The Hungry {Romance} Writer: Creamy Mushroom Soup

Welcome to the second week of Christmas Eve at Pinckney House. Last week we left Zack Tremaine and Allison Pinckney, the hero and heroine of In Search of Truth (book 3 in the Amazon bestselling Deadly Force series), on the verge of greeting their guests for their Christmas Eve party.

While guests gather in the dining room, waiters carry trays of crystal punch glasses filled with a hot and creamy Mushroom Soup. The southern tradition is to serve it from a punch bowl into punch cups so it’s easy to drink and refill. And it doesn’t allow you to fill up on soup when the buffet table offers so many wonderful foods like cheese straws and seasoned pecans. And the quartet in the corner has picked up the pace and is now playing more upbeat Christmas songs. 🙂

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Allison ~ “Everyone has arrived and I’m still trying to remember all the names. Zack has disappeared, and so has my best friend Maddie. But I’m okay with that. As I shut the front door and lean against the warm wood for a moment, I study the foyer. Most people are in the dining room, but a few have wandered into the sitting room nearby. I’ve hired a full catering staff to help make sure everyone has enough food from the buffet and to clean up as we go along. I close my eyes for a moment, appreciating the brief reprieve. I’m not good with large crowds and feel a bit overwhelmed.

“There you are.” Vivienne’s voice rings out and I open my eyes to see Zack’s godmother coming towards me. As usual, she is the most elegant woman at the party and tonight she’s wearing a strapless black gown with a fabulous vintage necklace filled with semi-precious stones. Because Vivienne Beaumont would never be caught wearing anything less.

“I was just coming to find you.” I take the glass of wine Vivienne holds out. “Almost everyone has arrived.”

Vivienne raises an elegant eyebrow. Her silver hair is twisted into an elegant up-do I’d never be able to manage. “Which is why you’re hiding in the foyer?”

Caught, I just sip my wine.

Vivienne, in typical form, takes my arm and leads me towards the dining room. “I know there are a lot of new people here tonight. Most of them Zack’s buddies from Savannah and their families. And I also know that it’s important to you that they accept you.”

I sigh. “Zack’s friends think I’m the reason he’s not living with them in Savannah, working on their mission to find Remiel-“

“Don’t say that psycho’s name out loud.” Vivienne softens her harsh tone with a small smile. “Now, lets mingle.”

I pause near the bottom of the staircase and tease her by saying, “Your forte, not mine.”

She shrugs. “Being able to mingle and socialize is a skill. It must be learned and practiced. No one is born knowing how to manage small talk. And the first thing one must do is memorize names.”

“I’m not great at that.”

“Then lets start with the basics.” She nods towards the top of the stairs where I see Susan, Maddie’s young daughter, sitting on the landing watching us through the balustrades. She’s supposed to be watching Christmas movies with her sitter in a guest room, but Allison didn’t blame her for trying to peak at the party. Allison used to do the same things when her parents threw important embassy parties in D.C.

I blow Susan a kiss and she giggles. “Susan is here because Maddie didn’t want to leave her and the sitter at the house. What with everything going on with Rem–I mean you-know-who.”

Vivienne waves at Susan and takes Allison’s arm again. “Now. On to the dining room.”

I finish my wine and take a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. I need it for courage. When we pause in the double-wide doorway, I take in the enormous room. There’s a Christmas tree in the corner near the fireplace, and the table is laden with food. People mill around, laughing and drinking and even sipping the Mushroom Soup from crystal punch cups.

“Okay.” I point to a stunning woman in white satin dress with long wild curls who’s fixing shoe her buckle. “That’s Charlotte Marun.”

“Correct,” Vivienne says.

Charlotte is laughing with a man wearing black jeans, white collared shirt, and red tie. “The man talking to Charlotte is Luke. He’s the computer guru of the group.”

“Damn straight he is,” a man appears behind her. He’s dressed all in black and his head is totally shaved. “We’d be nowhere without Luke.”

“Cain?” I smile at him. “Right?”

“That’s right.” After kissing both her and Vivienne on the cheek, he says, “I think I need to rescue my wife.” He winks at me and heads straight for Charlotte.

Once Cain drags Charlotte to the table, Luke goes to the bar on the side of the room where two other men are talking.

Vivienne points to one of them. “Who is the man with long blonde hair tied behind his neck?”

Now these two I know. “That’s Vane and the man in the jeans and blue T-shirt is Alex Mitchell.”

“Indeed.” Vivienne wrinkled her nose. “I told Alex to dress properly, but he’s a stubborn one.”

“Actually,” Zack says as comes up next to me, “Alex doesn’t have any clothes. He did just get out prison and doesn’t get paid much working at Iron Rack’s Gym.”

Vivienne frowns and I can almost see her plotting and planning.

Instead of encouraging her, I nod to a couple on the other side of the room talking to Maddie. “I know the woman in the gold dress. That’s Juliet Montfort and her husband Rafe.”

Rafe had been instrumental the night that I almost lost Zack. I will always be grateful to him.

“Did you know,” Vivienne says in a hushed voice. “that Rafe Montfort once worked for the Prince. Some say he still does.”

The Prince, one of Zack’s enemies, is an arms dealer with his own army of assassins. Of course it’s more complicated than that, but I don’t want to think about that tonight.

Zack snorts and sends an annoyed glance at Vivienne. “Rafe’s past is supposed to be classified.”

Vivienne ignores him and wanders off toward the bar where she begins talking to the tallest man in the room. Kells Torridan. Zack’s boss.

Zack kisses the top of my head. “Where have you been?”

“Trying to remember everyone’s names.”

He laughs and takes my arm to lead me out of the dining room. “You’ll get to know them all soon enough, once we move to Savannah.”

“I guess so.” We go into the sitting room only to find Nate and Sarah talking to a tall hispanic man. Detective Garza. Along with Rafe and Alex, I don’t think I would have survived that horrible night in In Search of Truth if Detective Garza hadn’t been there.

“When did you sneak in?” I ask him after he gives me a hug.

“I came with Calum Prioleau a few minutes ago. The door was open so we let ourselves in.”

I grimace. “Please don’t tell Vivienne. She’ll scold me for being a bad hostess.”

Detective Garza smiles. “I won’t say a word.” Then he claps Nate on the shoulder, nods at Zack, and says, “I’m off to find the bar.”

A minute later, I hear music coming from the music room next to the dining room. I go in and find a handsome man in navy pants and a white collard shirt with a blue tie playing the piano. Nearby stands Vivienne and another man whom I know. Calum Prioleau–aka the richest man in the south–is wearing a tuxedo. As usual he has perfectly coiffed hair and a gold signet ring.

Zack leads me in and we pause while the man at the piano–one of Zack’s buddies I don’t know well–plays Silent Night and sings along with the music. It’s so beautiful it almost makes me cry. When it’s over, we all clap.

“Hey, Ty,” Nate appears and sits down next to the piano man, “I haven’t heard you play in years.”

“Because, brother,” Ty says as he starts playing The First Noel, it’s been years.”

Another couple appears from the dining room–Pete with a long black braid down his back and his girlfriend Samantha who’s wearing a fabulous purple dress. I don’t know them well, but Samantha at least always seems to be friendly.

“Hey, Ty,” Samantha says, “Can I sing with you?”

“Sure.” Ty changes to Oh Come All Ye Faithful. When Samantha starts singing with him, I swear I hear the angels cry from the sheer beauty of their music.

Pretty soon, all of my guests are in the room listening to Ty and Samantha sing. I try to be discreet as I watch everyone, trying to memorize faces and names and the facts I know. But a few things stand out. While Pete is near Samantha, with his hand on her lower back, Vane is staring at them both with a pained look on his face.

Second, although Maddie is now near me (and I see Susan hiding on the loveseat beneath a blanket) I notice how Alex Mitchell’s focus is on Maddie. It’s as if she’s the only one in the room.

As for the others, Nate left the piano seat to hold his wife Sarah in his arms. Juliet and Rafe are holding hands, farther away from the group, near the dining room. Charlotte moves to the loveseat and pulls Susan onto her lap while Cain is behind them, protecting them both. Kells, as usual, is in a far corner by himself until Detective Garza brings him a glass of sparking water with lime. Luke now moves near Calum and they share a smile.

Zack is behind me with his hands on my waist. “I can’t thank you enough for this night.”

I shift to meet his dark brown gaze that I could melt in. “The party has just started.”

“It’s not the party.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “You’ve given us a home where we can be a family. And I will be forever grateful.”

I lean back against him and let his arms enfold me tighter. “That’s what Christmas is all about. And because of you, I have the family I’ve always wanted.”

Ty and Samantha finish, we all clap, and the caterer comes in to announce that dinner has been served. My heart wells with happiness, and I lead Zack into the dining room. We may not be here next Christmas, but no matter where we all end up we’ll always have each other.

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