A Family for Chloe by Lucy Clark

Author:Lucy Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

IT WAS TWO days later when Harriette received her invitation to join Miss Chloe Jane McLaren and Dr Felix McLaren for a tea party, to be held at half past four in the afternoon, at the doctors’ residence. She rushed through her paperwork after clinic and managed to arrive only two minutes late.

‘She’s here! She’s here!’ Chloe’s excited words filled the house as Harriette stepped inside. Eddie, Chloe and Felix were already in the lounge room where a picnic rug had been spread out on the carpet and a lovely new purple tea set with little white flowers on it, had been set up for four people. Felix stood behind one of the high wing-back chairs, grinning widely at Chloe’s over-excitement.

‘Look. Look.’ Chloe pointed at the tea set as she ran around the edge of the rug with hyperactive delight. ‘Uncle Felix bought it for me. For me because he said I’ve been a good girl and it has little flowers on it. Look, Harriette.’

‘That’s so pretty.’

‘And we’re having a tea party!’ Chloe jumped up and down and clapped her hands, completely and utterly delighted with this turn of events. ‘I helped Uncle Felix set it all up and we did it together.’

Harriette glanced at Felix and nodded in approval. ‘Very impressive.’

‘But the food isn’t real but then we can use our ’maginations and have purple tea and orange cupcakes,’ the little girl continued, taking Harriette’s hand and leading her to a place setting. ‘You sit here.’

‘All right.’

‘And, Eddie, you sit over here.’ Chloe led Eddie to his spot, clearly eager to get this tea party underway. ‘And, Uncle Felix, you sit over here.’ She took Felix’s hand and he seemed surprised at Chloe’s voluntary act of treating him like the others. ‘And I’ll sit here because then I’m closest to the teapot and the ’magination food so I can give it all to you.’

‘That sounds perfectly lovely,’ Harriette said and then held out her cup to Chloe. ‘May I please have a cup of...blue tea?’

Chloe giggled but lifted the pot and poured a cup of imaginary blue tea for her first guest. As the party continued they all pretended to eat the vibrantly coloured food and Eddie made sure Chloe drank her imaginary tea with her little finger in the air.

At some point, Chloe even went into her bedroom and came out with two or three soft toys, declaring that Eddie, Harriette and Uncle Felix had had enough and now needed to go into the kitchen because she had other guests coming for her next tea party. The three-year-old amused herself, playing with her toys and the tea set while the adults dutifully went to the kitchen.

‘I’ll get the non-imaginary dinner started,’ Eddie remarked.

‘You don’t have to cook for us,’ Felix stated. ‘I’m happy to do dinner this evening.’

‘It’s fine. I like cooking for my mum and her friends. Makes me feel as though I’m giving her something back.’

‘You know you don’t—’ Harriette began, reiterating what Felix was saying, but her son silenced her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.