Avis reached into her basket of bottles and handed the woman a tincture. “Small sip. It’s powerful.”
The woman took a sip and then tried to hand it back after, but Avis shook her head. “Stitch him up and you can keep it.”
She looked relieved at that, sighing deeply. “It’s already working!” she exclaimed in shock.
Peering at my father, the woman frowned. “I don’t think you should move him. I’ll do it right here. I just need my medical kit. I do stiches from time to time when the clinic is full. It’s at my shop, on top of my desk. Blue pouch.”
“I know where your shop is, Belinda. I’ll go.” Mable looked to me, and I nodded. My dad was slumped over, his eyes rolling as he tried to keep the lids open.
Mable took off running and I sat next to Dad, letting him lean on me. “Get some rest if you can. It’ll be okay,” I told him.
Avis knelt down and stared at him, seemingly scanning his energy. “He’s going to be okay, Fallon. His life force is strong,” she told me, and I nearly wept in relief.
“Do you mind if I help the others?” she asked me, looking at the line of over fifty people out the door.
“Of course not,” I told her. “Thank you.”
I sat with Dad, relieved when I heard him start to snore deeply, and watched as Avis went up and down the line, talking to people and giving them free healing remedies.
One by one people were exiting the line, holding their tincture and limping away as they no longer needed help at the clinic, and an idea was born in my mind—one I’d have to revisit with Avis at a later date. Right now, my father needed me.
The seamstress, Belinda, crawled over on her hands and knees and already I could see that she was looking much better. Her cheeks were less red and her skin no longer sweating. She pulled her legs under my dad’s injured one, propping it on her lap. Dad didn’t move, and I was grateful to see that he was still asleep.
Thank the Light!
Mable got back a moment later and then Belinda went to work. I didn’t watch, I wasn’t keen on this sort of thing, my gaze remained on my father. He moaned a little, his eyelids fluttering as he fought the drowsiness of the tincture. After a minute, Belinda nodded.
“There we go, that will heal nicely.”
I looked down at her handiwork, impressed to find a clean-sewn line of thick blue thread. His pants were soaked with blood and alcohol that Belinda had used to sterilize him.
“Now, how do we get him home?” Mable chewed on a nail, and we all shared a giggle.
“I have a wheelbarrow you can borrow,” Belinda told me.
“I have a horse?” I offered.
Belinda nodded. “That’s a better option.”
We waited an hour until my father was alert enough to shuffle outside and climb up onto Ember. He fell onto Mable and me a few times but with our assistance, he hugged Ember, slumping forward as we walked the mare through town and got him into our house.
After making sure he was safe in bed, I thanked Mable for everything. Yanric had stayed back at the clinic with Avis, helping her hand out tinctures.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry you had to see that. I feel partly responsible, I asked your father to help me move the wood-burning broiler so I could clean behind it. There was a slick of oil on the floor, and I slipped… He pulled the stove onto himself to keep it from falling on me.” She wrung her hands together nervously and I reached out with my gloved one and squeezed hers.
“It’s okay. He’s going to be fine,” I assured her.
She swallowed hard, nodding. “I’ll check back tonight and bring you both dinner, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
She hesitated as if she didn’t want to leave him. “He’s a good man,” she said wistfully. “Let me know if you need anything at all. I can even come sleep on the couch if you need help in the night.”
My heart pinched at her kindness, but I was also getting a bit of a vibe that she might care for my father more than just as friends. Maybe Eden and my pushing them together was working.
“That would be great,” I encouraged her. “Eden can sleep over too.”
She looked pleased with that. “Wonderful. We will be over for dinner.”
