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“Stealthy?” Flora said.
“Sneaky,” Joyce said.
Flora frowned at Donna. “Then why didn’t you say so.”
“I need more cake.” Donna waved at the woman who owned the café. “Diane, I need more cake. Lots of it.”
Diane glanced around the table and nodded. “I can see that. I’ll be right over.”
The door to the café opened, and Agnes and Mairi walked in.
“You called in your sisters?” Ann said in disgust.
“Who do you think is helping me get Duncan out of the mansion?” Honestly. She was seriously beginning to regret her decision to help these women out.
Agnes and Mairi grabbed chairs from a vacant table and squeezed in on either side of Donna.
“Sorry we’re late,” Agnes said. “Please tell me you didn’t let the three witches talk you into anything in our absence.”
“I resent that label,” Ann snapped.
“I resented all the detention you gave me in high school,” Agnes shot back. “So, suck it up.”
Great. She’d asked her sisters to come as backup, not to start a fight. She rubbed her temples and wondered if she should order migraine medication instead of chocolate cake.
“Ladies,” she said. “Let’s focus on organising this ball. Okay?”
“Wait a minute,” Mairi said. “I’m only here as muscle. Not for a job. You know I don’t have time to organise anything. I’m trying to set up my business. There are geeks out there who need my services, or they’ll spend their lives sad and alone—like Ann.”
“I should have had you expelled,” Ann said.
Mairi blew her a kiss.
“That’s it!” Donna shot to her feet and jammed her hands onto her hips. “If you lot don’t stop bickering and help with the planning, I’m calling everything off.”
“You can’t do that,” Flora said. “Think about the babies.”
“I don’t care about the babies!”
A gasp went up around the café, and Donna pressed a hand to her stomach as it did somersaults. She really did care about the babies.
“Fine,” she caved fast, as usual. “I do care about the babies. But I will call every hotel, hall and pub to find you another venue for this ball if you don’t behave.”
The three women from the institute lowered their eyes and looked sheepish. Agnes looked shocked and Mairi gave her a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Diane came over to the table with a huge slice of chocolate cake. She patted Donna’s shoulder.
“I added extra butter-icing. You look like you need it.”
“Thanks.” She reached for the cake, but her hands were shaking too hard to hold it.
Diane gave her a sympathetic smile and placed it on the table in front of her. With as much dignity as she could muster, Donna sat back down.
“Now, we need to get people in and out of the mansion without Duncan noticing, and we need to make sure he doesn’t enter the ballroom.” She picked up her dessert fork. “Any ideas?”
Thankfully, the women were able to stop fighting long enough to actually come up with some. As Donna took notes, she ate her way through enough sugar to keep her going indefinitely.
***
Duncan couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to draw. Although, he couldn’t enter his studio. Not yet. But he suspected it was coming. He felt like he’d boarded a runaway train. The need to paint had become almost unbearable, and he hoped to squash it by sketching.
