Accidents Will Happen
Neil MacNeill leaned forward in the straight backed chair, his forearms resting on his knees. He twirled a small strip of leather between his fingers, absently studying it. Sighing, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair, wondering how something as small as a scrap of leather could result in the havoc that had been wrought that afternoon.
He pulled out his pocket watch and saw that it was two thirty….two thirty in the morning. Four hours had passed and it was time to wake his patient again. Looking over at the small figure in the bed, he glumly rested his chin in his hand and studied her face for a moment. She was laying on her right side, facing him. Her left eye was nearly swollen shut and turning several shades of purple, red and blue and, even in her sleep, her eyebrows were furrowed together in pain. With another sigh, he leaned over the bed and reached out to touch her shoulder, giving it a gentle shake.
"Christy. Christy, you need to wake up for a moment," he said quietly, smoothing her long hair away from her cheek as her uninjured eye fluttered open.
"Neil?" Christy asked in a groggy voice, clearly unsure why he was there. She rolled onto her back and her good eye flew open as she winced and reached for the back of her head. Oh yes, it was coming back to her now!
"How do you feel?" he asked, his voice gentle and tinged with remorse.
"My head hurts," she mumbled, moving her hand from the back of her head to touch her puffy left eye.
"I'd be shocked if it didn't," he sighed, drily. "Let's sit you up so that I can take a look at your eyes."
Neil slipped an arm beneath her shoulders and then carefully eased her into a sitting position, stuffing a pillow behind her back to prop her up. He then turned up the kerosene lamp and moved it closer to the bedside before he leaned closer to Christy, cupping her chin in his hand. He peered into her right eye and then pried her left eye open, causing her to wince.
"Sorry," he said, guiltily. Studying her pupils for several moments, he was satisfied that they were both of an equal size and were responding appropriately….although it WAS hard to get a sense of perspective given that her left eye was so swollen and colorful.
"Well, it doesn't look like you have a concussion but I'll wake you one last time in another four hours," he said. "Does the pain seem worse in the back of your head or around your eye? Or does it seem to be more of a headache in general?"
"Yes…yes…and yes," Christy replied, cradling her forehead in her hands.
"It's been a little over eight hours since your last headache powder; would you like another to help with the pain?"
"Yes, please," Christy said with a nod, which resulted in another wince.
Neil poured water from a pitcher into a glass that was sitting on the bedside table then ripped open the small packet of headache powder, mixing it into the water with a spoon. Christy took a deep breath and gulped the whole bitter glass down, grimacing as she shuddered at the taste. The doctor hastily poured another glass of clear water and handed it to her so she could wash away the nasty taste.
"Here, before you lay back down, let me take a look at your stitches," he said, shifting over to sit on the edge of the bed and leaning Christy forward. He carefully picked through her hair and moved it away from the small shaved spot at the back of her head. He examined the row of tidy stitches and was satisfied that it didn't appear infected.
"Well, I believe that you'll live," he said, smoothing her hair into order. He removed the pillow from behind her back and then helped her scoot back down under the covers. Tucking them around her once again, he returned to the chair by her bedside.
"Neil, you really should go downstairs on the sofa and get some sleep," Christy yawned.
"I'm fine….trust me, I'd not be getting any sleep tonight even if I was at home in bed," the doctor said ruefully. Looking down into her one good eye, he softly said for what seemed the thousandth time that day, "I really am so very sorry."
Christy gave him a sleepy smile and worked her hand out from underneath the covers, reaching out to grasp his.
"It was an accident, Neil. I don't believe for a minute that you set out to punch me in the eye on purpose," she said, squeezing his fingers.
"Well, you may not believe it, but convincing the children of that is a completely different matter," the doctor said with another sigh. "Did I tell you that Sam Houston kicked me in the shin?"
"He shouldn't have done that. I'll talk to him on Monday," Christy said, appalled even in her drug induced haze.
"No, don't. I deserved it," Neil mumbled, toying with the piece of leather again.
"No, you didn't. Is this what broke?" Christy asked
Neil nodded, and the events of the previous afternoon once again played over in his mind.
He had taught a science lesson that afternoon and had brought his microscope and slides with him. He was preparing to leave and was securing his saddle bags, which held the equipment that he brought, to the back of his saddle. He had been tugging on the leather straps that secured the bags to the saddle, once again noting how worn the straps were.
"Yes, I'm definitely going to have to replace these," he thought. "It wouldn't do for my saddlebags to come loose and fall off. It would be a terrible waste of medical supplies if the bottles broke."
Wanting to make sure that the saddle bags with the heavy microscope inside didn't shift, he tugged extra hard on the leather tie. And then… it happened.
Unbeknownst to the doctor, Creed Allen had taken three of the slides back to his desk to see how much he could see with the naked eye….and quickly realized that it wasn't much. Christy had dismissed the class for lunch after the science lesson and, as Neil was getting his horse situated, she spotted the slides lying abandoned on Creed's desk. Picking them up, she went out the front door of the schoolhouse and down the steps, holding out the slides towards the doctor. That was the last thing that she remembered clearly for a while.
Neil yanked extra hard on the leather tie one last time just to be positive that it would hold….and then he felt the snap….and then his hand flew back and then he felt his fist come in contact with something both solid and soft while simultaneously hearing a cry. Spinning around, he saw Cutter Gap's teacher fall backwards, hearing a sickening thud as the back of her head hit one of the steps while she emitted a decidedly unladylike grunt!
For a moment, all Neil could do was stare at Christy as she lay there with one hand covering her left eye and a decidedly dazed expression in her right one. The screams of several of the female students finally pierced his consciousness and he quickly dropped to his knees by Christy's side.
"I'm so sorry!" he said urgently. "I had no idea you were behind me. Here, let me see this."
He pulled her hand away from her eye and saw that it was red and already swelling, her eyelid trying to squint closed. He gently probed the area around her eye socket, concerned that he might have broken a bone.
"Can you see out of your left eye, Christy?" he asked in a worried tone.
"I see shooting stars," Christy said, stupefied. "It's the middle of the day, why are there shooting stars?"
By this time they were surrounded by shouting children.
"Didja see? Doc just socked her right in the eye!" Little Burl told Creed Allen.
"It was an accident!" Neil exclaimed, looking at the boys sideways.
"Paw told me that men folk shouldn't never hit on women folk, it just ain't right! You shouldn't a done it, Doc!" Sam Houston said, delivering a swift kick to the kneeling doctor's knee length boot.
"It was an accident! I had no idea your Teacher was behind me!" Neil sputtered, trying to continue his examination while in the midst of chaos.
"Doc, you better take a look at this," Rob Allen said, his quiet voice a godsend in the midst of all the hullaballoo swirling around the schoolhouse steps. Rob had squatted down on the bottom step by Christy and had his hand on her back, helping her to sit up.
Neil shifted around to see what Rob was pointing at and was horrified to see the large red stain that was spreading down the back of Christy's white blouse. She had clearly sustained a substantial laceration to the back of her head. The doctor began yanking the hairpins out of the teacher's hair so that he could take it down and find the source of the bleeding.
"What are you doing? Ouch!" Christy said, still disoriented and swatting at Neil's hands.
"Christy, stop it! You're bleeding from the back of your head," Neil said, trying to hold her hands away while simultaneously groping in his pocket for his clean handkerchief to press against the cut.
"Neil…" Christy said, her struggles suddenly ceasing but her voice sounding decidedly…altered. Neil looked down at her and noticed the green tinge to her skin. "Neil, I don't feel very well."
The last statement was the predecessor to the young schoolteacher suddenly and unceremoniously losing her breakfast all over the good doctor's boots. This was accompanied by a chorus of "Ewwww's" by many of the children.
Neil had had enough.
"Rob, keep this pressed to the back of Miss Huddleston's head and come with me," the large man said, handing Rob Allen a handkerchief, scooping Christy up in his arms and heading towards the Mission. "Ruby Mae, run ahead and tell Alice what's happened. John, bring my horse to the Mission and untie the saddlebags, I'll need my medical supplies."
By this time, Miss Alice and David had come out on the porch of the mission and were trying to discern what the ruckus at the school house was. They were greeted by the sight of Ruby Mae streaking towards them, her red hair flying out behind her.
"Miss Alice! Doc MacNeill punched Miz Christy in the eye and her head's bleedin' somethin' fierce!" the teenager gasped, skidding to a halt in front of them.
Alice Henderson and David stared at Ruby Mae for a moment and then at each other before their attention was drawn to the small parade of figures striding towards them. The sight of Neil MacNeill carrying Christy in his arms gave some credence to what Ruby Mae had said, but both the Quaker woman and the minister knew that a few important details had clearly been excluded.
"Alice, I'll need water to clean a cut on her head," the doctor said as he got closer to the porch.
In the meantime, David ran down the steps and was striding towards the doctor. He took in Christy's bloodstained shirt and the fact that she was holding her hand over her left eye, then looked at the doctor disbelievingly.
"You really DID hit her?!" David exclaimed.
"Socked her right in the eye and knocked her down, Preacher!" Creed Allen affirmed, shaking his head animatedly.
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Neil shouted in frustration, ascending the stairs while trying not to jiggle Christy's head too much and trying to keep in step with Rob Allen, who was still dutifully pressing the blood soaked handkerchief to the back of his teacher's head.
David hastily opened the door for the party, who were greeted by Miss Alice who had a basin of water in hand.
"No, take her on up to her room," Alice said when she saw Neil heading towards the davenport with the young woman. "It appears that Miss Huddleston won't be going anywhere in the near future."
The two men maneuvered their way up the stairs and made their way into Christy's room, followed by Miss Alice, David and John Spencer, who had retrieved the doctor's saddlebags. Ruby Mae also followed because…well…because she was Ruby Mae!
Alice quickly sat the basin of water down and threw an old blanket over the top of Christy's bed in case blood dripped on it and then, to Rob Allen's relief, took over the responsibility of holding the doctor's bloody handkerchief against Christy's head. Neil carefully sat the young woman down on the bed while trying to answer David's questions.
"How could you not have seen her?" the minister asked, glaring at the doctor.
"Because she was behind me!" Neil said, glaring back as he retrieved the basin of water and clean cloth. "Contrary to what you might think, I don't have eyes in the back of my head!"
"And you didn't hear her?!" David fumed.
"No! I don't know! I wasn't paying attention! I was just trying to tie my saddlebags down! I yanked the strap too hard, it broke…"
David and Neil continued their animated exchange while Ruby Mae gushed over how quick witted Rob had been in pointing out that "Miz Christy had a bodacious gash on the back of her head". For his part, John Spencer just stood in the corner clutching Dr. MacNeill's saddlebags.
"There are a lot of people in here," Christy commented to Miss Alice in a distant voice, still holding her hand over her left eye.
"There are, indeed," Miss Alice replied, moving Christy's long hair aside and removing the handkerchief to see how badly she was bleeding.
"They're very loud," Christy observed, her head aching at the noise.
"That they are," Miss Alice agreed, deciding to remedy the situation.
"Gentlemen…." Miss Alice said, attempting to get Neil and David's attention by clearing her throat. When that didn't work, she was a bit more aggressive. "GENTLEMEN!"
Both men fell silent and looked at Miss Alice questioningly.
"Gentlemen, perhaps you could put your ….. debate …. aside for now so that the doctor could treat his patient? You do remember Miss Huddleston, do you not?" Alice asked, gesturing to the young woman in the bloody shirt who was peering up at them through an eye that was nearly swollen shut.
Neil was once again overcome with guilt as he observed that the swollen eye was definitely beginning to turn a light shade of blue. David simply grunted and huffed out of the room. The doctor relieved John Spencer of the saddle bags containing his medical kit and the oldest Spencer son gladly left the room, wanting to race home and tell his mother that Doc MacNeill had given Miz Christy a shiner! Ruby Mae was still gushing over Rob, whose face was beet red with embarrassment by this time.
"Rob, would thee please go back to the school and advise the children that classes will be dismissed for the rest of the afternoon," Miss Alice suggested. Looking for something useful for Ruby Mae to do, Alice suddenly noticed a … distracting ….odor and, upon further investigation, realized that the source was the doctor's boots.
Following her line of vision, the doctor realized that he'd forgotten about his soiled boots.
"Miss Huddleston's stomach was a bit upset after her fall," Neil explained.
"Doctor, if thee wouldst remove them, I'm sure that Ruby Mae would be happy to clean them off at the pump," Miss Alice said, fixing the redheaded girl with a firm smile. "Isn't that correct, Ruby Mae?"
"Ah…yes, ma'am," the girl said, wrinkling her nose and picking up the doctor's discarded boots with her fingertips, holding them far away from her as she and Rob left the room.
"Well, it doesn't look as severe as I'd anticipated, doctor," Miss Alice said, wetting another clean cloth and gently dabbing at the wound to the back of Christy's head. "But it will definitely need stitches."
With peace and quiet finally surrounding them, Christy felt as if she was finally coming out of the fog that she'd been in for the last twenty minutes. She watched as Neil pulled his medical kit from the saddle bags and began laying out the instruments that he'd be using. He placed the cloth that Alice had originally handed to him on the bed alongside Christy's legs, and laid out needles and silks to stitch her scalp, along with a small pair of sharp scissors and a bottle of disinfectant. Christy eyed the scissors suspiciously but decided that perhaps they were to cut the silk that would be used for the stitches. However, when Neil asked Alice to fetch David's razor and to make sure that it was very sharp, Christy couldn't conceal her growing concern.
"What, exactly, do you need a razor for, Neil?" she asked, a bit suspiciously as Miss Alice left the room.
"To shave the area that I'm going to put the stitches in," Neil said, sitting in a chair on the right side of the bed for a moment and taking a closer look at her swollen left eye.
"What?" she asked in alarm.
"Oh, it'll just be a little patch. There's nothing to worry about, Christy," he said, comfortingly.
"You mean I'm going to have a black eye AND a bald spot?" Christy asked in a forlorn tone of voice.
The look on Neil's face made Christy wish that she'd bitten her tongue. He looked absolutely miserable over the morning's events.
"Neil, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, at least not the way it sounded," Christy said. "I know that what happened was just an accident and I don't blame you at all, truly. It's just…well…"
Christy was embarrassed to continue but she could see that Neil was listening to her intently. Hoping to alleviate some of his guilt, she decided to confess one of her personal foibles.
"As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I'm…well…I'm a little vain about my hair," Christy confessed, fiddling with the button on the cuff of her shirt. "My mother used to always fuss over it when I was little, brushing and curling it and putting ribbons in it. It's never been cut except for the bangs."
Neil knew that it had cost her something to admit this little vanity, and he also knew that she'd done it to make him feel better. The gesture touched him. He reached out and touched his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up so that she would look him in the eyes again.
"I have to confess that I'm a bit taken with it too," he said softly. "It's beautiful, especially when you wear it down, and I'd do nothing to spoil it. The cut's small and I'll only have to shave off a patch the size of a quarter or so. The rest of your hair will cover it; no one will even notice it, I promise."
Christy's good eye widened at his words. In an effort to return things to a comfortable level, the doctor continued speaking.
"You know, if you'd hit your head just an inch or two higher, your bun would have absorbed the blow and we'd only have your eye to worry about," he said lightly.
"I'll have to work harder on my aim the next time," Christy said, taking in a shaky breath to steady her nerves as Miss Alice returned with David's razor.
The doctor sat on the bed facing Christy and had her bend her head forward so that the top of it was resting in the hollow of his shoulder while the back of her head was pointed towards the ceiling. He picked through the soft brown hair and had Alice hand him the scissors. He then snipped away a single long, wavy tress of hair and then cleaned the blood caked area with warm water. Miss Alice worked up a small amount of lather in David's shaving mug and dabbed it on the wounded area with a brush. Neil then carefully scraped the razor across Christy's scalp with just three light strokes. He cleaned the area off with warm water and a towel.
"Now, I have to pour some disinfectant on the cut and it's going to hurt like the dickens," the doctor said, apologetically. "You might want to hang onto the blanket."
Christy took his advice and balled her hand into the old blanket on the bed, taking a sharp breath when the liquid hit the deep laceration. Neil felt her body tense and kept up a soothing stream of conversation.
"I know, that part's worse than the actual stitches," he said, taking the threaded needle from Alice's hand. "I'll only need to take five or six stitches, it'll be over in just a few moment's, Christy. You're doing just fine."
Christy kept a grip on the blanket and tried to keep from grunting in pain as Neil stitched her scalp. Thankfully, he was true to his word and finished quickly. He poured a little more disinfectant over the stitches but it didn't hurt nearly as badly this time.
"There. All done, Miss Huddleston," Neil said, taking hold of Christy's shoulders and sitting her back upright, taking note of the pallor of her skin. "Why don't you lay back for a bit now."
"Doctor, if thee would excuse us, I'll assist Miss Huddleston with changing and bathing," Alice Henderson said. "Then she can rest."
Neil realized that Christy was still wearing the bloody shirt and that the hair from the area of the laceration on down to her neck was caked with dried blood.
"Fine," he nodded. "I've got to go see Becky Gallagher. She's due to deliver next month and she sent word that she was feeling a bit more poorly than expected. But I'll be back by six or so."
"Thee must plan on eating supper with us, then" Miss Alice said, clearing away the stained cloths that Neil had used.
"Thank you. Remember not to let her sleep for more than four hours at a time without waking her up. The first twenty four hours after an injury to the head are the most dangerous," the doctor said, packing his supplies back into the saddle bags.
"I'm aware of that, Neil, but I thank thee for reminding me," Miss Alice said. Honestly, she'd seen the man make less of a fuss over appendectomy patients!
"I'll take the night shift with her, I know that you have to leave for Cataleechie tomorrow afternoon," Neil said, heading for the door. "I'll send Ruby Mae back up with some fresh, cold water and clean cloths to make compresses for her eye."
"Thank you, Neil," Miss Alice said patiently as she crossed over to Christy's bureau and pulled out a nightgown for her to change into shortly.
"Good bye, Doctor. Thank you for everything," Christy said, trying to fight off another bout of wooziness with her stomach.
"Again, I'm very sorry, Christy," Neil said from the doorway, looking at her regretfully. "I'll see you in a bit."
Thankfully, Becky Gallagher had been fine, other than having exceptionally swollen ankles. He had been amazed at how quickly word had spread about Christy's accident and he had encountered half a dozen people along the road who asked about her health. He wondered if he actually imagined some of the frosty looks that several of the ladies of the cove gave him. Surely they didn't honestly think that he had hauled off and punched Cutter Gap's favorite teacher in the eye intentioually! Did they? After Granny Barclay had given him a small packet of herbs and dried wild roots to make a small poultice for Christy's eye, and then told him that it might be better if Miss Alice mixed the concoction up and applied it, since it seemed like the doctor had already done enough damage for one day, he wasn't so sure!
After making the trip to the Gallagher cabin, Neil diverted to his home to pick up several case files that he'd been updating. Since he was going to be sitting up all night with Christy, he might as well be productive while he was there. It might help to keep his mind off how large of a heel that he felt.
The doctor arrived back at the mission shortly before dinner time. Alice had taken a tray up to Christy and was eating with her, while Neil spent a very uncomfortable meal with David and Ruby Mae, who both treated him cooly. He was almost relieved to escape up to Christy's room, even though the sight of her swollen eye depressed him even more. Where it had been light blue when he left, it had rapidly turned to dark blue while her eyelid was red just above her eyelashes.
Neil examined her and was satisfied that she seemed much more cognizant of what was going on around her than she had been earlier in the afternoon. He then gave her a headache powder and began to protest when Christy pulled a sheaf of papers from her school satchel. They were tests that she'd given yesterday and she'd not had the opportunity to grade them that morning. Even though her head still ached, she stubbornly convinced the doctor to let her grade them.
"Neil, what do you want me to do? Sit here all evening twiddling my thumbs and watching you update your patient files?" Christy asked, fixing him sternly with her good eye. "I promise, if my head begins to ache too badly or I get too tired, I'll stop and go to sleep."
Neil didn't have the heart to argue with her and, if truth be told, had to suppress his amusement at being glared at by the small school teacher sitting in the bed. They actually spent a companionable evening together, with Neil taking over Christy's desk while she used a large book as a makeshift lap desk. Each focused on their respective paperwork with occasional comments to the other.
Half way through the evening Christy found herself studying Neil as he wrote and was curious about the patient files.
"What kinds of things do you keep record of in your notes?" she asked as she stuffed the test papers back into her satchel.
"All kinds of things," he said, taking the opportunity to put down his pencil and rub his eyes with his fingertips. "I generally begin a patient's file with their age and general physical condition and then add notes that pertain to the specific calls that I go on. Gunshot wounds, births, knife wounds, the resulting surgeries and medications used, chicken pox, small pox, any other kind of pox you might encounter (this was said with humor and earned the doctor a giggle from Christy). Also things like bad reactions that a patient may have to a certain medication….it all goes in there."
"I'd love to read the entry that you write in my file tonight," Christy said, scooting down under the covers with a mischievous smile on her face.
"I don't even know where to begin," Neil sighed, resting his chin in his hand. He then said, wryly, "It could be worse, I suppose. At least you're not as accident prone as Bob Allen. I've filled a whole notepad on him over the years and finally just designated an entire drawer for the Allen family."
He was rewarded with another muffled laugh from Christy as she turned her face into her pillow. He smiled at her indulgently.
"How's your head feeling?" he asked, gently.
"Better than it was, but I couldn't have graded many more papers," she admitted. "It was beginning to throb again so I stopped."
"Good girl," he said, approvingly. "I'll make a note that you obeyed doctor's orders for once in your life."
The last was said with the corners of his mouth quirked, but then his expression sobered again.
"Here, I'll turn this down so that you can sleep," Neil said, reaching for the lamp.
"No, don't. You're still working on your files," Christy said, stifling a yawn. "You shouldn't strain your eyes. Really, the light won't bother me."
His eyes softened for a moment as he watched her settle into bed, knowing that her head had to be hurting more than she let on. It touched him in an odd way that she worried about the strain on his eyes….no one ever seemed to worry about him or his health.
"Get some sleep, Miss Huddleston," he said quietly, turning back to the desk. "I'll wake you in a few hours."
There was quiet for a while and then Christy broke the silence again, her curiosity once again getting the better of her as she sleepily watched Neil.
"Neil, where did you learn to read and write?"
"My mother taught me my alphabet and how to write my name and some simple sentences," he replied, looking over at her again. "Then I went to school in El Pano when I could."
"Was your mother left handed too?" Christy wanted to know.
Neil smiled at her, looking at her speculatively as he nodded.
"Did your teacher in El Pano try to make you write with your right hand?" Christy wondered out loud.
"No…why the sudden interest in my primary education, Miss Huddleston?"
"I was looking at the way you hold your pencil. Lulu Spencer and Little Burl are both left handed too," she said, her mind drifting at the edge of consciousness. "Lulu holds her pencil the same way that you do but Little Burl holds his funny. His hand is bent down and curves around inside, so that the pencil lead is nearly touching the inside of his wrist. It always looks very uncomfortable."
"I had a roommate in college who did the same thing, I used to ask him if he was a contortionist and told him that he gave the rest of us lefties a bad name," Neil grinned.
"When I was in teacher's college, they kept instructing us to try to break children of writing with their left hands. They said that left handed children have problems fitting in with the others," Christy said, yawning again into her pillow. "Personally, I think whoever came up with that theory is just lazy because it's hard for a right handed person to teach a left handed person how to write."
"Ah, I see," the doctor said, smiling as he watched her eyes…well..her eye…slide closed.
There was quiet for another few moments more and Neil had just turned back to his writing when Christy made another comment.
"But, if you're left handed, why do you operate with your right hand?" she murmured. "You eat with your right hand, too."
"Miss Huddleston, I'm assigning a new vocabulary word," Neil said, chuckling as he looked over at her once more. "Tomorrow, I want you to look up 'ambidextrous' in the dictionary."
"Ambledecks…." Christy sighed, finally drifting off to sleep.
"I'll write it down for you," Neil said in a soft, amused tone.
That had been four hours ago…..which brought them back to where they were currently…which was with Neil sitting beside the bed, the small leather strap that had caused the whole mess clutched in his fingers.
"Can the tanner in El Pano make a new strap for your saddle?" Christy asked.
"Yes, I'm going there in a few days. The thing that irritates me the most is that I've known that this strap needed replaced for months now but I kept putting it off until…." the doctor's voice trailed off.
"Until it broke and you socked me in the eye?" she said, her lips quirking up in a sleepy smile.
"I still can't believe that I did it. It happened so fast…I'm just so…" Neil began.
"I know…you're so sorry. So am I; it was mean of me to tease you like that," Christy said in a contrite tone, once again squeezing his hand. "But, I thought of a way that you could work it into your science lesson next week."
"Oh?" Neil asked, laying the strap aside and capturing her small hand in both of his larger ones. He could tell that she was close to drifting off again.
"Mmmm, hmmm," she said, drowsily. "You could explain why my eye keeps turning different colors while it's healing."
"Not a bad idea, Miss Huddleston," Neil said, shaking his head over the fact that she was still thinking of school and the children, even in the middle of the night.
"And I'll make sure to reiterate that it was all an accident. Especially to Sam Houston," Christy said, closing her eyes again.
Neil thought she was dozing again and turned the light down once more until it was just a soft glow in the bedside table. He was surprised to hear her quiet voice speak again.
"Neil?
"Yes, Christy?"
"Thank you for taking such good care of me."
"You're very welcome," he said, unable to resist reaching over to smooth a long lock of hair away from her face.
Again, there was silence for several moments until….
"Neil?"
"Yes?"
"I'm very sorry about your boots," she sighed softly….apologetically.
Neil quietly chuckled, squeezing her hand once more.
"Don't give it a second thought," he said in a gently reassuring tone. "After all, as a certain school teacher keeps reminding me... accidents will happen."