Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (19 page)

“If
the
baby’s
awake,
I’ll
make
the
gravy
and
then
we
can
eat,”
called
Aggie’s
Aunt
Athena.
“Maybe
the
children
could
wash
up?”

Children
scattered,
leaving
cards
all
over
the
table.
Aggie
scooped
them
up
and
wrapped
the
rubb
er
band
back
around
the
stack.
She
turned
to
lead
Cari
and
Lorna
to
wash
their
hands
and
found
Luke
already
drying
Lorna’s
while
Cari
soaped
up.
When
her
mother
went
to
pull
the
yams
from
the
oven,
Aggie
showed off his helpful skills
.
“See
that?
I’ve
missed
that
this
past
week.”

Luke
turned
and
raised
an
eyebrow.
“Huh?”

“Eloquent
as
ever
,
Mr.
Sullivan.”

“Some
girls
marry
men
for
their
money,
property,
even
family.
This
one,”
he
added,
nudging
her
as
she
passed,
“
Agathena
marries
me
for
my
two
hands.”

T
he competition continues,
Aggie mused.
“
You can’t count using my name more than once
,”
she
muttered
as
she
saw
Vannie
enter
the
kitchen
and
took
Ian
from
her.
“I’d win this thing with ice that way.”

By
the
time
they
were
seated
for
dinner,
the
score
was
Aggie
four
,
Luke
t
wo
.
Although
Aggie
had
the
home
court
advantage,
Luke
had
a
lifetime
of
practical
joking
with
three
sisters.
She
started
to
warn
him
that
he
couldn’t
win,
when
she
found
herself
jumping
in
the
air,
clutching
her
backside
in
the
fashion
of
Maria
von
Trapp.

“That’ll
be
three
for
me.”

The
temptation
to
throw
a
roll
at
him
was
huge,
but
whispering
at
the
end
of
the
table
caught
her
attention.
“Would
you
like
to
share
your
conversation
with
everyone,
Laird?”

“She
sou
nds
like
a
schoolteacher
anyway.”

Aunt
Agatha’s
comment
was
ignored
while
Laird
stammered
something
about
thinking
she
was
going
to
lose.
Before
she
could
respond
to either her aunt or her nephew
,
Martha
asked,
“And
what
is
the
score?”

“
Three
to
four
,
my
favor.
After
the
ice,
I
got
him
with
the
cold
water
pistol,
got
the
boys
to
tie
his
shoelaces
together—”

“When
did
that
happen?”
Ron
sent
a
questioning
look
at
Luke
and
got
an
affirmative
answer.

“While
you
were
all
playing
dominos.
Four
was
when
I
convinced
him
that
I
played
Abe
Lincoln
in
the
school
play.”

“I,”
Luke
interjected,
“have
used
her
real
name
half
a
dozen
times,
got
the
flour
on
her
nose
without
her
noticing,
and
had
the
pinecone
success.”

“Aunt
Aggie
had
more
failures.”
Tavish
seemed
much
too
eager
to
remind
her
of
that.

“It
just
shows
I’m
not
afraid
to
take
a
risk.”

“Or
that
you’re
out
of
your
league.”

Martha
giggled.
“Am
I
the
only
one
who
is
imagining
their
children
asking
how
they
spent
their
fir
st
day
of
engagement
and
being
confused
to
learn
it
was
playing
practical
jokes
on
each
other?”