6. West
WEST
W est stood in his own kitchen doorway, feeling like he must have stepped into someone else’s house.
The waif of a girl he’d thought he was rescuing last night was smiling and helping his daughter make pancakes, looking as capable and comfortable in his kitchen as any member of his family might.
And his normally dead-serious four-year-old was howling with laughter and even more surprisingly, she was letting herself be called by a nickname.
“Are you making pancakes?” he asked stupidly, not sure what else to really say.
“I hope it’s okay,” Dulcie replied, her confident expression faltering a little. “You had all the ingredients…”
“It’s great ,” he told her. “I love pancakes.”
“I told you, Dulcie,” Elizabeth said triumphantly. “I told you Daddy loves pancakes. ”
“Guess you were right, Lilibet,” Dulcie told her. “Smart cookie.”
“No,” Elizabeth said. “Smart pancake.”
Then she barked out a nice loud laugh at her own joke.
Dulcie laughed too, and West couldn’t help noticing again how pretty she was. She also looked reassuringly more her age after a good night’s sleep.
An age which is still too young for you to notice that she’s pretty, he reminded himself.
But he also couldn’t help noting with a pang of satisfaction that she was wearing his apron. Though he wasn’t sure why he would feel any kind of way about her wearing his clothes.
She needs some clothes of her own.
That duffel bag of hers wasn’t nearly heavy enough to have good winter clothes in it. Right now, she was wearing a faded pair of worn-thin jeans and a top that might pass for a sweater down south, but would hardly keep her warm even indoors during a Vermont winter.
“I started some coffee,” she told him, nodding at the machine where a full pot sat waiting.
“Thanks,” he told her, meaning it. Some coffee would be just the thing to clear his head a little.
He poured himself a mug while she and Elizabeth poured the first of the pancake batter into a sizzling pan.
“It’s too little,” Elizabeth said.
“It’s not finished,” Dulcie told her. “We have to be patient.”
He headed over to the table, ignoring yesterday’s paper so he could watch his daughter interact with Dulcie.
“Here,” Dulcie said a moment later. “Look.”
“A heart ,” Elizabeth exclaimed. “You made a heart.”
“It takes an extra minute, but they’re fun to do,” Dulcie said, glancing up at West, as if to make sure that it was okay to take the extra time.
As if he had been planning to do anything for breakfast this morning but pour out two bowls of cereal. He nodded, offering her a gentle smile so she would know it was really okay.
“Do you want to flip it?” Dulcie asked Elizabeth.
“Me?” Elizabeth asked.
“Sure,” Dulcie said. “But you can’t be sad if you mess it up because everyone messes up their first one.”
“I don’t want it messed up,” Elizabeth said firmly.
West knew that tone, and it was resolute. People might think little girls Elizabeth’s age were sweet and eager-to-please. But Elizabeth had a spine of steel. While she was normally very pleasant, if she dug her heels in, it was basically impossible to move her.
He stayed put, but prepared himself to intervene.
“Okay,” Dulcie said lightly. “I’ll do the first one. But if I mess it up will you be mad at me?”
Elizabeth looked a little surprised, but she shook her head.
“And you won’t yell at me?” Dulcie went on.
“No,” Elizabeth said, her eyes wide. “I won’t yell.”
“Good,” Dulcie said. “Because it will still taste good even if it doesn’t look as pretty, right?”
“Right,” Elizabeth said.
“Okay, then, I’m ready,” Dulcie said, licking her lips in concentration. “First I’m going to wiggle the spatula around until it’s under the pancake, like this.”
Elizabeth watched, rapt.
“Then, I’m going to slide the whole thing around, to make sure I’ve really got it and it’s not stuck to the pan,” Dulcie said, demonstrating.
“It’s not stuck,” Elizabeth said excitedly.
“Now, I’m going to flip it,” Dulcie said. “And this is the tricky part, because I have to do it fast. But I don’t want to do it hard, or I’ll wind up with a pancake stuck to the ceiling.”
“The ceiling ?” Elizabeth asked.
Her tone was incredulous, but West could tell by the look in her eyes that part of her really, really hoped the pancake would stick to the ceiling.
“I’m telling you, it’s tricky,” Dulcie said, focusing on the spatula. “But if I do it right, it’s just a flip of the wrist.”
Naturally, she flipped the pancake over expertly. Elizabeth cheered, and West could only smile as he watched his daughter’s obvious glee.
“Me next,” Elizabeth said. “Me, me, me.”
“Are you sure, Lilibet?” Dulcie asked. “You won’t get mad if your first try doesn’t work?”
“It might go on the ceiling?” Elizabeth asked, her voice tinged with hope.
“If it did we’d have to stop and clean everything up,” Dulcie said carefully. “And then we wouldn’t get to eat our fancy pancakes. So hopefully whatever happens, it stays in the pan. But I know you can do that, so I’m not worried. ”
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said, nodding and not sounding too disappointed.
She watched while Dulcie poured in a bit more batter, and then a second bit to make the heart shape.
“Now?” Elizabeth asked.
“Not until we see tiny little bubbles all across it,” Dulcie told her.
All three of them waited, breathless, until Dulcie nodded.
“What will you do first?” she asked, as Elizabeth reached for the spatula.
“Put it under,” Elizabeth said.
“Right,” Dulcie told her. “Then what?”
“Flip it, ” Elizabeth yelled excitedly.
“Quickly, but gently,” Dulcie agreed, handing over the spatula.
West was on his feet without realizing he was going to get up. They all watched intently as Elizabeth shoved the spatula under the pancake.
Miraculously, she didn’t smush or wrinkle it, and he said a silent prayer of thanks to his parents for buying him a nice, non-stick pan as a wedding gift all those years ago.
“Amazing job,” Dulcie praised her. “Now flip it gently.”
“Don’t go on the ceiling,” Elizabeth advised the pancake sternly.
She moved to flip it gently. It didn’t flip all the way over, but it did stay in the pan.
“Oh, no ,” she moaned.
“That was great,” Dulcie told her. “Can I smooth it out for you?”
Elizabeth handed over the spatula and Dulcie managed to get the pancake more or less back in place.
“You did it,” Dulcie told Elizabeth excitedly. “You did it.”
“I did it, Daddy,” Elizabeth said, gazing up at West with shy pride.
“I can’t believe it,” West told her honestly. “You did such a good job.”
“I’ll make the rest,” Elizabeth decided. “You two set the table.”
“How about I pour and you flip?” Dulcie offered. “And then we can all set the table together.”
Elizabeth nodded graciously and the two of them got back to work.
West quietly moved to set the table himself. It was very pleasant hearing the two of them discuss pancake sizes and techniques while he grabbed plates, forks, and maple syrup. The radio was playing softly, and the sunlight was growing brighter outside, making the snowy fields sparkle.
“Here we go,” Dulcie told Elizabeth a few minutes later, as they slid the last pancake onto the platter. “You can make the announcement.”
“What announcement?” Elizabeth whispered back.
“ Breakfast is served,” Dulcie prompted her.
“Breakfast is served,” Elizabeth said proudly.
The two of them carried the platter over to the table and West smiled when he saw the stack of pink, rainbow sprinkle-filled, heart-shaped pancakes. They were all a little misshapen, but they looked perfectly cooked, and they smelled like heaven.
“Amazing,” he said. “I can’t believe this is my breakfast and that my daughter helped make it. I’m a lucky guy.”
Elizabeth laughed in delight and scrambled into her seat. She didn’t like to use her booster seat anymore, but she was still small, so he didn’t complain when she sat on her knees. Hopefully, Dulcie wouldn’t judge him for letting the little one put her elbows on the table.
In no time, they were all digging in.
“It tastes like princess pancakes,” Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling.
“Delicious,” West declared, meaning it.
“This syrup is amazing,” Dulcie said.
“It’s local,” West told her. “The Hayes family has been in Sugarville Grove forever. You can buy it right at the farm.”
Her eyes lit up, and he was tempted to take her over there immediately. He had to remind himself that he had other priorities for today.
“What did you have in mind for me to do today?” Dulcie asked, as if she had read his mind.
“Well, the first thing is to get you some warm clothing,” he told her. “We like to make sure all our farmhands and other workers are outfitted for the cold.”
She got a worried look on her face.
“The farm pays, of course,” he told her. “And it won’t be anything fancy. Just sturdy clothing that you can work in, even when it’s cold.”
He had practiced that in the mirror this morning before coming down. Though the girl was clearly desperate, he could see the pride and determination in her. If she smelled charity, she wouldn’t accept. He even had a place in mind to take her that would keep her from protesting too much.
“Fine,” she said, nodding and not meeting his eyes. “You can take it out of my pay.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he told her. “Anyway, I thought after breakfast, we could head into town and take care of that.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding again.
“I can come too,” Elizabeth said.
“Of course,” West told her. “Preschool is closed until after the holidays, and Mrs. Webster is going to her daughter’s doctor’s appointment today, so it’s a Daddy Day.”
“Daddy Day,” Elizabeth echoed happily.
Dulcie smiled at that, and West felt relieved that she wasn’t going to fight him.
It will be fun to show her the village, he couldn’t help thinking.
And he definitely did not think about how nice Dulcie might look in some new clothes.