AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not telling,” he chuckled.
“Exactly.”
Mom was right.Hendersons are competitive. But we also are secretive. I bet that I wasn’t the only one going to this reunion hiding something. Just hope it won’t be my secret that was revealed first.
CHAPTER2
Adilyn Winterberry
“Adilyn, there is a limo pulling up. Please tell me that all the rooms are ready,” my mother said nervously.
“Yes, everything is perfect like it always is.” She nodded and headed to the door ready to greet the guests.
I wiped down the check-in desk one last time just in case there were any fingerprints I’d missed. I knew there weren’t any, but I did it to help ease my mother's mind. My family was everything to me, and I’d do anything to help save Winterberry Lodge.
What I didn’t understand was why she and my dad were so stressed out. I came home from college so they wouldn’t need to worry about the staffing shortage. My younger brother Billy was handling the ski lifts, snowmobiles, and snowboarding, while I took care of the horse-drawn sleigh ride, ice skating, and maintenance of the lodge rooms. Helping my mother with food prep and serving meals had also fallen on me.So much for enjoying the holidays. I’ll be lucky to remember my own name by the end of the week.
Having the lodge fully booked for a week was a great thing. A month ago, my parents had been worried because we had no bookings for that week. It was the first time that had ever happened. But the Henderson family called and offered top dollar to rent the entire lodge. And that made all this extra work worthwhile.
I heard my mother's cheery voice say, “Welcome to Winterberry. I’m Doreen Winterberry and the young lady over there is my daughter Adilyn. And you are?”
“I’m Brice Henderson.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Henderson.”
“Please let’s use first names. It'll be a lot less confusing with all the Hendersons that will be here,” he suggested. Mom nodded and he continued with the introductions. “This is my wife Lena, and our children Nicholas, Gwendelyn, and Johnny.” Then he pointed to another couple. “This is my sister Zoey and her husband Bennett.”
Zoey smiled and said, “And this is our daughter Pearl, and son Simon.”
Simon asked, “When can we go skiing?”
Bennett shook his head. “I believe we discussed this in the limo. We are waiting for all your cousins to arrive first so they can give the rules all at once.”
Simon sighed. “Well, I hope they hurry up and get here. I can’t wait to ski.”
Mom replied, “If you love skiing, then you came to the right place.”
“He’s never done it before,” Zoey said wearily.
Oh, I knew Billy was going to have his hands full with that one. I walked over and asked, “Anyone here not into skiing?”
Gwendelyn and Pearl raised their hands. Pearl said, “I play the piano, and I have a concert on New Year’s. I can’t risk breaking my wrist.”
“I’d rather be sitting by the fire reading,” Gwendelyn said.
I grinned. “How does reading on a horse-driven sleigh sound?” Both girls nodded. “Awesome. The weather looks like it will be great all week, so you let me know when you want to go.”
“Thank you, Adilyn. I’m sure some of the other children will want to go as well,” Lena said.
“There are plenty of things to do besides skiing. If you would like, I can walk you through some options and you let me know what you think the children would like to do,” I offered.
“That would be nice, thank you,” Lena said.
“Let me show you to your rooms, and then I’ll have your bags brought up,” Mother said.
Nicholas said, “Don’t worry about the bags. Johnny and I will grab them.”
“Me too,” Simon added.
