Page 36 of Cherished By the Sinners

They all laughed.

“What’s so damned funny?”the cop asked in a snarl.

Darlene struggled to maintain a straight face.“Um...she doesn’t think you’d make a very good husband.”

The cop stared at her blankly for a moment before rolling his eyes and muttering obscenities to himself.“Just remember what I said.”He snapped his fingers in her face again.

One of the ladies told him in broken English that he needed to wash off the smell of alcohol or no woman would want him.

He glared at the elderly lady.“Now what did she say?”

“She thinks you smell like alcohol and it won’t help you get a wife.”

He sneered at all of them, then started walking away while snapping his fingers.

“He is a strange man,” the lady said.

“Yes,” Darlene answered as she watched him turn left toward the exit.“He is.”

She gave her new friends a closer examination.They were all over fifty, with silver strands in their straight black hair.They should have looked soft, breakable, even weak, but they didn’t.Not to her eyes at least.Their postures said they were confident, strong, and fully cognizant of everything going on in the restaurant.Their gazes never stayed on one thing very long, as if they were looking for something.

Or keeping watch.

“My name is Darlene, may I know your names?”

The lady who had been making all the comments said, “I’m Fen.”

The lady on Darlene’s other side said, “I’m Jia.”

The last lady said, “I’m Ai.”

The waitress came out with her dessert at that moment.There was a hitch in her stride as she noted the additional people at the table.

“Can I get you ladies something?”the waitress asked.

“Tea and dessert?”Darlene asked them.

“Yes, yes,” Fen said.“We enjoy dessert very much.What you are having looks interesting.Can we try it?”

“Of course,” Darlene said to the waitress.“Three more pots of tea and crumbles.”

“Oh, and some alcohol,” Fen said.“In the tiny glasses?”

“You want a shot?”

“Yes, yes.Lemon Drops for all of us.”

The waitress grinned and retreated to the kitchen.

“So,” Darlene said just before she took a bit of her crumble.“Magnus asked you to come sit with me?”

Fen giggled.“He asked our lady to send someone to sit with you.We volunteered.”

“Why?”

“Because we like you.You work hard and you try to speak Mandarin.”She leaned forward and whispered, “We are also not blind, the twin men want you for their own.This is good.A sign of happiness and harmony.”Her smile dimmed just a little.“We need that.”

“Well, I don’t know about how much happiness and harmony I’m going to bring to...the hotel.I’m just a housekeeper.”