Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 094

"What confession?" Logan yelped indignantly.

"A confession about the ring you gave to another woman!" Kerry cried accusingly.

At that point, Mary Anne became just a little alarmed. "What is she talking about, Logan?" she asked.

Logan was laughing too hard to reply.

"He thinks this is funny!" Vanessa cried, outraged.

"It is funny," Logan sputtered through his laughter. "It's very funny." "It is?" Mary Anne said. "Maybe someone better tell me what's going on." "Logan has lost his mind," Haley said. "That's what's going on." "Just great!" exclaimed Kerry, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "First he acts like a rat, then he covers up by acting insane." "I'm not a rat and I'm not insane. This is all a big mistake." "You can't get out of it," Becca said. "Vanessa and I saw you buy that ring for Kristy!" "You bought Kristy a ring?" Mary Anne gasped.

"Oops," said Becca, covering her mouth.

Apparently she hadn't meant for that to slip out then.

"Mary Anne, I bought the ring for you," Logan explained patiently. "Kristy was helping me pick it out. It was supposed to be a Valentine's Day surprise." "Oh, Logan, thank you," Mary Anne said, growing misty-eyed.

"You're welcome, but thanks to these guys the surprise is ruined." Logan gave the kids an annoyed stare. "Luckily I have one more valentine surprise lined up." Kerry cleared her throat uncomfortably. Her face was red around the temples and chin. "Uh ... no you don't," she said in a small voice.

Logan looked at her sharply.

"I ... uh ... I ... uh," Kerry stammered.

"You what?" Logan demanded.

"I kind of canceled your reservation at Chez Maurice," Kerry said quickly.

"You're taking me to Chez Maurice!" Mary Anne cried.

"Not anymore," said Logan. "I won't be able to get another reservation there this close to Valentine's Day." He turned angrily toward his sister. "Kerry, I'm going to brain you! Why did you do that?" "I heard you make the reservation. Becca had called to tell me about you and Kristy.

So I put two and two together and - " "And you got six," Logan filled in for her.

"Well, we thought you were being untrue to Mary Anne," Vanessa said defensively.

Mary Anne took Logan's hand. "Logan would never do something like that," she told the kids. "But I do appreciate your sticking up for me. That was very sweet." She turned to Logan. "You have to admit, it was sweet." Logan just scowled.

"Sorry, Logan," said Buddy Barrett. One by one the kids apologized as they turned and slunk away from the front door.

"At least that solves the hate-mail mystery," Mary Anne said with a rueful laugh.

Logan nodded. "It sure does. Now the mystery is what we are going to do to celebrate Valentine's Day." Chapter 13.

When I reached the Cheplins' on Thursday I was happy to see that Mrs. Cheplin had scaled her chore list back to one page. Maybe that was her way of making up for being so obnoxious before. I was especially glad because I was hoping to find a little extra time to make a valentine card for Robert.

I'd been so crazed lately that I hadn't gotten anything for him. If I hadn't heard Logan's story at the Wednesday meeting I might have forgotten about Valentine's Day altogether.

I was racing through my first chore, unloading the dishwasher, when Dana came into the kitchen wearing her jacket. "Adam and I are going over to Kerry Bruno's house," she announced.

"Sorry, but I don't think so," I told her. "Are you allowed to walk down the hill alone? There aren't any sidewalks." "No, but Kerry really needs us and I said we would come," Dana pleaded.

"Needs you for what?" "For the Valentine's Day dinner," she told me. "It's to make up to Mary Anne and Logan for the trouble we caused." "Oh," I said thoughtfully. That was awfully sweet of them. I hated to say no. But I had so many chores to do! "I'll walk you down there," I said finally. "We can't stay long, though." "Yea!" Dana cheered.

So I bundled up the kids and walked down the hill and over to Logan's house, which is on Burnt Hill Road. When we rang the bell, Kerry was thrilled to see me. "Excellent!" she cried, pulling me in the door. "We desperately need someone who can cook." The kitchen reminded me of Santa's workshop on Christmas Eve. Except that the elves were our baby-sitting charges and instead of making toys, they were preparing food.

At the kitchen table, Vanessa and Becca were cutting out Jell-O hearts with cookie cutters. Nicky Pike decorated them with swirls of canned whipped cream. Margo was creating a fruit punch from many jars and cans of juice. Haley was using a plastic knife to slice bananas and toss them into the punch. Matt Braddock was assembling dishes to set the table.

Kerry presented me with an opened pack of chopped meat, which already had hunks gouged out of it. "I tried to make hamburgers in the microwave but they came out gross," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Super gross," Jenny confirmed as she took bread from the breadbox on the counter.

I thought a moment and remembered that meat didn't brown in a microwave. "You need to use the stove top," I told her. "I can do it for you." I found some onions and chopped them quickly. I let them fry while I made the hamburger patties, seasoning them with salt, pepper, and some dried garlic.

At four o'clock the doorbell rang. A buzz of excitement swept through the group. "Mary Anne is here," Kerry told me. "We invited her to come at four." Everyone scurried to put the last touches on their projects. Vanessa slipped into a tuxedo jacket she'd found in the family costume box. She draped a white towel over her bent arm. "I'm going out," she announced. "This is it. Everybody get ready." We gathered at the open kitchen doorway as Vanessa strutted out to the living room where Mary Anne and Logan stood talking. "Where's Kerry?" Logan asked Vanessa. "Do you know why she told Mary Anne to come over here right away?" He sounded angry. He probably thought this was another scheme the kids had concocted. (He was right about that, only this was a good scheme.) "As a matter of fact, I do," said Vanessa. "Follow me, if you please." "Now what?" Logan sighed as he and Mary Anne followed Vanessa toward the dining room. The rest of us jumped back out of the kitchen doorway as they approached so we wouldn't spoil the surprise.

Vanessa stopped just outside the doorway. "Your table is ready," she said with a low bow.

"Oh, wow!" Mary Anne cried when she spied the beautifully set table with red construction paper placements and paper doily napkins. A big red tissue paper flower sat in a glass in the middle of the table.

Vanessa pulled out a chair and Mary Anne sat down.

With a nudge, Haley pushed her brother Matt out of the kitchen. He was holding a water pitcher. He filled Logan's and Mary Anne's glasses, splashing some over the side. "No problem," Logan said, mopping up the spill with his doily napkin.

I dashed back to the stove and put a hamburger and some onions on two plates. Becca took one and Margo took the other out to the table. Haley trailed behind them, struggling to keep hold of the pitcher of fruit punch with floating bananas.

As soon as Logan and Mary Anne picked up their forks to eat, the kids ran out to sing the romantic serenade they'd practiced. First they sang a song from Lady and the Tramp.

Peeking out of the kitchen, I could see that Logan was working hard not to laugh. Mary Anne was trying equally hard not to cry. I noticed a delicate ring on her finger.

The kids then went into a pretty awful rendition of "Can You Feel the Love (Tonight)?" Then they backed out of the room.

As Adam and Dana returned to the kitchen, I grabbed their coats. "We've got to go," I told them. "I have so much to do before your mother gets home." "Please can we stay?" Dana pleaded. "We haven't served dessert yet." Just then, Mary Anne stuck her head in the kitchen door. "Could we have two more napkins, please?" she requested.