The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope - By Rhonda Riley Page 0,121

“A little longer, Evelyn.” His regular sweet, sleepy voice!

Almost giddy with relief, I got the girls up and off to school. They waved happily as they left. They were halfway down the road to the bus stop when I saw a sheriff’s car clear the curve and start up our road. I waited on the corner of the back porch. Wallace’s voice carried from the barn, accompanied by the snort and impatient paw of the horses.

The car pulled deep into the driveway, almost up to the house. The local deputy, Harley Brown, stepped out, the leather on his policeman’s belt creaking loudly as he shut the car door and leaned against it. I’d gone to school with his younger brother, Clifton.

“Morning, Evelyn.”

I nodded. “It is a pretty one all right.”

“You don’t look like a woman who is missing her husband.”

“I’m not, Harley. He’s right in there, in our bed.” I pointed back toward the house but stepped down toward him. “They doped him up pretty good at the hospital, but he’s okay. He wanted me to make him some corn bread. But he’s sleeping now. It was a pretty good kick he got.”

“Well”—he consulted a piece of paper he pulled out of his pocket—“it seems Duke University Hospital and the CDC down in Atlanta didn’t know he was going home and they’re worried about him. Wanted to make sure that at least you know where he is.”

“I do, Harley. You want me to wake him up? You need to come in and see him?”

He got back in his car and shrugged. “I don’t know why I’m here. I should be out catching bad guys, but they wanted me to come by, said it was important. Wanted me to come by last night after supper. But Alice heard from Bertie that he was home and safe, so I waited until now. Adam is all right, you say?”

“Tired and banged up, but already cussing the horse that got him. You sure?” I pointed back toward the house again.

He laughed, shook his head, and started backing his car up. As soon as his car rolled out of sight, I ran and checked on Adam. I shook his shoulder.

“What?” he muttered.

“How do you feel?”

“My head hurts. Let me sleep.” His voice was still normal, his color good.

“Does it hurt bad?”

“No.” He rolled over to face the wall and went back to sleep.

Neither Addie nor Adam had ever really been sick. They both slept a lot if they did not feel well. Remembering that made me feel better. He was healing quickly, too. The bruising visible around the bandage on his chest had lightened overnight.

I’d chosen a path. They could not be allowed to take from him what they thought to be abnormal. I could not let them have him. If they discovered how different he was, would they want to examine the girls, too?

I was sorting clothes on the back porch, preparing to wash them, when I heard another car come up the drive. I looked around the corner of the house. A big car, one I had never seen before, shiny and black, had stopped midway up the drive where people parked when they were coming to the front door. I went back inside and paused at the hall mirror to smooth down my hair. I looked tired, but not half as crazy as I felt.

The sheriff and another man knocked and called my name at the screen door. I didn’t know the sheriff or any of his kin, but I recognized him from pictures I’d seen in the paper. He took his hat off but the sunglasses stayed on. The man beside him, a meat-faced older man, wore a dark suit. The one in the suit held a briefcase and a large white envelope. “Mrs. Hope?” the sheriff asked.

I nodded but did not open the screen door. Then the other man took a step closer. “I’m Dr. Crenshaw. I’m from Mercy Hospital, but I represent Duke University’s research hospital.” I opened the screen, put one foot out on the porch, but didn’t close the door behind me. He offered his hand, a thick, dry slab. “I understand that you took your husband out of the hospital yesterday without physician’s approval.”

“I did bring my husband home, yes.” I looked at the sheriff. He did not seem any more interested than his deputy had been earlier.

The doctor eyed me critically. “Mrs. Hope, your husband is a very sick man. He was ill before he