6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

E llie leaned back against her pillow and got her e-reader situated. The boys weren’t in bed but were in the house. Hopefully, they’d be going back to school tomorrow. Supposedly, all the things were taken care of, but she’d wait to see.

A knock on her partially closed door had it slowly coming open. Richy’s face peeked around the door.

“Can we come in for a minute?” Richy asked.

“Of course,” she said, sitting up a little straighter. She waited to see what they’d do. Things had been better but not perfect. Lyle followed Richy in, and then they both looked at the edge of her queen bed.

“You can sit down,” she said and folded her legs up crisscross so the boys could sit down. “What’s up?”

Richy sighed loudly. “Umm, so I know we were with you last Christmas, but we came so late we didn’t do anything. We were talking, and there are a few people we want to buy gifts for, but we don’t have any money.”

“Oh, I can give you some,” Ellie said.

Lyle shook his head. “We want to use our own money, but we don’t have any. Would it be okay if we texted everybody here to see if they had any odd jobs we could do this week and this weekend to make some money?”

Ellie held back tears because the boys were actually thinking of others. It was one of the first glimpses she’d had of them seeing good in their lives.

“I think that is a great idea. If you guys are interested in consistently doing things around here, I’d be happy to give you an allowance too,” Ellie put out there. She rarely asked the boys to do things because it became such a fight. If they were interested in making money, then she was going to take advantage of any opening they gave her.

“What are you thinking?” Lyle asked.

“I was thinking I’d write down all the things I currently do besides working full time, like cooking dinner most nights, going grocery shopping, planning meals, doing all the laundry, taking out the trash, cleaning the house, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and other stuff. Then we, as a family, could decide what you would take on to help out the family,” she said, holding her breath until she saw how the boys would react.

Lyle and Richy stared at each other.

“Wow, I guess we didn’t realize how much it took to keep the house this way,” Richy said.

“It’s the cleanest place we’ve ever lived, and I like not worrying about bugs and if something is clean when it’s time to eat,” Lyle whispered.

“We’ll help. When can we have our family meeting?” Richy asked.

“Let’s have it during supper tomorrow night. How about we go to the diner, so we don’t have to cook or clean up? Maybe we should get a notebook and take notes on how we’ll divide the stuff. I want you both to know how proud I am of you for thinking of getting gifts for other people. I love you both. I know we’ve had a rocky road, but I’m happy you’re here,” Ellie said, leaning forward and patting Lyle and Richy’s knees as she said the last words.

The boys looked at each other again, then both leaned over, throwing their arms around her.

“We know we’re bad, but we want to be better,” Lyle said softly.

Ellie wrapped her arms around the boys. Maybe they were turning a corner. She didn’t expect smooth sailing because she still had to bring up the boys talking to someone besides her. They weren’t the way they were without going through some stuff while they’d been with her brother.

“Boys, I’m not going to say it’s been a picnic since we’ve all come together, but you’re not bad. You’ve made some choices that weren’t good, but you’ve also stood up for others, which is really good. No one’s perfect, but we’re family. We love. We fight. We forgive. I love you both very much,” Ellie said. She’d tried to say it enough to the boys over the time she’d been with them, even though it hadn’t been comfortable at first. It wasn’t how she’d grown up, and she was positive her brother had probably never said it to the boys.

“We love you too, Aunt Ellie,” Richy said softly, then stood up. “Come on, Lyle. Let’s head to bed. I want to get a list together of who we can text and a sheet that we can keep track of what they want done.”

“Night,” Lyle said, following Richy out the door.

That had been a huge surprise tonight but such a good one. She had to tell someone even though it was late. She’d text Hennessy.