Renovating the Richardsons by Virginia Smith

Author:Virginia Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736964807
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Chapter Nine

On Tuesday afternoon Al pulled his car down the long driveway of the house where he and Millie lived. He could not call it home, because this giant, hulking structure would never replace the comfortable place where they’d lived and raised their family together. No matter what Millie said, he would always think of this as the Updyke house, after the family that had built it more than a century ago and then unloaded it on him.

He parked beside her car in the wide space at the end of the crumbling driveway. No garage, of course. Yet another sacrifice he’d made for his wife. Come winter when they had to bundle up like Eskimos, brave the icy elements, and scrape frozen snow off of their windshields, she’d be sorry. For his part, he would swallow a thousand I told you so’s and suffer his lot in silence. At least, that was his intention now. When the time came and frostbite threatened, he might not be able to resist the occasional comment, just in case she didn’t remember on her own.

The French doors leading from the dining room onto the porch—or verandah, as Millie insisted on calling it—opened, and his wife appeared in the doorway.

“Albert!” she called as he slid out from behind the wheel. “What are you doing home at two o’clock in the afternoon? Are you sick?”

Rufus bounded into the yard, barking his usual enthusiastic greeting. Al bent to deliver the expected pat on the head. Satisfied, the dog trotted back to the porch.

“I’m fine.” Al closed the front car door and opened the back. “The more I thought about those squirrels, the less work I got done. Something must be done.”

“Justin is taking care of the attic. He’s been up there all morning.”

“I know that. I’m going to reclaim our yard. Give me a hand, would you?”

He pulled out a half-dozen shepherd’s hooks and gave the rounded ends to her. “Let’s take them over there, by the gazebo.”

Rufus trotted beside her as she walked backward across the yard, carrying her half of their burden.

“Are you planning to do some landscaping?”

“No, these are for my birdfeeders.”

She glanced at the empty feeders dangling from the wooden eaves of the gazebo.

“They’re too easy for the squirrels to access there,” he said before she could comment. “I might as well set out a pan of squirrel food and ring a dinner bell. But that stops today.”

They deposited the hooks on the ground and returned to the car, where Al opened the trunk to display several twenty-five pound bags of birdseed.

Millie inspected the contents. “Goodness. You must have emptied the store’s shelves. And what’s that?”

“It’s a squirrel trap.” Al lifted out a wire cage and held it up for her inspection. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of searching the Internet before. These traps come highly recommended. They’re easy to use, and they come in different sizes depending on the animal you want to catch.”

A frown appeared on her face. “The

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