Read This Side of Heaven for Free Online Page B

your aunt, or you’ll feel the flat of my hand where you sit.”
    “She’s not my aunt! Is she?” The child sounded fascinated and appalled at the same time.
    “Indeed she is. This is your Aunt Caroline, who it seems will be making her home with us for the forseeable future.” Matt glanced at Caroline. She was nearlyas taken aback at the idea of their kinship as the wide-eyed boy, but of course it was true. If these were Elizabeth’s children, then she was their aunt. Or half aunt, as she and her sister had had different mothers.
    “How do you do, David,” she said to him, managing to sound reasonably pleasant, upon which feat she congratulated herself, considering the circumstances.
    “I don’t want no aunt living with us!” David burst out, glaring at Caroline. “We’re fine on our own, just us men!”
    “Silence!” Matt’s roar had worked on Raleigh, and it worked again on David. Abashed, the child shut his mouth, but his expression was belligerent as he glowered at Caroline.
    “She says she can cook and clean and sew, and that’s something we can use around here. Besides that, she’s family. She’ll be staying, and that’s all I have to say on the subject!” As if he expected to be challenged, his gaze swept around the semicircle formed by the three men and his son. The adults looked dubious, the child mutinous. Caroline scowled at the lot of them. Off to the right, Captain Rowse made a choking sound that he hastily turned into a cough, but no one even glanced his way.
    “You know Daniel, and that’s our brother Thomas to his left”—Matt indicated the sandy-haired man—“and Robert to his right. They live here, work the farm with me and my boys. John’s my older son. This one’s David.” His eyes slid over to Captain Rowse. “Tobias, if you’ll come with me into the house, I’ll settle our business and offer you a drink at the same time.”
    “Sounds fair enough to me.” Captain Rowse grinned at Daniel and the other men behind Matt’s back.
    “Caroline, you may come with me, too. I’ll show you where things are kept, how we like things done. The rest of you, get back to work. You, too, Davey. Get some more corn and finish feeding the chickens.” His tone gentled as he spoke to his son.
    “What about her trunks?” Daniel asked.
    “Trunks?” Matt looked at Caroline with raised brows.
    “Three of ’em,” Daniel replied. “Heavy, too. And a basket.”
    Matt grunted. “Bring them in.” He shook his head. “Three trunks!”
    He started for the house, disappearing around the corner of the barn with Captain Rowse as the others moved off to do his bidding. But instead of following him, as Matt had clearly intended her to do, Caroline turned to look up at the cat perched on the peaked roof high above her head.
    “Come on, Millicent,” she coaxed.
    Millicent stared back at her, her golden eyes unblinking.
    “Millicent, come down!”
    Millicent blinked once, slowly, then got to her feet and stretched. Her sleek black body rippled, and her tail stood up.
    “Woman, where are you? Are you coming?” Matt’s annoyed shout from somewhere outside her field of vision caused Caroline to jump.
    “In just a minute!” she called back. To the animal,who was sauntering along the roofline as if she had not a care in the world, Caroline added in an urgent tone: “Millicent! Come!”
    “Bother the cat! The creature’ll come down when it’s good and ready, and not before.” Matt had reappeared. When he saw what she was about he stalked over to her, caught her by the arm, and propelled her in the direction he wanted her to go. “I’ve lost enough time for one day. I don’t propose to lose more waiting on the whims of a confounded cat.”
    Caroline pulled free. “But the dog will get her!”
    Matt stopped walking, planted his fists on his hips, and glowered at her. “He’s tied, and anyway he’d not hurt her. We’ve cats aplenty around the barn, and they’ve all survived him quite