it be nice if there were a bus that took the men away al day,
too?”
Peg found her first real smile of the morning as she
patted her slightly bulging bel y. “I swear Duncan spends
more time watching me than he does working.” She sighed.
“Apparently pregnant women can’t even lift something as
heavy as a paintbrush, much less hang curtains. And God
forbid I should want to go for a walk in the woods all by
myself,” she said with a laugh.
Olivia snorted, patting her own protruding bel y. “Mac flew
into a panic the other day when I said I was taking Sophie
to Bangor to have a mother-daughter day before school
started. I swear no fewer than two dozen seagul s fol owed
us al the way down to Bangor and back, the little spies.”
She gestured toward the bus—which the men were stillon.
“Honestly, you’d think Henry was going to Siberia the way
my dear sweet husband has been acting al morning.”
Peg shook her head. “I would like to have been a fly on
the wal after you took Henry in to be tested for his grade
level. I bet no one at school knew what to do with him.” She
gave Olivia’s arm a squeeze. “I’m glad you only let them put
him ahead two grades. He might be the smartest kid on the
planet, but he’s stil only six years old. Isabel’s pretty miffed
Henry’s starting school in the third grade with Sophie
instead of in her class.”
“She can’t be any more upset than Mac is,” Olivia said.
“When Sophie showed him some of her schoolwork from
last year, he threatened to open a private school for al our
children right here at Inglenook.” She leaned closer. “He
wanted to bring in a couple of teachers from Atlantis,
claiming he was fluent in six languages and doing algebra
by the time he was Sophie’s age.”
“He’s a friggin’ wizard,” Peg said on a laugh. “He
was probably doing algebra in the womb.” She glanced
down at Olivia’s bel y, figuring they’d have their babies
within a few weeks of each other. “So, when are you going
to tel me if you’re having a boy or a girl?”
“When it’s born,” Olivia said. “Mac wants to be surprised,
so he’s not peeking.”
They both looked up at the sound of the bus final y
leaving, and Peg had to grab Duncan as Olivia grabbed
Mac, and the women pul ed them over to the side of the
road. Duncan had brought his little clan over on the pontoon
boat this morning to join the Oceanuses so al the children
could meet the bus together for the thirty-mile ride to
Turtleback Station on this first day of school.
“The bus turns here,” Olivia explained when Mac frowned
at her, “because this is its last stop now that Peg lives
across the fiord.”
The men wrapped their arms around their respective
wives, Duncan resting his chin on Peg’s head. She smiled
when she felt the tension in him as the school bus backed
into the Inglenook road then turned and headed toward
town, and Peg felt her first tear slip free when she saw
Peter and Jacob’s excited little faces looking out the
window as they waved to her.
Duncan dropped his arms from around her when the bus
suddenly stopped not a hundred yards down the road and
the driver’s head popped out a window. “Somebody want
to come get this dog off the bus?” he hol ered back with a
grin.
Duncan took off with a muttered curse, running down the
road and disappearing up the ditch side of the bus, only to
reappear a minute later carrying Hero as the dog kept
whining and frantical y struggling to get down.
Mac suddenly ushered Peg and Olivia toward the SUV.
“We should probably hurry to the Drunken Moose before
al the buns are gone,” he said, opening the back door for
Peg before leading Olivia around to the front passenger
side.
Duncan tossed Hero in the back, then got in the seat next
to Peg. “Let’s go,” he said, his attention on the bus rumbling
out of sight down over the hil .
Mac pul ed onto the main road without even looking for
traffic, and Olivia glanced over her shoulder at Peg, her
eyes dancing with amusement. But instead of going around
the bus when it pul ed over to let them pass, Mac patiently
made every stop it did to pick up more children before
reaching town. And then, instead of pul ing into one of the
open parking slots, he stopped right in the middle of the
road.
“Why don’t you ladies go in and visit with Ezra,” Mac
suggested to Olivia. “There’s a store in Turtleback that
Duncan says has the exact pair of work boots I need for the
construction site, so I believe we might as wel run down
and get them right now. We’l be back in no time, and then
we’l al go over to the Drunken Moose for breakfast.”
Peg figured Olivia didn’t move quite fast enough when
she saw Mac unclip his wife’s seat belt, then lean over and
give her a quick kiss on the cheek just as her door suddenly
opened on its own. “See you soon, honey.”
Duncan pul ed Peg out his side of the truck with him,
gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, then hugged her.
“Ye don’t fret over the boys,” he whispered. “They’l be just
fine,” he said, again making Peg wonder who he was trying
to reassure when he jumped in the front seat and Mac took
off before he even had his door closed.
Olivia slid her arm through Peg’s and started walking
toward the path leading down to the newly reconstructed
park at the foot of the fal s. “How much do you want to bet
they get halfway back here before they remember they went
to buy boots?” she asked, pul ing Peg down beside her on
one of the benches.
Mimicking Olivia, Peg also leaned back, folded her
hands over her bel y, and shook her head with a laugh that
stil had a lingering trace of tears. “Aren’t we lucky to have
both fal en in love with big, strong, invincible men?”
“And charmed,” Olivia whispered, nudging Peg’s
shoulder with her own. “Let’s not forget how charmed they
both are.”
LETTER FROM LAKEWATCH
Spring 2012
Dear Readers,
Mother Nature absolutely has no modesty. I can
personally attest to this, as for the last several days
there’s been a lot of sex going on just outside my
writing studio. I’ve stormed out onto my deck and
shouted that I’m trying to write a book here, so could
everyone please go get a room, only to be answered
by such raucous laughter that I had to slink back
inside and close my windows and pull the shades.
Honestly, I swear they shouted right back at me to
get a life, lady.
It’s not just those horny mallard drakes all vying for
the attention of a single harried hen, either. It’s my
dear sweet crows renewing their vows of monogamy
while directing maiden aunts and bachelor uncles on
building a new nest. It’s a pair of bald eagles trying to
get this year’s family started while putting up with last
year’s offspring complaining that they’re bored and
can’t find anything to eat. And it’s loons showing up