Chapter Fourteen
After a couple of hours, the other members of the family began making a move to go home. They’d all be seeing each other the following day, after all.
Lacey was first to leave, being concerned about little Alexander. It seemed that nobody wanted to be the first to go, but once she had, Joe and Ben followed pretty close behind.
Soon, just the four of them, and Stanley, were left.
“Right!” Joy said, standing up. “I’ll get cleared up and then I think I’ll call it a night. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”
Almost immediately, Balkhi jumped up. “I will help you, Mrs—Joy.”
Wilkes bit back a smirk. Poor Balkhi was still struggling to call his parents by their first names.
“Nonsense,” she replied. “You’re a guest. John?”
John looked a little startled, thinking he’d gotte
