Saturday Snippet : "I don't like it when we're at odds"
12:24 PM
“I was
wondering where you had snuck off to,” Emmeline whispered. The nursery had
changed little since she and her sister were young. It still housed their small
beds and dearly loved toys and books.
Fredrick
sent her a smile, which she was able to see in the moonlight streaming through
the window. He sat on the floor next to Betty’s bed, Ronald asleep in his lap.
“You must
have been telling them stories,” Emmeline said, sitting down beside him. “Your
stories always put people to sleep.”
Fredrick’s
teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he grinned. “Are you saying my stories are
boring?” His voice was hushed.
“Yes,”
Emmeline said, a muffled giggle escaping. “Remember that long one you told me
when I was sick that winter? About the canning factory?”
“Well, at
least it served one purpose; that was the time you read a whole book, wasn’t
it? If my stories bored you to the point of reading …”
“Reading
that book saved me from listening to your lecture on crop rotation and electric
currents. Your stories all did sound like the things that you had learned at
college.”
Fredrick
shifted slightly, moving Ronald to his other arm. The little boy didn’t make a
sound. “Most of it was. While I dearly love to read, I don’t have the
imagination some others have. Besides, it was probably good for you. You have
to admit that you never would have read about those things on your own. I
helped educate you on things that were important.”
“You did,”
Emmeline admitted, reaching out to push the hair from Ronald’s face. “While I
might not have been happy at the time, I’m grateful now. You’ve always been
good for me, like the brother I never had.”
“Now if
only we could work out our differences as easily as we keep our relations from
killing each other.” Even though he said it in a lighthearted tone, there was
an undercurrent of seriousness that she didn’t miss.
“I don’t
like it when we are at odds with each other,” Emmeline admitted. “Even though I
think I was right, I don’t wish to disappoint you, really I don’t.”
“I know,
Emmeline,” Fredrick said softly, and covered her hand with his own for the
briefest moment before pulling it away again.
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