Read Online Stitches in Time by Barbara Michaels - Free Book Online

protection.”
    She gave Tony another of those comradely grins, andhis mustache twitched in responsive amusement. “I should think so.”
    â€œWhen is he coming?”
    â€œHis ETA is the twentieth, but that doesn’t mean a thing with Adam; I’ve never known him to show up when he said he would. He always has the most, fantastic stories to account for being late. Even more fantastic, they’re usually true.” Turning to Rachel, he added reassuringly, “I don’t mean to imply he’s unreliable. He’ll certainly be here before we leave; he knows we’re counting on him to look after the animals.”
    â€œWho is he?” Rachel asked.
    â€œA former student of Pat’s,” Kara answered. Seeing Rachel’s blank look, she explained. “Aunt Ruth’s husband, Patrick MacDougal. He taught anthro at Johns Hopkins before he retired last year.”
    â€œI know who he is, of course,” Rachel said. “I’ve read his books. The name didn’t connect at first.”
    â€œAdam teaches too,” Tony said. “In North Carolina. He’s an orphan and a protégé of Pat’s, so he often spends the holidays with them when he isn’t out in the field. This year we conned him into pet-sitting for us. That suited him fine, because he’s not…I mean, he prefers…Hmmm. I don’t know exactly how to put this…”
    â€œWhat Tony means is that he won’t bother you,” Kara said. “In any way.”
    Â 
    Twenty-four hours later Rachel was still in the dark as to why the mysterious Adam wouldn’t “bother” her. She had tried to find out, but the answers to her inquiries only confused her more. Her blunt question to Kara: “Is Adam gay?” got an equally blunt response. “I don’t think so. Why do you ask? Are you homophobic?”
    She tried Cheryl next. “He’s not physically handicapped—I mean, ‘challenged,’ is he?”
    Cheryl hooted with laughter. “Adam? Quite the contrary.” She was about to elaborate when one of the cats let out a squawl of rage and she had to rush to rescue Jerry, who was trying, over the cat’s emphatic protests, to tie a red bow and a bell around its neck.
    The private kindergarten he and his four-year-old sister attended had closed for the holidays, but the public schools had not yet done so. Joe had left earlier, loudly berating the sadism of the board of education. Without him to ride herd on them, the younger children were racing around, yelling with excitement and getting in everybody’s way. Alice, Cheryl’s part-time housekeeper, had gone to Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks to spend the holidays with her daughter, and Cheryl was trying to do several things at once: bake cookies, set up the tree, prepare dinner for a dozen people, and deal with customers who had delayed their shopping till the last minute. The dogs wove in and out, hitting people with their tails and licking up the scraps of dough Cheryl dropped onto the floor; the cats all tried to get onto Tony’s lap, since he was the only one sitting down. Abnormally sensitive to every expression that crossed his face, Rachel knew his enjoyment of the comfortable holiday bustle was marred by his inability to do anything except look on. Watching Cheryl wrestle with the tree, eight feet tall and too thick to fit into the stand, he appeared to be on the brink of apoplexy.
    Kara arrived around noon, driving Rachel’s car. She refused Cheryl’s attempt to prepare lunch for her, saying she’d had a sandwich before she left, but accepted a chocolate chip cookie warm from the oven. “Anything new?” she asked.
    Tony shook his head. His eyes, wide with alarm, were fixed on Cheryl, who was whacking at the trunk of the tree with a hatchet.
    â€œThomas is coming over this evening,” he answeredabstractedly. “He may have