ENDING OF PREVIOUS POST:

"King Lear's daughter, Cordelia, said that to him." Shana released a deep breath. "I'll try to give you the quick version. King Lear decided to retire and to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. The largest amount went to the daughter who loved him the most. Well, two daughters said all the sweet things he wanted to hear, but they were lies. Cordelia loved him enough to speak the truth. It got her banished from his kingdom and disinherited."

"If I remember the play correctly, the King of France liked her honesty and married her." Philip walked into the room.

Shana turned and faced him. "You're correct. Are you a Shakespeare fan?"

"I am." Philip poured himself some coffee. "I take it Jane is not." He searched the area. "Where's our little munchkin this morning?"

"I think we wore her out yesterday. She's still asleep." Jane glanced at her watch. "I should wake her. I need to keep her on some schedule."


TODAY'S POST:

Chapter 12 part 2

"Shana, guess what?" Helen rolled the breakfast cart onto the patio. When Shana glanced up from her book, Helen continued, "No bacon or sausage on this cart."

Philip walked in behind her and chuckled. "Only pork chops."

"You really don't have to go to all this trouble for me." Shana glanced over the cart. "You always have way too much food."

Helen scowled at Philip. "I'll have you know there's not one piece of pork or shellfish on this cart. Matter-of-fact, I researched kosher foods now I know what to fix."

"Really, all of this is unnecessary." Shana's eyes met Helen's. "I've lived my entire life in a non-kosher world. I've gotten used to it."

"While you're here, all of us, including Drew, want you to feel at home. We'll do our best to honor your culture and traditions." Helen waved her arm over the breakfast cart. "Please enjoy."

At that moment, Jane and Emily entered. Jane surveyed her friends' faces. "What have I missed?"

"Nothing. Just letting Shana know my kitchen is now kosher, or at least trying to be."

Emily tilted her head. "What's kosher mean? I hope it means I get pancakes for every breakfast."

"You had pancakes yesterday. Today we'll try something different." Jane walked over to the cart and picked up a plate. "Show me what you'd like and I'll help. We'll discuss kosher another day.

"Aunt Jane, are we going to the park this morning?" asked Emily.

"Not today. We'll need to wait for your daddy to get home, but I have all sorts of fun things planned. Do you want an omelet?"

"Does it have cheese?"

"This one does." After Emily nodded, Jane put it on her plate and continued, "First, I have a new puzzle with a baby kitten's picture on it that needs to be put together."

"Goody." Emily smiled. "I like kittens, but Daddy's dogs don't like them. Is it yellow?"

Jane thought for a moment. "I think it's orange. It's in a basket. How about some fresh fruit?"

"Okay, what else can we do? Go shopping? Mommy says Daddy needs to buy me new clothes."

"No shopping until Daddy gets home." Jane added fruit to Emily's plate. "I won't tell you the rest until you finish the puzzle."

Shana watched and smiled at the banter between Jane and Emily. After Emily was seated and eating, Shana went to help herself to the cart.
*****

Jane set the puzzle on the carpeted floor of the playroom. Shana helped her and Emily lay out the pieces.

"Put all the edge pieces together. We'll make the border first." Jane moved her finger around the edge of a piece to show Emily what the edge looked like.

Emily held up a piece. "Look this one has two edges."

"That's a corner. There should be three more." Shana showed her the box cover and pointed to the photograph, and they counted the four corners. "See there are four corners."

"This is going to be fun." Emily proceeded to turn the pieces over.

After about thirty minutes, Emily went to the window and looked out. "When's Daddy coming home? I miss him."

"Later this afternoon. He'll be home for dinner," answered Jane.

"Good. The puzzle's almost done. I think Daddy would like some fresh cookies when he gets home."

"I bet we can arrange that. I'll talk with Helen." Jane added a piece. "There are only two pieces left." She held them up. "Think you can put them in?"

Emily took one and studied it. "This one goes right here." She placed it and then picked up the other piece. "And this one goes here. Now, let's go make Daddy some cookies." She headed toward the door.

Within minutes the four ladies were making chocolate chip cookies.

Jane smiled. "Emily, I thought your daddy's favorite cookie was snickerdoodles. Are you sure it's chocolate chip?"

With twinkling eyes and a smile, Emily said, "I'm sure Daddy will say they're his favorite, because they're mine. Mommy says we're exactly alike."



Characters so far:

Shana Kohlberg -- a 25 year old high school English literature teacher -- she's trying to get her family's painting back

Anderson Sharp -- often called Drew -- 31 years old -- works part-time on Wall Street -- a billionaire from Texas oil wells

Dmitry Bezrukov -- one of three Russian men in black suits

Jeff Burk -- takes care of Anderson's cars and important security details.

Helen -- Anderson's cook

Jane -- Anderson's housekeeper

Philip -- Anderson's butler -- close friend and confident


Kyle -- Anderson's dog walker

Axel -- Anderson's lead German shepherd

Thor -- Anderson's second German shepherd

Romeo -- Anderson's third German shepherd

Aaron Kohlberg -- Shana's older brother

Ivan Kuznetsov -- formally Ivan Morozov, I accidently chose a real person, so I have changed it present day owner of the painting.

Patricia -- Anderson's ex-wife

Emily -- Anderson's five year old daughter

Isaiah Glassberg -- Anderson divorce/custody attorney.

Jeremy -- Jane's second-cousin twice removed, NYC undercover cop.

Hannah -- Shana's cousin, the same age. Married within the past year and just had a baby

Joshua Colton -- Art Museum's curator

Benjamin Kohlberg -- Shana's father