“I thought I did. I was young and arrogant. I thought I could cure the world with a good couch and a few months of therapy. I patted her on the head and prescribed some meds and sent her home.”
Karl turned and looked at Ty. “To you.”
Sonofabitch.
“It wasn’t until years later that I found out what she’d done to you—been doing to you. You were in high school I think when a teacher finally realized what was happening and Child Services pulled you out of the home.”
“Ninth grade.”
“I made a mistake. A big one, and you suffered for it. I’m sorry.”
Ty cleared his throat. His thoughts whirled. Anger flew by, but cleared out quickly. He was too tired, too hurt to be angry. “It happens. We’re doctors, not gods. None of us are all-knowing.”
“Maybe you should keep that in mind when you look back on what happened with Mia.”
“There’s a big difference between making a medical mistake and having a…relationship with a patient.”
“I’m going to forget you said that.”
“Because it’s a breach of medical ethics?”
Karl guffawed. An honest laugh. “Because you’re talking about my niece, and there are some things an uncle just should not know.”
He sat down next to the bed again. “I should leave you. You need your rest. But before I go, I have something for you.” He pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of his suit coat.
Ty turned it over in his hands. “What is it?”
“A plane ticket to California, and a letter of recommendation to one of the best mental-health facilities on the West Coast. The director there is an old alum chum. He said he’d be happy to have you on board.”
Ty frowned.
“Of course, you’d be welcome to come back to work at MHMH, but I didn’t think—”
Ty shook his head. He turned the envelope over again. “California?”
Karl Serrat feigned innocence poorly. “Did I mention that Mia is in California?”
Christmas morning, Mia bit her lip and watched silently as her baffled son opened up the last of his presents. A red rope with a clip on one end and a handle on the other. A ceramic bowl with hearts and paw prints around the rim. A large plaid pillow.
Reaching for the last gift, he looked up at her in puzzlement. “Mo-om?”
“Just open it.”
He sighed and tore at the red foil wrapping over the odd-shaped present. When he got his first look at it, his eyes widened. He blinked as if he couldn’t believe it. He was holding a bone-shaped picture frame with a picture of a cute yellow dog behind the glass and a sticky note that said, “Go to the utility room to find your last present.”
“Mo-om?” His little fingers tightened on the frame. “MOM!” He jumped up and ran for the stairs.
Just before Mia had left Eternal, she’d gone to say goodbye to Nana one last time. Before she left, Nana shared Todd’s confession about the Christmas gift he wanted but was afraid to ask for: a dog.
Three days ago she’d visited the Humane Society shelter and adopted an adorable ten-week-old golden retriever mix. It had been murder keeping the secret from Todd until this morning.
It was worth it though, judging by the high-pitched barks and little-boy squeals of delight coming from downstairs.
She picked up the leash and went to watch. The pair was spinning wildly around the utility room. Mia wasn’t sure who was more excited, dog or boy, but one thing she was sure of—they were both an accident looking for a place to happen.
“All right, all right. How about we take the new family member out for a walk on the beach and work off some of that energy?”
Todd had leash and pup in hand and was making his way down the stone staircase to the waterfront before Mia could turn around.
The beach was nearly deserted—it was still Christmas morning, after all. She and Todd and the pup walked and skipped and waded ankle-deep in the surf. They sang carols and threw sticks to be fetched and held hands.
Mia was thankful for every second of it. She’d come so close to losing him, but he’d come through the ordeal relatively unscathed. He didn’t understand all that had happened—Citria had kept him well sedated most of the time. Mia had him seeing a therapist again, just to be sure. And she made certain to reassure him of her love every chance she got.
Her own mental wounds were healing, as well. Todd was alive and happy and they were together—that was all that mattered. Her life was complete. Or so she told herself. She didn’t let herself examine the one empty place left in her heart too closely.
Todd laughed at the pup’s antics, and she smiled. “What are you going to name him?”
She was talking to Todd, but looking down the beach, to where someone was walking down the sand, feet bare and ankle-deep in water as she and Todd had been, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. His head was down and he looked deep in thought.
He also looked familiar.
Her breath caught. “Ty?”
She hurried down the sand. Todd was off in the other direction playing with the puppy, thankfully.
“Mia.” It was a sigh and a surrender. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, buried his rough jaw against her neck.
They stood that way a long while. Finally he let her go and stepped back, grinning down at her with a shy smile. It was a look she hadn’t seen on him before.
“You’re okay?” she asked. “You’re out of the hospital.”
He held his hands out to the sides as if for inspection. “Good as new.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I knew that, actually. I’ve been calling the hospital every day. I wouldn’t even have left Eternal if your doctor hadn’t assured me you were going to be okay.”
“I know.”
Mia looked around to check on Ty. He was playing down the beach, at a safe distance from the water, suspiciously oblivious to the reunion going on nearby. She frowned.
Ty fessed up. “I caught him yesterday when he was playing out in the yard. Paid him ten bucks to give us a few minutes when I finally got up the nerve to talk to you.”
She shook her head, screwed up her face. “Got up the nerve? And he took ten dollars from you to ignore us?”
“Worth every penny, though I only offered him five at first. Guy’s gonna be a killer businessman, just like his father.”
They both laughed. Mia would have to talk to Ty about taking advantage of friends, though. Another day.
Ty pulled his shoulders back. The humor fell from his face. “I wanted to make sure I had time to apologize properly.”
“Apologize?”
He cleared his throat. “For not believing in you.”
Her heart thudded dully in her chest. Of all her unseen wounds, that one was the deepest. Deep, but not mortal.
“I let my past color my judgment. I made a mistake. A big one.”
Mia looked deep into his hazel eyes, gauged the depth of his wounds, and decided they were, quite possibly, much more serious than her own. But what to do about it? Morosity wasn’t going to heal either of them.
She quirked up one corner of her mouth and put her hands on her hips. “Well, then I guess we can’t ever have any kind of relationship.”
His face pinched.
“I mean, I am, after all, perfect. And I expect everyone around me to be perfect, too.”
His frown turned to puzzlement.
She lightened her tone even further, put on a frothy air to make her point. “I mean, I’ve never let my emotions get the better of me like that. I’ve never lost sight of what was important, of the truth, because I couldn’t see past my own pain.”
Enlightenment dawned on his handsome face. “Don’t make fun of me.”
“I would never make fun of you,” she said earnestly, then stepped up close and poked him in the belly. “But I might make fun of us.”
“You might, huh?”
“I might. So are you going to kiss me, or what?”
He grinned. Their lips were nearly touching already. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Here’s a tip from one imperfect human to another,” she whispered. “Don’t think so much.”
Their bodies came together as if they’d never been apart. It was a reunion of heart, spirit and soul. They stayed like that until Mia looked over Ty’s shoulder and saw Todd watching curiously. And pacing, the puppy at his heels.
“I think someone thinks his time is up,” she said.
“Ten bucks only buys so much.”
Holding hands, they turned and walked toward Todd together.
Ty looked up at the mansion on the hilltop. “So, this is the old homestead.”
Mia winced. “I’ve been thinking about downsizing.”
“I don’t know.” He looked at the rocky hillside, green ferns and yellow and blue wildflowers popping from every crevice, the purple bougainvillea draped over the wrought-iron fence at the top, the clear blue skies, the turquoise surf. “I could get used to the view.”
She stopped, held him back. “Does that mean you’re staying?”
“Maybe. If you wouldn’t mind having me around.”
She grinned. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“Then I’m staying.”
Todd let out a war whoop and wrapped his little arms around them both while the puppy bounced and barked at his feet.
Mia framed his face with her palms. The sun glowed off her face and her eyes shone with life.
“Good thing,” she said. “Otherwise I’d have to go all the way back to Massachusetts just to drag you back here.”
He laughed. God, he liked her moxie.
She cut off his laughter with a kiss, deep and powerful.
He liked her moxie very, very much.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4658-8
A DOCTOR’S WATCH
Copyright © 2010 by Vickie Spears
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