Quick chatter and boisterous laughing drifted from the parlor into the kitchen where Margaret stood, prepared to cook for William’s guests. Although, prepared may have been the wrong word. Yes, woefully unprepared was much more accurate.

She was prepared to cook dinner for her husband and two long time friends. Not all these unwelcome business associates of her husband in addition to those she had planned dinner with ages ago. The thought of making dinner for twelve when Margaret had been planning a simple meal for four made her head spin.

The woman’s delicate features twisted into a grimace as she

remembered when William let her know none too gently that there would be an additional seven mouths to feed tonight. “Figure it out.” He bit out at her, “And for God’s sake, I do not want to hear you complaining.”

Obviously, she was going to figure it out; while she disliked the merchants her husband called his friends, she disliked looking incompetent even more. Before they had arrived, she had laid out vegetables and a chicken to her left, and a generous fruit spread that contained apples, peaches and whatnot on her right, various utensils somewhere in the mix.

Yes, she could figure this out, but she would need some help. She didn’t think she was asking for much, just a bit of help.

As if an angel had heard her plea, Anna - one of her dear friends - burst through the doorway, her red dress swirling around her ankles as she came to an abrupt stop. The sight made Margaret smile. Anna was rowdy as always and stuck out against the dull brown of the kitchen walls.

She slammed her hands down on the kitchen table, which made Margaret jump, “I cannot believe William brought all these stuck up merchants here without telling you!”

Margaret’s smile dimmed. “He told me when he came in.”