“What would you kick out of bed?”
He looked at the ceiling in mock pondering. “Hmm… Good point.”
“You talked to Caitlin?”
He nodded.
“Is she with Dad already?”
“Yeah. I just came from there. He woke up again. He even said her name when he saw her. Pretty sure he had no idea who I was. Probably why he passed back out again, seeing some strange fairy in his hospital room.”
“That’s a good sign. That’s three times today, and twice that he knew who Caitlin was.”
Schwint stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me. “He’s gonna be fine. Between all that you and the girls are doing, he doesn’t have any other choice. I wish I was able to do healing magic like you guys and I could help.”
“You brought in those herbs that are supposed to numb pain and promote healing.”
“A lot of good that does when he can’t stay awake long enough to give them to him.” His embrace tightened.
“He’ll be able to soon.” I snuggled my head on his chest, sinking into his embrace, both comforted by his presence and nearly lulled to sleep by his warmth. The past three days had taken their toll. Mom had taken a turn for the worse but finally stabilized yesterday, and was insistent that we quit pouring our energy into her, that we needed to save it for Dad and ourselves. She was right. She was going to be fine, even without our powers. Even so, every time she fell back asleep one of us took our spot again. The more healing energy she received, the sooner she’d be able to get out of the bed.
Dad was going to be fine as well. As least we had every reason to believe so. The doctors said he was stabilizing to a point they believed they could move him from critical condition in the next day or so. They’d been impressed with how quickly Mom was recovering, saying she was healing twice as fast as they’d expected. They didn’t say such things about Dad. They hadn’t noticed him healing any quicker than expected. That said just how close we’d come to losing him, considering how much power my sisters and I had been pouring into him, twice what we’d been giving to Mom. If the doctors weren’t noticing a change, that only proved that, without us, he would have certainly died within the first day or so. As it was, we were at least confident that he would live, but we were nervous about what effects the wreck would have on his mind, what brain damage might have occurred. We tried to focus on sending our energy to his brain, but of all our powers, healing was the least understood and an aspect we rarely had to use, so we were learning as we went.
“Come on. Let’s go get you that coffee.” Schwint gave me a final squeeze before stepping away.
“No, with the others gone and Caitlin with Dad, Mom is by herself.”
“She’ll be fine on her own for a bit. She’s probably resting. You have time to go get a coffee, maybe even grab a nap in the waiting room.”
I shook my head. “No. I need to go to her.”
He let out a sigh. “Fine. Then at least let me run down and get a coffee and something to eat. Do you want pizza or something sweet?”
“I’m fine, really.”
“Whatever, Finn.” He leaned over and pecked my lips. “Coffee, pizza, and cake it is, then.” He held open the bathroom door for me, and I walked through. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”
I nodded, turned, and walked down the hallway toward Mom’s room.
To my surprise, she turned her head and smiled when I walked through the door. “Hi, my sweet boy.”
“Hi, Mom. How are you feeling?”
“You look awful, dear.” She motioned toward the tangerine-colored chair beside the bed. “Why don’t you rest for a moment?”
Taking a seat beside her, I stretched out my arm and clasped my hand over hers. She moved her other hand on top of mine and gave a squeeze, then pushed my hand off of hers. “None of that. You keep your energy to yourself. You need it more than I do right now.”
I didn’t argue. She was right. I needed to save what I could for when Caitlin came up for a break.
“Did Christina take Cynthia home?”
“Yeah.”
She smiled again. “Good! That girl was about to kill herself with as much as she’s been doing. Of all my children, she is the most stubborn.”
I couldn’t suppress a grin. She was right. None of us were particularly flexible, but it was quiet Cynthia who would never let go once she sunk her teeth into something. “I think Ricky actually dropped Christina with the boys and then went home to stay with Cynthia while she sleeps. She needed to be in her own space.”
Mom nodded. Then her expression suddenly became panicked. “Who’s been with Peter and Saul?”
