Walking off with Noah to get their coats, Abbie decided that Matthew was a bit fresh in the morning. She caught the boy by the hand and they walked off to the store. It did not surprise her to find no books there, but the man kindly lent her two that he and his wife had kept around for their grandchildren when they came to visit. Then she walked back to the house and, once inside, looked at Noah.
“I am going back to bed for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because Julia is very upset and kept waking me up all night long and I got very little sleep.”
“Oh, but will you be awake later to read us a story?”
“I will do that when it is time for you to go to bed.”
“Okay.”
She shook her head as she watched him run up the stairs and into the children’s room. Then she slowly made her way back to her own room, found Julia still sleeping and, after hanging up her coat, she got ready to go to bed. She prayed no one had any emergency or upset because she intended to sleep for a few hours, and if someone woke her before then, she suspected she would not be pleasant. She crawled into bed and snuggled down beneath the covers, tensing when Julia whimpered. When no other sound came after a few moments she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
Chapter Eight
“It still cannot be moved much.”
Matthew grimaced. “It has just finished healing, Boyd. The scar is still raw. Ye need to give it time.”
Boyd slumped in the chair he sat in. “There is no strength in it at all.”
“It needs to be worked with. That is what the doctor said. The strength will come if ye work it enough and in the right way.”
“What is the right way?”
“Ye should be asking the doctor about that. He will ken what it needs.”
Boyd sighed and rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Do you think Abigail might have an idea?”
“Lass kens a lot that surprises me so she might do. Ye want me to bring her round? Or we can go to see her in a few hours. She is helping the doctor right now.”
“Ah, he did say she was good. He even said she could be a doctor as she has the instinct if people let her. Did you know she talks to every Reb brought into the infirmary or captured? She asks after her brother.”
“She told me. She hasnae gotten the answers she seeks yet.”
“Do you think she ever will?” Boyd asked.
“I dinnae ken how she can find out anything. Armies are too big and spread all over the country. There were a lot of men coerced into the army or dragged in. Too many, I think, for anyone to recall one fellow. No one is going to recall one young man out of hundreds.”
“No, most likely not.”
“She’ll find him when he wanders back home.”
“Ifhe wanders back home.”
“Nay, we will thinkwhen. Dinnae want to tempt fate.”
“Certainly don’t,” Boyd muttered, staring at his limp arm.
“Laddie, ye still have the limb. Many a field doctor would have lopped it off.”
“Why?” Boyd reached for his wounded arm, absently rubbing at it.
“Infection, the way some limbs can wither if unused, and who kens what else. Ye still have the arm. Let that be enough for now. And I think ye havenae given up all hope yet. Ye are rubbing it just like the doc and Abbie said ye should. Really, give it time.” Matthew moved his seat closer. “Now, how about we try some of the lifting that they did suggest.”
“Don’t understand why one should work a dead arm,” Boyd complained as Matthew wrapped a sandbag around his arm just below his elbow and tied it on.
