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she didn’t know how he made up for those precious hours.
    Annie moved closer to the table.
    With the medical bag resting between them, Annie realized it would be wrong to keep the truth from him any longer. She didn’t have to tell him everything about her time with the Englisch , but she should tell him what was in her apron pocket.
    Before she had a chance, though, Adam and David clomped back into the room.
    “Helped Dat to the bathroom. He seems much better than last night. Still weak, but better.” Adam sat down and reachedfor a mug of hot tea, then pulled the basket of breads left over from breakfast toward him.
    “ Ya , your dat’s able to boss me around just fine.” David laughed good-naturedly as he joined Adam at the table. “He’ll have no trouble instructing me how to handle the fields.”
    Samuel threw a challenging look at her. “Excellent news. Let’s go see our patient, then, and I can show you how to use this properly.”
    Before Annie could respond, before she could think of how to correct him, Samuel turned and walked out of the room.

     
    Samuel stood beside her dat’s bed, already deep in discussion with him when Annie joined them.
    “I don’t think it will take me until spring to find my way out of this bed,” Jacob muttered, then began coughing as the congestion that had settled in his lungs battled its way clear.
    Samuel helped him through the coughing spasm, then reminded him in a firm but kind tone, “Jacob, both of your legs are broken. If you hurry your recovery, things are going to be much worse than if you follow Doctor Stoltzfus’s instructions.”
    “ Ya. I understand. Am I looking stupid? I only meant it doesn’t seem to me like it will take four months for a body to heal. Already I feel much better than I did yesterday.”
    Glancing up at her, Samuel frowned and shook his head. “We can thank the antibiotics the doctor gave you for your improvement—”
    “And Annie’s care.” Jacob reached out and patted her hand.
    Samuel pulled back the bed covers to inspect her bandages. “You’re blessed to have three dochdern ,” he agreed.
    “That I am, and I love each one dearly, but it did my heart gut to wake up this morning and see my Annie sitting beside my bed—as if Christmas had come early.”
    “You’re going to make me blush, Dat .” Annie walked around to see what Samuel was scowling at. “Something wrong with those bandages?”
    Refastening them, he tucked the blankets around Jacob’s leg and fixed her with a stare. “Everything looks fine—surprisingly fine.”
    “I’m glad you’re pleased.”
    He looked anything but froh , however, and she still hadn’t settled on a way to tell him about the stethoscope in her pocket.
    Resting his fingers lightly on Jacob’s wrist, Samuel glanced down at the watch on his arm.
    “No need to do that,” Jacob said. “She’s been bothering me regularly with such nonsense.”
    Annie picked up the pad of paper she’d been keeping her chart notations on and handed it to Samuel. “Maybe we could talk about this outside. I’m sure my daed would like to rest—”
    “But how did you—” Samuel flipped from the first page to the second, then glanced up at her.
    Annie felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Fortunately, her father seemed oblivious to the exchange taking place between them.
    “Actually, I wouldn’t mind a piece of your mamm’s bread if you’d like to send Adam in with it.” Jacob resumed his coughing but fought his way through it. “Now that I’m awake, I am rather hungry—another sign I’m healing faster than Doc Stoltzfus thought I would.”
    Samuel let the pad rest against the bed and turned to stare at Annie. “I don’t understand.”
    “Let’s step out into the living room.” She adjusted her daed’s covers, then turned and fled the room, trusting Samuel would follow. Once in the kitchen, she placed some bread and fruit on a separate plate. “Would you take this in to him for me, Adam?