Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5), Natalie Ann [world of reading TXT] 📗

got rice to make as a side dish too. Tacos kind of have it all for a well-balanced meal anyway.”

“I like everything. I’m not fussy,” Adele said.

Seth snorted. “Says the kid that will tell me she wants the same lunch for a month.”

“How did you make out with the tomato soup?” she asked just remembering that.

“We got through the ten cans...finally.”

“I had the last one a few days ago,” Adele said. “I got sick of eating it every day and then I forgot they were in the pantry.”

“Which is why five cans were enough to start,” Seth said and tugged on his daughter’s hair a little.

“Well, I’m going to want chicken tacos every day for a week. I know it,” Adele said.

Seth let out a big sigh and she thought she’d try to save him. “You know what makes something taste even better?” she asked Adele.

“What?”

“When you eat it in moderation.”

“What does that mean?” Adele asked.

“It means that you eat it today and you love it and want it again, but if you keep eating it, then you get sick of it and don’t want it anymore. But if you wait a week to have it again or two weeks, then you still love it.”

“Oh,” Adele said. “Maybe I should try that.”

“Maybe,” Seth said and then mouthed “thank you” to her.

“Look,” Adele said. “I did it almost as well as you.”

“You did,” she said, looking it over. “Good job.”

“Are you a hairdresser? Is that how you know how to do this?”

“No,” she said. “A friend taught me how when I was in school.”

“So, what do you do then?” Adele asked.

“I’m a doctor,” she said, looking at Seth.

“You are?” Adele asked. “There are a lot of different kinds of doctors. I know that. What kind are you?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer this. She didn’t know what Adele knew about her mother’s death. She didn’t have to worry though because Seth said, “Adele is a doctor that delivers babies.”

“You get to hold a baby right when it’s born?” Adele asked, her eyes wide as saucers. “Like some of my baby dolls?”

She smiled. “I do.” She stopped herself from making a comment about newborns not being as perfect as a doll looked. She thought she was doing a great job talking with Adele and almost slipped on that one. That could have opened up a whole can of worms that she didn’t think either of them wanted to clean up.

“That’s neat. So you must know a lot of other doctors?”

She smiled. “I do. I have older twin brothers and one is an ER doctor, and one is a radiologist. He takes pictures of your bones and looks at them. And my father is a surgeon.”

“Sweet. Is your mom a doctor too?” Adele asked.

“No. My mother never worked after she was married, but she was a nurse when she met my father. My father was gone a lot and she had three young kids at home for a long time.”

“My mom was a teacher, but she stayed home with me for a year. She was going to stay home with my brother for a year too, but they both died.”

“I know, sweetie.”

Seth looked a little stricken and put his hand on his daughter’s head. “Adele knows that her mother had some complications and didn’t make it. That sometimes things like this happen and there is no explanation for it.”

“That’s true,” she said. “And I’m very sorry that happened to you and your father.”

“Me too,” Adele said. “But he has you now.”

This time she was pretty sure her face mirrored Seth’s.

15

More On The Line

Later that night Seth put Adele to bed and called Ava. He knew he had to explain what Adele had said, though he wasn’t sure what explanation he could give or where his child’s head was at.

“Hello,” she said on the first ring, as if she was waiting on the call. He did say he’d call when Adele was settled and Ava knew school time bed was around seven thirty, then a story added to it.

“Hi,” he said. “Thanks again for dinner today. Adele hasn’t stopped chattering about how much fun she had. Now all her dolls have braids in their hair too.”

“That’s so sweet,” she said. “I enjoyed spending time with her. I will admit I was a little nervous when she asked me what I did for a living and the kind of doctor I was. I wasn’t sure how much she knew.”

“She doesn’t know much. You and I haven’t talked about this.”

Because it hadn’t come up. Half the time his nightly conversations with Ava were about her day, things she liked, where she went to school, friends she had, funny adventures with her siblings.

He’d even briefly told her about his parents’ divorce and how strong and independent his mother was raising them and taking charge. How Adam still hoped for that father son bond, but Seth had written if off years ago.

“I figured,” she said. “I didn’t want to trigger anything though.”

“All she knows is Ellen was pregnant and that there were complications and sometimes when that happens, it’s hard to save everyone, but the doctors did everything they could. She knows Ellen is watching over her too.”

“You’ve done a great job with her. I’m not sure how you tell a child something like that,” she said. “I’ve never thought of it from that end. I’m always the one trying to save the patient. I’m sorry. That was insensitive.”

“It wasn’t,” he said. “It’s life. We were a statistic. I can’t take exception to every comment about childbirth and deaths. I don’t want Adele to do that either. I’ve tried to explain as best as I can. My mother has done the same. Adele hasn’t asked details and I’m good with that. I don’t want her to be scared if I said her mother was bleeding and then every time she bleeds she thinks she will die, nor do I want her to be leery of going