Nick! I’m going to thrash him! Did you see that? I’ll bet that car isn’t more than five inches from the fence!”
Before Kathleen could utter a word in defense of her brother, Ella dashed out the door to greet her son.
“Nicholas Gallagher! If I had your daddy’s razor strop with me right now, I’d use it on you,” she shouted as she ran down the steps.
Nick threw back his head and roared with laughter as he held his arms out to his mother. She ran straight into them and clutched her youngest child to her breast.
“Hello, Mom. Glad to see me?” he asked, bending his head to kiss her cheek.
Ella thrust him from her, then wagged her finger in his grinning face. “I’m glad to see you in one piece. Is that the way you drove coming home? Lord help us, it’s a wonder you’re alive! And what are you doing home today? It’s two days before Christmas Eve!”
Laughing again, Nick threw his arm around his mother’s shoulder and held her close. “Well, if I’m too early I can always leave and come back later.”
“Not on your life!” Ella cried. “Sam’s probably going to chain you to the bedpost as it is! He’s tried to get through to you on the telephone all week.”
“So,” Nick said with a wicked grin, “I’ve had my brother a little worried that I wouldn’t show up for the big event?”
“Nicholas!” Ella scolded. “Be serious! You know how much your brother is looking forward to you standing up with him.”
The door on the porch slammed, and Nick turned his head in time to see Kathleen scurrying down the steps toward him.
“Nick!” she squealed happily.
With his free arm, he reached out and pulled his sister against him. “Hi, sis! Don’t tell me you knew I was coming?”
“Of course I didn’t know! None of us did. Why didn’t you call and tell us?” she asked, pinching his lean waist. “Sam’s been out of his mind thinking you’d been shipped off to parts unknown.”
“We’ve been out in the field for over a week on training maneuvers,” Nick explained. “I couldn’t get to a phone.”
“And there’s not one phone between here and Lawton? You could have at least called and warned us you were coming,” Kathleen told him.
Nick’s look told Kathleen just what he thought of her suggestion. “Are you crazy? And ruin my surprise?”
With a good-natured groan she said, “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Would you really want me to, sis?” he asked, giving her an impish grin.
Kathleen moaned and rolled her eyes. “Mom, how are we ever going to put up with him and get ready for a wedding at the same time?”
“Well, we won’t do it standing around here. Let’s go in,” Ella said, urging her son and daughter up the steps and into the house.
Inside the kitchen, Kathleen stood back with her hands on her hips and gave her brother a thorough looking over. “I guess you’ll do,” she said, her eyes full of love and laughter.
Ella wasn’t nearly as kind. She poked a finger into his midsection. “You look thin. What has the army been feeding you—K rations three times a day?”
Laughing, Nick shook his head. “Mom, you’re looking at a man in prime physical condition.”
“If you say so, Sergeant Gallagher,” Kathleen said teasingly. “How many push-ups can you do?”
“I won’t tell. Sam might kill himself trying to outdo me.” He glanced from his sister to look around the room. “Speaking of Brother Samuel, where is he? And where’s my future sister-in-law? I’m dying to see if she’s still as pretty as she used to be.”
Ella waved her hand dismissively. “Actually, Oliv-ia has been running her legs off getting ready for the wedding. But this afternoon she and Sam took time out to round up food and toys for the mission where she’s been doing a little volunteer work.”
Nick’s brows arched in wonder. “Sam is out gathering food and toys? Instead of farming? Olivia must have really transformed the boy.”
Ella gave her son an impatient look. “Your brother can do other things, you know. Besides, you might as well hear it right now. Olivia had a hard time of it over in Africa. Sam’s trying to help her ease back into relief work. So don’t be pestering her with a lot of questions about Ethiopia. You hear me?”
Nick stared at his mother. “You mean we have to handle her with kid gloves?”
“No, Nicholas. She isn’t that fragile. I’m just telling you to be kind and...sensitive.”
A beguiling grin suddenly spread across his face. “Now, Mother, you know that I know all about dealing with—”
“Yes. We know. Dealing with women,” she interrupted, shaking her head.
Laughing, Kathleen crooked her arm through Nick’s and tugged him over to the kitchen table. “Just wait until you see them together, Nick. I never thought I’d ever see Sam so happy. And Olivia is positively glowing.”
Nick eased his six-foot frame into one of the wooden chairs at the table, then leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“So where’s Dad?” he asked.
“He’s down at the hog pen trying to build some sort of watering system that won’t freeze. I guess he didn’t hear you drive up,” Kathleen said.
Nick told himself not to feel let down because his father wasn’t around to greet him.
“He’ll be in shortly,” Ella told her son. “It’s close to two o’clock and he can’t go much longer than that without his afternoon coffee. He’s going to be so surprised to see you.”
“He must be getting soft in his older years,” Nick said fondly. “I can remember when he’d have a fit if Sam and I quit for a soda.”
Kathleen made a tsking noise with her tongue. “Don’t you really mean a dip in the river that would end up lasting half of the afternoon?”
Nick made a face at his sister and she leaned over and mussed his dark auburn hair. “I’ll bet you never tell those poor privates beneath you what a terror you used to be.”
He grinned. “I’m not totally crazy, sis.”
“Kathleen, come here and make coffee. You can talk to your brother from across the room. I’ve got to finish coloring this rice so it can be drying,” Ella said as she wiped her hands on the edge of her apron. “Nick, do you want to bring in your bags now?”
“I have a whole trunkful of things out there. I’ll get them later.”
“You did bring your Class A’s, didn’t you? I know Sam will want you to wear them for the wedding,” Kathleen said, referring to his dress military uniform.
