“Tina is taking them for a drive. I thought maybe you’d want to… talk.” He nodded at the rod her hand still held. “Making room for me?”
“Yes. You should bring things over that you won’t be needing next week. My closet won’t look lonely anymore.”
He stepped closer. “You’ve been crying.”
As if the magic words to open a dam, new tears spilled onto her cheeks. “Maybe…”
All the softening her heart had done hardened again as she passed him and placed the sweater into the suitcase. He reached for her, but she ignored him. “I still do not understand what happened, but I apologize for hurting you.”
“How very magnanimous of you.”
“Mibs, please.”
“What do you want from me? You want to know what is wrong? I’ll tell you!”
The cold self-control was back. “Please do.”
“That! That’s one thing that’s wrong. I’m hurt; I’m angry. I want to scream with the frustration of it all, and you stand there with your self-righteous smug expression and act like you’re all holy. I can hear it now, ‘Yes, well, we had a disagreement, but I died to myself and forgave her. I let her rail at me because it is what a godly man must do.’”
“I’m sorry if I don’t know how to ‘fight’ in your expected manner. I don’t yell. I don’t want to become a yeller. I am terrified of what I would become if I did. But yes, I’d love to die to myself if it’d solve this problem. I just don’t know what the problem is and it doesn’t work to try to die to myself if I kill you in the process. That’s just not very efficient. Why don’t you explain to me why we’re arguing, and we can work from there.”
“You made me feel petty and stupid. You wouldn’t talk about it. You treated me like a child who wasn’t worth discussing it with.” She frowned. “Yeah, I know I’m supposed to say I felt this and I felt that and leave you out of it, but I can’t think that clearly.”
“I didn’t mean—” Luke sank to the corner of her bed and played with the zipper pull on her suitcase. “I guess it doesn’t matter what I meant to do. I did that. I’m sorry.”
“You meant to be superior, Luke. I could see it in your eyes and in the way Tina reacted to you. You liked being the calm one who was too godly to stoop to an argument.”
Several minutes passed. Aggie packed item after item, but Luke seemed unwilling to address her accusation. “Mibs,” he began at last, “you’re right. I thought you were upset over nothing, so I decided to take the ‘high road.’ It was wrong.”
“I want to stay mad at you.”
“But I want you to forgive me.”
“Next time I say I want to talk about something, can we talk?”
“But you never said you wanted to talk. You told me to take you home when I wouldn’t argue in public.”
Aggie closed her eyes. “Regardless of how we each see this particular situation, would you agree to talk next time?”
“Deal. Wanna talk now?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Wanna tell me what we got Chad?”
“Found out that he doesn’t have a GPS in the truck. Got him one.”
“Perfect.” Aggie glanced at Luke and grinned. “Can I have a hug? I really need one.”
Wednesday, March 3rd
“Get up! It’s almost eight!” Aggie shouted in each door for the third time that morning. “Next time I come around, I’m taking blankets and bringing cold water.”
It didn’t work. She carried her spray bottle with her, jerking off covers and spritzing each one but Ian, who seemed to find the entire proceeding hysterical. His gleeful screeches were likely more responsible for Tavish’s appearance than her attempts. “That’s the last time I get caught up in wedding prep and forget bedtime!”
“We had fun. We watched the entire second season of the Waltons!” Ellie exclaimed. “It’s almost like watching our house.” As Tavish passed, the girl called, “Good morning, Tavish!”
“It just doesn’t work for morning.”
“Granola bars for breakfast. Just get dressed and comb your hair. Kenzie, wear short sleeves.”
“But I want—”
“It wasn’t a suggestion,” Aggie growled. “Wear. Short. Sleeves.”
The girl sighed. “Fine.” A glance at Aggie’s face prompted her to amend her response. “Yes, Aunt Aggie.”
With Tina fighting the caterers about soup in Rockland and Luke supervising the final touches on his roof, Aggie’s trip to the doctor was solo. Solo trips to places that were not child-friendly on days when the children were sleep-deprived was asking for trouble, but Aggie dressed Ian with as much cheerfulness as she could muster and hurried downstairs.
One look in the pantry, and Aggie yelled, “Who ate the granola bars? I did not give anyone permission to eat the granola bars!”
“Yes you did.”
Aggie turned and glared at Laird. “Don’t start with me.”
“But you did! We asked last night while you and Aunt Tina were making those vases and you said yes.”
A sick feeling washed over her as she realized he was probably telling the truth. “What else did I agree to?”
“No school for today, ice cream after Kenzie’s cast is off, and pizza for dinner.”
With each item, the sickness grew. She had agreed to everything. “You took total advantage.”
“Sure. Wouldn’t you?”
It wasn’t the time to address doing what was right regardless of whether you had permission to do wrong or not. “Ok, we’ll stop for bars on the way.” She glanced at the clock. Eight-twenty. Not enough time to play around. Kids filed downstairs and she pointed directly to their coats. “We’ve got to go.”
Their appointment was at nine o’clock. By the time she stopped for gas, granola bars, and made it past a spun out car on the highway, they shuffled into the clinic at five after. “Sorry…”
“Dr. Wisenberg is just finishing with a walk-in. There’s an empty room but—” The assistant glanced over the heads around the counter. “There isn’t really room for everyone in there.”
Aggie nodded. “Ok, Vannie through Tavish stay in the waiting room. The rest of you, follow Miss… Angie.”
“There’s really not—”
“Look, I don’t want to have to admit this, but you do not want these three out there without me. You just don’t.”
“Most people find it helpful to arrange child care and don’t find it necessary to keep siblings out of school for a simple cast removal.”
“And most people aren’t the single, homeschooling mothers of eight. Lead the way,” Aggie insisted.
Dr. Weisman arrived quickly. “Good morning, Kenzie! How is the arm today? Still pain-free? Itchy?”
Kenzie nodded. “Both.”
“Good, then let’s take that thing off.”
The doctor showed the little mini saw, how it worked, and what Kenzie was to do if she wanted him to stop for any reason. Three seconds into the process, she squeezed his arm. Once confident that he really would stop if she asked, Kenzie watched the process, fascinated.
“That was cool!”
“Well,” Aggie interjected, “don’t get any ideas about breaking something else. One broken bone per decade is my limit.”
“I’m sorry, Aggie, but I’m afraid that with your family, I expect you’ll have more than one per decade.”
“Don’t,” she said with as much severity as she could muster, “destroy my delusions. They are essential to my sanity.”
As they stepped from the room, Laird’s eager expression reminded her of something. “Oh, by the way. Where would you suggest that I find ice cream at nine-thirty in the morning?”
~*~*~*~
A delivery van arrived near four o’clock, bringing chairs for the ceremony. It looked odd to have four dozen white wooden chairs stacked up on the porch in midwinter, but there was nowhere else to put them. Not five seconds after she signed the receipt, a horrible crash came from the kitchen.
Ken
zie flew out the door and into Aggie’s arms. “You know how you said if there’s an accident and I tell the truth that I won’t get spanked? Well, I had an accident. I slipped on the mat in the kitchen and didn’t want to hurt my arm, so I grabbed the cloth on the island and all the vases are all over the floor.”
The alarm on Aggie’s face must have made Kenzie panic because she began reassuring her aunt at warp speed. “I was wearing shoes, so I didn’t cut myself and Ian is upstairs with Laird now so he can’t get hurt and the twins are in the basement so they can’t get hurt and I did tell the truth so I’m reminding you in case you forgot that it was an accident and I’m telling the truth.”
“Your arm is ok.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes. “Take off your shoes at the bottom of the stairs and leave them there. No one comes downstairs until I say so.” The girl turned to go, but Aggie thought of something else. “Wait. Where’s Tina?”
“She’s cleaning up the vases.”
As Aggie suspected, the bottoms of Kenzie’s shoes sparkled with imbedded glass. She’d probably crunched over it on her way to come confess. “Oh, thank you, Lord that she was even wearing shoes.”
Inside, Aggie called out to Tina. “How bad is it?”
“Were there any décor ideas that you didn’t consider because you thought it’d be overkill? They won’t be now…”
“Is my dress ok?”
“Perfectly clean and hanging in your room.”
Aggie grabbed the mudroom broom and began sweeping the path across all floors to the door. “Shoes?”
“On the floor, in their box, beneath the dress.”
“Suitcases?”
“Luke has everything you’re taking except your carryon.”
Certain that her essentials were covered, Aggie went to retrieve the vacuum cleaner for the area rugs. As she worked to ensure every sliver was removed from her carpeting, Aggie sang. “…work while the dew is sparkling. Work ‘mid springing flowers…”
Luke’s arms wrapped around her waist and he murmured, “I’ll never get tired of this.”
For once, his surprise arrival didn’t startle her. She snapped off the machine as she said, “I don’t think I will either.”
“Getting ready for guests?”
“Cleaning up a nightmare of glass.”
“Cari?”
“Kenzie,” she countered. “She also reminded me that it was an accident and she told the truth, so I can’t spank her.”
“Well, that’s good to know. You put your feet up and tell me what we need to do tomorrow. I’ll finish.”
“Like you could hear me with that thing going. I think I have it all. I just kept making sure. Can you imagine Ian pushing a little truck across a chunk or sliver of glass? Eeek!”
Tina joined them when Luke finished with her laptop. “Ok, we’ve got work to do folks—starting with table decorations. We have one salvaged original vase decorated. That’s not going to cut it for twenty-five tables.”
Before Aggie could make any suggestions, and before Luke could consider what could be done, Tina fired off half a dozen more items. “We also need to pick up the truck by three o’clock on Friday, but that’s also when we get the school; we can start decorating then. Who is watching the kids Friday night? Oh, and do you have your suit yet?”
“Um, which question or topic do we answer or address first?”
“All of them and preferably yesterday.”
“Well, yesterday’s gone, so now is good,” Aggie sighed.
“Oh, and that reminds me, are we making the upstairs off limits? That would save a huge amount of cleaning…”
“Sure.”
“Good. Your dad can put up the baby gate after you guys start down the steps.”
“Gotcha. Gate. Done.”
Tina glanced at her screen. “The photographer’s assistant is coming to Luke’s house while he gets ready and she’ll be here at noon for you. You guys are sure you don’t want pre-ceremony pictures with each other, right? You only have tomorrow and the next day to change your minds.”
“No,” Luke said quickly. “Aggie would, but I want the surprise moment.”
“He’s such a sap.”
Luke grinned. “Guilty as charged. You will learn, my dear Mibs, that the Sullivan-Tesdall families are terribly sappy.”
“We still have to figure out décor…”
Silence descended over them as they all pondered the problem. “Same idea,” Luke said at last. We do the same thing with fresh flowers in vases, but instead of glass, we do metal pails—like lunch pails. We’ll tie it into the building just a little. Maybe add apple candleholders on each side or something. Little squatty candles in the apples so that the flames don’t burn the flowers.”
“Great idea!” Tina’s fingers flew over her keyboard. “I think I’ll see if the craft store in Brunswick has them before I go all the way to Rockland. What else?”
Children seemed to converge on them before they could make any further progress. “Are we going to go get pizza now?”
Aggie glanced at the clock in shock. “It’s barely five—”
“Yes,” Tina said, jumping up. “Get in the van. It’s time to go!”
Luke and Aggie stared at one another and then at Tina. “What—”
“The earlier they eat, the earlier they feel like it’s bedtime,” she hissed. “Last one in the van is a rotten something or another!”
Friday, March 6th
Chaos. Mayhem. Pandemonium. Despite the desperate need for quiet for Martha Milliken, the house seemed to pulsate with craziness. While Aggie’s mother lay in the guest room with earplugs and Luke’s industrial fan pointed toward the ceiling in the hallway to make white noise, the rest of their families were working on something—anything. Luke’s sisters were at the schoolhouse, taking orders from Tina on what to put where and how. The men were moving tables as fast as Tina could direct them, and Libby kept the children corralled downstairs as much as possible.
Aggie skittered from place to place, nearly worn to a frazzle with frustration and one crisis after another. Her phone buzzed. “What? I mean, sorry. Hello? Tina?”
“The guys have moved all the big stuff into place. The bakery is going to be here soon with the cake, but they assured us they don’t need help moving, so I’m sending them your way. Luke has the rental truck.”
“Ok. Does that mean that I need to make sure the kids are out of the way for the furniture?”
“Right.”
“Operation piñata.”
“You go, girl.”
The phone clicked off before Aggie could respond. Great. She stuck her head downstairs. “Libby?”
“Yes?”
“Piñata time.” Her almost mother-in-law’s response was impossible to understand over the children’s excited screams. Aggie waited for the din to die down before she added, “I’ll send down the hot dogs and fries as soon as they’re done.”
The moment lights turned into the driveway, Aggie dashed to the basement door and called for Vannie. “Can you come help with this? I’ve got guys coming in!”
The girl hurried up the steps and grinned. “This is so exciting! I think Kenzie is going to break it on her turn too!”
“Well, that’s cool. Just don’t let her break her arm again.”
“That’s not likely. Oh, they’re taking out the couches!” Vannie cried excitedly. “It’s going to be beautiful in here. Aunt Tina said the tulle curtains look amazing.”
“How—”
“I called to ask.”
Aggie set down the tongs and looked at her niece. “Oh, Vannie. Oh, I—just wait there. Get your jacket. Get in Libby’s car.”
“I can’t do—”
Aggie ignored the girl’s protests and ran down the basement steps. “Libby, I need you. Laird, watch the kids.”
“Okkk…”
Libby turned to follow her back up the stairs. “What’s wrong?”
“Vannie. We’
ve completely left her out of the fun. She’s a bridesmaid, so she should be there helping and enjoying this thing. I just spaced it.”
“You’re right. I’ll be right back. Laird can handle them until I get home.”
Before Aggie could return to the kitchen, men started asking questions. “Yes, everything that isn’t built-in goes. Bye bye. Gone. Kaput. Outta there!”
Hotdogs were getting cold, but she didn’t care anymore. She piled them on one big platter, added the pot of beans, and carried it all downstairs, terrified she’d trip and dump it on whomever was at the bottom. “I’ll be back with plates and utensils. There are water bottles in the fridge. Drink that.”
“Did you see all the candy in there? It was huge!” Cari announced. “Kenzie did it, too! She’s good.”
When she hurried to retrieve paper plates and plastic spoons, Aggie saw the men take the table but leave the chairs. “Don’t forget the chairs!”
“Won’t we need them?”
Aggie shook her head. “We rented plenty. If we have room for more, we’ll have Tina bring some back from the schoolhouse.”
While the men moved things, Aggie cleaned the kitchen. They were all going to a Mexican restaurant around eight while Murphy and Mrs. Dyke watched the children. As late as they might be there, she didn’t need to come home to more house cleaning. She’d been at it all day!
An hour later, Luke stepped into the kitchen. “Ok, what can I do?”
“Did you set up the chairs?”
“No, that’s next?”
“Yeah. You set them up and I’ll start decorating as soon as I mop this floor.”
“You look beat.”
Aggie glanced up at him. “Not really. Just trying to remember everything and I know I’m succeeding in forgetting even more.” Her eyes widened. “Where’s my phone?” She patted her pockets and then dove for the house phone’s handset. Ignoring Luke’s alarmed face, Aggie dialed Tina. “Hey, do we have music?” A sigh of relief escaped. “I suddenly couldn’t remember. Cellist and keyboard in the kitchen. That’s right. I remember now. Whose kids were they?”
Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) Page 32