When Royce came out for breakfast, he sat beside Delilah, keeping his eyes on his plate as she tried to engage him in conversation. “What are you doing today, Royce?”
“Working with Dad in the shed.” He sipped his milk, giving her a quick glance as he put the glass down and picked up his spoon. “You can come down and watch if you want to later. I mean, after you’ve done everything else you have to do in the house.”
“Thanks, I’d like that. How about I come down before lunch? I should have most of the housework done by then.”
He grinned and nodded his head. “I can show you how to tag the lambs’ ears if you want. Bluey said I’m old enough to do that myself now.”
Delilah swallowed, looking up to meet Blake’s amused glance. “Um… that would be great. I can’t wait.”
By the time Blake and Bluey left the house to go down to the yards to work, Delilah had the kitchen tidy and headed for the kids rooms to put them in order. Lilly sat on the floor on a small woven mat, a sea of books surrounding her. She’d pulled the bedspread up haphazardly, and piled the pillow high with stuffed toys. “Thanks for making your bed, honey. You’re doing a great job.”
Lilly looked up and smiled. “What are we going to do today?” She leaned her elbows on her knees and waited for Del to speak.
Del sat on the edge of the bed and clasped her hands together on her lap. “What would you like to do this morning?”
“Can we make some play dough? Nobody wants to do that with me anymore.” Her soulful eyes locked onto Delilah’s, and Del felt that now all too familiar tug at her heart strings. This little lady knew exactly how to draw her in.
“Sure. Is that something you have here in your room?” A quick glance around showed an overfull book case and a huge toy box, but nothing resembling play dough caught her eye.
“You have to make it.” Lilly put her hand on Del’s knee and looked up, her head tilted to one side. “Don’t you know about play dough?”
“No…not really. Sorry.”
A tinkle of laughter filled the room. “Silly you. I can help you make it.” She pushed her books away, stood up, and held out her hand. “Dad won’t let me make it by myself and he is always too busy to help me.”
Delilah linked her fingers with the small ones reaching out to her. I can do this, I can. Her heart beat faster as the touch from the little motherless girl heated her skin. She allowed Lilly to lead her out to the kitchen.
“Do you have a packet to make this with?”
“A packet. What do you mean?” Lilly frowned.
“You know, a pre-mix kind of thing that you just add water to and bake.”
Blonde curls bobbed as she shook her head. “Nope. You have to make it yourself.”
“Fantastic.” So not prepared for this kind of thing. Think, Del, think. Got it, Google. She reached for her laptop sitting on the dining room sideboard and booted it up. “First things first, we need a recipe.” In the search bar she typed in “play dough” and waited.
“How many recipes could there possibly be?” She shook her head as they all came up. Confusion set in and she looked at Lilly. “Come here, chicken. You can choose one and we will attempt it.”
Lilly snuggled against Del’s body and watched as she scrolled through the pages.
“That one. It’s got pretty colors.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Del read out the ingredients for the play dough and Lilly hurried to help find them from the pantry. Once everything was on the kitchen table, Del read aloud the directions. “Does this sound right to you?”
Lilly nodded her head, looking eager to get involved. She was up on a chair, leaning on the table with a cheeky grin on her face.
“Right, let’s get started then.” Del looked under the kitchen counter for something to mix the ingredients in and pulled out a large but battered stainless bowl. Not sure if it would do the job, she shrugged her shoulders and put it on the table. Lilly jumped down and opened the kitchen drawer, rummaging around until she came up with a wooden spoon before climbing back up on her perch again. Her grin was infectious and Del pushed away her cooking ability doubts and measured out the salt.
Into the bowl it went and Lilly grabbed for it, pulling it closer to her chest. “Hang on there, love, we need to add more than that.” Del measured out the flour and added it too, before nodding at her small helper to mix it with her trusty wooden spoon. “Go for it now, and try not to get it all over the floor. Not sure I want to do a mop this morning. Seems like you and I have too much else that needs our attention to spend quality time on cleaning the floor.”
Lilly dipped her spoon into the mix and stirred, laughing when a small cloud of flour flicked out of the bowl and landed on the table. Del measured out the required amount of water and added a spoon of cooking oil before looking at the small baker’s pack of food coloring.
“Hmm, what color do you thing we should make?” She held them up for Lilly to choose.
“I want pink, please.”
Pink to match the happy glow on your cheeks. “How can I refuse when you say that so nicely?” Del opened the small bottle and let a few drops fall into the jug coloring the liquid. “Right, stir away while I add this and let’s see what happens.” She poured the liquid into the bowl and watched it all turn into a gluggy mess. Oh hell.
Lilly tried
