Read Online A Family for the Farmer by Laurel Blount - Free Book Online

this was good. If the kids found this entertaining, they were going to love living on a farm. Poop, as they called it, was one thing there wasn’t any shortage of.
    â€œIt’s disgusting all right.” Emily wasn’t smiling, and Abel felt a little sorry for her. She handled those twins of hers like she’d been born a mother, but she clearly didn’t know much about dealing with animals. “That bird’s going outside right now.”
    â€œEmily,” he tried again.
    Emily was having none of it. “I told you, I’ve got this, Abel. Now, come on, bird. Glory. Whatever your name is. I think you’ve done enough damage for one day.” Edging past the suspicious goose, Emily snagged another muffin out of the bakery box on the counter and positioned herself by the back door. “Let’s get you outside where you belong.” She broke off a piece of muffin and dropped it in a strategic spot halfway between the goose and the door to the back porch.
    Glory angled her head and considered the offering with one beady brown eye before waddling over and gobbling it up. Emily tossed a second chunk of muffin a little closer to the doorway. Glory had caught on, and she immediately ambled over and ate that piece, too.
    Emily turned to smile triumphantly at her children. “See? There’s nothing to get upset about. You just have to stay calm around animals. If you use your brain, you can always figure out a way to outsmart them.”
    Something in Paul’s expression tipped Abel off. He looked back at Emily just a fraction of a second too late to warn her that Glory had gotten impatient waiting for the next installment of muffin and was gearing up to nip Emily again, this time right on the seat of her jeans.
    The chaos that followed left downy feathers floating airily around the kitchen and spilled coffee all over the floor. He was dimly aware of Emily’s protests over the screaming twins, but this had gone far enough. Abel finally cornered the goose by the stove, and soon Glory was honking angrily on the back step.
    Abel banged the screen door fully shut in the goose’s face and went back into the house. Emily was already kneeling on the floor, wiping up the mess with the rags Miss Sadie had kept in a bucket under her sink, two bright red spots burning high on her pale cheekbones.
    She glanced up at Abel angrily. “I really wish you’d have let me deal with that.”
    He blinked. Now she was mad at him for getting the goose out of the kitchen? “Glory can be hard to manage. I was just trying to give you a hand.”
    â€œWell, next time I’d appreciate it if you’d wait until I ask you to help me.” She splashed a rag into the bucket of soapy water with more force than necessary and scrubbed hard at the floor for a minute before looking back up at him. “I need you to understand something, Abel. I’m used to taking care of myself and my kids. I’m the one in charge of things, and I like it that way. I appreciate your offer to help me out. I really do, but when I say I want to handle something myself, I mean it.”
    He blew out a slow breath. Okay. This was about more than just the goose. He got that, but Emily wasn’t the only one who was just about fed up. “Maybe you’d better write me up a handbook and let me study some, because apparently you’ve got a whole lot of rules about how you want to be treated that I don’t know about.” And that don’t make a lick of sense. He left that part unsaid, which was good, because from the thunderous look on Emily’s face he’d already said too much.
    â€œYou know, Abel, I don’t think this is going to work out. I appreciate your offer, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
    â€œAw now, Emily. You’re overreacting. All I did—” he started out patiently, but Emily cut him off.
    â€œAll you did was push yourself in and