Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance) (13 page)

Geraldine glared at Aggie with the eyes of a haunted and angry woman.
“
Aggie. There is no way that you will
ever
get me out of anywhere unless I choose to leave. Do
you
understand
me
?
”

Aggie sighed as she realized Geraldine Stuart must be one of the world
’
s most unhappy women.
“
I
’
m not an unreasonable woman, Mrs. Stuart, but I will call the police and have you removed if you create a scene that causes pain to these children. It
’
s the girls
’
birthday. Please remember that.
”

Aggie turned before the woman could shoot anymore of her verbal arrows in her direction.
“
Come on everyone! Give Gramma your flowers! Oooooh, Lorna, your bouquet is beautiful. Cari I love the pansies. How sweet! I
’
m sure she
’
ll love them.
”

Aggie saw her parents arrive and flew across the yard to greet them, hugging her mother fiercely. She
’
d missed them more than she
’
d realized. In an undertone she said,
“
Dad, I think I blew it. After Mrs. Stuart
’
s ugly scene the other day, I warned her not to make one today, and she
’
s already looking for anything to criticize. I should have kept my mouth shut and just prayed.
”

Ron Milliken and his wife Martha wanted to spend more time with Aggie and the children, but Martha
’
s health kept them home most of the time. Ron was a gentle man and a quiet one, but behind a meek demeanor was a man with hidden strengths. Since Allie
’
s death, Aggie thought he had aged considerably and wondered how a parent processed outliving their child.

Martha smiled up at her daughter and said,
“
Get the cake out, honey, will you? I
’
ll see what I can do with Geraldine. She seems to think I
’
m harmless enough.
”

With tact and a bit of pleasant manipulation, Aggie watched her mother steer Geraldine from the yard already littered with broken flowers and destroyed streamers. Party decorations had never been Aggie
’
s forte. She now realized that she should have let Vannie and Ellie decorate to their heart
’
s content. Perhaps the childish overuse of tape in any given situation would have given the décor a longer life.

Aggie was amazed at her mother
’
s grace and patience as Martha kept Geraldine talking while they entered the house. Disgusted, she watched as the fastidious older woman pulled a large handkerchief out of her purse and set it on a chair before sitting down. P-mails flew heavenward faster than Aggie could have ever articulated the simplest request.

Thinking it best to find a quick diversion for the children, Aggie chose to let the girls open their gifts before eating, and Geraldine immediately sent Douglas outside to bring in their gifts. Laird followed to help his grandfather when Aggie indicated that he should go.
“
Douglas isn
’
t an invalid, Aggie, and Laird isn
’
t your personal servant. Let the boy stay.
”

Laird followed quietly as if he hadn
’
t heard, while Aggie exclaimed over the little dolls that the girls opened from
“
Grandma Millie,
”
choosing to ignore the woman
’
s spiteful words. What pleasure Geraldine Stuart got out of being unpleasant wasn
’
t worth ruining the little girls
’
party.

Aggie almost groaned when she saw the piles of gifts that Laird and Douglas carried in. She first thought that they were trying to have Christmas in March! It was soon apparent that Geraldine didn
’
t believe in buying gifts for just one child. She felt obligated to get them
all
something equally important, impressive, and expensive.

For the next twenty minutes, Aggie worked diligently to distract the twins from realizing that the other children were opening gifts too. Every time Cari saw someone touch a package, she
’
d shriek and wail over her
“
pwetty fings.
”
Aggie worked very hard not to let the child continue to be unpleasant without having to remove her from her own party.

Things went rapidly downhill when Cari saw Ian playing with his box. In typical baby style, the infant was happier to chew on the corner of the box, than he was trying to tear off the paper. At five months old, it was silly to assume he would do much of anything else. A squeal of fury erupted from the little girl, and she plowed across legs and feet to reach Gramma Milliken
’
s side. Reaching the drooling infant, the angry girl snatched the box from the baby and slapped his face and hands repeatedly. Aggie had reached her limit. Picking up the furious toddler, she attempted to remove Cari from the room.

Geraldine protested, softly at first and then quite vehemently.
“
It
’
s her birthday, Aggie. You are being quite cruel. I insist that you put Cari down. The child didn
’
t understand.
”
Looking at the screaming kicking little girl Geraldine said,
“
You thought he was hurting your present, didn
’
t you, darling? That box was for him, honey.
”

Cari screamed,
“
Nooooo! My birthday.
My
pwesents! Ian not have
my
pweasants!
”

Aggie gave Geraldine a pointed look and continued her journey upstairs to deal with little Cari. Aggie suspected that this outburst had more to do with Cari sensing the underlying tension in the room and being overwhelmed with the sheer volume of
stuff
than anything, but her remaining in the room was only making things worse. She also wondered why Mrs. Stuart couldn
’
t see it and keep quiet. At the very
least,
the woman could keep calm so as not to make a bad situation worse.

“
Aggie, let her have the present. For heaven
’
s sake, he
’
s a baby and won
’
t know. I
’
ll buy him something later. You can
’
t ruin her birthday over something so insignificant.
”

Ron stood and nodded to Aggie, who escaped into her room to try to calm Cari.
“
Geraldine. My daughter was right. Cari was out of control and needed to be removed from the room.
”

“
I
’
ll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself, Ronald Milliken. Your daughter obviously has no idea how to handle a high-spirited child.
”

Martha Milliken had tried to keep calm and silent, but this was too much. With a quiet but firm voice, she spoke.
“
Geraldine Stuart, sit down. You are making things worse. Cari was overwhelmed with all of these gifts.
”
Her eyes flashed with uncustomary rage.
“
You know Doug and Allie didn
’
t allow you to bring very many gifts, but you deliberately chose to override it this time because you
knew
Aggie wouldn
’
t be prepared for it. You
’
ve hurt Cari, Aggie, and the rest of this family with your ostentatious display, and I think you
’
d better leave now. The girls
’
birthday is ruined.
”

The strain was too much for Martha, and she slumped back into her chair weakly. A look of alarm crossed Ron
’
s face, and he quickly found his wife
’
s medication.
“
That
’
s it. Douglas, Geraldine, you have the choice to leave, or I
’
ll call the police. Either way, you
will
go
now
.
”

“
You do not have the authority to throw us out, as you well know.
”
Geraldine was unfazed.

“
Geraldine…
”
Douglas seemed ready to acquiesce, but the irate woman shot her husband a look that silenced him.

“
I may not, but if I call the police, Aggie
will
tell the officers that she wants you off of the premises. Do you understand me? Shall I call now, or are you leaving?
”
It broke Ron
’
s heart to hear the children sniffling and see them beginning to huddle together, but due to
previous
experiences with Geraldine, he knew that this was only going to escalate.

“
I am not leaving. I am going upstairs and bringing that poor child down here to enjoy her party.
”

Aggie
’
s voice interrupted.
“
Mrs. Stuart, you are doing nothing of the kind. If necessary, I will bodily stop you from moving up these stairs.
”

Turning to the children Aggie said,
“
Go out back
--
all of you.
Now
!
”

“
You will not raise your voice to my grandchildren. The court will hear about the verbal and emotional abuse of these poor mother and fatherless children
--
”

“
Parentless or not, these children are in my care, and I have not and would never hurt them in any way. I have called the police to report a domestic disturbance and a trespasser. I
’
d suggest you leave my house immediately.
”
Aggie worked hard to remain firm, when all she wanted to do was escape into her room and collapse. The woman
’
s histrionics were enough to drive even a stronger person to despair.