Chapter 29
Hearing all the talk in the room, and the laughter, Angel came running in to find out what she was missing, and Grace scooped her up in her arms as Adele exclaimed, "What a cute puppy!" going over to Grace and taking the puppy from her she said, "Oh, AJ, you know I have always wanted a puppy just like this! Thank you so much!"
The look on Grace's face warred between horrified and devastated at the sight of her Angel in Adele's arms. She had come to love Adele like a sister and couldn't deny her the puppy if she really wanted her. Seeing that Angel was licking Adele's face she said, "See, she already loves you," as a tear slides down her cheek.
"Adele, Angel is a present for Grace and not you," AJ said.
"Daughter, you should not torment Grace that way. You know she has such a giving heart that she was willing to give you her gift from AJ, that she already loves," replied Josephine.
Handing the puppy back to Grace, Adele said, "I'm sorry for teasing you, Grace. It's just the way we show affection in this family. No one just comes right out and says they love each other. Right, you big lug?" she pulled back and slugged AJ on the arm.
Looking at her as if he wanted to slug her back, but having been taught by his mother not to hit ladies AJ replied, "Well, it's easy to tell Grace that I love her because she's so loveable, but…" arching an eyebrow at Adele, "There has to be something loveable about a person before you say those things to them."
"Mom, AJ is being mean to me," Adele whined.
"And you deserved every minute of it young lady. Now you two quit your squabbling, and come to the table," ordered Josephine.
With everyone taking their place around the table, Josephine herself said the blessing. To AJ's surprise, Josephine placed two bowls of chili in front of him. "Mom, I can only eat one at a time. Why give me two?' he asked.
"We did something a little different with them, and wanted to see which one you liked best," smiled Josephine.
"So, I am supposed to be the guinea pig?" responded AJ.
"Well, you could just leave off the guinea and be right," Adele giggled.
As Josephine and Grace anxiously waited, AJ picked up his spoon and took a bite of chili from one of the bowls. "This is about what I expected canned chili to taste like. Is the other one, the one you did something to it? It looks different," said AJ.
Josephine and Grace shared a look, and Josephine just encouraged AJ to try the other one without telling him what the difference was. Dipping his spool into the second bowl he took a bite and a smile lit his face. "Mom, this one tastes just like your homemade chili," replied AJ as he took a second bite.
"See, I told you he'd know the difference," said Josephine to Grace.
Smiling Grace said, "Then it's a good thing you taught me how to make it," as she handed AJ a slice of cornbread and taking away the bowl of offending canned chili.
"Mom, that was a dirty trick you pulled," AJ complained. "It was hardly fair that I was the only one that had to eat the canned chili."
"Oh, like one spoon full could hurt you!" Adele taunted him.
Ignoring his sister and looking at Grace, AJ asked with a gentle smile, "So you really learned how to make mom's chili just for me?"
"No, I didn't learn it just for you, I already had a sample and I liked hers better, so I did it for both of us," Grace teased trying to get into the spirit of things.
When dinner was finished, Josephine told Adele that she would have to help with the dishes, so AJ and Grace could get to the movie. Grace was worried that she shouldn't leave Angel alone on her first night. "Would you mind watching over Angel for me, Adele, while we're gone?" asked Grace.
"Not at all! It'll give me a chance to play with her. I think that's a great name for her, by the way."
"AJ thought of it," smiled Grace as she took AJ's offered hand.
Grabbing up the car keys AJ suggested that they needed to get going so they didn't miss the previews. Taking Grace's arm he led her out to the car.
To be continued…..
