Chapter 9

It was getting late—Wyatt put away his ledgers and headed up to his room. Yawning, he went down the hall quietly. He didn’t want to disturb Edwina or the baby. As he neared her door, he heard Adam fussing. He paused and listened. The child continued to cry. Without hesitation, he rapped on the door.

He heard feet crossing the floor, then the door opened. Edwina had Adam on her shoulder. Her hair was in disarray and her wrapper was open, showing the high-necked cotton gown she wore. There was exasperation in her eyes.

“I’m sorry if Adam disturbed you, Wyatt. I think he’s cutting teeth and he doesn’t feel well tonight.”

“Could I help you try to comfort him?”

She looked as if she was going to say no, but must have changed her mind. “I’d appreciate it. I’ve walked him, rocked him, tried to sooth him and I admit I’m getting tired.”

He stepped into the room and took the boy into his arms. “Come on, Son. Let’s give your mother a break.”

Adam continued to snuff, but he buried his head on Wyatt’s neck.

Edwina pulled her wrapper around and tied the belt. She then reached up and smoothed her hair. “I must look a fright.”

Wyatt looked at her, but he didn’t dare tell her she looked pretty to him. He wanted to reach out and hug her to him, too. Instead, he said, “You look fine, Edwina.”

“I can’t believe it. He’s the calmest he’s been.” She smiled. “You have a wonderful way with him, Wyatt.”

“He seems to be settling down a little. If you don’t object, I’ll rock him a while. Maybe he’ll drift off.”

“I appreciate anything you can do.”

Wyatt sat in the rocking chair and began to move it back and forth as he talked soothingly to Adam.

Edwina moved to her bed and sat on the side of it facing them. “I pray this works. It’s going to be a rough day tomorrow if the both of us don’t get a little sleep.”

Adam cried softly. Wyatt held him tightly, but gently, against him. “I think he’s getting sleepy. He yawned.”

“Wonderful.”

“Talking about things being rough tomorrow, something happened tonight that will probably make it hard on all of us.”

“What in the world happened, Wyatt?”

“Mr. Walker will be leaving tomorrow.”

Edwina dropped her head and he would have sworn she suppressed a smile. “Does your father know?”

“Not yet. He’ll tell him in the morning.”

“I could tell he didn’t think he was needed any longer, but I wonder why he didn’t go to your father.”

“I’m the one paying him, so he came to me.”

“I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll not let Ben come down to be with us. Adam and I both enjoy him and I think it’s good for him, too.”

“I can tell the trips downstairs have done wonders for his spirit.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I confined him to his quarters so long. I was too blind to see how much it meant to him to be downstairs.”

“Now that you know, you won’t make him stay upstairs, will you?”

“No, Edwina. I have plenty of men around here to bring him down for every meal.”

“Good. Rest assured, I’ll look after him when he’s with Adam and me. I’m sure Rosalinda will help us, too.”

“I’m sure she will.”

“It may be even better. Mr. Walker wasn’t the most pleasant person to be with.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Did he say something to you, Edwina?”

“Oh, no.” She acted nervous. “I…I…”

“Don’t be afraid. Tell me.”

She took a deep breath. “He seemed to stare at me a lot and he didn’t like Adam. I was sure of that. He never once called him Adam. It was always ‘the boy’ or ‘the child’ as if Adam wasn’t a person.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend you. It was probably his background.”

“Background?”

“Asia is a doctor. He came to Cool Wood about six months ago. Oleen Anderson at Anderson’s General Store told me he was trying to find a place to get his mind off losing his wife and baby.”

“Oh, I didn’t know.”

“Few people do. His wife died in childbirth and the baby died, too. Even with his medical background he couldn’t save either of them. He blamed himself and decided to give up doctoring.”

“That’s too bad. People can always use more doctors.”

“He said he was thinking of joining Cool Wood’s Doctor Donavan in his practice.”

“That would be wonderful.”

Before Wyatt could say anything else, Adam aroused and began to cry again. Wyatt rubbed his back and Adam let out a big burp. At the same time he spewed spit-up along the front of Wyatt’s shirt.

Wyatt held him out. “Maybe you better take him. I don’t want him to get this on his bed clothes.”

Edwina grabbed a towel and handed it to him as she took Adam. “If you’ll take your shirt off, I’ll wash it out so the smell won’t set in.”

He stood and removed his shirt as Adam started crying again.

Edwina shook her head. “He wants his daddy.”

Wyatt took another towel and placed it on his chest. “Let me have him. He can rest against this.”

Edwina’s hand shook as she took the shirt and handed over the baby. She moved to the wash basin and poured water to wash out the stain in the shirt. By the time she finished and hung the shirt on the bed post, Adam had settled down and was close to going to sleep.

Thirty minutes later he drifted off and Wyatt said, “To make sure he’s sound asleep, I think I’ll rock him a little longer.”

Thirty minutes later, he slipped out the door and went down the hall. For some reason he was in a good mood. This was unusual since his typical reaction after working on his books was to be mad and upset the rest of the evening.

* * * *

“Well, Son,” Ben said at breakfast. “I must say, I’m surprised Mr. Walker quit, but it’ll be for the best I’m sure.”

“I think it will be, too, Dad. He told me this morning watching Edwina and Adam made him realize there could be other mothers and children he might be able to help.”

“That’s a good reason to quit.” He grinned at Edwina. “Now that our family’s getting back to normal, thanks to my daughter-in-law and my wonderful grandson, I’m sorry I’ll become a burden on you again.”

“Thank you, Ben, but you’re no burden. You’re such an easy man to get along with and nobody minds helping you.”

Wyatt seemed to ignore their mutual admiration. “Juan has volunteered to be your helper until I hire someone else, if that’s all right with you.”

“I couldn’t ask for anybody better than Juan. He and I go back a long ways. We should have a lot to talk about.”

“You know Adam and I will be here to help you spend your day.”

Before Ben could answer her, Wyatt said, “Speaking of Adam, where is he this morning?”

“He was still out of sorts and Dena offered to rock him. She said Rosalinda didn’t want any help cooking breakfast and she was going to make the beds. I told her to bring Adam to me before she started with the beds.”

Rosalinda came in. “Ready for more coffee?”

Wyatt held up his cup and she poured for him.

Ben looked concerned. “What’s the matter with the boy?”

“He’s fine, Dad. Cutting teeth. Edwina tells me it’s normal for a baby to be fussy when he cuts teeth.”

“I’m going to make little Adam a sugar-tit today.”

“A what?” Wyatt looked at Rosalinda.

“Don’t look so surprised, boy. You had many of them when you were a baby.” She poured coffee for Edwina and Ben. “When you cut your teeth, I was afraid the people on the next ranch would come over and check because they thought we was killing you.”

Wyatt chuckled. “I was that bad, huh?”

“You sure were. Little Adam is a charm compared to the way you acted.”

Ben grinned. “Rosalinda, I think you’re stretching it a bit.”

“Now, Mr. Ben, how would you know? You were out on the range chasing those cows.”

“I guess I was at that.”

“Now that we’ve settled the fact that I was a little monster, I’d better get out on that range and let you folks deal with my son.” Wyatt pushed back his chair and stood. As he went behind Edwina’s chair he put his hand on her shoulder and said, “While Dena’s watching Adam, why don’t you try to get a little rest?”

“I might do that. The terrace is inviting and I may go out there and enjoy this beautiful morning.”

“Sounds good.” He turned back to Rosalinda. “Make sure she gets some rest. Adam kept her up most of the night.”

“I’ll do it.” She grinned at him. “Now go on with you and we’ll see you about twelve-thirty for dinner.”

He went out the door and Edwina turned to Ben. “Well, how does it sound? Would you like to spend the morning on the terrace with me?”

“How can I say no when a beautiful woman like you invites me?”

Edwina moved behind his wheelchair and they went toward the terrace doors.

Neither noticed the big grin on Rosalinda’s face.