Page 4 of More than Words Can Say

Zach slammed the door on that bit of discomfort from the past and concentrated instead on the future he’d plotted for himself. One that entailed freedom, financial security, and absolutely no farming. He’d choose sawdust over dirt clods every day of the week.

Perhaps living unencumbered wasn’t the grandest of aspirations, but for a fellow who’d spent his entire life gritting his teeth as circumstances dictated his path, having the freedom to make decisions as they came without worrying about how his choices might impact anyone other than himself was a luxury that would never grow tiresome. If he wanted to leave the lumberyard and take a job laying track for the railroad, he could. If he decided to ride down to Galveston and catch a ship bound for England in order to see the queen, no one would stop him. Not that he had any desire to do either of those things, but simply knowing that he could gave him a level of contentment he’d never enjoyed before. Strange how light a man could feel without the weight of obligation pressing down on him.

As Sixth Street dead-ended at the T&P Depot, Zach pivoted left into Sinclair’s Lumberyard, opened the office door, and stepped into chaos.

Ah, yes. Last Tuesday of the month. The day Mrs. Audrey Sinclair had breakfast with her sister and saddled her husband with their zoo of children. Monkeys hung from the rafters, a dancing bear twirled amid chairs and cabinets, and a lady riding an elephant paraded past.

The oldest two children were in school, thank the Lord, but the remaining four ran amok in the office. Not that Zach’s business partner seemed to care. He tromped around on all fours, giving two-year-old Tali an elephant ride across the carpet. The little girl grabbed his neck and giggled in glee as Reuben Sinclair reared up on his hind legs to see who had entered.

“Zach! Just in time. Peel Ash and Zeb off the ladder, will you? Their mother will have my hide if they fall.”

Zach had been giving the office a fresh coat of paint yesterday and had left the ladder out in order to touch up any missed spots. Thank heaven the paint remained sealed up tight in its canister in the corner. He didn’t want to think about what mischief the twins could manage with half a can of paint.

Zach carefully sidestepped three-year-old Ephraim, who’d decided that spinning in circles until he got dizzy enough to fall over was the best game ever invented, and made a grab for the boys whose competitive quest for the top step had set the ladder to wobbling enough to give even Zach’s heart palpitations. Fastening a fist onto each boy’s suspenders, Zach swung the twins off of the ladder and let them dangle a couple feet off the ground on either side of him.

“Where do you want ’em?”

Reuben reached behind his back to hold his daughter in place as he rose to his feet. He shifted the little girl to his front and reached out to halt the whirling dervish that was Ephraim. Reuben was only a couple years older than Zach, but he’d married early and obviously taken the charge about being fruitful and multiplying to heart.

“I thought to let them climb on the wood piles until Audrey gets back, but I didn’t want to unleash them without reinforcements.”

“Shoulders, Mr. Zach. Shoulders!” Ash demanded, his little body growing heavy at the end of Zach’s arm.

“Yeah! Shoulders!” Zeb was never one to let his twin outdo him. They might not be identical in appearance, but they possessed the same adventurous spirit and rivalrous nature.

With a grunt, Zach complied and hefted up both boys, setting one on each shoulder. He moved his hands to their waists to secure their seats even as they tucked their heels into his armpits.

Reuben chuckled. “You’re a big pushover. You know that, right?”

Zach shrugged, or would have if his shoulders hadn’t been held down by two crowing boys. “I figure they can clean out the cobwebs while they’re up there. Hand me a rag.”

Reuben made a show of looking around. “Don’t see one handy. Just use their hair. Those mops ought to be good for something.”

“No, Papa.” Zeb squirmed, his fear of spiders a well-documented family fact.

Zach lowered him to the ground while his sibling, the cleverer of the two, grabbed Zach’s hat and crammed it on his own head. It probably fell down to his nose, but Zach had to give the kid credit. He’d outsmarted the two adults at their own game.

Zach shared a wink with Reuben, who seemed equal parts exasperated and proud of his son’s antics.

As Zach straightened, Ash hooked a leg around his neck to situate himself more securely. “Giddyup, Mr. Zach!” He grabbed Zach’s ears as if they were reins.

How much longer until Mrs. Sinclair returned? Zach rolled his eyes and grabbed the boy’s ankles. Didn’t matter. It was already too long.

Reuben held the door open and shooed Ephraim and Zeb through it while Zach ducked to ensure Ash didn’t hit his head on the jamb.

Steering the kids past the dressed lumber shed, Reuben let them loose in the raw lumber section. There were more planks and posts to climb on, and since none of the wood had been planed, the kids couldn’t do much to hurt its value.

Zach crouched to let Ash scramble down. The lad shot off to join his brother, who now had a head start climbing the stairsteps of wood planks.

A grin tugged at Zach’s mouth. Kids might be a hassle and crimp a man’s freedom, but seeing them laugh and play without a single care stirred satisfaction in his crusty soul. This was what childhood was supposed to be like. Not the mishmash of tragedy and hardship he’d been forced to endure.

“You’re good with them,” Reuben said without turning to look at Zach. He knew better than to take his eyes off his energetic brood. “It’s the reason I chose you from the other applicants I had last year.”

Shock vibrated through Zach. Him? Good with kids? Ha! He did all he could to avoid the little monsters.

Reuben chuckled softly. “You might grumble and grouse about them, but you let them climb all over you. You even took little Tali when Audrey shoved her at you that first day. Remember?”

How could Zach forget? Tali hadn’t even been a year old. He and Reuben had been in the midst of a discussion about buying into the business when Mrs. Sinclair had thrown open the office door, letting a flood of miniature invaders inside. The twins had rushed their father, immediately monopolizing his lap, so she had thrust baby Tali at Zach with some excuse about Simeon, the oldest Sinclair boy, having bloodied his nose and her needing to tend to him while Dinah, the eldest girl, minded the stove. In a blink, Audrey disappeared, leaving a fussy babe in a stranger’s arms and a toddler roaming the floor where he could get into all sorts of mischief.