Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance) Read Free Page B

the neglected kitchen floor with a scrub brush and mop. There was nothing like spaghetti sauce and noodles on the bottoms of your shoes to inspire a cleaning frenzy, and she informed every child that passed by the kitchen of that little-known fact.
    Her head spun once more with the enormity of her tasks. The moment she finished scrubbing the floor, the trash overflowed and spilled to the four corners of the room, spreading spaghetti sauce-coated paper plates everywhere. By the time she had that mess picked up and rescrubbed, Tavish tracked fresh mud across the floor as he returned from taking the trash to the dumpster outside. Aggie reached determinedly for the mop once more when Laird, carrying a filthy and wriggling Ian, stopped her. “ Mom always saved the floor for last. She said that our floors were clean for one-third of the day -- that third of the day when we ’ re sleeping. I actually saw her just sitting in that chair once, looking at the clean floor, and drinking that nasty bedtime tea she loved. ” His voice cracked and tears spilled from his eyes at the memory of his mother.
    Without another word, Laird carried Ian out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The sound of running bath water told her that he was bathing the baby. Aggie thanked the Lord, once again, that her sister had been such a type-A, perfectionist, first-born. She knew that when Laird finished bathing the baby, he would shower, then come down and rock Ian while Vannie took the little girls upstairs for their turn in the bathroom. Tomorrow night they would switch roles, and Vannie would go up first.
    She once asked why they switched, and Laird nonchalantly quipped, “ That way if things get too late, the same kids aren ’ t always dirty. ”
    It made sense to her, so she wisely kept quiet and let the kids continue their routine. She also didn ’ t want to admit that her ten-year-old nephew had more child-care experience than she did. Aggie had never bathed a child in her life, and right now, she had enough trouble trying to remember to take her own shower!
    While Vannie readied the twins for their baths, Aggie attacked the counters ferociously. She jerked a large, decorative basket down from the cabinet tops, blew the dust out of it, and loaded it with the stacks and stacks of unopened mail that littered every surface of the downstairs. With that basket filled, she grabbed another. By the time she finished gathering up the mail, there were three overloaded baskets taking up the space she ’ d just cleared from the counters.
    She looked around for another place to put the baskets but failed. Another sigh heavenward answered her unspoken prayer. “ Excellent idea, Lord. Glad You shared it with me. ” Grasping the baskets, she heaved them back on top of the cabinets and surveyed the results. The counters were half-cleared, the mail mess hidden from sight, and no baskets took up any precious counter space. Success.
    Aggie had a nebulous recollection of the children bidding her goodnight. If someone had mentioned Cari ’ s screams or Ian ’ s bottle spilling all over her freshly scrubbed counters, she would have remembered. As it was, the children put themselves to bed amid Aggie ’ s third loading of the dishwasher. The fridge gleamed with empty purity, and the microwave was spatter-free. The pantry still sported a crumby appearance, but in general, the kitchen was now clean enough to ward off health inspectors. If nothing else, the scent of lemon cleanser, Murphy ’ s Oil Soap, and dishwasher detergent hinted at a level of cleanliness that it hadn ’ t sported since her sister left on her ill-fated date.
    With a sigh of satisfaction, her eyes swept her now sparkling kitchen. Confidence bubbled inside her until she thought of the shopping, the laundry, the bathrooms… “ Oh, my -- the trash. I don ’ t think I ’ ve taken it to the curb since I ’ ve been here! ” All confidence gone, she flicked the light switch off and dragged herself