Rorey's Secret Read Online Free

Samuel and Ben.”
    “Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll save them somethin’ hot. You need anythin’, Thelma? Cup a’ tea or anythin’?”
    “No. Nothin’, please. Sammy, you go ahead though, if you want.”
    “I’ll take a plate when the time comes,” he said. “Everybody else here?”
    Of course he knew their brother Joe was away with the army at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. It was a bit of a worry to all of us, but just a part of life, seeing boys become men.
    “I haven’t seen Franky yet,” I told him. “Maybe he stopped at your father’s place to finish up some chores.” I wondered on that a little. Franky had been working field with the rest, and I would’ve thought they’d manage chores at the other farm together before any of them came back here. But maybe Franky had offered to finish up so the others could come on.
    George stepped in the doorway with a smile for his eldest son. “What you s’pose you got there?” he asked with a chuckle. “Twins?”
    “Lordy, I hope not!” Thelma exclaimed. “One’s enough work.”
    Young Sam disagreed. “Mama used to say that if one takes up all your time, then ten can’t be any harder.”
    Thelma squeezed Sam’s hand again as another pain swept over her. But it would surely be a while yet, and Lizbeth was with her, so I started for the kitchen. George followed me, looking a little anxious. “These times,” he said, “they never was easy. Don’t you think Sam oughta step outta there? It’s gonna be a womanly situation, ’fore long.”
    Most people felt that way, I knew. But I figured it ought to be up to the mother. “He can stay just as long as Thelma wants him to stay.”
    “Ain’t it bad luck?”
    “Why would it be? God made him the head of his house. I see no reason he shouldn’t be watching over them.”
    “I always used to be pacin’ around outside. Even the ones that was born in the winter. Wilametta shooed me out. Blamed me for ever’ one a’ them babies.”
    I had nothing to say to that. I didn’t remember him arriving at all until after Emma Grace was already born, but there was no telling about the other nine.
    Sarah was mashing the potatoes, and Rorey was standing right next to her, stirring Lizbeth’s pot of green beans. Funny how she could make herself look like she’d been working all along. Emma Grace stood on a chair, anxiously holding the frosting bowl.
    “Just a minute, Emmie,” Sarah was telling her. “I’ve got my hands full.”
    Indeed she did, making gravy, tending the chicken, and mashing those potatoes, practically at the same time. Bless her.
    “You want me to help with the cake?” Katie asked, setting two kinds of pickles and a jar of rhubarb jam from the pantry next to her generous dish of raw turnip slices in the middle of the table. Bless her too.
    “I want to frost it! Please!” Emmie begged.
    “You’re gonna need a hand,” Katie told her. “That’s a big job.”
    Emmie nodded her agreement, and I waved them on. Sometimes I didn’t know what I’d do without Sarah and Kate. They were my best helpers. Katie was not yet thirteen, a relative we’d taken in about six years ago, and she seemed to make our family complete.
    I moved to the stove, offering to take over with the chicken.
    “Are you sure?” Sarah asked me. “Doesn’t Thelma need you?”
    “She will. In a little while. I think I can feed the rest of you first.”
    I’d husked a pot of sweet corn earlier, and the girls had moved it to the back burner to get some heat. Wouldn’t need much. Most of the kids would eat corn on the cob raw, they loved it so well. I lifted the lid, just to see if the water was bubbling.
    “Reckon Franky’ll be here in time for dessert?” It was Robert asking from the doorway.
    “We can very well wait for him, Robert John, as you ought to know. Is he doing the milking at home?”
    “We did the milking over there, Mom. He went to find Mrs. Post. Said he was going to get another book from her.”
    I