Secret Sisters - an LDS cozy mystery

Thank you for reading chapter one of my LDS cozy mystery, Secret Sisters! I hope you enjoy it. 

Chapter One 

Ida Mae Babbitt didn't know what cookie to serve with bad news. She pulled out a dish and arranged three different varieties on it, then straightened the doily on the back of her sofa. Not a cobweb, not a speck of dust, not one thing out of place-everything was perfect, as it always was. Chaos simply was not allowed in Ida Mae's immaculate world.  

She looked at the clock. It was nine on the dot, and still the members of her presidency hadn't arrived. She took a deep breath, reminding herself of her New Year's Resolution to stop being critical. Not everyone had her internal clock or builtin aversion to being late. When she heard the footsteps on her porch a few minutes later, however, she had to paste a smile on her face. It wouldn't do any good to start off the meeting with a sour attitude. 

The ladies filed in and sat down, a carbon copy of the seats they had occupied at last week's presidency meeting. Arlette Morgan, the first counselor, sat in the rocking chair. Tansy Smith, the second counselor, sat on one end of the sofa, while Hannah Eyre, the secretary, took the other end. Hannah was by far the youngest of the bunch at twentyeight-the remaining women were a little closer to Ida Mae's age. Experience, she always said, beats out energy any day. But she was glad for Hannah's vitality. Most days, Ida Mae agreed with the old saying, her "getupandgo got up and left." 

"Thank you for coming," Ida Mae greeted after Tansy's quick, yet sincere, opening prayer. "We've got quite a bit to discuss today. Before we get into all the regular business, I do think there's something you should know." She took off her reading glasses, which she really didn't need, and made the pretense of polishing them, although what she wanted was to stall for time. She hated this part of her job-imparting bad news, trying to find ways to help and not really knowing how. It wasn't always about new babies or new moveins. 

"Bishop Sylvester told me, in confidence, that his doctor has recommended he slow things down a bit. He's been having problems with his blood pressure, and if he doesn't take some stress off, the doctor is afraid he may have a stroke." 

Tansy gasped. "They won't release that dear man, will they? We haven't had such a good bishop since . . . well, I can't remember when." 

Ida Mae shook her head. "I certainly hope not, Tansy. I agree with you-he may be a young thing, but he's got a head on his shoulders." She stopped to mentally calculate the bishop's age. He was forty-five. Where she came from, that was definitely young.  

"There's more," she continued. "His wife, as you know, is in a family way. They thought they were having twins, but they were told last week that she's going to have triplets." 

"Mercy!" Tansy sat forward. "Triplets? On top of the four they already have? No wonder the poor man is having blood pressure problems." 

"I think it's more likely Sister Sylvester is the one having blood pressure problems," Arlette said. "He's hardly ever home. She's the one dealing with the four little ones, plus the pregnancy." 

Ida Mae secretly agreed, but, remembering her pledge, spoke up. "Now, we don't know what goes on in their home, and it's not our place to judge. Our place is to support the bishop in any way we can. I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I think we should try to take care of as much ward business as we can without troubling him." She lifted a hand slightly against the objection she knew Arlette was about to raise. "Now, I'm not saying we're going to keep anything important from him. I just think if something comes up, and we can handle it ourselves, well, we ought to."  

Tansy nodded. Hannah, typically, was silent. She didn't say much at these meetings, but she sure got the job done once it was determined. Arlette's lips were pressed together so tightly, her wrinkles looked like those stitches they put around scarecrows' mouths.  

"Yes, Arlette?" Ida Mae asked, figuring they might as well get it out in the open, whatever it was. 

"I just don't like the idea of going behind the bishop's back," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out her knitting. "It feels sneaky." 

Ida Mae bit back an exasperated sigh. "We're not going behind his back, Arlette. Let me ask you a question. You know how the Raleigh family has been down with the flu all week? Well, would it do any harm for one of us to make up a batch of soup and deliver it, without telling the bishop?" 

"I guess not," Arlette said, concentrating on setting the heel of the sock she was working on, some monstrosity in chartreuse. Arlette did lovely work, but the colors she chose . . . New Year's Resolution. Right. Arlette did lovely work. Ida Mae left it at that. 

"Well, that's all I'm saying." Ida Mae tried to make her tone soothing. "We can administrate in our capacity without having to alarm him over every sniffle in the ward. And, if something big comes up, we'll let him know." 

"I suppose you're right. You are the president, after all, and so this is your stewardship." Arlette's tone sounded conciliatory, but Ida Mae waited for the other shoe to drop. And it did. "If this gets out of control, I know you'll handle it."  

Ida Mae nodded. Leave it to Arlette to remind her of the trouble she'd be in if this didn't work. But it would work-and it wasn't like anything bad was going to happen. She pushed back the little voice that said, "But what if it does?" If it did, well, she wouldn't let it. That's all.  

The remainder of the meeting was spent discussing the upcoming service project and visiting teaching. "I've asked Sister Bailey to join us at our next meeting," Ida Mae said. "She's been telling me of some holes in our visiting teaching assignments, and I thought if we all brainstormed, we could come up with a way to solve the problem." 

"Next Tuesday at nine?" Hannah asked. Bless her; the meetings were every Tuesday at nine, but she never failed to ask and write it down. 

"Yes, Hannah. Tuesday at nine." 

The ladies were sent home after a mug of hot chocolate and two cookies apiece. The weather had been warm, but that morning Mother Nature realized it was still January and got back to work. Ida Mae wouldn't dream of sending anyone out in the cold without a warm stomach. 

Rinsing out the last of the mugs, she let out the sigh she'd been holding in for the last hour. She wasn't given to pity parties, but every so often she had to wonder why she had been chosen for this calling. It was said, in their small Utah town of Omni, that if anything needed to be done, Ida Mae Babbitt was the one to ask. They even said she organized her first bake sale at the tender age of three weeks. She was sure that part wasn't true, but she did have a knack for running things.  

She imagined it had something to do with the fact that her mother died in childbirth with her younger sister Lola, and Ida Mae was put in charge of the household. She knew how to plan something, get it done, and clean up afterward, but she excelled in doing it alone. She didn't know how to delegate. She didn't know how to trust someone else to follow through on their assignment, and to keep from becoming irritated when they didn't do it the way she would have. The Relief Society was about working together-it wasn't a onewoman show. She didn't know if she could learn to let go enough to be the kind of leader these women needed.

*** 

I hope you enjoyed chapter one! I'm uploading the entire book on the site. If you'd like to learn more about these mysteries, visit http://secretsistersmysteries.blogspot.com/