For Keeps (Aggie's Inheritance) (40 page)

The man’s shoulders drooped, just for a second, before he straightened, erect, and met her gaze.
“
No, I didn’t. I wonder if you hear what I say or what you expect me to say. I remember telling you what a good job you’re doing with the kids. I remember acknowledging that you’d never hurt them. Did you remember
those
things too, or are you just fixated on me being the bad guy?
”

He turned, ignoring her attempt to get him to stay and talk, and left the house. His shoes thudded on the steps and the crunch of the gravel had never sounded louder to her ears.
“
Oh, Lord, now what have I done?
”

After staring down the drive for a few minutes, she turned, set Ian down, and began singing as she picked up stray articles of clothing, toys, and books that littered the living and dining rooms. Soon, she had a laundry basket full of things that needed to be put away and was singing to soothe her heart.
“
… are lightly spoken, bitt’rest thoughts are rashly stirred. Brightest links of life are broken by a single angry word…
”

Her eyes traveled heavenward.
“
Lord, I apologized. You’d think he’d understand at a time like this…
”

Tuesday, September 9
^th

Luke had to wait for an inspection on his income property, so he chose to spend Tuesday working on the basement. The flooring was nearly ready to install now that the drywall had been completely painted. The be
-
spotted children were all feeling the effects of cabin fever, so Aggie called the healthy children indoors to bake cookies in the kitchen, while the rest had an hour of sunshine and freedom to run. None of the children with the pox were quite as energetic as usual, but soon squeals and giggles erupted in the front yard.

Once the cookie sheets were covered in cookies, Aggie carried the bowl down to the basement.
“
Want some chocolate chip cookie dough before it’s all gone?
”

“
Thanks. Just a second.
”
He finished measuring a section of the floor and made a note of the measurement. As he turned to accept the bowl, a strange look came over his face.
“
Um, Mibs?
”

“
Hmm?
”

“
Better check a mirror.
”

Though she knew what his words meant, nothing could have prepared her for the sight she found in the little powder room mirror.
“
I look like I have acne!
”

“
It’s just a few spots. They’ll go away, and unlike acne, they don’t come back.
”
Luke’s words were anything but helpful.

“
Gee, thanks.
”
She rubbed the back of her neck, finding more in that unconscious gesture.
“
No wonder I’m so tired.
”

Luke shooed her upstairs, dialing his mother as they went.
“
Go take one of Mom’s prescribed baths, use the calamine, and then if you’re still tired, take a nap. I’ll send Tina up with something to drink and snacks.
”

“
She’s going to kill us, you know. We assured her we could handle things today.
”

Grinning, Luke pointed to the next flight of stairs.
“
Go. Besides, she won’t kill us. She’ll just scold. Mothers like to do that.
”

“
Not all moms. I personally despise it.
”

A strange look hovered in Luke’s eyes.
“
I know you do, Mibs. Honestly, no mom likes to scold or reprove her child, but good moms do it because it’s best for the kid.
”

Halfway up the stairs, Aggie called back down,
“
Well, you’ll have to do the switcheroo. I can’t tell if they’re getting overtired from up here.
”

“
Oh, Aggie. Rest, woman!
”

She did an about-face and took the steps back down two at a time.
“
Why? Why can you see something I’m doing right, and all William can see is how pathetic I am?
”

“
Oh, Mibs. I don’t think he thinks you’re pathetic. Inexperienced maybe, but you are. Maybe in his line of work it’s hard to look past that inexperience and see the actual success or something.
”

“
He’s mad at me again.
”

A familiar twist to Luke’s lips told her he found that highly amusing.
“
Well, it wouldn’t be a normal week around here if he wasn’t, now would it? What horrible thing have you done now?
”

She sank to the third step, rested her chin in her hands, and sighed.
“
He was here wondering why your mom and Tina weren’t here with me, saying that I probably shouldn’t be alone with all these sick kids, and I got snippy. He’s always telling me how everything is too much. I know he doesn’t have a clue how often, but it’s wearying.
”

“
I can see that.
”
In true Luke style, he said nothing else.

“
Well, I snapped at him, he asked what my problem was, and I was ready to let him have it, but…
”

“
It’s hard to blast a friend sometimes, isn’t it?
”

“
Oh, no, it would have been easy if I hadn’t seen his face. I hurt him. So, I apologized and tried to explain what the problem was.
”

“
Well, that was good. This time you got to apologize when he was here. That’s improvement.
”
Luke sounded like he was grasping at straws.

“
Yeah. I guess. He just reminded me of the two times he had something positive to say as if that should eradicate the dozens of other comments. It hurt more than the first words.
”

She saw something she’d rarely seen in Luke. Anger. The man nearly had steam coming from his flaring nostrils.
“
That’s just wrong
--
manipulative, really. I hate that kind of thing.
”

“
You don’t think it was a little justified?
”

Luke shook his head.
“
I do not. You don’t whip a woman with the words you think she should want to hear
--
particularly when she’s already struggling. I thought better of him.
”
His jaw worked as Luke struggled to control his irritation.
“
I suppose he’s probably really busy at work or something
”

“
I think he was looking for more information on Douglas Stuart. I don’t think they know anything about him yet. Geraldine probably didn’t bother to tell them when she found him.
”

She stood, shook off her skirt, and turned to go upstairs, but Luke reached out to take her arm and stopped her.
“
I know William is impressed with all you do and have accomplished. I think
--”
He swallowed hard.
“
I think maybe it’s part of his ‘fix it’ mentality.
”
Aggie tried not to shake him as she waited for his next words.
“
He wants to solve problems and make ‘traffic flow smoothly’ so to speak.
”
It was easier to wait once his comforting words had a chance to soak into her soul.
“
He sees what would overwhelm him and projects that onto you.
”

“
Should I try to apologize again?
”

“
No. You apologized. He was also in the wrong. Pushing him to accept yours will likely make things worse.
”

“
Ugh. I need worse like I need more pox on my face.
”

Luke laughed and gave her a gentle shove back up the stairs.
“
Now that can probably be arranged.
”

~*~*~*~

A hand gently shook her from her dreams.
“
Aggie, c’mon, wake up. There’s a guy here about the kids.
”

“
A
--
what?
”

“
A guy. He says that Kenzie, Tavish, and Ellie are all truant.
”

Her head swam.
“
Ok, let me go to the bathroom, and I’ll be right down.
”

Truant made no sense. She’d kept the children out of school at the decision of the principal. Unable to think clearly, she crept into the bathroom, shook two aspirin from the
bottle in the
open medicine cabinet, grabbed a handful of water from the tap to chase it down, and then stumbled downstairs without bothering to close the cabinet
--
again.

Tina gave her a funny look, but Aggie’s attention was trained on the pleasant faced man sitting in
“
her
”
spot on the couch.
“
Hello, I’m Aggie Milliken, and you are…
”

“
Tim Rouse.
”
The man stood to shake her hand.
“
Pleased to m
eet you, but I am sorry to wake
you. I’m sure this is just some clerical mix up. It usually is.
”

“
I don’t understand. My friend spoke to Principal Beaudine on Tuesday of last week and Monday of this week. Both times he said not to bring the children to school.
”

Mr. Rouse was already dialing a phone number.
“
Sara, can I have Wes please. It’s Tim.
”
He listened for a minute.
“
Um, Stuart.
”
Several seconds passed as he waited for something on the other end of the line.
“
That’s why I need to speak to Wes. I have them down as having five consecutive unexcused absences, but the guardian says Wes told them to keep the kids out of the school due to
--”
he took a second glance at Aggie’s face and choked,
“
Chicken pox.
”