Chapter Ten
Mike Delfino had failed to warn his wife about what was to come. Something she didn't want to happen because the person that was arriving drove her absolutely insane. However when she arrived it was something that Susan wasn't happy about. "Adele...what a pleasant surprise..." Susan lied as she saw her mother-in-law come out of the taxi. "Now I told you to call me mama Susan." Adele told her. "Of course...mama..." Susan said reluctantly. "Hey there mama." Mike said to her. "Oh and there's my favorite grandson!" Adele told MJ. "You've gotten so big!" she added as she hugged them all. "We have a neighborhood Christmas party to get to, so let's get your things inside, because I have someone I want you to meet." Mike told her. They helped her with her bags and then went over to the neighborhood party.
Lucy had brought Midna with her in case she had a seizure and no one was paying attention. The singing wouldn't start for a while so Lucy and Midna walked around looking at everything. It seems the food was a big hit. Lucy tried to keep herself calm, but there were so many men and avoiding them was starting to get to be difficult. "So who is this person you want me to meet Michael?" Adele asked him. Mike looked around until he spotted a young redheaded girl in a female Santa outfit wearing a red cap. She was sitting at a table and drawing on her iPaid. "Hey Lucy." Mike said to her, but she was clearly not listening. He saw the earbuds in her ears and gently tapped on her shoulder. Lucy jumped a bit before pausing her music and removing the earbuds.
"Oh hey." Lucy said to him. "Wait, who's this?" Mike asked as he looked at Midna. "Oh that's right, you've never met Midna, you've just heard her bark. Midna is my service dog." Lucy said to him. "Oh she's beautiful, you know I had a German Shepard before, his name was Bongo." Mike told her. "Oh cool." Lucy said with a smile. "Oh, I wanted you to meet someone." he said as he brought his mother forward. "Mama, I want you to meet Lucy. Lucy, this is your grandmother." Mike said as he introduced them. "Oh Michael, she's beautiful...but you and Susan don't have red hair." Adele said. "That's because she's my daughter." Katherine chimed in.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Adele told them. "Do you remember thirteen years ago when Katherine and I were still together, before I remarried Susan?" Mike asked her. "Yes, but I never met her." Adele said. "I got her pregnant, she didn't know until she went to Vegas on a trip where she had Lucy, but Lucy was kidnapped right out of the hospital, and she didn't find Lucy until just last week." Mike explained. He wasn't going to go into everything that Lucy had been through, at least not until they had a private moment alone. "Well, she's beautiful. And her eyes, they're so interesting, one looks like Katherine's and the other looks like yours. And that beautiful red hair and those cute freckles." Adele complimented. "Oh ummm thank you ma'am." Lucy said to her politely.
"Ma'am? Call me grandma." Adele said to her. Lucy became quiet. "I-I'm sorry...but I can't do that...if you'll excuse me please." Lucy said as she grabbed her things as well as Midna and took off. "Lulu!" Katherine called out. "What's wrong with her?" Adele asked them. "Oh well...it's just that the people who took her...well she was later taken in by her mother-in-law, and they were quite close...she died about three months ago from cancer...so she's probably not comfortable with calling anyone that." Katherine explained to her. "Oh I see..." Adele told her. "I should probably go after Lulu, please excuse me." Katherine said before leaving to check on Lucy.
Lucy started to walk back, visibly upset, this was just a reminder that this would be the first Christmas without her grandmother. Lucy wiped her eyes with her hand before hearing something she never expected to hear. "Oh my god Rachel?" a voice said. Lucy looked up and saw someone she wasn't expecting to see. "Will?" Lucy asked. She ran over to Will and he gave her a hug. This boy was the only one she could trust. He was her best friend. She didn't trust him at first, but he had intimidated Marina in the past who was trying to get her to go with her. Why was he intimidating? Well Will was six foot five inches tall, and only thirteen years old. He looked extremely intimidating because of that, even though Will was actually harmless.
"Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked him. "I could ask the same of you, but we just moved here yesterday." he said to her. "No way! We're going to be neighbors?" she laughed. "Neighbors? Does that mean your Aunt and Uncle moved here too?" Will asked her. "Well no, it's a long story." Lucy said to him. "I've got time." Will told her. "Okay well for starters my real name is Lucy Mayfair." she started. "Wait...what do you mean your real name?" Will asked her curiously. "Well that woman...she wasn't my mother. She actually kidnapped me straight from the hospital. My real mom has been looking for me for a very long time." Lucy explained to him.
"Wait so you were kidnapped as a newborn? Wait...so..." Will started. "Lulu, there you are. Are you okay?" Katherine asked her. "No way...you're the woman from Rach...I mean Lucy's drawings. So that was an actual memory of yours?" Will asked her. "Yeah...oh I should introduce you. Will this is my mom." Lucy smiled at her. "Mom, this is my best friend Will, he and his family actually just moved here." Lucy told her. "Will is one of the exceptions to the rule." she added. "Well Will, it's a pleasure to meet you. Funny I didn't see you in Idaho." Katherine said to him with a smile. "Oh well that's because I'm from Vegas, I haven't seen your daughter in several months." Will said to her.
Mike too was curious about his daughter and the fact that she took off seeming to be upset. "Hey Lucy are you okay? I'm so sorry that Mama upset you." Mike said to her. He then noticed the boy, someone Lucy wasn't afraid of. "Oh you must be the new neighbor boy...you aren't afraid of him Lucy?" Mike asked as he looked at the boy. "Oh I should introduce you as well. This is Will, he's my best friend from Vegas, one of the few guys that I'm not afraid of. Will this is my dad." Lucy said to him. "Wow, you aren't afraid of him Lucy, and you just met him right?" Will asked her. "Well, as I said it's a long story, I'll tell you later." Lucy told him. "You know, I thought I tasted your cupcakes, I knew they were yours from the first bite. Which I thought was weird, until I saw you." Will told her.
"Where are your parents?" Lucy asked him as she looked around for them. "My mom is over by the cupcakes, my dad is chatting with one of the neighbors." Will told her. "Lucy, it's almost time." Bree said to her. "Oh, alright, I gotta go Will, we'll talk later okay?" Lucy asked him. "Here sweetheart, let me take your backpack and Midna for you." Katherine said to her. Lucy handed over the backpack with her iPad, earbuds, and iPhone and the leash to her mother. "Thanks mom." she said as she kissed her cheek. "Break a leg Lucy!" Mike told her. "Lucy is going to be singing Christmas carols." Mike told Will. "Wow, you guys actually got her to sing. I'm impressed, she usually doesn't sing in front of crowds." Will laughed. "Yeah, why is that bad?" Mike asked him. "No, it's just Lucy has terrible stage fright." Will told them.
"I'd better go watch to make sure she doesn't have a panic attack or an asthma attack. It was nice meeting you Will." Katherine said to him before taking Lucy's things and leaving. Katherine walked over towards the stage where Lucy was standing and sat down to watch her. She smiled at her daughter who was getting ready to sing, she couldn't wait to hear it either, she had heard that her daughter had an amazing voice. Lucy stood up there nervously trying to not have a panic attack. Once they started Lucy started to calm down. They started with Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, which was one of the few songs Lucy actually liked Christmas wise. Her voice stood out from the many voices on the stage, it was magical. Katherine knew Lucy was talented, but this was amazing.
Lucy had only agreed to do a couple of songs because she knew she would be a nervous wreck, and once her songs were over she got off the stage and finally started to breathe normally. "Lulu! You were fantastic!" Katherine said as she hugged her. "Thanks mom. I thought I was going to throw up though." Lucy admitted. Even though Katherine had only known her daughter a week she loved her with all of her heart. She was the sweetest, and kindest girl, always thinking of others first. She was sort of happy about what happened when Lucy was kidnapped again, but only because Lucy had called her mom and started to feel more comfortable around her.
Katherine had hoped that they would be close, Dylan wasn't that close to her, but Lucy actually loved spending time with her. And Katherine adored spending time with Lucy, getting to know her and just being around her, it made her so happy to have someone in the house again so that she wasn't so lonely. Katherine remembered after Lucy was taken that she was so depressed, refusing to even get out of bed, not eating, not taking care of herself. Her work performance tanked because she was never there. Bree pulled her out of it. She felt as if she had owed Katherine for when she did the same thing after Orson went to prison.
Katherine's depression had been much worse, she hadn't eaten over a week and was severely dehydrated. Yet she never told Bree why she was depressed, but after Bree met Lucy she knew. She knew exactly why Katherine hadn't left bed in so long. Losing the only thing that brought her joy, and being so alone because of it must have torn her apart, especially after losing the love of her life. Katherine thought for a moment, thinking about the past some more. "Hey mom, are you alright?" Lucy asked her. "I'm fine Lulu, I was just thinking about something." Katherine told her with a smile. "About what?" Lucy asked her. "About you." she said, still smiling at her daughter.
The next day was Christmas Eve and Lucy couldn't wait until the day after that for Christmas. Not because of presents for herself, no, Lucy wanted to give her mother her present. She would go over to her father's house later to give them theirs, she would only drop them off, ring the doorbell and run. She didn't want to interrupt their Christmas after all. She would be like a ninja, they deserved to be alone for Christmas, Lucy felt guilty for even existing, thinking she ruined her father's relationship with his wife for even being born. She had even prepared a dinner for them for Christmas day and Christmas Eve that she would deliver too because she knew Mrs. Delfino couldn't cook well and she seemed to love her cooking with her mother. However that was the extent of what she would do.
While her mother was at work, Lucy prepared the dinner for the Delfino's and took it over there. She would have another dinner for them tomorrow. She finished placing everything in containers that she had picked up at the store and walked across the street to deliver it. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Luckily Susan was the only one home like she had promised. "Hey Lucy, oh good you brought the dinner, thank you so much. You have no idea how badly I needed this." Susan said as she invited her in. "It's no trouble at all, I love cooking...and baking really." she said. Lucy looked around, she had never been in their house before. She saw all the art on the walls after placing the food on the counter. "Wow, these are really nice." she said, pointing to a picture of a beach.
"Oh thanks, I painted that myself." Susan told her. "Oh yeah, Mrs. Scavo said you were an artist." Lucy said to her. "Oh really? And what exactly did Lynette say?" Susan asked, hoping it wasn't insulting. "Just that you were a children's book illustrator." Lucy told her. "Is that all?" Susan asked. "Yeah, I mean I had to look you up afterwards to see what books you had done, and I used to read them all the time as a kid. I always loved your art." Lucy complimented her. "Oh well thank you Lucy." Susan told her. "I'd better go, I promised Mrs. Weston I would help out in the test kitchen with the cakes. See you later! I'll bring you another dinner tomorrow!" Lucy said as she left. "She's such a sweet girl." Susan said to herself before putting the food away.
Lucy ran over to Bree's and came into the test kitchen. "Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Delfino was showing me her painting." Lucy said as she put on an apron and washed her hands. "It's alright Lucy." Bree told her. "Where's mom?" Lucy asked, not seeing her anywhere. "She had to run to the store, she'll be right back." Bree said. "So where are these cakes you needed decorated?" Lucy asked, eager to start. "I'll go get one of them." she told Lucy. When Bree came back with the cake she set it down. They already had the base frosting on them. "Okay, what was the decoration you had in mind?" Lucy asked her. "Oh well we already have them drawn out." Bree said as she handed her the sketches. Lucy examined the first one, which was for this cake. After taking a second to memorize the details, Lucy started to decorate the cake. This one had roses, cascading down the sides of the cake.
She had taken her time to make sure every rose was perfect including the vines and leaves. She had placed her earbuds in so that she could listen to music while she worked, it always helped her calm down when she didn't want to mess up. Once the first cake was done she started working on the second, following the design of that cake as well. The second one was a more advanced cake, her specialty a geode cake. Lucy made the sugar, examining the candy thermometer while she did so. She then took out the clean molds and poured the melted sugar into the molds to let them harden, adding food coloring whenever necessary.
She had decorated the cake with a teal color, like they wanted and added edible gold to the sides of the geodes that she would later place it in. Bree examined her process, she had never made a geode cake before, but knew that Lucy had, she had seen the episode where Lucy had made it on the Kids Baking Championships. Once the sugar had cured Lucy applied them to the cake and made the final adjustments. Bree tapped on Lucy's shoulder as she examined the cake. Lucy paused her music and took out her earbuds. "Lucy that is gorgeous. I know this is your specialty, thank you for doing this for me." Bree told her. "You're welcome Mrs. Weston." Lucy said proudly. "Oh did I miss the geode cake?" her mother asked. "Yeah sorry mom, I'll teach you how it's made next time okay?" Lucy said as she kissed her mother's cheek. "It really does look fantastic though." Katherine complimented her. "Thanks mom." Lucy grinned.
"Actually Lucy, we just got a request for a second geode cake in a galaxy color scheme. Why don't you two work on it together? Luckily we have another triple teared cake base already made." Bree told her. "Oh sure. Okay mom let's start on the crystals as they need time to harden." Lucy said, Bree had already cleaned the molds and pans for them. "Okay so first we need to make the sugar for the molds." Lucy added. Lucy premeasured the sugar and told her mother how much she was adding for each geode. Since they were doing a gradient geode they would need to make three pots of sugar made up and to add food coloring to each. Katherine already knew how to do the sugar and they both worked on it together. "So Lulu, what's your favorite kind of cake?" her mother asked her. "Marble cake with a whipped cream frosting." Lucy told her. "Oooh I like those too." Katherine replied.
The both of them chatted the entire time with Bree occasionally chiming in. Bree could tell how happy Katherine had been when she spent time with Lucy. However the only person that knew Lucy was hiding something was Lynette, she couldn't tell her mother or father, they both worked so hard, she didn't think they would be jealous, but it might make them feel bad to know how much money Lucy truly had and how she earned it. Once the sugar had finished heating up they added the food coloring, careful to not allow any bubbles and then slowly poured it into the molds. Lucy had also made enough to add some sugar crystals coming out of the top corner. "Alright while these are hardening let's work on the cake. We'll start with the fondant. Since we are going with a galaxy theme we need to make sure to add magenta, purple, and teal. So I'll show you how to do it." Lucy said as she grabbed the fondant and the pasta machine. She carefully added the colors and rolled out the fondant. "Why don't you give it a go Mom?" Lucy said to her as she let her finish up. Once Katherine had finished they carefully applied the fondant to the cake,making sure to leave room for the cutout parts. "Now it's time for the next step." Lucy said.
"Can you grab the edible gold for me mom?" Lucy asked her. "Sure thing Lulu." Katherine said with a smile as she went to grab the edible gold. "We should work on cutting out pieces of the cake to place the sugar crystals in. Here let me show you." Lucy replied once her mother had come back. She carefully started carving out the cake exactly to match the crystals. "Okay you try the next layer. I'll be right here." she said as she handed her mother the tool. Katherine started to carve out the cake to fit the next geode. "You're doing great." Lucy told her. Bree watched her make the cake as well. "Would you mind if I did the final layer?" Bree asked. "Oh, not at all, I'm all for teaching anyone how to do this." Lucy smiled.
Once Katherine had finished it was Bree's turn. She made sure to follow exactly what Lucy and Katherine had done and once she was finished she smiled. "Great job. Now we add the edible gold around the edges, you want to make sure some of it goes underneath where the crystals would go so it looks authentic. You also want it to look seamless and blend it in well. So we use these brushes to help it blend. I'll show you how to do it for the first layer, then you guys can work on the next two. Mom you take the middle, and Mrs. Weston you take the bottom. I will take the top." Lucy informed them as she showed them how meticulous you had to be to get it to blend well and not show any of the edges. "Now you want to do this very lightly so that you don't indent the cake." Lucy said as she carefully applied and blended in the gold leaf. Once she was finished she let her mother have a go at it. She too did exactly what Lucy had done, then when her layer was done she handed everything over to Bree.
"Great job guys, it looks perfect. Now in order to get the crystals to stick we are going to need some sort of frosting. Mrs. Weston can you grab some white frosting for us please?" Lucy asked her. "Sure thing Lucy." she said as she grabbed the white frosting. "Alright now we are going to apply it to the cake, not too thin, but not too thick either, like so." she said as she applied the frosting. She then let her mother and Bree apply it as well to their individual layers. "Okay perfect. The crystals should be cooled and hardened by now, let's go get them." Lucy said as they each grabbed the crystals and carefully applied them to each layer. "Alright it's finished now. We just have to let the cake cool in the fridge to harden it up so that the crystals won't move." Lucy told them. Bree quickly put away the cake and they were finally finished.
"Alright great job! See, it may be a long process, but it's worth it. Thanks for your help!" Lucy said with a smile. "Thank you for teaching us this Lulu." Katherine said to her as she kissed her cheek and gave her a hug. "You're welcome." Lucy smiled. Once they had cleaned everything up, Katherine and Lucy went home for the day to eat dinner and go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day after all.