Cheaper By The Dozen

Chapter Fifteen

By the time Beth got home an hour before the kids were supposed to be out of school she was exhausted. She had attended seven meetings, stopped five major fights between her company and other companies and fired three lazy workers, plus her talk with Eli and Maggie had total drained her energy. She decided to have Roman order Chinese food then have the three oldest take care of the kids.

That plan went straight to the hell when she got a phone call from the high school saying that Marley had fallen down a long flight of stairs and hairline fractured her femur bone. They called 911 and they had sent her to the hospital, Beth rushed to her car as she called Roman.

"Hey mom" he said.

"Marley fell down a long flight of stairs and hairline fractured her leg so I'm headed to the hospital to meet her. I need you to pick up and watch the kids till I get back." Beth said on the verge of tears.

"No problem, let us know what they say." He said.

"Okay" she said then hung up. She cried the whole way to the hospital, she was scared and worried that they are going to say that there was more damage to her then they thought. She was also scared to see Marley all banged up but by the time she parked the car in the parking lot she had forced herself to calm down. She wiped the tears away from her face before getting out of the car and heading towards the entrance. She entered the hospital and went up to the receptionist.

"How can I help you?" The lady asked.

"My daughter, Marley Greene was brought in with a hairline fracture." She said. The receptionist started typing on her computer then stopped and looked at Beth.

"Your daughter is in room ten down the hall." The lady said. Beth hurried to room ten down the hall and when she got there she opened the door and walked in. Marley turned her head to see who was there and she smiled when she saw her mom. Beth looked at the cast that was all the way up the thigh. She also saw that Marley had several scratches and bruises all over her, she also had about six stitches above her eyebrow.

"Oh my poor baby" she said.

"Mom I'm fine" Marley said.

"Marley, you are not fine, you fell down a flight of stairs and broke your thigh bone." Beth said.

"I know but right now I'm fine and I'm not in pain since they gave me some pain killers." Marley said. A nurse walked in with a pair of crutches and discharge papers.

"Here are your crutches and your prescription for your pain killers and here are the discharge papers. We did do some test but everything seems to be find besides the hairline fracture and the cut above her eyebrow." The nurse said taking a pen from her pocket and handed the discharge papers and the pen to Beth. Beth quickly signed the papers before the nurse left.

She then helped Marley change back into her dress which a nurse cleaned for her. Marley took her crutches and stood them up before lifting herself up, putting the crutches under her arm and began walking out. Beth walked beside her as they walked out of the hospital.

Beth opened the passenger's door for her and Marley sat her butt on the seat then handed Beth her crutches before she lifted her cast leg into the car before putting her other one in. Beth closed the door then opened the backseat door and put the crutches on the seat before closing the door. She headed to the driver's side and got in the driver's seat.

She drove them to the pharmacy first to get Marley's pain killers before heading home. Beth parked the car in their driveway before getting out and taking the crutches from the backseat. She then went over to the passenger's side and opened the door for Marley. She got out of the car carefully before taking her crutches. They headed inside to see all of the kids standing in the living room with a sign saying "Welcome Home Marley" Marley smiled at them before they all hurried over to her. They each took a turn hugging Marley before she got tired and headed for the couch.

"You're going to have to sleep in the guest room since it's on the ground floor." Beth said.

"It's fine" Marley said slowly sitting down on the couch. Ireland pushed the leg rest over to Marley and put her leg on it.

"Thanks Ireland" she said.

"No problem little sis" she said as the doorbell rang. Beth went over to the door and opened the door. A young man that looked to be around Marley's age stood there with Marley's favorite flowers, daisies. He had tan skin, light brown hair and green eyes.

"Hello Ms. Greene I'm Dakota, a friend of Marley's and I was wondering if I could see her?" He said. Beth looked back to see everyone looking at Marley. Beth sighed and let the boy through and he smiled as he saw Marley. He went over to her and handed her the bouquet of daisies

"These are for you" he said.

"Thanks Dakota, you didn't have to come all the way here, you could have just called." She said.

"You're my best friend and I had to come in person to make sure you were okay with my own eyes." He said.

"Thanks Dakota" Marley said looking very tired.

"You look exhausted so I will just go." He said then leaned down and kissed her cheek before leaving. Everyone stared at Marley wondering why this girl didn't see that Dakota was in love with her.

"What?" She said once she realized she was being watched.

"That boy is in love with you and you don't even see it." Beth said.

"He is not, Dakota and I are just friends." She said.

"Well that kiss on the cheek told another story." Beth said.

"Well he's not" she said.

"Whatever" they all said.