Luke stood on the steps, his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, watching. Aggie hardly had the van turned off before her door opened and he pulled her from the seat. “Are you ok?”
“Better now, I think,” she whispered.
“I’ve been going crazy wondering if I should have insisted that either Tina or I go with you whether you wanted us or not. We could have stayed in the van.”
“Wanted? Of course I wanted you guys.” She swallowed hard. “It was horrible and funny and horrible all over again.”
“Funny?” He leaned back to see her expression as if it would confirm her utter mental collapse.
“Well, there was the bit about the snowball fight…”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Would I kid about a snowball fight over their parents’ grave?”
“Aunt Aggie, can we change?”
She tore her eyes from Luke and saw her little clan of red-eyed, sniffling children and shooed them toward the house. “Definitely. Change and wash your faces.” To Luke she asked, “What have you been doing today?”
“Something I hope you won’t hate me for…”
“Hate you? Why?”
“Well… just remember that it was supposed to help keep your mind off things, ok?”
“If you got us another dog, or another cat, or some other animal…”
“No animals. I promise.” Luke hesitated. “Well, actually…”
“Luke!”
“Come inside.”
The mysteriousness of his actions seemed bizarre, but there was no option. She must go. Once she stepped inside the door, her jaw dropped. “But Tina’s birthday isn’t until tomorrow.”
“We thought today would be a good—”
“Wait—” Aggie interrupted. “It’s your birthday too?”
“Yep. Tomorrow.”
“How did I not know when your birthday is?”
“I’m so happy! A party!” Lorna seemed beside herself with excitement. “It doesn’t have to be a bad day anymore.”
“Go change. People will be arriving soon.”
“I don’t need—” She stopped mid-sentence. Her cold wet legs told her she did need to change, and soon. “I’ll be down in a few.”
The excited chatter of the children warmed her heart as Aggie hurried past their floor and up to her room. Not for the first time that day, much less ever, Aggie thanked the Lord for her little sanctuary at the top of the house. A fire in the grate warmed more than her room. “Lord, he’s too good to me.”
She stepped into the bathroom and stared into the mirror, looking for something but unsure of what. The face looking back at her didn’t seem familiar at all. It was harsh, empty, cold. The hair tie was the first to go. With her hair down and less severe looking, she felt more normal. How strange when just months earlier it was her usual style. How had Luke ever seen her as anything but a snippy looking… something? Aggie couldn’t even think of the word.
Several handfuls of water later, Aggie’s eyes seemed less red and puffy. Her closet, thanks to Tina’s obsession with shopping lately, was full of options she’d never had a chance to wear. “She’s buying for my honeymoon!”
“Of course I am! You can’t go wearing the stuff you’ve worn for over a year!”
“Happy birthday!”
“Luke is worried.”
Aggie pointed to the clothes. “I’m overwhelmed. Pick.” Without hesitation, Tina pulled an outfit from the rod and shooed her into the bathroom.
“I really should run down and tell him you’re ok.”
“Wait!” Aggie stared at the clothes in her hands. “How do we know these clothes will work for the honeymoon? I don’t know where we’re going!”
“What?”
“I don’t know where we’re going. This could be all wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t—”
“Put ‘em on. No matter where you’re going, that outfit screams Aggie. Meanwhile, I’m going to go find out where you’re going.”
“What if— aaaand she’s gone, isn’t she?” Aggie waited a few seconds and peeked out the door. “Yep, sure is.”
The outfit was perfect and her hair definitely looked better, but still she seemed a little pale. A bag of cosmetics, reserved to ensure wedding pictures looked top-notch, taunted her from her vanity drawer, but she shut it quickly. She’d just end up with streaky mascara and blotchy cheeks if she did.
Tina burst through the door. “Oh, this is exciting. Most of your clothes will work, but we’re going to have to get you some jeans or something.”
“What?”
“He got you a cabin in Colorado.”
“Skiing?” she whimpered.
“Nope. Just a nice cabin with lots of snow, but close enough to a town to give you something to do if you get bored.”
“Do not laugh,” Aggie ordered, seconds before she snickered.
“Hypocrite.”
“That’s me.”
Tina pointed to the mantel. “I think you were supposed to look up there. I’m going. Someone else wants to come in.”
“Wait. Jeans. Don’t. I told Vannie—”
“For two weeks out of the years you live with her, you can have jeans if you need them. Even Allie would have let her put them on to go skiing or whatever.”
“Maybe under a skirt… Allie was pretty picky about stuff like that.”
“Ask Luke what he thinks. I think he’ll be unlikely to want to go exploring if he’s worried about how warm you are.”
“Laura Ingalls—”
“Wore about six petticoats, skirts to the ground, and itchy wool flannel underwear.”
“Point taken.”
Tina grinned. “Good. Oh, and I put my birthday present on the table. I thought you’d want to know so that you didn’t go nuts looking for what isn’t there.”
“How do you do that? You always know exactly what I got you and where I’ve hidden it!”
A knock interrupted them, and Luke’s head peeked in through the door. “Tina, William is down there being smothered by children and disappointed that someone else isn’t doing that smothering…”
“Then he’ll have to be disappointed because he’s exactly the kind of man who would lose interest if I did too much smothering too soon.”
Laughing, Aggie shook her head. “It scares me not only how much she knows about most men but how accurate she is.”
“Don’t you know it,” Tina said as she left the room.
Luke kicked the door open all the way before he stepped any further in the room. “Sorry about the honeymoon. I didn’t realize I hadn’t told you.”
“We’ve been busy. I didn’t realize I didn’t know until it dawned on me why Tina was buying me all these new outfits.”
“Is that one?”
She smoothed the skirt and went to grab her favorite flats. “Yep.”
“I approve.”
“If that’s meant to be a compliment, then I thank you—for one of us anyway.”
“For one of you?” Luke shook his head in confusion. “I’m lost.”
“Well, either thank you from Tina because you think she has good taste in clothing, or thank you from me because you think I look nice in the clothing. Works either way.”
“How about both?”
“Speaking of clothing,” Aggie said as she went to hang her wet things over the shower curtain, “Tina suggested getting me a couple of pairs of jeans for Colorado.”
“Ok… any reason you should or shouldn’t?”
“I told Vannie that I wouldn’t wear pants as long as they were in our house. That if I was going to require them to stick to Allie’s rules, then I’d do it with them. Remember?”
“Ok then, no jeans. Not a problem.”
“Think I’ll be warm enough on a hike?”
“I’ll get Mom to take care of it. How’s that? She always wore skirts when we went out in winter and I don’t remember her getting cold.” He pointed to the mantel. “Off topic, but it is Valentine
’s Day, so I thought…”
Already feeling terrible that they were celebrating his birthday and she had no idea of any kind of gift, the little box on the mantel just made her feel worse. “I wish I’d known—”
“C’mon, Mibs. I’ve had that for three weeks now and it’s driving me nuts.”
“I don’t even have a card for you for Valentine’s Day,” she admitted. “I just didn’t—”
“Are you going to open it or not?”
Aggie tore the paper from the package and laid it on the mantel. She lifted the lid and smiled at the little pendant that hung from a leather string. “Marbles. You found my marbles!”
“Funny. The smaller ones are clay mibs and the middle is agate—blue lace.”
“Where—”
“Mom found a gal on the internet who makes all kinds of jewelry. She arranged it for me.”
“It matches my outfit.”
“Another reason I approve of the outfit then.”
Aggie hooked the necklace and presented herself for inspection. “What do you think? How long before Ian tries to eat them?”
“It’s going to end up hidden in your sweater, isn’t it?” The exaggerated sigh was nearly as funny as the forced ruefulness Luke tried to manufacture on his face.
“Looks like it’ll be like my messenger name—mibs are only for your eyes.”
“I’ll take that. Let’s go.”
Libby says: I’m home!
Aggie says: Yay! Ok, we’ve got a few things I need to bug you about.
Libby says: Bug away. I would say “bug off” for amusement’s sake, but that makes it sound like I want you to go away.
Aggie says: Thanks for your help with my necklace, by the way. It’s perfect.
Libby says: I tried to talk him into matching earrings, but he didn’t like any of the marbles. They didn’t match well enough and he insisted that there is only one Aggie so we couldn’t go that route.
Aggie says: Silly man.
Libby says: So, I am suspecting that you want birthday gift ideas.
Aggie says: Exactly!
Libby says: I expected this and have come prepared. Be impressed.
Aggie says: Most impressed, of course.
Libby says: First idea. Take him to that place in the mall where they do portraits in an hour. Get engagement pictures done so he has one for his wallet. The only picture he has of you is folded oddly and crammed in that thing. It’s not even the most flattering picture, but don’t tell him I said that.
Aggie says: I’m afraid to ask.
Libby says: Your birthday. Let’s just say that it’s good that restaurants usually have no flies.
Aggie says: Ok, that’s the leader. What are the others?
Libby says: Gift certificate to some place in the city—kind of a forced date for you guys after you get back.
Aggie says: Ok, that works too. Next?
Libby says: An official Milliken-Stuart-Sullivan family Bible.
Aggie says: Oh, like for writing marriage, births etc. Good idea. I think I’ll save that for wedding and do the other two. One for birthday, one for my missed Valentine’s Day.
Libby says: Well, you don’t have to do both.
Aggie says: No, but now I have an excuse to.
Aggie says: You know what amazes me?
Libby says: Nope. Sure don’t.
Aggie says: He loves me. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing!
Libby says: You’re going to laugh.
Aggie says: Why?
Libby says: Last night when we were wrapping your gift, my Luke said the same thing. “She loves me, mom! Isn’t that just the most amazing thing?”
Aggie says: You know, when I took on these kids, I did it with the firm conviction that no man was going to look twice at a twenty-two year old with eight kids… or a twenty-six year old… or a thirty-nine year old…
Libby says: And yet within months you had two men asking you to marry them.
Aggie says: Yeah, but pity proposals don’t count in my book.
Aggie says: I wasn’t really upset about it either—the not marrying part, not the proposal from William. That one ticked me off.
Libby says: Rightfully so.
Aggie says: I just took it as God’s direction for my life. Now I’m trying to imagine life without Luke and I can’t.
Libby says: I think that’s how it always works, but in your case, it’s magnified a bit.
Aggie says: Probably.
Aggie says: Did Luke mention the Colorado issue?
Libby says: Yes. I’ve got you covered—so to speak.
Aggie says: Oh, thank you. I think it’d be best for Vannie anyway.
Libby says: Luke agreed.
Aggie says: Did he? He didn’t say. I mean, he didn’t act like it bothered him either way, but I wondered if he thought it was another silly promise.
Libby says: Not at all.
Aggie says: Oh my!
Libby says: What?
Aggie says: I wonder what the groundskeeper at the cemetery is going to think when the snow melts and he finds a hammer lying around the graves.
Libby says: A hammer?
Aggie says: Yeah. I brought one for the urn—to drive in the stake. I think we forgot it after the snowball fight.
Libby says: Well, he’ll have something to tell the wife and kids that night, eh?
Aggie says: Can you imagine the things he might wonder? Especially depending on where Tavish dropped it. It could be far enough not to be on Stuart “ploterty.”
Libby says: Oh, that was bad. You should go to bed. You’re getting punchy.
Aggie says: Did you see William and Tina?
Libby says: Yes. I thought I was going to die laughing when he pulled out that whoopee cushion. He looked so confused.
Aggie says: Contrast that with the way he looks at her when he thinks no one is looking.
Libby says: I told Luke that if he ever figures out what the rest of us
have, he’s going to fall hard and fast.
Aggie says: Let’s hope he doesn’t realize he’s done that until it’s too late. He won’t handle not being in control very well.
Libby says: It’ll be good for him.
Aggie says: There’s the first knock of the night. I expect more. Gotta go.
Libby says: I’ll be praying for you.
Aggie says: Thanks. Night.
Chapter Nineteen
Showers of Something
Saturday, February 21st
In her red sweater and black skirt, Aggie felt quite out of place. Normally, she wouldn’t have noticed, but upon entering the church fellowship hall, it was impossible not to see that everyone else, including Vannie and Tina, were all wearing blue. “Did I miss a memo about dress code?”
“Nope. We wanted you to stand out just like the bride does on her wedding day,” Myra Vaughn assured her.
Tina’s smirk behind Myra nearly choked Aggie, but she managed to keep composed long enough to hang her purse with her coat and follow the group to the long table full of food. A plate was thrust into her hand—by whom she couldn’t say. “I take it we’re hungry?”
“Yes! We all wanted to be here before you, so we came half an hour early.”
“And I’m ten minutes late. Dead battery.”
“Hey, it was worth it. Your expression!” Tina giggled and elbowed Mrs. Dyke. “Wasn’t it hilarious?”
“I’ll get you for that. I’m probably going to lose some game because of it.”
As they reached the end of the line, Tina whispered, “They all wrote the recipes for the dish they brought and put them in the album there. One lady suggested everyone copy their recipe a couple dozen times so that everyone else could take one if they liked the dish. She was hoping to convince Tilly Vernon to reconsider her peanut butter tuna bake as a potluck offering.”
“It’s always the first thing gone…”
Tina giggled. “I found out the secret of that. It appears that the ladies all put a la
rge helping on their plate and scoop into the trash immediately. They take turns distracting her. Our gal with the brilliant idea seems a bit tired of the charade.”
“Well, it does seem dishonest…”
As a woman passed, Tina stopped her. “Oh, Tilly! Thank you for bringing the punch. I can’t believe I forgot something so basic!”
The woman beamed. “I was happy to. I’ve always wanted to try this recipe.”
Aggie nearly choked at Tina’s half-suppressed look of horror that she could only hope no one but she recognized. “Oh, what kind is it?”
“It has raspberry sherbet, raspberries, lemon-lime soda, coconut milk…” Tilly fumbled. “Well, there was something else. Also, I had to make the coconut milk myself. The stuff in the container didn’t have any coconut flavor at all! That was what took so long. I didn’t have time to make my casserole, but Tina said we’d have enough food without it.”
“Tina is a master at stuff like that.” In her peripheral vision, Aggie watched as Tina crept to the punch table, ready to knock the bowl off if necessary, and take a sip. “Well, if Tina’s expression is any indication, your work was well worth it.”
Beaming, Tilly hurried to hear from Tina herself just how lip-smacking good the drink really was. Aggie’s eyes scanned the room, trying to see who all had come. Several ladies from Allie’s church were there, and according to Vannie, the ladies who had been prepared to take the children if she had declined were among them. Luke’s aunts and sisters waved energetically from one corner, beckoning her to join them.
She hurried to Libby’s side and said, “Save me a seat. I’ll sit with you all once I’m done eating, but I should try to visit with Allie’s friends for a few minutes at least. I can’t believe that Tina invited them and that they came!”
Tina called the room to order the minute the last fork dropped on its plate. “We have a few games to play. I know everyone says they hate them, but if they were really horrible, I don’t think they’d still be a part of showers or have websites devoted to ensuring their continued use! And, play we shall!”
Two teams were formed to design toilet paper wedding gowns on Aggie and Tina. With Libby on Tina’s team, it was no surprise to Aggie when a full petticoat was constructed before they ever attempted to layer a skirt onto her dress. Aggie’s, by comparison, looked like a ghost’s bride—and a tatty one at that. “Nice crinoline there, Libby!”
Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) Page 28
