M. Donice Byrd - The Warner Saga (30 page)

28

As they crossed the lobby to return to their room, two nicely dressed women entered the hotel. One greeted Blake warmly while the other one appeared to want to escape. As soon as the introductions were made the woman lagging behind made the excuse that their relatives were waiting on them. She wrapped her arm around the other woman’s and pulled her towards the dining room. Before they made it to their suite, two of the maids greeted Blake by name with saucy comments and tawdry smiles.

They were barely back in their room when Meredith let her feelings be known. “Is there one single woman in this city who you have not…” Meredith refrained from being too graphic with the children nearby but struggled to come up with a term that he would know what she meant but Pete would not. “…
Courted?”

“I have only courted one of those women.”

“Is that what it’s going to be like being married to you?” she shouted. “I can’t leave these four walls without running into more of your conquests.”

“I can’t believe y
ou’re getting mad at me over me courting other women before I married you!”

Pete ushered Lolly into the bedroom
, closing the door behind her as Blake and Meredith continued arguing. Suddenly, Pete was standing between them, bowing up on Blake just before shoving him back.

“What the hell?” Blake yelled. “Pete, I’m not in the mood for any more of your nonsense.”

Pete balled his hands into fists.

“You don’t think I was going to hit her, do you? Oh my word, you do.”

Blake raised his hand in a surrendering gesture.

“Pete.” Meredith put one arm around his shoulder and plac
ed the other hand over one fist. “Blake and I didn’t know each other very well when we got married. There are things we are going to argue about. But it’s just arguing. He’s not going to hit me.” Meredith gave him a little peck on the cheek. “That was very brave of you but unnecessary.”

“Go check on Lolly, wash your hands and get ready to go.”

Pete walked to the table where he left his paper and pencil. He flipped it open and began writing. He ripped out the page and carried it to Blake.

“You may be bigger than me but I
will
kill you if you ever hit AM,” it read.

When Blake finished reading, he looked up to find a hard, angry expression on Pete’s defiant countenance. He remembered back to his first encounter with Pete where Pete had held the shotgun on him
and Blake suddenly realized the anger in Pete had been there long before his parents were killed. He remembered the man at the stable telling him Howard Morgan was a mean drunk but didn’t deserve what happened to him. But maybe he did. Maybe Howard Morgan beat his wife. Maybe he beat Pete as well.

“I stopped solving my problems with my fists when I was a teenager. Go wash up and get ready to go.”

Blake would have liked to have had a heart-to-heart talk with Pete but he doubted Pete would listen to anything he had to say.

“Sweetheart,” Blake said to Meredith, his voice dripping with sweetness. “I’d like to speak with you in the other room.”

“It’s all right, Pete, do as Blake asks. We’ll be out as soon as we’re ready to leave.”

Blake sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands when Meredith entered. She closed the door.

“I don’t know what to do with him. He tried to run away when we were in Rolla but I found them and refuse to let him take Lolly with him. Maybe I should’ve just let them go.”

“Blake, you did the right thing and you know it.”

“After the sheriff released me, the man who ran the livery told me their father was a mean drunk. If that is the example set for him before I got there, how is he ever going to learn to trust me? I’ve already given up all hope that he’ll ever think of me as a father figure. You saw what he thinks of me.”

“Give him time. Put yourself in his shoes. He’s got no control of what is going on in his life. Help him take control.”

“How?”

“Let him make his own decisions for one,” she said. “I think standing up to you might have been good for him. He’s felt powerless. It doesn’t help that you’re treating him like a helpless child. How would you have wanted to be treated when you were his age?”

Meredith stood in front of Blake. He lifted his head and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close enough that she was standing between his legs and he turned his head as he rested his head on her breasts.

“That’s not a fair comparison. That was two years after my mother died. I had been living in boarding
schools. I was given very little freedom. I ate when I was told and whatever they were serving.  I went to bed when they told me. I got up when I they told me.”

Meredith didn’t say anything, knowing Blake was mentally comparing his situation with Pete’s.

“He’s lost both his parents not just one, Blake, and he has a little sister he’s responsible for. He’s had to grow up overnight. He’s got two more disadvantages. He can’t speak and he’s had very little education.”

“Was this a mistake?” he asked looking up at her.

Meredith stroked his hair and placed a light kiss on the top of his head. “How can it be a mistake? It’s just more difficult than you anticipated.”

Blake nodded as he realized she was right. Even if Pete continued to resist him, removing Pete and Lolly from a place where they may have been in danger could not have been wrong. “You’re right,” he said setting her
back from him so he could stand up.

“We need to get ready to go. Pete and Lolly are probably out there waiting on us already.”

“Before we go, I want to look at your wardrobe to see if you have everything you need,” Blake said crossing to the wardrobe that held her clothing.

“Cloris acted shocked that I wasn’t wearing mourning attire.”

“Do you want to wear black?”

“No.”

“Good, it would look like you’re in mourning over our marriage.”

Meredith laughed. “I expect to see a couple dozen women wearing black at our next party – mourning the fact that you’re off the market.”

“So, you’ve decided to stay married to me?”

“I suppose I have no choice. Cloris said it would be in the paper on Sunday.”

“What story is she telling everyone?”

Meredith frowned. They both knew the truth was too scandalous. “We met two years ago in
Minneapolis and have been corresponding since. When I wired you about my parents’ deaths, you came immediately and married me.”

“How gallant of me,” he said with a smirk. “It’s certainly better than I deserve.”

“That’s what Cloris said.” Meredith hesitated, debating whether to admit she’d intentionally eavesdropped on Blake and Donna’s conversation. “But the truth is, you found my parents and came looking to see if they had any children who needed help. And that
was
quite gallant.”

Blake’s face went blank. “Did Donna tell you
that?”

“No, I’m ashamed to admit it, but when I excused myself to use the washroom, I stayed in the hallway and listened to your conversation.”

Mindful of the possibility that the children were just on the other side of the door, Blake dropped his voice to a whisper. “You may be a better spy than me, Mrs. Warner.”

After a quick jot to the bank and dropping Meredith and Lolly off at the dressmaker with a long list of everything Lolly and Meredith needed, Blake took Pete to the doctor’s office. Frederick Billingsham’s medical practice was impressive by anyone’s standards. His three-story office was a mini hospital with its own operating room and both a men’s and women’s ward where patients could recover after surgery.

Upon hearing that Blake Warner was in an exam room,
Frederick ignored his usual rotation and went directly to that room.

“Blake!” he said, entering. “To what do we owe… Oh! Who is this young man?”

“This is Pete; we’ve adopted him and his sister, Lolly.”

Frederick
stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Blake. “And you want me to break the news to my wife?”

“Well, you certainly can tell her but that’s not why we’re here. I want you to look at Pete’s injuries to see if they’re healing properly.”

“Oh, of course.”

“Pete, strip to the waist for Dr. Billingsham.”

Pete looked from man to man and slowly began removing his shirt and unbuttoning his longjohns down to his waist.

“Hop up on the table and let’s take a look.”

Pete used the footstool to get up on the table and sat on the edge while the doctor began examining the angry red scar. “What happened here? This looks like a stab wound,” he asked Pete.

“It is.”

“How on earth did you manage that, young man?”

“Freddy, he can’t speak. They cut out his tongue, too.”

The doctor’s eyes widened but he managed to tamp down the rest of his reaction. “They?”

“I don’t know.
Bushwhackers, maybe. He won’t talk about it.”

“Criminy!”
Frederick said, shaking his head. “Okay, Pete, can you show me how long the blade was?”

When Pete held his hands about eight inches apart
, Frederick twisted around to look at Pete’s back but saw no injury.

“Can you tell me how far they pushed it in?”

Pete held his finger and thumb about three inches apart.

“Have you been having a lot of pain?”

Pete glanced at Blake before he nodded slightly.

“I didn’t realize… I mean I saw him wince this morning when he helped Lolly to her feet and I just never knew he had pain at other times. I’m sorry Pete.”

The boy kept his eyes cast down.

“Pete, it’s very important that you don’t lift anything until it’s healed. If it ever bulges out you need to come in immediately and we’ll have to do surgery and
you have to start healing all over again,” Frederick said firmly. “Show me your hands.”

Frederick
examined the defensive wounds on Pete’s hands and forearms. “Looks like you put up a hell of a fight. “Open and close your hands then touch your thumbs to all your fingertips. Any tingling or numbness?”

Pete shook his head.

“That’s probably the only lucky break you caught – no cut tendons or nerves.” The doctor picked up a nearby lantern and returned to Pete. “Open up.”

He kept his mouth firmly shut as he stared at his hands in his lap. Blake had never seen Pete look so small and vulnerable. When he looked up, Blake could see his eyes were awash with tears.

“Do you want me to go into the hallway?” Blake asked. Rather than nodding yes, Pete pointed toward a corner of the room where he would not be able to see into his mouth. Blake felt a moment of relief knowing the boy did not want him to leave the room and Blake knew it was a moment he would share with Meredith later when they were alone. Perhaps Pete was softening towards him.

Blake watched
Frederick’s face as Pete opened his mouth. His involuntary facial expression told Blake everything he needed to know. It was bad.

“It looks like it’s healing well, still a bit swollen.”

“He’s been eating solid foods,” Blake said. "The other doctor wanted him to wait a little longer but he’s been losing weight so I couldn’t say no.”

“You can close your mouth now, Pete.” Fredrick patted Pete’s knee. “You’re past the point where it’s going to reopen the wound but be careful. If it hurts to eat it, don’t eat it. How’s your swallowing?”

“He’s doing better. He’s mostly having trouble moving the food back to swallow it.”

Fredrick gave Blake an annoyed look because he kept answering for Pete instead of allowing the boy a chance to try to communicate. “That’s to be expected.
Any other injuries?”

Pete shook his head.

“Pete,” Blake said. “Do you have any questions you’d like to ask Dr. Billingsham?”

He pulled the pencil from behind his ear and opened his tablet. He gave a little sigh and wrote, “Will I talk again?”

Frederick shook his head. “Pete, I know a few weeks ago you were a boy but after what you’ve been through you’re a full-grown man so I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t want to give you no hope but I don’t want to give you false hope either. When the swelling subsides completely, if you work very hard, you might be able to recover the ability to make a few letter sounds, probably some of the soft vowels, M’s and P’s because they don’t use the tongue, but you will never be able to manipulate your tongue enough to make most letter sounds.”