The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (63 page)

“Right here.” Tolliver opened the book to a fresh page. “If you’ll sign right there, on that top line, I’ll get the others to sign under your name since you came here together. Sister Theresa arrived with you, but she doesn’t have to sign. We never register the sisters. They’re not exactly residents, especially the ones who live at the chapels. If they lived in a house, we might. I’m not sure about that. If we ever have one, I’ll have to check on that. But it’s my understanding that Brena, the Head of the Sisterhood, keeps a register of where her sisters are living, so if any questions come up about any of them, she’d be the one to ask. And at some point, your governor and his wife need to sign the marriage register. I doubt they’ll be able to do that today, but if I could speak with them for a moment, maybe we could set up a mutually agreeable time.”

Kevin had signed the book, picked up a piece of paper from Chris’s desk, and written down the names of everyone Tolliver had mentioned, all while Tolliver was talking.

When Tolliver paused to take a breath, Kevin said, “I’m not sure everyone who joined the staff last month is here today, but if not we’ll have them sign the book tomorrow. Will it be at your store?”

Tolliver nodded. “That’s most kind of you. Thank you. Of course I can bring it back if it would make things easier.”

Kevin shook his head and started towards the door to the hall, hoping the man would follow him. “That’s not necessary at all. We’re happy to help.” Kevin opened the door. “Why don’t you go down to the dining room and get set up in there? We thought we’d have Steve and Laryn sign the marriage register right before lunch, if that’s all right with you. Of course, you and your wife are both welcome to join us for lunch.”

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. Times like this are for family. I’ll be on my way as soon as the signing is complete.”

“As you wish. We’ll be sure the register in here is ready for you to pick up by lunch. Thank you so much for coming here for this.”

“My pleasure,” Tolliver said as he turned to go.

Tolliver hadn’t been gone five minutes when Ariel and Steve arrived.

Kevin explained what he needed and handed the list to Ariel. “See if you can track down everyone on the list and have them come by and sign this book before lunch. I think he’s wanted our signatures ever since we got here but wasn’t sure how to ask. Is he always that nervous?”

Ariel laughed. “Not in his store, but everywhere else. He’s only been to the castle a few times that I know of, but he’s always fidgety while he’s here.”

“Well, let’s get this taken care of so he won’t have to come back.”

Meanwhile Steve had flipped back a few pages and was going through the lists of names. “We may have a problem here.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure how to sign this. Most of the people have signed their given names followed by son or daughter of and their parents’ first names. Should we do the same?”

Kevin closed his eyes and shook his head. “Nothing’s ever simple, is it? I signed it the same way I sign everything official. Hope that was right.” He turned to Ariel. “Could you find Laryn for me, please?”

Ariel grinned. “She was in Joan’s office a few minutes ago, hiding from her sisters.”

Steve laughed. “They want her to dress up for this. She doesn’t want to.”

A few minutes later, Laryn slipped into Kevin’s office. “Quick. What do you need to know?”

“How do we sign the Register of Residents?”

“I forgot about that. We should have taken care of it months ago. All right. Myron, you sign as House of Nordin.”

“Good. That’s what I did.”

“Steve, sign Steve, son of and list your parents’ first names.”

“Even though …”

“Yes. When someone moves halfway across Camden they sign the new register the same way they signed in their home town. Just do it. And the same goes for the others. Now, do you need me for anything else?”

Kevin shook his head.

“None of you have seen me or have any idea where I am.” Laryn darted out of Kevin’s office.

After Steve signed, he said, “Ariel, you find the new staff members. I’ll find the others.”

Kevin asked Elin to see if she could find him a cup of coffee and sat down at Chris’s desk to keep an eye on things until Ariel got back. Darrell was the first to arrive, followed by Chris and Karl. While Karl was signing, he said, “Joan will be down later. She’s in the middle of something in the kitchen and can’t leave right now, but she’ll have this one signed before lunch.”

“At some point the two of you need to sign the marriage register. Tolliver has it in the dining room,” Kevin said.

Karl nodded. “We’ll get it signed before things get started. We want the children with us when we sign their names, so I’m going to hold off on that. We’ll get with Tolliver later and do it. But what about Tonnie? She’s with Debra. Do you want me to write her in?”

Kevin nodded. “I’d forgotten about her. Thanks.”

“I don’t know who to put down as her parents though.”

“Leave that part blank. We’ll let Tolliver know why later.” Kevin turned towards Elin. “Make a note that someone needs to see Tolliver tomorrow and explain about Tonnie’s entry and that Karl will add Caitlyn and Corey later.” He looked back at Karl. “I don’t know about you, but lately anything I don’t have to take care of personally slips my mind almost as soon as I hear about it.”

“We’ve had too much going on,” Karl said. “It’ll calm down.” Then, after a breath, he added, “I hope.”

~ ~ ~ ~

After Steve delivered all his messages, he went to Joan’s office and cornered Laryn. “You know you’re going to have to put on one of those fancy dresses your sisters want you to wear.”

Laryn shook her head. “My family’s known me all their lives. I don’t need to pretend to be something I’m not with them.”

Steve sighed. “Your sisters have put so much into this. They’ve covered two tables with long tablecloths and I’m not positive, but I think Danyelle made those tablecloths just for today. They look brand new. The register we’re supposed to sign is on one of those tables with two chairs in front of it. One of those chairs has been covered with lace. I don’t think that one’s meant for me, and that lace is way too nice for you to sit on wearing leggings. There are candles on each side of the register and one at the top. I think Joan may have had a hand in that. If I’m right, we each light one candle and then we light the top one together. That was a wedding tradition in a lot of places on Earth. The second table has a bare spot in the middle with a circle of flowers around it. I think Joan’s making a wedding cake for that table. She’s been busy in the kitchen all morning and Miranda won’t let me inside even to get a cup of coffee.” Steve paused and took Laryn’s hand. “My point is, they’ve gone to a lot of trouble to make this really special. You can’t disappoint them by showing up in leggings and a tunic.”

Laryn shook her head again. “Last weekend was fancy enough to last me a lifetime! They shouldn’t have done all of that. They knew I wanted to keep it simple.”

“This isn’t about what you want. It’s about what they think is appropriate for their sister. They’re doing it out of love, and you can’t belittle it. Not even your best tunic would be good enough for today. You need to put on one of those dresses. I’ll never ask you to dress up for me, but I have to ask you to do it for them.”

Laryn sighed. “Oh, all right. But I’m doing it for you, not for them. They know how much I hate all of this.”

“I’ll take that.” Steve grinned from ear to ear. He put his arms around her and held her close. “You’re beautiful to me no matter what you’re wearing, and you do look good in leggings and a tunic, but last weekend, in those dresses you wore … you are one beautiful woman.”

Laryn turned all shades of red at Steve’s compliment. “All right. You’ve won. Don’t make me regret it! Now get out of my way. I’ve got to go dig one of those things out of the box I stuffed them in after the ministers went home.”

“I think you’ll find them hanging in your closet. I saw Cryslyn with them earlier.”

“Probably getting them ready to trade,” Laryn mumbled as she walked out of Joan’s office.

~ ~ ~ ~

While Laryn was with Cryslyn debating which of the dresses would be the least uncomfortable, Theresa was in the kitchen helping Joan put the finishing touches on the wedding cake. There were two tiers, both nice and thick.

“I can’t believe you made a tier cake. Where did you get the pans?” Theresa asked.

“Neiven made them for me.”

“Did you bake it here? Or at your house?”

“I baked the layers at my house last night, but I didn’t put them together until I got here.” Joan stood back and looked at the cake for a moment. “I’ve never made a tier cake without something in it to stabilize it. I’m not sure it’ll make it from here to the dining room without cracking. There’s no way I’d have tried to bring it from home.” Joan started piping frosting around the edges. “I wanted to decorate it in the dining room, on the table where it’s going to be cut, but Allisandra wouldn’t hear of it. She’s afraid Laryn or Steve will see it before the ceremony and she wants it to be a surprise.”

Theresa picked up one of the little bags of frosting and examined it. “Okay, I see how you got the bag, but the tips … What did you do? Send Kevin back to Earth for them?”

Joan laughed. “Believe it or not, I did consider that. But Neiven made them for me. He’s a wonder. I drew sketches of the ones I needed and explained what I was going to do with them. He hadn’t ever heard of anything like it, but he said if what I made with these little pointy things was as good as that ice cream last summer, he’d make me all the little pointy things I wanted.”

“Little pointy things?” Theresa asked, laughing.

“That’s what he called them and I didn’t tell him any different. I was just thrilled he could make them.”

“How did you learn to decorate like this?” Theresa asked as Joan used a different tip to make a few rose buds on the side of the top tier.

“Mom taught me.”

“Was your mother a baker?”

“No, just a farm wife. The closest bakery was thirty miles away, and big cakes like this were expensive, so most of us made our own. Mom just happened to be especially good at it, so she ended up doing cakes for all kinds of events like weddings, anniversaries, graduations, birthday parties, everything. And while I was growing up, I helped her. When I married Karl, I made my own cakes, and soon my friends started asking me to make cakes for them, and it went from there.”

“Did you charge for it?”

“I asked for enough money to cover the ingredients, but that’s all.”

“You know you could have made a lot of money doing that, don’t you?”

“Not really,” Joan said as she stood up and stretched her back for a minute. “If I’d charged, they wouldn’t have asked me to do it, and it was something I enjoyed doing.”

Theresa watched as Joan picked up another bag of frosting and asked, “Where did you get the food coloring? Do they have that here?”

“Not the kind you’re thinking of.” Joan piped green leaves at the base of each rose bud. “The pink comes from beet root and, believe it or not, the green comes from spinach.”

“Ugh.” Theresa wrinkled her nose. “I was looking forward to eating some of this until you said that. Think I’ll pass now.”

Joan laughed. “I got color from the vegetables, not the taste.”

“How could you help it?”

“You don’t use much, and you only use the juice.”

“Did Miranda tell you how to do that?”

Joan shook her head. “I used to demonstrate it at the Pioneer Village where Karl and I worked. I decorated cakes there too, pretty much the same way I’m doing this one, and we sold slices to the visitors. No one ever complained of tasting either beets or spinach. Funny thing though, I’m not sure the pioneers ever made buttercream frosting. They used a hard frosting to preserve the cake, a boiled one. They had all the ingredients they would have needed though.”

Joan stood back up. “Here, hold your finger out.”

When Theresa did, Joan squirted a little green frosting on the tip of her finger. “Taste it. You won’t get even a hint of spinach.”

Theresa hesitantly touched her tongue to the frosting, slowly sampled a tiny bit, and then licked all of it off her finger, nodding. “You’re right. No spinach.”

“About done?” Allisandra asked from the door. “They should be getting here before long.”

“I need ten more minutes,” Joan answered. “Have you given any thought as to how we’re going to get this thing out there?”

“Sure,” Allisandra answered. “It’s on a plate, right?”

Joan nodded. “A metal one. I had Neiven make one for me.”

“Then I’ll move it out there for you.”

“You?” Joan stared at Allisandra’s round belly. “Why don’t we ask one of the guys?”

“Why? I’m every bit as strong as my brothers,” Allisandra said, frowning. Then she laughed. “You’re thinking I’m going to pick it up in my hands and carry it with this big belly in the way, aren’t you?” She shook her head. “I’ll move it with magic. Just let me know when it’s done and I’ll take care of getting it out there.”

After Allisandra left, Joan put the final touches on the cake and stood back to look at it. When she didn’t see anything else she needed to do she nodded. “Well, it’s done. Hope it makes it to the table in one piece. Would you step out there and tell Allisandra it’s ready while I clean up a bit?”

“Sure, but first, I have a question. Where’s Miranda?”

“I’d told her I was going to need a corner of her kitchen to make a cake for Laryn. When I got here this morning, she ran all of her staff out except Krista, told her to do whatever I needed her to do, and then she left.”

“She left? That’s a first.”

“I know. Sort of scary.” Joan laughed. “Almost like she wanted to be sure she wasn’t blamed for anything that came out of here.”

“Are we having lunch here? Or is everyone leaving before lunch?”

“As far as I know, we’re supposed to eat after the register is signed, but I’m not sure where or what. Anyway, go get Allisandra.”

Joan wiped frosting off her hands, face, out of her hair, and changed into fresh clothes. By the time she was done, the cake was safely in the center of the second table, surrounded by Allisandra’s flowers. and Krista had cleared up the kitchen. She’d washed out the bags and tips, but the left-over frosting was still in bowls on the counter.