Page 85 of Broken Chorus

“Really, baby girl?” Hawk remarked, a surge of pride shooting through him.

“Uh-huh!”

“And where do you want to go?”

“Everywhere!”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh, and then I’m gonna write all about them, just like you do.”

Hawk chuckled at that and beamed across the circle at her seated happily between two of her bears.

“I can’t wait to read all about your journeys.” He told her.

“Can I sing for everyone? Pretty please?” She asked, gazing up at him adoringly.

Before Hawk could say anything, not that he’d have told her no, Micah nodded as did several of the others, all of them happy to indulge her. Of course, Aaron, being Aaron, didn’t even wait for that, he just encouraged her to go ahead, so Ella sang the On Top of Spaghetti song she’d no doubt learned in class, which got cheers and laughter from the crowd. When she launched into B-I-N-G-O they all joined her.

“Ohhh, I know perfect song!” Dani declared. “Sing bear hunt! We gotta sing bear hunt with all the teddy bears!”

“Bear hunt it is,” Hawk declared, doing the growly intro and asking everyone if they were afraid.

“I’m not afraid!” Liam, Declan, Ella, Dani and Aaron declared.

Then Aaron started tapping a clumsy beat on one of the silver domes, until Declan took over, clearly remembering the song too, and tapping out the beat properly.

Kelly, Cade and Micah caught on soon after that they were supposed to repeat the words Hawk sang, and before long they were all in time with one another and clapping along with the beat until the song came to its excitedly fast paced finale, followed by a long phew from everyone upon reaching the house safe from the imaginary bear they’d encountered.

“Yey, yey, yey,” Dani said. She’d been dancing her Narwhal in her lap the entire time.

All of them were flushed and laughing and more than ready to sip a little tea, finish off their sandwiches and see what other surprises Ella had in store for them. It turned out she had fruit cups filled with strawberries and kiwi slices, dotted liberally with a creamy mango cream cheese sauce and the most adorable chocolate, fruit and sprinkle topped fairy cakes to round things off.

Hawk found himself feeling absolutely stuffed and content by the end, and leaned back, his hand brushing Aaron’s, their fingers entwined as they reclined there, while Dani leaned overand was painstakingly adding extra sprinkles to two fairy cakes. She had a big grin on her little face when she was done, too, but instead of eating them, she glanced over at Aaron who gave her a little nod and motioned with his hands to her.

In her puffy pink dress and glittery pink wings, she stood, carefully picked up the plate and carried it around the table to where Declan sat, a look of pleased astonishment crossing his face when she approached him and proudly sat the plate on his table.

“You your own tea party,” she said as she said it down. “Can I have snack with you?”

“Absolutely,” he said, grinning as she slid one fairy cake off the plate onto his, before standing across his table, which was the perfect height for her to join him. Hawk took several photos of them together to add to the ones he’d taken throughout the event, which as far as he was concerned, was a monumental success on every level.

By the time they’d consumed the last of their treats, the kids looked sleepy eyed and ready for nap time, as did several of the adults.

“And as we bring the tea party portion of our afternoon to an end, we’d like to invite everyone to scoop up the bears closest to them and come on inside for movie time in our super stellar pillow fort where napping is optional,” Aaron announced.

“All this and a movie too, awesome!” Cade declared. “So that’s why the invitation said to bring a comfortable change of clothes along.”

“Yup!” Aaron replied.

“Way to play it all close to the vest,” Hawk said as he stood and helped Aaron up.

“Hey, surprises are fun at any age,” Micah said. “Today was awesome.”

“Seriously,” Cade remarked.

The only one who hadn’t said anything was Declan, who looked a bit apprehensive about the idea. Hawk was about to ask what was up, when Aaron leaned over and had a few whispered words with Cade.

“We can have you out of that in no time, bro,” Cade assured him.

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