His Remarkable Bride (7 page)

The older woman was hanging her own laundry in the yard beside the Strong house. She laughed. “Believe it or not, they do. If you ask me, it’s good practice for the girls. They will be fine pitchers on one of Haskell’s baseball teams someday.” The woman finished fastening a pair of long underwear, wiped her hands on her apron, then crossed the few yards that separated the two laundry lines to shake Elspeth’s hand. “Josephine Evans. I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced yet.”

“Oh.” Elspeth finished hanging one of the older twins’ petticoats, then took her neighbor’s hand. “Elspeth Leo—Strong.” She smiled as she used her new name for the first time.

“I know.” Josephine nodded. “We’ve all been waiting for Athos to remarry for a long time. Why, he started talking about it last Christmas, before that, even. You’d be hard pressed to find a soul in Haskell who doesn’t know Athos or wish him well.”

As happy as Elspeth was to hear that Athos’s neighbors liked and respected him, the more Josephine talked, the more Elspeth ached to get back to hanging laundry. She didn’t suppose clothes could mold in the laundry basket, but the longer it took for her to hang them, the longer it would take for them to dry. And she still had to iron the shirts and dresses once they were dry.

“Yeow!” A loud cry from Lael—halfway up the tree—pulled both Elspeth’s and Josephine’s attention. “You hit me!”

“But you told us to throw rocks at you,” Millicent complained.

“You were supposed to miss.”

“Excuse me.” Elspeth dismissed herself from her conversation with Josephine, hoping she wasn’t being unfriendly, and raced to the bottom of the tree. “If you didn’t want to be hit with rocks, you shouldn’t have told your sisters to throw them.”

“I’m a good rock thrower,” Thomas informed her. He promptly attempted to hurl a small, sharp rock, let go at the wrong time, and hurled the rock right into his foot. His bare foot. When had he taken off his shoes?

The question was banished from Elspeth’s mind as Thomas broke into a wail. She scooped him into her arms to comfort him, dabbing at the tiny trickle of blood he’d managed to draw with the corner of her apron.

“I want to help hang the laundry,” Geneva declared.

“Me too!”

The girls dashed for the basket and the clothesline before Elspeth could think about it.

“I almost died again,” Thomas wailed.

“I’m sorry, is this a bad time?”

Elspeth glanced around the corner of the house to find a handsome and very pregnant black woman in an exquisite gown rounding the corner. “Wendy!” She was so surprised to see her old friend from Hurst Home that she stood. In the process, Thomas slipped off her lap, his feet—injured and whole—landing in a puddle made by the wash water.

“Ooh!” He declared, then started stomping. Muddy water flew everywhere.

“It
is
a bad time,” Wendy laughed. She waddled around to meet Elspeth on the garden path anyhow, giving her a hug. “I just wanted to say hello and see how you’re settling in.”

“Well enough, I suppose.” As wonderful as it was to see Wendy again, and as much catching up as she longed to do, the laundry still needed to be hung, and now Thomas was covered from head to toe in muddy water.

“Travis and I live on the other side of the yard there.” Wendy pointed through a hedge at the back of the Strong property to the backyard of another building. “I can see you’re busy right now, but I wanted to invite you to tea at some point.

“I’d love to come.” Elspeth brushed splatters of mud off of her apron. feeling decidedly feeble compared to her stately friend. “I just don’t know when I’ll possibly have time.”

“The Strong children are a handful, aren’t they? I hope mine and Travis’s little bundle of joy has just as much energy.” Wendy patted her stomach, then proceeded to go on and talk all about how delightful the Strong children were and how she and Travis hoped to have many of their own. Time itched down Elspeth’s back like prickles of fire. Lael continued to climb around in the tree nearly directly above them.

It wasn’t until Vernon’s call of, “We’re home,” followed by the older four children pouring out onto the back porch from the kitchen that Elspeth dared to drag her polite attention away from Wendy to see what was going on. What she found was Geneva and Millicent hanging dirt and grass stained clothes on the line.

“Oh no!” She left Wendy and rushed to the clothesline.

“Do you need me to help with that?” Wendy offered. She started to waddle forward, one hand on her back.

Elspeth couldn’t let a very pregnant woman stoop and reach and otherwise strain herself over a little bit of spoiled laundry. “No, you should be at home resting.” She tried to sound lighthearted but was afraid she was more of a shrew.

“We’ll help,” Ivy and Heather said in unison.

“What’s wrong?” Geneva asked as her sisters joined them.

“We’re just hanging laundry,” Millie added.

“You’ve dragged it through the grass and mud,” Heather pointed out.

“Oh.”

“Do we have any food?” Hubert asked from the porch rail.

Elspeth didn’t have time to check to see if Wendy had gone or not. “I’m sure there’s something in the pantry,” she said, rushing back to the porch.

“I want to climb the tree too,” Vernon hollered, rushing for the tree. “Hey Millie, Neva, you wanna throw rocks at me?”

“No!” Elspeth had reached the porch steps as the question was asked. She whirled back, intent on stopping the mischief, but it was too late. Geneva and Millicent were racing back to the tree.

Elspeth only barely noticed the older lady in a grey suit, her hair pulled back under a small, black hat, a large, flat purse of some sort clutched in her hands. She wore a brittle smile that was fading fast as she glanced around the yard, taking in each set of children in turn.

“Look at me,” Thomas yelled, holding out his arms. “I’m covered in mud and I nearly died twice today!”

The grey suit lady’s eyes went wide, and her lips pursed in a disapproving line.

“How did you nearly die?” Hubert asked, moving to lean against the porch railing above where Elspeth and Thomas stood.

“I ate soap,” Thomas declared proudly.

Hubert laughed. “I’m so hungry I could eat soap. I haven’t eaten in ages.”

A sudden shout of alarm came from the tree above along with a heavy rustling and a flash of downward movement. Geneva and Millicent screamed. Even Vernon cried out in wordless fright. A moment later, the movement stopped with a rustle.

“It’s okay,” Lael announced, a little tremulously. “I fell off a branch, but I caught the next one down.” He tried to laugh. “Nearly dying isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be.”

Elspeth’s mouth opened as she tried to think of the right way to scold the boy into next Sunday.

“Excuse me,” the grey suit woman said. No one paid her any mind at first, so she barked, “
Excuse me
!”

Elspeth fought not to roll her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She left Thomas where he was in the mud puddle and marched around to the woman, not even trying to be polite now. “I’m sorry, but I’ve had quite enough visits from neighbors for one day. I would be delighted to meet you some other time, but as you can see, I have my hands full.”

The grey suit woman’s nostrils flared, and splotches of red began to form on her face. “I am
not
a neighbor,” she said in clipped tones.

Elspeth blinked. “I’m not buying anything,” she said, far less friendly. “I’m not even sure peddling is legal in this town.”

“Well!” the woman exclaimed in sharp offense. “I am not selling anything.”

“Then please leave.” Every last bit of politeness was gone from Elspeth’s tone.

The woman’s face hardened. Her already square jaw grew sharp and her eyes narrowed. “Are you the mother of these children?”

Elspeth was too exhausted to explain. Lael had climbed down from the tree, and the youngest four were running like a bear was chasing them through the yard. Vernon was throwing something down from the tree onto Ivy and Heather as they worked, provoking shouts of protest.

“I’m Mrs. Strong,” Elspeth answered.

A tight, smug grin spread across the woman’s face. She reached into her flat bag and took out a formal-looking paper. “I’m Mrs. Margaret Lyon from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.” She thrust the paper at Elspeth. “Under order of the government of the Territory of Wyoming, I have been charged with taking these children into custody to prevent any further abuse to their persons or minds.”

The bottom dropped out of Elspeth’s stomach. She barely managed to hold onto the paper when Mrs. Lyon let go. “What?”

“I’m taking these children into custody,” Mrs. Lyon repeated. She turned back to the front part of the yard and gestured. Four large, burly men came forward from the picket fence that separated the front yard from the street. “Round them up,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Elspeth scrambled to look at the paper she’d been handed. She knew nothing—absolutely nothing—about societies for the prevention of cruelty to anything or laws in Wyoming. The document looked zealously complicated and legal as she scanned over it. The only things that really stood out were the words “Order for immediate removal from negligent parent” and “As reported by Mr. Rex Bonneville.” The name rang a bell, but Elspeth couldn’t put a face to it.

“You can’t do this,” she insisted, staring Mrs. Lyon down.

“The judge signed there.” Mrs. Lyon leaned over to point out a squiggly signature, her smile so self-satisfied that Elspeth had to fight the urge to punch the woman in the face.

“No!” Thomas was the first one to scream in terror, but right away, Geneva and Millicent joined him.

Elspeth whipped around to find three of the four strong-arms chasing after the younger children. One scooped Thomas up without trouble, but Geneva, Millie, Lael, and Vernon were giving the others a vicious chase. The fourth thug had Hubert, Ivy, and Heather cornered on the stairs. Hubert’s fists were balled and he looked like he would overcome the shock that painted his face and start fighting any second.

“Leave them alone,” Elspeth shouted, rushing into the heart of the fray.

“Elspeth, Elspeth!” Thomas cried for her, stretching out his arms even as the tough that held him clamped harder around his waist.

Millicent ran right at Elspeth and slammed into her, grabbing her waist for dear life, panting and whimpering, as Geneva was swept up by one of the other men.

“You leave my sister alone!” Hubert snapped at last, surging forward. He was stopped when the man guarding him and the older twins thrust out an arm to keep him on the stairs. Hubert ran right into that arm, and the result looked a little too much like the man had punched him in the stomach.

Elspeth screamed in wordless outrage, but with Millie clinging to her, she couldn’t move.

“The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children has made it our crusade to stop the heartless abuse and neglect of our most precious resource, our children.” Mrs. Lyon spoke in supercilious tones, her nose in the air, as the children continued to scream and wail. She could have been addressing a room full of lawyers for all the emotion she showed. “From the factory floor to the unfit home, we have made it our mission to rescue children in dire circumstances from the degradation of unfit parenting.”

“You call this a
rescue
?” Elspeth snapped in outrage.

Lael let out a ferocious howl as he was caught and lugged back to the stairs. The men who had caught Geneva and Thomas handed them off to the stair guard, then went after Vernon together. Vernon had climbed the tree and was shouting for help at the top of his lungs.

“No child shall be oppressed while our vigilant eyes oversee them,” Mrs. Lyon went on, her smile turning almost rapturous as she spouted her drivel. “We are angels of mercy, intent on God’s work, and we shall bring these poor, neglected souls to a gentler understanding of life and morality.”

“You’re taking them from their father,” Elspeth shouted. “Their father loves them.”

“Love is not dirt and drudgery.” Mrs. Lyon sniffed. “Why look at the state of that one.” She tossed a gesture at Thomas and turned up her nose.

“I nearly died three times today,” Thomas wailed.

Elspeth cringed, but that was all she could do.

The thugs chasing Vernon began to shake the tree he’d climbed. For all his twelve years, Vernon still cried out in fear. “I’ll come down, I’ll come down,” he vowed, sobbing.

“You’re frightening them,” Elspeth yelled. “You call that a mission of mercy?”

“Sometimes the initial extraction can appear to be painful.” Mrs. Lyon glanced at her fingernails, turning her hand this way and that, and sniffing as if the wailing around her was of no consequence. “They’ll be so much happier once they’ve undergone our strict program of moral and physical education.”

“
What
?”

Before Elspeth’s question could be answered, Vernon dropped out of the tree and into the arms of one of the thugs. The other marched over to her and ripped Millicent away. Millie screamed, Vernon was sobbing in fear and shame, and the rest of the children were weeping bitterly. Except Hubert, who looked as though he might commit murder any second.

“Hold on, children.” Elspeth rushed over to where they had all been gathered on the stairs. Two of the thugs rounded on her, holding out their arms to keep her away. She ignored them. “Hold on. This is a mistake. Just a horrible mistake. Please be patient and obedient for now.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth then Mrs. Lyon called, “Bring them along.”

The four thugs lifted, pushed, and herded the children off the stairs and around the yard toward the front of the house.

“What? Wait! Where are you taking them?” Elspeth rushed after them. She spotted Josephine and a girl about Hubert’s age running out of their house. A small crowd waited around the front in the street.

“The paper explains it all,” Mrs. Lyon said, full of disdain. “The children are being removed from their abusive parent. Removed means taken away,” she added as if Elspeth were stupid as well as negligent.