Page 79 of Love’s Silver Bullet

Green eyes twinkling and chin high, Aunt Libby turned the pages of an invisible book with great drama on the back porch, where the family was playing charades by lamplight in a circle of spindle-back chairs. The sweet scent of toasted marshmallows still floated in the air from the bonfire they’d enjoyed after Angus’s barbecue supper, competing with the heady scent of Aunt Libby’s cottage roses.

“A book, a book!” Sheridan shouted as she bounced up and down on her chair like she was nine instead of nineteen, charades one of her favorite games the family had played all summer.

Holding up six fingers, Libby peered at her team with wide eyes.

“Six words,” Grace called.

Libby held up one finger to indicate first word before she began to spin around and around.

“Spinning …” Maggie shouted, bouncing on her chair as much as Sheridan while Grace and Shaylee shot up from theirs.

Libby managed to shake her head while circling.

“Whirling!” Grace called, but Aunt Libby just shook her head again, making Sheridan grin when she giggled to a stop with a definite wobble.

“Dizzy!” Sheridan was on her feet.

“I’ll go along with that,” Uncle Finn said with a lazy smile, arms folded as he leaned back in his chair, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. “But then most women are.”

Ignoring her husband and the chuckles of the men, Libby tried a different tact as she spun her fist in a large circle.

“Around!” Grace shrieked, jumping up and down as high as Shaylee.

Tapping her nose with a huge grin, Libby lifted two fingers.

“Second syllable.” Shaylee yelled.

Libby pinched index finger and thumb together to indicate a small word.

“The!” Sheridan was on her feet with fists in the air. “Around the World in Eighty Days!” she screamed, and Libby threw her arms around her with a loud cheer while the other girls joined in.

“Uh-oh, record time—eight seconds.” Jake announced with a wince, checking his watch as the appointed timekeeper for the game. He glanced up with a pained grin. “Which means we have to beat their time or the ladies win.”

“Pure luck,” Blaze said with a lazy smile at Maggie, as he rose to take his turn for the men’s team.

Finn sat up while Dash did the same, competition suddenly bright in their eyes. “Well, let’s hope some of it blows our way, gentlemen, because this is the last round, and I need my rest.”

“Which you won’t get, darling,” Libby said with a challenging jag of her brow, her propensity to win at all costs making Sheridan grin, “if the ladies don’t win.”

Chuckling, Finn met his wife’s jag with a jut of his own. “Well now, that can be a good thing or a bad thing, Liberty Bell,” he said with a teasing drawl, utilizing the nickname he knew would ruffle her feathers. He shot her a wink. “Depending on how you look at it, darlin’.”

Face flaming along with the lanterns, Aunt Libby marched over to Jake to extend her palm with a smirk. “Hand the stopwatch over, Jake, because I think it’s best I time this one since you’re part of the men’s team and subject to bribery.”

Finn cut her off at the pass, towering over her with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Not a chance, Mrs. McShane, but I promise you, darlin’,” he said as he playfully prodded her back to her chair with a kiss and a wink, “you’ll be a winner either way.”

Shaking the jar that contained the slips of paper Sheridan had prepared for the game, Maggie sashayed up to Blaze with a pretty smile that was a threat all its own. Without question the sweetest female in the family, Maggie was a surprisingly poor loser at games, something her husband loved to tease her about. Eyes narrowed in warning, she promptly removed the lid for him to pick the word or phrase for the men’s final turn. “I’d wish you luck, darling, but I think we both know it’s safer if you don’t have it.”

Maggie’s threat elicited chuckles around the circle as Blaze fished a folded paper from the jar. “No doubt about that, Mrs. Donovan, because my uncle didn’t raise no stupid children.”

“No, but his mama did if we don’t win this game,” Libby muttered as she seared Finn with a menacing look that was purely for show.

“All righty now.” Blaze opened his folded piece of paper and grinned ear to ear. “Well, now, I do believe this should be a favorite of yours, Uncle Finn.”

Libby groaned, prompting a giggle from Grace and Sheridan.

Tucking the piece of paper into his back pocket, Blaze splayed a palm to his chest, extending an arm with great fanfare as he pretended to sing.

“Song,” Jake said with a grin.