Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope by Bernadette Marie Page A

nodded with understanding. She aligned her bow on the strings, duplicating Sophia’s posture. They pulled the note at the same time.
     
    Millie and Katie sat in the living room, where they had grown old together, and listened to the cello duet. Sophia had won over Carissa and vice versa. They needed each other. They were bonding over music.
    The phone rang, and Millie picked it up before it could disturb their private concert.
    “I just wanted to check in with Carissa,” David said. “I’d promised I’d call her.”
    “I’ll let her know you called.”
    “Where is she?”
    “She’s practicing her cello.”
    “Well, she can take a break for a moment,” he said sternly.
    “Oh no,” Millie retorted. “She’s playing with Sophie, and they’ve been at it for an hour already. This house is filled with beautiful music.”
    She could feel a joy in her voice that hadn’t been present in years.
    David harrumphed. “I won’t be able to call back until tomorrow morning.”
    “Okay then, call back. I simply can’t interrupt them. Oh, David, they’re playing beautifully and laughing like old friends. You should see this. You should hear this!”
    She held the phone toward the music for a few seconds.
    David chuckled. “I can. I love you, Auntie. Please tell her I called, and I’ll call her in the morning.”
    “Goodbye, David.”
    Millie hung up the phone and turned to Katie, who beamed like she was wearing high-voltage dentures. “This is going to work. I swear this time they’ll make it to that altar.”
    “Millie, you are a hopeless romantic.”
    “Well, hell, what else do I have? My time on this earth is limited. I know that. Before I die, I want to see that man happy with the only woman he’s ever loved. And that girl deserves a mother who would love her.” She snorted. “Besides, you’re more hopeless than I am.”
    Katie patted her friend’s hand. “Well, we’ve done our part. Now let’s see what the man upstairs decides to do.”
     
    “Sophia, that was wonderful. Thank you for playing with me. Old Brown-Britches will have to give me first seat if I play this well.” Carissa wiped down her instrument, caressing the smooth wood that seemed to transform into a living, breathing thing when she played it.
    “Brown-Britches? Do you mean to tell me Professor Braunstiches is still teaching music at the high school? He was well over a hundred years old when I went to school there, and that was a long time ago.”
    “Well, he’s still there and a bitter, mean, old man.”
    “Well, I see things haven’t changed.”
    Carissa watched her move with elegance and grace as she stored the instrument as carefully as a mother would secure her child into a carrier.
    “I wasn’t very nice to you,” Carissa softly said, and Sophia stopped moving. “I’m very sorry for the way I treated you.”
    “Carissa, there are no apologies needed. You do not know me.”
    “There’s no reason I should have acted like that to you either,” she continued as Sophia stood to meet her at eye level. “My father has been miserable since you left.”
    “Now, I don’t believe…”
    “Well, you should. I was a little girl with dreams of finally meeting my father and making him and my mother fall in love. I wanted that storybook family.” She stored her bow in the case. “I didn’t know they never loved each other, and that it wasn’t going to happen.”
    “Carissa, you don’t have to share this with me.”
    “I want to,” she countered quickly. “My father never stopped loving you. I hated you for it.”
    Carissa slid her cello into its case.
    “I wanted a mother who would take me to Girl Scouts and ballet. I wanted a mother who would teach me to cook, and we could have tea parties and matching dresses. What I got was a cocaine addict who got knocked up by some airline pilot.” As the words flew from her lips, Sophia gasped and then her eyes widened. “You left him for no reason.”
    “Oh, Carissa, I had