She found herself startled again as she heard the sudden banging of doors. Since she'd left Teeter upstairs at' tending Mrs. Monkfort, she cautiously entered the library… and found the French doors not only open, but also banging against the walls. The curtains were billowing in the breeze, soaking wet.
She quickly crossed the room to shut the doors, wondering who would be crazy enough to go outside in this downpour. Then, as she realized what she had just thought, a bark of laughter flew from her lips. "Anyone in this place," she answered herself.
As she grabbed hold of the French doors to shut them, she happened to catch sight of a flash of color. Curious, she leaned out the door and looked outside. To her dismay, she found none other than Jack the Rip, tearing off his clothes in frenzied anticipation. Throwing down his shirt and stomping on it, he began to dance a merry jig in front of her rain-drenched rosebushes.
She shook her head, annoyed. Jack was such a thorn in her side. "I suppose I'll have to send Teeter and Totter to go and haul him in," she muttered to herself. And Mrs. Fawlty would be pulling thorns out of his backside again. And other places, she thought with a shudder.
Observing Jack bowing to the Marilyn red rosebush, one of her favorites, she sighed in resignation. The werefox was demented. She doubted he would ever get well.
Planning to summon Teeter, she'd hastily begun to close the door, when suddenly she stopped, her jaw falling open. Then, mindless, Eve walked out into the rain to get a better look.
She closed her eyes.
She opened her eyes.
She closed them again.
When next she could look, the sight remained: Jack the Rip was not the only lunatic out swinging in the rain. Frederick was there, too, naked as the day he was created, dancing a jig in the downpour, his big body swinging here and there and everywhere. All of it.
Eve gasped. Never had she seen a man's nether parts so big. Talk about being cock of any walk! Frederick was enormous, and it also appeared that he was blotto. He seemed to be yelling something, but she couldn't hear what.
Running back inside, she swiftly grabbed an umbrella. She dashed back out, and icy cold raindrops ran down her neck as she hastened to where Frederick was dancing and singing. Eve could hear him now, three sheets to the wind, singing in a loud baritone. His was actually a very beautiful voice.
As she ran toward Frederick, she didn't realize that her jaw dropped open again and she gaped like a fish. The gentle giant was not alone! Oh, no, Adam was singing and dancing right alongside the merry monster. And while her husband's voice was not as deep as Frederick's, it had a nice husky quality that she admired. Fortunately for her sanity, he was not dancing in the altogether. He was garbed in a pair of doeskin breeches, molded completely to his skin by the pounding rain, revealing his taut muscles and an interesting bulge. He also had on a waterlogged hat, the brim dripping rain.
"They are totally without the sense God or Victor Frankenstein gave them!" Eve chided, feeling some measure of annoyance. At the same time, she wanted to whoop with laughter.
She approached, Frederick jumping in rain puddles while Adam swung around one of the tall Grecian columns, his hat pointed at a jaunty angle. Adam was sopping wet, the water droplets covering his chest and gliding down it. Eve found herself licking her lips.
As Adam swung and Frederick splashed, dozens of frogs joined in their cheerful song, hopping this way and that. Surprisingly, the frog's croaks seemed to harmonize. Eve stifled a giggle.
Staring at the huge, naked Frederick and her wayward spouse, she shook her head. She really had to run a tighter ship. But then, what fun she would miss. Again, a few giggles slipped past her lips.
Spotting Eve, Adam let go of his column and splashed toward her, while Frederick began to spin on the opposite column. The heavy marble wobbled with his great weight.
"Good afternoon, my love!" Adam said, tugging at the brim of his soaking-wet bowler.
"What are you doing?" Eve schooled her expression to one of mere curiosity, hoping he couldn't hear the amusement in her voice. The silly man was adorable even wet.
Adam shrugged, a grin on his face. "Nothing important. Merely making a fool of myself," he replied.
"Oh, what a surprise. I thought you might actually do something different today," she replied. He wasn't falling-down drunk, but he had definitely tossed back a few. She grinned. Why did the very nearness of him make her heart leap? She could not account for it, exactly. Especially since the feelings Adam engendered had sprung up in so brief a time.
"I see you've found Frederick and some friends," she noted. Her eyes darted to the frogs, which just happened to be happily hopping and croaking, living the high life.
Adam choked back laughter, but when he spoke his voice was still full of amusement. "Yes. When I found him, he was drowning his sorrows in the Old Kelley Inn."
Eve held her umbrella over her head and gestured for Adam to share. "It appears Frederick is still drowning his sorrows. I take it you helped?"
Adam bent down and took the umbrella from her, holding it above both their heads. "So I did—and I must confess I might have had an ale or two myself."
She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Or perhaps three."
"Perhaps," she said. "But why didn't you bring Frederick inside when you first got back?"
"Have you ever tried to get a giant to go somewhere he doesn't want?" Adam asked. "It's a very tall order."
Eve giggled and shook her head. "You are the most exasperating man I know. Well, come—we need to get both Frederick and Jack inside before they catch their deaths of cold."
He nodded in agreement, and they started toward Frederick, but before they could reach him the giant fell backward with a splash. He lay there in the middle of a huge rain puddle, arms outstretched. As they hurried over, a big bullfrog hopped on top of Frederick's knee while another, even larger than the first, perched on his giant green head.
Eve knelt beside the big lout. "Are you all right?" she asked. When Frederick grinned stupidly she sighed. "He's still sloshed to the gills."
"That's an understatement," Adam said. "Hard to believe that any monster can't hold his liquor, but Frederick here is absolute proof." Casting down their umbrella, he knelt and placed an arm under Frederick's shoulder, coaching the man to his feet. "I want you to sit up."
Frederick managed to do so, barely.
"Now, I want you to stand on your own two feet," Adam encouraged in a stern tone. Frederick looked doubtful, but Adam continued pressing. "You can do it. You can do it."
Eve got on the other side of the huge monster. "Men and their bottles and broken hearts," she grumbled half-heartedly. Really, she was finding the situation too amusing for words. But as Frederick's doctor, she must show disapproval.
"I'll be all right, Dr. Eve. Dr. Adam put me on the straight and… narrow," Frederick said. "I'll be better in a bit. He said I mus… must take disappointment with a quiet dignity. After all, I am a Frankenstein. We may be…" He hiccupped, gave a great loud belch, then managed to finish: "Frankenstein's are eccentric and scary and sometimes downright mad as hatters, but we do have our dig… nity. Dr. Adam reminded me." He added another loud hiccup.
Eve was impressed, truly impressed with both her patient and faux husband. She glanced over at Adam. He should have looked foolish in his soggy trousers and dripping hat, but the knave looked dashing and heroic, and she felt quite fond of him—perhaps even greater than fond.