The Edge of Misery: The Mitchel Brothers Series Book Two

10

Wren stood by the kitchen door, propping it ajar with her foot as she wiped the tears trickling down her face and chuckled. She listened to the interchange between her baby brother and Declan and Wolstan, knowing if she hadn't already lost her heart to the handsome blue-eyed devil, hearing him with Eldon surely would have done it.

It'd been a month since she'd heard her brother giggle the way he was now or seen him want to play pretend. Not that she could blame him—she hadn't felt like laughing or playing much either, but it was such an integral ingredient of who Eldon was before the attack; she'd feared that part of him had died along with their parents and Dorsey.

But she should have known Declan would find a way to bring him back.

Emmaline and Mae were finishing the jars of canned vegetables and preserves from the garden they'd been working on the past several days, which lined every available work surface while they cooled before getting stored.

"Everything all right, honey?" Emmaline asked, wiping wisps of silver hair out of her flushed face with the back of her left hand as she carefully ladled strawberry preserves into a jar with her right. "Sounds like the boys are having quite a lively discussion," she added, her eyes twinkling and a smile curling her lips.

"WREN, SHERIFF WREN. I DEMAND JUSTICE," Eldon shouted.

"That's my cue," Wren grinned, wiping at her cheeks before removing her apron, hanging it on a hook, and retrieving her slingshot from atop the trunk near the staircase. "How should I play this? Merciful or ruthless—no holds barred?"

"Merciful," Emmaline said as Mae replied with a wide grin and a wink, "Ruthless."

Wren laughed, "Guess I'll see what his crimes are and go from there." Then hurrying to the door, she flung it open and stepped onto the porch with a dramatic swagger, raising her voice to carry across the yard as she proclaimed, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Ol' Lefty McTwoboots tied to a tree—"

"No, Wren," Eldon shook his head, his tone full of exasperation, "I'm Crybaby Leftboots and Luella's Marigold the Berciless."

Declan and Wolstan's shoulders shook with laughter.

"Oh, pardon me, Leftboots," Wren giggled as she strode across the yard, her slingshot held at the ready, "got me a new glass eye—that's why if you look real close like, they don't match."

"What happened to the old one?" Declan asked, his mouth tipping in a crooked grin that set Wren's heart to kicking against her ribs.

Wren nodded at Eldon, "Leftboots plucked it clean out—"

"And I'd do it again," Eldon laughed.

"So," Wren giggled, eyeing her brother up and down before turning to Declan, "how'd you catch this filthy, eye-pluckin', cougar fightin' outlaw, anyhow? I've been after him for years."

Declan puffed out his chest like a proud rooster and plopped his fists on his hips, "Caught him unawares while he was beating on a barn—"

"That barn?" Wren asked, pointing to the one behind her.

"Yep."

"No," Wren gasped, her gaze swinging to Eldon. "That barn's been in m'family for generations."

Eldon scowled and nodded at Luella, "Ol' Marigold double-crossed me."

"That's 'cause Foul Gobby Goo here took a bath last night, and she can only smell death at twenty paces," Wolstan chuckled.

Declan threw back his head and laughed.

"I reckon I've heard enough," Wren said, trying not to giggle. "You ready for yer sentence, Leftboots?"