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margarita nights, Thanksgiving dinner. No, this is all about Christmas. You have an aversion to that specific holiday and I want to know why.”
    “It’s my business,” Jeanette replied stubbornly. “I know you want to help, but there’s not a problem. I just don’t like Christmas holidays.” She scowled at Maddie. “And don’t you dare tell me that everybody loves the holidays.”
    “Well, they do. At least around here.”
    “Then I’m an exception to the rule. Look, I said I’d serve on the committee. That should be enough.”
    “What changed your mind?” Maddie asked.
    “Boy, you really don’t know when to quit, do you?”
    Maddie merely lifted a brow.
    “No, of course you don’t,” Jeanette muttered. “Part of it was to get you off my case and part of it has to do with Mary Vaughn. She begged me to do it because she has to do it.”
    Maddie stared at her incredulously. “You’re doing this for Mary Vaughn? After the way she tried to steal Ronnie from Dana Sue?”
    “He and Dana Sue were separated at the time,” Jeanette reminded Maddie, feeling the need to defend her client.
    “Besides, she never had a chance with Ronnie, and everyone except Mary Vaughn knew it. The point is, she’s a good customer and she asked me to do this.”
    “I’m your boss and I asked, and you didn’t have any problem saying no to me,” Maddie groused, then shook her head. “You’re doing this for Mary Vaughn. Wait’ll I tell Dana Sue and Helen.”
    “I’m mainly doing this to get you off my case,” Jeanette corrected her. “And that hasn’t worked nearly as well as I’d expected, so I’m going home before I change my mind.”
    Maddie opened her mouth, but Jeanette held up her hand.
    “Leave well enough alone, okay?”
    “I was just going to say, if you ever want to talk about anything, all of us are here for you, understood?”
    To her regret, Jeanette’s eyes misted. “Understood,” she whispered, and then bolted before she could make a complete fool of herself by bursting into tears. Tom couldn’t wait to get on the road back to Serenity on Saturday morning. The charity function had been everything he despised about Charleston’s social scene. He could only imagine what the budget had been for the formal dinner and dance that his mother had organized for years. If that money alone had been donated directly to the cause, it probably would have equaled the amount raised. Whenever he mentioned that, she looked at him as if he’d uttered a blasphemy.
    “This is what’s expected,” she’d told him more than once. “When you hold a position in society, it is your duty to do good works.”
    “I’m just saying it would be more cost-effective to write a check,” he’d argued.
    “An event brings attention to the cause. And it supports local businesses. Where would the caterers, the florists, the printers and so on be if we stopped holding these fundraisers?”
    “So this is all about supporting the Charleston economy?”
    She’d frowned at him. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, you know it’s about more than that. I know you think what I do is frivolous and unnecessary, but one of these days I’ll reduce it all to dollars and cents for you and prove my point in a way you can understand.”
    He’d grinned at her. “I’d appreciate that.”
    “You’re incorrigible,” she’d declared.
    “But you love me.”
    “Most of the time,” she’d agreed. “Now, if you would just marry and provide us with an heir to the McDonald legacy, I could forgive all these silly arguments.”
    “Mother, you have six lovely granddaughters to dote on. The next generation is off to a fine start.”
    “None of them will carry on the McDonald name,” she’d reminded him. “Even if one of your sisters has a son, he won’t be a McDonald.”
    “So I’m to marry and have a son, is that the plan?”
    She’d given him a stern look, though there was a decided twinkle in her eye. “I’d appreciate it,” she’d