Grace

Chapter 31

"Ben, it's one in the morning," I complained. "I want to go to bed."

"You're doing really well," he said and tugged me back into the middle of the dance floor. "We can –"

"Ben!" I cried and made him let me go. "I'm going to bed. You should too."

"My dad's –"

"Ben, you didn't sleep last night either," I said impatiently. "If anything happens with your dad, they'll call."

"I'm not tired."

"You're exhausted." I took his hand and pulled him from the room flipping the lights out as we went.

Ben was so tired he stumbled up the stairs and was nodding off as we walked. I figured he'd been up for about forty two hours. Far too long. I guided him into my room and then into bed. He rolled into the middle nearly and was out like a light. I pulled the quilt over him, closed the curtains on all sides and then climbed into bed as well. Ben didn't stir at all. Carefully I pulled his hair out from its ponytail and put the tie on the side table.

"Dad!" Ben exclaimed and flew into a sitting position.

"It's just a bad dream," I soothed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's ok. Your dad's ok. Lie down. Come on."

I pulled him down to lie with me and ran a hand through his hair until his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. Only when I was absolutely sure he was going to sleep all the way through the night did I let myself fall asleep too.

*     *     *     *

Something was buzzing. I cringed against it and tried to fall asleep, but it just kept on buzzing. I rolled as much as I could with Ben's head on my chest and reached out to my bedside table which was where the buzzing phone was. Bleary eyed I picked it up, answered it and put it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Grace?" a voice asked in relief. "I've been trying to get to you for an hour."

"Who is this?" I groaned. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Three in the morning for you. It's Christian. Where's Ben?"

"Oh my gosh, are you ok? Did you get hurt earlier?"

"I'm ok. Ben?"

"Sleeping. Hang on I'll try and wake him up."

"Try?"

"He was up reading the night before last. Hang on, I'm going to have to put the phone down."

I put it back on the table and then began prodding Ben's shoulder. He didn't so much as flinch. I called his name a few times and shook his shoulder, but he didn't respond more than shifting a little. His movements were lax and heavy, a sign that he was still well under and not a sign that he was slowly waking up.

"Your dad's on the phone," I whispered into his ear.

Nothing.

I gave up and picked the phone back up. "Christian?"

"He's well out of it, isn't he?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

The king sighed. "Ok. Will you get him to call me as soon as he wakes up?"

"Course."

"How worried is he?"

"He kept me waltzing until one in the morning."

"Waltzing? He hates waltzing. Did he volunteer?"

"He's been teaching me because I need to learn for school. That he was a bit reluctant to begin with, but he volunteered," I yawned. "Sorry."