Chapter 2

It was very late by the time Ben and his younger sons had finished straightening up the great room and clearing away all the dishes from the table. Hop Sing and a cousin were finishing up in the kitchen. Joe and Hoss had been silent while working which was highly unusual for them. Hoss broke the silence first.

“Pa, what do you suppose makes Adam that way? Why does he hafta try to take the women away from us? It ain’t like women aren’t always chasing after him.”

Joe’s look said that he agreed with Hoss’ evaluation.

“We don’t know what happened out there tonight. Neither one of them was talking about it at all. Hoss, did Meredith say anything on the ride to town.”

“Nah, she just whimpered some, and said she’d ruined everything. I told her not to blame herself, and then she started that whimpering again, so I didn’t say nuthin more.”

“Pa, I know what I saw. No man gets that way just looking at a woman. He had her arms and who knows what he made her do.”

With the events of the past few weeks, a little doubt seeped into Ben’s mind too. He had to wonder exactly what was in Adam’s mind, but his oldest son rarely shared his thoughts. Ben hated to think of why that might be. Instead he suggested they all needed to get some sleep although he doubted it would be restful for any of them. He looked at the tree and wondered if they would be celebrating Christmas in a few days, or suffering through a family crisis. Before any of them even got into bed, there was a pounding on the front door. Rushing downstairs wondering what could be such an emergency, they were shocked to find Roy at the door.

“Ben, Doc Martin says you all better come to town. Adam’s been hurt real bad. He’s at the Doc’s. As I was leaving, he was thinking he was gonna have to do some surgery on him.”

“What happened?” Ben asked as he and his sons grabbed coats, hats, and gunbelts.

“He was at the saloon pretty much minding his own business as I hear, and some folks who was at your party stopped by. They told everyone there that Adam done attacked that pretty little Meredith. Well, Ben, it being a Saturday night and all, they was pretty liquored up in there, and they decided to hold a trial right then and there. They found him guilty in a minute and decided he needed to hang. Now they never got that far, but Adam tried fighting em, and they beat him pretty bad before anyone told me what was going on and I was able to get over there and stop it.”

In the dark even with a full moon, it took nearly two hours for them to reach town and the doctor’s office. Lights were burning in the front office so it was clear that Adam was still being treated. When Ben and the others entered, the door to the surgery was still closed. They took off their coats and settled in to wait.

After about another hour, one of the ladies, Mary Harper, who often assisted Doc Martin in surgery came out to tell them that Adam was still alive, but that the doctor was by his side yet, and that he didn’t want any disturbance in the surgery. Paul had been at the party earlier and knew some of what had happened. When Ben and the others walked into the surgery, an exhausted Paul looked up at them where he sat next to Adam who was still on the surgery table. There were bloody cloths on the floor and a basin of very bloody water sitting on a tray. As Mrs. Harper and another lady bustled about the room cleaning up, Ben and his sons approached the table where Adam lay. Paul put his finger to his lips to indicate he wanted silence. All three were almost sick to look at Adam laying there with his eyes swollen shut and a face so bruised and puffed up, not one of them would have recognized him. What was more frightening though were the two large wads of bandages secured to his body. One was on his right side over his ribs where bruising framed the white cloth, and the other was lower on the left side again framed by bruising but this was even darker and more ominous looking. Once they got a good look at him, Paul signaled that they should leave the room.

For another hour, Paul monitored Adam’s vital signs. When there was no change, he went to talk with Adam’s family. “He has broken ribs that were displaced and had to be put back in place. That’s the bandage on the right side. He had a tear in his spleen too which bled out a lot before I got to it and sewed it shut. He’s lost a lot of blood with the injuries and then the surgeries to repair the damage. You can see how battered he is, and I’m assuming some damage to the kidneys but I don’t know how serious that is. I don’t know about the condition of his eyes because they’re so swollen. There are injuries to his arms too that may be cracked bones, but I don’t want to do anything more to him tonight. His breathing is shallow but regular, and his heart rate is weak but steady.”

When Paul returned to the surgery, Ben sent Hoss and Joe to the hotel to get a room. Joe returned a short time later saying Hoss would get some sleep first and be there early to relieve them. Ben didn’t plan to leave until he knew his son would live. Joe was feeling guilty too because he knew some of the injuries Adam had were inflicted by him, and had to wonder if those injuries would be enough in addition to the beating he had received in town to cause his brother’s death.

“Pa, I don’t care what Adam did or what kind of man he is. I don’t want him to die.”

Placing a hand on Joe’s arm, Ben patted him and did his best to reassure him. “We can pray too. It never hurts to have Him on your side.” So they prayed and napped, and finally were awakened by Hoss who brought a tray of food in with him before making a fresh pot of coffee.

“Any word?”

“No, Paul hasn’t been out here at all, and it’s been over four hours since you left.”

Ben hardly had those words out of his mouth, and Paul opened the door of the surgery and came to talk with them again. He had closed the door behind him.

“He’s conscious.” As Ben moved toward the door to go see Adam, Paul stopped him with a hand on his arm. “He doesn’t want to see you. I told him his family was here to see him, and he told me that he doesn’t have a family.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous, Paul. I want to see him, and tell him so.”

“No, Ben, you can’t. He needs to remain as calm as possible. I don’t want him getting upset and trying to move. If those repairs on his spleen don’t hold, and I have to go in there again, it would reduce his chances of surviving this by quite a lot.”

“But he’s my son!”

“Right now, it’s more important that he is my patient. I need you to keep your voice down too. There’s nothing wrong with his hearing. Go to the hotel, get some sleep, have something to eat, and maybe I can talk him into seeing you later. But I have to tell you, I won’t press him too hard at this point.”

Hoss agreed to stay in case there was a change, and Ben and Joe went to the hotel to get some sleep. As they walked there, Meredith came up to them.

“I am so sorry. I heard Adam was hurt badly and because of me.”

“It’s not your fault, my dear. Adam is awake now, and hopefully on his way to recovery.”

“It is my fault because of what I did. I hope you can all forgive me. Do you think it would be all right if I went in there to see if I could help?”

“Hoss is sitting inside waiting to see if there’s any change. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind the company at all.”

As Meredith walked into Paul’s office, Joe looked at his father. “What do you suppose she meant by that? How could it be her fault?”

“Joe, I have a terrible suspicion that I know what happened now. We’re going to have to eat some crow on this one I think.”

“What? You mean?”

“Meredith was always attracted to Adam. I was rather relieved when her parents made her stop visiting on her own. At her age, I was afraid of what she might do. Now, she’s older, and she may have done it.”

“But, Pa, she’s a lot younger.”

“And your mother was a lot younger than me. Once reaching adulthood, there’s no limit on who attracts whom. If what you say you saw is true, Adam may be quite attracted to her too. I’ve had some time to think about all of this, and she sought him out last night if what I’ve heard is correct. He was outside first so she must have been watching him to know where he went.”

“Well now I really feel like a horse’s ass. No wonder Adam didn’t want to see me.”

“He’s feeling the same way about all of us. Makes me wonder what Hoss said to him.”

By early afternoon, there was some good news. Adam’s kidneys were putting out urine at a normal rate and it was only slightly discolored. Paul heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that. Adam still couldn’t see because his eyes were too swollen but heard that. His speech wasn’t clear with his swollen lips but was understandable.

“What is it? Talk to me, Paul.”

“I was worried that your kidneys might shut down, but I am relieved to say that they’re working just fine.”

“Well, it’s a relief to me too in more ways than one.”

Laughing a little at Adam’s pun, Paul thought he would try to act as an intermediary. “Your father and brothers would like to see you. Would it be all right if they came in just to say hello?”

Adam went to take a deep breath and had to cut that short with the pain. He breathed very shallowly for a time until the pain eased. “Not today, all right? I just don’t want to deal with them today.”

“Meredith would like to see you too. She seems quite upset at what happened.”

“All right. I wouldn’t mind as long as I’m covered up.”

Paul pulled the sheet up to Adam’s chest, but he asked for a blanket too. Wondering at his modesty, Paul got him the blanket. Once he was covered with that too, Paul went to tell Meredith that she could sit with him. He asked how long she could stay because he needed some sleep and Mrs. Harper wasn’t coming back for almost two more hours. Meredith said she would like to sit with Adam that long so Paul went upstairs to his bedroom for some long delayed sleep.