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Prologue
Onceuponatime,long ago, in a land far away… Well, actually it wasn’t that far away, although Mistletoe Creek, Tennessee, often seems more off the beaten path where it lies nestled against the Smoky Mountain foothills. And it really wasn’t so long ago.
A few short months ago, the following conversation was overheard between Fern Myers, Fawn Carter, and Merry Andrews during their monthly meeting. When later asked, all three women would deny the conversation ever occurred.
“It’s your deal, Fern,” Merry says as she glances at the window when a colorful leaf drifts off the oak tree just outside.
Fern scoffs and stretches her fingers before picking the well-worn deck up off the shiny table.
“Ialwaysdeal, Merry.”
“More like always cheat,” Fawn mumbles.
“Excuse me?” Fern adjusts her bifocals on the edge of her nose.
“I find it highly suspect that every time you deal, you also seem to win.”
“If you want to deal…
“I don’t. But I do want you to play fair.”
“Play fair? Just because I’m lucky doesn’t mean I don’t—”
“Ladies!” Merry jumps in before their argument can escalate.
It wouldn’t be the first time a confrontation between the two of them had been stopped before it went beyond just words.
“I really don’t feel like getting kicked out of here again by Mayor Anderson. We just got invited back. And personally, I didn’t care for power walking all summer in the heat.”
While the mansion of the original founder of Mistletoe Creek had been turned into a combination of public gathering spaces and city offices, the last time they’d flipped the table during a card game, Mayor Anderson had been left with no other option— he had banned all three septuagenarians for the entire summer.
“I did offer for us to play dice instead,” Fawn says.
“We could always actually learn bridge instead of just telling everyone that’s what we play,” Merry adds.
“We’ve been playing Texas Hold ’Em for thirty years. Dice is for when I babysit my grandkids. And if we told everyone we were playing poker instead of bridge, we’d have the entire town trying to join in our games.” Fern levels a look at both of the other women until they nod.
The room is silent except for the crackle of cards as they swoosh across the table along with sighs and murmurs as each woman considers her cards.
“It’s too quiet.” Merry drops her cards face down.
“What do you mean?” Fern asks.
“It’s been ages since we’ve had a wedding. Or any good gossip.”
“We just went to Dawn and Jack Phillips’s wedding two weekends ago. Raise ten.” Fawn tosses a blue chip onto the small pile and the other two follow suit.
“It was a beautiful wedding,” Merry sighs, a dreamy smile playing on her lips. “Even if Fawn fell asleep during the ceremony.”
“You take that back, Merry Andrews! Or I’ll tell Dawn that you didn’t like the light pink of her wedding dress,” Fawn fires back.
Merry’s eyes narrow across the table. “You wouldn’t.”
Fawn crosses her arms. “Try me.”
“Fine. You win. I take it back.” Merry’s voice is nothing more than a mumble.
Fern sighs and glances between the two of them.
