Excited not only to show off the pictures but to get a better look at them herself, Samantha ran over to her mum’s desk in the corner of the living room, switched on the computer and plugged her dad’s camera into it. After thinking for a moment, she named the folder “Yummy Turkey” before downloading the photos.

“I’ll go start dinner.” Josh smiled as his daughter stood up to let Laura sit on the chair then made herself comfortable on her lap, leaving them to look at the pictures together. From the kitchen he could hear lots of giggling and conspiratorial whispering. After about then minutes, Laura came into the kitchen to check on him.

“Our little girl sure makes a yummy-looking roast, doesn’t she?” she grinned, resisting the urge to assist with the cooking without being asked, knowing that her husband would view it as interfering and am implication that she did not think he knew what he was doing. “Anything I can do?” she asked.

“Definitely!” Josh chuckled. “Made me feel quite hungry looking at her! And no, everything’s in hand!”

“You sure that’s all she made you feel?” Laura teased, stepping a little closer. “She’s not a baby any more but she’s not going to get the chance to become a young woman. If she wants to, do you think you’d be willing to…?” She did not need to finish the question. It was the same one that Josh had been pondering himself in the car and he was grateful that his wife had been the one to bring it up. He tried to read her face for signs of how she felt but, as usual, Laura was giving nothing away.

“If she wants, yes.” he nodded after a few moments, hoping that his wife would allow him to get away with side-stepping the first half of the question. “If you don’t mind, that is? I don’t want to…” He broke off, not sure quite how to phrase his concern but fortunately Laura knew him well enough to understand.

“I think, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t like it.” she explained with measured consideration. “No wife wants to feel like they have a younger rival for their husband’s affections, after all, and it would shift our family dynamics in some very strange ways. But this is going to only be for a few weeks at most, after all. After which I get you back all to myself!” As she smiled at him, Josh noticed the hint of vulnerability in her eyes and pulled her in for a tight hug.

“Doesn’t just have to be me!” he reminded her. “I know you dated girls as well as guys before me. Maybe we can all have some fun together?” Laura seemed reassured by this and hugged him a little tighter. “So, do I get to find out what you two were plotting in there?” he asked after a a few long, loving seconds, kissing her on the top of her head to signal the end of the “moment” and a return to the normal business of the day.

“Yes.” Laura gave a cheeky smile that was bordering on smug. “Eventually!” Realising he was definitely not going to get any more information out of her for the time being, Josh chuckled and shook his head in amusement then returned to preparing a far more mundane dinner than the one they were discussing.

“So, do we have some good card or something we can print the invitations on?” he asked, beginning to chop a large green pepper. “I think there’s some of that photo paper left?”

“Oh that’s okay!” Laura replied airily. “I’m going to use the same printer I use for my flyers.” Josh was so startled, his knife slipped and cut a small slice across the pad of his thumb.

“What?!” He sucked on the wound to stem the bleeding before realising that was something of a lost cause and going over to the sink to run it under cold water. “You’re sending...those photos to an outside printer?”

“Why not?” Laura giggled, stepping up to the counter and taking over the chopping without missing a beat. “I keep telling you there’s nothing illegal about them and one of the sample posters on their site is for a charity barbecue that has five naked girls from a gym club on, no older than Sammie, so I’m sure nobody there is going to take offence!”

“Well, if you’re sure…” Josh frowned a little, turning off the tap and wrapping his injured thumb in a paper towel. “I don’t want to get a knock on the door…”

“The only knock we’re going to be getting is from the delivery driver.” she assured him, walking over and giving him a kiss on the cheek that felt almost condescendingly parental. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it!” She ruffled his hair playfully. “Let us girls take care of that! We do need to discuss some practicalities ‘though, before we write the invitations so we’d better discuss that tonight.

“Going to change!” Samantha called as she headed up the stairs and her parents stayed in the kitchen, working together on preparing the dinner, Laura using Josh’s injury as an excuse to give him a hand but making sure to follow his instructions, or at least to pretend she was doing so to give him the illusion of being in charge.

“So what kinds of practicalities?” Josh asked as he assembled the chopped salad, making sure that none of his blood had got into it, while Laura stirred the rice in the pan on the hob and kept an eye on the chicken breasts under the grill. “Cooking times? That sort of thing?”

“Well that’s part of it.” Laura agreed, lifting the rice off the stove and turning the burner off as she carried it over towards the sink. “But I was thinking more what sort of time do we tell people to arrive? Should they bring anything? Is it just lunch or are we making a whole day of it. Things like that!” Not for the first time, Josh found himself struck by how lucky he was to have a practically-minded wife. He had been so focussed on finding somewhere where Samantha could be cooked that he had barely given any thought to plethora of smaller decisions that would have to be made to enure that everyone had the best possible time on the day. “We should include Sammie in as many of the choices as possible. It’s her special day, after all!”

As if on cue, Samantha appeared at that moment in the kitchen doorway, wearing a pair of pink tracksuit bottoms and a white vest top which seemed a little too small for her, especially with nothing on underneath, her budding little tits straining against the tight fabric as if about to burst through to freedom. Laura opened her mouth to say that, with as much as she had grown recently, it was probably time to get her some new clothes but then stopped herself as she realised the foolishness of the idea. The clothes that her daughter already had would be more than enough to see her through the last few weeks of her life! As she often did, Samantha helped by fetching the plates out of the cupboard and taking them along with the cutlery into the living room where she set the small table they liked to take their main meals at. Josh followed close behind with a bowl of salad in one hand and a jug of water in the other and finally came Laura, balancing the plate of chicken breasts which had been cut into strips on top of the deeper dish of rice.

“So, we need to decide a few things.” Laura explained once everyone had helped themselves to as much as they wanted and taken their first few mouthfuls.

“I think we should make it an all-day thing.” Samantha opined once her mum had laid out the questions that needed to be discussed. “There’s going to be a lot of meat to go around and I bet there will be enough to have some of me cold in the evening, like, in sandwiches!”

“Sammie sandwiches!” Laura chuckled. “Now there’s an idea!”

“Sam-wiches, if you will!” Josh ventured, joining in the joke. All three laughed together but with that decision made, the rest began to fall more easily into place. They, as hosts, would provide the main meal in its entirety but would invite all the guests to bring something to share in the evening for a sort of “pot luck”, if they felt able to, of course, without causing themselves any hardships. The family would also provide a lot of drinks but invite the others to bring more. They were not a wealthy family but they were not financially struggling either and, with the money they would save by not buying Christmas presents for Samantha, they would easily be able to afford to throw this party for their family and friends, especially with the centrepiece of the meal happily providing itself free of charge!

By the time they were eating their dessert of warm chocolate sponge-pudding with ice-cream, everything had been decided. They would invite people to arrive between eleven and eleven-thirty with a view to getting Samantha in the oven by mid-day, that way she would have the chance to greet all the guests like she wanted to and should be ready to serve around two. Timings for the afternoon could be played by ear but, once everyone was ready, a cold buffet could be put out for everyone to enjoy before heading home. Samantha thought it sounded perfect and was only a little disappointed that, despite being the guest of honour, she would have to miss so much of the fun!

“You’re still meeting the boys tomorrow, right?” Laura asked Josh innocently as they stood together at the sink after dinner, her washing and him drying. “Having lunch and a few drinks?”

“Yes, if that’s still okay?” Josh asked, wondering why his wife was bringing up the plans he had with his old school friends which had been in place for weeks. He didn’t want to have to cancel, nor could he think of any reason to do so, but he worried that somehow Laura now had a different expectation of him, perhaps expecting him to help with more of the planning or insisting that he spend every available hour with Samantha now that her days were numbered. “It’s Phil’s birthday and…”

“Oh no, of course!” Laura smiled at him sweetly, a smile his gut told him to not entirely trust, although he could not put his finger on why. “Was just checking, that’s all!” She passed him the pan the rice had been cooked in. “So you’ll be gone… what? Until about four-ish?”

“Something like that…” Josh frowned as he wiped the last of the bubbles from the pan and put it back in the cupboard. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason!” Laura giggled, dropping any pretence at casual disinterest and suddenly things fell into place for Josh – He was not in trouble for going out, far from it! Whatever she and Samantha had been giggling about at the computer when he was alone in the kitchen required him being out of the way for a while and his plans with his friends provided the perfect opportunity. She giggled again and kissed him then planted a small blob of dish-soap bubbles on the end of his nose. Later, while the three of them sat watching TV together, Laura excused herself without saying where she was going. Not giving it too much thought, Josh assumed she had simply gone to the bathroom and continued to enjoy the programme on TV, Samantha’s warm young body snuggled against him, but a few minutes later, he heard her coming back down the stairs, talking on her phone.

“...in the morning if you wanted me to…” she was saying, speaking softly but not exactly whispering. “Oh you are? That would be awesome! Thank you so much.” There was a pause while the person on the other end was speaking. “Yeah eleven would be perfect!” Another pause. “Yeah, he should be gone by then!” she giggled. “Perfect! And I’ll make sure you have them back by Tuesday at the latest. Yes I know,” she responded to a comment from whoever she was speaking to, “but I always worry something might happen. Okay great!” she concluded, her smile audible in her voice, “See you then!”

“That sounded interesting?” Josh ventured as she sat back down on the sofa the other side of Samantha and helped herself to a section of the blanket. “Anything I should know about?”

“Nope!” Laura smiled cheekily with a self-satisfied air. “Just my friend Carol. Remember her?”

“Vaguely…” Josh furrowed his brow. If he was thinking of the right person, calling her a friend of his wife’s was a bit of a stretch. Friendly acquaintance, perhaps, but little more. “She lending you something?” he pushed, already knowing that he was unlikely to get a proper answer but his curiosity getting the better of him anyway.

“Yeah, he husband!” Laura turned and stuck her tongue out at him. “And her son. She’s going to drop them off tomorrow morning so they can give me and Sammie a right good seeing-to while you’re out. We might swap them half way through then take it in turns to have them take us from both ends!” Josh blushed deeply and Samantha giggled, slightly shocked at her mum’s blunt and rather graphic humour but more amused by her dad’s adorable discomfort.

“My fault for asking, I guess?” Josh chuckled, allowing his hand to slide from Samantha’s shoulder to her hip and feeling her snuggle a little closer. Laura leaned over her daughter and kissed him with amused affection again to show that there were no hard feelings and to reassure him that she had just been teasing.

“Right.” she declared decisively, switching off the TV with the remote when the show came to an end. Samantha looked a little annoyed, it was not that late and there was no school tomorrow. It seemed a bit early for the TV to be going off! “You two have had a busy day. I’m going to go run you a bath!”

“Okay.” Samantha sighed a little before fully processing what he mum had said. “Wait a minute…” She tilted her head and looked at her curiously. “What do you mean, you two?”

“You and Daddy of course!” Laura smiled at her sweetly. “Remember he was at work all day before he took you to see the hall, then he made us a lovely dinner and only injured himself once!” she teased her somewhat accident-prone husband. Josh had been as puzzled as Samantha at first but quickly remembered the conversation they had shared in the kitchen and realised what his wife intended. He sat up and followed the conversation with interest, wondering how long it would take Samantha to catch on!

“Yes but…” Samantha frowned. “But you said…”

“And I think you both deserve a nice, long soak in the bath.” Laura declared with a satisfied now. “Together.” Samantha’s eyes went a little wide.

“Can I?” she spun around to gaze lovingly up at Josh. “That sounds lovely! Maybe I can…” her cheeks turned pink. “I mean, we could…”

“Let’s just go relax and see how things go, eh?” Josh stroked her hair then kissed her forehead. “Take things steady.”

“Fuck that!” Samantha declared, quickly putting her hand over her mouth in genuine alarm when she realised she had cursed so crudely in front of her parents. Fortunately, neither seemed cross and in fact they both seemed indulgently amused by her passionate outburst. “Sorry!” Her blush deepend a little. “I just mean, well,” she smiled coquettishly at her beloved Daddy. “It’s not like I have a lot of time left, is it? I can’t afford to take things too slowly!”

“On that note,” Josh looked across her to his wife who was looking very pleased with herself indeed, continuing to stroke his daughters golden hair as he talked, “didn’t you say you wanted to wash Sam’s sheets this evening? I’d guess she’d better sleep in our bed tonight?”

“Good idea!” Laura nodded, standing up and grinning. “Right, I’ll go start the bath. You two be ready in about ten minutes, okay?”

To be continued...