Once Upon a Matchmaker Read Free Page B

direction Theresa was. “A little old for him, isn’t she?” Cecilia asked.
    “That’s his aunt, Sheila Barrett. I sold her a condo a few years ago,” Maizie explained, slanting a glance toward Tracy.
    “Then she’s really a client, not a friend,” Tracy guessed.
    Maizie smiled as she looked at the newcomer. “She’s both.”
    “Mother makes friends easily,” Nikki confided.
    Tracy looked at the table in question. “Cute little boys,” she commented. Her smile was genuine. And wide.
    Maizie nodded in approval. “Yes, they are. He’s doing a wonderful job, raising them by himself, I hear. Of course, Sheila comes by to help out when she can, but there is no real substitute for a mother’s love, is there?”
    The question was directed toward Tracy, but it was her own daughter, as well as Theresa’s and Cecilia’s, who chorused in a singsong voice, “No, Mother, there really isn’t.”
    Maizie only laughed softly. She had a really good feeling about this. There was a definite smile in Tracy’s eyes when she looked at the children. That was very telling in her book.
    Another match would soon be in the offing, she thought with satisfaction.
    It would be only a matter of time.

Chapter Two
    M aizie waited until she saw Sheila glancing over in the direction of their table, then she raised her hand high and waved at the other woman.
    Seeing her, Sheila smiled and returned the wave. That in turn had Micah’s sons twisting around in their chairs to see who was waving at their great-aunt—a title, when they first heard it, both boys took to mean that their aunt Sheila was really terrific. Delighted, Sheila never bothered to correct them.
    Micah looked over to his oldest son. “Turn around in your seat, Gary.”
    “I am turned around,” the boy told him, confused by the instruction.
    It took a second before Micah realized the communication problem. At five, his son took everything literally, just like his brother. “Turn back around,” he corrected.
    “Oh, okay.” Doing as he was told, Gary turned his face toward the others at his table. He focused his attention on his great-aunt.
    “Do you know those ladies?” Gary asked her solemnly, doing his best to seem every bit as grown up as his father.
    “What ladies?” Micah asked. This time, he turned around to see what had caught his son’s attention. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
    Twisting back around again, Gary said, “ Those ladies.” He pointed to the table where he had seen someone waving to his great-aunt.
    “Don’t point,” Micah reminded his son patiently.
    Total confusion descended on the small, angular face. “But if I don’t point, Daddy, how are you gonna know which table has the ladies?” he wanted to know.
    Sheila suppressed an amused smile. She glanced at her nephew. “He does have a point, Micah.”
    “I know,” Micah said with a sigh, then tousled Gary’s hair. “He’s got the makings of a great lawyer. Too bad that won’t be for another twenty years or so. I could use him now.”
    “Why?” She looked at her nephew a bit more closely. Beneath the smile, there was tension. More tension than usual. “Are you saying that you need a lawyer, Micah?”
    “Probably,” he admitted. He upbraided himself for his moment of weakness and flashed her a deliberately wide, easy grin. “Forget that,” he told her. “This is your special day, Aunt Sheila. Let’s not spoil it by talking about lawyers and necessary evils.” Which was the way he viewed lawyers as a whole.
    Given a choice, he would have avoided the whole lawyer route altogether, but he had a feeling that this was something where he wasn’t going to be able to rely on just his wits to get him out. And knowing that he wasn’t guilty of what he was being accused of didn’t seem to matter, or help.
    He looked at the other three occupants at the table. “I just want to have a nice meal with my three favorite people.”
    But Sheila didn’t seem satisfied. Covering