The Saddle Maker's Son Part 4

"Whoa!" Tobias unfolded himself from the chair, sections of the newspaper slipping to the floor. "What's going on here?"

Diego planted himself behind Tobias, one arm around Tobias's leg just above the knee. He peeked out, a frown swallowing up his dark face.

"He won't get in the tub." Sweat dripped from Martha's face. Her cheeks were red with exertion and exasperation soaked her words. She wiped at her face with the threadbare towel in her hands. "He can't get in bed like that. He's filthy and he reeks of garbage. And he won't let go of that backpack. He needs to set it aside for five minutes while I scrub him down."

"Where's Lupe?" Tobias peeled Diego's hands from his leg and knelt. He put an arm around the boy's shoulder. "Maybe he doesn't want to take his clothes off in front of a strange girl."

"I sent her upstairs with Nyla after her bath. Nyla and Ida will try to get the snarls out of her hair. We may have to cut it to comb it. And I'm not strange-"

"A stranger. Someone he doesn't know." Tobias patted the rocking chair. "Diego sit?"

Diego shook his head and hugged his backpack to his chest. His ribs stuck out so far Tobias could count each one. He had a long scar on one arm and chigger bites ringed his waist above the waistband of his sagging pants.

"We won't take your backpack, I promise." Tobias moved toward the kitchen door. Diego moved with him. Progress. "What if I help you take a bath? We'll send Martha upstairs with the girls, where she belongs."

"Hey-"

Tobias shook his head. "The boy needs his privacy."

"Of all the-"

"Humor me."

Martha whirled and stomped up the stairs, her chest heaving with indignation.

Tobias grinned at Diego. "Women."

Diego's smile was tentative. He didn't understand, but then, words weren't the only way to communicate with little boys.

"You like to swim?" Tobias moved his arms in a swimming motion, ducking his head and bringing it up as if breathing between strokes. "I like to play in the water. Splash. Splash."

He marched toward the kitchen, not glancing back to see if Diego followed. Martha had filled the washtub in the laundry room off the kitchen. By now the water she'd warmed from the stove had likely cooled, but on a late-spring evening in South Texas, who needed warm bathwater? Tobias knelt and trailed his hand through the water. "Feels good. I wish it was bath night for me. I'd jump right in."

Diego's lower lip protruded. His dark eyes looked suspicious. He let one hand rest on the edge of the huge tub. He shook his head.

Tobias plunged his arm in the water and splashed Diego.

"Ay!" The boy ducked and staggered back.

"What, are you afraid of a little bit of water?" Tobias laughed and splashed again, making sure to get plenty on himself. "It's only water. I'm thinking you and Lupe crossed some creeks and streams and rivers to get here. At least this is clean water."

Diego laid his backpack next to the pile of clothes that Tobias fully intended to burn when the boy wasn't looking. He splashed with both hands, giving Tobias a good soaking.

"Good job!" Tobias splashed back. Diego giggled, a sweet, sweet sound. Tobias laughed. He plunged both hands in to keep up with Diego's shorter, faster efforts.

In seconds they were both dripping.

"Get in-you're wet now anyway."

Still grinning, Diego c.o.c.ked his head. He eyed the backpack.

"I won't touch it." Tobias pointed his finger at Mickey. "It belongs to you. I understand."

Diego's command of the English language might not be much, but somehow he understood. Before Tobias could help him, he climbed over the edge of the tub and threw himself in the water, underwear and all.

Good enough. Tobias tossed in an old, yellow rubber duck someone had given to Liam. He insisted on keeping it around for bath time. Diego bobbed in the water, scooping the toy up and tossing it about. He giggled, sounding like Liam or any other little boy his age.

"Now for the soap." Tobias tossed a bar into the water. Diego backed away. "The point is to get clean."

He made scrubbing motions on his face, pantomiming cleaning behind his ears, his face scrunched up as if he really hated it. Diego plunged his face into the water and came up with his hair dripping. "Good job. Now soap."

"Soap." Diego grabbed the floating bar and held it up. "Soap."

"Clean."

"Clean."

"See, you'll speak English before you know it."

Diego lay back on the water in a semifloat, his face blissful. The water had already turned brown without the help of soap and a washrag. He should smell better too. Not that most little boys didn't smell like dirt and sweat anyway.

"What do you think is in the backpack?" Martha peeked around the corner. She kept her voice a whisper as if afraid Diego would run again. "He seems to think we're going to steal whatever it is."

"I reckon it's all he has left of home." Tobias sat back on his heels and rubbed his aching knees. "Whatever it is, it's none of our business."

"He might have clean clothes in there."

"After traveling thousands of miles from home, I doubt that. It's not like they stopped in at a Laundromat along the way." Diego began to sing in Spanish, a breathy tuneless song that told Tobias he had relaxed like a little boy taking a bath should. "Besides, he's about Liam's size. He can wear his clothes."

"That's what I thought. I brought him these. If he doesn't want the nightshirt he can sleep in the clothes." Martha held out a clean, folded nightshirt, pants, and shirt. "Make him wash that hair. It smells like a Dumpster."

"I may have to get in there with him to get him to do it."

Martha smiled. "You'll be a good daed one day. You have the knack."

Pleasure swept through Tobias at the thought. Followed by a wave of fear. More children to protect. His shoulders ached with the imagined burden. Eight brothers and sisters were enough. More than enough. Too much sometimes. The fear of losing them filled his head late at night, keeping him awake. Why would a man want more of that?

He ducked his head, knowing his face had turned red. "We'll wait to see what Gott's plan is."

Martha disappeared through the doorway, leaving Tobias with his thoughts and a boy who didn't weigh fifty pounds soaking wet. He scooped the soap from the water and rubbed it in his hands until he had a nice lather. "Here we go. Time to wash that hair."

Diego worked his way to the other side of the tub. Tobias went after him. The boy shrieked with laughter. "Don't laugh so loud-the other kinner will want to take baths every night if it sounds like this much fun!"

Fifteen minutes later Tobias was soaked from head to foot and exhausted, but Diego was squeaky clean. Tobias lifted him from the tub and set him on his feet next to the backpack. He handed him a towel. "Wear the nightshirt. You'll sleep better."

Tobias was the one who would sleep well-at least he hoped so. It had been a long day. The discussion with the elders. Volleyball. Rebekah.

Rebekah. He concentrated on rubbing Diego's hair. No thinking of Rebekah. Tall, slim, full of vinegar. Trouble with a capital T. What would she see in a man like him who'd thrown his love away on an Englisch girl? He didn't really want to love anyone. Not if it meant losing her the way Daed lost Mudder. Why did a person put himself through that?

Where was Gott's hand in that?

Gott should smite him with a mighty sword for being so hardheaded. Stiff-necked, as Scripture put it.

I'm sorry, Gott. I can't help myself. I've tried. You know I have.

Diego tugged at his hand, his expression rueful. Tobias eased up with the towel. "What, am I rubbing too hard?"

Diego s.n.a.t.c.hed the backpack from the floor and held it out. "See?"

"See what?" He'd made inroads in Diego's trust. The thought made Tobias smile. He undid the zipper, prepared to find family photos, small toys, keepsakes from another life. "I'm glad you want to share."

A small creature peeked its head from the opening. Brown. Beady eyed, its nose wiggling. It ducked back into the pack.

Tobias stumbled back a step. He stared at the backpack, then at Diego. "That's a mouse."

Diego nodded so hard Tobias thought his head might fall off. He slapped a hand to his chest. "Mi amigo. Pedro."

"Your friend?"

Diego had a pet mouse. Had he traveled all the way to America from El Salvador, or had the friendship been struck somewhere along the way?

Diego grabbed Tobias's hand. His grin stretched across his clean face, his eyes nearly hidden by squeaky clean hair that needed to be cut. "Mi amigo tambien."

Tobias's heart flopped. Mouse or not, another child to protect or not, it didn't matter. He'd made a friend. From the look on Diego's face, he was the kind who would be a friend for life.

Tobias heaved a breath, his chest tight with apprehension.

Another person he would have to protect.

Another person poised to leave.

SEVEN.

The shriek raised the hair on the nape of Susan's neck. School hadn't even begun for the day and the scholars were up to something unruly. Usually she had thirty minutes or more to prepare while they played kickball in the yard before she rang the bell and cla.s.ses started. Not today, it seemed. Rebekah had stayed behind at the house to help Abigail move some heavy rugs that needed to be cleaned. She would be in later.

Sighing, Susan dropped the piece of chalk she'd been using to write a.s.signments on the board and strode to the door left open to allow the early morning breeze to clear stuffy air from the cla.s.sroom. The kinner weren't on the makeshift ball field. They were cl.u.s.tered around the girls' outhouse. Boys and girls.

"What now?" She stepped out onto the porch.

Mary broke away from the crowd, raced across the yard, and hurled herself up the steps. "Teacher, Teacher!"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Rattlesnakes. Lots of snakes." Mary gasped for air, breathed, and stumbled to a stop. "Baby snakes."

"Rattlesnakes? Where?" Susan grabbed the hoe the girls had left on the porch after the last frolic to clear the weeds and create a field that could be used for baseball, kickball, or volleyball, her scholars' three favorite recess activities. Usually she didn't worry much about snakes-except the rattlers, and this was the season when many of G.o.d's creatures had their babies. "Did anyone get bit?"

"Nee, not yet, but Hazel wants to take one home. She thinks the babies are cute. I had to wrestle her back. I think Diego wanted to go kill them for us. It's hard to tell, he talks so fast." Mary took Susan's arm and tugged. "There's a whole den of them right outside the girls' outhouse."

Goose b.u.mps raced up Susan's arms. Her entire body wanted to return to the schoolhouse. In fact, her head wanted to run home and go back to bed. Instead, hoe in hand, she trotted after the girl. If she could scatter the babies, maybe mama snake would decide to take up residence in another location. If she didn't decide to make an appearance during Susan's attempt to roust her babies. Chopping off the heads would be like trying to bob for apples with no hands.

The kinner stood in a tight half circle well out of reach of the outhouse. Caleb rushed forward, little Diego on his heels. The boy seemed to have latched onto her nephew. "Want me to chop their heads off? I can do it."

"Nee, stay back and keep Diego with you. I don't know how dangerous the babies are, but the momma snake can't be too far away."

"Babies have a lot of venom and they know how to use it."

Caleb surely got his information from Mordecai. Susan wasn't taking any chances with her sister-in-law's only son. "Just stay back."

Hoe lifted over one shoulder, Susan swallowed her dislike and fear of all snakes but this kind in particular and inched forward until she could peek around the corner of the small white shack. Indeed, a whole mess of them roiled about along the back wall. She swallowed again, closed her eyes, and opened them.

"What's going on?"

She whirled. Levi pulled his wagon to a halt in the yard. "Oh, thanks be to Gott."

His bushy eyebrows pushed up and stayed up, giving him a quizzical look.

"I mean, it's just that we have a mess of baby rattlers right outside the outhouse. I'm afraid-"

"I can see that."

"I was going to say I'm afraid the kinner will be bitten." What was it about this man that made her tongue disconnect from her brain? "I was about to take care of them."

Levi hopped from the wagon, his tall, lean body unfolding with a grace surprising in an older man. He reached from under the seat. Out came a long, slim rifle. "Were you planning to weed them to death?"

Susan couldn't decide if there was even a hint of humor in the question. It was hard to tell with his deep green eyes fastened on her face. She wanted to stand there as long as it took to decide. Even with snakes slithering nearby. What did that say about her state of mind this fine morning? That the teacher better stop mooning around and be the teacher? "Chop their heads off." She took a breath and willed herself to move her gaze from his face to the rifle. "You carry a rifle in your wagon?"

"I just hadn't put it away yet from the trip here. It seemed the safest place to keep it with so many curious kinner running around." He held the rifle close to his chest with both hands. "You chop babies' heads off, you have to bury them or kinner will step on them with their bare feet. The kinner need to back up."

The man wasn't telling her anything she didn't already know, yet he sounded so wise with that deep, gravelly voice and even tone. She took a step back. Now why did she do that? "You can't shoot them all."

"I'll scatter them and look for the mudder. She needs to go. Snakes may be good for getting rid of mice and pests, but we can't have a pa.s.sel of rattlesnakes so close to the school when we're so far from the closest antivenom."

Again, all things Susan already knew. Levi strode past her. She inhaled the scent of leather and man sweat. He glanced back, his gaze now quizzical. "Can you keep them back?"

Of course she could. He was a bossy sort. But then, most men were. Susan didn't get bossed around much anymore, not with Mordecai married now.

Neither was she used to standing around while others did the work, even if it involved snakes.

"I can help." She shifted the hoe so she carried it the same way he did the rifle. "Be your backup. There's a bunch of them."