Page 65 of Her Big Bad Wolf

“That’s them. Be nice, Gertrude.”

As I walked around the house, the first thing I heard was Mason running his damn mouth again. I bit back a grin and shook my head. That boy didn’t seem to ever shut up. He should have at least come with an off switch or something.

“Ms. Vanessa let me help serve lunch today,” Cam told them.

“I appreciated the help,” she assured him.

I rounded the corner just in time to see him beam up at her with pride.

These were good kids. They’d just been dealt a shitty hand and needed someone to love them and care for them the way all the others had failed to do.

Instead of stepping up to be that person, I cleared my throat and barked orders at them.

“You have chores to do. Drop your things in the house and let’s go.”

“But we have homework,” Mason protested.

“Don’t matter. We’ll get to that later. We promised Mr. Isaac, remember? We have to earn our keep like men. Let’s go,” Noah told them.

It nearly broke my heart. They were just kids.

I pulled him aside as Vanessa took the younger two inside. She hadn’t even said a word to me, but I didn’t miss just how exhausted she looked.

“You don’t have to earn your keep. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do. Or at least it’s as you said, we need to work to pay off the stuff we stole from you. It’s the right thing to do, especially given you’re letting us stay here and all.”

He was being stubborn and putting up a good front, but it was easy to see just how much he appreciated that.

“Alright. Is that the only shoes you have?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come meet the animals today. Tomorrow after school we’ll go and buy you some proper muck boots for farmwork. I don’t want you messing up your good shoes.”

“It’s okay. I can do it. Besides, they aren’t good shoes, just the only ones I got.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulled the sole of one shoe back and showed me how it was no longer attached. There were holes in it too.

They deserved better.

“Tomorrow we’ll head down the mountain into town and get you some good shoes and some work boots. If you plan on sticking around here for more than a few days, then you’re going to need them.”

I took him around back and pointed out each animal, telling him it’s name. I even gave him a few tricks to tell some of them apart. He asked a lot of valid questions about things I wouldn’t have thought to mention.

When the littler ones came out, Noah immediately dove in and told them everyone’s name.

“What about this one?” he asked.

I grinned. “That’s Gertrude. She’s something special.”

“Your favorite?” Mason asked

“Shh. What’s wrong with you? You can’t go around saying shit like that. What will the others think?”

I winked at him and let Noah resume explaining everything we’d gone over. While I snuck off to check on Vanessa.