AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Izzy, we should have a blanket to wrap around him first since it will take a few minutes to warm up the space. Is the hideaway unlocked?” Lex asked.
“Don’t worry. I have a key hidden near the door,” she replied, running along the pathway. “There are plenty of blankets still inside.”
By the time Amy assisted Lex with pulling off the remainder of Matthew’s wet clothes, Izzy had already returned with a couple thick towels and a blanket.
“I’ll wrap the towels around him first while you spread the blanket with Izzy, Amy. And then I’ll lift Matthew and rest him on top. You two can wrap him up so I can take off my skates and we can get him inside the hideaway quicker,” Lex said.
Five minutes later, they had Matthew inside the hideaway, where the space heater was already putting out a decent amount of heat.
“I’ll go give the doctor a call,” Izzy said. “I can grab a sled from inside the garage so it’ll be easier to move Matthew to the house. His head never went under, did it?”
“No,” Lex answered, slapping his palm quickly on Matthew’s cheek a couple of times, waiting for a reaction. “Matthew?Matthew?”
“Lex?” he answered weakly. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“Why don’t you ever listen to anyone?”Lex growled. “Izzy’s getting the doctor. I don’t know whether to strangle you or hug you, you dope.”
“It’s sure warm in here,” he said. “It looks like we’re in a cave. Where are we?”
“Somewhere we decided not to show you,” Lex replied, sighing with relief. Matthew must have been better, since he was already talking nonstop.
A few hours later, Doc Donnelly was shaking his head in obvious amazement. “Izzy? Were you the one who saved him?”
“No. I was too stunned that the ice was actually cracking all at once beneath us. We’ve never had anything like that happen before,” she replied. “It was all Lex.”
“How did you know what to do, Lex? It took some quick thinking. Matthew could have died if he’d have been exposed for even a few minutes longer.”
“Or if his head had gone under,” Lex agreed. “I don’t know how I knew what to do. It must have been from reading all those boys’ books that Amy’s been bringing to me to read. Huckleberry Finn and stuff like that.”
The doctor suddenly barked out a laugh. “If Matthew wasn’t in there talking without pause, I wouldn’t be laughing. I have a feeling that kid has been giving all of you a lot of grief.”
“Like not listening when we warned him at least a hundred times not to go out any farther while we were skating,” Lex muttered.
“I knew he was going to be trouble,” Doc Donnelly agreed. “Hopefully, this experience has him rethinking his attitude.”
“I don’t know if anything’s going to do that, Doc,” Lex said.
The doctor laughed again.
Much to Lex’s surprise, or rather horror, Matthew’s behavior toward Lex changed drastically. After resting up for a couple of days, he seemed to have developed a case of hero worship for Lex since he’d been told by just about everyone that Lex had saved his life.
Not only was Brownie following him around everywhere, but now Lex also had Matthew doing it too, which was driving him crazy since Matthew’s bedroom just happened to be on the other side of his. At least Lex got a break when Matthew went off to school.
It was mid-March when everyone was seated around the table and Mom said that she had an announcement to make.
Even though the baby still wasn’t due for several months, Mom was getting pretty big. Of course, she was only about five-foot tall, so more than likely that explained it.
She cleared her throat. “Most of you guys are aware that Jeff and Kelly, my youngest brother and sister are twins.”
There was a long silence.
She gave them a toothy smile. “Gabe and I just found out that we’re going to have twins.”
“I hope this isn’t going to be too much for everyone,” Dad admitted, looking dazed. “I still haven’t quite gotten used to the idea myself.”
His eyes going wide, Lex stared into Amy’s.
When she suddenly burst out laughing, Lex laughed too.
