“For having helped plant and tend and harvest these fields for nearly twenty years, Penwell still hasn’tlearnedto rise ontime.” He gestured vaguely around the room. “He is now, as he has always been, the last up. Some things never change.”
Indignation prickled up my back, and the urge to upend the entire pot of porridge in Merrick’s lap came and went between several measured breaths. There was so much I wanted to say, but Penny’s mother’s presence stayed my tongue. As good as it would feel to call Merrick out for lounging around like he owned the place and leaving Amelina to cook for everyone, or to ask him whose palms he had to grease to get out of Ashpoint when Levitt knew he wasn’t welcome here, it wasn’t worth burning out whatever goodwill I’d built with their mother. That was of more value to me than getting in a few good verbal blows on the elder Oliver brother.
“That’s unnecessary.” Amelina wagged the spatula at her son. “He’s doubtless tired from his journey here.”
Merrick snorted. “Doubtless.”
“He was up late talking with Sayla. I’ll go wake him,” I offered.
“Don’t bother,” Merrick said. “He’s more hindrance than help most days. Chasing bugs, climbing trees, drawingeverything…” His eyes rolled skyward, and he sighed. “We’re better off starting without him.”
“Merrick,” Amelina snapped, and he had the sense to at least feign feeling chastised.
My eyes wandered to the world outside the window over the sink, and a pit opened in my stomach. The clouds were low and dark, the wind chasing rain across the earth and lashing at the branches of the trees in the distance. I could feel the damp chill seeping in through the cracks in the casing.
For once, Merrick may have been right. This sort of weather played havoc on Penny’s damaged lungs, and there was no way I could put him out in the fields in it. The last thing we needed wasfor him to wake up ill the next morning and really give Merrick something to complain about.
I set the wooden spoon aside. “I really should go get him up. Excuse me.” I didn’t wait for further commentary from Merrick or Amelina before making my way to Penny’s bedroom.
A peek inside found him still dozing, so I eased the door closed behind me and padded over to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked so serene that I hated to disturb him, especially with the news I had to deliver, but putting it off wouldn’t help either of us.
I pushed the hair back from his face and leaned in to rub my nose against his. “Time to get up, sweetheart.”
He groaned and flung out an arm to pull me in. I let him draw me close, and he sighed in contentment when I brushed a kiss across his lips.
“Come back to bed,” he murmured.
“You know I can’t,” I said and tugged on a lock of his hair.
He cracked one eye open. “Sure you can.”
I chuckled and pulled back. “Everyone else is already up, and we have work to do.”
He groaned again, longer this time, and draped his arms over his face. “Right,” he grumbled. “Plowing. Planting. Chores.”
Rather than tree climbing, bug chasing, and daydreaming. But what Merrick had meant as scorn made me smile. Penny was a young man, younger still when Merrick had been spending more time at home. It was endearing to think of him roaming the farmland, finding beauty and reveling in it. He excelled at that even now, seeing the best in places and people.
I hoped clearing my throat would take some of my trepidation with it, but I felt no less cagey when I spoke again. “We have an extra set of hands.” If Penny noticed the strain in my voice, he didn’t let on.
“I know,” he said as he dropped his arms and gave a full body stretch that had me aching to run my hands over every arched inch of him. “Warren’s a good man. I think you’ll like him.”
I sighed and redirected my thoughts to the much less pleasant present. “No, Pen, in addition to Warren.”
When I met his gaze, he was squinting at me like he was trying to read between my words. Drawing it out wasn’t helping, but I needed to steel myself for what I knew would be an explosive reaction.
Penny caught on to my discomfort and propped himself up on an elbow. “Who else is there?” Concern creased his brow.
“Merrick,” I replied before I could talk myself into putting it off long enough to kiss the smile back onto his face.
Penny sat bolt upright, scrunching the blanket in his tense fists as he searched my face for some sign I was teasing. When he found none, his lips peeled back in a snarl.
“How can he be here? He was on house arrest!”
“It ended the day we left,” I reminded him. “So, he had plenty of time to follow us.”
“Well, he’s not wanted here,” Penny growled, throwing back the blankets and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. “I told him he wasn’t needed and not to come back, and I’ll tell him again.”
He shot to his feet and made for the door but didn’t get far before I caught his elbow and hauled him back.
