"Mommy, let's go and meet them! It's been a long time since the last time I met them!" Mackie said eagerly.
Chloe cleared her throat as she tried to play it off, "Well, not now, dear."
"Eh, why not?" Mackie pouted. "Don't worry, Mommy. I won't yell at them for not following my orders anymore!"
Mackie was called Boss Mackie by the rest of the boys because she was the oldest and she had a very domineering and bossy personality. Shed boss around those boys, and each time Chloe tried to scold Mackie for what she did to her cousins, the boys would defend Mackie instead, saying that they really liked to follow Boss Mackie's order and said Boss Mackie was the best.
Chloe wanted to tell the boys not to be scared if Mackie threatened them.
But it seemed that they genuinely liked to stick around with Mackie. They really liked surrounding her like four little soldiers following their commander to war.
"Dear, your cousins are sick. They… they caught fever," Chloe bluffed. "So I can't let you meet them yet or else you'll get sick as well."
"Awww…" Mackie looked sad after knowing that her cousins were sick. But Mommy was true. She couldn't meet them if they were sick because Mackie didn't want to get sick as well. "How long will they stay here? Can I at least play with them before they go home?"
"Oh, don't worry about that, Dear. They will stay here for a long time," Chloe said. "So, when they're not sick anymore, you can play with them."
"Wah! Does that mean they'll be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas?"
"Ah, we will see about that later, okay?"
"Un!" Mackie was excited to spend her holiday with her family. If Uncle, Mommy, Grandma, and her cousins could be with her together at the same table during Thanksgiving, then that would be amazing!
In fact, it would be even better than any Christmas and Thanksgiving they ever had with Daddy. Because they would only eat Thanksgiving food in silence, and Daddy was never there during Christmas, only Mommy and Mackie opened the gift under the Christmas tree.
That was… if she could get a gift, of course.
Mommy always said that she didn't have enough money to spend on gifts and was sorry for it.
But Mackie didn't really care about that. She was already happy enough to spend time with her Mommy.
'But imagine if I could spend my time with them all! Whooo! That'd be fun!' Mackie thought.
Chloe was relieved that at least Diamond could devise a good idea to delay Mackie and her cousins' meeting without hiding anything from her daughter.
Diamond giggled and elbowed Chloe again, "See? It's not so hard to be honest with her. Well, 50% honest, I guess. But I understand that you still need to hide a few things from Mackie."
Chloe glared at Diamond again for a moment before she sighed and nodded, "I guess you're right. I can't keep hiding things from her."
Chloe only ate one slice of carrot cake she made, then put two whole cakes and apple pies into the food containers.
"I will bring these downstairs for your cousins and your Grandma. They live together now," Chloe said to her daughter. "Can you wait here with Diamond?"
"Sure!" Mackie nodded while eating her third slice.
"Mhm, I'll be here for dinner too, if you don't mind," Diamond said.
Chloe chuckled, "Sure, we can cook while waiting for Vernon to come home."
Chloe went down with containers full of cakes, leaving Diamond and Mackie in the kitchen, still eating cakes.
"See? Your Mom just needs a little push so she will be honest with you," Diamond said as she winked at Mackie.
"Hehe, you're right, Diamond!" Mackie cheered.
Diamond and Mackie actually planned it from the start. Usually, Mackie could eat a lot of cakes, and so did Uncle Vernon. They had sweet teeth and could eat a whole banana pie by themselves.
But Diamond told Mackie to say that the cakes were a bit too much and nobody would eat them. She also told Mackie to eat slower.
Thus, Chloe was pushed to be honest.
Of course, Diamond still hadn't told Mackie about her cousins because that was Chloe's right to do so.
But she at least set up a small trick to make Chloe spill the beans.
"Your Mommy isn't trying to hide things from you. She knows that you must be very excited to meet with your cousins, but they are still sick. If you know it earlier, of course you will insist on meeting them, right? Your Mommy doesn't want you to be sad because you can't meet them right away."
"Mm, I guess you're right," Mackie nodded while munching on the carrot cake. "Maybe I should be more patient…."
"You should. Your Mommy would be happy and more open to you if you can be more patient with everything," Diamond suggested.
Diamond watched as Mackie thought hard while eating her cake. She could see some of Vernon's habits in Mackie because Vernon often ate or drank anything while thinking hard about something.
They were also impatient, brash, and stubborn.
'It's funny to see that Mackie could 100% pass as Vernon's daughter, and nobody would bat an eye, really,' Diamond thought.
**
Chloe returned to the penthouse about fifteen minutes later and went straight to the kitchen. She thought that Diamond and Mackie had already returned downstairs to play again.
But Diamond was busy chopping up some vegetables while Mackie was helping by wiping the dinner table and kitchen countertop, though she had to use a stool to reach it.
"Uhm, why are you two here?" Chloe asked, "You can go downstairs if you want.".
Diamond and Mackie turned their heads at the same time.
"Because we want to help Mommy!" Mackie replied.
"Yeah, we want to help you," Diamond added. She pointed at the note on the fridge and said, "I saw that you want to make a few veggie side dishes, so I can at least help with that."
Chloe was surprised by their enthusiasm to help. She smiled and quickly wore her apron again, "Well, this means we can finish the dish before Vernon comes home."
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