Adding Up To Family. Marie Ferrarella

art—until now. “This has to be from someplace new,” he guessed, because he couldn’t remember having his taste buds tantalized this way before.

      “No,” Becky corrected. “Stephanie and I went grocery shopping together—you hardly have anything in your refrigerator beyond breakfast food,” she explained. “And then we cooked together.”

      “You and Stephanie?” he repeated incredulously. Was she serious?

      “Yes.”

      Only his presence of mind kept his mouth from dropping open. He looked at his daughter in complete astonishment. Stevi had never expressed the slightest interest in cooking before.

      “You helped with this?” he asked in amazement.

      “She most certainly did,” Becky told him. There was a note of pride in her voice that took him by surprise. “If you ask me, I think she’s a natural,” she concluded, winking at his daughter.

      Stevi seemed to beam. For his part, Steve was at a complete loss for words.

      He was still speechless minutes later, as Becky left the house.

      * * *

      “So, how did it go?” Celia asked, doing her best to keep the eagerness out of her voice.

      Becky had hardly had time to walk into her apartment and lock the door behind her before her cell phone began ringing. Dropping her purse on the floor, she glanced at the caller ID on the phone’s screen before she answered. All she had time to say was “Hello” before Celia asked her the all-important question.

      “Very well, I think. And you’re right,” Becky added with a smile as she sat down on her sofa. “His daughter does remind me of me when I was her age.”

      Celia immediately got to the heart of the matter. “Did you have any trouble getting along with Stephanie?”

      Celia wanted to make sure that Becky was happy with this choice. Even if she felt she had brought the right two people together, she didn’t want to impose her will on either of them, especially not on a young woman she had grown particularly fond of over the last three years.

      “It was a little awkward at first,” Becky admitted. She tucked her legs under her. “I think that’s because she’s had a few less-than-satisfying relationships with the housekeepers her father hired in the past. But it didn’t take me much time to get her to open up just a little. More will take a while,” Becky freely admitted. “After all, the process does require time, but I feel like we’ve made a really good start.”

      “I’m so very glad to hear that,” Celia told her. “But to be honest, I also hear something else in your voice.”

      Becky wasn’t sure she understood what the woman was getting at. She didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. “Mrs. Parnell, I don’t think that I under—”

      “I hear some hesitation in your voice, Becky,” Celia told her honestly. “Is there anything wrong?”

      The woman’s concern was gratifying, Becky thought. But she was quick to set her mind at ease. “Oh no, not with them,” she assured her employer.

      “Well, whatever’s wrong is certainly not with you,” Celia responded. “But I can tell that there’s something bothering you...”

      Becky sighed. Since the woman was asking, she didn’t try to put her off. That would be lying. “To be honest, it’s about my apartment.”