ARROW - 190. Chapter 190

Arriving at the club, we needn’t tell anyone, they all knew. The boys looked sharp in their suits, and several of the ladies commented on how they looked. Uncle Jimmy had a new drink for them in celebration. For once my total family was together, even Uncle Henry and Aunt Ann.

“Sons, take your drinks and follow me.” I took them to the old roof garden. Sitting there my mind was flooded with memories. I know I had tears in my eyes. “This place is very special and the roof garden at home will become as special. When Ronnie, Richie, Tommy, and Ivan were your age, we would sit here. If there was a problem. This is where we solved it. If you have a problem or a question, we will meet at that roof garden. Sometimes, we can sit there and think about everything that has happened and how happy we are.”

One of the waiters came, “Chef James said dinner is ready.” The boys started to rub their bellies and headed for the stairs. Laughing I followed..Walking into the kitchen the odors created an anticipation of something special.

We sat around the kitchen table and I noticed we didn’t need any tables from the dining room. I looked at Colin, he pointed down, then I noticed we were sitting on benches.

Billy sat a bread plate with rolls at each place, but these weren’t ordinary bread rolls. They looked different and smelled different. The aroma made you want to taste them. Then Billy and Peter started to place dinner before us. Each plate had a Paulet Farci along with a rose of sweet potato. The boys just looked, the aroma was toxic. Everybody didn’t know what to start with.I took a taste of the sweet potato and smiled. Then I took a taste of the stuffing and my smile grew larger. I looked at James, “Brother, I’m not sure I can pay for this dinner. Everything I tasted is beyond my expectations.” Then I heard, “Dad, can we start to eat?”

I laughed, “Yes, you can begin to eat.” I looked at Colin, he had already eaten half of his poulet.

I watched the boys. They had smiles as they ate slowly. Guess who was done first, he had to wait until all of us were done before he got any dessert.

Peter was sitting next to me. “Dad, what is this?”

“It’s tiny chicken stuffed with Uncle James' special bread stuffing. It’s good right?”

He couldn’t answer, his mouth was stuffed with chicken.

Dessert was a special tart, filled with strawberries and cream only the cream turned out to be soft vanilla ice cream.

When everyone finished eating, we just sat there. To say we were full is an understatement.

“Brother, you have gone beyond my expectations. I doubt Marcel could have done better.”

“Thanks, but I did the poult, Peter did vegetables and Billy did the bread. Jimmy and Peter did the deserts. So they deserve your thanks as well.”

I stood up, followed by Colin, and gave each of the staff a hug and a ‘well done’.What was funny, all of the boys lined up and followed suit. I don’t think the cooking staff have ever had so many hugs and thank you. Even Uncle Henry and Aunt Ann gave the cooking staff a well-deserved hug. I heard Henry ask if the chicken would be on Sunday’s menu.

On the way out, James gave me a small hamper, “For mom and dad.” I saw he had one for Colin and I’d bet that was for Mary.

A week later the boys are still talking about that dinner.

“Dad, now that we have our revised birth certificate, don’t you think we should celebrate at Uncle James?” All of the boys and girls agreed.

“I’ll talk to Uncle James and see what he thinks,”

Four days later I was questioned again, “Uncle James said for you to go fishing and bring him some lobster and shrimp and he will think about our special dinner,”

Now, they would get Colin to agree to a fishing trip. While they did that, I started to paint two princesses.

A week later, Colin said the boys wanted to go fishing. “I know, they want to celebrate their new birth certificates.”

“No, they want another of James’s meals.”

“Can’t blame them. They did themselves proud. Mom and Dad still talk about it and I’ll bet your mom does as well.”

“We need to be careful, Marie might quit and then you will need to do the cooking here.”

Laughing, “No, we will order in from the club.”

“Not so loud. You will have the girls and any of the boys who have heard us knocking on our door.” I had no sooner said that when the doors opened and the girls walked in followed by two of the boys.

Before they could say anything, “Why aren’t you in bed?”

“We went to the kitchen for a glass of water and we heard you laughing.”

“We were laughing at Pop’s big belly. Now you need to get back to bed.”

“Tuck us in.”

I knew Colin wasn’t going to get out of bed so I got out of bed and tucked them in.

The next morning I heard about it. “Dad, did you tuck the girls in last night?”

“Yes, and tonight Pop and I are going to tuck you all in bed.” Their smiles reminded me we did that with the first four and then stopped. I didn’t know why but I’ll make sure we tuck them in from now on.