To Stand Beside Her (39 page)

“She will probably be asleep through the night,” Roger explained.
“She was fussing so much that I could not get the object out of her foot, and I wanted to drug her, but I have never given sleeping drugs to such a small child before.
Good thing Anatolio was there to help hold her down to let me get whatever it was out of her foot.
I couldn’t tell if it was metal or a piece of wood, but it was stuck quite well.”
Phillip stood and looked at his sister before turning to Roger.

“How much do I need to pay you?”
Phillip
asked.

“Nothing,” Roger replied.
“She was much easier to fix than Leila, and I have never charged Leila.”
Phillip did
not
seem to know how to respond.
“She will need to drink this medicine with each meal,” Roger explained
,
handing Phillip a small jar.
“Just add ten drops to a drink.
She will also need to be cleaned
twice a day and have her foot
bandaged until it heals.
Anatolio knows how to do it, so just ask him.”
Phillip nodded.
He would do anything to make his sister better.

“Is it time for food now?” Tim asked
,
finding the first opportunity to interrupt
the grown
ups.

Leila smiled, “Sure.
Roger and Anatolio, do you want to stay for dinner?” Leila asked the two men.

Roger shook his head no, “I have had my fill of
kids
for the day.
I am going to take Anatolio up on his offer for a nice quiet dinner at his place.”
Leila smiled.
Roger did not have very much tolerance for screaming children.
“I’ll be back in the morning to check on her.
Now you get some rest also.
You are not completely
healed yourself, so don’t over
do it,” Roger ordered.

Leila sat down to dinner with Nalick and the two boys.
Since she had been living at the palace she had found it strange to be so isolated.
Her days were spent in quietness and meals were only her and Nalick.
Now with the two boys at the table, things
felt more normal to her
.
The palace was beginning to feel more like a home than the isolated, cold environment it felt like her first night there.
Tim was a great source of entertainment.
He continued to talk through the whole meal and let his older brother say very little.
When Tim got too excited his brother had to calm him down before he woke Ruth
,
who slept through the meal.

As bed time neared, Nalick offered to take the boys and stay in the guest room down the hall, but Leila
saw
that Phillip didn’t want to leave his sister.
Phillip offered to stay on the couch, if he could just stay near her, so all five people ended up sleeping in Leila’s room.
Nalick and Leila laid on the edges of the bed with Ruth and Tim nestled between them.
Leila
lay
in bed amazed by how quiet the room became once everyone else had fallen asleep before her.
She drifted off to only the sounds of people lightly breathing.

Before dawn Leila
slowly
opened her eye
s and found her
self face to face with a smiling Ruth.
The little girl grinned
and
continu
ed
to touch Leila’s face.

“
Lei
,” the little girl whispered
,
“
p
retty
.
”
Ruth picked up a piece of Leila’s hair
.

Leila mimicked the small child and touched Ruth’s face.
“Pretty,” Leila said
,
and the child giggled.

“’Ere’s ‘lip?” Ruth asked.
Leila pointed to the couch across the room where Phillip was still asleep.
“Tim?”
Leila pointed behind the child.
Ruth turned and giggled more.
“Tim’s sleepy
,
”
s
he said
,
turn
ing
back to face Leila.
Leila marveled at the small child.
The day before
Leila
watched Nalick carry off the sick child and today
Ruth
smiled and giggle as if nothing were wrong.
Leila watched as the small child’s forehead wrinkled
in
thought of her next question.
“Is Ruth better?”
s
he asked Leila.
Ruth
pull
ed
her foot to her face and tr
ied
to remove the bandage.

“No,” Leila said stopping her.
“That will make you all better if you leave it on
.
”
The servant door clicked as it opened.
The shy but curious Ruth climbed slightly on Leila to get a better view of Mauve walking in the room.

“
F
or us?” Ruth asked about the food
,
and a startled Mauve turned to find Ruth and Leila awake.
Mauve
’s
face melted into a smile
upon
seeing
Ruth.
Leila sat up carefully and put Ruth on her lap.

“This is Mauve,” Leila whispered introducing
her,
as
Mauve
cautiously moved towards Leila and Ruth.

“I brought some muffins and juice for those that woke up before the rest,” Mauve explained.
“The girls were going to bring the rest of your breakfast later.”

“That’s good,” Leila said.
“I am going to get this little girl cleaned before we eat.”
Leila cautiously stood while holding the young child and was relieved to find
that
she was small enough for Leila to carry.
“Do you like water?” Ruth continued to smile as he
r
dark curls bounced up and down with her head.
“Good.”
Mauve hurried ahead to start the bath water.

“I will send someone in to help,” Mauve said
,
leaving the bath room.

Leila sat on the edge of the bath and began to unwrap Ruth’s bandaged foot.
Ruth watched intently to see if her foot was still beneath the cloth
and
cheered
upon
s
eeing
it
.

Leila lifted Ruth into the water.
The small child
stared around the room
amazed by the size of the bath and began
to ask about everything she saw
.
In no time a maid was sent to help Leila and Ruth bathe.
By the time they were done, the boys were all awake
and
waiting for breakfast.
Leila returned with Ruth wrapped in a towel.
Nalick stood quickly as
they
entered and offered to help, but Ruth shied away from him.

“I’ll go get Anatolio,”
Nalick
said
,
leaving
the room instead.

Once Nalick was gone, Leila sat down at the table with Ruth on her lap.
Phillip and Tim were both excited to see
that
their sister was feeling better.

“Is he really the king?” Phillip asked Leila as he sat down next to her.

“Yes,” Leila said
,
interested in Phillip’s questioning without Nalick present.

“Would he know my father?
My mom said he was a noble, and since Nalick is king
…
,” Phillip trailed off.

“
Y
ou should ask him about it
,
not me,” Leila said
,
knowing
the young man was not completely comfortable around Nalick.
Nalick returned with Anatolio and Phillip became quiet once again.
Anatolio quickly put medicine on the cut on Ruth’s foot and wrapped it back up in a new clean cloth.
Leila was surprised
to see that
Ruth was not afraid of Anatolio.
After he was finished
,
Anatolio bowed his head to Leila and then to Nalick and left without a word.

“Is Roger still here?” Leila asked Nalick.

“Yes, I think so.
Anatolio said
Roger
went out this mornin
g but would be back to say good
bye to you before he left for Cath,” Nalick explained
,
sitting across from Leila at the table.
Tim hurried over and sat next to Nalick.
It had not taken the small boy very long to figure out where he could get
something to eat
.
Several of Leila’s dressing women returned with food.
The children’s eyes all grew larger as the saw the amount of food placed before them.
None of the children moved
; rather
they just sat and stared at the
pile
.

“What would you like?” Leila asked Ruth.
Ruth pointed at several items
,
and Leila put each on the plate before her.
Everyone else quickly followed.

After their large meal, Nalick insisted the two older children take baths also.
Tim complained but Phillip dragged him to the bath room with him.
Nalick followed after the two boys to show them where everything was while Leila took Ruth out onto the balcony.

“What’s that?” Ruth asked pointing to the city beneath them.

“That’s Lexia,” Leila explained and sat down with the small girl.
Cautiously
,
Ruth slid from the chair and tried to see how much her bandaged foot hurt.
Ruth
was very happy to find she could walk on it and slowly walked around the balcony asking about everything she saw.
Leila smiled at the young girl’s curiosity.
Nalick returned and sat down next to Leila.

“She seems to be doing fine,” he commented.

“I don’t think she even knows how bad she was hurt,” Leila replied.
“So what do we do with them?” Leila asked.
Leila
did
not want to return them to the broken down warehouse they were
currently
living in.

“I figured I could take them down to meet Gabor and maybe he would know what they are suppose
d
to do in their lives,” Nalick replied.
He
also did not want to return them to where they found the children the day before either.
Nalick quickly bent over while Ruth was distracted and kissed Leila.

After the three children were washed and dressed, Leila and Nalick left the three children with Gabor and walked to the palace gardens.
Leila had not returned to the garden since she had been taken from it.
As they entered several of Nalick’s guards patroll
ed
the garden and Anatolio was in his usual tree.
Nalick wanted
Leila
to be comfortable in the garden, but with all the company, Leila did not find it the same.

“So any plans
for
what to do with them?” Leila asked
,
s
itting
on a bench beneath a tree.

“Why don’t we keep them here with us in the palace
?
” Nalick suggested.
Leila was stunned.
She wanted to keep the children herself but doubted Nalick would choose to do that.

“You really want to have three children running around?”
s
he asked
,
and he nodded.

Leila and Nalick stopped their conversation as Tim ran into the garden leading his brother
,
who was
carrying Ruth.
All three children were laughing with Gabor follow
ing
behind
Phillip.
Tim ran to the closest tree and tried to grab the nearest branches.
Anatolio quickly slid down the tree and helped the young boy climb onto the branch.
Phillip joined Leila as
they
stood to greet Gabor.
Gabor and Nalick
walked to a point in the garden where Leila
and the children could not over
hear them.