Stone Hearts

by Kelly, Amber

  “Hey, baby,” I say softly as I run my hand through his hair. It’s what I always do to soothe him. It is wet and matted to his head. He sweats when he is scared, same as me.

  “Moooooommy,” he continues to cry.

  “Shh, it’s all right. Everything is going to be okay. The doctors here are super smart, and they know exactly what to do to make you all better,” I whisper to him as I lean in and kiss his forehead.

  “It hurts,” he says with trembling lips.

  I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep mine from trembling too.

  “I know, baby, but it won’t for long. You just have to be strong for a little bit longer. Can you do that for Mommy?”

  He purses his lips together and brings his watery eyes up to mine as he nods.

  My brave boy.

  The nurse clears her throat, and I look to her.

  “We’re going to give him a shot that will ease the pain and make him very loopy before the doctor sets the bone.”

  I nod my acceptance, and she begins to load the syringe as the door opens behind me. I turn to see Myer walk in.

  “Hey, little man. I hear you took a tumble today. How are you doing?” he asks as he comes up beside me.

  “I hurt my arm,” he says and starts to lift it to show Myer.

  “No, no. We want to keep it still, remember?” the nurse reminds him.

  “I see it, buddy.” Myer draws his attention back to us.

  “Miss Madeline was mad at my horse. I don’t want her to get into trouble,” he says as tears spill down his cheeks.

  “I’m sure Miss Madeline was just scared, not mad,” Myer reassures him.

  “Okay, here we go,” the nurse says as she raises the needle, and Beau’s eyes go as round as saucers. “This is going to pinch just a little.”

  His eyes fly to me, and I can see the pleading in them. He wants me to help him.

  I sit down in the chair Doreen has vacated, and I place both my hands on his good arm. “Look at me, baby.”

  He does, and I see the fear shining back at me.

  “This is like every other time you have gone to the doctor to get your shots. Remember how it’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be? It only lasts a second, and then you’re all done.”

  He nods and squeezes his eyes closed.

  The nurse gives him the quick shot, and he starts to cry again.

  “You’re all done, little man. Look at that,” Myer says over my head.

  Beau’s eyes pop open, and he looks over at the nurse, who is removing her gloves.

  “I did it,” he says as he turns back to us and smiles.

  “You sure did. Just like a big boy,” I praise.

  The nurse cleans up her tray, and before she leaves, she tells us that the medicine will take about fifteen minutes to set in and that the doctor will be in soon.

  Doreen places her steady hand on my shoulder. And I look up at her. Her eyes are closed, and her head is bowed. She’s praying over my son. When she is done, she looks at me and smiles.

  “It’s his first accident, isn’t it? Oh, it never gets easier. I swear, between Sophie breaking her arm when she was little and Elle knocking out her front two teeth and busting her nose open when she wrecked her bike in kindergarten, I have endured a scare or two,” she says as she looks me in the eye. “He is going to be fine. Kids scrape knees, chip teeth, and break bones, but they are resilient.”

  I know she’s right.

  After about ten minutes, the giggling starts.

  “Mommy, I got a fishy in my tummy,” Beau slurs.

  “You have a what in your tummy?” I ask.

  “A fishy, and it’s swimming round and round.”

  He starts laughing, but it’s a half-laugh, half-gurgle. Then, he opens his eyes wide and tries to put his finger in my nose.

  “What are you doing?” I ask as I take his wrist in my hand and pull my head back.

  “My nose itches,” he says slowly.

  “That’s my nose, not yours, silly,” I say as I playfully tug his fingers.

  More sedated giggles.

  “He’s high as a kite,” I say as I turn to Myer, who is smiling at my son.

  “Yep. You should record it and show him later. Use it as blackmail when he starts dating,” he suggests.

  I gasp in horror. “That’s just wrong.”

  The doctor comes in a few minutes later, and I stand to greet him. Beau is super relaxed but still awake.

  “Ms. Stovall,” he acknowledges as he shakes my hand. “Your son has a fracture in his left arm, and I need to set it. Then, we’ll put a cast on, which he’ll need to wear for six to eight weeks. The nurse will give you care instructions,” he says as he writes on a chart. Then, he looks up at me.

  My expression must show I’m panicking because he continues, and his voice takes on a compassionate lilt rather than the matter-of-fact one he was using.

  “There is no need to worry. Children’s bones are soft and heal very easily. The break is clean, and I don’t expect he’ll have any trouble recovering quickly and completely.”

  I let out a breath.

  “That being said, this next part isn’t pleasant, and you guys might want to step outside for a few minutes,” he finishes, and then he walks to the other side of Beau’s bed and starts talking to him.

  The hell I’m leaving the room.

  I stay seated beside his bed and grasp his hand.

  The doctor looks over at me.

  “I’m not leaving this room. If you want me to leave, you’re going to have to force me out, and you’d better have an army waiting to do it,” I tell him.

  He looks from me to Doreen and Myer.

  “She’s not kidding,” Myer informs him.

  “Okay, Ms. Stovall. You hold his hand, and I’ll set the bone on a count of three.”

  It’s the worst thing I have ever had to endure. Holding my baby as he cries out in pain and hearing the snap of his arm.

  I’d rather break every bone in my body and have them snapped back one by one than to ever have to watch Beau go through that again.

  This Mommy business is not for the faint of heart.

  Myer

  We pull up to my cabin. The sedatives wore completely off about halfway home, and Beau is chattering away in the backseat about his Hulk arm. He was a little freaked out about the cast until the doctor explained that he could give him a green one like The Incredible Hulk and he could have all his friends sign it.

  I throw the truck in park, hop out, and round the hood to help them out. Dallas looks exhausted. Beau is full of energy.

  Once they exit, I say the one thing I know she doesn’t want to hear.

  “Dal, why don’t you go inside and relax a bit before you guys head home? Beau and I are going to take a ride on Thumper before the sun sets.”

  “We are?” he asks nervously.

  She immediately turns around on her heels.

  I meet her eyes as I answer him, “Yeah, buddy. You’ve been wanting to ride him, right?”

  “He’s not getting on the back of another horse,” she starts, and I walk to her.

  “Dal,” I begin slowly.

  “No!”

  “Listen to me for a minute,” I say as I take her hand.

  She starts to pull away, but I hold on tightly.

  “He just broke his arm, Myer, and it could have been worse,” she grunts under her breath as tears well in her eyes.

  Her chin starts to quiver, and I can feel the fear rolling off her in waves.

  “I know,” I say carefully. “And if he doesn’t get back on a horse right now, he will be scared of them for a long time, maybe forever,” I explain gently.

  She starts to shake her head as she looks down behind me.

  “Mommy?” he calls to her in question with a tremble in his voice.

  “Do you trust me?” I ask.

  She snaps her eyes back to me. “Yes, but …”

  “Then, you need to go inside a
nd let me take him for a ride. I won’t let anything happen to him. I promise you.”

  She stands there, indecision making her breathing uneven.

  She looks back down at him. “It’s okay, baby. Myer is going to take you for a ride. You have fun. Mommy will be here when you guys get back, and we’ll make supper.”

  He looks up at me, and I see the apprehension on his face, but he doesn’t cry, and he doesn’t ask not to go.

  He looks back at Dallas and says, “Okay, Mommy. Can we eat here?”

  “Yeah, we can eat here.”

  He reaches up and places his good hand in mine, and we turn and walk toward the stables.

  “Come on, little man. Let’s chase some wind.”

  I look over my shoulder and see Dallas standing on the porch, watching us until we are out of sight.

  We ride for about an hour and a half. He was scared at first, but once I was seated behind him and we trotted out past the house and into the clearing before the woods, I could feel the tension leave his body. I let him hold the reins with me with his good hand. Before long, I had Thumper in a full gallop, and Beau was giggling and asking to go faster. In the end, I have to force him off the horse, so we can go inside and eat.

  I missed lunch today, and I’m starving. The aroma of garlic and tomato sauce wafts through the air as we climb the steps to the porch, and my stomach lets out a tortured growl.

  I open the door and see Dallas behind the island with one of Momma’s aprons on. She is cutting up veggies and tossing them into a bowl while dancing to the country song coming from the radio in the corner.

  Her eyes dart up, and I see the flash of relief that passes on her face before she smiles wide.

  “How was it?” she asks.

  “It was awesome!” Beau exclaims as he flies past me into the kitchen. “We rode superfast, and Myer let me help lead Thumper,” he says as he tries to pull himself up onto a barstool with just one arm.

  I help boost him up and scoot him to the counter as he continues, “Myer’s going to get me my own saddle. I’ll be able to ride with him and Uncle Payne. Madeline says I need goggles, too, so my glasses don’t fall off anymore.”

  “I’ll call and order you a pair tomorrow,” she says.

  I walk around the island and kiss the side of her head. “Smells good. How’d you pull this off?” I ask as I take in the pasta feast.

  “I called your momma, asked if she had what we needed at her house, and she did. She even sent your dad to the garden to pull fresh vegetables for the salad. We owe her a meal,” she says as she walks over and turns off the stove.

  Then, she takes a towel and pulls out a freshly toasted loaf of garlic bread from the oven.

  “Are you hungry?” she asks as she sets it down and leans a hip against the counter.

  “Starving,” I answer.

  “Thank you for today. I don’t think I could have driven myself to the hospital. I know you had work to do.”

  I stop her there. “Dallas, the work can wait, and even if you hadn’t been here when that call came in, I would’ve stopped what I was doing and gone straight to the hospital.”

  She lets out a breath and places her head against my chest.

  I bring my hands to her shoulders and gently massage them as she finally releases some of the tension.

  “Do you love each other?”

  The question comes out of nowhere, and it hits us both like a physical blow.

  Her head pops up, and she looks at Beau with stunned eyes. “Uh, um, no … I mean, yes, of course we do—what?” she stammers.

  “Like a boyfriend and girlfriend love each other?” he asks.

  Dallas turns several shades of red as she searches for the right words.

  “You know what, buddy?” I interject and round the island to sit down beside him.

  His eyes come to me. “What?”

  “I like your momma very much,” I tell him honestly.

  “And you like kissing her,” he states, “like how Braxton likes kissing Miss Sophie and Pop-Pop likes kissing Nana?”

  “Yeah, buddy, kinda like that. How do you feel about that?”

  He looks up at me and thinks for a moment. Then, he shrugs. “Mommy should have somebody to kiss her. She’s pretty, and she’s nice. She smells good, and she cooks really good. Better than Nana, but don’t tell Nana.”

  Dallas lets out a muted sob.

  “I won’t. That’ll be our little secret,” I agree.

  “Mommy smiles a lot when you’re around. I think she wants you to be her boyfriend,” he whispers and then looks at Dallas. “Don’t you?”

  “I …” Her voice cracks, and I try not to laugh at her distressed expression.

  “Promise you won’t make her cry,” he says.

  “How do you mean?”

  He shrugs. “Josh’s mommy’s boyfriend makes her cry all the time. It makes him sad. I don’t like it when Mommy cries.”

  I bend and look him in the eye. “I promise,” I tell him.

  “Okay,” he says.

  Dallas stares at him for a minute, and then she looks to me and shrugs.

  I ruffle his hair and stand to go wash up.

  He just made that awkward conversation easy for us.

  God, I love that kid.

  Dallas

  What just happened? Did Beau just declare us a couple, and Myer agreed?

  I turn to the stove, grab the pot of noodles, and drain them. Trying to keep myself from freaking out.

  When he returns from the bathroom, Myer helps me load plates, and we sit at his dining table to eat.

  It’s a beautiful table. He made it himself from reclaimed wood of a barn he and his dad had torn down to rebuild. Its finish is fantastic, and it has two matching picnic-style benches for seats.

  It suits this space perfectly.

  The log cabin is spacious. The kitchen and living room are open with a long concrete island separating the two. There is a large stone fireplace with the stonework climbing all the way up to the two-story ceiling against the far wall. Towering floor-to-ceiling windows open the back of the cabin up to a breathtaking mountain view, and to the right and over the hill, you can just catch a glimpse of our orchard. The master bedroom and bath are off the back of the first level, and upstairs are two bedrooms and a single bathroom.

  I can remember when he was building it. He started the summer after he returned from college. I think the work distracted him from the fact that his football dreams had been crushed.

  It’s big, but the rich, dark woods and sand-colored stones give it a cozy, warm feel.

  I’ve always loved it.

  Beau chatters away while we eat. I have to help him with his glass of water, and he ends up wearing as much of his spaghetti as he eats. The doctor said there would be an adjustment period for him with the cast, but since the break was not in his dominant arm, he should get the hang of it after a few days. He’ll have it for six weeks, which means, barring any further accidents, it will come off just in time for Sophie’s wedding.

  Once we’re done eating, Myer helps me clear the table and wash the dishes. I catch him mid-yawn, and I know we’ve overstayed our welcome.

  “We’ll get out of here soon so you can get to sleep,” I say as I towel the last plate.

  “We’re leaving?” Beau asks.

  I turn to see him standing by the table, covered in noodles that must have gathered in his lap. He even managed to get them in his hair.

  “Look at you; you’re a mess. We have to get you home and in a bathtub right away, or we’ll never get the orange off of you,” I tease.

  He looks down at himself and giggles. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”

  “It’s okay. The doctor said your aim would get better.”

  “Why are we leaving? Can’t we have a sleepover here?” he asks as I make it to him with a rag and try to scrape as much loose from him as possible.

  I wipe his mouth first and then his hands. “Myer needs to go to bed. He has to get
up very early in the morning for work,” I explain.

  His face falls.

  “You need to get to bed too. You’ve had quite a big day. Your first broken bone. It’s worn you and your momma out.”

  “Stay,” I hear Myer’s request from behind me.

  I look over my shoulder.

  “We’ll give him a bath in my tub. The doctor said you needed to tie off his arm with a plastic bag and keep the cast dry. You’ll need help the first time. I’ll start a fire, and we’ll all sleep out here on the sectional. The ends open to recliners. He might be more comfortable sleeping upright tonight.”

  “Thank you, but you’ve done enough today. I don’t know how well he’ll sleep, and I don’t want us keeping you up half the night. We’ve imposed enough already,” I tell him.

  “Please, Mommy. I’ll sleep real good, I promise,” Beau begs.

  “Yeah, please, Mommy. I will be good too. Cross my heart,” Myer joins in.

  “Y’all are going to gang up on me, huh? So, that’s what’s happening?” I ask, looking between the two.

  “Yes, boys against the girl,” Beau squeals.

  I poke him in the side. “Hey, Mommy’s vote counts double,” I declare.

  He purses his lips. “No fair. You make up rules,” he complains.

  “Seriously, Dal, stay. I’ll be fine in the morning,” Myer encourages.

  “Please,” Beau says as he wraps his good arm around my neck.

  I sigh dramatically and give in. “Oh, okay. If Myer will let both of us borrow a shirt to sleep in, we can stay tonight.”

  To be honest, I’m too drained to tackle the bath alone.

  “I’ve got you two covered,” Myer agrees.

  “Yay!”

  My six-year-old celebrates like we just told him he was going to Disneyland.

  “All right, I got the bag. Let’s go get you hosed off, little man,” Myer insists as he waves a plastic grocery bag in the air.

  Beau takes off, running in the direction of the bathroom.

  “I’ll get him started, and you grab a couple of T-shirts from the dresser across from my bed,” he says and follows after Beau.

  I sit back on my heels in the middle of, I guess, my boyfriend’s floor, watching him chase after my son, and I think to myself, What a crazy couple of weeks it’s been. Life changes on a dime and when you least expect it.