“I’ve had two of those calls this week. I wonder what’s going on. Did you win some money and not tell me about it?” Sawyer kissed his mom on the cheek and told her that she’d be the first person that he told. “Tell me about this girl. Molly’s mother. Do you know her?”
“No, not at all. I was the first on scene when she was hurt. I guess she’s very wealthy, and very smart. I’ve not spoken to her other than to explain to her that she was going to be all right and that I called her grandmother.” She asked about Molly. “Now there is someone that I could easily love. She’s smart and friendly. That is, so long as you’re not trying to date her mom. She doesn’t have a very high opinion of men, I don’t think. Molly’s mom has been burnt before.”
“I’m assuming that you brought Molly here so that we could meet her.”
Sawyer told her that her grandmother wanted her to get out of the hospital for a while. To go someplace where she’d have some fun. “I have no idea why she thought bringing her here would accomplish that.”
Mom smacked him again with her dishtowel. He looked out in the barn and saw Molly sitting on Dad’s lap atop the tractor. When he pointed it out to his mom, she went out with her camera. She didn’t say a word about him overextending himself, but told them both to pose so she could take a picture. The rest of his family came out too.
His brothers were falling all over themselves showing Molly things. Mom had probably told them what she was to him. Nothing as far as he was concerned, but Molly was having such a good time that he didn’t tell them that it wasn’t going to work out.
When Mom called them all in to eat, Molly was as dirty as the rest of them were. Her face was smudged with something. Her hair was no longer in a neat plait, and she was grinning from ear to ear. It was her pretty dress that he was the most concerned with.
“It’s all right, Sawyer, it’s just a little dirt. I can get that out.” He nodded at his mom. “She’s going to need something besides little dresses if she’s going to be hanging around here much. Do you have any shorts or tennis shoes, Molly?”
“No. I have some nice jeans, but they’re not going to work either. They’re all spangled up like I like them. I haven’t any tennis shoes either. Just these. I think GGMa forgot to think about those.” Mom told her that she’d take care of her tomorrow. “I have her credit card—Sawyer does. She told him to use it to get me stuff if I needed it.”
“I think we can make do with what we have here. I have a sewing bag of the boys old clothing. No tennis shoes, but I think I might have kept Sawyer’s old cowboy boots. Couldn’t get them off him at bath time, either.” Molly laughed when he turned red. “Let’s get this supper on the table and eat. You and I will figure out something here in a bit. All right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The table was groaning as all the foot was put on it. Everyone had to wash up, and Molly joined him at the outdoor sink to do that with the rest of them. “I’m already having so much fun here. What do you have to do tomorrow?”
“Mom wants us to pick the fruit from the trees so she can make some jam.” She asked if she really made her own jam. “She does. Mom also makes all her own juices, as well as putting up green beans and everything that we can plant in the garden. In a couple of months, we’ll have pumpkins to give away to the townspeople. It’s a big deal around here. Everyone comes out and picks out their pumpkins and brings their kids. Mom makes batches of cookies, and Dad makes the best cider in the county. I wish you could be here.”
“Maybe Mom will be feeling better by then.” He didn’t say anything, knowing that her mom would want to be as far from him as she could be. “Am I cleaned up enough, Sawyer?”
“Yes, ma’am, you are. Let’s get to eating.” Mom had added an extra chair to the table and another plate by his. Molly was so excited, he thought she might make herself too sick to eat. But as things were passed by him, he asked her if she wanted any of whatever was on a platter or in a bowl. “You don’t have to eat it all, honey. Just take what you want.”
“I want to try everything. I bet it’ll be the best food I’ve ever eaten.”
Everyone laughed, and she did just what she’d said. Molly tried everything, even the hot pickles that Gunner loved. And surprisingly, she loved them as much as he did.
~*~
Molly felt like a different person as she walked around the farm with the rest of them. They were so nice to her that she wanted to hug them all the time. The boots that she’d put on this morning were a little hot, but she was told that this was hot work. Picking the apples off the tree was a lot harder than it looked.
Saul, as he asked her to call him, was sitting on the chair that one of them had brought out for him. Molly would take him an apple when he wanted one, and he’d cut it up and share it with her. The apples here tasted nothing like the ones from the store. They were so juicy that it ran down her arm when she ate it.
A man in an old van pulled up in front of where they were working. They all waved at him, asking about his family. When he sat down next to Saul on the ground, the two of them talked very seriously for some time. Then Wesley was told to put five bushels of apples in the back of his van. The man, Mr. Little, protested a little, but Molly could tell that he really wanted them. She listened as he stood there crying to Saul.
“You take them on home to your family, Mathew. Those kids of yours will have themselves a nice treat, and that wife of yours, she might bake you a pie or two from them.” He asked him how much he wanted. “You know better than to ask me that. When a man gives you a gift you take it. And like I told you, you want to come over and help out tomorrow, you bring them kids of yours. Molly there, she’ll enjoy getting dirty with them.”
She knew that the Bishops didn’t have much money. They didn’t act like it, but she’d seen the bills that were past due when Sippy brought them in from the mailbox. Molly hadn’t been snooping, but she just happened to see them. There were four of them this morning. Molly had a feeling that there would be more later. Yet Saul was giving away apples.
“Mr. Little doesn’t have anything. His wife has been very ill for a long time, and sometimes he can’t work like he should. So he lost his job.” She nodded at Dwayne, another son of Saul’s, when he told her that. She asked him about money. “Sometimes when you have a lot, like we do when it comes to food, you share it with someone else who might not have anything to feed their family. You should remember, Molly, that you never know what sort of situation that another person is in, so being nice and sharing is a good thing. Also, it makes Mr. Little feel better that my dad is allowing him to come here and work them off. But even if he doesn’t work, Dad won’t care a bit that he took the apples. Like he said, the kids will get a treat.”
“You guys, you don’t care that he gave away the apples that you picked either, do you?” Dwayne told her no, it made them feel good that their family could help someone in need. “You’re all very nice, did you know that? I know some kids’ parents from school that would never do that. Not even if they were dying from not having any food.”
The van came back an hour later and a lady got out with Mr. Little. She was sickly and weak; Mrs. Little could barely walk to where Saul was. Mr. Little went back to his van and brought a big bag and handed to Saul. Then after they hugged again, Sippy came out with a bag and handed it to them. It looked like more food.
After they left a second time, lunch was called for them to come in and eat. Molly didn’t know if she could do much more picking. She was about to bake in the clothing that she had on. But she didn’t say a word. Molly was going to be as tough as the guys and pick until she dropped.
“Molly, Ms. Little sent you over some clothes that her kids have outgrown. After you eat, you try them on, and if they need taken in a little or something, I’ll do that for you. No sense in burning up when you don’t have to.”
Lunch was as big as dinner had been the night before. Molly
had it in her head to help clean up, but she was nearly falling asleep in her chair when pie was served. She didn’t remember being carried up to Sawyer’s bed, but she woke up feeling like she’d been sleeping on a cloud. His bed was much nicer than hers was.
There were not only shirts with short sleeves in the bag, but shorts too. They all fit her. And the tennis shoes were the most wonderful things she’d ever put on her feet, she thought after wearing those boots all morning. Molly danced around the kitchen when she had everything on to go back outside, and she was as excited about picking again as she’d been about coming here.
Two children on bikes came over about the time they were going to pick the grapes. She’d never had a bike, didn’t even know how to ride one, so she was envious of the boy and the girl that were on them. Saul called her over and introduced her to the kids.
“This here is Todd Little, and that’s his sister Jane. They came over to hang out with you for a little while.” She asked about the grapes. “Ah, you go on now. And tomorrow I’ll have Sawyer dig out one of those bikes that they had when they were kids. Do you know how to ride one?” Molly said no. “Then we’ll work on that too. All right then.”
Molly wasn’t really shy, but she didn’t know these kids, and her heart hurt for them. She knew that their momma was dying. Molly didn’t know what she’d do if her mom were to die. When Jane took her hand into hers, Molly felt like she could like these children. They were nothing more than a girl and a boy that had come to play with her.
Jane wanted to see the kittens, and Molly felt great that she was able to show the little furballs to them. They were so adorable, and they’d only just gotten their eyes open. It occurred to her to ask about human eyes, and if hers had been open when she was born, but left that question to ask Sawyer. He seemed to know a lot about everything.
“You want me to teach you how to ride a bike? I can. It might get your knees a little banged up until you get used to it, but I sure can teach you.” She asked Todd if it was hard. “Nah, not too hard. Like I said, you might get yourself banged up a bit, but it’ll heal soon enough.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon playing and teaching her how to ride a bike. Molly had to use Jane’s bike, as it was smaller than Todd’s, but after what seemed forever, she could pedal it round the driveway without falling over.
“You sure did take a long time. But after you got it going, you did all right.” Molly thanked Jane and Todd for all their help. “Will Mrs. Bishop be upset with you about being all banged up like you are?”
“I don’t think so. I have to go home tomorrow. My GGMa, she’ll call them badges of honor because I learned something by getting them.” He asked what GGMa was. “She’s my great grandma. I have a regular grandma, but she wants me to call her Ms. Addington. I sometimes forget, but that’s what she says.”
“Is your momma getting better? Mine isn’t. The doc told us that she was only going to be around for a few more weeks.” Molly told Todd that she was sorry. “Me too. She’s a good person, but we didn’t have any money for insurance, so she didn’t get to go to the doctor when she should have.”
“I’m very sorry. If I could help you, I would.” Jane said that she had helped them today by playing with them. “I’m glad that you came over. I don’t get to play all that much with kids my own age. They’re all snobby.”
“All kids are snobby to us when they find out that we’re the Littles. But you have them pull out that bike for you this week, and I’ll see to it for you if they don’t have time.” She thanked them both. “You’re a good person, Molly. I’m so glad that we got to hang out with you today.”
As they rode off, she thought that she’d made herself some very good friends. They were in need, and when her mom woke up, she was going to ask her if she could help them out with something. She didn’t have any idea what that might be, but she’d ask.
Walking back to the house, now that she wasn’t hanging out with her friends anymore, she felt every bump and cut on her body. She was trying really hard to be brave about it, but Molly thought that learning to ride a bike was much harder than picking apples. But it sure had been fun.
Sippy met her at the door and asked her if she was feeling all right. Nodding, she told her that she was only a little banged up. But she could ride a bike now.
“Well, if you ask me, I think it was well worth all those cuts, don’t you?” She nodded, but could feel the pain coming on quicker now. “How about I run you a bath and you soak some of that soreness away? That way, when you get up tomorrow, you won’t be nearly as sore. All right?”
Molly wrapped her arms around Sippy. Other than her GGMa and mom, she was the nicest person to her. When the tears started to fall, Sippy picked her up and held Molly tightly in her arms. It was one of the best hugs that she’d gotten in a very long time.
Chapter 4
Holly had to hide a smile every time she looked at little Molly. She knew that she was sore, the way she got up and down, but the kid was being very grown up about it. There were a couple of Band-Aids on some of the larger places where her skin had been scraped off, but she had had fun, and to Holly, that was all that really mattered. Merriam, however, was a different matter altogether.
“I should sue those people for what they did to you. Molly, you do know that you’re going to be scarred for life now? Just look at you.” Molly told her that she’d had fun. “Fun is for poor children. You’re wealthy, not some poor fool that can’t hold down a job. When your mother dies, you’re going to be living with me. And if I don’t disown—”
“That’s enough.” It was the first time that Sawyer had said anything to Merriam since the first day. “Just back off and leave the kid alone. She worked hard for those cuts, and you should be damned proud of her for doing something that she’d never done before. And if you bring up her mother passing again, I will take care that you’ve got an early grave for yourself.”
Molly went and sat on Sawyer’s lap. Holly watched the two of them together, their heads close so that they could talk. Holly looked over at Merriam. Her mouth was so pinched that she looked like she’d sucked on an all-day lemon. Roger joined them with a bottle of water for his wife and a glass of tea for her. Sawyer and Molly had declined, as they’d eaten on the way into the hospital. Merriam wasted no time in putting blame where she thought it should be.
“That monster threatened me. I will not allow him to speak to me in such a manner. Take care of him, Roger, by throwing him out of this hospital.” Roger turned and looked at Sawyer, who sat Molly on the seat beside him and stood up. Holly hadn’t noticed how large Sawyer was until that moment. “Roger, he said that he was going to kill me. What sort of person says that to me? I’m an Addington, for heaven’s sake.”
“You threaten my wife?” Sawyer said that he had and he’d do it again. Then he told Roger what she’d said to Molly. Roger turned back to his wife. “You actually said that to her? That her mother was going to die? Christ, Merriam, I’ve put up with a lot from you over the years, but this is the worst yet. That’s our daughter, for fuck’s sake. Our granddaughter’s mother. Why would you say that to them?”
“So you’re just going to forget that he threatened me because I said something that we all know is true? Raven has been lingering in that coma for days now, and they’re not letting her die so that they can make her bill higher. Why, I’d not—”
“Shut the fuck up about my mom.” Holly started for Molly, thinking that she was too hurt to know what she was saying. “I’m not poor, because my mom works hard for her money. You can shove your money up your butt. My mom is going to live, and if she doesn’t, then I’d rather die with her than to step one foot into your house ever again.” Merriam drew back to slap her and Molly put her chin out. “Yes, hit me. You go ahead, and I’ll never speak to you again. Ever.”
The slap nearly knocked her back on her bottom, but it was Sawyer that pick
ed her up and held the sobbing little girl in his arms. When he looked at Roger, Holly was almost afraid of what he was going to say to her son.
“You take her home. I think everyone is a little stressed out and needs a break.” Roger nodded, and Merriam said that she wasn’t going anywhere, her daughter was hurt. “You get your ass out of here right now before I call the police. You assaulted my stepdaughter, and I’ll sue you for every penny you have.”
Merriam was still screaming about how Molly had deserved it as Roger dragged her to the elevator. Sawyer held onto Molly, patting her back as he looked at Holly. There was something there—anger, she’d bet, but embarrassment as well.
“I’m sorry that I caused this. I should have held onto my temper better.” Holly told him that she was proud of him. “I’m not. I angered Raven’s parents, and that’s not going to get any of us off on the right foot.”
“You’re going to mate with Raven then.” He said that he really had no choice. “Yes you do, son. She’s never met you, and as far as I know, the only time you’ve seen her is when you were at her side that night.”
“I’ve fallen in love.” She asked if it was with Molly. “Yes. My family, they figured out what Raven and Molly were to me. They have already taken her to their hearts just like she’s already my daughter.”
Molly looked at Sawyer and asked him if that was true, that he was going to have Raven as his mate. He told her that it would be up to her mother.
“Mom will love you as much as I do. And you have a wonderful family.” Molly was set back down on the floor, and she went to her grandma. “We picked apples. Bushels and bushels of them. I learned how to ride a bike. I have two new friends that I like. Their momma is dying of cancer, so they can be really sad sometimes. But they come play with me so they can forget about it for a little while.”
“Mr. Bishop, you have a phone call.” He started toward the nursing station just knowing that he was going to be arrested. It would be his luck to stand up to a bully and be called one himself. Picking up the phone, he said his name.
Sawyer Page 4
