Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

At Harlee’s words, Lonnie and Skyla quickly guided her to the dining room.

Etta pulled off another stunt, trying to draw Lonnie’s and Skyla’s attention away from Harlee.

But Lonnie and Skyla were focused on Harlee, concerned that she was starving, nearly ready to spoon-feed her if she said the word. Neither of them paid attention to Etta’s words.

There wasn’t a single moment in Lonnie’s and Skyla’s lives that they hadn’t worried about Harlee since her disappearance.

Now that Harlee had finally been found, her parents were eager to make up for the missed time.

“Callie, please hurry up and bring the rest of the dishes over!” Lonnie urged when he saw Callie standing in the dining room.

Callie was caught off guard. She had expected Lonnie and Skyla to introduce her properly, but instead, they immediately put her to work. She noticed Etta’s sulking look and, after another prompt from Lonnie, she headed to the kitchen.

Skyla held Harlee’s hand tightly.

“Sweetheart, I’m not sure about your preferences for food.

Ever since your return was settled, I had the chefs prepare a wonderful selection of dishes for you. Just tell us what you like, and we’ll have them make it to your taste.”

Harlee hadn’t fully grasped how much her mother had prepared until she saw what “a wonderful selection” really meant. The dining table, stretching over ten feet long and four feet wide, was filled to the brim with dishes, some even stacked on top of each other. There had to be more than a hundred dishes.

Harlee noted there was a little bit of everything, covering cuisines from various countries.

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“Try the flavors and see what you think,” Skyla said carefully, handing Harlee a knife and fork, her eyes filled with hope. It had been over twenty years, and yet she had no idea what her daughter liked to eat. Just thinking about it made her feel like a terrible mother.

Noticing her mother’s cautious demeanor, Harlee shook off her surprise and chose a few dishes she liked, managing a small smile.

“It’s delicious,” she said.

Instantly, Skyla and Lonnie let out a sigh of relief and made a mental note of the dishes Harlee had sampled, planning to have the chefs make them regularly.

“You both should eat too,” Harlee said, feeling a bit uneasy under her parents’ intense gazes.

“Okay. Let’s eat,” Skyla said joyfully, picking up her knife and fork.

Skyla failed to notice Etta, who sat on the other side, struggling to keep her expression in check, almost bending her fork in frustration. Out of the corner of his eye, Lonnie noticed Etta hadn’t eaten anything yet.

“Etta, why aren’t you eating?” he asked.

Etta felt a wave of grievance, biting her lower lip to hold back tears.

Before Etta could respond, Skyla recalled something.

“Etta’s favorite steak is right there.”

The lamb chops, specially made for Etta, were buried under a mountain of other dishes.

A servant helped pull the plate out and set it in front of Etta.

However, compared to the table overflowing with food for Harlee, the lamb chops seemed trivial.

The irony was that Etta had been showing off to Harlee with nonexistent favoritism from Harlee’s parents, only to feel humiliated now.

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