Noah Read Free Page A

was coming and didn’t tell me?”
    Emma raised a hand with the smile of hers that
said she was up to something. “Talk to your brother about this one.”
    Jonah, what have you done now?
    “Levi?” he called after his cousin who was
already halfway to the wash room.
    “I’ll bring around some fresh towels.”
    “Uncle Noah. Uncle Noah. You’re back,” the
young twins, Maxwell and Gilbert, ran to the doorway, followed closely by their
little brother, Owen, but one look from their mother quelled their enthusiasm.
    “Not until he’s all cleaned up,” she said with
an amused shake of her head.
    Each of the boys looked appropriately dejected.
Noah shrugged his shoulders. Then, he held up a finger as if remembering
something. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a small cloth-wrapped
package. The boys’ eyes grew wider as he crouched down and pulled back each
flap of cloth one at a time. He was grateful that the treats he’d purchased in
town hadn’t been smashed to bits in his tousle with Levi. When the last fold revealed
several small sticks of hard candy and a few lollipops, the children squealed
with delight. It turned out that only a few of them had cracked.
    “Noah Deardon,” Emma scolded, not quite able to
conceal the smile that tempted her lips. “You’ll spoil their supper.”
    He stood up, thrusting them behind his back and
the children all turned to their mother with eyes exaggeratedly wide, their
heads tilted, and tiny hands clasped in front of them.
    Emma looked down at them, shaking her head, but
alas, they were graced with another of her smiles as she sighed in defeat. “Oh,
all right. Just this once.”
    “Yeah!” they all yelled in unison.
    Noah pulled the treats back out from behind him
and fanned them out for the children to see.
    “You’re incorrigible.” Emma giggled. Once the
boys had their chosen treat, she turned back into the house, shepherding the children
indoors. She stood at the door and looked back at Noah meaningfully. “Well, get
on with ya, then” she said as she swatted at Noah’s shoulder, then instantly pulled
her hand away, rubbing her fingers together and exhaling sharply with her nose
upturned. “There’s extra soap in the cupboard under the window,” she called
after him.
    Noah laughed.
    By the time supper was ready and on the table,
Noah and Levi had both managed to scrape the mud from their faces, rinse it
from their hair, and don clean clothes.
    The savory scent of newly cooked meat wafted
through the air.
    Steak. Noah’s mouth watered at the thought. Bacon.
    He hadn’t eaten since breakfast and his stomach
protested loudly.
    “Now, where is that baby?” Noah asked, ready to
hold the newest addition to the Deardon family—at least the newest for now.
    Lucy, his baby brother Lucas’s wife was due to
have her new baby at the end of the next month. Noah loved the smell of clean
babies and knew that Emma had just given Auggie a bath. He made a mental note
that he should make the trip to Montana next month just to hold Lucas’s baby.
    Jonah stepped up from behind him and placed
Auggie into his arms.
    Noah’s lips stretched into a grin he was sure
consumed his entire face.
    Max and Gil stole a questioning glance at their
mother. She nodded with a closed lip smile, but did not get up from the table.
Their eyes brightened immediately. Noah crouched down, the babe still wrapped
in one arm, and he opened the other to the young boys who immediately moved to tackle
him around the neck with all their enthusiasm, knocking him backward enough he
had to catch himself from falling. Little Owen, the three-year-old, hopped down
from the table and joined in with his adorable giggle and short little arms.
    “Boys,” Emma called after a minute, “that’s
enough. It’s time to settle down for supper,” she announced, standing and reaching
out for her youngest son.
    The two oldest climbed up into their chairs,
but Owen stood up straight, unmoving from his spot,