He nodded and then disappeared as she felt herself smile like a loon, alone in the kitchen.
‘Anything for morning tea?’ he asked, peeking around the doorframe a second time.
‘Let me know if there’s anything you would like. I can make anything you want.’
He was grinning at her. ‘Anything?’
‘Anything.’
He held her look and she raised her eyebrows at him, challenging him.
‘Madeleines,’ he said proudly.
‘Madeleines?’
‘Yes. I don’t know what they are but I heard about them once from somewhere and that’s what I would like for morning tea with coffee. Can I pre-order that, like a soufflé?’
‘You can. See you at eleven.’
He disappeared again and she waited until she was sure he wasn’t coming back and then she wondered if there was a madeleine tray in the house.
She searched through the tins and by some sort of miracle, there were two unused madeleine trays with the price tag still on them.
Oh, this was too much fun, she thought as she peeled off the stickers and washed the trays. If Marc wanted madeleines then he would get madeleines. All of them.
*
Marc sat at the table with Adam and Paul and the boys.
Along the centre of the table were beautiful serving plates of fine china in all shapes and sizes.
‘Are these mine?’ he asked Peggy, who was putting the coffee accoutrements on the table.
‘Yes, Mr Ferrier, you have an expansive range of china for all occasions.’
Marc was nodding and looking about the table. ‘Good to know,’ he said.
Christa came to the table and smiled at him.
‘You requested madeleines but you didn’t state what sort of madeleines you wanted so I took the liberty of making a selection for you.’
Marc could see a glint in her eye as she used a clean wooden spoon to point a plate out.
‘Do you know where madeleines originated?’ she asked the table, doing her best schoolteacher impersonation.
‘No, Miss Christa,’ said Paul in a little boy’s voice. The twins roared at his impression and copied him.
‘Buckle up then, you’re in for an exciting ride.’
She tapped the first plate. ‘These are a classic madeleine, made by a young baker named Madeleine for the Duke of Lorraine. Yes, the same originator of the name of the quiche, which the duke was also a huge fan of. This duke loved his baked goods and he adored madeleines, so he took them to the French court where King Louis XV tried them and also adored them and, making them a part of the royal menu.’
She tapped on a pink scallop-edged china platter. ‘There are madeleines filled with lemon curd, made with lemons from Pudding Hall’s tree. They are delicious with tea.’
She saw the boys’ hands creeping out and she whacked the wooden spoon onto the table, making them jump and then laugh.
‘Madeleines became popular again in France after Marcel Proust wrote about dipping a madeleine in lime blossom tea and having a memory come back to him of being a child at his aunt’s house and doing the same.’
She looked at the boys. ‘Have you ever eaten something and had a memory of another time you ate it and what was happening back then?’
