TURNING BACK
SUSPICION
CHAPTER 11
What Adam had expected came to pass, people kept showing up at the ranch house looking for him. Some with people needing a doctor in tow, and others asking for him to come to their homes, often to deliver babies.
He had ridden home on his new saddle horse, Nero, a grey Morgan with a black mane and tail, at sunrise on a bright, cool Tuesday morning. After settling his horse in the barn, he entered the house quietly, and as he expected, heard Abby in the kitchen, He took off his hat, coat, and gunbelt, then sat down at his usual place at the table, and when the kitchen door opened the blessed aroma of coffee hit him hard.
Abby set a cup and saucer in front of him, then filled the cup. He wrapped his hands around it and she put her hand under his chin to tip his face up.
She kissed him, then made him laugh when she said, "You look like death warmed over, my love."
When he drank the coffee down in two gulps, she refilled his cup, commenting, "You need to have some food on your stomach so that coffee doesn't burn a hole."
He just nodded, and she went through the kitchen door again and brought back a plate of ham and eggs which she placed in front of him with utensils and a napkin.
"Thank you," he said and gave her a smile. She gave him a sympathetic look.
"Did you lose one?" she said low, and he shook his head.
"Two," he said, just as low, "Both mother and child, they waited too long, she was dead when I got there...rigor had started to set in."
Leaving her chair she moved quickly to stand behind him and he relaxed back against her. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek on the top of his head. They stayed that way until they heard Ben's bedroom door open, and the day officially began.
Adam had decided not to take a nap that morning in spite of being bone tired. Instead, he had spent most of the morning with Alan and Amber,
Ben had tried to work on something at his desk for a while, but the laughter coming from Adam and Abby's room kept him from concentrating. Eventually, he sighed and gave in, going up the stairs and down the hall quickly.
All three were on the bed, Adam sitting crosslegged with the baby propped up in his lap with Amber sitting the same way and facing her father.
The little girl was doing her best to teach her little brother how to play peek-a-boo, but the baby obviously was too young to understand, and just kept alternately laughing and chuckling and blowing spit bubbles.
When Ben came to stand in the doorway he couldn't help but chuckle himself at how the baby reacted to Adam's deep laughter. Alan's eyes and mouth would open wide and he'd wave his arms around looking startled when his father's body would shake the whole bed because he was laughing so hard.
"Come on in Pa!" Adam said cheerfully and his father didn't hesitate to come and sit on the edge of the bed with one leg folded under him next to Amber.
The little girl scooted over on her knees to fall into his lap and they all laughed when she tried to climb up his front to kiss his cheek, but kept sliding back down.
When her grandfather finally lifted her up, she took advantage of having his face in range and kissed him on both cheeks, his nose, and his forehead. Ben pulled his other leg up onto the bed to sit cross-legged like his son and turned Amber around to settle her in his lap.
She reached out to tickle Alan on his little belly. Laughing, the baby fell forward trying to reach his sister and would have landed on his face, but Adam caught him and lifted him to his shoulder. He began to pat the baby on the back - Alan's whole body was shaking with the hiccups, something that often happened when he got too excited.
Drawn by all the noise Abby appeared in the doorway and stood there smiling only for a second. Not wanting to break up the party, she slipped away without a sound.
Alan had fallen asleep on his father's shoulder and Amber did the same in her grandfather's lap. Ben spoke softly, looking down at the tiny girl.
"How old is Amber?"
"She will be four soon," Adam answered quietly, knowing what his father was thinking. "And yes, she IS abnormally small."
Ben nodded and looked up to meet his son's eyes.
"When Alec was taken, and before locking all the other children in a closet, he stabbed Abby in the abdomen. She was carrying Amber at the time and the child was born that day, a month premature. I expect she will continue to be small and delicate all her life."
Ben closed his eyes, but Adam still saw the sorrow his father was feeling written on his face.
"I hope you understand Pa, I had no choice. That monster would have been sent to another asylum, would escape again, and come after Alec again." He paused to take a deep breath.
"I had to remove that threat, and the only thing that would stop him was death."
Ben nodded as he opened his eyes. "I'm sorry son," he said, completely understanding now.
Adam gave him a thankful smile and they sat there for a while, holding the sleeping children, glad to finally be together again.
"Were you out all night last night?" Ben eventually asked, breaking the silence, and his eldest son sighed.
"Yes, and it was an exercise in futility," Adam answered switching the baby to his other shoulder. "The woman was dead when I got there, rigor had set in so she must have died from two to six hours before."
He sighed again, "It's so frustrating when I'm called in too late, and to make it worse, sometimes I suspect that's been done on purpose."
Ben looked badly startled at that idea.
"I think that's what happened last night, but there's no way to prove it."
"Who was it?"
"Sally Jensen, Henry Murphy's daughter."
Ben frowned, searching his memory to identify the woman's husband. "Larry Jensen," he said when he recalled the image of a tall, spare, rough-looking young man with dark blonde hair and cold grey eyes.
"I don't know much about him, but I know Henry tried to keep his daughter from marrying him," he paused to shift the child in his lap to a more comfortable position. "Eventually the two eloped."
"I've gone over it and over it and I just can't come up with any definitive proof. But I know from experience that man has a woman waiting in the wings."
"You're sure?"
"Yes," Adam answered, nodding his head and getting up to put Alan in his crib. "And I also know she'll be taking center stage sometime soon."
The baby gave one last hiccup and his father rubbed his little belly soothingly until he was sure the child was sleeping deeply.
Ben had gotten up with Amber in his arms and the two men moved toward the bedroom door.
"Pa, you know Henry, so what do you think the chances are he'll show up here demanding answers?"
"I think it's very likely."
"That's what I figured," Adam sighed again, and put an arm around his father's shoulders as they went down the stairs together.