Read Online Christmas Cake by Lynne Hinton - Free Book Online Page A

included.”
    â€œWell, it sounds like a lovely idea. Are you in charge of editing all of the recipes?” Charlotte asked. “Or are you the judge for the best cake?”
    â€œNeither. I’m just gathering a few cards and handing them over,” Margaret responded.
    Charlotte smiled. She knew Margaret didn’t mind the project and she also knew that Margaret was doing more than what she wassaying to make the cookbook and the contest a success. Margaret was a very supportive and loyal friend, especially to Beatrice.
    â€œYou want me to send you the hummingbird cake recipe?”
    â€œI think that would be nice,” Margaret replied.
    â€œYou think I might win?” Charlotte asked. “Or do you have to live in Hope Springs to have the winning recipe?”
    â€œI don’t know the rules,” Margaret said. “But I think that since you once lived in Hope Springs and have served as the pastor of the church, you have as much right to enter a cake recipe and be the winner as anybody else.”
    â€œThen I’ll mail that recipe card to you right away.”
    â€œI’ll let Beatrice know,” Margaret announced. “She’ll be glad to know you’ve taken up baking.”
    â€œI bet she will be.”
    The two women hesitated.
    â€œTell Jessie I said hello and that I love her,” Charlotte said. “And Margaret”—she turned back around and leaned her elbows on the desk—“I love you too.”
    â€œI love you, Charlotte. And everything is going to be fine,” Margaret said.
    â€œI know,” Charlotte responded. “And I’m the one who is supposed to be saying that to you.”
    Margaret smiled. “I’ll talk to you next week.”
    â€œTuesday evening,” Charlotte said.
    And the two women hung up their phones.

 
    Ambrosia Cake
    2 cups sour cream
    2 cups white sugar
    1 12-ounce package of frozen coconut
    1½ cups Cool Whip
    3 oranges, peeled and chopped
    1 box Duncan Hines butter or yellow cake mix orange juice
    Â 
    Combine sour cream, sugar, and coconut and let set overnight. Blend 1 cup of the mixture with Cool Whip. To the remainder of the sour cream mixture add oranges. Prepare cake mix according to package directions in 2 9-inch pans, using orange juice instead of water. Cut 2 layers into 4 layers. Put the sour cream mixture between layers. Frost cake with Cool Whip mixture. Keep in refrigerator at least overnight.

Chapter Six
    I think you should just tell the hospital to keep this girl another day. We’ve got no room for her here. And with the injuries they said that she has, you can’t take care of her here. You try to do too much, Charlotte.”
    Charlotte knew that part of what Maria was saying was true. She wasn’t able to take care of someone who had a lot of physical needs, but she was not about to turn someone away, especially a young girl being released from the hospital. “We will make room for her, Maria. Just put the mattress in the front bedroom. There’s space next to the closet. We’ll figure this out. Everything will be fine.”
    Maria sighed and walked down the hall to do what was asked, and Charlotte sat at her desk thinking about the phone call she had just had with Margaret. She just couldn’t think about the new client; she was still too upset about her friend.
    She knew that the recurrence of cancer, and in the liver, was a terrible report. She recalled from her time as a pastor and visiting so many sick people in the hospital that liver metastasis was never a goodsign of things to come. There wasn’t usually any surgery performed to remove the cancerous part. It was usually a sign that cancer was winning in a body and there was nothing more that could be done.
    The fact that Margaret was having treatments meant that the doctor hadn’t given up on her, and Charlotte knew that sometimes chemotherapy could wipe out the disease or at least