With a Little Luck Read Online Free

was no need to repeat it.
    “Let’s go fishing,” Toby decided.
    “Fishing it is,” Luck agreed, and smiled as he rumpled the top of his son’s brown hair.
     
    TWO HOURS LATER the dishes were washed and the beds were made and they were sitting in the boat, anchored in a cove of Lake Namekagon. A thick forest crowded the meandering shoreline, occasionally leaving room for a sandy stretch of beach. A mixture of hardwood and conifers, with extensive stands of pine and spruce, provided a blend of the green shades of summer. The unruffled calm of the lake reflected the edging wall of forest, home for the black bear, deer, beaver and other wildlife.
    Their fishing lines were in the water, their rods resting against the sides of the boat in their stands, Toby was leaning back in his seat, his little-boy legs stretched out in front of him and his hands clasped behind his head for a pillow. He stared at the puffy cloud formations in the blue sky with a frown of concentration.
    Luck was equally relaxed, yet suspicious of the long silence that was only broken by the infrequent lapping of water against the boat or the cry of a bird. His sidelong glance studied the intent expression of his son.
    “You seem to be doing some pretty heavy thinking, Toby,” he observed, and let his gaze slide skyward when his son glanced at him. “What’s on your mind?”
    “I’ve been trying to figure something out.” Toby turned his head in the pillow of his hands. The frowning concentration remained fixed in his expression. “What exactly does a mother do?”
    The question widened Luck’s eyes slightly. The question caused him to recognize that his son had never been exposed to the life of a family unit — father, mother and children. There was only one grandparent living, and no aunts or uncles. During the school year, the weekends were the times they had to share together. Luck had often permitted his son to invite a friend over, sometimes to stay overnight, but mostly to accompany them on an afternoon outing; but Toby had never stayed overnight with any of his friends.
    The question was a general one — and a serious one. He couldn’t avoid answering it. “Mothers do all sorts of things. They cook, wash dishes, clean the house, take care of you when you’re sick, do the laundry, all sorts of things like that. Sometimes they work at a job during the day, too, Mothers remember birthdays without being reminded, make special treats for no reason, and think up games to play when you’re bored.” He knew it was an inadequate answer because he’d left out the love and the caring that he didn’t know how to describe.
    When Luck finished, he glanced at his son. Toby was staring at the sky, the frown of concentration replaced with a thoughtful look. “I think we need a mother,” he announced after several seconds.
    “Why?” The statement touched off a defensive mechanism that made Luck challenge it. “Since when have you and I not been able to manage on our own? I thought we had a pretty good system worked out.”
    “We do, dad,” Toby assured him, then sighed. “I’m just tired of always having to wash dishes and make my bed.”
    The edges of his mouth deepened in a lazy smile. “Having a mother wouldn’t mean you’d get out of doing your share of the daily chores.”
    Unclasping his hands from behind his head, Toby sat upright. “How do you go about finding a mother?”
    “That’s my problem.” Luck made that point very clear. “In order for you to have a mother, I would have to get married again.”
    “Do you think you’d like to get married again?”
    “Don’t you think your questions are getting a little bit personal?” And a little bit awkward to handle, Luck thought as he sat up, a tiny crease running across his forehead.
    “I’m your son. If you can’t talk to me about it, who can you?” Toby reasoned.
    “You are much too old for your age.” His blue eyes glinted with dry humor when he met the earnest