Mom Cooked Only for Bella, So I Found My Real Mother novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Eighteen Boxes

Odette had cooked for two days.

The table in her dining room was too small for what was on it.

There was crawfish étouffée and a pot of red beans, dirty rice, fried okra, a whole tray of cayenne roasted potatoes, and a pan of pepper jelly cornbread.

Not one dish was sweet.

"Sit," Odette said, and pointed to the chair at the head.

"That's yours."

"It's the birthday chair."

"My birthday was in August."

"Your birthday was eighteen of them." She pulled the chair out herself. "Sit."

I sat.

Bella took the seat on my left, and Luke on my right.

Odette stood at the end of the table with a dish towel in both hands, and looked at the empty chair opposite hers.

"Donald," she said, toward the door.

My father stood in the hall with his hat in his hands.

He had been waiting there for ten minutes, because he did not think he was allowed to come in.

"Mrs. Landry. I only came to drive Bella."

"You came because your daughter asked you to."

"Yes."

"Then eat something."

"I don't think..."

"The table's not for you," Odette said. "The porch is. There's a plate out there on the swing. Take your time."

His eyes filled.

He nodded, and took the plate, and sat on the porch step with the screen door open behind him so he could hear us.

That was as close as Odette let him come.

It was more than I'd expected.

Then Odette brought the first box.

It was small, wrapped in yellowed paper, and it had a card in blue pen.

She set it in front of me.

"Happy birthday, my girl. You are one."

I untied the ribbon.

Inside lay a baby spoon with a tiny red pepper enamelled on the handle.

I laughed and my eyes stung at once.

"She was one," Odette said. "She didn't know she'd eat with it."

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