan thought about watching the kids on Valentine’s Day. She hoped it didn’t prove to be more than Dan had expected. Although he was from a very large family, he had never spent a lot of time caring for little ones on his own. She parked her truck across from the building and went inside.

  After walking part way down the hall, she stopped at Jessilyn’s office and saw her through the open door. Jessilyn was focused on the computer on her desk. Megan reached in and tapped on the door. Jessilyn didn’t hear her at first, so Megan tapped louder.

  Jessilyn jumped. “Oh, Megan! Sorry, I didn’t hear you.” She waved her hand. “Come on in. I was looking over some of the things I wanted to speak with you about.”

  Megan took a seat. “How are you doing?”

  “Great!”

  Megan looked at Jessilyn closely.

  “Did I say that just a tad too cheerily?” Jessilyn asked ruefully.

  Megan held up her hand and put her thumb and finger close together. “Maybe just a little.”

  Jessilyn sighed and sat back in her seat.

  “Okay, maybe I was actually sitting here thinking about Seth.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  Jessilyn gave a half shrug. “I don’t think so. I mean, we seem to be okay.” She shook her head. “Maybe I’m just getting goofy. So, you’re here about the town web site, right?”

  Megan nodded and watched Jessilyn turn her monitor so that Megan could see it.

  “This is the page I want to revise. I wrote up a different narrative for it. I’d like to promote Teaberry as being a place that is ready for business. We have a lot of great opportunities and with the business incubator that Ross McMann started, I think we should do everything we can to appeal to any businesses who might consider Teaberry as an option.” Jessilyn outlined some of her ideas.

  Megan nodded when Jessilyn was done. “Yeah, I think I can do that. Do you also have the updates for the upcoming events?”

  “I do.” Jessilyn looked over Megan shoulder toward her door. Megan turned to look also and found Barbara Reynolds, the mayor of Teaberry.

  “I see you two are hard at work. Did you have a chance to tell Megan about my shadows?” Barbara asked.

  “I was just getting to them.” Jessilyn looked back at Megan. “Two seniors from Teaberry High will be shadowing the mayor. It’s a new program at the school. It will be happening all over town, actually. The idea is to get them out of class and into the workplace during their senior year, so they can get a feel for different careers and just being in the workplace.”

  “That is a good idea. I’m sure it will be a great learning experience for them.” Megan stood. “I should let you get back to work. I’ll let you know when I have the changes so you can look at them.”

  Chapter Two

  Ward re-read what he had written and shook his head. It hadn’t come out the way he’d hoped. His own memories of Teaberry in by-gone years and those passed down to him by his father and grandfather had been amazing. He shouldn’t have any problems writing them down and making them all available for future generations of Teaberry to enjoy but, for whatever reason, he just couldn’t seem to make them sound as exciting on the page as he remembered them.

  That was why he had signed up for the writing class. It was being held at the local branch of the community college. That was another reason he had signed up for it. He had been struggling with his book on the history of Teaberry and, just like magic, his wish for help came true and practically right around the corner from where he lived. As soon as he saw the writing class advertised in the paper, he immediately signed up for it.

  It was a semester long course and, so far, they’d only met a handful of times, but he could already see the difference. Whereas before he’d been writing all kinds of things in his manuscript, now it was just the opposite. The instructor had cautioned that only the most relevant pieces of information should be included. That the writer should cull the best portions of the story and leave the rest behind.

  Now Ward tried to be more circumspect with his writing. The problem was, now he had difficulty writing anything at all. Instead of writing down all of the stories about Teaberry that he could remember, he was trying to include only the ones that future generations might find interesting.

  Ward looked down at the pages in front of him again. Maybe whatever they learn in tonight’s class would help him get past this point. In fact, he was sure of it. The instructor had brought them this far. Ward knew that Chad Selway must have a plan to move them to the next writing plateau. Satisfied with his logic, he left the pages and got up. He needed to get ready for class so he wouldn’t be late.

  ***

  Doris removed her glasses and cleaned the lenses using the lower hem of her shirt. She knew that she needed to stop what she was doing and get ready for her writing class, but she was just getting to the steamy part of the story. She wanted to finish writing the chapter she was on before she lost her train of thought.

  The main female character has just realized that her feelings for the handsome lord next door in Castle Teaberry are all-consuming. She won’t be able to live without him. The problem was, she hasn’t figured out how to convince him that they were meant to be together.

  Doris considered different ways that her lead character might entice the male to fall madly in love with her. She frowned as she stared at her monitor. The problem was, she didn’t have any real experience with that herself. How was she supposed to write about it?

  She saved her work and pushed herself up from her computer chair. Perhaps she needed to get to class after all. Maybe Chad will be covering character development in class tonight. If she could manage to write about a character in a compelling way, all of the readers will understand why the male character can’t resist falling in love. It was worth a try, wasn’t it?

  ***

  Annie held up her wand and studied it. It wasn’t just the wand she needed to describe. She needed to come up with a signature way of using it so that the readers would always know that something magical was about to follow and by exactly which witch. Annie looked closely at her hand then tried repositioning it on the wand. Maybe if she started with a description of the witch’s hand on the wand and then switched to the movement of her arm as she cast her spell?

  Maybe that would be unique enough to help differentiate each of the witches in her story to the readers? The timer that went off next to her startled Annie from her concentration. She reached to turn it off automatically and then remembered the reason why she had set it in the first place. She needed to get ready for class now.

  She couldn’t believe that she was actually taking a writing class. Or that she would be published sometime in the near future. She was certain that she would be. Her stories were meant to be read by others who also enjoy all things mystical. Excited about what they might learn in class tonight, Annie quickly closed her file and turned off her computer. She smiled at the doll with a conical hat and striped legs sitting next to her computer before dashing off to get dressed.

  ***

  Carol printed out her homework assignment and carefully placed it into a binder that she carried to class with her. She had already uploaded the file to the online area where their course assignments were posted but she liked to have the actual printed copy with her to refer to in case the instructor had any questions.

  This particular assignm
ent had given her some difficulty. She wondered if anyone else in the class had trouble with it. That was the nice thing about having a small class. You got to know the other students quickly and she really enjoyed talking to the others about their writing aspirations. She just wished more of them had been interested in the historical fiction genre. Then again, maybe it was best that they weren’t. She certainly didn’t need the competition and she had high hopes that her work would be published someday soon.

  ***

  Oliver leaned back in his chair and smiled with satisfaction. His victim had believed that she would be safe from the hatchet-wielding maniac wearing a mask but that hadn’t been the way it had worked out for her. Pleased that his graphic description of her death would keep his readers awake for hours, he glanced down at the time on his computer and stood. He needed to put away his murderous thoughts and get ready for his writing class.

  It was only a few weeks into the semester. He hoped the course moved on to more advanced material soon. He was sure once they got past the introductory material that the topics would be more meaningful for him. For now, however, he needed to bide his time much like the hatchet-wielding maniac who stalked his victims. Oliver chuckled at the imagery. He was pretty sure his writing instructor was safe from maniacs.

  ***

  Teri finished folding her husband’s tee shirt and put it into the drawer. She often found her best one-liners popped into her head when she was doing mundane tasks. Her mind wandered back to her current writing assignment. She’d had difficulty infusing any humor into that one. She was sure that was part of the lesson, however. If writing were easy, everyone would do it.

  She went back to her computer, pulling her reading glasses from the top of her head as she walked, and sat down to read over what she had written. It wasn’t quite what she would have liked it to be. The assignment wasn’t specifically for the humor genre, but she needed to upload it for a grade anyway. It was due by class time tonight and there wasn’t any time left to fine-tune it. Perhaps that would be something Chad would be discussing tonight.

  Teri clicked the upload button and nodded to herself. That makes sense. Learning to write well would certainly include topics that were independent of a genre so that you could learn the basics. She pushed the reading glasses back to the top of her head and stood. It occurred to her that there was a lot of funny material in someone her age going back to college. It wasn’t every day that a fifty-something found herself tasked with homework assignments. She should start jotting down notes of her experiences as she was living them. It would help her with writing her material later on.