Page 7 of The Accidental Wedding
“Webothdried him off,” Henry said.
“Hush, hush, not so loud,” she said, laughing. “And where are your sisters?”
“Coming,” John said vaguely, looking self-conscious. “They were behind us when we left.” As the man of the family, even if twelve-year-old Jane was his elder, he was supposed to escort his sisters. “But they’re so slow, Maddy, and fussing about the muddy path and their shoes and I wanted to tell you about the horse.”
Maddy’s lips twitched. “I know, love, and they’re deplorably uninterested in horses, too. Now I have a surprise, as well, but—ah, here are the girls.” Jane, Susan, and Lucy entered.
“Sorry we’re late, Maddy,” Jane, the eldest said, unwrapping small Lucy’s shawl as she spoke. “But the rain delayed us, and then the boys found a horse and they would have to catch it and then take it back to the vicar’s and fuss over it, and then the path—”
“It’s all right, Jane dear,” Maddy assured her with a hug. Twelve-year-old Jane, as the oldest child, took her responsibilities very seriously. She’d been the most obviously affected by the change in their circumstances; with no other help, Maddy had no alternative but to rely on Jane for much more than she wanted to.
She hated doing it. She knew what it was like to have your childhood drowned by responsibility. She was desperate to let Jane become a carefree child again but she couldn’t manage it.Yet,she reminded herself.
“The boys are not the only ones who’ve had a surprise today,” she told the children. “They found the horse. I found the rider.”
There was an instant babble of questions.
“Hush, hush, you must be quiet and not disturb him.”
“But where is he?” asked Susan, looking around.
“In the bed over there. He was badly injured.”
“Can we see?”
“Yes, but you must be very quiet. The poor man has hurt his head very badly and loud noises will give him pain.”
The children solemnly tiptoed over to the bed, and Maddy drew back the faded red curtains that covered the alcove, screening the bed from view, as well as protecting the occupant from draughts.
“How did he hurt his head?” Jane whispered.
“It was an accident.”
“Why is he in your bed, Maddy?” Lucy asked.
“Shh. We must all speak very quietly because he’s very sick,” Maddy told her. “And that’s why he’s in my bed.”
“But where will you sleep?” Lucy persisted in a gruff little voice she imagined to be soft.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Maddy said, having wondered about that already.
“He looks nice,” eight-year-old Susan said in a loud whisper.
“Is he a prince?” Lucy whispered hoarsely. “He looks like a prince.”
“Are you sure it’s his horse that we found?” John sounded disappointed. No doubt he’d entertained the fantasy that the horse would be finders keepers.
“Yes, I saw him fall and the horse run off.”
“He fell off his horse?” John’s lip curled slightly.
“Everyone falls at some time,” she reminded him. “And the reason this man fell was because his horse skidded on an iced-up mud slide some boys had made.”
“Oh.” John and Henry exchanged guilty looks.
“Yes, ‘oh’ indeed, and now you’re going to have to run to fetch the doctor.”
“Now?” John brightened.
