Free The Healing by Wanda E. Brunstetter

road, the dog wouldn’t budge.
    “Suit yourself,” she said with a shake of her head. “If you want to sit out here in the cold snow, that’s up to you.” With all there was to do around the house, as much as she’d like to, she couldn’t let herself get attached to a dog, because dogs needed a lot of care.
    Bonnie turned and hurried back into the warmth of the house. When she stepped into the kitchen, she let out a shriek. Water was all over the kitchen floor!
    “Now how could that have happened?” she fumed, instantly forgetting about her four-legged visitor. “I know I turned off the water before I went outside.”
    It didn’t take long for Bonnie to realize that there was water seeping out from under the sink. “Ugh!” She slipped off her shoes and socks, and then waded through the water in her bare feet. When she opened the cupboard door beneath the sink and leaned over, she knew immediately what the problem was. A rusty-looking pipe had sprung a leak. “That’s just great,” she said with a moan.
    Bonnie reached in and closed the shut-off valve, thankful that it wasn’t stuck, because she had no idea where any of Grandpa’s tools might be. Even if she had known where they were, she wasn’t sure she’d know how to use them. Since she wouldn’t be able to use the kitchen sink until the pipe was repaired, she’d have to use the sink in the bathroom. Now that was convenient!
    Once the water was off, she sloshed her way back across the wet room, grabbed a mop from the utility porch, and started sopping up the water. This was just one more thing she’d have to ask Samuel to do. At this rate, she would never get the place ready to open as a bed-and-breakfast this spring.
    She groaned. “I wonder what else will go wrong.”

C HAPTER 10
    S amuel shook the reins and clucked to his horse to get him moving quickly down the road. He was on his way to Bonnie’s with the kids, and they’d all been chattering away like a bunch of magpies ever since they left Titus’s place. They were obviously excited about going to Bonnie’s, but Samuel couldn’t help feeling irritated by their exuberance. It was as if they didn’t miss their mother anymore. Could they have forgotten her so quickly?
    I wonder why I let Bonnie talk me into bringing the kids over today, he thought with regret. The last thing I want to do is build a snowman. Think I’ll just let the kids play in the snow while I do some work on Bonnie’s place
.
    Samuel thought about some of the things he’d done there this past week. He’d put a new pipe under her kitchen sink, repaired several loose spindles on the banister leading upstairs, stripped some wallpaper in the kitchen and then painted the walls, replaced all the loose boards on the porch, and hauled some boxes up to the attic for Bonnie. The house was old, and it seemed like there was no end to the work that needed to be done. He figured he might not to have to look for any outside paint jobs until late spring or early summer because he’d probably be working for Bonnie that long.
    “Daadi, Leon keeps pokin’ me!” Penny shouted, bringing Samuel’s thoughts to a halt. “Would ya make him stop?”
    “Knock it off, Leon,” Samuel called over his shoulder, “or you won’t be making a snowman when we get to Bonnie’s. You’ll be in the house, workin’ with me.”
    “But she started it,” the boy complained. “She’s hoggin’ the seat.”
    “Huh-uh. He’s the one hoggin’ the seat,” Penny retorted.
    Samuel gritted his teeth. He didn’t have the patience to deal with this right now. If only Elsie were here, she’d know what to do to quiet the kids and make them stop arguing.
    “Stop pinchin’ me!” Penny’s piercing squeal sounded like a baby pig that had been cheated out of its mother’s milk.
    “I didn’t pinch ya,” Leon countered. “Jared’s the one who pinched you, and that’s the truth.”
    All was silent for a few seconds; then Jared started to cry.