Page 71 of The Problem Child (Emerson Pass Historicals 4)

Viktor

I’d just finished my lunch of leftovers Lizzie had sent home with me when I heard the rumble of a car. Hoping it was Cym, I rushed to the front door. It was her. I watched as she parked and jumped out of the car as if someone chased her. The determined set of her jaw and spring in her step told me she had an idea.

I greeted her and scooped her into my arms and kissed her.

“Hi. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. I feel as though I haven’t seen you for a week, and it was only last night.”

“Did you get any rest?” I asked. She hadn’t yet woken when I’d left that morning to go home.

“Yes, plenty. You?”

I nodded as we walked into the house. “Slept like the dead for most of the morning.”

“I can only stay a minute. Shannon’s having her baby.”

A wave of dismay came over me. Shannon would be without Flynn for who knew how long, and now a new baby? “With Flynn sick?”

“Yes. As if she didn’t have enough to face without Flynn. She has us, though. We’ll all be there to help.”

“Her mother and sister too,” I said.

She took my hand and brought it to her cheek for a moment. “I needed to see you. Take in your smell before I return to Shannon and Fiona.”

“I’m glad you did.” I pulled her tightly against me. “I wish I could help.”

“You help by just being you.” She rested her head against my chest before withdrawing to look up at me. “I have an idea about how to get rid of our unwanted guests.”

“If it involves you doing something dangerous, then I would humbly request you not do it.”

“It wouldn’t. Not just for me alone, anyway.”

“Go on.” I was afraid to hear and braced myself for whatever would come next.

“Here it is.” She proceeded to tell me her idea about getting the town together, all carrying weapons of one sort of the other, and running the thugs out of town. “Or metaphorically anyway. Basically, we would let them know to leave us alone or face the consequences of an entire town hunting them down.”

“Won’t that just make more of them invade?” Invasion. That’s what this felt like to me. Was this our own war?

“Not if we do it right. Scare them properly,” Cym said. “I’m going to call a town meeting at the schoolhouse. We need to tell everyone exactly what we're up against. This threatens our whole way of life. We'll need every man physically able to participate.”

“And then burn the place down,” I said. “That’s what your father suggested.”

She cocked her head to the right, observing me. “So they have nothing to come back for?”

“We could offer them the gin, and if they don’t take it with the promise to leave us alone, then we would take the next steps.”

“It’s a good idea,” she said. “Will you go into town and spread the word that everyone’s to pretend there’s a dance at the schoolhouse that starts at seven? Tell them to pass it on to whomever they see.”

I agreed, already planning on who to tell first. Mrs. Johnson. She saw the most people in one day and would pass it along. I’d drop by the butcher shop as well.

“I’ll do my best,” I said. “If you promise to be careful.”

“I will.” She kissed me, and then she was gone, as quick as the wind.