Page 39 of Sugarplum Dreams
He supposed this was his new reality. Children staring at him from the time he woke up in the morning until the time he went to bed at night, and always wanting to do something with him. Which, honestly, he didn’t mind at all. It reminded him of his childhood. He’d always wanted to spend more time with his dadand hadn’t had a chance, and now it was his turn to be the dad. He was looking forward to it. Except, he did want to have some time alone with his wife. Although, maybe that was not a wise thing either. Not if he was going to spend the next year courting her. They probably should be chaperoned by the children, and that would ensure that his behavior stayed within bounds.
Built-in chaperones. Nice.
“You guys want some breakfast?” he asked as he sat up and considered standing. He was a little bit sore, not being used to sleeping on the couch, and it sagged a good bit in the middle, but it was just until they got moved into his house.
“Yay! Let’s have pancakes!” Lavinia said sweetly, slipping her hand into his as he stood to his feet.
“All right. Pancakes it is. As long as I can find the ingredients,” he amended as he slipped out from behind the coffee table. “You guys are going to have to let me use the restroom first, and then we’ll see if we’ve got the ingredients for pancakes, okay?”
“All right! I’ll tell Mom you’re up,” Banks said, running to the bottom of the stairs before Wilson could stop him.
“Hold up. If your mom isn’t up, why don’t we let her sleep in a little bit today. She’s probably extra tired because Christmas is extra busy for moms.”
“Okay. But we’ll give her pancakes, won’t we?”
“We’ll make special pancakes just for her, if she’s down before we’re done.” Wilson had a feeling that all the noise downstairs would definitely be waking her up, but maybe she really was tired and wouldn’t be up for a while.
He hardly imagined that a mom would have the luxury of sleeping in much, and he wished he could give that to her. But he wasn’t sure he could go up and get Serafina and Evans up by himself.
Although Gifford could probably help him. But he promised pancakes, so he probably ought to do that.
The kids were waiting for him when he made his way to the kitchen.
“Pancakes are everybody’s favorite,” Lavinia said as he opened up the cupboard doors, looking for flour.
He was a little bit aghast at how bare the cupboards were. How was she feeding five children three times a day with cupboards that were mostly full of air?
They’d had a big Christmas meal the day before, but the Secret Saint had made sure that they were stocked up on all things necessary to provide that meal. He had been behind all that.
Would Charity be upset about that if she found out?
He hardly thought she would, but there was also no reason for her to find out, either.
“Can I help? Mom always lets me help!” Banks said as he finally found the flour, sugar, and salt and set them down on the table.
“I was hoping you would,” he said, smiling at Banks. Gifford stood back, watching.
“I thought you were going to help too,” Wilson said, nodding at Gifford.
“Mom lets me pour the batter on the hot griddle sometimes.”
“All right. That’ll be your job. Can you get the griddle out?” He looked around, unable to even see where the griddle might be.
“Mom keeps it over here, because there’s not much room in the kitchen. She says our kitchen is the size of a postage stamp.” Gifford spoke as he walked over to the couch and pulled the griddle out from underneath it.
He’d never seen anyone store their griddle under the couch before, but…he supposed when a person had five children, they had to get creative when they lived in a small house.
He shook his head, smiling.
“Don’t you need a recipe?” Banks asked as he started to measure flour in a bowl.
“I have it in my head,” he said, grinning at their wide eyes.
“Mom always uses a recipe.”
“That’s probably because she has so much information about all of her children in her head that she doesn’t have room for recipes,” Wilson postulated. “Or maybe, she just hasn’t made pancakes as much as I have.”
“They’re only for special occasions, because Mom says it takes too long to get five kids ready in the morning, and so she makes things that don’t take as much time.”
