Talk of the Town Read Free Page B

hand. “And I don’t mind talking about it. It’s just that I haven’t thought much about those sweet days of falling in love in a very long time.” A small smile tugged at her lips. “Some day I’ll have to show you photographs of Bob in his fatigues. He was a handsome devil. He sent me pictures from Fort Campbell in Kentucky while he was at boot camp. Back then, it was called Camp Campbell. I also have a couple of postcards that he sent from Manila. I can still feel the thrill I got each time one of those postcards arrived.” She shook her head. “But you aren’t interested in all that.”
    “Yes, we are,” Louise said vigorously. “So you got married when he was still in the army?”
    “Yes,” Ethel said, “but we didn’t go on a honeymoon right away, except for an overnight to a historic hotel down in Maryland. We went to Germany right after he got home from Japan.”
    “Why did you choose Germany?” Jane asked curiously. “Wasn’t it in ruins?”
    “A lot of it was,” Ethel said. “Heidelberg wasn’t bombed, but most cities were. We went there because Bob’s mother had not heard from some of her family since the start of the war and she wanted us to try to find them. She was from near Cologne, which was very heavily bombed by the Allies in 1942.”
    “Had her family been killed?” Louise asked.
    Ethel shook her head. “No, they had escaped into the countryside. Some time after the end of the war, they returned, and we eventually were able to find them. But Cologne was in shambles. The entire city looked like a huge rubble pile except for the cathedral. It had not been completely destroyed because the Allies used the largest structure in each city as a navigation point.”
    Jane shook her head, her artist’s soul saddened. “What a pity—all those ancient buildings gone because of man’s foolishness.”
    Ethel nodded. “It was the most unforgettable thing I have ever seen. Almost everywhere we went, the war had left its mark.”
    There was a moment of silence around the table. Then a plaintive “Meow” disrupted the hush. Jane laughed as Wendell, the family’s gray tabby cat, leaped into her lap. Then he leaned forward, his nose twitching as he smelled the remains of their dinner. “Oh, no you don’t,” Jane said. “You’ve already had your treat for the day.”
    Alice smiled, leaning over to stroke a hand along the cat’s soft back, making Wendell arch and close his eyes in delight. “Silly old thing,” she murmured fondly. “You’re just a silly, silly boy.”
    Louise pushed back her chair in a prelude to clearing the table. She walked around to her aunt’s side and bent down to kiss Ethel’s cheek. “Thank you, Aunt Ethel, for sharing those precious memories with us.”
    “And for saving the day as our one-and-only German-speaker,” Jane said as she urged Wendell gently onto the floor and began stacking dishes.

Chapter Two
    G ood morning.” Maxwell Alexander Vandermitton III rose from his chair on Monday morning as Jane approached the dining room table. She smiled at the tall, slender young man. She just knew she was always going to think of him by that entire name.
    “Good morning, Mr. Vandermitton. I’m Jane Howard.” Jane set down a covered plate and took off the lid. “This morning we are serving ginger-pear pancakes with a side of crisped bacon and a kiwi-orange salad.”
    “Please call me Maxwell, Ms. Howard.”
    “And you must call me Jane.”
    “This smells delicious,” he said, indicating the plate. “Won’t you please sit and talk with me for a few minutes?”
    Jane hesitated. There was no one else in the dining room at present. “Just for a minute,” she said. “There are things in the kitchen I need to check.”
    He smiled at her, and then closed his eyes in sheer delight as he took his first bite of pancake. “Extraordinary. I confess I did not expect to find a four-star chef in Acorn Hill.”
    Jane laughed. “Thank you.” She waved a