Chapter 10 #2
“I’m going to get me some of those blow-up things for the yard.
I’m betting that little Harri will enjoy then.
” Mom said she’d been looking at all kinds of things they could do for Harri, and their plans were endless.
“She sure can tell you what she’s about when she has something to say.
I love that about her. She talks really well for a four-year-old, too, if you ask me. ”
“That has to do with the way that Anna speaks to her. She talks to her like she’s just another adult that she has to deal with, and that’s what made her vocabulary so strong.
I can’t wait to see her out on the soccer field this fall.
She’ll be bossing the kids around to do a good job that I think they’ll do well.
” They all three laughed about the little girl.
She was what grandda called a pistol, and he really was looking forward to the other brothers having wives and then babies. He said as much to his parents.
“What about you, son? You looking forward to having a mate? I’m betting there is one out there for all of you.” He said that he didn’t have time to look. “Maybe she’ll fall in your lap like Mac did to your brother. That was the best story that I’d ever heard.”
Mac had been power walking when she’d come around the stationhouse.
Her ankle had been hurt before coming to town, and it was bothering her that day.
Aaron had just come out of the office, and she literally fell into his lap, breaking her ankle again.
She’d been told it was just a sprain from before, but they all knew that it was something more.
After nine o’clock, he was ready to go home.
Dad didn’t want him to leave and asked him if he wanted to stay.
He said that he couldn’t as he had to work in the morning for half a day and didn’t want to be late.
And he would be if he stayed at his parents’ house.
It was too tempting to sleep late in his old room, and he’d never hear the end of it from his patients.
Getting home so late, he almost didn’t see the box until it was too late.
As it was, he tripped over it as he was going into the condo.
Putting it on the table, he was glad that it finally came as it was for the office.
He had things delivered to his home on the off chance the office was closed when something came around.
He would take it into work in the morning and have it put away before his first patient arrived.
He’d just have to make sure that he got up in time to leave early.
Just as he was going to bed, Zeno reached out to him.
“It’s going to be fine. I keep telling myself that.” He grinned and asked him what had happened. “Harri fell down the stairs and is complaining about a headache. I don’t want to take her to the hospital until I have to, but you tell me what to do.”
“Take her in, and I’ll be in soon.” He got up and dressed in clean clothes so he’d be able to see the little girl.
“If her head hurts, it might be nothing, but there is no point in taking any chances. I’ll order some tests to be run, and then we’ll see from there.
I wouldn’t worry too much if she’s not throwing up. She’s not, is she?”
“No, but she does have quite a knot on the back of her head.” He told him to put ice on it, and he’d see her soon.
“Thank you, Reagan. I didn’t want to freak out, but Anna said to give you a call.
That’s the reason that I went a little overboard and reached out to you. If she’s worried, I am as well.”
Even as he was driving into the hospital, he was calling in orders for her.
He’d been told that the department wasn’t all that busy and would take her right back.
As he’d told his brother, it was more than likely nothing at all, but there was no point in guessing when there was a perfectly good hospital right in town.
Just as he arrived, they were taking her for an MRI of her head to be sure.
~*~
Zeno was better when he saw his brother. He was really trying his best not to freak out, but Anna was worried, so he was too. He knew in the back of his mind this might happen someday when she’d be hurt; he never expected it to be so soon after he moved into the house.
“I was going to ban her from using the stairs again, but I knew that wouldn’t work.
” Reagan laughed and told him that he had to buck up; things like this happened all the time.
“Believe it or not, you’re not helping me right now.
I wanted a peaceful night at home, and she comes tumbling down the stairs like she didn’t have any legs.
I couldn’t breathe for the first five minutes. ”
“We’ll get the tests back soon, and you’ll see, everything is all right.
Now, if she has a concussion, I might keep her overnight.
I don’t want her to be sick at home when we can take care of her right here.
If I were you, I’d call Mom and Dad to let them know.
They’ll be worried too, but at least they won’t find out about it from someone else.
” He said he’d call them now. “Call them. If you reach out to them, they’re going to feel your panic and be twice as worried. ”
“Won’t they hear it in my voice?” Reagan told him that he could be better when he spoke to him. “All right, I’ll call them. I’m not sure what they can do until you get the results back. But I’m betting they come down here, too.”
“You can bet they will just to be sure. It’s going to be like that for all the kids, I’m betting.
” Zeno decided that he was going to remain calm and call his parents.
If they asked if they should come down here, he was going to tell them no; they had it under control.
He didn’t, but would say that so that they’d not worry.
He was going to be a basket case if all his kids ended up in the emergency department while they were growing up.
He didn’t remember having to spend much time in here, but he’d been a tiger shifter and could heal himself.
Not only did she have a concussion, but she also needed to have six stitches where she’d hit her head. He was never so happy to know that his brother was taking care of Harri as he would have been if it had been his dad. She was in good hands.
He didn’t even mind that Harri was a bit whiny.
He would have been sobbing his shirt off had it happened to him, and he told her so.
She said that she wanted to sleep, and they’d allow her to, but only for a short period of time.
She’d have to be monitored so that she didn’t get worse, and he was fine with her being in the hospital.
Anna seemed to be taking it better than he was, and he envied her.
The next time would be easier, she told him, and that didn’t really help his state of mind at all.
Harri got sick in the middle of the night twice, and they took her to have another MRI.
She also got an X-ray. When there was no change in the images, they decided that it was stress.
Harri was doing much better after they got her bed changed and gave her something for her belly.
After that, with the exception of her being woke up on occasion, she slept through the night and into breakfast the next morning.
He found himself worried about that, too, but it was Anna who assured him that she was going to be fine.
“She fell when she was just learning to walk. She hit the corner of the coffee table that we no longer have and busted her head wide open. She had to have twenty-three stitches then, and she had to stay in the hospital for three days while they decided that I was a good enough mother to take her home. I was just as anxious as they were about my ability to take care of her after that. I was a new mom on my own, and I was sure they were going to take her from me.” He asked what she did after that.
“I got smarter around the furniture that we had in the rooms. I took out the coffee table and a few other items so she’d not fall.
And I was extra careful when she was moving around, too.
I’ve had to take her once more to the emergency department, and that was just a little while back.
She’d gotten hurt on the playground at school, and the school nurse said she was fine.
I didn’t believe her, which turned out to be a good thing as she’d broken her arm.
I will never trust a school nurse again with my child. ”
“Good to know. So you’re an old hand at her getting hurt.
I kind of freaked out a bit. I probably didn’t help you in dealing with the situation.
” She said she’d been ready to leave him at home while she came into have her seen.
“Don’t do that. I would really freak out if you did that to me.
I promise I’ll do better in the future, and you won’t have to leave me at home. ”
They decided to keep her for another day, and he relayed the message to his parents.
They didn’t come in like he thought they would, but came in the next afternoon.
Of course, they had gifts for their grandbaby and had to step out of the room when they were shown her stitches.
As soon as she was able to keep clear broth down, they decided that she was on the mend and released her sooner.
It was nearly four o’clock when they finally got her home and into bed.
She was still hurting, but not nearly as bad as she’d been at the hospital.
He vowed to pamper her until she complained at home while she was recuperating.