Page 57 of Broken Chorus

She had the placemat from the movie Frozen, while Dani’s had Tinkerbell on it. He’d learned the importance of not mixing them up after Dani had sternly reminded him that she was the fairy princess and Ella was the snowman’s friend. Of course, Hawk had watched the whole thing with a big smile on his face and teased Aaron about it later, when they’d been sprawled on the couch, watching the original Ghostbusters movie.

Aaron got her bowl out and made quick work of slicing her strawberries and plucking a handful of grapes off the bunch, making sure there were no mushy bits on them. She hated those and tended to avoid anything with a similar texture, so much so that it spoiled her appetite to encounter one. Making sure she went to bed with a full belly was important, so he was diligent in his selection, and poured her a small glass of milk to go along with it before taking a seat across from her. None of the kids liked to sit at the table alone, so he’d poured himself milk too and grabbed a small spring of grapes to nibble on while she ate.

“Thank you, Uncle Aaron,” she said, smiling a little gap-toothed grin up at him. She’d lost her front tooth just a few days before and been so proud to show him the hole on video chat, as well as the five dollar bill the tooth fairy had left her.

That’s some serious inflation right there, Aaron had joked to Hawk, who’d shrugged when Aaron had reminded him that growing up, they’d been lucky to be left a quarter.

“You’re welcome, sweetie,” Aaron told her as she dug into her snack.

“Can teddy bears be sad?” she asked after only a couple slices of berries.

He shook his head and flashed her a small smile. “No, they’re meant to make you smile.”

“But what if I do something to hurt their feelings?” she asked.

“Is there something you think you’ve done?”

She chewed her bottom lip and looked up at him with liquid eyes, like tears were ready to fall at the slightest provocation.

“We’re having a teddy bear tea party at Daisy’s, but we’re only allowed to choose one bear to come,” she said, lower lip trembling now. “I’m scared I’ll make the other ones sad by leaving them behind.”

“Do you have a favorite bear?” he asked gently. “Maybe one that is special to you?”

Shaking her head, she looked even sadder, if that was even possible. “It isn’t nice to have favorites,” she explained. “I love all my bears the same.”

Stroking his chin, he gave serious thought to what to say to that and wondered if worrying about her bears was keeping Ella up just as much as her empty tummy. She didn’t need him to try and explain that bears didn’t think about things like favorites the way people did, she needed a solution that would settle her thoughts and leave her confident that everything was right in her world.

And he might have just the solution. “What if we make a big spinner and put all of the bears around it in a circle. Whichever bear the spinner points to is the bear you take to the party.”

She thought about that while she ate a couple berry pieces and grapes. “That’s fair,” she said at last. “But won’t the others be sad that they missed the party?”

Okay, he could see where she’d feel that way.

“Hmmmmm. What if we had a tea party here for all the bears,” he offered. “And we’ll let the bear who gets to go to the Daisy tea party host the party for the other bears, so no one misses out?”

“Ohh, can we? Can we? Can we?” she asked, eyes wide and no longer tear filled. She had the brightest smile on her little face, and Aaron felt a surge of pleasure at having said the right thing to put it there.

“Absolutely. We’ll even decorate and have little treats to go with our tea.”

“Can we pick wildflowers too?” She asked. “We can make crowns for the bears and put some in a vase in the middle of the table. They’ll match my flower tea set and be so pretty.”

“We sure can,” he assured her, already thinking about the big cardboard box he and Hawk had unpacked earlier that they hadn’t had the opportunity to cut up yet. If he did it carefully, he could make the spinner they needed.

“You’ll be here, right?” she asked.

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he told her. “I have to go home on Monday, but before I go, we’ll pick up the decorations and all the supplies we need and when I come back, we will have a teddy bear tea party of our own.”

“Yey!” she said, a little loud, but hopefully not loud enough to wake either of the other kids. He held his breath for a moment, expecting to hear little feet coming up the hall, but the house mercifully remained silent.

“Can we make a guest list and invitations for each of my bears?” she asked.

“We sure can, and afterwards, we can frame them with some of the pictures we take and hang it on your wall so you’ll always remember.”

“I’d really like that.”

“I’m looking forward to it to,” he admitted.

“Does that mean you’ll color invitations with me?”

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