Chapter 7 begins

     Leah finally fell asleep and Charles spent the next few hours moving all the antiques he had collected and crammed in the living room out into the garage, as Leah had suggested. After he draped everything in white sheets he straightened up the living room, cleaned out the fire place and then brought fresh towels and linens up to her room. He sat in the rocking chair for a few moments as he watched her sleep. Just as he was exiting the room she stirred awake with a terrible fever. She complained that she felt like she was in an oven and he opened the windows up letting the cold night air in the room. The lilacs and jasmine were in full bloom and the thick sweet scent hung heavy in the air.
     "Thank you, that feels nice." Leah smiled a little up at him.
     "Leah, I think I need to hook you up to an I.V., you are really dehydrated, I promise it won't hurt."
     "Can you put something in it to help me sleep?" she asked as he remained silent. "I just feel like a should just go to sleep for awhile."
     Charles did not respond he simply went to the next room took out an I.V. bag and did mix a drop or two of very powerful sleep aid in it and after he inserted the needle and tube into a vein in her hand she fell asleep. Charles went back down stairs took a hot shower then got into his bed. He took the bottle of vicodan, sighed and slipped it into the draw of the nightstand. It took a few hours of tossing and turning but he did fall asleep for a little while.