"Uh huh." Maddy nodded.
"Can you take me there?" Mary asked.
"Uh huh." Maddy nodded again. She picked up her doll, then walked over and tugged on Mary's hand, leading her toward the stairs, away from the front door.
Mary understood. "Sweetheart, we'll go upstairs later. But right now, we need go to Judah's house."
Maddy giggled again and Mary realized she hadn't understood at all. Until now. "Maddy," she asked, "where does Judah live?"
"Up'tairs," Maddy answered.
Upstairs. The word took the wind out of Mary's sails. She plopped down on the bottom stair. Judah lived upstairs. She was responsible for him, right along with Maddy and Lee. Mary bit her bottom lip. Somehow she hadn't expected that added responsibility. Somehow she had thought that when they reached Denver someone else would be responsible for Judah. But they hadn't gone to Denver. They'd stopped in Utopia.
Utopia had come as a surprise to Mary. But Lee had known where they were heading all along. She wondered if Lee knew Judah was a permanent resident of Ettinger House and not a temporary guest. Mary wondered if that was another one of Lee's secrets—something else he hadn't told her.
Madeline cuddled closer to Mary on the stairs and touched her sleeve. "Zhudah wants go to sleep," she reminded.
Mary sighed as she got to her feet. She couldn't avoid the upstairs any longer. She had to explore the rooms on the upper floor. She had to venture into intimate territory, a place full of bedrooms and beds where people slept—and her husband lay sleeping. "Okay," Mary said. "Let's go upstairs."
"One, two, three, four." Mary let go of Maddy's hand at the top of the landing, then followed behind as the little girl led the way to Judah's room. Mary paused in front of each door she passed, quietly opened them, and peeked inside. All of the rooms were bedrooms and, Mary noticed, so far all of the bedrooms were unoccupied and none of them seemed appropriate for a little girl or suitable for an elderly gentleman until they reached the fifth door on the left side of the hall.
"Zhudah's room," Maddy announced as she reached up and patted the wooden door with the palm of her hand.
Mary turned to Judah and pasted a bright smile on her face. "Here we are, Judah." She turned the cut-glass doorknob and pushed open the door into a warm, welcoming room, full of dark wood furniture and packed with shelves of leather-bound volumes. Law books. "Home at last."
Judah didn't budge. He simply stared at the room as if he'd never seen it.
Mary didn't quite know how to handle the situation, but Maddy apparently did.
"Come on, Zhudah." Madeline took the elderly man by the hand and walked him to the large half-tester bed across the room. She tossed her doll, Mama, on the bed and issued another instruction to the older man. "Turn 'round, Zhudah."
Judah turned.
"Sit down." Maddy nudged him on the leg just above the knee and Judah obediently sat down on the edge of the bed.
Maddy turned to look at Mary who hovered in the doorway. "Me help Zhudah," she said, before she reached down to tug at Judah's shoelaces. She pulled the lace through the loop and the laces knotted.
Mary realized suddenly that Maddy knew a great deal more about Judah's illness than she did. Maddy recognized Judah's lapses in memory and understood that his loss of memory resulted in the loss of his basic skills. When that happened, he wasn't like other adults. He couldn't remember how to tie or untie his shoes, or how to button or unbutton a shirt. At two-and-a-half, Madeline had mastered some of the skills Judah lacked and had taken it upon herself to help him. Mary watched as Maddy patiently worked at undoing the knot she had made in his shoelace.
"Here," Mary said, as she crossed the room and knelt beside Judah's bed. "Let me undo that while you untie the other one."
Maddy let go of the knot and turned her attention to Judah's other shoe.
"Now what?" Mary asked, when Judah's shoes were neatly lined up beside the bed.
"Zhudah's coat." Maddy took hold of Judah's arm and lifted it.
Judah sat with his arms extended as Maddy tugged at his coat sleeve, undressing him as if he were a doll. After his coat, came his waistcoat and tie. And while Mary removed Judah's collar and unbuttoned his dress shirt, Maddy walked over to the armoire and took a blue-striped cotton nightshirt out of the bottom drawer.
The sight of Judah's bare chest, sprinkled here and there with gray hair, took Mary by surprise. It wasn't as if she'd never seen a man's naked chest before. She had seen her brothers, Reese, and her father strip off their shirts in summer. She had caught glimpses of shirtless cowhands as they washed up for meals, and even helped nurse her brother, David, through a bout of measles after he returned from the war, but helping Judah was different. His illness wasn't like the measles. Judah's illness was worse than the fever and pain of measles, much worse, because his illness took away his ability to take care of himself. It robbed him of his memories and threatened his dignity. He was a grown man, not a child, and no matter how hard Mary tried to think of him as a child like Madeline, she remembered the articulate, intelligent, sensitive gentleman she had seen earlier. Judah would be embarrassed to know Mary and Maddy had undressed him and put him to bed—tucked him in—the way Maddy tucked in her doll. He would be ashamed to know Mary had witnessed his weakness. And even though she doubted Judah would remember, Mary didn't want to take the chance. Judah deserved to keep his dignity. "Maddy, it's still daylight. I don't think Judah should wear his nightshirt before dark."
Relishing her role as the boss, Maddy refused to give in. She shook her head. "Zhudah go sleep. Zhudah nightshirt," she insisted.
"I don't think so."
"Nightshirt!" Maddy shoved the garment at Judah.
Mary snatched it away. "No, Maddy. Judah can nap as he is." Mary moved Madeline's doll off the bed and placed it on the nightstand. She turned to Judah, motioned for him to scoot down to the foot of the bed, waiting as he did so, then flipped back the covers. "In you go," she said as Judah lay back against the pillows and raised his legs so Mary could tuck the covers around him. "Sleep well." Mary reached out and patted Judah's gnarled hand. "Maddy, say goodnight to Judah," Mary instructed.