“So, it wasn’t gross when you broke your leg?” Erin asked, her lower lip in a pout.
“No.” Dave shook his head. “Why do you like to hear about gross things?” He assumed for a family that was surrounded by the color pink, the girls would be a lot more feminine than these were turning out to be.
Erin and Patricia shrugged. “It’s not every day you see a broken leg,” Erin said. “We thought it might be interesting to know what one is like.”
“Yeah, it’s not like our pa ever fell off a horse,” Patricia added.
“Well, tell your pa he’s lucky,” Dave said. “This isn’t any fun. I have to spend a long time in this splint. It’s not easy being stuck in a chair all day. You should be glad you can move around and play.”
Mary came up to the wagon with Rachel and Adam, but before she could start getting the children in, Jessica asked, “Why don’t you and I ride together? Patricia and Erin are already over here. We can go in my buggy.”
Mary glanced at Dave, and he gave her a nod. She might as well ride in the buggy. It was much more comfortable than being in the back of the wagon.
“Alright,” Mary said. “We’ll follow the rest of you.”
Mary carried Adam to the buggy, and Jessica carried Rachel.
Nelly hopped into the seat of the wagon. “I found Aunt Mary and got her out here,” she told Dave.
“What did you do, lasso her?” Patricia teased her sister.
Nelly’s eyebrows rose. “I could if I wanted to.”
Isaac stared at her. “You don’t know how to lasso something.”
“Sure, I do,” Nelly said. “I’m getting pretty good at it, too.” Tom hopped up into the wagon seat, and she added, “Pa, tell Isaac I know how to use a lasso.”
Tom glanced back at Isaac. “She lassoed a calf the other day.”
“She did?” This time Dave was the one to speak. He figured Isaac would have asked the question if he hadn’t, but he was too surprised to remain silent.
“She got it out of the puddle it got stuck in,” Tom told him. “And on her first try.”
“I’ve been practicing for a year,” Nelly said, looking very satisfied her pa had backed up her claim.
“I never heard of a girl lassoing anything,” Isaac replied, not seeming convinced.
“When we get to Grandpa and Grandma’s, I’ll prove it,” Nelly said.
“You two should make a bet,” Erin spoke up. “That’ll make it more interesting.”
Isaac glanced at Dave.
Dave shook his head. If Tom said Nelly could lasso a calf, then she could do it. Tom wasn’t like Joel. What Tom said was what really happened.
“No, I don’t want to bet,” Isaac replied.
Patricia frowned in disappointment. “It would have been fun to win the bet.”
“As long as you don’t doubt I can do it, we’re fine,” Nelly told Isaac.
Isaac waited until Nelly turned her attention to the front of the wagon before he rolled his eyes. Dave put his arm around Isaac’s shoulders and gave him a reassuring pat. Isaac made the right decision, and if he was smart, he wouldn’t let his cousins’ goading get to him. They were being playful, but Isaac had a tendency to take things a little too seriously.
Tom released the brake, and the wagon moved forward. The girls ended up doing most of the talking on the way to Dave’s parents’ farm. Patricia and Erin were talking about what they were learning to sew and cook. Daisy piped in once in a while to mention the things she liked to play with, to which Patricia and Erin would whisper that she was still a baby so she still liked toys. Nelly and Tom were lost in a world of their own as they discussed the harvest coming up in a couple of months.
Dave and Isaac stayed quiet for the most part. Neither knew the first thing about the things Patricia and Erin were telling them, and, though Dave would never come out and say it, he had no desire to learn them, either. He was grateful Mary did them without giving him the details.
Once Patricia and Erin were done talking about sewing and cooking, they went on to discuss how they all liked to style their hair. After that, they rambled on about how cute, ugly, or silly the boys at their school looked. During these topics, Tom and Nelly joined in, with Tom encouraging them to be very selective when picking a future husband.
Dave breathed a sigh of relief when Tom pulled the wagon to a stop in front of his parents’ home. He had no idea his two nieces could talk so much. He rubbed his temples as they got out of the wagon.
“I should have sat with Uncle Tom and Nelly,” Isaac muttered. “At least, they had something interesting to talk about.”
Isaac stood up and climbed out of the wagon. As soon as his feet landed on the grass, Daisy was waiting for him.
“You want to play this now?” Daisy asked, showing him the sticks in her hand.
“Why not?” Isaac replied then followed her into the house.
Tom went around to the back of the wagon. “Are you ready to get out, Dave?”
Dave retrieved his crutch and nodded. “How do you do it, Tom?” he asked as he scooted over to his brother. “How do you put up with a house full of girls?”
Tom laughed. “I love it. They’ll come up and tell you anything, and they’re always encouraging.”
Dave put
