Walker: Secrets

Chapter 15

'Oh something smells good!' Maddie exclaimed as she bounded into the kitchen, tossing her muddy gloves onto the bench. 'I am starved, it's freezing out there-'

'Maddie, gloves.' Abeline reprimanded as she reached for an oven mitt.

'Oops, sorry.' Quickly she picked them up and put them into the pocket of her coat. 'What have we got for breakfast?'

'Toast, bacon and eggs and-' She pulled a tray out of the oven.

Maddie's face lit up. 'Sticky buns! Can I have one now?'

'Why don't you wash your hands first?' Cordell suggested as he stepped around her to get to the cutlery drawer, the teen hanging her coat over the back of a chair. 'Can't you leave your coat in the laundry?'

'I got so distracted by the nice smell in here I forgot to take it off on my way in.'

'Coats belong in the laundry-'

'Alright, alright Dad.' She threw her hands up in surrender. 'I'll go take it there now. Just don't let Augie eat all the buns please.'

'Hey, I heard that.' August protested.

'Who ate them all last time? Hmmm?'

'They were just begging to be eaten-'

'Mmmhmmm.' Maddie picked up her coat and headed to the laundry, washing her hands while she was in there. After wiping them dry on a clean towel she hurried back to the kitchen. 'Grampa said not to wait breakfast for him.' She exclaimed upon her return. 'Right, what can I do?'

'You can take those plates to the table,' Abeline motioned to the stack on the bench. 'thanks Maddie.'

'No worries.'

'Hey, y'all want to see a magic trick?' August questioned, picking up a pen someone had left on the table.

'Yes.' Stella replied as she started setting out the plates Maddie had brought over.

'I can make this pen disappear. Close your eyes for ten seconds.'

Maddie laughed as August tossed the pen over his shoulder.

'That was great.' Stella shook her head with amusement. 'That was really great.'

'Thank you, thank you so much.'

'So do your classmates think you're funny?' Abeline questioned as she placed the sticky buns into a bowl.

'No.' August replied with a chuckle.

'You do crack me up, I don't know if you crack any one else up, but you crack me up.'

'Hey, that's what matters.' He joined them in the kitchen, motioning to the bowl Abeline had finished filling. 'I'll help you with this.'

'No, no, no. Not with your shoulder. Liam?'

'And I'll just help myself to one...' Maddie remarked as she took a bun from the bowl Liam was carrying to the table. 'Mmm...' She was about to take a bite when there was a loud crash in the dining room and she jumped at the noise.

'Oh, come on!' Cordell exclaimed angrily.

Stella started back to the kitchen. 'I'll grab another plate.'

'No, no, no, he's a big boy. He can do it himself.'

'It's a bowl, Cordell.' Liam replied, Abeline and August coming over to clean up the mess.

'Yeah, it's a bowl. It was a bowl.'

Maddie's heart slowed to its normal pace after a couple moments when she realised what had happened, confusion written in her expression as she glanced between her Dad and Uncle. 'It was an accident Dad... No need to get so upset about it.'