At the River’s Edge

by Mariah Stewart

  She and Jason had pushed several tables together to make one long enough to accommodate everyone.

  “Sit, please,” Sophie announced. “I want to start serving.”

  “You’re cooking and serving?” Brooke frowned. “How’s that going to work?”

  “I won’t have a waitress until Thursday, so Jason offered to fill in today.” Sophie went through the swinging door into the kitchen.

  “Really?” Curtis turned to Violet and smiled. “Did you hear that, Vi? Jason is helping Sophie in the restaurant today.”

  “Nice of him.” She smiled back.

  “Indeed.” He mouthed the words thank you.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered.

  Sophie came out of the kitchen with several small bowls on a tray.

  “Okay, these are roasted chickpeas. I want to serve these to every table while people are looking at their menus.” She proceeded to place a bowl on the table in front of every other person.

  “Chickpeas for breakfast?” Jesse made a face.

  “On the lunch tables.” She smacked his arm lightly as she walked by.

  “These are yummy,” Brooke told her. “It’s a great idea. Inexpensive yet innovative. I like it.”

  “Thanks.” Sophie hustled into the kitchen for the next tray, which she gave to Jason to carry.

  “Here’s a sampling of the lunch selections. If something doesn’t work, please say so now, or it goes on the menu that I take to the printer this week.”

  Jason stood on her left as she reeled off the contents of the tray, from the BLTs to the chicken-avocado-bacon on a croissant. Everything was met with approval, so she went on to the desserts.

  Again, Jason appeared with a tray.

  “I was lucky to have been able to cull some recipes from several St. Dennis residents. Violet, here’s your mother’s lemon meringue pie. I hope it serves her memory well.” She pointed to another plate. “Here’s Gramma Rose’s pound cake, Pop. You’ll have to let me know if it lives up to hers. And Lilly Cavanaugh’s cherry tarts.” Jason passed out samples of each. “Some days I’ll have brownies, some days crème brûlée—Grace Sinclair gave me her recipe—and India Devlin emailed me her great-aunt Nola’s recipe for coconut cake, which she swears is the best on the planet. I haven’t tested that one yet, but it looks amazing.”

  “My grandmother used to make an apple pie that kicked butt,” Brooke told her. “Maybe my mom would cough it up if you ask nicely.”

  “Thanks. I’ll give her a call.”

  When the meal was over, Sophie asked for suggestions, criticisms, and critiques.

  “I can’t think of one thing,” Brooke told her. “Everything was awesome. If this is what you’re going to offer, Blossoms is going to be around for a long, long time.”

  “God, I hope so.” Sophie sank into a nearby chair. “I’ve dreamed about a place just like this since I was seventeen. I can’t believe it’s really happening.”

  “You should be very proud of yourself, Sophie.” She was at a loss to hear those words come from her grandfather’s lips. “You’ve worked very hard, and you’re earning all the success I know you’re going to have.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Jesse conceded. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t think you’re going to fall on your face.” He raised his water glass. “Here’s to dreams coming true, little sister.”

  “Thanks, Jess.” She fought back a lump in her throat.

  “Now, you sit, and we’ll do the cleanup.” Brooke stood and began gathering up the plates. “Come on, Jess.”

  “What?” Jesse turned to her in mock horror.

  “You heard me. Up.” Brooke took him by the arm and he pretended to resist, but he cleared the table.

  Sophie tried, but she couldn’t sit still. She ended up in the kitchen putting things away and reorganizing a cupboard in the process. By the time everyone had left, she was buoyed by their praise but dead on her feet. She slumped onto a counter stool, her face in her hands.

  “What’s wrong?” Jason came up behind her and massaged her shoulders.

  “I can’t believe it’s really going to happen,” she whispered. “What if …”

  “Uh, no. No what-ifs. You’re going to knock ’em dead at your preview party and on opening day, this place is going to be packed. You’ll see.”

  She reached back to touch one of his hands. “Thank you.”

  “For …?”

  “For helping me today. For encouraging me. For letting go of this place so that I could do this.”

  “That whole week when we weren’t speaking, I was miserable.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I realized that I could give up part of my dream if it meant yours would come true.”

  “Aww, Jason …” She turned around in the chair.

  “I have a business that’s doing very well, and I have eighty-five percent of what I wanted. So I don’t have a shop. I’ll think of something when the time comes. I wasn’t ready for it this year, anyway.”

  “Well, if we’re confessing, I have to admit that I was pretty miserable, too. All I could think about was how happy I am when I’m with you. I hadn’t been happy like that in … maybe forever.”

  “Not even with BMW guy?”

  “Not for a moment.”

  “Come with me.” He lifted her off the chair.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Down to the river.”

  She locked the front door, and they went out the back. Three steps out the door, he stopped and snapped his fingers. “Wait here. I forgot something.”

  He was back in a minute with a brown paper bag in one hand and two juice glasses in the other. “Sorry. I don’t have champagne glasses.”

  “You bought champagne?”

  He nodded and took her hand. “I figured this would be a night to celebrate.”

  They walked to the end of the old dock and sat, just as Sophie had the other day. This time was better, she thought. This time, she was with Jason.

  “Nice evening,” he said.

  “Beautiful,” she agreed, and it was. The sun had set over the water and touched the river with color. The first of the lightning bugs had come out and the air was tinged with fragrance.

  Jason popped the cork and poured bubbly into each glass, then raised his.

  “Here’s to new beginnings, to dreams.”

  “To dreams coming true,” she added.

  They clinked their glasses.

  “I will never forget this night, Jason. I will always remember how special it was, having you with me when I could show off my dream to my family, to prove it could work.”

  “My mom always said that life is made up of memories. That your memories are the story of your past.” He kissed the side of her face. “Someday this will be part of our past, too. A memory we made together.”

  “I like the sound of that.” She took a sip of champagne and stood, pulling him up by his hand. “Since this is a night for making memories, let’s go back to my place and make a few more …”

  Diary ~

  So many pleasant surprises this summer—so many wonderful things to look forward to. The latest here in St. Dennis is the opening of a new restaurant out on River Road. I’m talking about the total remake of the old Walsh place. Sophie Enright purchased the building and has renovated it completely, and what a makeover she’s done! You’d never recognize it as the same place. And my goodness, the food she’s serving—breakfast and lunch only, don’t you know—delicious. Deliciously different, Brooke calls it. I personally love the way she’s allowed our town to take center stage. Aside from the fact that almost everything she serves is locally sourced—let’s hear it for keeping our farmers in the black!—she’s decorated the dining room to reflect the history of St. Dennis. How clever is that? She has photos on the walls of people who lived here, past and present—especially her grandmother, Rose Enright, and Rose’s friends, Lilly Cavanaugh and Violet Finneran. Their photos are everywhere, delightful shots from years p
ast. It’s most charming. I could spend hours in there, just looking at the pictures and reminiscing. There’s even a picture of my Dan and me in front of the inn, the year we were married. My, how the inn has changed since then! And here’s something fun that she’s done: she’s borrowed recipes from some of us old-timers and has specials on the menu made from those old recipes. I wish I’d thought of that for the inn, I don’t mind saying. I offered her my crème brûlée recipe, and she’s promised to let me know when she’s going to make it.

  She’s a clever girl, that Sophie. She invited a group of people from town to a pre—grand opening taste test of her menu, and it had everyone buzzing for the past week. Everything she served was excellent, I must say, and I know I for one will be stopping in often for her lunch specials. Dallas MacGregor was especially pleased to have such a fine place right down the road from her new studio, which opens in three weeks. She tells me she’s almost fully staffed, and she’s preparing to start work on Pretty Maids, her first film. Sophie promised to make special box lunches for Dallas’s people. She is doing a very early breakfast for the watermen, but she tells me they apparently haven’t gotten the memo, because she isn’t doing the early morning business she expected. I told her to be patient—once word spreads, she’ll have people standing at the counter waiting for one of her delicious breakfast sandwiches, which, she said, were a late addition to the menu.

  I love when our young people show such respect for our past, and love that she’s honored her grandmother in such a lovely way. Did I mention that she’s named her place Blossoms, after Rose, Lilly, and Violet?

  AS previously reported—you can’t take the news-woman out of the girl, you know—Sophie and Jason are becoming quite the item. Lucy says they’re fixing up the apartment over Blossoms, and that she wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to share it once it’s finished. I can’t help but wonder if somehow Vi’s sudden request for some very particular herbs didn’t have something to do with that.

  And now, for the best news ever. EVER. Ford is coming home! Yes, my baby is coming home! I can hardly believe it myself. No, I don’t know the exact date, or the reason, only that he’s told his sister that he thought it was time (if he’d asked me, I’d have told him it was long past time). Frankly, I don’t care why. I just want him home and safe. It’s the answer to my every prayer for the past five or six years, and finally, I will be able to lay my head on my pillow at night and sleep peacefully through the night, knowing exactly where all my children are, and that they’re safe from harm. I bless that boy of mine for his selfless devotion to others, for his concern for his fellow man, but as his mother, most of all, I bless him for coming home.

  ~ Grace ~

  ROSE ENRIGHT’S PERFECT POUND CAKE

  ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

  3 cups sugar

  1 cup plain yogurt (Greek works best) thinned with 3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

  ½ teaspoon baking powder

  3 cups all-purpose flour

  6 large eggs at room temperature

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  ½ teaspoon almond extract

  Powdered sugar, optional

  Preheat oven to 325°F.

  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

  Add the yogurt and mix until incorporated.

  Sift the baking powder and flour together.

  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

  Add the vanilla and almond extracts and pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour, 20 minutes, until tester comes out clean—start testing at 1 hour, 10 minutes.

  Turn onto a cake plate when slightly cooled and dust with powdered sugar.

  INDIA DEVLIN’S GREAT-AUNT NOLA’S COCONUT CAKE

  ½ teaspoon vanilla

  ½ teaspoon coconut extract

  ¾ cup flaked coconut (soak in 2 tablespoons milk)

  2½ cups plus 2 tablespoons flour

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  ¾ cup butter, softened

  1½ cups sugar

  3 eggs, separated

  ¾ cup milk

  Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare two 8-inch round or square cake pans or a 13×9×2 pan (grease and flour). Add the vanilla and coconut extracts to the milk and set aside.

  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.

  Cream the butter with a mixer for 30 seconds, then gradually add the sugar and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Beat the egg yolks and add to the butter mixture.

  Add flour and milk alternately to the butter mixture, stirring after each addition, until smooth.

  Stir in the coconut.

  With clean, dry beaters, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into batter.

  Turn into pans, baking for 25 minutes.

  Cool in pans 10 minutes, then invert onto racks and cool completely before frosting.

  FROSTING

  2 tablespoons coconut

  4 tablespoons milk

  ½ cup butter, softened

  1-pound box of confectioners’ sugar, sifted

  ½ teaspoon coconut extract

  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  Soak the coconut in the milk. Beat the butter with a mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add ½ of the sugar and beat well. Drain the coconut and add the milk to the butter mixture, beating well. Gradually add remaining sugar until desired consistency. Blend in the extracts and coconut.

  Frost cake and cover with as much coconut as the cake will hold.

  CRAB CAKES À LA BLOSSOMS

  ¾ cup plain breadcrumbs

  1 pound fresh crabmeat, drained well, picked over

  ¼ cup mayonnaise

  3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

  1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

  1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

  1 teaspoon lemon juice

  Zest of one lemon

  Salt and pepper

  1 large egg, beaten to blend

  Paprika

  ¼ cup olive oil

  Place ½ cup of the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Mix the crabmeat, mayonnaise, chives, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, lemon juice and zest, and remaining ¼ cup breadcrumbs in a medium bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the egg.

  Form crab cakes into several rounds—the number of crab cakes depends on the size you want them to be. Coat them with the breadcrumbs in the dish, then sprinkle with paprika.

  Transfer crab cakes to a baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

  Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add crab cakes to skillet and cook until golden brown and heated through. Time will be determined by the thickness of the cakes.

  Transfer crab cakes to a paper towel–lined plate and let rest for a moment before serving.

  LILLY CAVANAUGH’S

  CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD

  2 cups diced cooked chicken

  1 apple, peeled and diced

  1 cup diced pineapple

  ¼ cup raisins

  ½ cup shredded coconut

  Combine all ingredients.

  Add the prepared dressing.

  Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

  DRESSING

  1 tablespoon curry powder

  2 tablespoons chicken broth

  1 cup mayonnaise

  2 tablespoons chutney, including syrup

  Add the curry powder to the broth and simmer for about 30 seconds to one minute (don’t let it burn), making a paste. Add the paste to the mayonnaise. Stir in the chutney.

  VIOLET FINNERAN’S MOTHER’S LEMON MERINGUE PIE

  Pastry for one 9-inch pie (store-bought or homemade)

  PIE FILLING

  1 cup sugar

  ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  4 large egg yolks


  ¾ cup fresh lemon juice

  2 cups cold water

  1½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

  6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

  MERINGUE TOPPING

  4 large egg whites at room temperature

  ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  ½ cup sugar

  To make the filling, in a medium saucepan, combine the sugar with the cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and lemon juice. Whisk in the cold water and cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest and butter, stirring until the butter is melted.

  Pour the filling into the pie shell, cover with wax paper, and let cool to room temperature.

  Preheat oven to 350°F and position a rack in the upper third.

  To make the topping, in a large stainless-steel bowl, add the cream of tartar to the egg whites, then beat with the salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff and glossy peaks form.

  Remove the wax paper from the filling. Scrape the meringue onto the pie and gently spread it over the filling all the way to the crimped edge of the piecrust. Make swirls with the back of a spoon.

  Bake the pie for about 7 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 3 hours. Cut the pie with a sharp knife dipped into hot water and serve.

  MAKE AHEAD: The recipe can be made through step 4 and refrigerated overnight. Top with the meringue and bake, then let cool before serving.

  SOPHIE ENRIGHT’S ROASTED CHICKPEAS

  2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), thoroughly drained and rinsed

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  ½ teaspoon of spice of your choice—ground cumin, curry, ground chili pepper, or cayenne pepper

  1 tablespoon minced garlic