"I do so love it when you call my child a ragamuffin cinder-soot," Allegra drawled, but she walked over and hugged her friend nonetheless. She took the bag Gemma offered her and, just to prove her wrong, she unbuttoned her blouse and pulled the shirt over her head, poking her tongue out slightly above Lucy's head.
Lucy, for her part, wearing a little dress, couldn't exactly pull her top off to trade it for the shirt so she compromised by putting it on over her dress. "now I look like Mamma!" she said. "Thank you Auntie Gem!" She lifted her arms to be picked up. Most five year olds might have been a bit big for that sort of treatment, but Lucy had always been a tiny little thing, right from birth, and she loved to be cuddled and held. Allegra privately hoped it would be a long time before she grew out of that.
"What did you bring for dinner, Auntie Gem?" Lucy asked, snuggling into Gemma's arms and resting her head in the crook of Gemma's neck.
"Yes, Auntie Gem, what did you bring?" Allegra asked.