sentences.”
“But that was only one, Uncle Tye.”
“It was long enough for a full paragraph. Mari, your turn.”
The middle girl dragged a hand across her mouth and said, “We-ell…You see…we, uh…It’s like this, Uncle Tye.”
Katrina’s thumb popped from her mouth. “That’s three, Mari. My turn.” She beamed a practiced smile at her uncle and said, “We’re ‘pologizing for misbehaving at Miss Loretta’s house. We knew we might make a little mess, so we thought we’d be good and use Miss Donovan’s kitchen.”
“Little mess!” Claire exclaimed. “You call the disaster in my kitchen a little mess?”
“It did get a teeny bit out of hand,” Maribeth agreed, wincing. “Everything was fine until we let Ralph inside.”
“That danged dog again,” Tye muttered. “I’m beginning to think I made a big mistake bringing him home after all. Where is Ralph now?”
Emma answered. “He’s upstairs shut in our room. We asked him to watch out for Spike.”
“Good,” Tye replied, nodding.
Katrina tossed a frown toward Claire. “You said you were going home. Why did you come back?”
“Home? I didn’t tell you I was going home.”
The youngster whipped a hand up and pointed toward the ceiling. “You told that pretty man. We were watching you through the spy hole.”
Claire stood speechless, her mouth bobbing open and closed like a fish. Tye grinned sheepishly and explained, “From what I understand it’s an old family tradition.”
“That’s right,” Emma said. “Sometimes Papa says it was love at first sight when he sneaked a peak at Mama.”
Her voice lowered confidentially, Katrina added, “That spy hole looked into the dressing room at Fortune’s Design.”
Trace McBride’s own children naming him as a Peeping Tom? Claire threw Tye a scandalized look.
“At least you’re not naked when you bake,” he said, as if that made spying on her acceptable. A teasing twinkle flashed in his eyes as he added, “Are you?”
She gritted her teeth against the curses waiting on her tongue. One didn’t grow up with brothers without learning a few good cuss words. Drawing a deep, calming breath, she said, “I want my kitchen put back to rights.”
Tye rolled his tongue around his cheek and glanced toward the doorway leading into the kitchen. “Maybe I’d better take a little look.”
“Maybe you’d better not, Uncle Tye,” Emma suggested. “We’ve already told Miss Donovan we’d clean it up. You don’t need to waste your time checking it out.”
Maribeth shot Claire a narrow-eyed glare before adding, “That’s right. We said we’d take care of this ourselves, and we weren’t lying. She shouldn’t have dragged you into it. We didn’t need to sit here like this.”
Why, the snotty little thing . It was all Claire could do not to stick her tongue out at the child.
“Button your lips, girls.” Tye pivoted and headed for the kitchen. Claire folded her arms and waited for his response. While she didn’t expect his reaction to equal hers—she couldn’t quite picture him screaming at the sight—she did expect more than a grunt.
A grunt was all she got.
He sauntered back toward them, wincing and rubbing his eyes. “Girls, here’s what we’re going to do. The three of you are going to march upstairs and get cleaned up. Then I want you to track down your teacher and get the assignments you missed today when you skipped school.”
“How do you know about that?” Katrina asked, wonder in her voice.
Maribeth nudged her in the ribs. “ ‘Cause you told him we spied on Miss Donovan and that man, dummy. That happened during the big middle of the schoolday.”
“After that,” Tye continued, “I expect you to shut yourselves in your room and read every word, write every sentence, and work every arithmetic problem your teacher gives you. Y’all understand?”
“Yessir, Uncle Tye.”
“Then scram.”
The McBride Menaces jumped from their seats and darted out
“But that was only one, Uncle Tye.”
“It was long enough for a full paragraph. Mari, your turn.”
The middle girl dragged a hand across her mouth and said, “We-ell…You see…we, uh…It’s like this, Uncle Tye.”
Katrina’s thumb popped from her mouth. “That’s three, Mari. My turn.” She beamed a practiced smile at her uncle and said, “We’re ‘pologizing for misbehaving at Miss Loretta’s house. We knew we might make a little mess, so we thought we’d be good and use Miss Donovan’s kitchen.”
“Little mess!” Claire exclaimed. “You call the disaster in my kitchen a little mess?”
“It did get a teeny bit out of hand,” Maribeth agreed, wincing. “Everything was fine until we let Ralph inside.”
“That danged dog again,” Tye muttered. “I’m beginning to think I made a big mistake bringing him home after all. Where is Ralph now?”
Emma answered. “He’s upstairs shut in our room. We asked him to watch out for Spike.”
“Good,” Tye replied, nodding.
Katrina tossed a frown toward Claire. “You said you were going home. Why did you come back?”
“Home? I didn’t tell you I was going home.”
The youngster whipped a hand up and pointed toward the ceiling. “You told that pretty man. We were watching you through the spy hole.”
Claire stood speechless, her mouth bobbing open and closed like a fish. Tye grinned sheepishly and explained, “From what I understand it’s an old family tradition.”
“That’s right,” Emma said. “Sometimes Papa says it was love at first sight when he sneaked a peak at Mama.”
Her voice lowered confidentially, Katrina added, “That spy hole looked into the dressing room at Fortune’s Design.”
Trace McBride’s own children naming him as a Peeping Tom? Claire threw Tye a scandalized look.
“At least you’re not naked when you bake,” he said, as if that made spying on her acceptable. A teasing twinkle flashed in his eyes as he added, “Are you?”
She gritted her teeth against the curses waiting on her tongue. One didn’t grow up with brothers without learning a few good cuss words. Drawing a deep, calming breath, she said, “I want my kitchen put back to rights.”
Tye rolled his tongue around his cheek and glanced toward the doorway leading into the kitchen. “Maybe I’d better take a little look.”
“Maybe you’d better not, Uncle Tye,” Emma suggested. “We’ve already told Miss Donovan we’d clean it up. You don’t need to waste your time checking it out.”
Maribeth shot Claire a narrow-eyed glare before adding, “That’s right. We said we’d take care of this ourselves, and we weren’t lying. She shouldn’t have dragged you into it. We didn’t need to sit here like this.”
Why, the snotty little thing . It was all Claire could do not to stick her tongue out at the child.
“Button your lips, girls.” Tye pivoted and headed for the kitchen. Claire folded her arms and waited for his response. While she didn’t expect his reaction to equal hers—she couldn’t quite picture him screaming at the sight—she did expect more than a grunt.
A grunt was all she got.
He sauntered back toward them, wincing and rubbing his eyes. “Girls, here’s what we’re going to do. The three of you are going to march upstairs and get cleaned up. Then I want you to track down your teacher and get the assignments you missed today when you skipped school.”
“How do you know about that?” Katrina asked, wonder in her voice.
Maribeth nudged her in the ribs. “ ‘Cause you told him we spied on Miss Donovan and that man, dummy. That happened during the big middle of the schoolday.”
“After that,” Tye continued, “I expect you to shut yourselves in your room and read every word, write every sentence, and work every arithmetic problem your teacher gives you. Y’all understand?”
“Yessir, Uncle Tye.”
“Then scram.”
The McBride Menaces jumped from their seats and darted out
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