67

Ton knew.

Ben had overheard and rushed for the phone before Curtis had closed the door and by the time she got there he was steaming mad, slamming things about in a rare display of anger. Angel had soon worked out what was wrong and was upset too, her invite sitting there where the child had slid it that morning before school.

Seri entered the cake store and slowed as she saw Mel sitting at the counter like she was waiting for someone, her usual smile missing. She sighed as she saw Seri "You better come on and take a seat. Ton is a little annoyed with the way Maisey was left out of the party he is making a cake for."

"WAS!"

"Ton. You know you would never deny a little one a cake. Especially for a birthday party, even if you are upset about this" Mel sighed as she turned to face her annoyed business partner "come on. You know you will forgive her."

"Mel is right, Cherub" Angel said, the new nickname she was trying out for the day being used "How can we teach her to be a better person if we act the same?"

"Right. Yes. OK, you are right" Ton sighed "I did do the cake already. I was not going to add the horse on that she wanted. Might bite its head off."

"Ton! How unlike you to be mean!" Angel gasped then laughed, her head falling back as her booming laugh filled the store "A headless horse."

"Well … OK. I would never REALLY do that to a cake. Not the cake's fault" Ton agreed, reluctantly grinning back at the love of his life. She was so pretty ya know. "But I am not happy about this. Missy Moo is important to our family, I thought to everyone. I am hurt for her. Here, this is the cake and she is lucky I respect cake even if she does not respect my family!"

"Oh dear" she sighed as she glanced at Mel "I had no idea she had done this and am mortified. I didn't raise her to do this."

"Well … it's her birthday so … it would be mean to take it away from her but maybe she needs to see it from Maisey's side? She doesn't want to be a Mean Girl right?" Mel said gently, reaching out to comfort the poor mother "a lesson could be learned here, not a punishment. I suggest you talk it over with Ianto. He will help guide you through this. He is our Child Whisperer after all."

"Yes, you are right. She needs to see what she did, needs to understand. Yes, I will talk to him. I just feel so… embarrassed." She nodded rising to go do just that.

Bite the bullet.