Chapter twelve

Adam drove in silence. He glanced over at Daniel, whose head lay resting on Crane's shoulder. He had complained of a slight headache and some minor dizziness, but other than that he swore he was fine.

As mad as he was, Adam knew the kid didn't need any hassles now. Besides, even if he tried to go into any of it, he knew Crane would stop him.

He couldn't stand feeling so old and so helpless. For God's sakes he was only twenty-nine years old. He had a beautiful wife at home. He and Hannah were married for less than two years. They should still be in the honeymoon stages of their marriage; ought to be discussing things like how many children they would have and what they would name them... or where they would send them to college one day.

Instead, he was trying to eek out a living on a cattle ranch while raising his younger brothers. He didn't have the luxury of taking vacations with Hannah. They had never even gone on a honeymoon. Life just wasn't fair.

Irregardless, this was his life and probably always would be. Adam tried hard to turn off his negative thoughts about the future and just concentrate on the current situation. He had an injured little brother to get to the hospital and another one at home in need of a serious talk. The rest would have to wait. It wasn't going to get him anywhere thinking about a seemingly hopeless future.

"How are you doing, Danny?" He asked quietly.

"I'm okay, Adam. Don't worry so much, please?" Daniel pleaded.

"It's in his nature to worry kiddo." Crane said with a laugh.

"Look who's talking." Daniel replied, nudging Crane in the ribs.

"You took the words right outta my mouth." Adam said, reaching over to muss Daniel's hair and giving Crane an amused look.

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Hannah didn't know what to do. She needed to talk to Guthrie, but she was so worried about Daniel she didn't know if she could concentrate on anything else at the moment. She was worried about Eddie too. She had been distracted when Sophie called, she was wishing now that she had asked her friend to call back after the boy was out of surgery. She had said that she would speak to her tomorrow. Hannah hoped that Adam or Crane would check in on Sophie. She and Eddie were all alone in Carbon county. They had no family to speak of and the McFadden's had sort of adopted them into their own family. There was just so much going on at the same time, that Hannah felt overwhelmed. She decided to put off the talk with Guthrie for a little while and try to keep herself busy. She opted to start cooking for Sunday dinner while giving her nerves a chance to settle. An hour or more later, when she found herself staring at the phone once again, as she'd caught herself doing several times already, she decided that she would go up and talk to Guthrie. After all, it could be hours before she heard any word from the hospital.

Guthrie heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He figured it was Adam. He had heard him yelling downstairs earlier. He figured Adam and Hannah had gotten in an argument... likely about him.

It wasn't unusual for the two of them to bicker. It didn't particularly bother Guthrie most of the time, but now he felt pangs of guilt.

Hannah had taken up for him and Adam was probably mad with her. He loved Hannah and hated to think that Adam had yelled at her because of him.

Everything had been quiet for a long while since he had heard the yelling. Guthrie knew thee truck had pulled up, but it left again a few minutes later. He was curious as to what was going on, but he hadn't dared to go downstairs and ask questions. He was afraid of encountering Adam. But now, he was ready for Adam to come upstairs and deal with him. The wait was killing him.

He certainly wasn't expecting to look up and see Hannah walk in the door.

"Hey Guthrie, how are you feeling?" Hannah asked softly.

"I thought you were Adam. I heard him yelling from up here. Is he mad at you?" Guthrie asked her nervously.

"No. He's not mad at me Guth. We're fine. There's just a lot going on tonight." She explained.

"What's going on?" He asked even as he told himself that Hannah probably wouldn't tell him. That was his problem. The family never let him in on anything important.

"Well, Daniel had a little mishap at his show tonight." Hannah said.

"Is he okay? What's wrong with him, Hannah?" Guthrie asked, instantly feeling guilty for the hard feeling's he'd been harboring against Daniel for the last half hour.

"I'm sure he's fine, Guth. He just got a bump on the head. Adam and Crane took him to County a while ago to get checked over. It'll be okay, so just relax. No need in borrowing trouble." She answered sitting down on the bed next to him.
"Well what happened? Did he get into a fight?" Guthrie asked anxiously.

"More like he got in the way of a fight." Hannah answered with a smile. "But, there is something else I have to tell you Guthrie."

"What?" He asked.

"Well, Eddie Barton is in the hospital. Sophie said he broke his leg this afternoon down at the creek." Hannah explained.

"What?" Guthrie asked in surprise. "How did it happen?" Guthrie asked, already dreading the answer he would get.

"He was swinging off a rope and landed in shallow water. It's a pretty serious fracture. He's having surgery now." She told him. She could see how shook up he was, so she ran her fingers through his hair, hoping to calm him down.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Guthrie asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"He will be fine. But he's gonna be laid up for a while. Sophie's gonna speak with his teachers about sending his assignments home with you for a while. I figured you could ride the bus to his house in the afternoons and bring them to him. That way you two can have some visiting time too. I would imagine he would appreciate some company." Hannah said.

"Sure, I'll do anything for Eddie. He's my best friend." Guthrie said.

"Guthrie, before all of this happened, I was planning on having a talk with you about your behavior of late. I'm thinking maybe we'll have that talk a little later, but I need to know what happened at the creek today." She said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Guthrie asked, unsure of what she was getting at.

"Well, Sophie said that Daniel had stopped you and Eddie from jumping off that rope earlier. Daniel didn't say anything to us about it, so Adam is pretty ticked of with the two of you. He didn't like finding that little piece of information out second-hand." Hannah told him.

"Oh. I asked Daniel not to tell Adam about it. He said he wouldn't, but he told me that I had to tell him about it myself." Guthrie answered.

"I see. But clearly, you didn't. So, why is that?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know. I was mad Hannah. I was mad at Adam for grounding me, I guess... and I was mad at Daniel because he treated me like a little kid in front of the other guys at the swimming hole today." Guthrie said, suddenly sounding younger than thirteen.

"I'm sure Daniel was just trying to keep you from getting hurt." She replied.

"I know. I'm sorry Hannah. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm just tired of being treated like I don't matter." He explained, fighting back the tears.

"I know Guthrie and I understand how you feel, but... it seems like you have a big mess to clean up now. It seems as though Daniel expected you to tell Adam everything that happened today and now he's hurt and on top of that he has to deal with Adam being mad at him." Hannah said.

"But Daniel didn't do anything wrong, Hannah. Adam ought not be mad at him!" Guthrie said, sounding as desperate as he likely felt.

"Yes, but Adam doesn't know that. He thinks that Daniel covered up for you. Poor Daniel's kind of stuck in the middle of it and probably doesn't even realize what's going on." Hannah said.

"I didn't mean to get him in trouble with Adam, honest I didn't." Guthrie said, tears now falling down his cheeks.

Hannah reached over and wiped them away. "I know you didn't Guth. But you chose not to come clean with Adam and now these are the consequences. It seems to me that you're trying to prove to everybody that you're not a child anymore, but... your actions today are just that... childish. What do you think?" Hannah asked him softly.

"I guess so. Hannah, what am I gonna do? What if Daniel's not alright and I don't get a chance to set things right?" Guthrie asked. He was trying so hard to fight back the tears, but they just kept coming. Hannah reached over and drew him into a hug and he broke down completely.

"Shh. Hush now. It's okay." Hannah said, gently rocking Guthrie. "We'll set things right. Adam and Crane are gonna take good care of Daniel. I'm sure Adam won't come down too hard on him now."

"Oh God Hannah. I hope you're right. I'm so sorry about all of this. Honest I am!" Guthrie said, clinging to her with all his might.

Hannah could feel her heart breaking along with his. She loved this boy so much, it hurt her to see him like this. She was beginning to reconsider their whole conversation. Whether he realizes it or not, he's not ready to be treated like his older brothers. He's too sensitive, Hannah thought to herself.

She said a silent prayer that Daniel would be okay and that Adam would hold his temper.

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"Everything looks good Mr. McFadden. Your brothers' CT scan is negative. I put a couple of stitches in that cut and he's probably going to have a headache for a few days. I've written him a prescription for some mild pain medication. It should help with the headache. Considering his medical history, I'm sure you are well versed in what to watch for with a mild concussion, but I've printed some instructions off for you to follow. I would recommend that he follows up with his neurologist in a week or so, just to be safe. In the meantime, if he has any more dizziness or severe nausea, don't hesitate to bring him back in for further evaluation." Dr. Beard said.

"Thank you doc." Adam replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You are welcome. He should be just fine. I left him in the doting hands of your other brother, Crane is it? I've already given him this news, but he seems a little shaken up, so thought I'd speak to you as well." Dr. Beard explained.

Adam couldn't believe that the County hospital could possibly have a doctor on staff that Adam hadn't previously met, but he had never met Dr. Beard before tonight.

"Yes, Crane... well, he worries... of course, with seven boys in one family, we've had our share of medical scares." Adam said as he shook the doctor's hand.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've been on duty for seven hours and this is the fourth male patient I've had under the age of twenty-one who has been banged up in one way or another. Too many for my liking.

"Yes sir. I bet so, our friend's son broke his leg earlier this evening. You probably had the pleasure of treating him today, too." Adam laughed.

"Yes, I treated a broken leg this afternoon. Seems like it's feast or famine. I worked a twelve-hour shift yesterday and only had a couple of cases of the flu and a baby with croup. I'd have preferred another day like that today." The doctor admitted.

"Well, thank you again doc." Adam reiterated as he saw Crane and Daniel walking towards him.

"You're very welcome, sir. Young man," the doctor said, turning to Daniel. "Stay in the slow lane for a few days... and the next time you see a bar stool... or anything else coming your way...duck!" Dr. Beard said with a grin.

"Yes sir and thank you." Daniel replied with a sheepish grin.

"Well, thank God for small blessings." Adam said with a sigh. "Crane if you'll take him to the truck, I'm gonna make a quick call to the house and then go check on Eddie. I won't be long." Adam said.

"Okay." Crane replied tiredly. "Come on Danny. I'm sure glad you've got a hard head." He teased.

Daniel shot him a look that let Crane know he wasn't amused. It didn't matter to Crane. The kid was okay and that was good enough.