To serve: Sprinkle the top of the pan with powdered sugar before you carry it to the table. This will make it much prettier. Dish out the Fruit Pocket French Toast with a metal spatula, and offer more syrup and butter for those who want it. A half sandwich is one serving.

Yield: 12 half-sandwich servings.

Hannah’s Note: If you want to make this and you’re really in a pickle because you don’t have any fruit, try spreading the bread with a layer of fruit jam or marmalade. I haven’t tried this, but I’ll bet you a batch of my best cookies that it’ll work!

Chapter

Chapter

Five

Naturally, Hannah had been elected to serve the Fruit Pocket French Toast and she was glad she’d worn the pale lavender silk blouse Claire Rodgers had assured her would dress up any outfit, even a pair of black jeans and a black turtleneck sweater. The blouse had been expensive, but Claire had given Hannah her usual good-neighbor discount since Claire’s boutique, Beau Monde Fashions, was right next to Hannah’s shop.

“This is a wonderful brunch dish, Hannah,” Delores came up to compliment her. “Have you made it before? It reminds me of something, but I’m not quite sure what it is.”

“Grandma Ingrid’s Fruit Pocket French Toast, except she made it with apple slices.”

“Of course!” Delores reached out to pat Hannah’s shoulder with one perfectly manicured hand. “It was always my favorite, but so rich! And extremely fattening, with all those carbs.” Delores leaned a little closer. “Better watch it, dear. I think you’ve gained a little around the hips. That blouse hides it really well, but still

when a woman gets to be a certain age, she has to be more conscientious about her diet.”

Hannah managed to keep her polite smile in place, but she had the urge to upend the nearly empty pan with its residue of sticky caramel-maple syrup on top of her mother’s impeccably styled coiffeur.

“Well! Enough about that. You’ve heard it all before.”

Hannah looked up at her mother in surprise. Delores actually sounded a bit apologetic about her previous comment. But her next statement shattered that illusion.

“You really ought to change to shoes, Hannah. Those boots don’t go with your outfit at all. And a little lipstick and makeup wouldn’t hurt.”

“I don’t like to wear makeup.”

“I know you don’t, but men notice things like that. They want a wife who’s well groomed, someone they can be proud to be seen with.”

“You’re forgetting that two men proposed to me and I wasn’t wearing a lick of makeup at the time.”

“Oh.” Delores frowned slightly. “Well

there is that. I’m sorry, dear. Truce?”