Tender Love by Irene Brand

Author:Irene Brand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2000-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

When they left Mark at the bank, Alice handed Eddie a five-dollar bill and four ones. “Do you want to spend some of the money before we go home? It might be a good idea to buy something for Kristin, too.”

Alice stopped at a used bookstore, where Eddie chose a book on dinosaurs for himself, and a book about figure skating for his sister. When they got home, Alice said, “Let’s have a celebration for Eddie’s good report. If you kids will help, we’ll set the table in the dining room for dinner, have candles on the table and everything.”

Alice had discovered that Clarice had a beautiful set of English china, elegant crystal and sterling silver flatware. With some hesitancy, after she carefully washed the items she wanted for the table, while she shined the silver, she allowed Eddie and Kristin to dry the dishes and place them on the table, which she’d covered with a white polyester cloth. This resulted in having the napkins and silverware slightly askew, but the table did look festive.

She baked chicken breasts, cooked rice, green limas and prepared a salad. She still had time to bake a pie, and she made a chocolate cream pie—knowing that chocolate was Eddie’s favorite flavor. The ice cream he’d had for lunch had been low-cal, so he could have a treat tonight.

Eddie and Kristin waited in the foyer for Mark, and they pounced on him as soon as he arrived.

“Come see the dining room, Daddy—we’re celebrating Eddie’s good report. It was Alice’s idea.”

Alice’s happiness was complete when they sat at the table, en famille, and Mark said, with an apologetic cough, “Let’s join hands and have a blessing before we eat.

“Dear Lord,” he said, after a few false starts, “We have much to thank You for tonight. We always have had, but sometimes we failed to realize it. We’re grateful for Eddie’s good report today, thank You for Kristin, who’s all a man could want in a daughter, thanks for Gran and her encouraging presence with us, and God, thank you for Alice. Guide us in Your love. Amen.”

It was a festive occasion, with Eddie excited because he could start school, but so much attention was being paid to Eddie, that Kristin seemed unusually quiet. Alice had always suspected that she’d been neglected by her parents during Eddie’s serious illness.

Trying to think of a way to give the girl some attention, she said, “Say, Kristin, I just had a thought. Would you like to have a sleepover for some of your friends before we go to the beach?”

“I’ve never had a sleepover,” she said, but her face brightened. “When Mama was sick, Daddy didn’t want me to.”

“And that was right, too, but there’s no reason you can’t have your friends in for overnight now, if you’d like to. Okay, Mark?”

“That’ll be fine. I suppose Eddie and I can survive one night with the house full of girls. How about it, Eddie?”

His mouth was full of chicken, but Eddie nodded his head in agreement.

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