She was glad to see that Dave had made it out of the water. He was still shivering, but at least he would be dry soon. She was careful as she led Susannah down the slope.
“If you help me, I can get on her,” Dave said.
She stopped Susannah in front of him. Since Susannah remained still, she did her best to help Dave to his feet. He had to lean partly on Susannah, but together, they managed to get him on the saddle, though he ended up lying, stomach down, on it. Mary suspected his leg was in too much pain for him to straddle the saddle. She decided not to comment, though.
Instead, she asked, “Are you comfortable?”
She thought she heard him grunt under his breath before he said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
She walked Susannah up the slope and guided her to the house. She was about to ask Dave how he planned to get into the house when he slid off the saddle. He landed on his good foot then proceeded to hop his way to the porch steps.
“I’ll watch the children,” he told her when he stopped at the bottom step. He grabbed the railing and looked over at her. “I need you to get Joel. I don’t know if my leg is broken, but the injury is more serious than I was hoping it’d be.”
“Alright, but let me get Adam up from his nap first,” she replied. She knew Dave had to stay and watch the children, but she couldn’t help but worry what condition the house would be in when she returned. Even if Dave tried to do a good job of watching them, he missed things she didn’t.
He nodded, so she hurried to take care of Adam.
***
“Pa, do you know you’re wet?” Isaac asked after Mary left.
If Dave hadn’t been in so much pain, he would have chuckled at the question. Leave it to a child to point out the obvious…and not know the adult was well aware of it.
He settled back on the couch, careful not to irritate his leg. He was sure the injury was serious. It felt serious. He’d had his share of accidents, but none had been like what he’d just been through.
“You need dry clothes,” Rachel told Dave.
“I can get some,” Isaac volunteered.
Before Dave could respond, he was already running up the stairs to go to the bedroom.
Ignoring Adam as he climbed into a chair, Rachel picked up her doll and walked over to Dave. “How did you get wet?”
“I fell in the river,” he replied.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“What’s a purpose?”
“Doing something on purpose means you wanted to do it. I didn’t want to fall in the river. That was an accident.”
“Like when you spill milk on a table?”
“Yeah, kind of like that.”
“I like milk,” Rachel said. “I had it this morning.”
Dave was about to remind her that he’d had breakfast with her so he already knew this when Adam ran over to him and crashed right into his leg. Dave yelled and put his hands on the wounded part of his leg. He hadn’t even noticed Adam getting down from the chair. How was it possible a two-year-old could move so fast?
“Adam, Pa is hurt,” Rachel said, pulling Adam away from him.
Adam cried out and shoved her away.
She grabbed him, and Adam fell back and landed on his bottom. He threw his head back and started crying.
Dave jerked back in surprise. It hadn’t occurred to him that the children were going to start acting up around him. He didn’t know why he assumed they were all going to sit down and quietly play while they waited for Joel to arrive.
Isaac bounded down the stairs with one of Dave’s older shirts that had a tear in it. The pants, at least, were in good condition. Isaac plopped the items on the couch next to Dave.
Dave waited until Adam wasn’t crying so loud to ask Isaac, “Can you bring my socks and drawers down, too?”
Isaac blanched. “I can’t touch your unmentionables.”
Dave glanced at Rachel. “Do you know what socks and drawers are?”
“She can’t do it, either,” Isaac argued. “Those are private.”
Dave might have countered with his own argument if Adam wasn’t still crying. “Forget it,” he said.
It wasn’t worth the hassle. Mary would be back soon enough, and he could put them on then. For the time being, he needed to get into dry clothes. The river was ice cold. If he wasn’t careful, he’d catch a cold.
“You three need to go to another room,” Dave told them, his focus mainly on Isaac and Rachel since Adam was too young to understand him. “I have to change clothes.”
As Rachel helped Adam out of the room, Isaac offered, “I can help.”
Dave shot him a bewildered look. Isaac had to be kidding. He couldn’t get socks or underwear because those were too private, but he could help him change clothes? Dave shook his head. Never mind Isaac’s lack of logic. It didn’t matter. Dave had no intention of changing in front of any of the children anyway.
“I’ll do it myself,” Dave said.
Fortunately, Isaac didn’t argue with him. He did let out a disappointed sigh, but he followed his siblings. Once he was alone, Dave took off all of the wet clothes and dumped them on the floor. Then he slipped on the dry ones, though he had considerable difficulty with the pants. It didn’t matter how careful he tried to be with his injured leg. Pain shot through him every time he moved it. Even a slight movement caused him to grit his teeth. He didn’t dare cry out, though. If he did, Isaac would probably come back into the room
