Chapter 736

• The aroma of food filled the kitchen as I moved around, ably aided by Camille and the women who worked with me. Old Beatrice sat, ensconced comfortably on a large armchair in the little alcove I always retired to when I wanted Me Time. The old woman was tired now and I knew that her health was failing. But the old woman insisted on being in the kitchen, watching, giving orders and generally making her presence felt. I indulged her; she was the closest to a mother for me. As for the children, everyone loved her and Claude often strode into the kitchen just to scoop her up and kiss her. He had always been her blue-eyed boy.
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• Since Aiyana was here, I was preparing some food that she had liked on the occasions she had been visiting. My children were around too, Dom having wandered in, looking weary, for he had been up all night along with Claude, simply being around for Piers who had been disturbed ever since Hila took off.