Chapter 18 - The Second Plate
The following summer, the Montaros held another garden gathering.
Smaller.
No reporters.
No business partners.
No people invited merely because their names mattered.
Rafael almost canceled it.
Then Emmett made a request.
“I want cobbler.”
So they made one.
When the sun began setting, Emmett walked across the same terrace.
He was four now.
Still small.
Still serious when carrying food.
Rafael watched from nearby.
Lucille stood beneath the same trees.
Her elegant gown was simpler this time.
No crowd surrounded her.
Emmett approached.
“Grandma?”
Lucille looked down.
“Yes?”
“I made you something.”
Everyone became still.
Lucille looked at the plate.
Blackberry cobbler.
Her eyes filled with tears.
A year earlier she had kicked it away.
This time she lowered herself carefully until she was eye level with him.
“May I have some?”
Emmett smiled.
“It's for you.”
Lucille took the plate with both hands.
“Thank you.”
She tasted it.
Emmett waited anxiously.
“Well?”
Lucille swallowed.
“It is the best blackberry cobbler I've ever had.”
Emmett frowned suspiciously.
“Really?”
“No.”
Everyone stared.
Then Lucille smiled.
“Your first one probably would've been better.”
Emmett burst into laughter.
So did Rafael.
Even Sofia.
The sound traveled across the garden.
But there was still one unfinished matter.
After sunset, Sofia approached Rafael with an envelope.
“What is it?”
“Something I found inside Mom's recipe book.”
Rafael opened it.
May you like
The letter was addressed to:
THE CHILDREN WHO COME AFTER US.
