TURNING BACK
PATIENCE
CHAPTER 10
Abby was up with the sun that morning and Adam could hear her moving around in the kitchen.
Hop Sing must have heard her too because he moved restlessly and when he opened his eyes to see Adam sitting forward in the chair by the head of his bed his eyes widened in confusion.
"Good morning," Adam said and stood to come and sit on the side of the bed. He took his patient's right hand and lifted it up to take his pulse.
The smaller man cleared his throat to say, "What...?"
"You had an accident last night," Adam informed him, "Do you remember?"
Hop Sing started to shake his head, but stopped and winced at the pain that movement caused.
"Keep your head still, and follow my finger with just your eyes." Adam watched the little man's eye movements and nodded in approval.
"Good," he said quietly then hastily pushed with both hands on his patient's shoulders when he tried to sit up.
"Stay down," he said. "You're just going to cause yourself a lot of unnecessary pain."
Reaching into his bag that was on the floor next to the bed, he took out a syringe and a bottle of clear fluid. After filling the syringe partway, he paused to look down into Hop Sing's tight face.
"Now this will hurt some, but trust me you'll be feeling a lot better in a few minutes," he said, then folded the bed clothes back and pushed his patient's nightshirt up to expose his right hip.
After giving Hop Sing the injection he pulled things back into place and just stood there waiting for the pain killer to take effect. When he saw the man on the bed relax he sat back down next to him.
"I didn't give you a full dose because of your head injury, but even the half dose will help a lot with your pain."
Hop Sing just smiled and looked up at him vaguely.
Adam patted his shoulder. "I know, it's good stuff," he said with a quiet chuckle, and then stood to leave the room.
Abby, Adelaide and Aaron were moving briskly around the kitchen and he only stopped briefly to give his wife a kiss before going out the door to see his father and brothers already seated at the table.
He sat down to pour a cup of coffee and drank the whole thing down, then leaned back in his chair. Blowing out a deep breath, he said, "Hop Sing will be fine."
"Thank God," Ben said and looked up when Aaron and Adelaide came through the door with serving dishes in both hands. After carefully setting them down on the table, the two hurried back through the kitchen door.
Smiling appreciatively the three men began to fill their plates, but when Ben offered Adam the dish of scrambled eggs he shook his head, and just poured another cup of coffee.
His two eldest children came back to set a platter of biscuits, a bowl of butter, a platter of waffles, and a jug of maple syrup on the table. They went back through the kitchen door almost before it had stopped swinging.
Abby came through the door then, picked up the table coffeepot and took it back to the kitchen. She was back in a minute with the full pot in one hand and carrying a steaming cup of tea in the other.
She sat down at the foot of the table and looked at Adam when he turned to her.
"He's doing well," he said and she nodded her head with a smile. "Just as expected."
She took a sip of her tea before continuing, "I'll go make him comfortable in a minute, then I'll finish in the kitchen."
Aaron and Adelaide came out the kitchen door and hurried toward the stairs, intent on getting the other children up and dressed.
Adam gave his father a knowing smile. "I told you," was all he said before finishing his coffee and standing to go back to his patient.
Abby looked around the table and smiled. "Eat up boys," she said as she stood and went back through the kitchen door, taking her tea with her.
The three men just looked at each other for a moment, then Ben said, "Well, you heard the lady, eat up!" For once, Joe and Hoss were perfectly happy to do as told.
After Hop Sing's needs had been taken care of Abby chased Adam upstairs to take a nap, commenting on the thirty-six hours he had been up.
When she shut the bedroom door behind him, he sighed, then took off his belt and boots, and stretched out on the bed.
When he heard the door open, he rolled onto his side to see the twins, Anthony and Arthur standing there. They looked at him with big eyes until he smiled.
"What's wrong?" he asked and as usual Anthony spoke first.
"We're scared," he said and Arthur just nodded, both of them looking at him uncertainly with their dark-grey eyes even darker than usual.
Adam motioned them in with one finger and they hurried over.
"Shoes off," he reminded them and rolled onto his back as they climbed onto the bed. Lifting Arthur he set him down to his left while Anthony nudged his right arm up and pressed his small body against his father's side. Arthur did the same on the left.
Adam shifted slightly and then spoke to reassure them.
"Hop Sing had an accident last night, and that is what you heard."
Both boys relaxed against him and Arthur asked, "Is he okay, Pa?"
"He will be," Adam answered with his eyes closed. "I guess you two didn't get much sleep after that," he said and felt both boys nod their heads.
"Now go to sleep and don't worry," he said and realized they had both already dropped off.
When he heard the door open again, he lifted his head to look and saw Amber and Alec standing there.
Laughing silently he motioned for the two to come in and whispered, "Shoes off," when they reached the bed. Amber crawled up to sprawl across his chest and Alec went to his left side to wrap his arms around his father's leg and rested his head on his knee
In a few moments, they were all asleep and none of them were aware when the door opened and Abby peeked in. She smiled widely and shook her head, then was careful to close the door without any sound before she walked quietly away.
Adam came awake abruptly and could tell by the slant of the sunlight that it was early afternoon.
Sitting up, he swung his legs off the bed and scrubbed his hands over his face. He assumed the children had either been taken away by their mother or had gone off on their own.
In a moment his brain seemed to kick in and he remembered how one epic game of "Hide and Seek" had only ended after the entire house in London had been searched and Alec was eventually found under his parents' bed, curled up in the farthest corner.
He stood, then bent down to check under the bed and shook his head at himself when he saw the space was empty.
Sitting back down on the bed, he pulled on his boots, but left his belt draped over the footboard, and went out the door, then down the hallway. He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around with narrowed eyes. Things were quiet...too quiet.
Mentally shrugging, he hurried down the stairs and headed for Hop Sing's room, but stopped when he heard Andrew's voice. After listening for a moment he realized the boy was reading a story out loud, and he smiled, pleased that Abby had implemented the first part of their plan - namely keeping Andrew in sight or busy at all times.
Taking a step back and turning around, he found himself standing almost face-to-face with his wife. She was looking up at him with her head tipped to the side.
"Did you have a nice nap?" she asked and slid her hands up his upper arms, across his shoulders, and clasped them behind his neck. He shivered.
Giving her a dubious look, he said, "Are you crazy lady? In the middle of the day? With people coming out of the woodwork? And isn't it still too soon?"
Abby smiled. "Yes, I am crazy and it is the middle of the day, and no, people are not coming out of the woodwork, and it is not too soon."
Taking his hand, she led him up the stairs and back into their bedroom.
She sat on the bed, clasped her hands in her lap, and looked at him expectantly.
"What?" he said looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"You know," she grinned, and he took one large stride, picked her up, and turned to collapse back on the bed.
"No show for you today Lady!" he laughed, and then they didn't talk at all.
When Ben, Hoss, and Joe returned with the wagon-load of children, Adam and Abby were innocently sitting on the sofa.
He found it difficult to wipe the smile off his face when Hoss opened the door and came in with small children hanging all over him. The twins were hanging from his neck, one in front, one in back, Amber and Alec had their arms and legs wrapped around his legs while Abram and Amelia were laughing hysterically, each one tucked under an arm.
Over the squeals and laughter he bellowed, "Hi kids, did you have a good time?" and his bright blue eyes shone at them happy that they had had some time alone.
They both stood and hurried over to pluck the children off their uncle, then Adam tugged the big man to the side.
"Did you get it?" he asked in a low voice and Hoss nodded as he took a small package out of his pocket and handed it to his brother. Adam gave him a quick grin and went on his way.
When he reached his patient's door, he stopped to listen again and heard Andrew asking a question, then the door jerked open and the boy ran into his father and bounced off.
His father reached out to keep him from falling down, then stepped in to look at Hop Sing who was still feeling the effects of the morphine injection Abby had given him just before Adam had come downstairs after his nap.
"He asked for water Pa," Andrew said earnestly, "I was just going to get some, his bottle was empty."
Adam looked down at him and nodded, giving the boy a pleased look.
After Andrew scurried off, he stepped into the room to check on his patient's condition and was again pleased. He helped Hop Sing to half sit up and then sat sideways behind him with one arm around the smaller man's shoulders.
When Andrew came back, he showed the boy how to help someone in the little man's condition drink without choking.
When they were finished and Hop Sing was settled in, Adam stood, put a hand on Andrew's shoulder and said, "Come with me," quietly.
Believing the time had come to be punished for the skeleton prank, the boy's heart sank and then sank even further when they went out the front door.
To his surprise, his father turned to the left, then sat down on a chair.
Andrew moved to stand in front of his father with his head down and waited.
"Sit here son," Adam said, patting the facing chair and the boy quickly did so, then looked up at his father. His mouth fell open with surprise when he saw his father's smile.
"Now, your punishment for the thoughtless trick you pulled on your uncle Joe was not going into town with the other children today, so that one is done and I hope you learned something from it."
He reached into his pocket and took out the small package Hoss had given him.
"But we still need to talk about you taking your sister's doll and hiding it."
The boy flinched a little at that, having already forgotten about.
Adam unwrapped the small package to reveal a brand new bone-handled jackknife. "It's just as nice as Aaron's," Andrew thought and couldn't help wanting it desperately. He glanced up to meet his father's gaze again. He was still smiling.
"Your mother and I have talked about that incident and agree on this." He cleared his throat before continuing.
"Here is what we expect from you. You will make up that unkindness to your sister by carving her some doll furniture. I will teach you how to do that." He smiled wider when the boy's eyes fastened on the knife again.
He took a deep breath and continued carefully as he handed the knife to the boy. "You will learn how to carve with this knife, but you're also going to have to work for it to keep it. If you choose to hurt any one of your brothers or sisters I will take it back and you will have to work very hard to earn the right to have it again."
Andrew was still staring at the knife in his hands when Adam tapped the top of his head with a finger. The boy quickly looked up.
"Do you understand?" his father asked and watched him with narrowed eyes.
When the boy's expression remained serious, and his eyes met his father's frankly, Adam was again pleased, but stood and looked down at his son without smiling.
"I think we DO understand each other," he said in a neutral tone and nodded his head toward the barn.
"No time like the present to get started. Let's go pick out a suitable piece of wood."