Free Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke Page B

up and he said there was a spot for peach cobbler right in the middle of the table.”
    â€œAnd it was my spot?” Hannah asked, guessing the rest.
    â€œYou got it. I just got off the phone with Sally. She offered to throw out Shawna Lee’s peach cobbler and serve yours instead, but yours looks different and Shawna Lee’s bound to notice. Do you think I should just bite the bullet and call Shawna Lee, and tell her not to bring her peach cobbler?”
    â€œYou can’t.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause it’s a wedding present,” Hannah said, remembering her mother’s advice to be gracious about accepting gifts, even if you didn’t want them. “If you want to be polite, you’re going to have to accept her peach cobbler with a smile and thank her. I haven’t started baking yet, so I’ll just forget about bringing mine.”
    â€œBut we like yours better!”
    â€œI know and I’ll bake it for you any time you want it…just not today. There’s enough trouble at big weddings without asking for more.”
    â€œThat’s true. Aunt Ruth’s called three times to complain about the seating arrangements. She thinks she should be at the head table.”
    â€œBut that’s just for the wedding party, and the bride and groom’s immediate family.”
    â€œI know, but she doesn’t think Dad should be sitting with Marge. She said it’s bad enough that everyone knows they’re going to be living in the same house, and appearing at the head table as a couple is just rubbing it in.”
    â€œI think your Aunt Ruth needs a nose-ectomy. Then she couldn’t stick it where it doesn’t belong.”
    â€œThat’s funny!” Lisa said, and promptly burst into giggles. “Just wait until I tell that to Herb.”
    Hannah felt good as she signed off and hung up the phone. She’d given Lisa good advice about the cobbler, and she’d made her laugh in the midst of what sounded like crisis mode at the Herman residence. As far as Hannah was concerned, big weddings were more trouble than they were worth. You could think things out very carefully and do your best to plan for any contingency, but some guests always ended up with hurt feelings before the day was over.
    â€œNo big wedding for me!” Hannah said, heading to the walk-in cooler to get the wedding cakes. But she’d taken no more than a step before the phone rang again. It was probably Lisa, calling back to find out if she absolutely, positively had to accept Shawna Lee’s peach cobbler.
    Hannah lifted the receiver and said, “Yes, you have to accept the cobbler. Your wedding consultant, an authority on matters of good taste, will tell you the same thing.”
    â€œWhat!”
    Hannah laughed as she recognized the voice that had uttered the bewildered comment. It was Andrea, not Lisa. “Sorry about that. I thought you were Lisa.”
    â€œWhat’s all this about good taste?”
    â€œLisa wanted to know if she had to accept a wedding present, even if she didn’t want it. And I said she did. What can I do for you?”
    â€œI just found out that I can’t use white doves and I don’t know what to do!”
    â€œWhy were you going to use them?” Hannah asked, envisioning a flock, or whatever you called the dove group, of white doves flying to the top of the church and cooing at the people.
    â€œThey’re a symbol of the transition between girlhood and womanhood. When Lisa steps out of the church as Herb’s wife, the handler was supposed to set the doves free.”
    â€œWhat happens to them after they fly off?”
    â€œOh, they don’t. They’re trained to circle around until they find their cage again and get back in. There’s food in there and the handler makes sure they’re hungry.”
    â€œOkay. I get it. Why can’t you use them?”
    â€œBecause it’s below