Page 22 of The Accidental Wedding
“He was,” she said, “but he’s fallen asleep again.”
“Maybe his eyes are just closed. Can I look? He’ll want to know about his horse.”
“I told him his horse was all right.”
“He asked about it?”
“He did,” she assured him.
John and Henry exchanged looks and John gave a satisfied nod. The stranger was, it seemed, worthy of his mount.
“What’s his name?” Henry asked.
“He didn’t tell me.” She forestalled the next question. “Neither his name, nor his horse’s name.”
The boys tiptoed over to the bed.
“Don’t disturb him,” Maddy warned them.
As she spoke, the man opened his eyes. He stared at the two boys, then subsided with a groan.
“He’s in pain,” she told them.
The girls had followed their brothers inside and joined them by the bed, staring at the stranger. “I can’t see,” Lucy whispered hoarsely.
Maddy brought the water. She slipped her arm under the man’s head and raised him so he could drink. He drank the whole cup thirstily without opening his eyes. She held the cup out to Jane to refill.
After the second cup he sighed and opened his eyes again. He examined each small face lined up beside the bed. “Four children?Four?”
“Five,” said Lucy, who’d fetched a stool to stand on.
“I told you there were five,” Maddy said.
He stared. “Their resemblance to each other is extraordinary.”
“Not me. Everyone says I look like Maddy,” Lucy told him.
“Yes, but I didn’t see you before,” he told the little girl apologetically.
“I didn’t see you, either. But I got a stool,” she told him. “I’m standing on it now.”
“An excellent strategy,” he said. Lucy beamed with pride at the compliment.
“Do the others look like me?”
“Why would they look like you?” Maddy said blankly.
He gave her a thoughtful look but didn’t respond.
“Are you hungry?” Maddy asked. “I made soup. You need to build up your strength.”
“Is that what I can smell?” he asked. “It does smell good.”
Taking that as a yes, she shooed the children back outside, sending John and Henry to take a message to the doctor that the stranger had woken and was in his senses.
She ladled some soup into a bowl, tucked a cloth around his neck, and sat on the edge of the bed to feed him.
“I can feed myself,” he told her, reaching for the bowl, but it shook so badly in his hands she took it back.
