“Am not.”
“Are to!”
“You’re being mean.”
“She’s not being mean,” William interjected.
Just as Emma was about to get involved, Mark leaned over to his brother. “Stay out of it, Will,” Mark warned. “Mandy’s problems ain’t yours.”
“But I didn’t do nothing anyway,” William snapped. “All I was doing was being nice to their stupid hund.”
“Frankie ain’t stupid,” Lena retorted. “He’s hungry.”
“Then he’s stupid and hungry.” He paused, then added, “And fat.”
“William, enough,” Jay said, his tone brooking no argument. Looking a bit wary, Jay glanced at Emma.
She could tell he was worried that she might think he was being too harsh. But she happened to agree with his handling of the situation completely. If they didn’t nip things in the bud the children would continue to needle each other until someone started crying.
Wanting to do her part, she said, “Lena, let’s not worry about Frankie. He’s fine.”
“But he’s not stupid! And he ain’t fat, neither.”
“Mind your manners, Lena,” Emma said, unconsciously mimicking Jay’s tone.
But her warning came too late. Things spiraled out of control, seemingly at breakneck speed. Mandy burst into tears. Lena seethed. William glared. Mark gloated.
And Frankie? Well, Frankie continued to annoy everyone, especially Beverly when he pulled a chip from her plate. “Hund!” she said.
Which made Mandy cry harder. Tricia tried to calm her down, but when she put her arms around Mandy, Mandy’s glass of pink lemonade fell onto the front of Tricia’s dress. “Oh!” She jumped up from the table. “Oh, that’s cold!”
Her jump made Frankie bark. And jump up for her plate. Which he caught.
“Stop, Frankie,” Ben said as he, too, got up from the table and moved to Tricia’s side.
“Oh, my dress,” Tricia said. “What a mess.” Frowning, she said, “I just washed it yesterday, too! I hope pink lemonade comes out of light yellow dresses.”
“I’m sure it will, dear,” Emma soothed. “We can even go soak it. You may borrow one of mine.”
“Danke.” Still frowning at the fabric, she added, “I hope the stain comes out. I really liked this dress.”
“You had better get used to things like that happening,” Beverly said. “If you really do intend to have a houseful of kinner like you told me you did, things like this will surely be a daily occurrence.”
Turning bright red, Tricia said, “Aunt Bev, I can’t believe you said that!”
“What did I say? Surely you and Ben have talked about having children.” Her eyes widened. “Or are the two of you not near as serious as you made it sound?”
Tricia froze.
Ben looked flummoxed. “Did you say kinner, Beverly?”
“Are you and my bruder gonna have a baby, Tricia?” William asked.
As Jay groaned into his napkin, Tricia turned an even brighter shade of pink. Then to everyone’s shock, she burst into tears, too.
“It’s okay,” Ben murmured. When she merely cried harder, he enfolded her in his arms. Over Tricia’s head, which was now tucked into his neck, Ben glared at his father. “Daed. Do. Something.”
By this time, Jay was on his feet, too. “William, no one is going to have a boppli anytime soon. Now, everyone needs to sit down.”
His arms still securely wrapped around Tricia, Ben glared at him . . . and at Beverly. “Sitting down ain’t going to fix this, Daed.”
Emma couldn’t help but agree with Ben as things continued to disintegrate. Tricia cried, Mandy cried. Beverly fumed. Boys argued. Food fell on the ground. Frankie foraged and ate too many pickles.
“Everyone, please calm down,” Emma called out. Of course, it was a rather weak attempt to restore order. So weak, in fact, that not a single person listened. Except for Jay, but then even his efforts were foiled when he stepped backward . . . into dog poop!
“Frankie!” he yelled.
Frankie had struck again!
Emma felt like burying her head in her arms and crying, too, but someone had to remain calm. She walked to each of her girls, pointed to the house, and said, “Girls, please go to your rooms. Right now.”
Her girls knew what her tone meant. Instead of arguing, Lena stood up and walked inside, with Mandy and Annie following behind.
“I hate to do this to you, but I think it might be best if I got mine out of your hair as well,” Jay said.
Looking around helplessly, seeing Tricia and Beverly glaring at each other, Mark and Ben looking as if they would rather be anywhere else than here, and William almost as sad as her girls, Emma knew it would probably be for the best. Sometimes one had to cut one’s losses and move forward. This definitely seemed like one of those times.