Anne slept peacefully with no more bouts of anxiety while Gil and Olivia discussed Anne's treatment.

Because Anne had been lying down for an extended period of time, he wanted to get her up and walking soon to reduce her chances of developing pneumonia.

Gil was quiet for a while as he sat near Anne and considered the logistics of having Olivia's help with Anne.

He began, "Olivia, I'd like to watch Anne myself for the next few hours. Maybe during that time, you can make yourself comfortable in the guest room at the top of the stairs and rest from your long day. If this is agreeable to you, perhaps you can take over about midnight and then I'll relieve you about five or six in the morning. Would that work or did you have a better idea?"

"Actually, that sounds fine, Dr. Blythe. I slept on the trip to my uncle's house earlier, and I'm not tired at all. I would like, though, to change into more suitable clothing. And thank you, for trusting me to care for your wife," she answered.

"I'm sure you are a very capable nurse, or you wouldn't have finished first in your class, and your uncle is certainly very proud of you" he smiled. "When Mrs. Blythe is awake, she would love to hear all about your schooling and experiences in the hospital, I am sure."

Olivia smiled graciously, happy to know that Dr. Blythe approved of her credentials.

"I'm thinking of moving my wife upstairs to our room, perhaps tomorrow. There is a tree that she is quite fond of, and trying to keep her at rest during her recovery will prove a challenge for both of us, I'm afraid. Anne is…full of….spirited ideas.

The more we can do to insure rest, the sooner she will be healthy again. When she's moved upstairs, you can make this room yours so you can have privacy yourself. You can make use of this downstairs bathroom, as well.

I suggest that you go upstairs and rest yourself for the night ahead of you, but before you settle in, I'd like to get her sitting up and doing breathing exercises tomorrow and she can have a sponge bath as well. The bandage was just changed, so you don't have to worry about that. Perhaps we can even get her standing for a bit, if she's able, pain-wise."

"That sounds fine, Dr. Blythe. I'll make sure I change bed linens before she's moved upstairs.

Dr. Blythe yawned, and said, "Thank you so much for this. I know that Anne will appreciate your help. Time for you to make yourself at home upstairs and rest. See you about midnight?"

"Yes, Dr. Blythe," she nodded happily. Olivia was indeed happy to be at the Blythe home and not at her uncle's, caring for newborn twins. "Twins!" she thought. "That would have been impossibly horrifying."

* * *

When Gil returned to Anne's bedside, he was pleased to see her asleep, but he noticed that Anne pushed the blanket away from herself. The room wasn't overly warm, but perspiration had begun to form around her forehead.

Just as he was beginning to shake down the thermometer, Anne opened her eyes and studied Gil for a moment as she took in what she was seeing around the room.

"What time is it?" she asked in the strongest voice he had heard since her surgery.

"Just after nine pm. How are you?" he asked as he leaned closer to her and took her hand in his and kissed it. "Does anything hurt?"

"I'm fine. A little stiff maybe. Can I have some water?" Anne requested quietly.

"Here you go. Drink it slowly, Anne. Just one sip at a time."

"Can we open up the window a little bit? Just a little bit, for a breeze?" she murmured while she continued to sip from the small cup.

"I thought you might be getting warm. After surgery, some patients feel warm for a while," he explained while he used a cool wet cloth to wipe her forehead. He stood up to open the window just two or three inches, and just for a few moments. "Here's some fresh air for you," he smiled.

Her hand went down to where the bandage was, and she felt one edge of it and took her eyes away from her husband's. "I'm so…" her voice trailed off to nothingness.

"So what, Anne?"

"I don't know what I was going to say, except that I am so stupid and you probably think I'm a ridiculous person for all of this. I'm so sorry for…all of this," she replied as her voice cracked and a single tear ran down her cheek.

"Listen. All I care about is that you were sick and we are going to get you healthy again. When you are back to yourself, I do have quite a lecture ready for you about telling me when you don't feel well, but for now, all I want is for my beautiful new wife to let me do what I can to make her feel good again. You don't have to worry about anything, except for doing exactly what I tell you, of course."

Anne yawned and then began to lift her head up while looking at Gil. "I think it's time that I get up and see if my legs still work. Can you help me?"

"You're not getting up," Gil said in a controlled, calm voice.

"I have to get up. I want to visit the bathroom, and I want to get up. Please, Gil," she responded in an equally controlled, calm voice.

Gil looked at her warily and asked, "How is your incision feeling?"

"Well, it feels puffy and tender, and I don't think I would like someone to kick me in my stitches at the moment, but if you show me how to walk with an incision, I'll be fine."

"I might let you sit up. If you can tolerate that, I'll consider more. Do you really have to go to the bathroom, or are you bored?" he grinned.

"I don't know, but I'm tired of lying down," she said as she stifled a yawn.

"Okay, we'll try. The first thing we do is brace a pillow against your incision, and then I'll support your back. You can slowly draw your legs up a bit; that will help. In a few days, you can use your feet to very slowly push yourself up towards the headboard. By 'few days,' I mean in two or three days! If you have any sudden pain, you stop and tell me. If you don't, I will be fiercely upset with you for a long time and make you sleep outside forever with the wild animals. Do you understand me, Mrs. Blythe?"

Anne nodded her head and said, "I promise."

Gil gingerly placed the nearest pillow near Anne's incision and placed her hand over the location of her incision. "Can you hold this," he said, "while I get your back?"

Anne closed her eyes to concentrate on pulling up her knees toward her while holding the pillow. Gilbert used both hands to glide her up and forward. "How do you feel? Any pain?" he asked.

"It just feels so good to be sitting up a bit. Thank you for the help," she responded.

"I planned on getting you up first thing in the morning. We also have to start on some breathing exercises pretty soon. All you have to do is take some really deep breaths and cough. They aren't hard."

"Can we do that after the bathroom?" Anne requested as she started to push one leg towards the floor.

"Stop, Anne! I told you we are going slowly with this. I'm glad I was here when you woke up! You'd probably be out shoveling gravel if I hadn't been here to prevent you!"

"Gil, I'm not trying to aggravate you, but I really would like to go to the bathroom. If you don't want me to walk, could you carry me? Please, Gilbert?"

"Let's do this. You hold the pillow securely around your abdomen and I will walk next to you. Take very small steps and if you feel out of breath or anything else that I should know about, you tell me," he directed.

"I promise I will do that," she smiled.

Gil sighed and carefully moved one leg at a time until both of them were on the floor. When he was sure that she had a good grasp of the pillow around her middle, he reached both of his hands around her and said, "Ready, wife?"

"Ready and anxious. Let's go," she mustered and slowly divided her weight between the floor and Gil's arms. The room began to spin and she didn't even try to pretend that it wasn't.

"Gil, hold on; I'm feeling rather swimmy at the moment," she whispered as she rested her head against his chest.

"I've got you. Let's just sit for a while and let you get used to this. You've been in bed for awhile and your blood pressure is probably a little low."

"Can we try again in a little bit?" she inquired in a low voice.

"We'll try," he promised.

After ten minutes, Anne said, "Let's try walking again. I'm afraid I'll never get out of this bed if I don't take a walk."

"That's characteristically overdramatic, Anne. You will be feeling loads better each day: chasing cows through potato fields and falling off of ridge poles in less than a week."

"Thank you for your witty repartee, Dr. Blythe. Please just take me to the bathroom," she groaned.

They tried standing up again and Anne's system was better able to handle the change in position. Neither she nor her husband wanted to walk faster than a snail's pace. As they passed over the bathroom threshold, Anne felt sheepish and said, "You know, I actually don't feel as if I need to be in here. I just so wanted to be out of that blasted bed!"

"My dear, since we are in here and it took some time to arrive, let me help you to the commode and you can at least rest before the return trip," said Dr. Blythe.

Mrs. Blythe was fighting dehydration so her instincts upon entering the bathroom were correct, but she was able to make some practical use of the excursion. Gil gave her as much privacy as was possible by keeping one arm on her shoulder and looking away from her.

"Gil! Gil!" Anne suddenly shrieked, "I hear someone! There's someone IN THE HOUSE! "Upstairs! Oh, Gil!"

"Anne, I am so sorry! I forgot to mention Olivia," Gil explained.

Anne lost all of the recent color in her cheeks and was clearly in a panic as she swayed dangerously from side to side as she sat. "Gil, there is someone upstairs IN OUR HOUSE!"

Gil knelt next to her and noticed the color had drained out of her face. "Anne, Dr. Majors sent his niece, Olivia, to the house. She is a nurse. You will like her. I forgot to tell you about her."

"Oh, I…I just heard sounds coming from upstairs and when I was sleeping, I had all of these dreams and I thought I had heard some of those sounds in my dreams."

Anne said, "Can you help me up?"

"I will," Gil started, "but I want to wait until I see a bit more color in your face. While we are waiting, I've been decreasing the morphine dose I've been giving you; do you feel like you need some more when we return you to bed? You probably do need some soon."

Anne looked down at her side. "I'm a little sore, but it's not terrible. Can we just wait a while? It makes me feel really strange."

Gil pushed some hair away from her face and said, "I know. It's strong. We can wait and continue tapering down, as long as you are honest."

"I promise I will tell you the truth. Before all of this, when I was getting sick, I didn't know that I was really getting that sick. I'll tell you the truth, everything, if I feel sick from now on," she promised.

Gil kissed her hair. "You could have died, Anne. You almost did. By not telling me what was happening, you could have died. Never forget that."

"I'm so sorry. How long have we been married now?" Anne asked.

"Six days. Let's get you back to bed," Gilbert suggested.