Herding the Hellions Page 10

  “Augusta, you have to do something,” Helena pleaded. “Please tell the boys to obey before something terrible happens,” she said one night hoping for the best.

  “I’ll talk to them,” Agi assured but as he came home late each night and was seldom home for supper it seemed that things were unlikely to change.

  Helena put her mind to thinking of ways to trick the boys into doing work and managed to get them to do several new chores, but they quickly tired of them. She knew things had to change before something terrible happened or she lost her mind.

  As the second week rolled into the third, Helena approached Augusta determined that this third Sunday would see them in church and that perhaps she might gain some help from her friends.

  “Mr. Pennington,” she said on Saturday night feeling annoyance chafe like sand in ones shoe, “I must insist that we attend church tomorrow. It has been three weeks since we were wed, and I would like to see my friends,” her voice cracked on the final note and she grew quiet.

  Agi placed his hands behind his neck refusing to look in her direction. Her face in moonlight was lovely and the urge to kiss her and pull her to him had grown stronger night by night. He could hear the tremble in her tone and nodded. “We’ll go,” he said. “I’ll see to it.” A tendril of guilt wiggled in his belly as he realized he hadn’t talked to the boys or insured that they obeyed there new mother, he was just too busy.

  Helena had put the house in order, and no matter how late he returned home every night, she had a hearty meal waiting for him, and the children in bed. She was proving to be a good wife, and he knew he needed to do better. He simply did not like being harsh with his boys.

  Chapter 21

  “Pa, why do I have to wear a collar?” Ryan whined as they piled into the wagon and headed to town the next morning.

  “Because it’s Sunday,” Agi replied.

  “I don’t like collars,” the boy said tugging at the starched neck piece surrounding his neck.

  “Yeah, we don’t like collars,” Albert said.

  “It’s only for a couple of hours,” Agi said resisting the urge to tug at his own stiff white collar. He’d gotten used to nothing but flannels and dungarees.

  “You gentleman all look lovely,” Helena said. “We want to look our best for services.” She had dressed with extra care that morning after making a hearty breakfast and packing a lunch for after church. Her heart was full with the thought of services and visiting with her friends.

  Her dark blue dress with ecru collar and tiny pearl buttons down the back was one of her favorites and had always garnered compliments from others. Helena had to admit to a bit of disappointment when Agi hadn’t commented on it.

  Still she was content with the fact that everyone was fed and dressed presentably as they headed to town. She was looking forward to seeing her friends and fellow brides to catch up with them and find out how everyone was managing.

  Smiling to herself she wondered if Violet was making any progress with the clever if sometimes infuriating Mr. Redburn.

  “This is a nice town,” Henry said looking up from his Bible. If the man had a book in hand, you could count on him reading it whether it was a seed catalogue or a daring work of fiction.

  “It’s growing by the day,” Agi said leaning across Helena to address his Father-in-law. So far the two men had exchanged little other than niceties over meals, and with Agi’s schedule at the mill, it didn’t seem likely that they would do much more. He was happy that Helena could have her father there with her, and even the few jobs that the older man had taken on with his disability had lessened the load for Agi.

  He’d been more than pleased that morning as he struggled to get the boys wrangled for church that Henry had hitched the team and helped Helena load a basket into the wagon. Yes, with his long hours and need to work six days of the week, Agi was glad Helena would have a man around to help out if needed.

  Pulling to a stop in a grove of trees near the church, Agi climbed down turning to help Helena to the ground. She looked lovely in a dark dress of some kind with a little lace at her chin.

  Helena reached for Agi’s hand but instead of him simply helping her down he grasped her waist and lifted her to the ground standing her on the tiny patch of terra-firma between himself and the wagon.

  Helena looked up into his blue eyes and felt her heart stutter. Augusta Pennington was a very handsome man, and she would have to be blind not to see it. “Thank you,” she whispered finally removing her hands from his shoulders where they’d found purchase as she came off the wagon.

  “You’re welcome,” Agi said offering his arm while the boys noisily jumped from the wagon and scurried away to find their friends.

  Helena smiled and nodded at her other friends counting the brides who were attending and scowling when she didn’t see Myrakle. The way that young woman had taken to Joseph from the moment they had first met she was surprised a new wedding announcement wasn’t forth coming.

  Gazing around her as they entered the church she noticed Espe and gestured her close. “Where’s Myrakle?” Helena asked truly worried about the young woman.

  “She won’t get out of bed,” Espe said. “Ever since the incident when she lost Dumpling, we can’t get her out of bed.”

  “Not even Joseph?” Helena asked truly disturbed by the news.

  Espe shook her head of black hair as music began to play and they both had to make their way to a seat.

  “Is your friend all right?” Agi asked as the they slipped into a pew next to her father who held Tim on his knee. “With her problem and then what happened, it sounds like Joseph might end disappointed.”

  “I don’t know,” Helena said honestly. “I know she depended tremendously on Dumpling to help her.”

  Pastor Gregory cleared his throat looking out over the congregation, and all conversation ended as singing commenced.

  The pastor had just gotten into his message about loving your neighbor when Helena realized that the two older boys had not joined them. Timothy was happily playing with a toy horse and cart at her father’s feet but no sign of Albert or Ryan could be seen.

  “Augusta,” Helena whispered just as a loud explosion shook the building rattling the windows and shimmying a wave of dust from the rafters above.

  Ryan lifted his head from the dirt, his ears ringing as he shook dirt from his hair. “Al? You there?” he called wiping his eyes on his once white sleeve.

  “What happened?” Albert said shaking his head to clear it of the hollow echo from his brother’s voice.

  “I guess we used too much,” Ryan said pushing himself to his feet and turning to look back at the remains of the church outhouse. “Why’d you have to go and dump that pile of leaves and twigs in there anyhow? You know that stuff don’t go away?”

  “I just wanted to see if they’d float up,” Albert shouted still unable to hear his own voice over the ringing in his ears. “It was your idea to burn it up with old Mr. Smither’s gunpowder.”

  “You ain’t blamin’ this on me,” Ryan bellowed as the entire congregation came pouring out of the church.

  “It was your idea,” Albert shouted back launching himself at his brother and toppling them both to the debris covered ground.

  Helena pushed herself through the crowd, her heart racing as something told her that the two boys were in danger. She would wring their necks if they weren’t already dead with the fear induced adrenaline coursing through her system.

  Behind her she could hear Augusta calling the boys by name and her voice joined his, high and shrill, in her panic.

  Rushing around the side of the church, fear hastening her footsteps, Helena came to a sudden stop taking in the carnage around her. Bits of wood and splintered shards of the church outhouse littered the lawn while dark liquid, and suspicious clods oozed across the grass. A round section of wood wobbled on the tip of a pine tree some ten feet away, and in the midst of the destruction, two boys slugged and screamed at each other on t
he filthy ground.

  Agi rose on his toes skidding to a stop behind his wife, knocking into her and forcing her forward another step where she teetered a hair’s breadth from pitching headlong into the muck of the church yard.

  Instinctively his arms came around her waist pulling her upright from her precarious position, even as his eyes picked out his boys in the middle of the explosions radius. Beneath his hands he could feel Helena quiver, and even he knew that another kind of explosion was eminent.

  Chapter 22

  “Oh my!” Henry said picking up Tim and turning away from the carnage. He could see the set of his daughter’s shoulders and shivered at what he knew was to come.

  “Ryan Pennington,” Helena hissed, hurrying across the mine field with no thought of her pretty dress or fine slippers as she lashed out grabbing a boy by the arm and pulling him up right.

  Agi raced to keep pace with his new wife, snatching Albert from the ground still kicking and flailing as Helena collared his oldest son.

  “It was Al’s fault,” Ryan squealed trying to break free from a surprisingly strong Helena. “He dropped all them sticks in the privy.”

  “You put the powder in!” Albert yelled.

  “But you dropped the match!” Ryan shouted squirming in Helena’s grip.

  “Both of you hush,” Helena said her eyes blazing. “You scared us half to death and look at this mess.” She scanned the area taking in the splintered remains of the outhouse and the disgusting ooze that covered the ground and surrounding trees.

  “We didn’t mean it,” Ryan said bristling at the woman’s tone. “Tell her pa,” but as he turned toward his father, who was still holding tight to his younger brother he could tell there was no help coming from that quarter. This time they had gone too far, and even their father’s easygoing nature had been pushed past the brink.

  “Get to the wagon,” Agi said quietly giving Albert a shove in the direction of the horses.

  “And no fighting,” Helena added glaring at Ryan until he flinched before releasing him.

  “I’ll go see about paying for the damages,” Agi said hanging his head, truly embarrassed by his boys’ bad behavior for the first time. Perhaps Miss Hebert was right, and he did need to do something to rein in his offspring.

  “No you won’t!” Helena spat stepping up to him hands on hips. “Those boys will work off this mess one way or another. It’s high time they learn there are consequences to their behavior.”

  “But they’re just boys,” Agi tried bridling at his new wife’s tone.

  “Augusta Pennington, if you tell me one more time that they are ‘just boys’ I swear I’ll take a switch to you,” Helena said waggling a finger in the man’s face. Her dread had quickly turned to anger on knowing that the boys were unharmed, but she was determined to see that nothing like this ever happened again.

  “I’ll fetch it for ya!” Old Mrs. Worthington cackled.

  “I have been patient,” Helena continued getting up a good head of steam. “I was patient when they pelted that old timer with rotten apples, I was patient when they painted animals on the side of the house, I was even patient when they mixed poke berry into my wash,” she shouted lifting her skirt and exposing an expanse of bright pink petticoats. “But they have gone too far. What if they had been injured,” she hiccupped.

  Turning on her heel Helena stormed toward the wagon, that her father was driving into the road, unaware of the stares of the parishioners in general and Mr. Redburn in particular.

  Chance Redburn shook his head as Agi followed his furious bride to the wagon and climbed aboard. He was surer than ever that he had been correct in protesting the couple’s union. Having been on the receiving end of Miss Hebert’s temper himself, he had determined that she needed a firmer hand on the reins so to speak. The woman was plumb temperamental.

  The easy going Agi should have had a woman who would laugh with him, and care for the boys, not berate and shout at him in front of the whole town. The cowboy turned matchmaker shrugged his shoulders trying to relieve some of the tension that rode there day in and day out. He had already failed as a rancher, would he fail as a matchmaker as well and ruin his late aunt’s perfect record?

  Shaking his head again he turned toward home as Violet stepped up beside him. “They brought this on themselves,” he said to the overly distracting woman who was both his assistant and the woman his aunt had picked for him. “No one can blame me when they insisted they were getting hitched,” he said defensively.

  Violet placed a gentle hand on the cowboy’s arm. “I’m sure it will all work out,” she said ducking her head to keep the smile from showing. It was plain to her that Helena’s sweet nature, but equally fierce temper was exactly what a man like Augusta Pennington needed. She only hoped that Chance would see it soon as well.

  Sometimes it took one person to push the other before they both landed right where they were meant to be.

  Chapter 23

  Helena stepped over Agi and climbed down from the wagon on her own as soon as they reached the house, storming to the kitchen where she filled buckets with water and stoked up the stove. The boys were in for the scrubbing of their life and she would have no complaining about it either.

  Tears threatened as she retrieved a thick bar of lye soap and towels for the boys. What if they had been killed? Her heart constricted thinking of it. Perhaps she wasn’t their mother, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care for them. She had signed on as their mother, and even with them constantly being in trouble, she had already developed a place in her heart for each of them. They were horrid, difficult, and rude, but they were also clever, kind, and funny.

  Sniffing she dragged the big tub to the side porch while Agi had the boys strip down. From the corner of her eye she saw her father carry Timothy and the food basket back into the house.

  “Augusta, if you would please fetch water,” Helena said watching the bewildered boys as they stood in their skivvies glaring at each other.

  As soon as the water was hot Helena and Agi filled the tub then doused the boys several times before allowing them to climb in to soak. “Use soap,” Helena said turning on her heel and walking back into the house where she stepped out of her ruined slippers and hurried to change.

  “Pa, are we in trouble?” Albert asked as he lathered a sponge and began to scrub.

  “You boys did a lot of damage,” Agi said thinking not only of the ruined outhouse but of Helena. He had started to think he might be able to adjust to living with the woman, but now this encounter was sure to send her running the other way.

  He had heard her hurry up the stairs moments ago and was positive that she was probably packing her bags. Viola had a policy that a groom had to pay return fare on brides that didn’t work out. At least he had the money to do that.

  “Pa, why do you look so sad?” Ryan said spluttering as he rinsed his hair.

  “Boys, I know it has only been a couple of weeks, but I kind of like having a clean house and hot food. Don’t you?”

  Albert nodded seriously as his father took the sponge from his hand and scrubbed it over the boy’s neck. “Yeah,” the boy said wondering what his father was thinking.

  “I don’t know if Helena will stay now that this happened. You really upset her, maybe even scared her off.”

  “You can’t scare a ma away,” Ryan said. “You married her so she’s ours now.”

  “You can’t keep a person if they don’t want to stay,” Agi said. “Helena only just got here, and she’s already had to clean up our mess, all the while with you two fighting and arguing with her. The only one who hasn’t hurt her in some way is little Tim.”

  Ryan shook the water from his hair and looked at his father with clear blue eyes. “If we go back to town and clean up the mess we made, do you think she might stay?”

  “I think that particular mess will be cleaned up before any of us gets back to town,” Agi admitted. “But you could apologize and take whatever punishment Helena
feels is justified by your behavior.”

  “You think she’ll whip us?” Albert said his eyes wide with fright.

  “I don’t think she’s that type,” Agi said not truly sure what type of woman his new wife was. “I’ll go talk to her though and see if she’ll stay.”

  “What should we do with our clothes?” Ryan asked rising from the tub of murky water.