Emmett

“I’m all right, too,” Polk said, grinning at her.

“We’re fine, Melody,” Amy agreed. She patted the woman’s hand in a most patronizing way. “Now, you just get dressed yourself and don’t worry about us, all right?”

Melody counted to ten. “We’re going to see your father,” she said calmly. “Don’t you want him to think you look nice?”

“Oh, Emmett never notices unless we go naked, Melody,” Amy assured her.

“And sometimes not even then,” Polk said with a chuckle. “Dad’s very absentminded when he’s rodeoing.”

“He sure doesn’t seem to notice what the three of you get up to,” she said quietly.

“We like our dad just the way he is,” Guy said belligerently. “Nobody bad-mouths our dad.”

“I wasn’t bad-mouthing him,” Melody said through her teeth. “Can we just go to the hospital now?”

“Sure,” Guy said, folding his thin arms over his chest. “But I’m not changing clothes.”

She threw up her hands. “Oh, all right,” she muttered. “Have it your way. But if your clothes set off the sprinkler system, I’m climbing into a broom closet so nobody will know who brought you.”

At the hospital, Melody herded them off the elevator and down the hall to the nurses’ station.

“Look at all the gadgets.” Polk whistled, peering over the counter at the computers. “Wouldn’t I love to play with that!”

“Bite your tongue,” Melody said under her breath. She smiled at an approaching nurse. “I’m Melody Cartman. You have an Emmett Deverell on this floor with a concussion…?”

A loud roar, followed by, “You’re not putting that damned thing under me!” caught their attention.

“Indeed we do,” the nurse told Melody. “Are you a concerned relative anxious to transfer him to another hospital?” she added hopefully.

“I’m afraid not,” Melody said. “These are his children and they want to see him very much.”

“Do you have him tied up in one of those white things?” Amy asked.

“No,” the nurse said with a wistful sigh. She turned. “Come on, I’ll take you down to his room. Perhaps a diversion will improve his mood.”

“I really wouldn’t count on it,” Melody replied.

“I was afraid you were going to say that. Here we are.”

“Dad!” Guy exclaimed, running to his father as a practical nurse laid down a trail of fire getting out the door. “How are you?”

Emmett stared at his eldest blankly. His pale green eyes were bloodshot. His dark hair was disheveled. There was a huge bump on his forehead with stitches and red antiseptic lacing it. He was wearing a white patterned hospital gown and looking as if he’d like to eat half the staff raw.

“It’s almost noon,” he informed Melody. “Where in hell have you been? Get me out of here!”

“Don’t worry, Dad, we’ll spring you,” Guy promised, with a wary glance toward the nurse.

“You can’t leave today, Mr. Deverell,” the young nurse said apologetically. “Dr. Miller said that you must stay for at least forty-eight hours. You’ve had a very severe concussion. You can’t go walking around the streets like that. It’s very dangerous.”

Emmett glared at her. “I hate it here!”

The nurse looked as if she might bite through her tongue trying not to reply in kind. She forced a smile. “I’m sure you do. But you can’t leave yet. I’ll leave you to visit with your family. I’m sure you’re glad to see your wife and children.”

“She’s not the hell my wife!” Emmett raged. “I’d rather marry a pit viper!”

“I assure you that the feeling is mutual,” Melody said to the nurse.

The woman leaned close on her way out the door. “Dr. Miller escaped. When he comes back, I’ll beg on my knees for sedation for Mr. Deverell. I swear.”

“God bless you,” Melody said fervently.

“What are you mumbling about?” Emmett demanded when the nurse left. “And why haven’t these kids changed clothes? They smell of pizza and dirt!”

“They wouldn’t change,” she said defensively.

“You’re bigger than they are,” he pointed out. “Make them.”

She glanced at the kids and shook her head. “Not me, mister. I know when I’m outnumbered. I’m not going to end my days tied to a post imitating barbecue.”

“They don’t burn people at the stake,” he said with exaggerated patience. “That was just gossip about that lady motorist they kidnapped.”

“That’s right,” Polk said. “Gossip.”

“Anyway, she got loose before she was very singed.” Amy sighed.

Melody gave Emmett a speaking look. It was totally wasted.

“Are you really okay?” Guy asked his father. He, of the three children, was the most worried. He was the oldest. He understood better than they did how serious his father’s injury could have been.

“I’m okay,” Emmett said. His voice was different when he spoke to the children; it was softer, more tender. He smiled at Guy, and Melody couldn’t remember ever being on the receiving end of such a smile. “How about you kids?”

“We’re fine,” Amy told him. “Melody has a very nice apartment, Emmett. We like it there.”

“She has a cat,” Polk added. “He’s a big orange tabby named Alistair.”

“Alistair?” Emmett mused.

“He was a very ordinary-looking cat,” Melody said defensively. “The least he deserved was a nice name.”

He leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes. “Saints deliver us.”

“I don’t think the saints like you very much, Mr. Deverell, on present evidence,” she couldn’t resist saying.

One bloodshot pale green eye opened. “The saints didn’t do this to me. It was a horse. A very nasty-tempered horse whose only purpose in life is to maim poor stupid cowboys who are dim enough to get on him. I let myself get distracted and I came off like a loose hat.”

She smiled gently at the description. “I’m sure the horse is crying his eyes out with guilt.”

The smile changed her. He liked what he saw. She was vulnerable when her eyes twinkled like that. He opened the other eye, too, and for one long moment they just looked at each other. Melody felt warning bells go off in her head.