Chapter Thirteen

Betsy helped the babes into their nightshirts, after they had used the privy, and washed their hands and faces. Paulie was due for their story any moment, but had not yet joined them.

This was the time when Betsy liked to see how well they remembered their lessons of the morning. Michaels had made Betsy some wooden shapes he had crafted out of driftwood pieces that she kept in a drawstring bag, and she pulled it open to the children's delight. She withdrew a piece and held it clasped in her palm.

"Do you want to guess which hand it is in?" She watched them nod their heads, all three of them, as they liked this game the best.

"All right, Sarah is youngest, so Sarah, which hand?" Betsy held the piece behind her back, both hands fisted, only one holding a piece.

Sarah looked at Betsy's arms, then up to her face. Betsy winked her right eye at the two year old, and Sarah jumped at the clue, pointing to Betsy's right arm.

"That one!" Sarah exclaimed.

Betsy brought her hand around and opened it to reveal a wooden circle. "You are so smart Sarah, good for you! Can ye tell me what shape it is?" Betsy asked, as if it were a great mystery only Sarah could answer.

As the little girl bounced on her bottom, under the blanket which came up to her small waist, "It be a circle, Miss Lisbeth!"

Betsy touched Sarah's nose with her fingertip, "You, my smart little Sarah, are absolutely right!"

They smiled at each other before Betsy dug around in the bag for another piece.

Hands behind her back again, she looked at Jonah as he was still a bit younger than Lila, by around six months, they had figured out. Luckily their older brothers, Timothy and Johnny, knew all their birth dates.

"Which hand Jonah?" She asked of the little one, who felt compelled to copy Sarah's bouncing while he had his turn.

He also looked at Betsy's arms and she moved her left one slightly, smiling at the way his eyes lit up. "That one!" He pointed to her left side.

She brought it around as she opened her hand, revealing the small wooden square hidden in her palm.

"You are a smart one too, Jonah! Do you remember what this shape is?"

"It 'tis a sqware, Miss Wisbeff!" He was so excited, his bouncing took on new heights as Betsy laughed softly.

"Lila's turn." She smiled at Lila and put a piece behind her back. Lila wanted no clue and did not mind if she missed her guess, she got almost as much fun out of missing as she did in getting it right.

This time however, she was right the first time, and named her triangle correctly.

"My goodness, we are three," Betsy tapped each of their noses, "for three this eve."

She was able to give them each one more turn before Paulie asked Violet, who had been peeking in the door for the last ten minutes, to excuse him, as he needed to get by.

Violet could not help his grin, as he had been caught watching his wife with the wee ones, yet again. He loved to sneak down here once in a while and watch her when she was not aware of it. The children were always so wrapped up in whatever she was doing that they had not given him away yet.

Vi patted Paulie's shoulder as he passed, and watched the smooth transfer of the children into his keeping. They loved their story time with Paw Paw before bed.

Betsy loved that Paulie now said their prayers with them. As a matter of fact, it was Paulie who now reminded them before meals to bow their heads to pray.

The transformation in the older man was like night and day. He now wore a close to constant smile and he always had a spot on his lap if one of the little ones wanted to be held. Sarah had a strong attachment to the formerly gruff sailor, and he could be caught singing a nursery song quite often, if he did not know anyone was there to overhear.

He and Betsy had several deep conversations between them in the last fortnight. He had remembered her saying what she did about her Papa and the smithy, and she had lead him in a prayer to give his heart to Jesus.

He caught himself cursing on one occasion and had looked up at the sky "I thought Ye were about fixin' that." He had said to God, as Betsy had laughed and hugged him, telling him God had been, as it rarely happened anymore.

The old sailor had turned red in the face, this time not from anger though, as he had hugged Betsy back. Paulie was filling the empty place in her heart her Papa's absence left, and she was the spark that had led the old man to the light.

He liked the part in her book that she shared with him that told him to be salt and light. He could grasp that analogy once she explained it, and he tried his best to be both salty and bright, with God's help, of course.

It warmed Betsy's heart to hear him talking to God in his sea man's vernacular, instead of railing at the air around him. He did not even bother to pretend he was a cook anymore, he was now a grandpappy, and perfectly happy at that. He was with the children always, unless they were napping, and by then he usually needed a nap too, just to keep up with them. He did help clean up after supper however, as this was when Betsy bathed and dressed the children for bed.

The nice part for Josh was the changed attitude, as Paulie now did his work as Betsy had told him he should, unto God, not man.

Tonight the children would hear about Jonah and the great fish, as that was the story Paulie had read before napping today.

He got some real good stories from that there book of her's she let him borrow whenever he wanted to read afor his naptime.

Paulie waited patiently, as Betsy handed out hugs and kisses, then he waited some more as the children moved to their story spots.

Paulie sat in the middle of the bed and leaned his back against the wall, as the babes scooted in around him, now held in the circle of his arms.

"So ye see, there was this man Jonah here,".

Wee Jonah looked up at Paulie, his face wreathed in a smile.

"Yup, another Jonah, jus like ye, well, God told Jonah he needed ta go to talk to these here Ninevits and Jonah he did no' want ta."

Betsy had to put a hand over her mouth to quiet her giggling as she and Violet made their way to their cabin.

"What do ye find so funny?" Violet could not contain the own joy on his face, as he liked the changes he saw happening around him.

"I do not think I should bother to tell him it's 'Ninevite's' not vits." The glow in her eyes bespoke her pleasure in the old man and his efforts.

"Well, my kitten, it does not seem to bother the babes at all, so I agree." Vi placed his hand on her lower back and ushered her into their cabin. "Now, about that wagering you brought up earlier..." He raised his brow at her, which brought about more giggling.

"What?" She once again looked up at him innocently, as she batted her lashes, belying the look.

"What do you know about wagering?" He wiggled his brows, as she laughed, for it looked very funny on his handsome face.

"I would wager you are a very silly man sometimes." She replied as she danced away from him.

He followed her and caught her up in his arms. "Would you like to learn? To wager? I play for very high stakes." He wiggled his eyebrows again, causing her to giggle yet again.

"What kind of stakes?" She asked warily, not quite sure what he was alluding to.

"Clothing, the clothing we are now wearing. You lose, and I choose what comes off, and vice versa." He grinned at her, as she stared at him open mouthed, then she regained her composure quickly, a little too quickly in his estimation.

She smiled with her eyes and smirked with her mouth as she looked up at him, "Do you have cards?"

Violet laughed and moved to his desk, "But of course my love, what self respecting man does not?" He pulled a deck from the drawer, and they moved to the table, seating themselves in the chairs. "What is your pleasure, Kitten?"

"Noddy." She grinned at him, as his eyes narrowed.

"You have played before?" He asked warily.

"Oh, maybe once, or twice." She laughed, as she thought of the many hours she and Lady Eleanor had spent at the game after her Papa had passed. "I think I can remember how 'tis played."

He did not like the feral gleam that entered her eyes, or the grin that now resided upon her face. "I have the feeling I have just jumped in the water with a shark." He gave her a sidelong glare that had her laughing and holding her belly.

"Just deal, my little fishy."

No, he did not like that grin at all.

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And to think it had been his idea.

Violet now sat in his skivvies while she was fully dressed and shuffling like the card shark she was.

"I believe we are at the end of my wagering items, Madame." He said a bit testily.

"Not yet we are not."

She was actually going to strip him nude. "Vixen." He glared at her.

"What?" She tried for the innocent look, but it was just not working this time. She trilled with laughter as she prepared to fleece her lamb.

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Blessings my loveys!