The Chase, Amber Riel [best english books to read txt] 📗

with that jerk left a lot of relief inside, but that strange feeling only grew even more.

          “What’s wrong, Auntie Samantha?” Lainie asked, snapping me back to reality.  “Uncle Louis isn’t going to be here today…. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

          I looked down and smiled to reassure her that what I was feeling was nothing dealing with Louis.  “It’s nothing…. I just was thinking about something…. That’s all.”

          “What were you thinking about?”

          “Nothing that you need to worry about…. Come on, let’s go get breakfast.”

          “Okay.”  Lainie grabbed my left hand and dragged me out of the room and into the kitchen.

          Two older men and a woman stand in the kitchen.  All three of them wearing white coats and hats which had indicated that they were the cooks.  One of the men looked to be about in his mid-thirties with a little bit of grey hair and the other looked to be about in his sixties with barely any hair at least from what I could tell.  The woman looked to be about in her early forties but age hadn’t been harsh to her through the years.  It was obvious that she was in her forties but her face had no proof that aging was doing its job as she grew older.

          “Good morning,” Lainie told the cooks with a smile that anyone could fall in love with.

          “Good morning there, young lass,” the eldest cook had replied as he smiled down at the child.  His voice had an Irish accent which made him sound as though he was singing to the young child.

          “Good morning, Elaina,” the woman replied returning the smile.  “Would you like a cookie?”

          “Not yet but after breakfast please,” Lainie replied.

          “Well I see someone is learning when the proper order of food is to be served.”  The woman kind of laughed as she kept her smile.

          “Good morning, little girl,” the other man had replied.  “Did you have a good dream last night?”

          “Yes, sir.  I dreamt that I was flying on a unicorn and I got to sing with a mermaid.”

          “Sounds wonderful.”

          “Oh this is my Auntie Samantha.”

          The three cooks looked over at me and smiled with kindness in their eyes.  “Nice to meet you,” they all spoke in unison.

          “Same here,” I replied.

          “Now what would you two like to have for breakfast?” the woman asked.

          “An om-el-et,” Lainie spoke trying to sound out the word.

          “Very good, Elaina…. Pretty soon you’ll be able to pronounce it without any trouble,” the woman encouraged Lainie, making the child feel more confident in herself.  “And what would you like, Samantha?”

          “I’ll have an omelet as well please.”

          “Okay anything special in it like ham, bacon, or onions…. Etc.?”

          “Bacon please.”

          “Okay and the usual, Elaina?”

          “Yes please,” Lainie replied, nodding.

          “Okay two omelets coming right up.”  The female cook smiled at us and nicely shooed us out of the room.

 

        I sat at the dining room table next to Lainie as we waited for our breakfast.  Annie walked in followed by Ron and they both sat across from us.  Annie wore a big smile on her face; it was the same smile she wore when Ron had proposed to her and she couldn’t stop talking about that day for weeks.

          “What’s up?” I asked, raising an eyebrow with a small smile.

          “Well, we were…. Lainie, did you wash up for breakfast?” Annie asked, quickly changing the subject which kind of worried me.

          “Oh no, mummy…. I’ll be right back.”  Lainie stood up and hurried out of the room.

          Annie waited a few minutes before she continued the first part of her conversation.  “We were wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking Lainie to the park…. Just the two of you because well…. Ron has the day off today and we just wanted to be alone today…. The cooks will be heading off after breakfast…. The maids and butlers are having a few days for themselves…. And security is going to be working the neighbor…. And we’re….” She looked at Ron for approval before continuing.

          Ron smiled at her with a slight nod.

          “We want to try for another kid…. A boy this time.”

          I smiled at their honesty.  “I see how it is…. You two invite me here to babysit, not to visit,” I joked.  “Honestly, I don’t mind and I think that’s great…. As long as I don’t have to deal with Louis today then I’m fine.”

          “Good,” Ron replied.

          “I’ll give you some pounds for food and some extra for if you decide to take a taxi…. I’ll drop you two off and just call later if you want a ride or if you’re taking the taxi just so I know what’s going on.  I would go with you two but….” She took her husband’s hand.  “We really want another kid and we thought that this would be a perfect time to try with everyone gone for the day.”

          “I understand…. Besides,” I told them, “this would good a way for me to get to know Lainie better seeing that I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to see her again.  I think it’s great that you two want to be alone…. I don’t want to know what goes on when you two are alone but hey you two are married and should have a good happy married life.”  I smiled.

          “Well thank you for understanding.”

          “No problem, sis."

 

          Annie drove Ron’s small car.  I sat in the passenger seat and Lainie sat in the back.  Annie had the radio on a station which played nothing but kiddie music for Lainie to listen to as she drove.  I looked out of the window as we drove into the town.  The buildings were mixed with apartments which were connected to one another like some big structure while others were businesses.  The roads looked like they were made from brick which was very different from the ash felt roads in the United States.  The city was a beautiful sight to see.  I remembered the last time I had visited and how I went with Annie to go shopping and do some sightseeing.  It was the same but felt different.  Being there made me feel like I was in some kind of movie.

          Annie placed the car in park after she had pulled up to the side walk on the left of the car.  “Here you go,” she said as she looked at me and smiled.

          “Thank you, Annie…. And I think that we’re going to take a taxi later that way you and Ron can have extra time alone.”

          “Sounds good…. Just call me if you change your mind…. Oh and here.”  She handed me some pounds which I quickly placed into my the back right pocket of my light blue jeans and buttoned it back so that I wouldn’t worry about losing the money.

          “Thanks.”  I unbuckled and turned to face Lainie.  “Ready to go?”

          Lainie’s expression lite up with excitement.  “Yes.”

          “Okay.”  I opened the door and climbed out as I closed it.  I slid over to the back of the car.

          Lainie unbuckled herself as I opened the door for her.  She kind of slid of the seat of the car as she climbed down.  Once she was standing on the side walk I closed the door trying not to slam it.

          I backed up next to Lainie on the side walk and we watched as Annie drove off.  I looked down at the child and smiled.  “So what do you want to do first?” I asked.

          “Can we go to the lake?”

          I nodded.  “Lead the way.”

          Lainie grabbed my hand, wrapping her little tiny fingers around mine.  She dragged me to the lake which was beautiful like everything else I seen.

          The lake was large and round with some curves lining it with the town.  We walked up a small, flat walking bridge and she let go of my hand to stand on the stone, fat railing which kept her from falling into the lake.  I walked next to her and looked around admiring the trees and the sun shining into the crystal colored water.  There were ducks swimming around of different colors.  I even noticed some white swans with long delicate necks which looped over making half of a heart with beautiful yellow beaks with a little bit of black coloring the fur of their noses.  “You know if the two swans touch their noses together and pushed their bodies closer together they would make a heart?” I asked Lainie.

          She looked up at me with amazement in her eyes.  “Really?” she asked.

          I nodded.

          She turned her attention back toward the swans and looked at them hoping that she would see that.  “Wow.”  She took a step back from the railing and made a heart with her fingers and held them up, looking at me.  “Like this?”

          I couldn’t help but smile and nodded again.

          She looked at her heart shape she had made with her fingers then looked back up at me.  “Can you do this?”

          I kind of laughed at her question.  Children were so adorable especially when they were asking simples questions that everyone else knew the answers too.  “Of course.”  I kneeled down on both knees and made a heart with my fingers as well.

          “Cool.”  She took her left hand, keeping it as half of a heart and I let her remove my left hand so she could replace it with hers.  The heart was lopsided because my fingers were longer and bigger than hers so I moved them together so our fingers could fit.

 

          It was about noon time when Lainie dragged me to a small hotdog type stand so we could eat lunch.  The man was round and looked like he would explode if he eat anything.  He wore a smile on his face and a white apron tied around his neck and waist.  “What would you two like today?” he asked.

          I looked on the menu which sat off to the side of him to see what there was and the cost was for everything.  Even though it had been a while since I had been in London I had remembered the trick Annie had taught me on how much pounds I had needed for the prices.  It was pretty much like American money but at the same time it was kind of hard to get use to because I haven’t really used pounds but that same trick had popped into my head which helped me out.  I looked at Lainie and let her choose first.

          She looked up and down the menu debating on what she wanted.  “A strawberry crepe and water please.”

          “Hm…. Strawberry crepe?  That sounds good.  I’ll have a couple of strawberry crepes as well along with water too please.”  I began to pull out the pounds from my pocket.  “One for her please because she’ll probably only eat on anyways.”

          “Sure thing,” the man replied.  “Three strawberry crepes and two waters coming up,” he said as he began to prepare the crepes.  “That will be twenty pounds please.”

          I kind of looked at the guy as if that was kind of expensive for three small crepes and a couple of waters but I didn’t say anything as I pulled out the pounds and counted them as I handed them to the man.

          He counted the money and gave me the change.

          Once the crepes where done, the man handed the two waters to me and I handed them to Lainie as I took the two plates of strawberry crepes, napkins, and two plastic forks from the man.  I followed Lainie to a small concrete bench without a back and we sat down.  I had Lainie place the water bottles on the ground and handed her the plate with