The enchanting library was our place of solace, and we knew it like the backs of our hands. We were more familiar with the card catalog than some of the library assistants. Boss spent his visits putting away returned books without being asked and no one had ever tried stopping him. Peg’s main gig at the library was to sit behind the long desk that used to be the bakery’s checkout counter and scold patrons about overdue fines and hush chatty visitors. He was a natural. Charlotte took it upon herself to arrange books in the glass display cases that were originally pastry cases. Raleigh always served as her assistant.

With the younger twins at day care and the others settled into their own library routines, I was free to do as I pleased. If my homework was complete, I usually hid in the reference section or the archive room with White Lily flour bags and Dixie Crystals sugar sacks papering the walls, but today I had errands to run, so after settling everyone in, I told Peg to keep an eye on them.

“Why can’t I go with you?” Peg whined, following me to the door.

“I gotta go make a payment at the funeral home,” I answered, knowing that would stop him in his tracks.

“Morty’s so weird.” Peg wrinkled his nose.

“Oh? And you’re so normal?” I patted my pocket, making sure the check was still where I’d put it.

“What kinda fool parents who own a funeral home name their kid Morty?” Peg sucked his teeth. “Sick.”

“You really want to go there about weird names, Phoenix Arizona Foster?” I lifted my brow.

Peg plowed ahead, on a mission to be disagreeable. “Why didn’t you just give it to him on Sunday?”

“I don’t feel right about paying bills on the Sabbath, and I ain’t sure how Morty would feel about it either.”

After Pa made the deal with Morty about making monthly payments on the limo, he talked him into coming to church. Morty hadn’t missed a Sunday since. The flamboyant young man fit right in with the rest of us riffraff.

Peg snorted. “You always making everything nice and easy on everybody. Especially Pa. He should remember to pay the dang bills himself.”

I glanced around to see if anyone was close enough to hear him mouthing off. Luckily, no one was. “Watch your tongue.” I pinched his arm and didn’t acknowledge his yelp, just turned and walked out the door.

That mouth was going to catch up with Phoenix Foster one day, if I couldn’t figure out a way to tame it. He would be turning fifteen before the year was up, so it was probably best just to chalk up my attempt at child-rearing him as a big fat F and move on to doing a better job with the four younger ones.