At that, Isaac paled. “Don’t say that so loud, Pa. They might hear you.”
With a chuckle, Dave gave him a pat on the shoulder. “If they go that far, I’ll have a talk with your uncle.” Because no matter how much Tom let Jessica get her way, he needed to have some limits!
Tom stopped the wagon in front of the porch. “You ready to get in?” he asked as he jumped down from the wagon.
“I am, but Mary’s still in the house with Rachel and Adam,” Dave said.
“Nelly, go help your aunt,” Tom called out.
“Sure thing, Pa,” Nelly replied and jumped out of the wagon the exact same way Tom had.
Dave blinked in surprise, but he waited until she ran into the house before he turned his attention back to Tom. “The more I see her, the more I realize she imitates everything you do. Before you know it, she’ll want to plant crops.”
Tom took the crutch and then put Dave’s arm around his shoulders. “Oh, she already did that this spring.”
“She did?” Dave asked.
Tom nodded as he helped Dave to the wagon. “She did a good job of it, too. I might let her help with the harvest in a couple more years.”
“Do you really think it’s wise for a girl to be out in the fields gathering crops?”
“I don’t see why she can’t.”
“She should be with the other girls and the women.”
“Dave, you got to stop being so old-fashioned. Girls and women are doing more things outside the home these days.” They reached the wagon and Tom turned to face him. “In Missouri, I heard the daughter of a homesteader took over the place without getting a husband.”
“No way.”
“It’s true. And she’s been managing the place for five years now. If she can do it, Nelly can help with the crops.”
Well, Dave supposed Mary had pitched in from time to time to help with the crops, but he couldn’t remember her ever volunteering to plant or reap any. He couldn’t recall a time when Rachel wanted to be in the fields, either.
“As long as it’s something Nelly wants to do and she doesn’t hurt herself, I guess there’s no harm,” Dave said.
“She loves it, and she never does anything she can’t handle. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. Of course, all my girls do.”
“At least you’re not still upset you didn’t have a son.”
“I love my girls. To be honest, I wouldn’t know what I’d do with a son at this point.”
With a laugh, he said, “You’d probably paint this wagon blue instead of pink.”
“There’s nothing wrong with pink when you have a house full of girls. Besides, I kind of like it. Every time I see it, I think of my family.” Tom set the crutch aside and lowered the back end of the wagon. “I’ll help you in.”
Once Tom lifted Dave up into the wagon, Dave scooted back until his back was up against the side of the wagon. He took a moment to catch his breath then accepted the crutch as Tom handed it to him.
“Hi, Uncle Dave,” Daisy greeted as she turned around to look at him.
“Hi, Daisy.” After a moment, Dave asked, “Do you want to plant crops like Nelly when you get older?”
Daisy’s nose scrunched up. “No. Bugs are out in the fields. And I don’t like getting dirty.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I like being inside where it’s clean and safe.”
Isaac sat next to Dave.
“Want to play when we get to Grandma and Grandpa’s?” Daisy asked Isaac.
Isaac shook his head. “I’m not going to play dolls again.”
“This won’t be dolls.” She bent under the seat she was sitting on and showed him about thirty wooden sticks that were tied together with a string. “It’s called pick-up sticks. I’ll untie the sticks and let go of them. You and I will take turns picking them up.”
“That sounds stupid,” Isaac said.
“You didn’t let me finish. If you move any other stick while picking one up, you lose a turn. The person who gets the most sticks wins.”
Isaac’s eyebrows rose in interest. “That doesn’t sound so stupid. Alright. I’ll play.”
“Great!”
Patricia and Erin came running up to the wagon and hopped in. “How did you hurt your leg?” Patricia asked Dave as she sat next to him.
“Uncle Joel said the bone broke,” Erin added as she sat next to Patricia. “Did the bones poke out of your leg? Was there blood everywhere?”
Daisy grimaced. “That’s gross.”
“It’s not gross,” Erin replied. “It’s what happens when people get injured.” Erin’s gaze went to Dave. “Uncle Joel told us how things can go wrong with the human body.”
Daisy turned away from them and covered her ears.
“He doesn’t go into a lot of detail,” Patricia added. “He says there are some things little kids shouldn’t know.”
“I know that,” Erin replied.
“But Uncle Dave doesn’t,” Patricia said.
“Oh, yes, that’s true.” Erin’s gaze returned to Dave. “So, how gross was your leg?”
Dave shook his head. “There was no blood, but I could tell something was wrong.”
Erin straightened up in interest. “Really? What did it look like?”
“I’d rather not think about it,” Dave said. “Wouldn’t you rather be thinking of something pleasant, like pick-up sticks or something?”
“Oh, we’re bored of that game,” Erin replied with a roll of her eyes. “Uncle Joel told us you’d tell us how you fell off a horse and broke your leg.”
Patricia nodded. “Don’t leave anything out. We want the entire story.”
There was no way Dave was telling them the details.
