Why Lorie? Part I

Chapter 11: The Third Son

It was September 30, 1910 - Josette's twenty-fifth birthday, and the Foret household was in the midsts of preparations for that evening's celebration. Simone was cleaning the entire house, while Maman was busy in the kitchen, preparing Josette's favorite foods.

In the meantime, Papa was in Lorie's room, setting up a brand new doll house. Lorie had turned four that April. She was a delightful little girl and could charm anyone within five minutes of meeting them. She was also very intelligent and strong-willed, like her mother. Since her third birthday, she had moved into her own bedroom. Josette decorated it in various shades of pink, from the fuschia little velvet sofa under the window, to the cotton candy-colored tiny table and chairs that Lorie used to set up tea-parties. Lorie's princess bed had a sheer rose canopy over it, as well as blush heart-shaped velvet throw pillows. The walls in her room were decorated with pastel pictures of fairies and princesses painted by a local artist. The plush rug covering most of the wood floor was white with a border depicting intertwining light and dark-pink rose vines. It had the same design in a circular pattern smack in its middle.

At the moment, Lorie was sitting cross-legged on that very center, instructing Grandpapa in how to properly assemble and place the doll house, to his poorly concealed amusement. He was crouched down, pretending to listen carefully and nodding quite seriously while Lorie talked, but he wore a silly grin on his face the entire time.

"The little staircase needs to move a little to the right," the precocious child pointed toward the structure. "And the whole thing needs to move more to the middle of the wall."

"How's that?" Her grandfather asked after following Lorie's directions to a tee.

"Perfect!" Lorie clapped her hands, delighted. "Merci, Grandpapa," she said jumping up. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, almost toppling him over.

"Anything for you, my little angel," Monsieur Foret answered, quite flattered by Lorie's display of affection. "But be careful... I am an old man and will end up on my bottom if you jump on me like that," he pretended to scold her with a smile.

"My dollies will love their new house," Lorie exclaimed.

She picked up several small porcelain-faced dolls and lined them up.

"Alright, you must each wait your turn!" Lorie spoke to them like a general addressing his troops. "Josephine, you are first because I love you the most," she told a pretty, blond-haired princess, obviously named after Lorie's mother. "Then, Henriette is next, because she is your best friend. Then Charlotte, because she is new and hasn't made many friends yet, but she is very pretty too."

Monsieur Foret got up to his feet and watched his granddaughter with affection. Lorie completely forgot he was still in the room, as she became more and more involved in her imaginary play. She didn't even notice Madame Foret who was standing in the doorway.

"I take it she likes it," Maman whispered toward her husband.

"I think so," he turned to his wife with a smile. He then tip-toed toward her. "We should let her play. I'm sure I must be needed for something downstairs."

The elder couple left the child door's open, and took the stairs down to the living room. There, they found Josette. She was busy fluffing pillows on the sofa and straightening the corners of any of the oil paintings that weren't perfectly aligned.

"When is Viktor arriving?" Maman asked her.

"He said he'd be here by five o'clock," Josette answered while adjusting some flowers in a crystal vase. "I think he's bringing Nicolae today."