Chapter 12

I didn't fall asleep as such, instead I might have dozed for a while, then suddenly I awoke with a strange question in my mind; what had Andy said about a book on herbs that had mentioned witches' potions? What if the doctor was wrong? What if Andy had been taking some herb she shouldn't have had? Was there any chance that Andy had lost her baby because of the herbal teas she had been drinking? Could it be that Fran had made a mistake in the herbs she'd measured out for Andy? Or had Andy reacted badly toward what herbs she had used?

Frowning at myself for being suspicious that Fran might have made an error, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get the idea out of my head easily. I was going to worry about it and I knew that I'd be unable to sleep until I'd found some way to dispel my concerns. Perhaps there was some way that I could ease my mind? Maybe there was a way of finding out if she had made a mistake. Perhaps I could get a test done on the herbs she had used to find out if they might have caused a problem. I knew there was no way I could arrange to test them tonight, but perhaps I could do something toward that end and ease my anxiety? To test them, I had to have the dregs of the herbs, could I still find them?

Moving quietly as I could so I wouldn't awaken Lisa-Marie, I slipped out of bed. Then grabbing my pants and shirt, I tiptoed out of the bedroom. Once I was downstairs, I turned on the light in the kitchen. We'd rinsed the mugs we'd used to drink tea, but had Lisa-Marie emptied and rinsed the little muslin bags that Fran used to hold her herbal concoctions? I hoped not. As things stood, I wanted to find out exactly what we'd drunk earlier. If I could get samples of the different mixtures, I could have them tested at the college lab next week. I knew they tested animal feeds for poisons or contaminants and I thought that testing for different herbs shouldn't be much different.

Aha, there the tea bags were, laid out on the edge of the drain board of the sink and still tied with three different coloured cords that indicated who each little bag was intended for. Since the little bags were recycled over and over, Fran had taught us to press most of the liquid out with a spoon, then lay them out to dry. If we cared for them that way, we could easily empty them so they could be washed to be used again and rinsing them after they'd been emptied wasn't such a messy job.

Luckily they'd been laid out with a slight separation which meant there shouldn't have been any cross contamination and I wanted to keep them that way. On top of keeping them separate, I wanted to keep those little bags moist, just in case something about their contents changed when they dried out. Over and above that I didn't want Lisa-Marie to know I was taking them to be tested. I suppose that was probably because I didn't want her feeling upset that I was questioning Fran's judgement about herbs, but that meant that I couldn't just grab three containers out of the cupboard to store them in.

Luckily, I remembered that Uncle Silas had always saved the plastic bags that his bread was packaged in. I found the drawer where they were kept and took out three of the salvaged bread bags, put one tea bag into each, then rolled each one up tightly. Tomorrow I could put them in the truck. That way I'd have them with me when I went back to the college on Monday, but for now I had to put them some place where they wouldn't be noticed and I didn't feel like dressing up to take them to the truck hat late at night.

The problem with keeping them moist was that I had to keep them cool as well; otherwise, they might start to mildew. Damn, I should keep them in the fridge, but... Wait a minute, that was an idea. I opened the fridge and glanced inside, where to hide something? Oh yeah! I pulled out one of the vegetable crisper drawers, pushed the three little bags into the space at the very back and slid the drawer back into place.

There, that was done, I could go back to bed, however there was one small problem with that. I was wide awake now. I needed to relax. I needed to have something calming, like the tea that Fran had made up for me to use each night at college. I wished that I could fully trust those little bags of her tea again, but for some reason, at the moment I didn't trust her mixtures at all.

Wait a minute, even before we'd met Fran I'd used herbal teas occasionally. Didn't I have some packets of commercially prepared herbal tea? A quick check of the cupboard yielded a packet called 'Sleepy-time Delight' made with chamomile and mint and in seconds I had put the kettle on to boil. Now all I had to do was be patient, make the tea, then wait for it to work.

My mind was dwelling on herbs, yet I didn't know enough to be critical and I knew it. I decided that I needed to read up on them, just for my own satisfaction. Hey, the book about herbs that Andy had said she'd taken out of the library, I didn't think she'd mind if I borrowed it for a while. Before I thought too much about what I was going to do, I got to my feet and went to her room, found the book on her bedside table and picked it up, then carried it back down to the kitchen table.

By the time I was back downstairs the kettle was boiling. I filled a mug with boiling water, dropped in the little tea bag, then sat down at the table and flipped open the book to the index page. There on almost the last line of the index was a chapter titled 'Witch's Brews - p. 354' and it only took a few seconds to turn the pages so I could find that section. I was mainly interested in what it would say about coriander since that was the herb Andy had mentioned and I flipped pages hurriedly.

The description said coriander had various magical qualities, being good for longevity and love spells and it could also be used for peace and serenity spells when used in ritual drinks. Oh yeah, sure! Then it went on to describe how to make a love potion by mixing it into wine. There were no warnings about it causing any health problems, let alone about it being dangerous if taken during pregnancy.

I grew interested and read about several other herbs, but didn't find anything really remarkable and it wasn't long before I found myself yawning. Assuming that I'd fall asleep if I went back to bed, I took the book back up to Andy's room and in moments I slipped under the covers with Lisa-Marie. She rolled over against me almost instantly, then mumbled that I was cold and pulled back. Seconds later however, she was snuggling against me again.

"Why did you get up? Was something wrong?" She murmured softly. "You got chilled."

"Nope, I just couldn't sleep, rather than toss around in bed and wake you, I went downstairs and had a sleepy tea."

"Oh." She grunted, then snuggled even more tightly against me. "I missed you."

"Sorry." I sighed.

If she said anything more, I didn't hear it. Instead I fell into a sound sleep for several hours. When I did awaken, it was to the soft murmur of voices from downstairs. A glance at the bedside clock told me that I'd slept almost six hours. It was now almost eleven o'clock in the morning.

After a quick shower, I found some clean clothes and went down to the kitchen. Lisa-Marie was sitting at the kitchen table with Willy and his mother.

"Morning, Sleepyhead." Lisa-Marie said as she got to her feet, giving me a hug and a quick kiss. "I was going to come wake you soon; you need to have lunch before we have to go pick up Andy."

"Oh." I glanced at Mrs. Martin. "Are we picking her up?"

My glance swung out the window and I knew we'd be in for quite a trip, huge wet flakes of snow were falling and building up on everything.

"Yeah, I guess so. She called and asked if we would." Lisa-Marie sighed then. "I was just talking to Mrs. Martin about it"

"Yes, she talked to us too and told us that she wanted you to pick her up from the hospital." Mrs. Martin was on the verge of tears. "I think she's very angry with Bill."

"Mrs. Martin, I wouldn't want to hazard a guess about what she's thinking at the moment. And, I don't think we should even try to guess." I reached out and took her hand in mine. "All I know is that she's been through a really rough time and I think she may be reacting to the trauma. That probably means she's not really thinking clearly. I think for now we need to humour her though, at least if it doesn't step on anyone's toes too badly."

"I suppose you're right, but it feels so wrong. She should be with her family at a time like this." Mrs. Martin was crying now.

Since both Lisa-Marie and Willy moved to comfort her, there wasn't much I could say or do. Instead, I went to the counter and poured myself a cup of coffee. After taking one sip, I looked at Lisa-Marie in surprise, I'd expect it to be stale and old, but it wasn't.

"Yes, it's freshly made." She smiled. "As I said, I was just about to call you."

Suddenly Mrs. Martin sat up straight and looked around to find the clock, then suddenly she got to her feet.

Sniffing back tears, she announced. "I'll get Willy to run me home now, that way he can be back in time to go with you to pick up Andrea. With the weather like it is, it's a good thing he'll be along, just in case."

In seconds I was staring in surprise as she and Willy suddenly left.

"Just what the hell was that all about?" I turned to Lisa-Marie as soon as I thought they couldn't hear.

"Oh man! What a bloody mess." Lisa-Marie threw her hands in the air. "I guess this morning Mr Martin phoned the hospital and demanded to talk to Andy. It sounds like he lost his temper again. The long and short of it is that Andy wants you to bring Willy and me along to pick her up and no one else."

"Ah, so it's not just Andy's fault?"

"Oh no. I think our neighbour, Mr. Martin, has a temper and Andy has felt a taste of independence even in the few days she's been here. I don't think she's willing to back-peddle to him anymore."

"But why doesn't she want her mother there either?"

"Don't ask me. I don't know. All I do know is that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Martin is welcome in Andy's eyes. For now, I'll go along with that."

"It just doesn't seem right to me."

"I agree." Lisa-Marie sighed. "Anyway, will bacon and eggs do for your brunch?"

"Brunch?"

"Yeah, too late for breakfast, too early for lunch. I heard it on tv the other day."

I just shrugged. "Sure, bacon and eggs will do fine."

I'd finished eating and Lisa-Marie had called her mom to explain what had happened by the time Willy came back and knocked on the door. I let him in and offered him a cup of coffee while we waited for Lisa-Marie to finish her call.

"Some mess, huh?" Willy said quietly as he stirred sugar into his coffee. "Mom is so mad at Dad that I think she'd kick his butt if she could catch him. He's out in the barn shovelling manure and swearing to himself. I'm fairly sure that he'd like to apologise again, but this time I think Andy is going to take longer to cool off."

"Oh?" I said in a rather noncommital manner.

"Yeah. I think he might have said something stupid and she's really riled this time."

"Jeez, kicking her out of the house like he did last time wasn't bad enough?"

"I think he told her that there was no reason she couldn't come home now, since she was no longer pregnant or something equally as dumb."

"Oh boy!" Lisa-Marie said as she walked up to us. "I think that would set Andy off."

Both Willy and I just nodded in agreement.

"Oh, by the way, Tom, Mom agrees with me. She thinks I should just pack in my course since the rest of it's going to be about advertising, especially now that Andy is going to need someone around to lean on for a while."

"Well, I'm not about to argue with you over it right now. I think we'd better get ready to leave. I'd like you to grab a couple of blankets, some winter clothes for Andy and her winter boots too. Oh, and a couple of the old pillows from one of the beds upstairs. Let's at least make her comfortable on the trip back." I sighed as I gestured at the window. "Looking at this weather, we'd better be prepared for just about anything."

"Do you have a shovel in the car?" Will asked.

"Good point." I nodded at him. "I did move my flat spade to the pickup the other day. We'd better put that in the trunk in case we have to dig our way out of a snow bank. Other than that, the car is ready for winter. I've even got chains in the back if we need them."

"You seem more worried about this snow than you were about the blizzard the other day. Why?" Lisa-Marie asked.

"Well, the roads are already iced over. Now we've got wet snow on top of that." I explained. "The snow packs on top of the ice, but it doesn't bond to it and when you drive on it, it fills up the space between the studs on the tires. Depending on how deep it is, you get hardly any traction at times and lots at other times. Driving in conditions like this is like skating on thin wet ice; you never know what to expect."

"What I hate is how it builds up as ice on the windshield wiper blades." Willy complained. "When I took Mom home, I had to stop in our yard and break the wipers out of a coating of wet ice that formed just on the trip from here to there."

"Oh yeah, that's another lovely thing about snow like this." I agreed as I got up to get ready.

I went out to warm up the car and get the spade from the truck while Willy waited to help Lisa-Marie with her bundle of clothes and blankets. I had to sweep about two inches of wet snow off the roof of the car before I could open the door. If I hadn't, it would have fallen inside when I opened the door and I didn't really want to make the trip sitting on a wet seat.

The car wasn't really warm by the time they came out, but the weather didn't look like it was going to improve and I didn't want to wait any longer. When we drove out the driveway and got onto the road, my worst suspicions were confirmed. It felt like I was driving on a skating rink and the studded tires didn't seem to be helping one iota.

It took us over twice as long to make the trip to the hospital that day compared to previous night. By the time we got there, I was feeling the tension in every muscle and I heaved a huge sigh of relief as I found a place to park near the hospital entrance.

Andy was still in her room when we went inside. In fact the doctor was just doing his afternoon rounds and he seemed surprised to see us.

"Doesn't any sort of weather slow you people down?" He asked quietly.

"It slowed us down. We just left earlier." I answered. "Andy said she could come home, so we're here to make sure she has a good trip."

"You're Tom, right?" He looked at me.

"Yep."

"Could we step across the hall for a moment? Andrea wants me to talk to you."

I looked at him, then at Andy. She nodded her head, so I nodded at him, then followed him across the hallway and into a short hallway that was the entrance to another room. He turned and looked at me with a frown.

"Andrea has explained to me that she is staying with you because of a family disagreement, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"However, you go to college during the week, don't you? You do realise that she shouldn't be left alone right now?"

"We know that. Lisa-Marie is actually quitting her course so she can remain at home with Andy. If Lisa-Marie needs any help, Willy comes by twice a day. Then too, Andy's folks live just half a mile down the road." I explained. "I think she'll be well looked after."

"I thought she didn't get along well with her family?"

"Well, since you're her doctor, I suppose you should know that the pregnancy wasn't welcomed by her father." I sighed. "He actually asked her to leave home if she wouldn't get an abortion, but now he wants her to come back. Andy is reacting to that. I don't think they'd let her come to any harm because of the disagreement though."

"I see." He nodded slowly. "And you were Andrea's refuge, were you?"

"I suppose you could call us that." I nodded in turn. "I'd just say we were her friends."

"So you aren't coercing her in any way?"

"Not that I know of." I smiled. "I think she's got a strong enough personality to tell us off if we ever tried."

"I see. I can also understand something of Andrea's trust in you." He paused and took a deep breath. "You're going to find that Andrea's temperament will have changed somewhat. She won't seem to be the same person as she was, at least not part of the time."

I nodded, accepting that. "Dr. Timmins, I've lived on a farm and been a farmer all my life. I've seen animals that have lost their young and I understand how they react. Is she going to be that much different?"

"I'm sorry. I don't understand."

Somehow I couldn't bring myself to talk to him about my family and about our experiences with a child that was lost during pregnancy just then. Yet I had to answer him. For some reason I thought about the cows in a film about bovine brucellosis that I'd seen at the college and I talked about that.

"Well, if a cow loses her calf, usually she'll seem to change and become temperamental. She'll act like she's exceptionally lonely, yet at the same time, she won't want company. She'll hunt for the calf, but she'll seem to act like she's dejected, and she'll either try to get away from other cows that have claves, or she'll crowd in too close." I shrugged. "It's as if the cow doesn't know what she wants and at times it seems as if she just wants to give up. I know it's even worse for a woman because they grieve a lot longer. Cows aren't extremely intelligent."

"Those are some very astute observations and I'd suspect you're a fine herdsman." He nodded. "I think you have a fair idea of what Andrea will be going through. However, what I worry about in a case of this sort is the dejection and despondency that the patient may feel."

"I can understand that." I nodded. "Which means that we have to watch out for depression and things of that sort, right?"

"Oh yes, depression, anger, sadness. All of the negative emotions." He looked concerned. "To change the subject, how has Lisa-Marie been? Has this situation changed in the way she's reacting?"

"Umm?" I had to think and I shook my head slowly. "I really don't know? I can't say that she's acting the way she was, but she's so full of concern over Andy that I don't think she's had time for anything else."