The Rosaries (Crossroads Series) by Sandra Carrington-Smith

Olivia. Well, I’d better go if I want to get some chores out of the way before lunch.”
    “Yeah, same here” replied Olivia, “I need to get ready for work. Take care, and make sure your reservations are secured.”
    “Yes Ma’am. Too bad you aren’t here to do it for me.” Melody still remembered how efficient Olivia was at her job when she first met her at the hotel in New Orleans.
    “Oh, I can, if you want me to.”
    “Olivia! I’m joking. You’ve got plenty more to worry about, with that wedding of yours to plan and prepare for. I’ll let Mario take care of it – he’s just as precise as you are when it comes to things like that.”
    The word ‘anal’ had actually come to mind, but Melody didn’t know Olivia that intimately, and didn’t know if her cousin was good at catching hidden humor or if she was easily offended; ‘precise’ had seemed a better choice.
    “Take care Olivia, and I will talk to you in the next few days.”
    “Sounds great, Melody. Tell Mario I said hello.”
    “Will do. Bye, Olivia.”
    Melody hung up the phone and went back to her laundry. The wind must have shifted, because she couldn’t smell the scent in the breeze any more. While she waited for the clothes to finish washing she went to straighten out the living room and heard sounds upstairs. Mario was finally up, and Melody rushed to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee for him. She loved when they had a chance to eat breakfast together, so she looked in the refrigerator to find something she could prepare. Melody was not much of a cook, but she had really tried to catch up the last few years. She wished that Grandmama’s ghost could come and help her with pots and pans, sometimes – nobody else she knew could cook as good as her grandmother. Mario came into the kitchen and walked up to her from behind; he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck while she was still standing in front of the refrigerator trying to strategize a meal.
    “Good morning, Beautiful.”
    “Good morning, Honey, did you sleep well?
    “Not so well, really. I kept hearing sounds coming from outside, and I even got up one time to make sure nobody was there.”
    “Hmm, that’s odd…I didn’t hear anything. Maybe it was a raccoon, Grandpapa Henry always complained about them.”
    In reality it wasn’t too odd – Melody usually slept like a rock.
    She turned toward Mario to kiss him back and noticed the dark circles under his eyes.
    “Oh my…you really didn’t sleep, did you? You look very tired.”
    “I am tired, exhausted really, but unfortunately I have to run. I have a meeting at eleven.”
    “Will you be home for dinner?”
    “I’ll try -- that’s the best I can give you at the moment.” He saw the disappointment in her eyes and reached out to touch her face; she laid her head in the palm of his hand.
    “I’m sorry, Melody. I promise this won’t last forever. We have a big case that we have been trying to crack for months. We finally seem to be on the right track, so I have to be there. I will make it up to you.”
    Melody smiled at him. “I know. I don’t mean to sound so needy. It’s just that I miss you, that’s all.”
    “Don’t forget we are going to London in just a few weeks. Nobody will be able to stop us from having a blast together then.”
    Melody flashed him a huge smile. “I can’t wait! I was just talking to Olivia a little while ago, and she was wondering if we have already confirmed our reservations. I told her that you are in charge.”
    “Everything is confirmed already. I’m going to pick up the plane tickets within two weeks. In fact, it’s good that you brought it up, because we have to really get started on the paperwork to renew passports; I think we can do that by mail. Any chance you can look into that?”
    “Sure. I will check on the procedures in a little while.”
    “You are a jewel. How did I get that lucky?” He pulled her toward himself and squeezed her affectionately.