She started to compliment Noah on his table-setting skills then decided it might be better to choose something neutral. “What’s for lunch?”
He kept thumping napkins onto the table without responding.
“Hm… You set out plates, not bowls, so it can’t be soup.”
Noah picked up the pile of cutlery then paused and looked up, his frown softening some. “Sandwiches.”
“What kind?” she asked, pressing her luck.
He began doling out the cutlery with a gentler hand than he’d placed the napkins. “Roast beef.”
“Did you cook the roast?”
He shook his head. “Miss Celia did. She baked the bread, too.”
“Is Miss Celia a neighbor?” Whoever she was, she must be very close for the children to call her by her given name.
“She’s Papa’s friend who lives in town.”
“The one you and Jewel stayed with overnight?”
Noah nodded.
‘Papa’s friend.’ His innocent choice of words brought her anger back to full simmer. If the topic of Amanda weren’t such a sensitive one, she’d have explored whether Celia had beenMama’s friend, too.
God help Jackson Maguire if she learned he’d been unfaithful to her sister.
Heavy bootsteps clomped up the steps, and Jackson came bustling through the door, carrying two full buckets, water sloshing from their rims as he went. He set them on the dry sink then walked over and surveyed the table. “Good job, son,” he said as Noah placed the last of the cutlery.
Noah ignored him.
Jackson’s chest rose and fell with a measured breath before returning to the kitchen.
He brought a board with two loaves and set it on the table then paused and looked at her. “Could I impose upon you to put Jewel in her chair and slice the bread, while I slice the roast?”
“Of course.”
By the time Jewel was settled, and the loaves were cut, Jackson had carried over a generous platter of beef and set it before them. Well, all but Noah. He was back to sulking on the floor next to his toys.
Jackson opened his mouth, but Caroline held up a hand. “Noah,” she asked, “would it be all right if I sat in your mother’s chair?”
He raised his head and looked at her with a surprised-but-appreciative expression. “Yes.”
“Would you be a gentleman and pull it out for me?”
He nodded and got to his feet.
Caroline let him help her and smoothed her skirts as she sat. “Thank you. Now, can you tell me how to prepare Jewel’s food? Does she like roast?”
Jackson had taken his seat without comment and was watching unobtrusively as he poured cups of milk for everyone.
Noah sat in the chair opposite Jewel, on Caroline’s left. “She likes roast beef sandwiches, but you must cut hers into four pieces.”
“I bet you’re grown enough to make your own sandwich,” Caroline remarked with a smile as she buttered the bread for hers and Jewel’s.
“I am, but I’ll get in trouble if I do it before we pray.”
Caroline laid the butter knife down and stuffed her hands in her lap. “Oh, my. I forgot.”
