Queen Bee (Lowcountry Tales #12) - Dorothea Benton Frank Page 0,77

to him with a napkin and, of course, a fork.

“Sorry?” he said.

“When the temperature in the hives goes over ninety-three and a half, some of the bees go hang out somewhere else to let the hives cool down. Then they go home and some others leave.”

“And it’s called bearding?”

“Yeah, kind of a funny term, isn’t it? Sugar?”

I pushed the sugar bowl toward him and watched him load four spoons of sugar into his glass. I gave him an iced tea spoon. He’d be stirring that much sugar until next week if he wanted it all to dissolve.

“Mrs. MacLean told me she was swarmed.”

I sighed as wearily as I could muster.

“Mrs. MacLean is as crazy as a low-flying loon,” Momma said under her breath, just loud enough for us to hear her.

“Momma!” I said in mock horror. “Ted, I’m not surprised. But of course, she’s dead wrong. Lots of people don’t know the difference between swarming and bearding.”

“Can you enlighten me? I’m just a police officer, you know, keeper of the peace. You’re the beekeeper.”

I laughed a little, trying to keep it light.

“Sure. When bees swarm they make a loud roar. My bees were quiet. That’s a sign. Also, swarming occurs in the spring. Not the summer. I just changed the bottom of the hive to a screen to give them more ventilation. They’re happier now.”

“She claims that the bees swarmed her car, causing her to become hysterical.”

“That she got hysterical is her own mental problem. For the most part, honey bees are harmless.”

“She had to take something and lie down.”

“She lies down a lot,” Momma said. “That’s how she hooked Archie.”

“Momma!”

“Sorry,” she said.

Ted smiled and I blushed.

“She says you caused the bees to swarm her in retaliation for her putting Tyler on restriction and refusing to allow him to attend his birthday party because he called her a bad name.”

“Good Lord, Ted! Did you hear what you just said?”

“I know.” Ted smiled at me. “And I said it with a straight face. Good, right?”

“You always were the best actor in the whole dang school. I think I’ll never forget you singing “Maria” in West Side Story.”

“Somebody call Hollywood,” Momma mumbled.

I kicked her under the table and cut my eye at her.

“Well, thanks, Holly.” He ate the last of his cake.

“Anyway, she called me a bad name, and did I get to put her on restriction?”

“She did?” Momma said. “What did that Jezebel call my daughter?”

“She said I was a freak, a menace to society, and that she was going to sue me for a million dollars.”

“She said that? I ought to go over there and slap her face!” Momma said.

“Oh, Momma, she was just being crazy,” I said. But I did love it that Momma defended me.

“Where in the world did Mr. MacLean find this new wife of his?”

“An online Transylvanian dating app,” I said. “Listen, she’s not from here, you know? She doesn’t understand the first thing about nature or children. It’s pitiful.”

“No, she’s not a Lowcountry girl. That’s for sure. Still, I have to ask, is there a way to keep the bees away from her? Apparently, she’s terrified of them.”

“That’s her mental problem, not mine, but I’ll mention it to them when I check the hives in the morning,” I said.

“Tell all the palmetto bugs to get off the island while you’re at it, okay?” Momma said. “And to take the coyotes with them.”

“You bet,” I said.

Ted laughed at that and stood to leave. I walked him to the door.

“Thanks for the cake and the tea,” he said. “Did you know they made me the interim chief?”

Our chief of police on the island had retired at the end of last year.

“No! I had not heard that. Congratulations!”

“Yeah, they got a search going, but my hat’s in the ring, too. You never know.”

“That’s right, you never know. Wow, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Ted had always been a dignified guy, very smart and not impetuous. I thought then that he would make an excellent chief of police. There was nothing bubba about him.

“It sure would be.”

We stood on my top step, looking toward Archie’s house.

“That woman’s a nightmare, Ted. Between us, that is.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Doesn’t take much to get her all worked up, all right. Your momma’s still a character, isn’t she?”

“Oh, she’s that and a whole lot more.”

Why was he so slow to leave?

As though he read my mind, he said, “Well, thanks again. I’ll be seeing you around the island, I guess.”

“Anytime,” I said and slipped by

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