The Godmother (Everland Ever After #11) - Caroline Lee Page 0,1
I’ve helped care for. I’ve done my share of matchmaking, and it’s not that difficult. In my experience, it’s based on pushing two suitable people together and explaining the situation to them, then standing back and letting them do the rest.
Doc squinted thoughtfully down at the application.
Hmm.
Well, she wasn’t wrong. In fact, she seemed to have touched on the basic tenant of godmothering. There were two major factions in the guild; one believed True Love could only be found with one other person in the entire world, and the other belief—which Doc knew to be the truth, and since she’d written The Book, her opinion was really all that mattered—was most people could find True Love with most other people, assuming they had enough in common. The trick was to find that commonality and nurture it. And of course, to ensure both people were of the right personalities to ensure happiness in the other.
“Can you see what she’s not saying?” Helga asked, after Doc read that part of Christmas’s application to the others.
Before Doc could answer, Dorcas spoke up, “What do you mean, not saying? If she’s not saying it, how would we know it?”
Bashful waved her fingers mystically in the air. “Magic,” she breathed.
Grunhilda rolled her eyes. “More like common sense.”
Suzy sneezed.
Feeling her patience wear thin, Doc smoothed the application on the table. “Helga’s hearing the words she’s not saying, because we’ve all heard them before.” In our own heads. “This Christmas Harrington has not found her own happiness through marriage and motherhood, so she’s taken it upon herself to bring happiness to others—hence the matchmaking and child-caring comment.”
“So when she saw the application for a professional matchmaking guild,” interrupted Helga cheerfully, “she jumped on the chance to join!”
“We’ve all been called to the guild to help others,” agreed Suzy.
“Why’s her name Christmas?” blurted Dorcas. “That’s a bit silly, isn’t it?”
“Maybe her sisters are Easter and Hannukah, and her brothers are Halloween and Independence Day,” growled Grunhilda, glaring at the dopey woman.
But Dorcas, being Dorcas, didn’t notice as she tapped the large wart on her chin. “That would be a mouthful, wouldn’t it? ‘Independence Day Harrington, you get down out of that tree and bring back my peach pie!’ See? It’s difficult to yell.”
“How’d he get into the tree with the pie?” mused Bashful.
“What pie?”
“The peach pie. How’d Independence Day get into the tree without dropping it?”
Dorcas hummed. “Good point. How about, ‘Independence Day Harrington, you quit slapping your sisters with that dead fish and get back to copying your letters!’ ”
Grunhilda stared at Dorcas with a mixture of revulsion and amazement. “You had a very strange childhood, didn’t you?”
Suzy sneezed.
“You were the one, Miss Grumpy, who had suggested her siblings’ names—”
“She was born on December twenty-fourth!” Doc snapped, interrupting their bickering, pleased to have finally found the information. “Grunhilda, her siblings have perfectly normal names. Dorcas, you are strange. Suzy, get a new handkerchief.”
“Yes, Aunt,” mumbled the miserable young woman. “It’s this stupid hay fever.”
Helga nodded and patted Suzy’s arm. “Yes, dear. It’s always hay fever with you, isn’t it?”
While the other’s squabbling whirled around her, oddly comforting, Doc stared thoughtfully down at the application.
Christmas Harrington.
There was something about the words of her application which had struck her as not quite right. She’d spoken of matchmaking and had indicated a desire to be helpful, but…was there more? A longing perhaps?
Every one of the Godmothers at this table—and in the guild as a whole—had made the decision to forgo their own chance at finding True Love in order to help others. It was part of the oath, and they were all pleased with that choice.
But there was just enough bitterness in Christmas’s application to make Doc wonder.
“I think…” she began slowly, tapping one long finger against the paper, noting the applicant was an orphan. One more check in her favor. “I think it might be a very good idea to invite Ms. Christmas Harrington to Everland.”
Just to see if Doc’s suspicions were correct.
If they weren’t, then maybe the guild would have an enthusiastic new member. If they were, then the guild would do what it did best…help save Christmas.
Chapter 1
Now
The four of spades and four of hearts were the last two cards to be flipped over on the green baize, and when Christa’s opponent realized he’d been bluffed with a pair of fours, he scowled.
“Should’ve known you had something hinky going on!”
She didn’t agree, and instead, tucked her chin against her chest and reached for the pot, scooping the