Chapter 42
A/N Cooking and the Woodshed
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Elizabeth came down the stairs looking for her Mom. "Mom," she called.
Suzanne was in her office and answered her. "In my office honey."
"Can I talk to you about something?" Lizzie asked.
"Sure Honey, what is it?" Suzanne asked.
"Well, Daddy's birthday is coming up in 3 weeks. I would like to make him a cake myself. Will you teach me how?" Lizzie asked.
"Of course, I have some work to finish and will be done in about an hour. Do you know what kind of cake you want to make? His favorite is chocolate, how does that sound?" Suzanne asked.
"That sounds awesome. Do we need to get the ingredients from the store?" Lizzie asked.
"Why don't you go into the kitchen and get my recipe box and we can look and see what ingredients we will need," Suzanne told her.
Lizzie raced into the kitchen and pulled down her Mom's recipe box. She thumbed through it until she found the chocolate cake recipe. She went to the pantry to check for ingredients. She didn't want to make it from a box so she needed quite a few ingredients.
Two hours later they returned from the store with all the ingredients. They were going to make a practice cake the next day so they could make sure it was perfect for the cake on the day.
Lizzie was very detail oriented and a math wiz so she was confident she could get the cake right. She knew from watching her Mom in the past that exact measurements were essential in baking.
Suzanne went to bed that night thinking about what a sweet gesture it was that Lizzie wanted to make Benjamin's birthday cake. She was such a thoughtful and considerate child, always putting others first.
Suzanne had about 3 hours of work to do and then she and Lizzie were going to make the practice cake for Benjamin.
"Lizzie, are you ready to bake?" Suzanne called to her up the stairs.
Lizzie came down the stairs all smiles.
"Okay let's get all the ingredients out and lay them out. The best way to go about this is make sure we have all the ingredients and then go from there," Suzanne told her.
The practice cake was a huge success. Lizzie had taken her Mom's instructions to the letter. She paid very close attention to all of her Mom's instructions and even took notes to make sure she got it all right.
Benjamin ate the cake after dinner that night and complemented the bakers on how good it was.
Three weeks later, the day of Benjamin's birthday. Lizzie was determined to make the cake on her own, so she waited until her Mom left for an appointment and she got all the ingredients out. She got all the ingredients incorporated and poured them into the pans. She had preheated the oven and slid the pans in. She would have a 45 minute wait so she decided to watch tv while she waited. She forgot one major step. Setting the timer on the oven.
An hour and a half later, Suzanne walked in to smoke in the house. She ran into the kitchen and found that the smoke was coming from the oven. She opened it and discovered what she thought was probably the remamnets of a chocolate cake. She took the pans out and went out the back door with them.
She walked back in and started looking for Lizzie. She figured out that Lizzie had decided to make the cake on her own. She found her asleep on the couch in the living room.
Crouching down she shook her arm. "Lizzie, wake up. You fell asleep and burned your cakes."
Lizzie jumped up and ran into the kitchen. She snatched open the oven door and found it empty, but smoke was still lingering in the kitchen. She sat down at the table and put her head in her hands and started crying. She knew she would be in trouble for making the cake on her own. She should not have done it, but she wanted to surprise her Mom and Dad.
"Young lady, what were you thinking? You could have burned down the house. I thought we agreed we would do this when I came home from my appointment? What do you have to say for yourself?" Suzanne asked her.
Lizzie raised her head and wiped her tears. "I wanted to do it on my own and surprise you both. I thought I could and if I hadn't fallen asleep, it would have worked."
Suzanne walked over and pulled her up from her chair and into her arms. She ran her hand down her hair and back. "Sweetheart, you are 13 years old. I understand you wanted it to be a surprise for you Dad, but it was dangerous. You have to promise me you will never do anything like this again. Stop trying to grow up so fast. Now let's get this mess cleaned up and make your Dad's cake."
Benjamin came home from work and could smell the lingering smoke in the kitchen when he entered it. He blew it off and would ask Suzanne about it later.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY", Will, Lizzie and Suzanne said as he entered the room. Lizzie was holding the cake and Suzanne lit the candles. Benjamin blew out the candles and hugged them all.
"Who made this wonderful looking cake?" he asked.
Suzanne pushed Lizzie forward towards her Dad. "It was a team effort, but it was Lizzie's idea."
Benjamin hugged her and kissed her on top of the head. "Thank you Baby girl, it looks delicious."
Lizzie hugged him back and said, "You are welcome Daddy, I just wanted to do something special for you and surprise you."
The cake was eaten after dinner and everyone declared it superb.
Later that night in bed, Suzanne was laid across Benjamin's chest trying to get her breathing to return to normal after "celebrating" his birthday. "Happy Birthday, my love."
Benjamin giggled and told her, "My favorite kind of present. I love you and I am so proud of Lizzie for coming up with the cake as my surprise."
"Yea, about that. I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want to ruin her surprise. I came home this afternoon to a house full of smoke. She decided to make the cake on her own. She fell asleep and burned the cake. I was proud of her attempt, but she went at it the wrong way. I am not sure what to do about it," she told him.
Benjamin listened to her telling him about Lizzie's misadventure. He was not entirely sure what they should do about it. Lizzie was always the easy child. Good grades, sports, math genius and always well behaved. This could not go without consequences though.
"What do you think her punishment should be?" she asked.
"I am not sure, let me sleep on it and we will discuss it in the morning. Are you up for another round or are you tired?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
She rolled over on top of him and leaned down to take his lips in a deep kiss answering his question.
The next morning Benjamin walked into the kitchen and sat down for breakfast. Will had already eaten and was playing one of his video games. Lizzie and Suzanne were still eating.
"Lizzie, I want you to meet me in the barn after breakfast. Change into barn clothes, not riding clothes," Benjamin told her. He looked at Suzanne and she nodded her head.
"What are we going to do in the barn Daddy?" she asked.
"You will see when we get out there," he told her.
Lizzie finished eating and put her dishes in the sink. She walked upstairs still unsure what her Dad had in mind for her.
"What do you have in mind for her?" Suzanne asked him.
"I think spending a Saturday mucking out the stalls should be enough punishment for her to not repeat her error in judgment from yesterday," he explained to her.
Suzanne nodded her head in agreement and got up to clean up the breakfast dishes.
Benjamin met Lizzie in the barn. He and Billy moved the horses to the round pen and the corral.
"Daddy, I am here, now what?" she asked.
He walked her over to sit down on a hay bale. "Honey, your Mom told me about your lapse in judgment yesterday. I appreciate the fact that you wanted to give me a surprise, but the way you went about it was not good. You will muck out all the stalls and put in new hay. I hope this will teach you a lesson and you will not make that mistake again. I love you and this hurts me too," he told her.
She shook her head and went about doing her work. She worked until lunchtime and then went into the house. She washed her hands and joined her family at the table.
The silence was deafening, even Will was not his usual smart mouth self. He realized now was not the time to spout off.
Lizzie finished her lunch and put her dishes in the kitchen. She walked back through the dining room to go back to work out at the barn. She reached the door and looked back at her parents. She was ashamed of her actions and it hurt her that her parents were disappointed in her. Their love for her was foremost to her. She would do whatever she had to do to make them proud of her again. Starting with finishing her punishment chores without complaint.
The next day she went in search of her Daddy. She found him in his home office. "Daddy, can I talk to you?"
"Sure sweetheart, come in," he told her.
"Daddy, I am sorry for my lapse in judgment on Friday. I was only trying to surprise you. I have learned from my mistake and I promise you I will not do anything like that again," she said with tears in her eyes.
Benjamin walked over to her and squatted down in front of her. He took her hands in his and placed a kiss on them. "Lizzie, I appreciate you owning up to your mistake and taking your punishment like an adult. The thing is though you are not an adult. You are just 13, don't grow on me too soon. Enjoy being a kid while you can. I love you Lizzie and nothing will ever change that," he told her as he wiped tears from her eyes.
He pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her squeezing her tightly. He pulled back and placed a kiss on her forehead. She stepped back into his embrace and hugged him back placing her head on his chest.
Benjamin had tears in his eyes. Where has my little baby girl gone? She is growing up way too quickly, he didn't like it. He thought to himself.
He kissed her on the forehead again and she turned and left the office. She needed to find her Mom and apologize to her too. She pulled on her boots and headed for the barn.
She found Suzanne in Blaze's stall brushing him down. "Mom, are you busy?"
"No, just giving Blaze some TLC. I have been really busy lately and have been neglecting him. What is up?" Suzanne asked.
"I talked to Daddy early and I wanted to talk to you also. I know I really messed up Friday and I wanted to sincerely apologize to you too. I already said I just wanted to do it on my own and it to be a surprise. I also realize I did it the wrong way. I just want you and Daddy to be proud of me and I know that I disappointed you. I am truly sorry and I will not do anything like that again," she told her.
"Sweetheart, I appreciate you accepting responsibility for your error and I hope you learn a lesson from this. All is forgiven. You want to go riding?" Suzanne asked her.
Lizzie nodded and walked over to get Buttercup tacked up and ready to ride. They rode out of the barn.
Lizzie still had a lot of making up and regaining her parents' trust, but she would work hard on that.