“No. What you did was the only thing you could think of to protect us, and what it got you was pain. I saw your face just now while you told me. Trust me, I will never blame you for protecting your family!”
Receiving that kind of caring gesture, after she learned the full story ... I can’t even begin to describe how big of a relief I felt. I didn’t even notice how long we lay there, her just holding me in that comforting manner, until I heard birds chirping outside. I looked through the window and noticed that the sun was coming up, which meant it had been roughly three hours since she joined me. I got up and looked at her uncomfortably.
“Sorry for taking up your night.” I said.
“Don’t say it like...”
“Thank you. For...” I interrupted her, gesturing towards the sofa instead of finishing the sentence. “I hate to admit it, but I needed it.”
Hearing that made her smile. She stood, walked close to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and took my right hand into hers.
“Listen. The next time you feel like something bad is about to happen, I want you to try this. It’s called Five-Finger Breathing. Open your hand like this, palm up.” she said, turning my hand and spreading my fingers for me. Then she lightly traced my fingers with her middle-finger. “Start at the thumb. Trace the outside of it up to the tip while you breathe in through your nose, then trace the inside of it down to the palm while you breathe out through your mouth. Then do it with your index finger with your next breath, and then with your middle finger. Try to control your breathing, so it stays deep and slow as you do it. Do it until you’ve traced all your fingers this way, and, if you need to, do it again in reverse until you’re back at your thumb. By the time you reach it, you should feel a lot calmer already.”
Feeling her lightly trace my fingers, while holding my hand and talking to me in that quiet, soothing voice, especially after I just spent at least an hour being held by her with my head resting on her chest, had an effect on me I had not expected. I actually felt close to her for a change! Thinking about how the night played out made me reevaluate my opinion of her. And, if I were honest with myself, the worst thing I could accuse her of was her being a shitty psychologist.
Yes, she didn’t want me as part of their little orgies, and lost sight of our familial bonds like the others. But contrary to the others, she was ‘just’ my aunt, and out of all of them showed the most concern for me, and had tried to talk to me for a year now. While my parents and siblings were perfectly happy with losing me completely, she showed up at work to watch my training sessions, and persistently tried to mend our relationship. And what happened during the three hours before, felt like she genuinely cared and wanted to help. I was still not sure if it was wise to risk it, but I took her hand and kissed her cheek like she did mine.
“Thanks.” I said, before moving towards the kitchen, noting the big bright smile on her face.
I looked around for the pizzas I asked them to order the evening before, but couldn’t find any. Either they, like so many times before, got rid of the leftovers before I had a chance to get some, or they hadn’t ordered any in the first place. Their appetite was possibly just as low as mine was in the evening. Instead, I noticed the emoji-pan someone had washed and left to dry next to the sink. I looked at it for a few seconds before deciding to try it.
I got a few eggs out of the fridge and had just separated them when Danielle walked into the kitchen. After the family moved out of the house, I had moved my coffee maker into the kitchen, and she was now eyeing the assortment of capsules available. By the time she had decided on one, I was mixing the egg yolks with milk and flour. She noticed the egg white in a separate bowl.
“What are you making?”
“Pancakes.” I just said, continuing on and ignoring her skeptical gaze.
I mixed the egg white with vanilla sugar and a tablespoon of egg white powder, causing her to perk up yet again.
“Are you sure you’re making Pancakes?”
“Very sure.” I insisted.
“Well, you seem to know your way around the kitchen. So, if this tastes horrible despite this confident display of yours, I’m gonna make fun of you!” she grinned.
Whipping the egg white mix stiff took quite a while. Long enough for Ava and Maggie to enter the kitchen and sit next to Danielle.
“He cooks?” I heard Maggie ask her mother.
“He claims he does.” Danielle answered, laughing when I shot her a look.
I carefully folded the egg yolk mixture into the stiff egg white, and filled the produced batter into the slots of the emoji-pan. I had bought the thing on a whim I could not explain myself, and I was absolutely expecting it to be crap, but it worked! The pancakes actually showed the faces on them.
After the first batch was done, I placed one on a plate for each of my skeptical spectators, surrounded them with raspberries, strawberries and whipped cream I got from the fridge, and dusted them all with a tiny amount of confectioner’s sugar before presenting it to them. I personally didn’t care about the raspberries, nor the extra kind of sugar, but after their taunting, I thought it should look as good as I knew it would taste.
“Holy!” I heard from Ava, followed by an “Mmmhmm!” from Maggie, after their first taste.
“These are great, Tim!” Danielle said with big eyes, after she tried them as well.
“See? Never doubt my skills again!” I said, pointing the spatula at her, and getting to work on the next batch to use up the batter I had produced.
“Is that the only thing you can make, or is there more I need to try?” she asked, grinning after hearing my assurance that I indeed knew more than pancake recipes. “When did you learn to cook like this?”
“It’s been more than two years since the last time Claire cooked anything for me. And even on the rare occasions when she accidentally made enough for all of us, I’d come home to find the leftovers in the trash can. So, I could either learn to cook, or turn into a fruitarian.” I answered matter of fact, causing Maggie and Danielle to stop chewing before regarding Ava and me with uncomfortable looks. “What? Did you think I was kidding when I told you all on Thanksgiving that I’ve had to buy my own groceries?”
Initially this caused the general mood in the kitchen to drop significantly. But I just kept telling them how much fun cooking had turned out to be, while I decorated the table with the different kinds of fruits and berries I bought the day before, as well as whipped cream, butter, syrup, and nutella. We could enjoy the pancakes however each of us wanted.
By the time I had finished the sixth batch of six pancakes, and used up all the batter, the rest of the family had joined us. I figured three pancakes per head, if John would join us when picking up his wife and daughter, would be enough for everyone. The kitchen was soon filled with happily chatting people appreciating the readily waiting breakfast.
“You made soufflé pancakes!? How did you get them to stay so fluffy?” Claire asked.
“Tablespoon of egg white powder. Adds protein as structure to hold it up, but doesn’t change the taste.”
“Ha! How did you get those silly faces on them?” Granny asked amused, to which I just held up the pan, showing her the different emojis in the separated slots.
“They’re a little sweet for me, but still good!” Aaron commented as I was cleaning up the kitchen while they ate.
“Yeah, well, keep in mind that I normally spend two or three hours each day in the gym. Though ... eating those while sitting around for weeks, waiting for my bones to mend, would probably be a bad idea.” I mused.
“When did you get so good at cooking? I never saw you in here!” Claire asked, causing Maggie and Danielle to exchange looks while Ava lowered her head.