When Rosemary entered the rowhouse, Vivian ran over to her. "Mama! I'm so glad you're back."
"I'm glad too." Rosemary grasped Vivian's hand. "Are you ready to go home?"
"Yeah." Vivian nodded.
"How's Elizabeth?" Lee asked.
"She's hurt pretty bad. Both her legs are broken and she suffered a pretty major concussion."
"I guess Uncle Nat- dad- will be with her for a while." Allie said.
"He will." Rosemary nodded. "School will also be out for at least the rest of the week. After that, we'll try to get someone else to teach. Allie, I'm going to take Little Jack back with me. Do you want to stay with us for a couple days too? We have lots of room for you."
"Sure." Allie smiled. "That'd be great. I'll just run over to our rowhouse and pack a few things."
"We'll wait." Rosemary promised, smiling as the girl dashed out. Then she turned back to Lee, who was holding a sleeping Aaron in his arms. "Oh Lee," she began quietly. "She looked so frail and broken. I didn't know what to do..." her voice trailed off. "I just hope she gets better soon."
"She will, sweetheart, I know she will." Lee gently placed a hand on top of hers.
Rosemary took a deep breath. "In the meantime, I'll just stay busy." And she was right, too. Once Allie came back, the Coulters headed back to their house. Rosemary busied herself with unpacking, and Lee headed to the lumber mill to see how things were coming along there.
Meanwhile, over at the infirmary, Elizabeth was beginning to stir. Abigail had gone back to the Café, but Nathan was still there, sitting by her side and watching carefully and Faith was as well, checking her vitals every few minutes. "Nathan?" Elizabeth questioned quietly.
He grasped her hand. "I'm right here."
Elizabeth briefly opened her eyes, but gripped his hand. "What about...Jack?" She managed.
"He's with Rosemary and Lee." Nathan assured her. "I'll be right here the whole time."
A smile, one so slight that Nathan wasn't even sure it was a smile, crinkled Elizabeth's face. Then her eyes closed and her grip relaxed as she fell asleep again.
"That's good." Faith said. "She needs sleep."
"I'm just glad she woke up." Nathan said thoughtfully. He looked back at Elizabeth's now-peaceful face and smiled slightly.
Faith caught the look on his face. "She's going to be okay. I promise."
Back at the Coulters, it was now after supper. Allie and Vivian were helping Rosemary take care of the dishes, and Lee was holding Aaron while Little Jack played in the corner. When the girls finished, they came and sat in the living room. Vivian curled up next to Rosemary, and Allie got comfortable in a big chair. Little Jack walked over to her, and she picked him up. "I wonder how Elizabeth is doing..." Rosemary said aloud, looking over at the telephone.
"I'm sure Faith is taking good care of her." Lee smiled.
"I'll go see her tomorrow." Rosemary decided.
The next morning, after breakfast was done and Rosemary was ready, all four of them headed to town. Lee was already in town, working in the mayor's office. When Rosemary drew up the car to the infirmary, she turned to Allie. "If you don't mind, I'll go in and see her and then once I come out, you can go in too."
"Alright." Allie nodded.
Rosemary opened the door and hurried inside. A curtain was drawn around Elizabeth's bed, and Faith was washing her hands over the sink. "Good morning." Rosemary said quietly. "How is she?"
"Much better. She's awake now, so you can talk to her yourself." Faith smiled. "Just go behind the curtain."
Rosemary nodded, and slipped to the other side of the curtain. Elizabeth was sitting up and holding Nathan's hand. She had a bandage wrapped around her head and her brown hair was flowing freely. When she saw Rosemary, a slight smile came across her face. "Hi." Rosemary said softly. She sat on the other side of Elizabeth and took her hand too.
"Hi." Elizabeth replied.
"How are you doing?"
"Okay. Faith says it's going to be a long recovery and I need to rest a lot. How is Jack? Can I see him?"
"He's doing well. You can see him when Faith says so."
Elizabeth turned to look up at Faith. "Well?"
Faith smiled. "I suppose you can see him now, but only for a little bit."
"I'll go and get him; I'll go get all of them." Rosemary jumped up. "One second!" She hurried outside. "Come on, you all can go see Elizabeth." She took Aaron from Allie and held Jack's hand, bringing them all back into the infirmary with her.
As soon as Jack saw his mother, he ran right to her and scrambled up on the bed. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him as tears sprang to her eyes. Allie found her place beside Nathan, and Vivian stayed close to Rosemary. "Mama." Jack said quietly. "Okay?"
"I am now." Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you for bringing them, Rosemary."
Rosemary just grinned. It was all the blessing in the world to see her dear friend happy. After a good half hour of visiting though, she could tell Elizabeth was growing tired. "I uh think we should get going. You probably want to rest." She said, motioning to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth nodded. "That would be nice." She gave Little Jack one more big hug. "You're sure you don't mind keeping him?"
"Not at all." Rosemary assured her quickly. "I'll bring him by tomorrow to see you again."
"That'd be great."
Rosemary nodded. "Vivian, Jack, Allie, let's go." She shifted Aaron to her other arm. "We'll let Mrs. Thornton rest."
The next couple weeks flew by. Rosemary babysat Little Jack for most of it, and the kids returned to school on the second week when Minnie agreed to teach in Elizabeth's place. Elizabeth herself was able to come home at the end of the second week, but she had to stay in her wheelchair until her legs healed, so Rosemary kept Little Jack with her most of the time. By the fourth week, Elizabeth was carefully making her way to school everyday, mostly with Nathan's help, and Laura was babysitting Little Jack again. With the busyness of the weeks, Christmas was around the corner before Rosemary even realized it.
"I just want to have a quiet celebration." She said to a surprised Lee one night after Vivian and Aaron were in bed.
"A quiet celebration?" Lee looked over at her. "You're Rosemary. That's not like you at all."
Rosemary smiled. "Well, it's just been so busy lately. We'll still have a dinner for everyone, but I don't want to go overboard."
"Uh-huh. Overboard. I'll keep you to that." Lee looked serious, then chuckled. "I understand, sweetheart."
"I won't go overboard, I promise."
"Are you sure? It's Aaron's first Christmas...and really, Vivian's first with us."
"Oh." Rosemary stopped. "Well, I guess we'll have to do something for both of them."
"But you won't go overboard." Lee was laughing now.
"Lee." She smacked his shoulder. "Why don't you just let me handle everything and you won't have to worry about it."
"Alright. Fine. But don't say I didn't tell you so."
When Lee came down the next morning, Rosemary was sitting at the table, furiously scribbling something out. "What are you doing?" He questioned, trying to see over her. "Not going overboard, I hope."
She folded the paper and glared at him. "Of course not. Don't you have somewhere to be?"
He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Yes, I do. I love you, Rosie," he said as he walked toward the door.
"Mmhmm." Was her only reply as she turned back to her work.