Dashing Through the Snow by Lisa G Riley

She kissed Glenda’s cheek and
snuggled her nose into her neck, loving the familiar intermingling
scents of vanilla and White Linen. “Dinner smells wonderful,” she
said and unable to resist, bent and kissed her mother’s other cheek
when she released her.
    “It should,” her aunt said as she too opened
her arms for a hug. “Your mother has been slaving over it since she
got home from church. Hi, sweetie,” she said to Lily when Lily
hugged her. “How are you?”
    “I’m good,” Lily said and went to the sink to
wash her hands. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
    “Nothing,” Glenda said with a smile.
“Everything is all ready. The dining room table’s even been
set.”
    “Okay,” Lily said and turned from drying her
hands. She found herself studying her mother and her aunt. They
were both small and slim with thick hair. Her mother kept hers
closely cropped while her aunt had hers in a sleek bob. Lily had
gotten everything but her height and skin tone from her mother. Her
mother was just a shade darker, but Lily had the same light eyes
and a frame that tended to run to skinny. Her mother and her aunt
could almost pass for twins, they looked so much alike.
    “Are you staying for dinner, Aunt Viv?”
    “Yes. I invited myself.”
    “What about Uncle Ray and Quincy and Ray,
Jr.?”
    Viv sniffed. “What about them?”
    Lily cleared her throat. “Uh…I thought…well,
as far as I know, you’re the only one at your house that
cooks.”
    Viv waved her hand. “They’ll be fine. They
might not know how to cook, but they all three know that the most
important buttons on the microwave are ‘time’ and ‘start’. And
besides, I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for them.”
    Glenda laughed. “Notice the emphasis on ‘for
them.’ She asked me in church today what I was cooking and when I
told her, she decided that she was in the mood for lamb. I told her
that there was plenty enough for all of them, but she insisted on
coming alone.”
    “Humph. Like I told your mother, there’s no
sense in having a perfectly good meal ruined by some ruthless,
greedy pigs. I deserve at least one meal a week in peace and quiet.
They’ll be fine with meatloaf.”
    Lily chuckled as her mother shook her head.
Her cousins’ table manners weren’t that bad, but she did
admit to herself that she was glad they weren’t coming. She didn’t
think she’d be able to withstand the never ending bickering they
always seemed so willing to indulge in.
    “And speaking of church, Ms. Thing,” her
mother said as she pointed a finger at Lily. “Why didn’t I see you
there today?”
    Lily grimaced. “Didn’t I tell you? Sue was in
town, but only for a few hours, so we went downtown and to Town
Square before she got back on the road.”
    “And that’s another thing. I would have liked
to have seen Sue. Why didn’t you bring her by?”
    “She was only in for a few hours, Mom. She
told me to tell you that she promises to come see you and Dad on
her next visit.”
    Glenda looked far from satisfied with that
answer, and her next words confirmed it. “What I don’t understand
is why you didn’t bring her to the church. Everyone can use a
little religion on Sundays.”
    “Like I said, Mom,” Lily said, as she snagged
a wine glass from the tray her mother was preparing, and walked
over to the sideboard in the dining room where she’d seen a bottle
of Bordeaux left open to breathe. “She was only here for a few
hours.” After pouring herself a glass, she walked back into the
kitchen and around the table to lean back against the counter.
Looking down at the wine as she swirled it in the glass, she said,
“When a person has a limited amount of time on her hands, the last
thing she wants to do is spend it in church. I know I wouldn’t -- ”
she suddenly stopped talking. The kitchen had gone unnaturally
quiet.
    She looked up from her wine and found both
her mother and her aunt looking at her with horrified eyes in