Graham Quartet - Part 6

(Sorry about the delay. For some strange reason, it decided that this was a draft instead of a post. :P Thanks for checking, Grace. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't mentioned it.)
 
Good Morning FFFs,
This morning is cloudy, but it is warm and humid again. Our wonderful days that felt like fall have left and we're back to summer. Oh well, it is the beginning of August.

This week has been very successful as far as writing goes. I've written every evening except Sunday and much to my delight and astonishment, I've written 10 parts of Triple Creek Ranch book 2 in eight days! I don't remember ever writing that much of one story in such a short time. It's been a lot of fun, but I'm needing new ideas for book 2 now since the ones I had thought of are reaching an end. If you have any ideas, or things you think should be in this book (it take place in winter and early spring), let me know. You can either leave a comment or send me a note at readanotherpage [at] gmail [dot] com. Sometimes a writer needs the ideas of others to make a story successful, so feel free to give any ideas you come up with.

 I really haven't been doing much else of interest, though I have stayed busy. I hope all my readers will enjoy this next part of the Graham Quartet. I still haven't finished it yet, but I have several weeks of it already written. For those of you who are wanting "Dr. Morgan" it will be coming. Keep checking back. And for those who are wanting more "Triple Creek Ranch" well, I'll probably post another time or two before the book gets published, but since it is written and at the illustrators, I'm not sure I want to give you too much. :) Right now I'm hoping to have both book 1 and book 2 published next spring before the homeschool conferences start. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Now, enjoy part 6. Visit Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 to read the earlier parts of the story.

Graham Quartet - Part 6

    There was no answer save another moan which the compressed lips couldn’t hold back. “Matt, he’s burning up!”
    “I’ll get Mom,” Elsa offered, hurrying from the room with her tray of lunch still untouched.
    Matt brought a damp washcloth and handed it to Selena. “Stay with him, Sis,” he whispered. “I’ll make sure the doctor’s on his way.” Then he too hurried from the room leaving Tim standing like a guard over the patient and the young nurse.

    For several days the unexpected visitor was too sick to talk with the Graham Quartet. The leg wound seemed to be more serious than the doctor had first thought, and Matt overheard him tell his father on Sunday evening: “David, I don’t know who that man is and I don’t care. But if he’s to get well he must have complete rest and freedom from worry. Something seems to fret him now, for he’s nervous and restless and that’s not doing any good. Perhaps your four can help him. Call me if he seems worse, otherwise I’ll be back in the morning.”
    “Thanks Doc. We’ll see what we can do . . .” Mr. Graham’s voice died away as he walked the doctor out to the porch.
    Matt waited impatiently for his father to return. “Dad, I overheard what the doctor said just now,” Matt burst forth as soon as his father came back. “We told Guy we’d help him. Won’t you let us stay home from school for a while?”
    For a moment Mr. Graham looked thoughtfully out the window. Then he beckoned his son to follow. Once they were in the study with the door shut behind them, Mr. Graham motioned his eldest son to a seat.
    “Please Dad.” Matt’s eyes and his whole face were pleading.
    “Listen, Matt,” Mr. Graham began. “I know you all want to help our visitor and personally I would like to help him too. But what about school? I don’t have any worries about you graduating all right, for you’re good with your studies. But what about Tim? I’m afraid several days behind in school and he’s liable to never catch up.”
    “I’d work with him, Dad. You know his greatest problems are the subjects I like the most. I could help Selena, too, if she needed it.”
    “She may in math. But would Tim really cooperate with you as teacher?” There were many times when the brothers clashed and it was mostly over lessons, for Tim was impatient to be done and on to other things while Matt stuck to a subject until he mastered it and thought his younger brother should too.
    “I think he will, Dad, if the four of us talk it over.”
    “Well,” Mr. Graham began slowly, fingering a pen on his desk. “I suppose if Tim is willing to really work with you as teacher, I’ll let you try it. But—” he added as Matt began to rise. “There’s something else I want to talk to you about.”
    Resuming his seat and looking at his father, Matt asked, “Yes sir?”
    “I assume you know who Guy works for?”
    Matt nodded.
    “I don’t know what he’s doing in the area and I’m not sure I want to know, but I don’t want you four getting in harm’s way. How much do you know? What were you planning on doing to help him?”
    “All we know is that some people would like him dead. We don’t know what he’s doing either, Dad. I thought it might make him easier if we told him we’d keep a watch out and let him know if anyone came over or if we saw anyone out the windows. Maybe he could rest then.
    “So you think that’s what’s worrying him?”
    “Probably not all, but it’s all we can do for now. And don’t worry, Dad, I’ll do everything I can to keep us out of danger.”
    “That’s what I wanted to hear. I know I can trust you, Son. Just remember, this is not child’s play. There are dangerous people who don’t seem to have a conscience at all. Pray about things and talk to me if you think something might be too much.”
    “We will, Dad. Thanks.” Matt followed his father’s lead and rose. The interview was over.

    “Which would you rather do, Tim,” Elsa asked at the meeting Matt called right before the younger two went to bed. “Have to go to school or work on your lessons with Matt here?”
    “Well, I don’t want to go away,” Tim began slowly. For a moment he seemed to hesitate and then, just as Matt was about to speak, Tim’s shoulders straightened and he said, “I’ll do my lessons here. But Matt, please,” he turned to his brother, “can’t we just work on history and science?”
    “Not a chance, brother!” And Matt laughed. “We’re going to get you ready to take top honors in math.”
    A collective laugh covered up Tim’s exaggerated groan.
    And so it was that the Graham Quartet all remained at home the rest of the week. Matt was true to his word about working with his younger siblings on school, and even if they were keeping a watch out the back windows above Guy’s room, he worked with either Tim or Selena. Elsa also pitched in with teaching and watching. Having practiced and drilled themselves to notice details that others normally would pass over, nothing escaped the watchful eyes of the quartet. Even during the night the four siblings took turns sitting in the sick room near a window watching. This careful and constant alertness on behalf of the quartet seemed to be what the injured man needed, for he relaxed and slept, growing better so that by the end of the week the doctor was quite pleased with his condition.
    “I’m going to let you out of that bed this afternoon,” the doctor told Guy on Saturday. “Only for a short walk and then you are to sit and put your leg up."

What's going to happen next?

Have any thoughts or ideas?