Chapter 8
James finished his cup of coffee in silence and noted the time. He gave a start. His watch read 5:30 PM. He noted he’d spent over an hour with Jonesy. He needed to get home and talk to Abbey. He paid the bill, bid Julie good-bye, and hurried back to his office to get his truck. Jamse hopped in “Barney”. The old truck roared to life as James dialed home on cell phone. Abbey picked up on the second ring. Her voice mirrored her concern.
“James is that you? I was worried about you honey. I called the office after you didn’t come home at your usual time. The said you went to the Cozy Corner. Is everything alright?” asked Abbey.
“I’m fine now, honey. I needed to talk to Jonesy awhile. My brain malfunctioned over this Mary O’Brien case. I’m fine now. I need to bounce some things off you after dinner tonight,” replied James.
“I’m glad you are doing okay. We’ll see you soon. I’m having one of your favorites tonight, garbanzo bean patties,” said Abbey with a chuckle.
“Yum, yum! Great! I’ll be home in about ten minutes. Love you,” finished James.
“Love you too,” said Abbey.
James arrived home to find Sara, Elizabeth, and Martha preoccupied with little Sam. They took turns rolling a ball to him and he squealed with delight. At six months he could sit up and tried to roll the ball. Often he just fell over side-ways as he tried to reach for the ball. The girls giggled with delight as the baby clowned for them. Little Sam looked like a miniature version of big Sam. Little Sam had grey eyes, brown hair, a broad open little face, and already he was a character using his baby charm to thoroughly manipulate his “four mothers”. James grinned at them all having such a good time and noted the contrast from a few months earlier. The only thing he did miss was the big commotion his home coming used to bring. Hard to compete with a fellah as entertaining as little Sam.
James greeted the girls, “Hey you three. Are you spoiling that little munchkin?” He bent over and gave each girl a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Isn’t he funny Uncle James?” said Elizabeth.
“He certainly is entertaining I admit,” grinned James. “Is the table ready for dinner? Are your hands all washed up?”
James made his way to his closet, shed his work clothes, and carefully placed them in the hamper. He put on a comfortable pair of slacks, a warm flannel shirt, and slipped on his old slippers. Next he searched for Abbey. She wasn’t in the kitchen when he passed through. James sauntered into the eat-in area off the kitchen and found Abbey placing some fresh mums as a center piece on the table.
“There you are. I looked for you but were not around. I am feeling ‘hugo-‘penic’ and need a big hug from my wife. Do you know if she’ll give me one?” asked James with a grin.
“I suppose she will,” answered Abbey with a mischievous grin as she hugged her husband tightly. She held James a little tighter and longer than usual. “I was concerned about you today. Are you sure you are alirght?” she inquired looking intently into James’ eyes.
“I’m doing well thanks to my good friend Jonesy and the Lord. Jonesy really knows how to pray and you back on track. Mmm, that smells good Abbey. Did you make bread too?” asked James.
“The girls actually did most of it. I just supervised. That Martha is truly a blessing. She is going to be a wonderful mother and home builder. She loves to work and likes to do domestic chores. I gave her the recipe for the whole wheat bread, showed her where things were, and she just took off. She had those little ones helping right along. Be sure you mention the bread at dinner for her sake,” urged Abbey to James.
“If it smells as good as it tastes that should be no problem. Anytime you’re ready we can eat. Do I need to go get Sam?” asked James helpfully.
“If you don’t mind. He’s out at the barn finishing up fixing that broken gate on the cattle pen near the barn,” replied Abbey.
“I’ll go get him after I tell the girls to wash up. I’ll put little Sam in his seat first,” said James.
James placed little Sam in his high chair, gave him a toy ball to play with until dinner, and told the girls to go upstairs to wash up for dinner. He walked outside to find Sam and Zeke. James whistled for Zeke. The big dog bounded around the corner of the barn with a bark and raced up to meet James. The big, brown lab nearly bowled James over in his enthusiastic greeting.
“Oh, now you want to say ‘hi’ to me? You ignore my truck and decide you can break away from Sam to come and see me. You old rascal,” accused James as he rumpled the big dog’s ears playfully. Zeke gave Sam a lot of company around the farm. The big dog seemed to sense the loneliness in Sam after Mary’s death. Zeke never went very far away from Sam and kept him company on most of the chores while James was away. Sam even had the habit of sneaking Zeke into his garage apartment to sleep at night. James sort of chuckled at that. Old Zeke had way of getting into your heart. He strode out to the barn with Zeke trotting happily at his heels.
“Hey, Sam. It’s time for dinner. You need to come in and have some of your daughter’s fabulous home-made bread,” said James.
Sam poked his head around the corner and waved, “Hi Doc. I’m just about done. I need to pop back in this last pin into the hinges. Can you line it up for me so I can knock the pin back into the hole?” asked Sam.
“Sure,” said James as he grasped the hinge pin and held it in place. Sam carefully swung the hammer and effortlessly popped the pin into place in the gate hinge with one swing. James never ceased to admire the ease with which Sam performed repairs.
“That’ll do it Doc. We can go and some grub. Have a good day at work?” inquired Sam.
“So, so. I still wondering about Mary’s death. I just can’t seem to let it go Sam,” answered James with a sigh.
“I know Doc. It weighs on me a lot too. There’s just the two just girls and Sam to raise as well as all the talk about Mary. It really bothers me that people don’t believe what a good woman she was. Martha understands what all the talk is about but Elizabeth still misses her mother and doesn’t know quite how to handle all of this. Me, I mostly get lonely and tired of all the gossip. Sometimes, I’d just like to move away from here, but this is my home and the girls love it here at the farm. Don’t mean to burden you, Doc, I need to talk about Mary sometimes. Well, we just all have to go on I guess,” said Sam with a heavy sigh.
“You’re right Sam. I understand what you mean. You put one foot in front of the other and move on down the road. Well, let’s go get some of that good food,” finished James thoughtfully.
The two men, with Zeke in tow, entered the house to clean up before dinner. Everyone sat down. Sara said grace thanking the Lord for their food and for fun things like bread making. Abbey served up her famous garbanzo bean patties. They consisted of ground up garbanzos beans fashioned into patties with onions, garlic, and a dash of Jamaican jerk sauce. The patties then simmered a tomato sauce with a touch of basil, oregano, and paprika. Everyone loved them. Along with the garbanzo beans they served Martha’s fresh bread and a bowl of home grown green beans.
Talked around the table ebbed and flowed. Sam and James discussed when to sell the calves and which bull to breed the cows to this fall. The girls giggled at little Sam and bragged on their bread. Martha’s little face glowed when big Sam told her it was the best bread he’ ever eaten. Everyone else readily agreed. James looked around the table and realized how full his heart was right now. God truly blessed them.
Following the meal clean-up, the girls read the Bible at the dinner table with James while Abbey finished washing up baby Sam. Sam O’Brien listened to the children’s Bible reading while he finished his coffee. After the Bible reading, the girls bounced upstairs to finish getting ready for bed. Sara’s giggling and Elizabeth’s laughter filtered downstairs along with muffled shouts by Martha to “get ready for bed”! Finally, James trotted up the stairs to move things along to bed. Bed time
usually started at 8 PM and the clock already read 8:30. The girls heard him clumping up the stairs and bustled into their rooms. Sara and Elizabeth jumped into bed and said their prayers. Big Sam prayed with Martha and excused himself to his room over the garage. He was starting to work on his Christmas gifts early this year and wanted to spend some time in his room working on gifts. Sam carved extremely well, and, wanted to make a manger scene for the Phelan’s to have on the fireplace.
James and Abbey sat on the couch. He lit the fire after dinner and the blaze crackled merrily. Abbey snuggled up to James’ shoulder and sighed, “This is my favorite time of the day James. The kids in bed. Little Sam down for the night. You and I cuddling by the fire.”
“Yes, and look where it got us,” teased James rubbing Abbey’s pregnant stomach.
“Oh, you!” exclaimed Abbey as she snuggle closer.
“I do need to talk to you, Abbey. Holmes had his Watson. I have you. Do you have any new thoughts about Mary O’Brien? I talked with Wil McAllister today. He’s had two patients die of apparent heart attacks in the last few months. Dan Fields died several months ago the night before his discharge from the hospital and Aunt Bessie last night. I’m not sure they fit with Mary’s death but they still bother me.”
“I heard about Aunt Bessie’s death. It’s sad. She provided such a good witness to others about suffering in Christ. In what way do the cases bother you? What are the similarities? They sound like different cases. Weren’t both of them old and sick?” asked Abbey.
“Yes, both were ill, but not expected to die anytime soon. They died rather unexpectedly,’ replied James.
“Are there any other connecting facts? Were they in the same room as Mary? Did they share the same nurse?” asked Abbey.
“They were in different rooms I think. None of them had room mates. They all had semi-private rooms without another patient in the room with them at the time. I don’t know about the nurses. I’ll have to check that. Both Dan Fields and Bessie Flint were Wil’s patients. You don’t think that Wil was involved do you?” inquired James.
“I don’t know James. I suppose I’m looking for a unifying factor. I’d check the nursing shifts and ask around about Wil’s patients. Mr Fields’s and Aunt Bessie didn’t have the same medical problems did they?” wondered Abbey.
“No, Mr Fields had COPD and Aunt Bessie was a diabetic. Thanks for the thoughts about the nursing shifts about Wil. I’ll need to do so more digging I guess. I know I seem obsessed about this but I just can’t shake off Mary’s death,” murmured James with resignation.
“I know honey. You instincts are usually good. I think it is one of God’s gifts to you. Although, I hate it when you are always right,” sighed Abbey.
“Very funny, you. Give me another hug and let’s just sit here for awhile and snuggle. It’s been a long day for me,” finished James pulling Abbey closer.