For Keeps (Aggie's Inheritance) (9 page)

“
She didn’t request the papers, did she?
”

“
No.
”

“
She doesn’t know what they contain?
”

Luke’s eyes answered for him long before
he quietly answered,
“
No.
”

Gordon Steiner stood, snapped his briefcase shut, and crossed the room to shake Luke’s hand.
“
Tell her to read them carefully or hand them over to a lawyer. I will tell my client that she accepted them but did not sign or return them.
”
At the screen door, the man turned back once more.
“
Oh, and when you
warn
her to remain alert
--
and you should
--
thank her for her
compliment. It made my day.
”

Before the man’s car started, Luke heard the beginning strains of
“
God Will Take Care of You
”
struggling to be heard over the obvious sobs that accompanied them.
“
Be not dismayed,
”
a choke drowned out the next words,
“--
tide. God will take care of you.
”
A hiccough followed next.
“--
His loving wings…
”

Luke hurried into the library, deposited Ian in Libby’s arms, and took the stairs two at a time. He found her, eyes closed, face turned toward heaven, forcing the words through clenched teeth.
“
Heee… wiiillll… take caaarrree..
”

“
Mibs?
”

Without even opening her eyes, Aggie thrust the papers toward the sound of his voice.
“--
of yoooouuu. God will take care of you.
”

The papers clearly stated in the first paragraph that Aggie was petitioning the court to make Geraldine Stuart the legal guardian of the children.
“
Oh, Mibs.
”

“
I am so furious, I could think and say many sinful things right now. Every curse word I’ve ever heard is fighting every other one for preeminence in my heart. I want to go through them alphabetically, categorically, and finally by which one comes to mind first, just for the sheer joy of letting all the ugliness that just filled my heart out again.
”

“
You won’t like how you feel when it’s over…
”

“
Yeah, that was the rub.
”
Her carefully measured tone told him she wasn’t over her anger.

He handed her the papers and suggested she put them in a safe place until Mr. Moss arrived.
“
I’ll go uncorral the girls and Ian.
”
Before he turned to leave, Luke brushed a single angry tear from her cheek.
“
The lawyer said to tell you to read them carefully, turn them over to a lawyer, and thanks for the compliment.
”

“
Compliment?
”
The blank look on her face was mirrored in her mind.
“
What compliment?
”

“
You did say he was too handsome
--”

“
Oh. That. Ugh.
”
She tried to push the embarrassing moment aside, but couldn’t.
“
Well, didn’t you think he was awfully handsome for someone in such a nasty profession?
”

“
Well,
”
Luke began, trying to hide the amusement struggling to surface at the corners of his mouth.
“
I am not in the habit of noticing if men are or are not attractive. Women, I confess, I cannot help but notice sometimes, but I just don’t
--”

“
All right, all right. I get it.
”

“
But,
”
Luke continued as if she hadn’t interrupted,
“
I do think you are taking out your frustration with Geraldine’s abuse of a profession on an innocent bystander. Gordon Steiner didn’t know you weren’t aware of the contents of those papers. He was just as stunned as you are, but for different reasons.
”

“
Then he’s not despicable as a person, but I still don’t care for his job.
”

“
Be prepared for at least one of your children to be a lawyer.
”

“
Why!
”

Laughing, Luke hurried toward the steps and out of range as he replied,
“
Murphy’s Law, of course!
”

~*~*~*~

Tina arrived with the boys around four o’clock, with bags of clothes and a couple of bags of groceries.
“
We’re grilling tonight. Hamburgers!
”

“
I see bags. Tell me you scored for the boys and not for you.
”
Something in Aggie’s voice told Luke she was only partially teasing.

“
I didn’t buy a thing for me, but I did find a couple of cute tops and at least one skirt for Vannie while I was out.
”

The slow rise in Tina’s volume did nothing to distract the girl in question from her task. Peeking into the library, Tina saw Vannie hard at work sewing long seams together on a machine that looked familiar.
“
Is that a serger?
”

Vannie jumped but kept sewing.
“
Yes. I’m just cleaning up the seams now that we know it fits right.
”

“
I like the fabric; it’s going to look great on you.
”

Aggie saw Vannie flush with pleasure at the compliment, and sighed. She’d already forgotten her resolve to encourage the children and find things in their lives to praise. If it wouldn’t be likely to cheapen her words in the children’s eyes, she’d have made a note for herself and pasted on the fridge right then. Instead, she turned to Luke and asked,
“
Will you and your mom stay and eat with us?
”

He shook his head.
“
Can’t. Aunt Martha expects us tonight. We’ll be over in the morning, though. I can tell Mom is engrossed.
”
A tender look filled Luke’s eyes as he watched his mother leave instructions for Vannie.
“
I bet she cuts out a few things before she goes to bed tonight.
”

As she wiped perspiration from her forehead, Aggie recalled Luke’s face as he watched and spoke of his mother and wondered if she’d ever become the sort of mother that would evoke that kind of caring in her nephews’ hearts. Would they ever know how fiercely she loved them? Would she ever become half as worthy a person as women like Libby and her mother were?

Shaking off the morose mood that tried to implant itself in her heart, she flipped the burgers and called for Laird to bring her the buns. It wasn’t the time to grow too introspective. The natives were restless
--
able to be soothed only by hamburgers, salad, and root beer floats. A
ggie made another mental note.
Ask the Lord to ad
d another star to Tina’s crown.

After dinner, the dishes, a sweet time of singing, and then pajamas and teeth brushing rituals, Vannie, Tina, and Aggie sat around the living room, flipping through the patterns Libby had left for them. Each of them had their own method of perusing the choices. Tina worked quickly, each pattern receiving only seconds of her time before she moved onto the next. Vannie occasionally pulled one from a pile, sorted through past ones for something she remembered, and piled both, and sometimes a third, on the floor around her. Aggie’s style was predictable. She looked at every pattern from all angles. Frequently, she called the others’ attenti
on to some detail or lack there
of. Few patterns left the original pile, but she’d only weeded through a small fraction of the number Tina and Vannie had.

“
Hey Tina,
”
Aggie held up a pattern of a pinafore and dress set.
“
Wouldn’t it be adorable to have matching dresses for the twins? We could even use two different colors. Then we’d be able to tell them apart with or without funky hairstyles.
”

After a surreptitious wink at Vannie, Tina turned a poker face, one Aggie always envied, to her friend and said,
“
Well, I don’t know about that style on Tavish
--
I never pictured him in something that length, but Ellie would be charming. I wonder if she’d think it too babyish…
”

Before she finished teasing, Aggie grabbed the closest throw pillow and helped it live up to its name, tossing it at Tina’s head. Tina caught it and threw it back at Aggie, joking about
“
throwing like a girl
”
and needing
“
a sharper implement for beheading than a simple accent pillow.
”
After watching several volleys with much interest, Vannie inched a pillow from behind her back and lobbed it at her aunt, ducking as it hit Aggie square in the face.

A massive pillow fight commenced. After a pile of patterns were sent skittering across the floor by a rogue pillow, the fight escalated
--
on the lawn. Twilight faded into dusk as they pummeled one another with the pillows, occasionally whacking fireflies instead of the intended target. Anyone looking at the second floor of
“
The Shambles
”
would have seen rows of faces watching the melee in the yard below.

Aggie’s neighbor watched the craziness for a couple of minutes before she grabbed the pillow from her bed, crept across the yard, through the fence, tiptoed up to Aggie, and walloped her upside the head.
“
That’s for calling me Murphy.
”

Howls of laughter erupted as Aggie dashed around the others playing an improvised version of duck, duck, goose, whacking each one on the head with the pillow as she passed. Grinning mischievously, she bopped Ellene on the head and screeched,
“
Goose!
”
before dashing away again.

Though having a reputation of being stern and a little stuffy, Ellene retorted,
“
Not goose, Murphy!
”
as she swung the pillow at Aggie’s legs with every ounce of strength she could muster.