“Boys have a bad habit of making trouble."
1:00 AM
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“John! Come back here!” Eleanor dashed after the toddler.
The little boy giggled and walked as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him. He moved away from the house and toward the fields, chattering away. He ignored her calls and pleas as she followed after him.
“John!”
“John!” a very young voice echoed.
Eleanor paused for a moment and looked down. Nathaniel, a little over a year older than John, called after his best friend. She smiled down at him. “Do you think he will listen to you?”
Four-year-old Nathaniel gazed up at her with a serious expression before shaking his head. “John never listens.”
Eleanor stifled a chuckle and turned back to follow John. Fear struck her heart when she did not see him. Alditha had trusted her to watch her son, and she had lost him.
“Nathaniel, where is John?”
Nathaniel turned his big eyes on her and stuck his thumb in his mouth, staring off to the fields of wheat that stretched out around the village. As much as she loved Marian’s son, he was not much help at times.
Swinging Nathaniel onto her hip, Eleanor plunged forward, wondering how long it would take for Alditha to worry about her son and sister-in-law.
“John?” she called. She ran along the edge of the field, looking for any sign of the little boy. She could not see him, so she kept moving as fast as she could. She called to some of the field workers, but they had not seen the little boy. Perhaps he had made a dash for the manor house that always seemed to hold a fascination for him. How could one with such short legs go faster than she?
“Are you looking for this little lad?”
Eleanor spun around at the unfamiliar voice. A man in fine but worn clothes stood, a giggling John in his arms.
“Aye, I am,” Eleanor said, setting Nathaniel on the ground but keeping a tight hold on his hand. “He managed to get away from me while I was working in the garden.”
“Boys have a bad habit of making trouble,” he said as he passed John into her arms.
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2 comments
I really enjoyed this book! <3 (well, actually, I'm really enjoying A LOT of your books . . .)
ReplyDeleteEllen
musingsbyellen.blogspot.com
I'm glad you're enjoying them, Ellen.
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