CHAPTER 50

Lee entered the room where Amanda was. Jeannie was sitting beside her, a cool cloth in hand that she was using to gently sponge Amanda's face.

"How is she?" Lee asked, his voice already full of concern.

"Her fever's still pretty high and she's been tossing about quite a bit," Jeannie told him.

Lee frowned as he leaned over and placed a hand on Amanda's cheek. He didn't have to have any medical training to know that she was burning up.

"Damn," he mumbled.

Then he felt the cool touch of Jeannie's hand upon his arm.

"She's going to be fine, the antibiotics need time to work."

"We don't have a lot of time with this one," he reminded her.

"I know that," Jeannie responded. "But Doctor Kelford was just in to check on her before he went to grab a few winks. Her coughing has decreased and that's a good sign. If the antibiotics weren't doing their job, she be far worse than this."

She looked up at him.

"Have you gotten any rest?"

"I don't have time for sleep," Lee angrily replied, his sharp tone cutting through the silence of the dark night like a knife.

The older woman gave him that motherly look and he instantly regretted being so sharp with her.

"I'm sorry."

"No need to be, son. You love her; you're worried about her. I understand."

"I suppose you do," he whispered. Then, he looked at the woman who had voluntarily assigned herself as caregiver and he took in her weary appearance. "What about you? When was the last time that you had any sleep?"

Jeannie smiled. "As a mother and a wife, I've learned to get by on less sleep."

Lee chuckled. "The stamina of the average housewife."

"What?"

"Somebody once made a comment about that. I never really gave it much thought, at least not until Amanda came into my life. There were a lot of things that I never really gave much thought to."

"Well, that being said, young man, you need to give some serious thought to getting some rest. You won't do Amanda or anyone else any good if you fall over. So, I'm going to leave you alone. Get some sleep."

"Yes ma'am," Lee told her.

She had almost made her way out the door when Lee's voice reached her ears.

"Jeannie?"

She turned at looked back at him.

"Yes Lee?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome son."

Lee sat down on the bed beside her as gently as he could, not wanting to waken her.

"I love you so much, you know that?" he whispered to her.

He managed to prop a pillow behind his back and propped himself against it. Then he gently pulled her into his arms, cradling her fevered body against him.

"I can't lose you Manda, I can't lose you," he whispered softly against her hair.

"God help me, I just can't."