Max felt for Zachary’s pulse. “No, he’s not dead. He’s been knocked out by the fall. He didn’t bring a cane, insisted he didn’t need it. The fool must have decided to walk without support. Big shot!”

Sarina wrung her hands. “Why is his arm off from his body like that?”

“It appears to be broken. He must have hit the table when he fell. The vase smashed to the floor, and so did he.” Bob was on his knees beside Max.

“Get him up. Get him up off of the floor.” Sarina’s shrill tone surprised everyone. Wild-eyed, she looked from one to the other. “Someone do something. Do something.”

Bob put his arm about Sarina.

Zachary shifted slightly and moaned.

Sarina huddled against Bob. “He’s been like a crazy man since we left India.” Her shoulders shook, and she buried her face in Bob’s chest.

“It’s best not to move him,” Bob said. “The ambulance is on the way.”

Grace leaned against the foyer wall and observed the unfolding scene. Amelia had taken Sarah from Miriam and she paced, Sarah crying in her arms. Bob tried to comfort Sarina. Hannah appeared with a blanket and covered Zachary, then walked away.

Sadie huddled against her mother, who stroked her hair, comforting the child. Everyone spoke in whispers.

Grace wondered if Zachary had let go and fallen deliberately, a ploy for sympathy. Even he wouldn’t be that stupid, her mind said, but her instincts suggested that Zachary Maxwell was capable of just about anything. Poor Sarina, she thought. My heart goes out to her.

The doorbell rang, and Hannah opened it to the medics carrying black bags, a collapsed gurney, and blankets. They revived Zachary, splinted his arm, and lifted him onto the stretcher. One of the medics spoke to Max, then moved the gurney out, down the steps, and into the ambulance. Sirens wailed as they drove off to the hospital in Asheville.

“Hannah and I will take Sarina to the hospital,” Max said.

“Can I leave Sarah? There are bottles in the fridge at home. Can I leave her with you?” She looked from Grace to Amelia.

“Certainly,” Grace said. “You go, and don’t worry about Sarah.”

Zachary had broken his arm. He had dislodged the pins that held his ankle together and sustained a concussion. The emergency room doctor wanted to admit him for observation. It was then Max learned that his son was uninsured, the bill for Sarina’s delivery was unpaid.

“Damn him,” Max said to Hannah. “I’d have put him on the dairy’s medical, if he’d said something.” An embarrassed Max assumed responsibility for his son’s emergency room treatment and the orthopedist’s services, but refused to pay for hospitalization.

“That would cost me two thousand dollars a day for him to lie in bed and be pampered by nurses. He can darn well recover at home,” he told Hannah.