A Surprise Entrée

Scurrying around the rapidly filling tables, Bridget scanned her destination for any sign of trouble. Her parents? Check? Beverly's family? Four out of five. Summer? Check. Sean and Peyton? Yep. Leonard? Nope.

An unexpected face? Surprisingly yes.

"Garrison?!" Bridget exclaimed in shock.

"Ah, there she is; there's Lil' Bee," the seventy-three-year-old man remarked, spryly hopping to his feet.

Bridget allowed herself to be hugged and kissed on each cheek as her brain processed the development. Clearly, the "Dr. Tarver" that the busybody commented about wasn't her husband but his uncle, Garrison Tarver. Immediately, Bridget wondered if Leonard knew about his coming to the charity ball. No way. Leo would've complained about the black sheep of the Tarvers potentially embarrassing him.

A retired forensic pathologist, Garrison worked for decades as the chief medical examiner of Noble County. He could also arguably be called the most intelligent Tarver, which was saying something in town, where his father, Llewellyn, was viewed as a miracle worker. Yet, despite his intelligence and decades of public service, Uncle Garry was called the family's black sheep by most of his relatives because of his sexuality. **** by his siblings to stay in the closet for many years, Garrison only admitted the truth to the worst-kept secret in Honey Hollow a decade ago.

Despite it all, Garrison kept a good sense of humor about the situation. He even called himself the family black sheep. Why? Because he did the right thing even if it could've cost him his career or reputation. Not many people knew, but Garrison occasionally fed Seamus Fallon kernels of information to help his cases over the years. That's why Pepper begrudgingly came to view him as the one Tarver that deserved her respect. Still, Pepper and Garrison sometimes regretted that he had formally introduced Bridget to Leonard.

"What are you doing here?" Bridget inquired.

"The fish don't bite up north in December, Bee," Seamus joked.

"Ice fishing does exist, flatfoot, and you know that," Garrison replied, flashing a mischievous grin at Bridget. "If you recall, I'm the one who grabbed your arm before you fell in the hole."

"It's a damn good thing, too. I'm willing to bet you're not the hero like my grandson," Seamus shot back.

"Ah, your grandpappy would've only gotten stuck in the hole. He's not THAT skinny. Or at least wasn't back then," Garrison commented, slapping Sean's shoulder. "What have you been feeding him, Pep?"

"I'll let you know that I can still fit in my clothes from back then...if I suck it in," Seamus admitted, although he was still a mostly lean man. "And I only let you talk me into ice fishing because I needed your help. That damn Beakburg State Pen used to give me the runaround when I wanted to see an inmate. And who buys a cabin up there anyway?"

"A lowly paid government employee because they're cheap up there. I'm not a fat cat like the relatives," Garrison declared. "So, to answer your question, Lil' Bee, I came not only to see old friends but also because I know how important this is for you. Cassie always loved to pepper me with questions--see what I did there, Sean-o?"

"And I thank you for coming. The kids always love to hear your stories. Medical ones for Peyton and Dad's old cases for Sean," Bridget said, hugging him again.

"I also thought that at least one Tarver should be here tonight. Only I expected to be number two from my family. So where is my stuffy nephew?"

"Yes, where is your husband, Bee?" Beverly asked, making the nickname sound like an insult.

"Oh, you know Leo. Always running late in leaving his work," Bridget responded with a chuckle. That masked her true feelings over her husband not appearing yet.

"Well, more time for me to catch up with my great-nephew. Now, tell me all about your big adventure. Wait, let me congratulate you first, Sean. Way to pick a pretty girl from a rich family to save. I'm sure Harvey Diamond is going to cut you a fat check," Garrison speculated with a wide grin.

Bridget tuned out the talk. Dammit, dinner is already ten minutes behind and Leo isn't here yet? Oh! That's what I meant to ask Summer about earlier. It slipped my mind when I saw how Chastity turned her into a frazzled mess. I can't ask now. Bev's gloating would be sickening. Should I send Summer a text? Hmm, no. She'll likely turn and ask me why I just didn't ask her the question face-to-face. Wait, what's Bev...

"I don't understand why Brynn is over at Brandy's table. She should be here with her family."

"Brandy is her family, Aunt Beverly," Peyton replied.

That surprised her mother and grandmother. Bridget quickly wondered about her daughter's mood. It must be poor, as she usually didn't set out to start a fight with her aunt, which was the likely outcome.

"I'm worried that Brynn will learn the wrong ways to live life from her," Bev stated. "How did she get assigned to that seat? Was it your doing, Bridget? Was it?"

"I had no say in the seating chart. Rachel had that role and left some seats open for last-minute changes."

"Rachel, you say? Your friend is in charge, and I'm to believe that you didn't separate my daughter from me. Always looking to meddle--"

"I'm the one who asked Rachel to put Brynn at Brandy's table," Pepper revealed after cutting off her oldest daughter.

"Mother! Why?"

"Because it's time to give the girl a little slack on your leash," Pepper replied.

That caused Peyton, Sean, and Jana to cover their smiles hastily. On the other hand, Gino openly gawked at his grandmother's order to his mother. Across the table, Seamus nodded in agreement with his wife.

"And you think letting Brandy impart her brand of wisdom is the way to do that?" Bev challenged her mother. "Perhaps she could list all the brilliant ideas and plans for life that she had only to abandon."

"It's just one dinner, Bev," Seamus chuckled. "Brandy might be a fast-talker, but she's not that fast."

---

"Okay, we got ninety minutes and counting to corrupt Brynn," Brandy joked.

"Aunt Brandy! What if Mom hears? She'll **** me back to their table," Brynn said softly.

"Don't worry. If Bev storms over here, we'll sic Wrenn on her. She knows how to stop my bitchy sister." After Brandy noticed the disbelief on her niece's face, she gestured toward her friend. "Tell her."

"It was only a few times," Wrenn responded dismissively.

"I don't think I've heard this story," Tim, Wrenn's husband, said.

"Whenever we were at the house, or worse yet, having a sleepover, Beverly would go all stern mom on us. Yell at us about the noise, making a mess, or just plain being a nuisance to her," Fawn recounted.

"Bridget could be almost as bad," Wrenn pointed out.

"But Bridget mostly complained to score brownie points with her mom before she would pick up a pizza for us, take us for ice cream, or rent us a movie. Bev complained just to be in control," Fawn pointed out.

"And Wrenn would call her on it," Brandy revealed with a hearty laugh. "I remember the very first time. We were six, and Wrenn stood in the kitchen counter-arguing every single one of Bev's complaints. Keep in mind, Brynn, your mom was finishing her senior year, and she got so frustrated that she stormed out of the house."

"Into the pouring rain," Fawn added.

"Only to storm back inside and stomp to her room while soaking wet. Mom added the capper when she yelled at Bev for getting the carpet wet," Brandy recalled with a pleased smile.

"Yet, we're not here to corrupt you. Your grandma thought you could use a break," Fawn said to Brynn. "Besides, not everyone at the table is a troublemaker."

"Really?" Brandy questioned.

"Keeley isn't, and she's close to your age. You remember her, don't you?"

"She's twenty, Fawn, not twelve," Brandy remarked. "Of course, she remembers Keeley. The kid was practically attached to your hip."

Seated next to Brynn Baccaro, Keeley Keady had shoulder-length, brown hair, blue eyes, medium-sized breasts, and a firmly toned ass. Twenty years old, she currently attends Sunny State University near Fountain Beach on the West Coast, but she grew up in the Oakfield Park neighborhood, directly across the park from the Fallon and Day homes. Both Fawn and Wrenn regularly babysat Keeley for years.

"Of course, she remembers me. Her brother once asked why Brandy never babysat me," the brunette brought up with a twinkle in her eye.

"And I bet that's the day they learned that Brandy was unreliable," Tim joked.

"Oh, Bev would've pounded that into their heads way before that," his brother-in-law, Webster Whelan, said in all seriousness.

"Hey, I proved trustworthy enough to be Peyton and Sean's babysitter, buster," Brandy pointed out.

"Didn't your mom **** you?" Webb countered. Two years younger than his sister's friends, he often heard about their antics if he didn't witness them first-hand.

"Something about growing up and showing an ounce of responsibility," his sister, Wrenn, added with a wry grin.

"And to scare you by repeating over and over that this is what will happen if you're careless like Bridget," Fawn reminded.

"I mean, who gives their ten-year-old the talk about safe sex?" Brandy questioned aloud.

"Your mom. Because she's a nurse, and you are you," Wrenn pointed out.

"I'm sure that Pepper figured if she repeated it enough times, then you wouldn't get preggers once puberty hit," Fawn speculated while smirking. "And maybe it actually worked."

"Uh, didn't your sister get pregnant because of faulty birth control, not by being careless?" Davy Earp queried.

The twelve-person table consisted mainly of two separate cliques from the Oakfield Park neighborhood, separated by two years in age. Brandy, Fawn, Wrenn, and Darla Dawkins made up the thirty-year-olds. The twenty-eight-year-old group of former Buzzy Bee reporters would've consisted of Webb, Erin Chantry, and Sebastian Ferrin. However, Sebastian, Webb's best friend, couldn't make it back in time, so his seat sat empty. Davy served as the bridge between the two groups at twenty-nine. He'd been friendly with the older girls while also serving as the editor-in-chief of the high school journalists.

Besides Brynn and Keeley, the remaining tablemate was twenty-seven-year-old Lyle Jolley. The eldest of three Jolley siblings who grew up near Oakfield Park, their family had strong ties to the Whelans. While Lyle never joined The Buzzy Bee, he wrote several articles on the history of Honey Hollow for the paper. That served as a precursor to his current position as the archivist at the Honey Hollow Historical Society.

"No, no, they weren't faulty," Wrenn swiftly corrected. After two glasses of wine, she'd loosened up enough to be chatty. "It was the antibiotics prescribed by the dummy at the Zurbrugg Student Health Center."

"How did Davy get assigned to our table?" Brandy whispered to Fawn.

"Rachel's trying to play matchmaker for him and Darla," the school librarian responded expertly in a whisper.

"That's actually a good call," Brandy praised before zoning back into the conversation. "Don't you guys remember? There was that bad flu outbreak at Zurbrugg."

"Wasn't it about a dozen girls that got pregnant because the antibiotics prescribed negated their birth control?" Tim asked. As an outsider at the table, he only knew what Wrenn had mentioned in the past.

"Try a couple of dozen girls," Erin supplied. "I still live in Arbor Corners, and it's grown into quite the urban legend."

"Well, it's real. That's how my sister ended up with Peyton and her friends with their kids the same age," Brandy stated. She'd never forget eavesdropping on the phone conversation when Bridget called to tell their parents.

"And it wasn't just girls from Zurbrugg College," Fawn pointed out.

"Oh, yeah!" Brandy recalled. "There had been this big party the weekend when the flu first started to spread. So a bunch of girls from Breakwater U were in Arbor Corners. So that's how some ex-Sugarbees and other girls from Bridget's grade got knocked up too."

"Was it Carmella Bruno, or whatever her name is now, who insisted they be given the same antibiotic at Breakwater that her friends in Zurbrugg got prescribed?" Wrenn struggled to remember.

"No, it was one of the Breakwater sorority girls. I forgot the name." Fawn glanced over at Brandy, who shrugged. "She insisted on equal treatment as the chapter at Zurbrugg. Made enough of a stink that they went along with her demand. Didi Bing later blackened her eye for that blunder," Fawn recounted, grinning. "So strange that sweet little Rylee is her daughter."

"Still, as much as I know it sucked at the time, I couldn't imagine not having Pey, Lana, Finn, and the rest around," Brandy responded, glancing over fondly at the other table and her oldest niece.

"And forgive my manners, Brynn," Fawn said, suddenly realizing she had forgotten something. "I won't blame Aunt Brandy over there, as she never remembers her manners, but I forgot to make sure that you knew everyone at the table."

"Hey, I would've remembered, but we started talking about babies," Brandy replied.

"Now, you obviously know the three of us, but do you remember Darla Dawkins?"

"Yes, I do. She was like your fourth musketeer. And she also works at Aunt Bridget's office," Brynn added, returning Darla's wave. "I also know Mr. Whelan as I read his books."

"You're not my target age range, or at least I hope not," the children's author joked before turning to the woman next to him. "This is Erin Chantry, my old Buzzy Bee compadre. Remember the name, Brynn. Erin's going to be a big-name author someday. She's definitely a better writer than me, but she's wasting her time shepherding the careers of others."

"I'm an editor who also putters around on the keyboard," Erin explained. "And maybe I'll surprise you someday, Webb."

"Oh, you were always a secretive one," Webb replied to her wink. "And the fella seated in this empty chair is Sebastian Ferrin."

"The famous journalist?!"

"And he's hot, right?" Keeley whispered into Brynn's ear, causing her to blush.

"I probably don't want to know what Fawn's sidekick whispered, but yes, the 'famous' journalist. Unfortunately, my showboating best friend got stuck in another warzone or civil war and couldn't make it here," Webb joked sarcastically.

"Yo, Key, did you know that Fawn is cheating on you with a new sidekick?" Brandy inquired.

"I like Daisy, and she isn't new. Or did you finally realize that she existed?" Keeley sassed before turning to Brynn. "Your aunt can be a bit daft, you know."

"That's my girl," Fawn nodded.

"Gawd, I hate to see what your real kids turn out like," Brandy grumbled.

"And this guy over here is one of those Jolleys that seem to litter Honey Hollow," Webb continued. "Now, don't let that fun name deceive you. They're a seriously sour lot."

Davy's connection to the group and past from The Buzzy Bee nearly finished off the reintroductions for Brynn. Tim figured he'd better add a reminder that he was Wrenn's husband by handing over his phone to his two youngest tablemates. Brynn and Keeley immediately gushed over Tabby's baby pictures.

"Enough with the baby talk already. Besides corrupting Brynn, we need to plan our **** on Crystal," Brandy declared.

"Crystal?" Webb repeated. "Wait, do you mean Teddy's ex-girlfriend? That Crystal?"

Darla perked up due to her brother's close friendship with Teddy Day.

"Yep, that bitch, and she's here at the motherfucking ball," Brandy revealed to those who hadn't heard. "Mr. Day gave me permission to do what needs to be done."

"As long as it's outside the ballroom," Fawn clarified. "Better yet, outside the hotel."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that. Now, Tinny's got some ideas and a few helpers for us. So this is what we should consider..."

---

"Thank you," Bridget said to the waitress, who moved over to take Summer's order next.

Sitting between the young doctor and Sean, Bridget glanced around the table. Garrison, who sat next to Sean and Seamus, commented about all the unexpected menu options.

"Usually, these charity events are like weddings. You're lucky if you get more than two options."

"Dalton has been very generous with the options and prices. Of course, we're all hoping that full stomachs lead to fatter checks," Bridget remarked, using Garrison's words from earlier.

"Smart one that Pierce."

Noticing that the waitress had quickly finished with Summer and Giancarlo, Bridget saw an opportunity while Bev placed her order. The brief message she sent on her phone conveyed both her confusion, annoyance, and a touch of anger. Basically, Bridget told her husband that if he hadn't left the hospital, he had to leave this very minute.

Fortunately, Sean sat too enthralled to notice his mother's typing.

"No, no, eighty-seven now that was my favorite year," Garrison said about Seamus's cases. "That was the good old days."

"The good old days were not eighty-seven. 1987 was a gruesome year, Sean," Seamus stated, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that his wife wasn't listening. "My cases seemed to pile up with bodies, even a few clients."

"That's why it was a good year. It's my job to perform the autopsies, so you stopped in for help more often," Garrison pointed out. "Remember the Damrow case? Now those autopsies were mighty tricky. Took a while to figure out which organs went with--"

"Not in front of Pep," Seamus hissed, checking on his wife again. "Save that one for after dinner, okay?"

"Is Pepper still shielding Sean?" Garrison asked, looking over at the teen.

"Yeah, Grandma still thinks I'm a little kid," Sean grumbled.

"And you'll always be her baby as well as mine," Bridget teased, placing a loud kiss on his cheek. "How are you feeling? Is the painkiller still working?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Mom," Sean responded dismissively. He wanted to hear as many old stories as possible while Uncle Garrison was around to bring them out of his grandpa.

"Well, I know when I'm not wanted," Bridget replied with an exaggerated huff.

Turning to the other main conversation taking place at the table, Bridget's eyes widened as her mother dared to discuss an even more dangerous topic: Gino and Jana's wedding.

"Grandma, they just got engaged last week," Peyton reminded. She also realized that this topic could easily descend into chaos.

"Yes, I know that, Pey. I just want to hear Jana's preferences before someone attempts to alter them," Pepper replied.

"Grandma, I'm perfectly fine with whatever Jana wants," Gino stated, wrapping his arm around his fiancée's shoulder.

"I wasn't talking about you," Pepper stated.

"Uh-oh," Bridget mumbled.

"What's that mean, Mom?"

"It means that you always need to be in control, Bev."

"Why are you always so mean to me? You never talk like that to Bridget or Brandy!" Beverly challenged.

"I'm not being mean. I just know your ways," Pepper responded, sighing. "And I never have to remind Bridget to let her kids make their own choices. Leonard's the one on that side of the family who tries to control his children. As for Brandy? Well, Brandy is Brandy."

"I'm always happy to hear Mrs. Baccaro's opinions," Jana offered, hoping to keep the peace.

"You see, Mother?"

"That's fine to be polite, sweetie. Just remember that your wedding is your big day, not your mother-in-law's. We don't want a repeat of what happened to Bev's friend Eliza."

"I am not a control freak like Mrs. Limbreck!" Bev denied loudly.

"That's debatable!" Brandy yelled over from the other table.

"You mind your own business!" Beverly responded to her baby sister. "And keep your sketchy ideas away from my daughter."

"Remember who taught me those sketchy ideas," Brandy responded, meaning their father.

"Grandma, why don't we talk about something else?" Peyton suggested.

"Fine, fine. Now that is a wonderful idea, as I've been meaning to have a chat with you," Pepper agreed, patting her granddaughter's arm, who sat next to her. "Let's talk about your lack of a boyfriend lately."

She walked into that one, Bridget said to herself. As she agreed with her mother on this topic, Bridget figured she'd wait a few minutes before rescuing Peyton. Instead, she took the opportunity with everyone distracted to lean over to Summer.

"Did Leonard say when he might be getting here?" Bridget whispered to her husband's protégé. "I expected him by now."

"Leonard? I do not recall Leonard indicating any plans on leaving the hospital tonight," Summer replied in her formal tone. "From what I understood, he wanted to finish the paperwork from the experimental surgery before the year ended. Why? Was he expected to attend this event?"

"Yes. Yes, he was," Bridget stated through gritted teeth before pulling her head back.

Immediately, Bridget picked up her phone to check for any reply.

Nothing.

Stabbing at the keyboard buttons, the angry wife sent off another message stating that Dr. Leonard Tarver had better be coming. Bridget didn't add the final word she wanted to say, but screamed it in her head.

Motherfucker!