Chapter 8:
Rae jumped up and ran to the open-walled main room. "What is it Julie?" she yelled down. "There's a boat! And it's flying an American flag!" Julie yelled before running back to the beach.
"Oh my...! Spot! Did you hear her?!"
"Yeah, I heard!" He picked Ann up and scrambled to the tree house's balcony. "Let's get down to the beach, quick.. Maybe' they'll see us!"
By the time they reached the beach a small life boat had been thrown over and was almost to the beach.
"We're saved!" Andy yelled, bouncing around them. "We're saved!"
Ann whimpered and moaned in Spot's arms. "Andy, please settle down, Ann's still sick and needs to sleep," Rae told the boy, even though she herself felt like yelling with him.
"Okay," he whispered and crept over to Spot and Ann. "Guess what Annie! We're going home!"
Ann looked at him, but Rae could tell just by looking in the little girl's eyes that she had no clue what was happening. Rae exchanged a worried look with Spot.
He squeezed her arm reassuringly. "She'll be fine. The ship is here and we can go home and get her some help. There may even be a doctor on board."
She sighed and nodded. They walked over to join Andy, Chris and Julie as the lifeboat reached the shore. Out jumped a tall, tightly bundled up middle-aged man. "How long have you kids been 'ere?" he inquired, glancing at them over his cigarette.
"Nearly a month," Spot answered.
He stroked the beard on his chin. "You six survivors of the Minnow wreck?"
They nodded.
"Well!" He gave a hearty laugh. "You kids ready to go home?"
"YES!"
"Well, gather up your belongings and let's get you home." the man said.
"Already have them, sir," Spot replied.
"Then get in the boat and we'll be on our way."
At once, they clambered into the boat.
"What you have there, son?" The man asked Spot.
"This is Ann... She's been real sick for the past couple of weeks... See, we all got sick and... well, it's obvious she ain't over it yet... Is there a doctor on the ship?"
"No there ain't. But my ship is faster than the Minnow. I can have you in New York City by tomorrow noon."
"Well, that'll have to do."
Once on the boat the man showed them to a room. It was smaller than the room that they had occupied on the Minnow. But of course, no one cared. It had an actual mattress, a pair of chairs to sit in, and the man promised to bring them a tray of food- real food!
Spot set Ann down on the bed. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Where are we Daddy?" she whispered.
"We're on a boat, going home, sweetheart," he replied quietly.
"A boat?" she asked, an utterly confused expression on her face. "Home?"
Rae bit back a sob and turned away from the bed. What was wrong with her?
He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Yes... You just close your eyes and go back to sleep."
When the little girl did so, he let go of her and went to comfort Rae.
"What's wrong with her Spot? Why is she like this? Has this sickness messed up her mind?"
He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know... I honestly don't know.... Only a doctor can tell us... I hope."
"What are we going to do? For all we know, our house is gone, the money could be gone too."
He shrugged. "Well, this ship is headed for New York... We can stay at the lodging house if we can't get back to the house."
She looked up at him, her face wet with tears. "What would I do without you?"
He kissed her forehead and dried the tears off of her face. "Mm, I think you'd go and find me," he teased lightly in hopes to make her laugh a little.
She smiled slightly, "I love you, my darling."
"I love you more-"
"Aww, no more of the mushie love stuff!" Chris groaned. "At least not while we're here!":
Spot looked at him. "Then leave, because I'm about to kiss my wife."
Chris grabbed Andy's hand and Julie's arm and pulled them from the room.
She smiled at him. "That worked well."
"Well, I told them the truth." He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. He pulled back after a moment.
"We're going to have to kick them out more often," she said with a smile.
"Mm, I think so."
"As long as they're gone, how about kissing me again?"
With a grin, he kissed her again.
The next day they all stood on the main deck, watching as the boat pulled into the New York Harbor. Spot held Ann and Rae stood beside him. Andy stood nearby between Chris and Julie, chattering excitedly. "And you should see it! It's big and... Big! And it has a barn and a attic and a ..." he chattered away.
"We're back home," Rae breathed.
"I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a crowd of people," Spot whispered.
"I know I haven't."
"Should we take the others to the lodging house before going to find a doctor?" Rae asked.
He nodded. "Yes... the less underfoot the better."
"I hope Trent is in his office. I'd feel better taking Ann to see him than any other doctor." Rae said.
Spot nodded. "Yes, he'd better be in... at least he charges fair.... or as fair as a doctor can charge."
The man from the day before walked over to them. He was dressed in a Captain's uniform. He took his hat off and plopped it down on Andy's head. "Well, kids, I got you safely home."
"Thank you so much, sir," Spot said. "I wish we had something to pay you-"
"I do!" All eyes turned on Andy as he dug around in his worn, sandy pockets. He produced two pretty shells and a sand dollar. "Here!"
The Captain laughed. "Thanks, my boy." Andy beamed. He capped his hat onto Andy's head. "Keep the hat, little man." The Captain said, walking away.
The boy grinned and looked up at Spot. "Look! The Cap'n gave me his hat!"
Spot and Rae smiled at him, "That's wonderful, sweetheart." Rae said. And off they headed into New York City in search of Brooklyn.
"Spot? Rae?" they heard someone behind them yell. "We thought you were dead!"
Turning, they saw Hades, Jecca, Blank, and Mush running over to them. Hades threw her arms around them. "You're alive!" she crowed. Then she slapped both of them on the arm. "How DARE you scare us like that!"
"We didn't mean to Hades." Spot said.
"We've had a number of scares ourselves, Hades," Rae added.
"I'm sure you did." Seizing Rae's arm and pushing on Spot's shoulder, she shoved them steadily in the direction of the lodging house. "And you can tell us all about it when you get home!"
"We need to take Ann to see Trent, before we do any explaining," Spot said.
She peered over Spot's shoulder at Ann. "All right, I'll take the boy home. You go."
"Um Hades... there's two more..."
"What?!" Hades glanced back and saw Chris and Julie. "What the... I didn't think the two of you were gone THAT long! Oh well, you kids follow me."
Julie sent them an uncertain glance.
"It's alright Julie. Hades won't bite. Mush might though." Rae teased. Mush chuckled and gnashed his teeth.
Jecca hit him and linked arms with Julie. "Don't let him get to you. He's harmless. He couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."
"I could so, little girl," he replied.
"Prove it," Jecca taunted with a grin.
"I will the next time I see a fly."
"Chicken!"
"Hey, I can't prove anything if it's not here to prove. You said I couldn't hurt a fly if I tried... I don't see any flies."
Hades shook her head with a grin and rolled her eyes as they walked off.
* * *
Rae paced the waiting room of Trent's office, nervously wringing her hands while waiting on Trent to come out and tell them what was wrong with Ann. Spot gently took her hands and pulled her over to the chairs. "Sit down, Rae... Wearing a hole in the floor isn't going to make him go faster."
"But I can't sit still, Spot."
He pushed her into a chair and sat on her lap. "There. Now you will."
She shoved him to the floor. "I'll sit still if you promise to hold me."
"I'll promise to hold you if you promise not to shove me again, that hurt..." Spot wrinkled his nose, rubbing his hip.
"I'm sorry," she said, leaning down to kiss him.
With a nod, he accepted the apology, stood, pulled her up, sat in her place, and pulled her onto his lap. "There. Good?"
"Yep," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.
He kissed her forehead. "Good."
"Do you think Ann is really calling us Momma and Daddy, or is it just the fever talking?" Rae asked.
"I don't know... Probably just the fever... though I really hope not."
"Me too," she whispered.
Just then the door opened and Trent walked out, closing the door behind himself.
Rae jumped up and ran over to him, "What's wrong with Ann?" she demanded.
"Why don't you have a seat, Rae," Trent suggested.
She gave him a worried look. "Is it bad? I know it's bad..."
"She will get better, with a lot of rest and care, but..."
"But? There's a but? There's always a but!"
"Rae, calm down," Spot said.
"The fever has taken part of her memory. She thinks that she still lives with her parents and twin brother Andy and that she is four years old."
"Will... will she ever recover that part?"
"She might. She might not. Only time will tell."
"What does she have? Do you know?"
"Since I didn't know her before I can't tell. I do know that she doesn't remember a Miss Rae, Mr. Spot or even being on the island."
Rae and Spot glanced at one another. "It'll be all right," Spot told her.
"How can you say that?" Rae asked, her eyes full of tears.
"Because you're doing that..." He wiped the tears off of her face. "Someone has to say it."
She buried her head in his shoulder. "What are we going to do, Spot?"
"We're going to take her home and help her get better... It's all we can do."
She nodded. Spot looked at Trent, "When can we take her home?"
Trent tucked his hands into his pockets. "Tomorrow should be okay, if she doesn't get any worse."
Rae turned to him, "Can we see her?"
Trent nodded. "Not for long... she's still very tired... But you can stay for... maybe ten minutes."
"Thank you, Trent," Rae said, heading for the door to the back room.
Spot nodded his thanks and followed. "Hey sweetheart," he said, approaching one side of the bed and taking Ann's small hand in his.
"Hey, Daddy," she said with a small smile. "When can I go home?"
"Tomorrow, if you at least stay just like you are right now."
She nodded weakly. "I'll try."
"Atta girl."
Rae brushed the hair from her face. "We can only stay for a few minutes, but Dr. Trent will take good care of you, baby girl."
"I don't want you to gooo," she whimpered.
"I know baby girl, but Dr. Trent won't let me stay. He says that you need lots of sleep so that you can get better so we can take you home tomorrow."
She sniffled and whimpered again. "But why can't you and Daddy ask him?"
Rae looked at Spot, silently pleading with him to go beg Trent to allow them to stay.
He looked at both of them and sighed. "I'll be right back."
Trent looked up when Spot entered the front room again. "Is something wrong Spot?" he asked.
"She... she wants us to stay... And Rae doesn't want to leave her side. And frankly, I don't really either."
Trent sighed and thought about it for a minute. "Alright, you can stay."
Spot smiled. "Thank you." And he slipped into Ann's room again to tell Rae the news. He walked over to the bed and kissed Ann on the forehead. "He said we can stay. I'm going to go check on Andy and then I'll be back, alright sweetheart?"
She nodded. Rae squeezed his hand. "Don't be too long."
"I won't," he whispered, giving her a quick kiss.
She returned the kiss and watched him go before turning back to Ann. "Now you get some sleep, okay honey?"
Ann nodded, "You won't leave me?"
"Nope. We're staying right here."
* * *
Andy was playing on the floor with Ginia, Jackson, and Ana Wayne while Chris and Julie sat on the couch, looking very nervous and unsure of the people who were in the room with them.
Spot walked into this scene and smiled, in spite of himself. "Hello everyone."
Julie jumped up and ran over to him, "How is she?"
"She'll be okay... We hope. Dr. Trent said she'd get over the sick part.... but she's just lost part of her memory, and he doesn't know if she'll recover it."
"How'd she lose it?" Andy asked.
He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. She was just sick so long that she forgot some things."
Andy nodded. "When can we go home to our big house?"
"We'll probably have to wait until she's a little more better than she is right now... It may not be a good idea to move her just yet."
"Can I see her?" he asked, sending Spot a pleading look.
"Mm..." Spot shook his head. "I don't really know... I don't think so. Not tonight at least..." Andy pouted. "Sorry kiddo." He ruffled the boy's hair. Spot turned to Chris and Julie. "Rae and I are going to stay with Ann tonight. Hades will take good care of you here."
They nodded somewhat sullenly. "You'll be back tomorrow though, right?" Julie asked.
"As soon as Dr. Trent says that we can take Ann home."
"Okay... Well... you'd probably better go before Miss Rae gets worried..."
He gave Andy a hug, before heading back out the door.
"Wait!" Andy ran out the door and handed Spot a seashell. "Give this to Ann... I was gonna keep it for me but I guess Ann can have it."
Spot smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "I'm sure this will make her feel better."
"Tell her to get good fast because these kids don't know how to play the right games!"
Spot laughed. "I'll tell her. Now go back inside and behave for Chris and Julie."
"Yes sir!" he exclaimed and ran back in.
Spot walked back into the room where Ann was resting. Rae had fallen asleep in the chair beside the little girl's bed. Spot walked over to the bed and brushed a kiss on Ann's fevered forehead.
"Daddy?" she murmured sleepily.
"Daddy's here, sweetheart."
She gripped his hand tightly. "Good."
"Andy gave me a present for you."
"A present for me?" She rubbed her hands over her eyes sleepily. "What kinda present?"
Spot pulled the seashell from his pocket and placed it in her tiny hand.
Squinting at it for a long time, she finally smiled. "Pretty..."
"He sure misses you. So do Chris and Julie," he said, brushing her hair from her face.
"Who?" she murmured sleepily.
"Chris and Julie are living with us for a while, sweetheart."
"Are they my age?"
"Julie is ten and Chris is 13."
"Did we 'dopt 'em?"
"We sure did, sweetheart. No more questions for tonight. You need to sleep so that we can go home tomorrow."
Nodding, she rolled onto her side, clutching the shell in her fist.
* * *
"Well, Miss Ann," Dr. Trent said, "I'm going to let your Momma and Daddy take you home. But you still have to get lots of sleep."
Yawning, she nodded. "Thank you Mr. Trent." She hugged him limply and then curled up in Spot's arms again.
"No running around for a couple of weeks, Miss Ann. You can only play quiet games. We don't want you getting sick again and scaring your Momma and Daddy."
She nodded. "Yes sir."
"Alright, Rae, Spot, get that poor child home and to bed." Trent said, opening the door for them.
"Thank you Trent," Rae said, giving him a tight hug. "We'll send you money as soon as we get some."
"There is no hurry. Just take care of your family."
Spot looked at him gratefully. "Thank you so much, Trent."
* * *
When Rae and Spot walked into the lodging house, Ann was sleeping peacefully in Spot's arms. Andy squealed with delight when they walked in and ran over to them, followed closely by Chris and Julie.
"Shhh," he hushed gently. "She's still sick."
"Are we going home now?" Andy whispered.
Rae nodded. "Just as soon as we gather up our stuff and say goodbye to our friends."
He smiled, pleased.
"So you're leaving us again," Hades said, walking up behind Andy.
Spot glanced at Hades. "Yes I guess we are..."
Hades smiled slightly. "Just don't stay away too long. Come back and visit often."
He smiled, giving Ann to Rae for a moment to hug Hades. "We will."
Rae gave Ann back to Spot and hugged Hades, "If anyone runs into any trouble with the bulls and has to get out of town, just send them to us."
"I do that, and they'll probably never come back," she teased.
"A week around our place and they will be begging to come back."
Spot smiled. "Yeah... a moment of peace and quiet will really scare some of them."
Hades laughed. "Get out of here before I soak ya, ya bum!"
"Aye aye, Cap'n."
"She ain't a captain!" Andy exclaimed. "You're saying it to the wrong person!"
"He knows that Andy, he was just teasing her," Rae said.
"Oh..." He continued to look thoroughly confused.
Rae took his hand. "Let's go home!"
"Yeah!" Andy yelled.
Spot laughed and jerked his head towards Julie and Chris. "Come on you two. We're going home."
Rae stepped from the train and sighed. "Home sweet home."
"And this time we arrive in style," Spot commented with a smile. They hadn't hitched a ride this time, so there was no need to jump from the moving contraption. The pretty carved sign "Welcome to Pleasant Valley" hung between two posts several yards away.
Rae looked at Spot, "So how are we going to get out to the house. It's really too far to be walking."
He glanced around and spotted a few carriages waiting for anyone who needed a ride. "Well, one of those would do..."
She nodded and they headed over there.
"We really should buy some horses and a buggy of our own."
"We will... if we still have the house and everything..." Spot replied.
Rae nodded. "Shall we go see if we still have a house?"
"Sounds good to me." Spot said, leading the way to one of the carriages.
"Good afternoon, Sir."
The driver stared at Spot, and then reached for his gun. "Get away from me and my horses!"
Rae shoved her way between them. "THAT IS MY HUSBAND YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU- YOU JERK!"
The man stared hard at Rae. "What do you two want?"
"We would like a ride to our home," she replied through gritted teeth. She didn't add a 'please' because frankly she didn't believe this man deserved one.
"Where is your home?" he asked.
"The old Kringler place." Rae answered.
He paused for a long time. "THE old Kringler place?"
"Surely you know it," Spot retorted. "Small place, outside of town. Been abandoned for a while. Home of the Beast!"
He glared at Spot. "I know of it... I just cannot understand why anyone would wish to live... there..."
"Why not?" Spot asked. "It serves our needs perfectly fine."
The driver gave a very heavy sigh. "All right then..." He didn't look too pleased, but instructed the group to climb inside.
* * *
The driver left them at the gate and Rae pushed open the gate enough for them to walk through. Once on the porch Spot handed Ann to Chris and scooped Rae up in his arms. She threw her head back laughing. The children followed- Chris and Julie awestruck and Andy shouting with joy.
"You gotta come see the playroom!" Andy yelled, grabbing Julie by the hand and pulling her toward the back of the house. Julie just let him drag her along.
"We're home," Spot said, resting his forehead on Rae's, smiling broadly.
"Home," Rae whispered as he leaned down to kiss her.
"Ewww..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Can you believe it? Rae and I have finished our third story! (Also, this is my first time posting one of our chapters on ff.net! Go me! ^_^ Rae's compy is being stupid, she says.) Anyway, we'd like to thank all of our wonderful, dedicated reviewers! We love you all! To Rae: I'd like to thank you for being a great late night muse pal and putting up with my general lack of ideas! It's amazing how many stories we've done in such a short time! And now I leave you with a teaser from our upcoming fic, the third in this untitled trilogy: The Kringle House!
Rae sat up suddenly. "Spot?" she whispered hesitantly.
Smothering a yawn, he rolled over on his side and looked at her frame outlined in the moonlight that filtered through the lacy curtains they had recently hung over the windows for the coming of spring. "Yeah? What's the matter?"
"I heard something," she whispered.
He yawned hugely. "Like what?"
"Like someone moving around," she said. "Up there!" she added, pointing toward the third floor.
Spot shrugged. "Maybe it's just mice?"
"That was no mouse running across the floor. It sounded like a person walking around up there."
Spot was silent for a moment. "I don't hear anything..."
"I swear I heard something."
The boards overhead made a snapping noise. Quickly, alert now, Spot sat up. Climbing out of bed, he headed for the door. "I'm going to check it out."