“He’s puking.” He told the operator relief washing through him. Daddy had told him the medicine would make him sick, but not to worry, that it was normal.
“Good. That’s a good sign. Help is in-route with an ETA of eight minutes.”
“Thank god. They will need to unlatch the gate. I don’t want to leave him to go do it.”
“No, stay with him. You said he was out milking your cow?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking he stood up too fast and blacked out. He just recently saw his doctor because his numbers were skewed and the doc put him on a different type of insulin.” He wasn’t sure why he was rambling on about all this. The operator didn’t need to know this stuff, she wasn’t a trained medic or anything. Just a woman trained to handle emergencies while answering a phone, but he took comfort in the fact that there was another voice of reason to listen to him. He was barely keeping his cool.
“Boy?” Willem’s groggy voice nearly had him dropping the phone.
“He’s awake. Thank god.”
“That’s good, but don’t let him move around. The paramedics will be there in about three minutes, Eli. Keep him calm, and down.”
“I will.” He turned toward Willem who was trying to sit up. “No, lay down, Daddy.” He placed a hand against Willem’s chest. “You passed out and I had to give you a shot.”
Willem looked at him dazedly. “What happened?”
“Shhh. Just relax. The ambulance is on the way.”
“I…” Willem swallowed hard, then heaved again, puking once more.
“He’s puking again.” He ripped his coat off, bundled it up and shoved it under Willem’s head as he slumped back down.
“I feel like shit,” Willem croaked his eyes drifting shut.
“Crap. He’s trying to go back to sleep.”
“Try to keep him awake,” The operator urged.
Eli scrambled up to closer to Willem’s head. “Now’s not the time for a nap, Daddy.”
“Tired,” Willem muttered. “Need a few more minutes. Kids are so…tiring.”
Eli frowned, the words like an arrow through his heart. Willem had been great with Jeremy and Raelynn, but he wasn’t a young man anymore. Was Eli asking too much to have his Daddy take on a ready-made family as well as taking care of him? Maybe he needed to ease back on the Little stuff for a while? ‘Cause he knew that his Daddy would more than warm his ass if he implied that the kids were too much for him.
“I know. They are a handful, Will, but you have to stay awake for a little bit more, then you can sleep. Please, Daddy?”
Willem opened his eyes, seemed to notice the tears on Eli’s cheeks. “Don’t cry, boy. It’ll be okay. I’ll stay awake…”
“The ambulance just cleared your gate, Eli,” the operator informed him.
The sound of sirens coming up the drive reached his ears. “I can hear them. The ambulance is almost here, Daddy. They’ll take care of you.”
Less than a minute later a pair of uniformed medics stormed into the stable, with their bags. Staying crouched next to his Daddy, he tried to stay out of the way, as they went to work.
* * *
Later that night, Eli sat in the kitchen on a barstool in front of the island sipping on a cup of coffee. He probably shouldn’t be drinking caffeine this late, but it had been a really long day. In the end, they’d decided to take Willem to the hospital for observation. Something wasn’t right with his meds, and they needed to figure it out so there wasn’t a repeat of this morning. Which he agreed absolutely with. He never wanted to go through that again, even though Daddy had made sure he knew what to do when it did. It had taken reassurances from Eli along with the doctor, who had been kind enough to talk to the kids on the phone, to reassure Raelynn and Jeremy that Daddy Will would be coming home.
So now here he sat, alone at the kitchen island, the kids sound asleep in bed, drinking a cup of coffee wondering if there were something he could’ve done differently. Logically he knew that diabetes was a bitch and even those who’d lived with the disease as long as Willem had still could have issues from time to time. But part of him couldn’t help but wonder if stress, caused by the changes in their home life had contributed to it. He knew his Daddy loved him, loved their Daddy/Little time but with kids in the house, perhaps it was time that he eased back a bit on how needy Little Eli was. He had a sinking suspicion that Willem would fight him on the changes, but he wanted many more years with his Daddy. Willem would accept it, since he only wanted what was best for him, Eli assured himself.
Now all he had to do was convince Little Eli that Willem wasn’t abandoning them. Which might be harder than he realized. But to keep his Daddy healthy, Eli would do anything in his power. He was that in love with his man.
“Unca?” Jeremy appeared in the kitchen door.
Eli looked up from his coffee cup. “Hey bud, what’s up? I thought you were sleeping.”
