| |
|
Two weeks after
Ezra broke his leg, the recovering man sat in the living
room. He was using the laptop that JD had let him borrow,
while Emerald was playing with her toys inside her secure
playpen, so Ezra could keep an eye on her while he
recovered. The man had his crutches nearby so he could
use them to get over to his baby daughter if she needed
him.
Chris and Buck had gone to work and left Ezra to manage
on his own, although their housekeeper was there doing
the housework. She had gone to the stores for a while,
after being persuaded that Ezra could manage okay without
her for an hour or so.
Ezra watched Emerald for a while until the laptop bleeped
to signal that it was ready. Then the man started up the
dial-up internet programme, and waited for it to connect.
Emerald chose this moment to start crying loudly and Ezra
rushed to pick up his crutches and hobbled over to the
child. He carefully bent down to pick her up and found
that she needed a clean diaper. He carried her to a clear
patch of carpet and reached for her changing mat that was
rolled up nearby. He rolled it out then proceeded to
change her diaper, after taking all the necessary
supplies out of the bag.
He secured the sides of the cloth diaper with a safety
pin, and lifted Emerald into the air. The child giggled
and Ezra grinned; that task wasn't too difficult.
Ezra hobbled over to the playpen and put the struggling
child back in, then she happily crawled to some plastic
toys and started playing again.
Ezra returned to the sofa, glad to rest again - his leg
was starting to hurt. The man picked up the laptop and
rested it on his lap. Then he looked at the clock in the
bottom right-hand corner of the screen and realised that
his order would never be dispatched today if he didn't
place it soon. He was certain that the books that he
required would be dispatched within 24 hours. Ezra
navigated around the online store and finally placed the
order, glad that he could buy the whole trilogy of books
at once and they were usually dispatched within 1 day.* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Ezra, there's
a cardboard package for you," said Chris Larabee, as
he carried that day's mail into the kitchen the next
morning.
"Thank you, Mr. Larabee. I certainly won't be bored
today," said Ezra as he accepted the package and
tore it open.
"Good thing you've got me to help with Emerald then.
Mrs Potter has plenty to do as it is and you shouldn't be
moving on your leg too much, so I was happy for the
excuse to have a day off."
"Thank you, Chris. Your assistance will be most
appreciated," said Ezra as he admired the
illustration on the front of the first book in the
trilogy.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
As Ezra lay propped
up on his bed reading, while Emerald was sleeping in her
crib opposite the man's bed, Ezra's cellphone, that lay
on the bedside cabinet, started ringing.
Ezra frowned and quickly slipped the bookmark in the
book, then rested it on the cabinet before he grabbed the
phone. "Hello?" he said into it.
"Ezra, darling? I heard you had an accident,"
said the woman on the other end.
"Mother!" said Ezra, shocked to finally hear
from her after more than a few months of silence.
"Yes, I did have an accident, but I am recovering
now, thanks to everyone's assistance."
"Is there something else you wish to tell me
about?" asked Maude, who knew there was something
that Ezra hadn't told her of.
"I have acquired something very precious which I had
no previous knowledge of, Mother. Perhaps if you were to
visit here when I am fully recovered, you might find out
to what I am alluding."
"I do wish you wouldn't talk in riddles and just
tell me what I want to know."
"Mother, what I was hinting toward is that I am now
the proud father of a beautiful baby daughter and I would
be pleased for you to meet her in the future," said
Ezra.
"I'm a grandmother?" asked Maude, the tone of
her voice indicating her shock.
"Yes, Mother. I would rather discuss this further
upon your visit; I have things I need to get back to
today." Ezra looked at the interesting picture on
the cover of his book, which he was eager to return to.
Some of the characters in the story had begun a journey
and Ezra needed to find out what happened next to them.
"Very well, Ezra. Please call me when you are fully
recovered so that I can visit your child and you. Goodbye
for now," said Maude and hung up before Ezra could
say goodbye to her.
Ezra just shrugged, looked over at Emerald still
sleeping, then picked up his book and opened it. He
started to read about what happened to the voyagers next.
"Ezra, can I get you anything?" asked Chris
Larabee walking into the room. Gloria Potter, their
housekeeper, had gone to the grocery store, leaving Chris
to look after things while she was out.
"At least thirty minutes of uninterrupted reading
time would be ideal, Mr. Larabee," replied Ezra,
sounding slightly agitated.
"I thought I heard a phone ring earlier," said
Chris, sure that Emerald's crying wouldn't have annoyed
Ezra.
"My mother called after finding out that I had
suffered an unfortunate fall and she also had an idea
that there was something she had yet to hear about from
me," replied Ezra looking longingly at his book.
"You haven't told her about Emerald?" asked
Chris, startled that the man hadn't told his mother about
something so important.
"That's why I need to meet with her once I'm back on
my feet permanently," said Ezra, slightly regretful
that he had kept it from his mother.
"Are you sure I can't get you anything?" asked
Chris.
"A glass of water would be refreshing, thank you,
Chris," said Ezra and went back to reading his book
as Chris left the room. A few minutes later, Ezra
realised that his daughter had been quiet for rather a
long time. He sat up in bed, put the bookmark in the book
and placed the closed book on the bedside cabinet. Then
he carefully hobbled over to his daughter, holding onto
things as he went instead of using his crutches.
"Are you all right, dear?" he asked his
daughter who lay peacefully in the crib. The baby
continued to sleep and Ezra picked her up to check. Her
breathing was perfectly regular and Ezra breathed a sigh
of relief. The movement awoke the child, but with some
gentle rocking from her father, she closed her eyes again
and Ezra replaced the baby in the crib.
The man was about to hobble back to his bed and his
thrilling book when Chris walked into the room carrying
Ezra's glass of water. The blond moved the cellphone over
slightly and placed the glass next to it on the cabinet.
"I was just concerned about my daughter's continued
silence," explained Ezra when he received Larabee's
glare for walking on his injured leg.
"You need to rest your leg a lot, Ezra - call me if
you're worried about her again."
"I shall do, Chris."
Chris was about to leave the room when Emerald woke up
and began to cry. The blond man picked her up and carried
her out of the room, leaving Ezra in peace to rest his
leg.
Ezra again picked up his book and started reading and for
the next few hours he was uninterrupted except for Chris
saying he was just taking Emerald for a stroll. In the
afternoon after lunch he went back to reading his book.
It was the sort of story where you didn't know what would
happen next and it was hard to put down.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Buck came into the
Larabee-Wilmington-Standish household early, after
picking up the boys from school. He'd finished writing up
a report so he'd decided to leave early, having nothing
else that needed doing that day.
JD ran upstairs to where Uncle Ezra's room was, as soon
as the dark-haired boy got in the front door. He was
eager to see his uncle. Wilmington, his foster-father ran
after him, not wanting the boy to disrupt Ezra.
JD ran into Ezra's room without knocking on the closed
bedroom door and jumped onto the southerner's bed,
accidentally landing just on the side of Ezra's wounded
leg.
“OW!” shouted Ezra in pain, grateful that his
book still rested on his bed with the page marked.
“JD!” said Buck sternly, running into the room
after hearing the shout.
JD hurriedly got off the bed; “I'm really sorry,
Uncle Ezra; I forgots it was your bad leg. I wanted to
see what you was reading because that picture on the
front makes it look really good…”
“JD!” warned Buck, knowing that the child
wouldn't stop talking if no-one interrupted him.
“JD, please refrain from jumping on my bed in
future; then there's no chance of you jumping on my
injured leg.”
“What are you reading, Ezra?” asked Buck.
Ezra held up the book toward Buck. Buck saw that it was
The Fellowship of the Ring - the first Lord of the Rings
novel. “When you've finished that you can borrow the
DVD if you like,” said Buck, who had never bothered
to read the book.
“Thank you Mr. Wilmington. I would be delighted to
watch the movie,” accepted Ezra.
“We'll leave you to it then,” said Buck,
turning JD toward the door.
That night when Ezra fell asleep he dreamt of hobbits and
wizards.
The End
|
|