Mavis motioned with her good hand. “Y’all got here just in time to help get the food on the table.”
When they’d all taken something and disappeared out of the kitchen, Mavis turned back to Retta. “No buts. Make up your mind and never look back. Now let’s get breakfast over with. These kids are probably antsy to get a fishin’ pole in their hands. I’ve got a picnic lunch all ready again. Me and Skip will be leavin’ right after breakfast. We’ve read the papers and signed them and we’re takin’ them back to the social worker today,” she said.
“Don’t you worry about a thing, Mavis. We’ll take care of everything.” Retta was glad to change the subject.
“I know you will. You could probably run this place with one hand tied behind your back,” Mavis declared.
“I hope you aren’t disappointed,” Cade said as the kids piled out of the back of the truck.
“About what?” Retta asked.
“This is only a small stream. Most of the time it’s dried up by this time of year but Levi was down here when we were looking for Benjy and he said that it’s running pretty good. Nice and clear right now so if the kids go wading after they get bored with fishing, it’s okay. I just hope you weren’t planning on reeling in a catfish the size of Moby Dick.” He grinned.
“It’ll be exciting to watch them. Not one of my girls has ever been fishing,” she said.
“Skip says it’s the same with the boys, except Benjy. Did Mavis tell you that they are signing the final papers today? Since they’d been foster parents before, it could be rushed through.”
She hugged herself and a smile covered her face. “He couldn’t have better parents than they will be, and they’ll watch after him even after he’s eighteen.”
“We all will.” Cade nodded. “I’m so glad he doesn’t have to go to another home before he moves in with them.”
“Me, too.” She opened the door the minute that Cade parked in a small spot that had been cleared from trees and underbrush. All eight kids beat a path straight for the water and stood there mesmerized, watching it move slowly with barely a ripple.
With a good running leap, Retta could have jumped over the stream. Cade was right—it could hardly be called a creek. But it would be a fun place to spend the morning outdoors with the kids.
“Okay, first thing is that you line up so I can spray you with bug repellent,” Cade called out. “Don’t want the whole lot of you whining from chiggers or mosquito bites.”
Retta stepped in behind them and when it was her turn, he asked, “You remember that old country song about checking you for ticks?”
She nodded. “Maybe I’d like to do the same for you.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” he said under his breath as he sprayed her arms and neck. “Just name the place and time.” And then he started singing the chorus of the Brad Paisley tune. The lyrics said that he’d like to see her in the moonlight and kiss her back in the sticks and that he’d like to check her for ticks.
“Shhh…the kids will hear you.” She giggled.
He whispered the lyrics that said the only thing that would be able to crawl all over her would be him. Her cheeks turned bright red when he sang that there were lots of places that might be hard to reach.
“Cade Maguire, that is enough,” she said.
Benjy ran back from the edge of the water. “When can we have a rod and reel?”
“Right now. You remember how to bait a hook with a worm?” Cade handed him the first one from the backseat.
Benjy nodded his head slowly. “Yes, you put a wiggly worm or a grasshopper on the hook so that it can’t get away and then you push down on the reel button and throw the line out into the water.”
“Okay, you carry this can of worms and Retta and I’ll bring the rest of the equipment,” he said. “Tell the kids to line up but not too close.”
When they’d given each of the kids a rod and reel, Cade brought out the worms. The boys watched him lace the first one on Benjy’s hook and then watched carefully as Cade showed them how to release the button on the reel to get the line out into the stream.
“Bet you can’t touch that worm,” Kirk said to Faith as he managed to get his hook baited.
“Boy, I could eat that worm and not bat an eye but I ain’t wastin’ good bait.” She picked up a worm, and twirled it around the hook, tossed the rod over her shoulder, released the button and the bobber danced out there about halfway. “You got anything else to say to me, Kirk?”
He executed a fine throw and his line landed downstream from hers by about eight feet. “I bet you can’t clean a fish if you catch it.”
“Be careful. Your motorcycle mouth is about to bite off more than your bicycle butt can back up,” she taunted.
“What’s that mean?” he asked.
“I think it means that you’re talkin’ bigger than you really are,” Alice said. “Retta, I can’t put a worm on my hook. I’m afraid I’ll hurt it. Will you do it for me?”
“Of course I will.” Retta picked up a worm and then helped Alice get the line into the water.
“Me too.” Sasha blushed. “It’s wiggling and it’s squishy.”
“That’s what draws the fish to it,” Benjy said. “It sits down there in the water and wiggles and I think it sings. Then the fish comes along and has a little nibble and we reel it in.”
“You are full of bull,” Nelson said.
“Nope, just muffins and oatmeal,” Benjy said, seriously. “It would be impossible to eat a whole bull. An Angus like Cade raises weighs over a thousand pounds. How could I be full of bull?”
Ivan looked into the can of worms and shivered. “I need help, Retta.”
Cade had spread out the quilts and put the cooler with the food in the middle of one of them. Then he set up a couple of chairs for himself and Retta and handed her a rod. “Still think you can catch more fish than me?”
“Unless one of those minnows has a mouth big enough to latch onto a hook, I don’t think any of us are catching fish,” she whispered as she sat down and leaned the rod next to her chair. “But watching them is more fun than really working on catching supper, which by the way is catfish that Mavis brought out of the freezer.”
He sat down beside her and did the same. “So what’s your secret to frying catfish?”
“Red cayenne pepper,” she said without pausing.
“Really?” he drawled.
“I won’t use too much since it’s kids but when…” She grinned.
“When what?”
“Daddy liked to fish and we always had a freezer full by the end of summer so my best friend, Tina, and I always did a fish fry at the boys’ dorm in the fall,” she said.
“You had different dorms?” he asked.
“Some of us. There was one girls’ dorm left when I was there. The others were coed,” she said. “But the boys had a bigger kitchen than ours, so we had a fish fry and they could have all they wanted for free, but we made them buy the beer that we brought in. So we laced the cornmeal pretty good with pepper. We made enough money to do our laundry all fall.”
“That’s evil,” he said.
“No, honey, that’s business.” She laughed. “Tonight I’ll just put a dash in to give it flavor. And we’ll have hush puppies and fried potatoes. Mavis left two big pans of sheet cake for dessert and told me to bring out the ice cream to go with it.”
“Sounds like we don’t even need to catch supper.”
She nodded. “But the kids do need this experience. With this and getting to put the first pictures in their scrapbooks, they’ll have a lot to talk about Sunday night when they write home.”
Cade stretched his long legs out toward the water and crossed his cowboy boots at the ankle. He tipped his hat to the back of his head and focused on the kids for a few seconds as Benjy warned them about watching their bobber. But Cade’s eyes kept wandering back to Retta. Dressed in skinny jeans, boots, and a knit shirt that hugged her body, she sure didn’t look anything like a high-
powered businesswoman.
“Mavis talk to you?” she asked.
“Yep,” he answered. “She have something to say to you?”
“Oh, yes, and she didn’t beat around the bush. She sounded a lot like my mother.” She grinned. “But I’m not complainin’. It just means she loves me. You going to stick around this afternoon for the scrapbooking process?”
“You bet. After I got back to the house last night, I printed over a hundred pictures. And that reminds me.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to snap away. “I need to take more pictures of the great fishin’ expedition. It’s hard to believe that half their time is already done, isn’t it?”
“Time flies when you’re havin’ fun,” she said, but he thought he heard a bit of wistfulness in her voice and hoped he was right.
And half of my time here is over too. I would have never believed that a simple little babysitting job would turn my world upside down.
The kids were “starving” a half an hour before lunchtime, so she and Cade got out the sandwiches, chips, and cold drinks.
“Okay, kids, time to load up now that you’ve had lunch in the wild. I think that you’re supposed to put pictures in your scrapbook this afternoon,” he said.
“But, Cade, can’t we just take off our shoes and wade in that water?” Ivan asked.
“Please,” Benjy begged.
“One hour and no fussin’ when I say it’s time to go home?” Cade asked.
“No fussin’.” Kirk crossed his heart with his finger.
“We’ll have to put off the scrapbook until evening,” Retta whispered.
“I think they’ll enjoy this experience enough to warrant that and I’m thinking of all the pictures I can take,” he said.
“Yay!” Nelson pumped his fist in the air.
All four boys dropped to the ground and yanked their shoes off but the girls were hesitant until Kirk goaded Faith. “Afraid a shark will come up out of the water and eat you?”
“No, I’m afraid that I’ll get your germs on my feet,” she retorted with a dirty look his way.
“Water will wash all of them away,” Benjy told her. “And Kirk takes a shower every night so there shouldn’t be germs on his feet.”
“There could be,” Faith argued.
While they argued Cade leaned close to Retta’s ear and whispered. “You want to wade?”
“Of course I do,” she answered as she kicked off her boots. “You joinin’ us?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, but I haven’t had my toes in this stream since me and Levi and Justin were kids so I can’t tell you how deep it really is.” He sat down on the grass, pulled off his boots and socks, and rolled up the legs of his jeans.
The water was warm when Retta stepped off the grassy bank into it. She took a couple of steps and it was only ankle deep so she took a couple more and looked back over her shoulder at the kids who were gingerly making their way to the middle of the narrow stream.
“This feels great,” Faith said. “Like a warm bath but—” Her feet went out from under her and she sat down with a splash, throwing water all over Kirk.
He started to laugh and she grabbed his leg, pulling him down beside her.
“I can’t swim,” he yelled.
“You don’t need to, dummy.” She laughed. “It’s only up to your waist when you are sitting down.”
“Oops, I’m slipping!” Alice eased down beside Faith. “Oh, this feels good. Look! There’s a minnow nibbling on my toenail polish.”
“Does it hurt?” Gabby joined them.
Retta walked back to the bank and sat down on the grass. Cade laughed the whole time he snapped pictures. She’d be willing to bet that he knew all along that one of them would slip and fall and the others would join. Well, that was something else they could talk about when they wrote home on Sunday for sure.
That man would make a great father. Her mother’s voice was in her head again. You need to take the job he’s offered you and see where this relationship goes.
“I’m afraid to, Mama,” she said softly.
Cade switched the phone around and took several shots of Retta without her knowing. She was a beautiful woman, even sitting there with all her makeup gone, her jeans rolled up to her knees, barefoot, and her cowboy hat tilted back on her head so she could see the kids splashing around in the water.
He scrolled through the photos and took a couple more, catching her expression of pure joy when Sasha finally sat down in the water and splashed Kirk and Benjy both. Then he got one of her giggling when Benjy sent a wave over Faith’s head, getting her face and hair both wet.
He didn’t even hear the four-wheeler coming down the path until Justin was already in the clearing.
“Hey, come join us.” He waved.
“I thought this was a fishing expedition not a swimming trip.” Justin grinned as he squatted down on the grassy area beside his brother. “Looks like y’all been wadin’ too. Can’t remember the last time we got in this stream.”
“Oh, come on,” Cade teased. “It was the summer you and Levi was fifteen and you talked those two girlfriends of yours into skinny-dippin’ with y’all.”
“How’d you know about that?” Justin chuckled. “Hello, Retta. Did you get your feet wet?”
“Yes, I did and don’t try to change the subject. I want to hear about this skinny-dippin’ business,” she answered.
“I’ll tell you what happened,” Cade said. “Mama sent me to hunt for Justin and Levi when they didn’t come home in time for supper. Guess the two of them had better things to do than come in for fried chicken.”
Retta giggled. “I’m glad these kids’ hormones haven’t kicked into high gear.”
“That’s part of the reason why we ask for this age,” Justin said with a sigh. “And now I am changing the subject. What are we going to do about Mavis retiring?”
“Hire Retta,” Cade answered simply.
“Whoa!” She threw up both palms. “That ain’t happenin’.”
Cade winked at Justin. “Help me out, brother. She knows the computer system and she’s lived and worked on a small spread in Oklahoma.”
“And she can cook,” Justin said. “At least she could stay through the summer until we slow down enough to interview some folks.”
“I’m sitting right here,” she said.
“Yes, you are,” Cade said with a smile.
Chapter Twenty-One
Saturday had been one of those days when everything went smoothly, which meant that the other shoe was dangling and waiting to fall. When darkness came she decided that maybe she was borrowing trouble from tomorrow as her mother used to tell her when she was in high school. It was one of those perfect nights when the humidity and weather were just right for the lightning bugs to be out in abundance.
“Look at all them,” Mavis said when the whole family had gathered on the ranch house porch that evening. “We used to catch them in fruit jars and pretend they were lanterns.”
“Can we do that?” Alice asked.
“You sure can. Justin, you come help me bring out some fruit jars.” When they brought them out, holes had been poked in the lids where the kids’ names were written in permanent ink. “Okay, here you go and when the evening is over and you set them free, you can keep the flat part of the lid for your scrapbooks.”
“You ever done this before?” Kirk asked Benjy.
“Nope. Lightning bugs taste awful. I never ate one but the book I read said that it was their protection so other things won’t eat them.” He removed the lid and went running out across the yard.
“I’m surprised they aren’t making bets as to who’ll catch the most,” Justin said.
“I’m just hoping they don’t damage a wing or snap off a tail or Levi will want to adopt the thing and nurse it back to health.” Cade chuckled.
“Oh, come on now,” Levi argued. “I’m not that bad.”
“Yep, you are,” Skip said.
“But w
e still love you,” Mavis told him. “Think y’all ought to help—never mind. Alice has got the hang of it and they’ll follow her lead.”
She’d captured a firefly in her hands then gently put it into the jar. The boys were running around with open jars, trying to scoop them up like butterflies in a net until they saw what she was doing. Then boys and girls alike stopped and followed Alice’s lead.
“Smart little critters.” Mavis laughed. “They’d never catch them by waving the jar around. I got to tell y’all, I feel younger just knowin’ that Benjy is comin’ to live with us. It’s been mighty quiet around the place since Levi left. Benjy’s aunt, the lady we met at the funeral, put in a good word for us. We’ll probably foster him for a year because the adoption stuff takes a while.”
Justin sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly. “Best news ever. None of you can imagine how happy that makes me. I was already trying to figure out ways that I could get him back here for a week maybe at Christmas. Now he’ll be in and out with Skip all the time,” he said.
“I got five and they’re all flashing,” Alice called out.
“Mine is the lights on a police car.” Ivan made the noise of a siren and ran around the yard, holding the jar on top of his head.
“Well, mine is a night-light,” Faith said. “Look, I can find my way to the kitchen for a midnight snack with it.”
“They’ll remember this night forever,” Mavis said.
“I wonder if they’ll catch them when they get home,” Cade asked.
“I doubt it,” Retta said. “I remember flies and definitely mosquitoes in Dallas, but I never saw a lightning bug in the city. Maybe I wasn’t in the right spot but—” She shrugged.
“I wouldn’t want to live there, then,” Cade said. “It can’t be a good place to live if there’s no lightning bugs. You should stay on here until we find someone to take on Mavis’s job.” Cade gazed right into her eyes.
“That would be a great idea,” Mavis said. “I won’t feel so bad about leavin’ if you’d stay on for a while, Retta. One of the reasons the social worker was agreeable was that we were both retired and we’d be home with him, since he’s a special needs child.”
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