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It was a valiant effort on Roz’s part.
    “Is it so wrong for a mother to want to see the people she loves?” Helen went on. “God knows how much time I have left.”
    Kit raised an eyebrow and looked at her watch. “Who wants to start the countdown?”
    “Okay…” Roz tried again, unable to take her gaze off Kit.
    “You scoff now, but someday, I won’t be around. Then we’ll see who’s laughing,” Helen said indignantly. “But I’ll tell you this much, it won’t be me. Because I’ll be dead and you’ll be sorry.”
    However, Bess saw the sparkle in Helen’s blue eyes; she loved, just loved to get under Kit’s skin. No wonder she welcomed Roz with open arms all those years ago. Helen Weston and Rosalind Maguire were like two peas in a pod.
    “Well,” Helen went on, “I hope you’re not going to give our rooms away now.”
    Roz painfully pinched the bridge on her nose. “I’m guessing you’re the one who made the online reservation for the suite?”
    Helen grinned and nodded. “It was a stroke of genius.”
    “A stroke of some sort,” Kit said.
    “I had Jon Murray make them. You remember him?” She waved them off before anyone could answer. “Doesn’t matter. I knew if I put it in my name, you’d know, and I wanted to surprise all of you. So…” Helen looked around at the array of expressions with a maniacal gleam in her eye. “Are we all sufficiently stunned?” she asked in a flat voice.
    “Overwhelmingly so,” Bess said.
    “You see? One big happy family once again.” Helen ran her fingers through her silver hair. “Because you two will stop this foolishness this weekend.”
    Kit rubbed her forehead, avoiding Roz, who stood behind the desk inanely shuffling paper avoiding Kit. Helen looked pleased and avoided no one.
    Bess glanced over her shoulder and surreptitiously inched her way toward the bar and stopped with a jerk when Roz reached back and grabbed the front of her shirt.
    “Well, at least nothing else can happen,” Bess offered with a weak smile.
    “Surprise! Hey, what great timing.”
    They all whirled around again to see a very young woman standing in the door. She looked like she was barely of legal age but in tremendous shape. Her unruly short dark hair stuck out underneath her ball cap, which she wore backward, and she adjusted the backpack that she had slung over her shoulder. She wore cargo shorts and hiking boots.
    “Well, well! Hidey ho!” Helen exclaimed with a shake of her head.
    Roz looked like she just fell off the back of a truck—and was run over several times. She gave Bess a questioning look; Bess held out her hands and shrugged. She had no clue who…then the sledgehammer appeared. Dale Caldwell, the woman Kit had been dating for the past few weeks. Kit had told her of the younger woman she met, but Bess never actually met her.
    Dale walked up to Kit, who swayed precariously, as if she were on a fence—very fitting—and kissed Kit on the cheek. “Hi, Kitty Kat. Happy birthday. Are you surprised?”
    Bess glanced at Roz, who watched the exchange with a deep frown. She looked as if she might explode.
    Helen let out a delightful laugh and sat on the deacon’s bench by the desk. “The way this is turning out, I’m not at all surprised. Dale, my dear, your serendipitous timing is either dreadful or impeccable, depending on your philosophical bent.”
    Dale turned to Helen. “Serendipitous? Is that from Mary Poppins ?”
    Helen’s mouth sagged.
    “Hey, Mrs. Weston. You look lovely. It’s nice to see you again. I hope you don’t mind I invited myself…”
    For an instant, Bess thought she sounded very much like Eddie Haskell. As a matter of fact, she resembled Eddie Haskell.
    Helen raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’d be lying through my eye teeth if I said I—”
    Knowing Helen, Bess quickly interrupted her. “Why don’t all of you check in? I don’t think Roz can get many more people around this desk.”
    “Yes, might as well get that out of