CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Felicity tore like a madwoman through the town. Her stays cut deep into her rib cage, and the flesh on her back, but she didn't care. She burst through the door of the apothecary and raced up the stairs, not noticing the frown the lady at the counter gave her. She pounded furiously on the door of Andy's office. It then occurred to her that it was Sunday, and Andy probably wasn't in his office at all. So she raced back down the stairs, and out the door. There was only one place that she could think of that the doctor might be.

Felicity raced through the door of the tavern, which was bustling with people having lunch. Sure enough Andy was at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by men, playing some silly dice game.

"Andy! Come now!" Felicity screamed she began to frantically tug at his arm. "Make haste!"

"Gracious Miss Felicity," Andy exclaimed and gestured to the pile of coins that were on the table. "Can't you see I'm winning here?"

Felicity began to tug harder on his arm.

"I don't care if you have a hundred pounds of gold on that table! It's Polly! She's been in an accident!"

"Polly's your sister right?" Andy asked. Felicity nodded and began tugging again.

"Please hurry!" She wailed.

That was all Andy needed. He ran up to his room, grabbed his bag, and off they went.

A small group had gathered around Polly in the Merriman pasture. William had caught and stabled Penny, Mr. Merriman paced back and forth, Mrs. Merriman was shrieking in hysterics, Ben was trying to calm her. Felicity knew by the grave look on Andy's face as he approached the scene that things were not good. Carefully Andy and Mr. Merriman moved Polly back to the house.

If it had been any other girl and not Felicity's sister, Andy would have been rather annoyed at having to leave his dice game on a Sunday to go tend to some brat that shouldn't have been riding as horse as fast as Penny. To Andy patients were money. They put food on the table, and clothes on his back, and granted him some sort of place in a society that usually shut his kind right out.

Polly was laid in the bedchamber that she was now sharing with Nan. Andy wasn't even sure that he could do much for her. Her neck was broken, but not everyone with a broken neck dies. She could be crippled perhaps, or in time and with proper caution, she might turn out to be fine. She had broken one leg, and both of her arms. Andy tried to set them as best he could. Andy excelled most at surgeries, so he was sure she was in good hands. She was unconscious, and was lying ever so stilly on the bed. She looked rather sweet and serene. Her red curls framed an angelic halo around her face, her hands and tiny fingers, rested delicately at her sides.

Mr. Merriman poked his head in.

"Is she all right?" He asked.

"She has two broken arms, one broken leg, multiple bruises on her body, a broken neck, and she is unconscious," Andy replied with disgust over being asked a stupid question, plus he didn't care for Mr. Merriman anyway. "Does that sound okay to you?"

Mr. Merriman just gave the doctor a glare. He hoped this quack knew what he was doing. He came into the bedchamber, and knelt by his youngest daughter's bedside.

"Will she make it?" He asked, his eyes filled with worry.

"Perhaps," Andy shrugged. "Her breathing is labored, but consistent, that is a good sign. She is unconscious, so I do not know if she has any feeling in her legs at all. Only time will tell. These next few hours through the night will be very critical."

Mrs. Merriman had been shut up in her bedchamber due to her hysterics. Her shrieks and moans could be heard throughout the entire house.

"Do you think you could give my wife something to settle her nerves?" Mr. Merriman asked.

"Aye," Andy replied. "I can give her something that will put her to a deep sleep for a while."

Mr. Merriman nodded, looking solemnly at his mangled daughter.

The Merriman kids were not a happy bunch. Throughout that terrible afternoon a few nosy neighbors such as Mrs. Fitchett had stopped by, for the news of Polly's accident had traveled quickly through the town. Elizabeth and Joseph had stopped by. Since it was Sunday and Rose had the day to rest, Elizabeth brought with her a small pot of soup for the family to warm up for some sort of supper. The soup remained untouched. They all sat quietly in the parlor. Felicity had never sat so straightly and rigidly in her whole entire life. Even though she was sitting next to the fire, she still had the most sinister chill radiating throughout her entire body, and she could not shake it off. Her hands were folded in a tight ball down in her lap, and her mouth was as dry as cotton, her lips chapped. Her eyes swollen and crusty from all the crying she had done earlier, stared blankly into the fire.

Nan sat over in the corner furiously working on some stitching, but was accomplishing nothing. Her and her sister hadn't even glanced at each other since their argument earlier. William was over by the door of the room bouncing a small rubber ball up and down. Ben stood slumped over with his back to everyone, hands folded across his chest, and gazing out the window. He couldn't help feeling so responsible for what had happened. If he hadn't been so harsh with Polly, he could have coaxed her into getting down off of Penny.

Felicity had never been so miserable in her life. All in one day she had been engaged, and the happiest girl in the world. Then she became unengaged, and had lost both of her sisters.

Except for Mrs. Merriman's shrieks and wails drifting down from her bedchamber, and the bouncing of William's ball, the house was quiet like a tomb. All of a sudden Felicity sprang up from her chair, and grabbed William's ball in mid air.

"Cut that out!" She yelled, clutching the ball.

"It's not my fault what happened to Polly!" William defended. "I was just trying to pass the time by. Why do you have to be so mean?"

Felicity ran out of the parlor and up the stairs. The bedchamber doors were shut, so she plopped down on the settee in the hallway. Ben gimped up the stairs after her, he sensed that Felicity needed him. She looked so small and fragile, sitting with her head in her hands on the settee. He couldn't stay mad at her, he regretted everything that he had said earlier, and he knew that he still loved Felicity very much. At that very moment all he wanted to do was take Felicity into his arms, and that he did. He sat down next to her, and put his arms around her, pulling her close. Felicity began to weep uncontrollably on his shoulder. He gently kissed the top of her head.

"It's all right," Ben said gently. "You cry all your tears Lissie, it is all right.".