My Heart Can't Tell You No (54 page)

“I don’t want to take another bath.” Robby’s tears were sounding in his voice again.

“Jackie, it’s past your bedtime, Honey. Why don’t you go in to bed now, okay?” Maddie stood up with the boy, who simply walked toward his bedroom, then she moved into the kitchen with Joe and Robby. “Robby, you have to get in again. It won’t take long. It didn’t take long last time, did it?”

“But it’s cold!” His tears were falling even before Joe sat him in the water, the gasp was followed by louder tears.

Again sympathy welled through Joe as he held the struggling body in the water, listening as Maddie’s soft voice soothed the sick child and finally calmed him until he was once again sitting motionless except for the combined sobs and shivers that shook him. It wrenched his heart to have to watch the little guy like this. His face flushed red with combined fever and anger as he struggled, then paled when he finally accepted the water and its coolness brought his temperature down a few degrees. He looked so vulnerable huddled in the sink with his black hair plastered against his head; its wetness pushed back by Joe to prevent excess water from dripping into the boy’s eyes.

The next ninety minutes passed slowly for Joe as he watched the clock, his irritation growing each time he had to help Maddie put the boy in warm water that the child swore was ice cold. If he had that doctor within reach he probably would have strangled him for not immediately returning Maddie’s call. Finally, by eleven o’clock, Joe’s irritability persuaded Maddie to send him in for his shower, then on to bed while she waited up for the doctor’s telephone call. Reluctantly he agreed when she reminded him that he had to work in the morning.

CHAPTER XXIX
 

M
addie didn’t know what time it was. She was only vaguely aware of the sun coming up, turning the blackness outside into a misty, cool grayness. She had been soaking Robby every half hour to forty-five minutes until her doctor finally called. After a brief discussion of the child’s symptoms, the doctor decided that as long as Maddie continued bringing his temperature down, Robby would be all right until he could be seen at the office first thing in the morning. By one o’clock she stopped putting him in the sink and opted for wetting towels and covering the boy with them as she held him on her lap. She rocked him in the boys’ playroom until she could feel his heat start to rise, then she replaced the towels again. She was tired, her concern for her son keeping her awake until nearly five o’clock before her sleepiness hit her like a tidal wave.

The hand that touched her shoulder jerked her eyes open and tightened her grip on her youngest child in fear that she was about to drop him. When she looked, she saw he was sleeping soundly although the heat radiating from him urged her to return to the kitchen. She moved her gaze to the muscular thighs standing next to her, then slowly looked farther up to see the concern on Joe’s face as he looked down at her.

“What time is it?” she asked, sleep turning her voice quiet and hoarse as she blinked up at him.

“Quarter after six. Have you been up all night?”

“Until a few minutes ago.” She sat forward, prepared to start for the kitchen, but Joe’s hand stopped her. “I have to take him out again. I can feel the heat through the wet towels.”

“Why don’t you go to bed a while? I’ll take care of him.” He picked the boy off her lap.

“No. I can’t. I have to leave for the doctor’s by quarter to eight. And I have to get Jackie up in forty-five minutes for school.” She started out of the room with Joe and Robby behind her. “Did you eat yet? No, I guess not. You didn’t even shave. You must have gotten up late. I should have tried to stay awake a little longer and went in when I heard the alarm.”

“Maddie.” Hearing the anxiety that kept her rambling on, he pulled her back with his free arm and hugged her tightly before touching his lips to her forehead. “Don’t worry. He’ll be okay. I’m staying home today to help.”

Her arms went up his back as she leaned her face against his chest and sighed deeply. “Thank you. I think I’m going to need you.”

“You finally figure that out?” he teased as they entered the kitchen and she tested the water already in the sink.

She added more warm water to get the small pool to an appropriate temperature, then took the towels that were around her son. She placed them in the sink, then glanced up at Joe with uncertainty.

“You ready? He doesn’t like this.”

“I know. I heard him off and on all night,” he sighed as he moved the sleeping child toward the sink. “Well, let’s go.”

Maddie shook her son’s shoulders. “Robby, time to get up.”

Robby roused only slightly, opening his eyes and looking up at Joe. A weak smile spread across his cherubic face as he reached out to touch the man’s unshaven cheek; then his eyes seemed to roll back as his head slumped onto Joe’s hand. Joe wasted no time putting the boy into the water and splashing its wetness over his chest. Maddie took a washcloth and drenched it, pulling the water up over him. It took a few seconds before he actually opened his eyes again but Maddie didn’t like what she saw. She felt as if she were going to heave her stomach as she looked down at those beautiful eyes that were now hazing over from the effects of the fever. She felt Joe grab her when she seemed to lose control of her legs. She could hear the screeching of a chair being scraped across her floor then felt the lifting of her body as Joe maneuvered her to sit down. As she lowered her head to relieve the pressure she was feeling, she heard Joe move back to the sink to finish bathing their son.

“You okay yet?” he asked gently.

“I’m getting there,” she said weakly as she lifted her head and looked at them, the sudden elevation sending her head back to the table to rest on her arm.

“You look it.” He continued to drench the child as Robby, remarkably, sat quietly watching them. “I want you to go lie down on the couch since you’re too stubborn to go to bed.”

“I—I have to give him some medicine in an hour and a half. I have to get Jackie up for school soon and get him ready.”

“I’m not totally incompetent, ya know. Go lie down. I’ll give him his medicine and see that Jackie gets up for school.”

“But he has an appointment soon.”

She needed her rest desperately, but she had things to do and didn’t really believe she could sleep once she would lie down.

“I’ll wake you. Right now I want you to get at least ninety minutes of sleep. If not for your own sake, then for his. It won’t do us any good if you get sick too.” He looked back at her, then went on, after seeing her hesitation. “Go. I’ll get you up if I can’t handle anything.”

She stood up slowly, gently stroking Joe’s back as she stared down at their youngest son. Robby looked back at her blankly, without recognition in his eyes. She felt the tears at the back of her throat, not knowing if it was his fever or his exhaustion making him look at her as if she were a stranger.

“Mommy, I don’t feel good,” Robby said quietly, but the words sounded sweetly in her ears.

“I know, baby.” She smiled sympathetically as she touched his cheek. “But you’re going to the doctor’s soon, and he’ll make you feel better.”

“Now tell your mom to go in and lie down before she gets sick too,” Joe told him.

“Are you sick, Mommy? Will Daddy have to put you in the sink too?”

“Not if she listens and goes in on the couch.”

“You better go, Mommy.”

She fought the lump rising in her throat, her eyes burning from unshed tears as she looked down at him. How much of this he would remember once he was well again, she hadn’t a clue. She leaned down and kissed his face, feeling the difference his short time in the water had made already. As she straightened, Joe reached for her with one arm while he held Robby steady with the other. He pulled her against him, the feel of his strength flowing into her and releasing some of her tension. His lips brushed across hers before taking full possession. The kiss ended, but he continued to hold her as his eyes met hers.

“I love you, Maddie. And I love this guy more than I thought was possible. So try not to lie in there worrying. I’ll be doing everything you would for him. Try to get some rest.”

She slowly moved into the living room, where she no sooner had her head on the couch than she was spinning into an exhausted sleep.

“Maddie, you can bring Robby in now,” said a short, very plain-looking nurse from the doorway leading to the examining rooms.

Plain though she was, she was extremely well-liked by all her patients. She had a personality that shone.

“Are you coming along?” Maddie stood up with her son sleeping in her arms.

“If you want me too.” Joe put down a magazine and followed her.

“I may need you. He doesn’t care for it in here as it is.”

“Looks like you’re first today.” The nurse patted the examining table and reached to the shelf beneath for a sheet. “You can lay him down a while, Maddie. It’s a little cool in here, so you can cover him with this after you’ve undressed him.”

The nurse turned her back to them as she went about preparing instruments at the counter. Maddie glanced over as she removed his shirt, seeing the long swab being laid out for the doctor. ‘
Robby
isn’t
going
to
like
that,’
she thought a she looked at the preparation for a throat culture. Joe took the clothing as she removed them from Robby, finally having him bare on the sheets before covering him. He started to rouse as he felt the coolness of the room, noticing for the first time where he was as his arms reached for her in desperation.

“
Mommy
! I wanna go home! Take me up to Gram’s!” he said in a rush.

“Hi, Robby. You finally woke up,” the nurse said cheerfully as she turned around with a thermometer in hand and smiled sincerely at the boy.

“Hi, Nadie,” Robby answered unenthusiastically.

“I hear you’ve caught a bug.”

“Daddy tried to kill it last night. He told me. Can’t I go home and let Daddy kill it?”

The boy’s comment brought an amused glint to the nurse’s eyes. “Can’t me and Dr. Potter help kill it too? We don’t like seeing you sick like this. We just want to help.”

“But I wanna go home,” Robby tried to say calmly, but the sound came out in a quiet wail.

“You want to go see your Gramma,” the nurse smiled. “I bet if you let us check you out, Mommy and, um, Daddy will take you to see Gramma.”

“Will you?” He looked soulfully up at Maddie.

“Sure, if you want to,” she answered.

“Now, do you think you’re big enough to hold this under your tongue for me for a few minutes?” The nurse held out the thermometer and he nodded slowly, allowing her to slip it into his mouth. “I bet Jackie’s just about ready to get on the bus about now.”

“He’s home,” Robby slurred, trying gallantly to keep the instrument under his tongue.

“The bus won’t come for another half hour,” Maddie explained when the nurse looked up at her, silently asking if Jackie was also sick.

“It’s almost time for your big brother to come in here for a check-up. Then
you
can stay at home while
he’s
in here getting his temperature taken. It’s been a while since you’ve been in too, so I’m kinda glad you came in today. I was starting to miss you. You’re one of Dr. Potter’s most handsome patients.”

Maddie smiled softly as Robby glanced back at her. He had been listening to every word Nadine said, and evidently it was sinking in enough to swell his head a little. He looked back at the tiny woman to hear more.

“I wish I had a little boy with such black hair and big brown eyes,” Nadine continued. “I bet all the little girls chase you. I guess I can’t blame them though. You’re so cute they just want to squeeze and hug you to bits. How’s that feel in there? Still got it under your tongue?”

Robby nodded again.

“Okay, now you keep that in there for a few minutes longer and I’ll take it out real soon.” She reached for the chart and started updating the records. After a few minutes she reached for the boy again to remove the thermometer. “Boy, you really do have a fever, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh,” he answered.

“Then I guess I better go tell Dr. Potter and let him come in and take a look at you.” She smiled, then went out the door, coming back shortly with a stout man of about forty-five years. He smiled his greeting to Maddie, glanced curiously at Joe, then pointed his attention to Robby.

“Hey there, Robby. How ya feeling?” His voice was loud but friendly.

“Sick.”

“I bet too you’re sick.” He turned to look at Maddie. “Do you think you could get a urine specimen for me in a few minutes?”

Maddie was about to nod her head but, it occurred to her that the boy hadn’t urinated the whole night before.

“I—I don’t know. He hasn’t gone to the bathroom since late last night.”

“Did he have much to drink?” Dr. Potter asked as he felt the boy’s throat.

“He’s been drinking juice when he’s been awake. Probably about two cups full.”

“What do ya say, Robby? Think ya can hold your mouth open long enough for me to tickle it with this big cotton swab?” he asked the boy, then turned and looked at Maddie and Joe. “Maybe you two better get on either side of him just in case.”

Maddie moved to the far side, holding his hand with one of hers while resting her other hand on his shoulder. Joe moved to rest his hand on the other shoulder while gently stroking the boy’s hair with his other hand. Nadine handed the long swab to the doctor, and he reached toward the youngster’s mouth.

“Open up real wide, and say
ahhh
.”

Robby did what he was told, but when the doctor tried for a smear the boy gagged and started to turn away, tightening Joe’s grip on his head until the doctor was finished. Maddie felt the tightening in her own throat when her son’s grip clamped fiercely on her hand and she saw tears fill his eyes.

“There, now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Yes,” he cried.

Dr. Potter laughed softly. “Yeah, I suppose it was. But you were a big man about it. You handled it very well. How’s your belly feel? Can you tell me if I hurt you when I press down here?”

Maddie looked up at Joe as the doctor went about probing the boy’s abdomen but Joe was deeply involved in what was happening to his son. When the child whimpered at the touch of his lower abdomen, Maddie winced as well.

“Do you think you could get a urine specimen from him?” the doctor asked Joe.

“I don’t know. I’ll try.”

Nadine handed Joe the proper equipment needed and showed him to the men’s restroom. Maddie watched as the doctor wrote some notes in Robby’s chart then looked up at his nurse.