Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance)

by Havig, Chautona

  Cari’s voice wavered slightly. “But it’s Laiwd’s pawty.”

  “And that is a special thing, but little girls and keeping their hearts from storing ugliness in them are much more important.”

  She tried a new tactic. “But Laiwd didn’t do anyfing wong!”

  “Did Cari do anything wrong?”

  “No!” The defiance returned almost frighteningly quickly.

  “I’m afraid rooting out that lie is more important than Laird’s camping and party.” Luke’s voice never wavered.

  Aggie wanted to listen to the conversation but knew he’d urged her to cut the cake. Perhaps there was more to it than simply moving along with the party. Maybe he had a plan. With a sigh, she opened the living room door and hurried over to the table where the cake sat in a place of honor.

  Libby’s cake, decorated simply in her rush for time that morning, was missing a swipe of frosting, and Aggie chose to ignore it. Cari couldn’t see that she’d noticed, and if Aggie said anything, none of them were going to get any sleep tonight. “We’re going to sing Happy Birthday. I’ll save you guys some cake for when you’re done. Cari can have hers tomorrow if she waits past bed time.”

  “Sing extra loud for me,” Luke insisted. He turned back to Cari and smiled. “So, do you have anything to tell me?”

  “Laiwd should have his pawty. It’s his biwfday.”

  “I agree. I hope you’ll give him and yourself the one gift that will help you both enjoy the rest of the day.”

  “I twied.” Her arms crossed again. “You didn’t wike it.”

  “I loved the gift, Cari. I always think it’s extra special when people give others something that is very personal. There’s nothing more personal than your favorite stuffed animal--”

  “How did you know--”

  “I felt the package.” Luke’s smile was weak and sad. “I just don’t like how you tried to give it. You tried to cheat in a game and deceive people to get a prize. That isn’t a nice way to give a gift.”

  “But I couldn’t find the ‘nother ones. Worna and me twied.” Tears formed.

  “I know.” Luke held out his arms and wrapped them around Cari as the little girl crawled in his lap. “It’s hard being the little girls in a big kid’s game, isn’t it?”

  “I wants to win.”

  “Would you have liked it if Vannie wrapped up some of her books or games and said they were the gifts, so she could win the prize?”

  “That’s not faiw!” As she said it, Cari burst into tears. “I want to win!”

  “Even if you cheat?”

  A sniffle broke the silence around them. “Noooo...”

  “What you did was wrong-- not because you gave a gift, but because you tried to steal a prize with a gift and a lie.”

  “That’s bad.” The adamant defiance was now replaced with certain insistence.

  “It is bad. I’m glad you understand now.”

  Wiping away her tears, Cari jumped from his lap. Giving him a big hug, she grinned. “I unnerstood befow. I just don’t wike getting in twouble. I’m always in twouble.” Her matter-of-fact tone dwindled to a sigh as she confessed her propensity to misbehavior.

  “Well, little troublemaker, let’s go have cake and sing for Laird again.”

  “I can have cake?” Cari’s eyes lit up excitedly.

  “Of course. You didn’t lie about the cake, or did you?”

  “Well… I didn’t lie ‘zactly. But--” The temptation to hide her taste-testing was written all over the child’s face.

  “When you confess what you do wrong, you usually are in less trouble-- it’s when you try to hide it or make it a habit that adults have to try to teach you somehow not to do it again.” Even as he spoke, Luke was sure the child wouldn’t understand. He was trying to rephrase when Cari’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “Does that mean if I tell you I ate some fwosting fwom Laiwd’s cake that I won’t get in twouble?”

  “I think, this time anyway, that’s exactly what it means.”

  “I’m sowwy, Luke.”

  “I know, honey. Let’s go eat cake and forget about trouble for tonight.”

  The relief on Aggie’s face was mirrored in Luke’s eyes. He hadn’t bargained for nearly an hour of standoff between Cari and himself. As he helped himself to a piece of cake, he read the dread she’d felt and realized that she knew it could have been even longer. “Does she do that often?”

  “Not if I can help it. I try to head her off at the pass, so she can’t put me there. I almost never win once we get to that point.”

  “That’s why she does it.”

  “I don’t have an hour or two every day, three or four times a day, to focus just on Cari and her stubbornness!”

  “You don’t have the time not to. Multiply her faults now by ten, and that is Cari as a teenager. Do you want her pretending to be going to a school field trip while she sneaks out to party with her friends? Those things start at age three when a mom lets them get away with pretending that they didn’t mean to knock the eggs off the counter, even though the mom watched them deliberately push them off.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that one of your sisters had a mishap with some eggs?”

  “Not them, me. Was mad at Mom, thought she wasn’t looking, and pushed. I tried to convince her that it was an accident. Three hours and a sore bottom later, I confessed, and Mom told me what happens if you don’t stop wrong behavior when it starts. I’ve never forgotten it.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Around four or so. I don’t think I was any younger, but I know I wasn’t in school yet.”

  “Well, I’m glad you were here. I’d have taken it to be a cute thing for her to do. I didn’t think of it as cheating.”

  “You also missed that she challenged you to defy her.” Luke hated to mention it, but it was important.

  “She did?”

  “Yep. But, I’d say we’ve dealt with enough child-training for one night. How about I start the boys pitching the tent before it gets too much darker?”

  Aggie decided to stay inside as the guys set up Luke’s tent and dug a hole for the hibachi in the gravel driveway nearby. Between teeth checks, hair brushing, and goodnight kisses and stories, she watched as the campers sat around the fire, roasting marshmallows and singing the silly add-on songs that she hadn’t sung since junior high camp. She’d offered to play a game with Vannie, but the girl had shaken her head and insisted she was too tired.

  Just as she punched on the laptop’s power button, Aggie heard tires crunch in the driveway. She met William at the door, surprised both to see him, and that they hadn’t seen him earlier. He’d been over every day that week, but today he hadn’t even called. “Hey, William!” She stepped outside and sniffed the air, catching the sweet scent of semi-burned marshmallows.

  William lowered himself onto a porch step and rested his arms on his knees. With a jerk of his head in the direction of the tent, he sighed. “Mrs. Dyke saw the flames and decided that it was my duty to check it out. She’s that way about things. I’m a one man volunteer fire department, paramedic, handyman, and law enforcer all wrapped up in one oversized package.” A wink softened his words.

  “She really thought a fire was over here?” Aggie glanced at the flames that barely rose a foot over the ground and shrugged. It seemed safe enough to her--especially half-buried in gravel.

  “They lived over there when the first house burned over fifty years ago. Since then, she’s been paranoid about fire. I’d say terrified of it too.”

  Aggie nodded. As they sat and talked, Luke watched from his seat by the fire. He never could decide what it was about William that made him feel so uneasy. Zeke’s snores brought his attention back to the boys, and Luke decided that his comfort, or lack thereof, was most likely due to unfamiliarity. Regardless, the boys were trying to tell a continuing story, and it was nearly Luke’s turn. There was no time for speculation about local law enforcement officers.

&n
bsp; After a short conversation about the readiness of the house for painting, William stood and assured Aggie he’d let Mrs. Dyke know all was well on the Milliken-Stuart home front. She watched him tiptoe to the now-silent tent and poke his head in. Seconds later, a group of wild boys burst from the flaps, ready to pursue their invader. They chased him to his car, but the doors were shut and locked before the posse reached him. Laughing, William carefully backed out of the driveway and drove over to appease a curious and slightly frightened Mrs. Dyke.

  Aggie smiled. It was wonderful to see William loosen up and have a little fun. As she climbed into bed a while later, Aggie was sorry she hadn’t thought to invite him to stay. “Next time, Aggie. You can wait until next time.”

  Aggie says: Mornin’ Tina!!

  Tina says: Missed you last night.

  Aggie says: They had a camp out for Laird’s birthday on the front lawn.

  Tina says: Who’s they?

  Aggie says: Luke, Zeke, Laird, Tavish and Luke’s nephew Justus. He’s such a cutie!

  Tina says: Luke or Justus?

  Aggie says: Justus you goof!

  Tina says: Gotta make sure you answer quickly enough.

  Aggie says: Aaaaaaahhhhhh, now I know how to protect myself.

  Tina says: So, how come William wasn’t there?

  Aggie says: Don’t know. He just didn’t show at all yesterday. He must have been busy. Came by last night though. I saw an unusual side to him last night, though.

  Tina says: Oh?

  Aggie says: As he was leaving, he peeked into the tent and somehow got the boys to chase him to his car. It was so lighthearted and goofy. Not like the serious guy he keeps in the forefront.

  Tina says: Hmm, what’s he thinking? I can’t wait to meet these guys!

  Aggie says: I just can’t wait for you to get here.

  Tina says: We’re going to shake up these kids and give them some fun before school starts again.

  Aggie says: Sounds fun! My troop is back inside. It started raining a few minutes ago and their breakfast looks really soggy. Guess I’ll go make pancakes. I’ve gotten good at them. Did I tell you?

  Tina says: No, but I am glad you can cook something!

  Aggie says: Very funny!! Off to make blueberry pancakes… too bad you’re not here to eat them.

  Tina says: I’ll take a “rain check.” hee hee

  Aggie says: ROFLOL… I’ll do it. Bye!

  Tina says: Bye!

  Chapter 20

  Enter: Murphy

  Friday, July 12th

  After a week of scraping, sanding, and painting the massive house, William and Aggie were ready to paint the trim. William focused on the eaves and window trim, while Aggie laid out shutters over sawhorses and painted them the glossy black she’d chosen. Occasionally, one of them would take a swipe at the other as they worked. William wasn’t used to the kind of playful silliness that Aggie displayed, but her antics seemed to inspire him. Naturally, Aggie took the first swipe at the back of William’s knee as he walked past where she worked. Unwilling to let that slide without retaliation, William made a perfect x on the back of her t-shirt. All morning they dabbed at one another with their brushes, until they both were covered in black trim paint.

  With an impish glint in her eye, Aggie handed the paintbrush to Cari and motioned for the girl to swipe William’s ear. Giggling in delight, Cari tiptoed around the entire house and up the other side of the steps. Aggie thought the child was taking her role in the caper a bit too seriously, but she decided to let the child have her fun. With careful aim, Cari took a big swipe at William as he knelt to refill his paint tray and ran behind Aggie, thrusting the brush into her aunt’s hand before William could look their way.

  The result was bedlam. William reached up and felt the black paint on his ear, looked at Aggie with paintbrush in hand, and grinned. The usually stoic deputy thrust his index finger into the open can of paint, turned to her, and with slow deliberate strides, he advanced in her direction. Aggie took one look at the dripping finger and the determination in William’s eyes and ran. William was in hot pursuit. Although he was faster, she was able to dart and dodge much more easily. He began to think it wasn’t worth the exertion in the muggy heat, when Aggie foolishly darted behind a shed near the back of the property. It was apparent that she didn’t realize that the shed butted up against the fence on one side, and she was trapped. He caught her arm just as Aggie tried to climb over the fence. If she hadn’t been laughing as hard as she was, the look of abject terror on her face might have been alarming. Instead, she simply looked like a naughty elf.

  “I-- I-- I didn’t do it! Cari did it! Honestly!” Aggie pleaded as William pinned her arms behind her back and walked her back to the house.

  “If you didn’t do it, there was no reason to run, Aggie.” William’s deep voice was smothered with amusement.

  “But you were coming at me! What was I supposed to do, wait until you painted Mickey Mouse ears on me before I convinced you that it wasn’t my fault?” Aggie gave an unexpected wrench and broke free. Darting around the house, the fleeing woman didn’t even think to check if William was pursuing her.

  William ran the opposite direction. His side of the house was shorter, and he knew exactly where Aggie would run. He pressed himself against the side of the house and waited. Looking at his finger, William realized that the paint was dry and there was no way he could get her with it. Spying Cari, he motioned for her to bring him a paintbrush. The little girl grinned and darted across the porch for it. William thrust his finger deep into the bristles and recoated his finger. Hearing Aggie’s footfalls and heavy breathing, William timed his catch perfectly. As Aggie darted around the corner, William reached out and briefly pulled Aggie against him. With his wet finger, he put a very large black blob of paint on her nose then released her.

  Aggie collapsed on the ground in laughter. William’s hearty guffaws rang across the yard and into Mrs. Dyke’s kitchen, where the older woman was baking more Snickerdoodles for “her boy.” The children giggled and made senseless jokes that amused everyone further. They combined the word black with everything imaginable until somehow even black grass was hilarious.

  William and Aggie cleaned up as much as possible before dragging their laughter-laden selves inside to make sandwiches for the children’s lunch. Aggie noticed a pile of rubbish near the base of the stairs and looked bemused. Winking at William, Aggie tiptoed to the door that led to the closet under the stairs and threw it open. There sat Tavish with a flashlight in one hand and a water bottle in the other. “Caught you! Now, it’s time to help the little guys go clean up.”

  Tavish grinned, put his book, flashlight, and water back in the far corner of the closet and climbed out. Giving William a wave, Tavish raced out the door, shouting it was time to come in and wash for lunch. Laughing at his antics, Aggie turned to William, her amusement with Tavish more than evident. The look of pain, horror, and fury on his face startled her.

  “William, what is the matter? What happened?” She watched him struggle to speak, then stared speechless as William opened the door and stormed out, letting it slam shut behind him. She took a step forward to follow and then jumped back again when William flung the door back open.

  “Aggie, I don’t know what you are thinking, locking that boy in there-- and to laugh about it! I don’t understand you!” He turned to push the door open again, but Aggie jumped forward and grabbed his arm.

  “Hey! Don’t just walk out like that! Why are you so angry? Tavish always reads under the stairs-- has for years from what I understand. What is wrong with it?” A range of indiscernible emotions flickered over William’s face like a movie projector in a theater. Aggie wasn’t used to seeing him show any emotion. Their date was the first time she’d seen anything but a calm, serious, and professional demeanor.

  “William? Come on, talk to me. I’m new to this parenting thing. Is it not safe? Is it too anti-social for him to do that? What?”

  William s
ighed. A look of utter dejection washed over him, and he looked at Aggie with pain-filled eyes. “Aggie, it’s just me. I have this hang up about it. I guess I’m not rational about the idea. Let the boy play, it won’t hurt him. Not with an aunt like you.”

  Releasing another deep sigh, William stepped toward Aggie again. With his thumb, he rubbed a bit of black from the corner of her eye and pushed her bangs away from her face. She could see the deep suffering in his eyes and wanted to comfort him. He wanted something from her, she could see it, but what it was, she couldn’t tell. His hand on her shoulder, William whispered in a voice filled with pain, “You’d never hurt anyone, would you, Aggie?”

  A lump that felt the size of Alaska filled her throat. Aggie wanted to qualify her response. Of course, she wouldn’t hurt anyone-- deliberately. Unable to share her heart, she shook her head and tried to make her eyes relay the truth she wanted to speak. Satisfied, William pushed the screen door and let himself outside again, closing it quietly behind him this time. She watched as he picked up a fresh paintbrush, opened the can of paint he’d been using, and went back to work painting the eaves. The raw pain that seemed to hold him captive slowly melted away as he worked, but Aggie still had one question. What prompted his outburst?

  Unease tried to invade her heart, but hungry children tramped into the kitchen asking for sandwiches, popsicles, and chips. Crumbs in the bottoms of four separate bags of chips removed chips from the menu, but she created an assembly line with mayonnaise, mustard, turkey slices, cheese slices, and a strip of lettuce, then slapped another piece of bread on top and cut them in half. The children began chanting in unison from the moment she opened the bread bag and stopped as she finished. At one hundred eighty-four, the tenth sandwich landed, cut diagonally, on the last paper plate.

  “You did it in one sixty-two the other day. You’re slowing down,” Laird teased.

  “William is here. That’s another sandwich.”

  “Luke was here that day. Same number. You’re schluffing off, as Dad used to say.” A quiver hovered in Laird’s voice.