Chapter 52
'Which plate did you want to use for the mini-quiches?' Emily Ellis-Foster asked as Elizabeth made one of her runs through the kitchen.
'That one' El pointed. 'No, no, the other one' she corrected.
'Auntie Elizabeth!' Hope called out as she poked her head in through the back door 'Carmen wants to know how many place settings you want out here for the kids' table.'
'I'll take care of it' Yvonne said, with efficiency, as she dropped what she was doing and headed out to join Hope in the back.
The place was buzzing as everyone tended to their assigned tasks and despite the apparent chaos, Elizabeth Burke was on cloud nine. She loved catering special events and she especially loved the last few hours before everything finally came together – the time when things went from hectic to perfect. But above all else, she loved catering events for family and friends. Her standards were high and she knew that by the end of the evening, everyone would have had a great time and would be raving about how she'd outdone herself... once again.
The front door was heard opening and Peter appeared. He'd been hoping to make himself scarce; Elizabeth was always frazzled in the last few hours before the guests arrived and he wanted to avoid being drafted for some inane task like standing at the stovetop, stirring some sauce for the foreseeable future.
'Hey honey' he said nonchalantly as he took in the bedlam in his kitchen and living room.
Elizabeth was getting something out of the freezer, Emily was busy with the appetizers, Liam and Mozzie were fiddling with some streamers in the living room and he could see Hope and Cam in the backyard with Yvonne and a woman he'd never seen before.
'Hi hon' Elizabeth called out over her shoulder. 'You're just in time. I need you to keep an eye on the béchamel for me.'
Foiled again! Peter rolled his eyes – even he knew that was a sauce. He made his way to the kitchen as he greeted everyone, stopping to hug Emily whom he hadn't seen in a while and he walked over to the sink to wash his hands before he got started on sauce duty.
'Hey' El said as she made her way over, giving him a peck on the cheek. 'How did it go with Neal?'
'Fine. We're good, he doesn't have a clue' said Peter as he reached over and attempted to take a nibble from a nearby platter of hors d'oeuvres.
Elizabeth was quick to slap his hand away and Peter looked at her pleadingly as she finally reached for it herself, picking up a tasty morsel and placing it gingerly into his grateful mouth.
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Sara stepped into the house, relieved to hear silence. Hopefully Neal wasn't back from brunch yet and she'd manage to avoid the 'Caffrey inquisition'. Not that Neal was a control freak, far from it. He was just a very curious and observant man and nothing got past him – no doubt a throwback to his conman days when missing some small detail could end up costing him his life.
She walked towards the kitchen and just about jumped out of her skin when she heard him call out to her from the nearby family room.
'Hey! I wondered where you'd gotten to' he said from his spot on the couch.
He was half sitting, half lying there, looking a little worse for wear, most certainly not the tiger he'd been in bed the night before.
'You're home!' she called out, hoping for a successful deflection but, alas, that was not to be.
Neal sat up, eyes bleary. 'Where were you?'
'Just... doing a little bit of shopping' she lied, hoping that would be the end of that.
'What'd you buy?' Neal asked, a dog with a bone.
'Nothing. There were no good sales on' she replied as she walked over to him, figuring she needed to go with a different approach if she was going to manage to divert his attention to another topic.
She plopped herself down on the couch, smiling wanly, hoping she could distract him from his current line of questioning.
'Since when do you only buy things that are on sale?' he asked, teasing her.
She gave him the wifely eye roll and spotted June's portrait on the nearby easel.
'Oh, honey, you worked on the painting!' she said. 'It's really coming along.'
Neal fell for the deflection and turned his eyes towards the work in progress. He'd been working on it sporadically and he hadn't made much headway in the past week as he concentrated on his rehabilitation and the preparations for their anniversary dinner.
'So, what do you think?' he asked, asking for her take on it.
Sara didn't often get the chance to see Neal's works in progress. The studio was strictly his and Hope's domain and he tended to wait until a piece was finished before showing it to her for her critique.
'I think it's going to be gorgeous' she said as she put a hand on his back, rubbing gently.
Neal let himself fall back into her arms, his head nuzzled in the crook of her neck and he let out a small plaintive moan.
'I think there's a reason why 54-year-old men don't have sex three times in a twelve-hour period' he lamented as he put his arms around her waist to snuggle even closer.
Sara chuckled; she too was feeling the effects of all that vigorous lovemaking and she could only imagine how Neal must be feeling, considering he was still recovering from some very serious injuries.
'Well, it was fun while it lasted' she said, thinking back to the night before.
'I was fine until I got back from brunch and then it hit me like a ton of bricks' he said, his voice almost childlike, obviously fishing for a little TLC.
'Awww! Poor baby' she said in sympathy as she squeezed him tight.
'Did I remember to say thank you for last night?' she added as she lovingly ran her hand through his hair.
'Only about seventeen times...' Neal responded, laughing softly. 'I'm really glad you liked it Repo.'
They sat in silence for a few moments, just enjoying each other's presence. Sara was beginning to wonder if Neal had drifted off when he spoke up, his voice quiet.
'Hope and I worked things out yesterday. I gave her my blessing to stay behind and help with the gallery... and the new school' he said.
'I'm glad' Sara answered. 'It's going to be nice to have her around a little bit longer.'
'Now that school's out, she's going to work full time at the gallery and I've got her coming with me to visit two potential places for the art school next week.'
'Oh yeah? Where?'
'In Manhattan' Neal responded, mindlessly drawing circles on Sara's arm.
'Where do most of the referrals come from?' she asked, thinking of all the requests the gallery received to subsidize underprivileged families.
Neal thought for a second, then sat up, suddenly animated. 'Honey, you're a genius!' he exclaimed, out of the blue.
Although Sara was glad for the compliment, she had no idea what Neal was referring to. 'What are you talking about?'
'Why would we set up the school in Manhattan when it's so far away from the kids who'll be using it?' he reasoned. 'We should set up where the kids are.'
Once his aha moment had passed, he let himself fall back into Sara's arms and grew quiet again, no doubt thinking through what this would mean in terms of strategy. Once again, Sara was convinced Neal had fallen asleep and she was beginning to feel herself fade when he spoke again.
'Babe, why don't we just stay home tonight?' he said, curling up in his wife's arms. 'I'm sure Peter and El will understand if we cancel.'
Her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she tried to come up with a response that would not give away the fact that over twenty of their closest friends and family would be expecting them in less than four hours. She took a deep steadying breath so the panic wouldn't seep into her voice and when she finally spoke, her voice was calm and composed.
'Tell you what' she said, buying time. 'Why don't we have a nap and see how we feel? We can always cancel later.'
'Okay' he nodded, settling into her arms.
He looked up at her, a pout on his face. 'Are you going stay and sleep with me?'
They were both nice and comfy on the couch and Sara nodded as she let her head fall back, feigning fatigue. She had bought them a bit of time and her mind reeled as she thought of some of the tactics she might have to resort to in order to get Neal to agree to go to the Burkes.
Before she finished forming a single coherent thought, she heard Neal's soft snoring.
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'Carmen, this is amazing!' El said as she took in the look of their transformed backyard.
The kids' party lady had a real knack when it came to organizing children's parties and she'd set up a number of games for them to play and an eating area complete with a candy floss machine that El knew the kids would go crazy for.
'And you'll get them fed and keep them entertained through dinner?' Elizabeth asked.
'Until the guests are ready to leave' answered the young, energetic woman. 'Can we go over the ages once again?'
'Sure. We've got Beatrice - or Bibi - she's fifteen months old, Jonathan is six, Michael is four, Virginia is ten and Olivia is eleven... and then there's Mozzie...' Elizabeth added, pointing to the bespectacled man through the open door.
He was giggling like a two year old as he and Liam inhaled helium balloons and took turns singing Chipmunks songs.
'Oh, I see, an honorary kid' Carmen nodded knowingly.
El just laughed as she returned to the task of coordinating things in the kitchen. Just one more hour and the first guests would start to arrive.
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Sara slipped out of Neal's grasp and managed to settle him down on the couch without him waking up. The last week had been exhausting and apparently, it was finally catching up to him. She tiptoed up the stairs, taking in the remnants from the night before as she stepped into their bedroom: the empty bottle of champagne, the half burned candles, the unmade bed. She began to tidy up and within minutes, she was riffling through their closet to find their clothes for the dinner party.
Ever since she and El had concocted the plan for the party, she had been on the lookout for something special to wear. It was a fairly casual affair with kids invited so it was definitely not formal but she still wanted to look nice. She grabbed for the pretty little number she'd bought at Holt Renfrew's a few weeks back: a lovely knee length dress with a lace overlay. In some ways, it reminded her of the dress Neal had just bought for her as well as the dress she'd worn for their wedding all those years ago. She hadn't wanted to set off any alarm bells by getting Neal a new outfit so she looked through the many choices on his side of the closet, settling on a shirt with a muted hue of the same colour as her dress.
She went to his tie rack, finding the perfect matching tie which she planned to hide in her purse until they got there. He might become suspicious if she suggested he wear a tie to a casual dinner at the Burkes; she was going to have enough trouble as it was explaining her choice of dress. She lay everything out on the bed and made her way to the shower, hoping Neal was having a very restful sleep and would be in fine form for another great evening of celebration.
It was already five o'clock when she made her way downstairs, intent on checking on him. If she gave him too much of a hard sell, he might become suspicious so she simply sauntered into the room, hearing him stir as she walked by.
'Hey' he said, his voice sleepy as he lifted his head off the couch.
She walked over and stood in front of him, trying to gauge his state of mind.
'Feeling better?' she asked, holding her breath.
He frowned as he looked up at her, his eyes narrowing as things came into focus.
