Chapter 6

It was close to lunch time when Nick could tell his right eye was opening up. That little crack of light was getting wider, and by the time lunch came around, Nick could see his food and his mother, sister and brother Jarrod at the table with him.

To them, he looked pretty funny – purple jaw line, yellow/green eyes, one half open and one still shut. Audra stifled a laugh but Nick said, "You're grinning, Audra. I can see you grinning."

"I'm glad," Audra said, still trying not to laugh.

"Don't look in a mirror yet," Jarrod warned.

Nick looked down at his plate and reached to stab some meat with his fork – but he missed. He had reached too far and had to adjust.

"Be careful," Jarrod said. "With only one eye partly open, you don't have much in the way of depth perception."

"I get it," Nick said, and carefully stabbed again. "That much I remember from having one eye blackened before."

"Are you going into the office this afternoon, Jarrod?" Victoria asked.

"Dr. Merar said he'd come by," Jarrod said. "I don't really have anything pressing, so I'll wait to hear what he has to say."

"Audra, do you plan to go out this afternoon?" Victoria asked.

"I thought I might go riding," she said.

"Let me go with you," Nick said.

"Let's see what the doctor says first," Victoria said.

"And then maybe you'd better not," Jarrod said. "You get out there on a horse and you're gonna want to start working when you shouldn't."

"If I can see even this good, I'm gonna go crazy just sitting around here," Nick said.

"Well, we can try another game of pool, and this time we can bet on it," Jarrod said. "That ought to entertain you for a while, especially if you're winning."

"Nick," Audra asked, "have you learned anything you can tell us about from the past couple days?"

"I learned not to get hit in the eye before I can block it," Nick said.

"I meant something more intellectual, more sensitive," Audra said.

Jarrod snorted.

Nick sneered at him. "Did you ask Jarrod that question?"

"She did," Jarrod said. "I told her I learned that I couldn't be completely self-reliant even if I thought I already was, and I learned that sometimes it was genuinely sweet to do nothing but sit back and listen."

Nick noticed Jarrod gave Audra a wink. "Yeah, well, maybe I've learned a little of those things too," Nick said. "But now that I've learned them, I want to get back out there on a horse and get some work done."

"Then you haven't learned them," Jarrod said.

"We'll let Dr. Merar make that call," Victoria said. "I'm sure Heath can handle things just fine if the doctor says you need to stay inactive for another few days."

"Few days?" Nick said.

Victoria leveled a steady gaze at him, knowing he could see it now. "Whatever the doctor says," she said.

Nick muttered and went back to eating.

XXXXXXX

Dr. Merar couldn't get there fast enough, to Nick's thinking, but it really was only after one game of pool (that Nick lost) when he arrived.

"Ah, I see one eye is open pretty well, and the other has a bit of a crack open too," Dr. Merar said. "Sit down, Nick. Let me have a better look."

They were in the library again. Audra had gone out, but Victoria and Jarrod were with Nick. They stood watching and listening as the doctor examined Nick's eyes. He gave the examination of moving his finger around to see how Nick's peripheral vision was coming along, and after about five minutes of some careful looking and evaluating, Dr. Merar stood up straight.

Nick said, "Well?" and looked up at him as he said it.

"It's looking pretty good," Dr. Merar said. "The bruises are improving. That right eye is open and has only a bit of swelling, but the left eye isn't yet half open and has more swelling."

"Meaning I can't get back to work yet," Nick said.

"Only if you want to have a setback and spend more time hanging around here," Dr. Merar said. "I'd give it two more days at least."

"Two more days?!"

"Nick – " Victoria said. "You'll survive."

"Heath can handle things for a lot longer than that if he needs to," Jarrod said. "Or is that what is really urging you on? Knowing he can do it just fine?"

"No, that isn't what's 'urging me on,'" Nick said. "I'm just getting flat out bored."

"Nick, in another two days I think those eyes will both be opened normally and you'll be able to get back out in the field," Dr. Merar said. "But you're not going to be attracting any girls with that pretty face for weeks."

"I know that," Nick said. "It's not girls I'm interested in."

"Now, there's a pronouncement," Jarrod said.

Nick sneered at him.

Silas suddenly came in, looking alarmed. "Mrs. Barkley, we need the doctor out here right away."

Everyone looked up at him, startled. "What is it?" Dr. Merar said.

"Mr. Heath," Silas said. "They just brought him in."

Before Silas could even say what was going on, Dr. Merar was out the library door, Jarrod and Victoria right behind him. Silas held back to help Nick if he needed it, but even he got up and went straight out without hesitation or any problems knowing where he was going.

They got to the living room and found two of the men from the day crew in the living room, Heath laid out on the settee with one arm over his forehead.

"What happened?" Victoria asked the men quickly, while Jarrod, Nick and the doctor went straight to Heath.

It was Heath who answered. "My horse stepped in a hole and threw me. Argh, doc, my back – "

Worry went all around. The doctor asked questions of both Heath and the men with him. He did some probing, got Heath to move arms and legs and lift his head, but everything seemed to hurt a lot even if Heath could do it all.

Finally, the doctor let the men go back out to work and got Heath sitting up, even if Heath moaned a lot and his eyes teared up as he did it. The doctor felt his arms, legs and neck again, then said, "Nothing seems to be broken. Everything seems to work right. Stand up, Heath."

Jarrod got to one side of his brother and Nick to the other, and together they helped him stand. Straightening up hurt, but he did it, and the doctor did some more examining while he was upright. Then he let his brothers sit him down again.

"I don't think anything is broken," Dr. Merar said. "Everything works the way it should, it just hurts to move."

"Does it ever," Heath admitted with a deep sigh.

Dr. Merar looked at Nick and noticed something. "Your left eye is more open, Nick. It looks like you're going to have some work to do around here and you'll be able to do it. Get Heath into a hot tub, soak a while, and do it again at least once more before you go to bed. Victoria, I'll leave some laudanum – "

"I don't want any laudanum," Heath quickly said.

"Then make it whiskey," Dr. Merar said.

"I need to get back out in the field if Heath can't," Nick said.

"No, that's not a good idea," Dr. Merar said. "You both could end up crumpled up."

"Somebody has to get out there and run things," Nick said.

"McColl can do it," Victoria said.

"McColl sprained an ankle helping get me up," Heath said. "He's in the bunkhouse, Doc."

"I'll go have a look at him," Dr. Merar said.

"Then I'm going out to work," Nick said.

"No," Victoria said and meant it.

"Somebody's got to take charge out there," Nick said.

Jarrod said, "I'll change my clothes."

Nick looked at him like he was crazy. "You?"

"What?" Jarrod said. "You think I've forgotten how a ranch works? I was out there in the field before you could reach the stirrups."

Heath actually started to laugh, even if it did hurt. "Nick, you better let him do it. Neither one of us is ready to right now."

Nick struggled to find an argument, but Jarrod said, "Nick – you and Heath helped me practice law in the courtroom not long ago, and you two had no experience whatsoever doing it. I can handle the field work. I've done a lot of it all my life. I can boss your crew just fine."

"Aaahhhh – " Nick protested.

"He's right," Victoria said with a smile.

"Besides," Heath said, trying to get comfortable. "Somebody has to help me in and out of the tub." He looked up at Nick with the best sideways smile he could muster under the circumstances.

Jarrod smiled and gave Nick a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Nick. It'll only be for a couple days, and by then the men will be so happy to see you instead of me, they'll be more cooperative than ever."

Nick looked helplessly at Dr. Merar, as if willing the man to say he could go back out to work, but Dr. Merar said, "I'll just go have a look at Duke McColl," and he went out.

"And I'll change my clothes," Jarrod said.

Jarrod patted Nick's shoulder and ran up the stairs two at a time. Nick looked to Heath and then Victoria for help. Victoria just shook her head, and Heath managed a loo-sided smile.

The End