Page 61 of Always to Remember
Someone took her hand. Opening her eyes, she smiled at Robert as he knelt beside her.
“I wanted to ask a favor of you,” he said. “I feel pretty useless now that the desserts are gone, and I no longer have to stand guard over them. It occurred to me that if I had someone to hold the nail, I could hammer it into place. I was wondering if you’d be willing to be that someone.”
Eleven
“GAWDALMIGHTY!” JOSH SHRIEKED. “WHAT HAPPENED TO OURwall?”
Clay came to a dead stop as though he’d just slammed against the wall he had erected earlier that morning. The side of the barn they’d been walking toward looked as though no one had touched it all day.
He jerked off his hat and plowed his fingers through his hair. Taking the twins to the river so they could cool off hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“We gonna go home now?” Joe asked.
Clay settled his hat on his head and narrowed his eyes. “Nope. We’re gonna finish our wall.”
Both boys released baleful sighs.
“You can work with Lucian if you want to,” Clay said.
“Nah, we’ll work with you,” Josh said.
“In that case—” Clay knelt and placed a hand on each boy’s shoulder. “Remember that rule we have about no swearing until you’re sixteen?”
The twins exchanged suspicious glances and nodded.
“Today’s an exception. Until the sun sets, you can say any swearword you want as often as you want.”
“We can?” Josh asked, excitement at the prospect reflected in his eyes.
“Yep.”
“But we only know one,” Joe said.
“Stay by my side,” Clay said, “and I’ll teach you a few more.”
Meg looked through the opening in the frame at what had once been a partially completed opposite wall. She gazed beyond it to where Clay and the twins had come to an abrupt halt. Around her, the hammers fell into silence as everyone waited to see how Clay would react.
The litany ofgo homeraced through her mind. He had but to turn and walk to his wagon.Take the twins home,she thought.Please take the twins home.
He knelt in the field. The next thing she knew the twins were whooping, hollering, and running toward the wall that was little more than air.
With a broad smile, Clay swaggered to the pile of fresh lumber, hefted a board, and carried it to the frame where the twins waited.
Of all the things Clay could have done, the last thing she’d expected him to do was smile. He drove the first nail into the board with such force that Meg felt the frame vibrate where her fingers were touching it.
Tom started whistling and put his hammer into action. One by one, other hammers took up the beat.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Robert said quietly.
“I suppose we could build that wall,” Meg said, tilting her head toward the wall where Clay worked.
Robert gave her a sad smile. “I’d rather be at Shiloh again than have this town’s hatred directed my way. I have hopes of settling here, Meg, and having a family. I don’t want my children playing alone.”
An unspoken hope touched his eyes, and Meg knew he wanted his family to include her. He was young, strong, and resembled Kirk to such a great degree that she wanted to hold his promise in her heart.
He tapped the board he’d set against the frame. “Want to see if we work well together?”
Nodding, Meg knelt and placed her palm flat against the board to keep it in place. Then she positioned the nail. Turning her head slightly, she saw Clay crouching on the other side of the bam. His hat brim shaded his eyes, but she could feel his penetrating gaze riveted on her. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t responsible for what they had done to his side of the barn. She wanted to tell him—
