Bonnie laughed. “Mary’s a hoot. She always has something funny to say.”
Maybe he just wanted to see Kinley’s reaction when he said lightly to her siblings, “Mary told me about the ghost of Bride Mountain. That was the first I’d heard of the legend.”
Right on cue, that little frown appeared between Kinley’s brows. Logan made a sound somewhere between a snort and a scoff, making his opinion of the legend clear enough. Only Bonnie smiled in response to the mention.
“It is a rather obscure story,” she admitted. “Not a lot of people have heard of it. Maybe we wouldn’t have, either, if Uncle Leo and Aunt Helen hadn’t seen her and told us about her.”
Dan cocked his head at her and spoke without judgment, merely open curiosity. “So you really believe your uncle saw a ghost bride on the night he proposed to his future wife?”
Frowning at her groaning siblings, Bonnie nodded firmly. “I do. I can’t explain exactly what they saw, of course, and I’m not saying definitively that I believe in ghosts, but they both spotted something that looked to them like a smiling woman in white. It was a profound experience for both of them, and they were happily married until they were parted by Aunt Helen’s death.”
“And what about you two?” he asked, including both Kinley and Logan in the question. “No doubt at all on your parts that they were mistaken in what they thought they saw?”
Bonnie answered for them. “Logan thinks it’s
all malarkey, and Kinley has no whimsy.”
Dan was the only one who laughed.
“Where could I learn more about the bride?” he asked. “Do you know of any other couples still living who claim to have seen her?”
Kinley set down her fork abruptly with a slight clatter. “You said you weren’t going to write about the bride,” she accused him. “You said you’re doing a story about wedding venues, not old ghost stories.”
“I said I would mention it only within the context of the article I’ve been employed to write,” he replied steadily. “Not a ghost story, but a profile of the historic inn as a Southern wedding venue with its own legends and history attached. But I am curious, naturally, and I’m not ruling out that it could be a topic of a future article I might write.”
They frowned at each other for a moment in a silent battle of wills that Bonnie quickly interrupted. “I do know someone you can talk to,” she said to Dan, giving her sister a quick, seemingly uncharacteristically defiant glance. “Her name is Mamie Sawyer and she says she and her late husband saw the ghost. Several people we know claim to have seen her, but Mamie is the only one I would consider really credible. Neither Logan nor Kinley would say a word against her integrity, even if they don’t believe in the ghost bride.”
Logan chewed on a bite of roast beef, his silence an implicit agreement.
Kinley cleared her throat. “Okay, Mamie would be considered a reliable witness in any court case,” she conceded. “That doesn’t mean she wasn’t mistaken in what she thought she saw forty some-odd years ago.”
“I’m sure she’d be happy to visit with you, if you’d like me to set it up, Dan. She’s very sociable.”
Dan nodded in response to Bonnie’s offer, even though he could almost feel the waves of disapproval coming from Kinley. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
“I’ll let you know after I talk to her. Now, who wants peach cobbler?”
* * *
Kinley was rather relieved to make it through dinner without spilling anything on herself, stabbing herself or anyone else with a fork or having her chair collapse beneath her. Considering the way her day had gone thus far, none of the above would have particularly surprised her.
Fortunately, she completed the meal without incident, though she had to excuse herself twice to take business phone calls. The home buyers had made a final offer, which the sellers eventually asked to consider overnight.
Logan hadn’t said much during dinner, but he’d been polite enough to their guest to satisfy both her and Bonnie. Their brother wasn’t usually rude, he was simply reserved. When the conversation during dessert centered around future plans for the grounds, including the construction of the Meditation Garden and the possibility of purchasing a few adjoining acres for honeymoon cottages, he contributed his share to the subject, outlining plans, discussing options, wryly shooting down what he considered over-the-top suggestions from his enthusiastic and ambitious sisters. Saying he had some computer work to do that evening, he excused himself and left almost immediately after finishing his cobbler.
Dan insisted on helping with cleanup after the meal. He wouldn’t allow Kinley to do much more than carry a couple of dishes, telling her he wanted to make sure she kept her bandage dry at least until there was no more risk of bleeding. She was still embarrassed that she’d been so careless. True enough, she didn’t have her sister’s culinary talents, but she could usually chop a tomato for a salad, for Pete’s sake! She should have paid more attention to her task than to Dan’s conversation with her sister.
“I’m going to do some prep work for tomorrow’s breakfast, then join the guests in the parlor for an hour or so,” Bonnie said when the kitchen was spotless again. “I’m sure there will be some games if the two of you would like to participate.”
“It sounds like fun,” Dan said, “and I do want to visit with the other guests this evening. But first I think I’ll take a walk in the garden.”
Surreptitiously flexing her sore hand, Kinley considered whether she should stay for a while longer that evening and discreetly ensure Dan saw the social hour at its best. But because she was confident Bonnie would take care of that, she said, instead, “I’m going to pass on the games tonight. I have a little more work to do this evening. I’ll see you tomorrow, Bon. Thanks for dinner, it was great. Sorry I almost ruined the salad.”
Laughing, Bonnie gave her a quick hug. “You didn’t ruin the salad, just a quarter of a tomato. We got by without it. Take care of that cut.”
“I will. Good night.”
She and Dan walked outside together. The air had cooled a little as the sun set. She pulled her three-quarter-sleeve cardigan a bit closer around her.