One More Dance

by Roxanne Rustand

  “You even got a dog. That’s way, way cool.” She held the pup up briefly, nose to nose. When she angled a look up at Jared, her eyes held a sheen of tears. “He’s gorgeous. And he’s even a golden retriever—just like the figurine you gave me.”

  “A mix, I hear. He came from the humane shelter. One look at him and I was a goner.”

  Tired after his burst of exuberance, the pup curled up in her lap. “He’s absolutely perfect. And it’s all the better because you saved his life. You’re now my official hero.”

  Jared hunkered down next to her. “I found this house to rent and just couldn’t pass it up. It’s close to the vet school for you, and just a few blocks from the campus bus for me. I figure that we spend an awful lot of time going back and forth to see each other, and things could be a lot more simple.”

  Her smile faded. “It’s all great, Jared. Really. But if you thought I would move in, well...”

  “That’s where Murphy comes in. I figured I might stand a better chance if you were offered two guys for the price of one. What do you think?”

  Her eyes widened, and her hands stilled on the pup’s soft golden fur. “I...I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying.”

  “I knew I’d have trouble with this, so I had a talk with Murph, and he said he’d handle it. He has a present for you.”

  She gave a nervous laugh as she glanced around the hallway. “I hope it doesn’t involve paper towels and Pine-Sol.”

  “Not that kind of present, though he and I had a talk about that, too. He promises he’s going to try really hard to be good.” Jared reached over to ruffle the pup’s baby-soft coat. “Check his collar. I could be wrong, but I think he said he’d put the present there.”

  “If it’s edible, I don’t think I’m interested.”

  “I don’t know. Better take a look, don’t you think?”

  She stilled, then took a shaky breath and gently felt Murphy’s collar. “Maybe he lost it.”

  “I sincerely hope not. Check a little closer.”

  She gently fingered the collar, then released the catch and lifted it away. The overhead light caught the piercing sparkle of a slender band tied to the buckle, and at that she froze.

  “Strange rabies tag,” Jared murmured when she didn’t say anything. He felt his pulse pick up an unsteady beat. “What does it say?”

  “I...” She blinked and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her wrist. “I think Murphy is a little young to be looking for this kind of commitment.”

  “He’s just the right age. And so are we, Kate.”

  “Are we?” She shot a brief glance at him, her voice tinged with panic. “I never thought...I mean, what will your mother say? You know she’ll hate this. You have so much school left. So do I, and...”

  Jared lifted the sleeping pup from her lap and set him on the braided rug in front of the door, then took her hand and they rose to face each other.

  Looking into her eyes, he saw worry and confusion, with a touch of fear, but he also saw the longing that matched his own, and that gave him the courage to continue. “I love you, Kate. From the moment we met, I felt this connection that just took over my heart, and I know it will never leave. When you broke up with me, I thought the world had ended. Now—it’s like anything in the world is possible, but only if it’s with you.”

  “Your family.”

  “I don’t have to be Senator Ellsworth Mathers II to find success, Kate...though there’s no reason I couldn’t, whether I’m with you or not. My mother was dead wrong about you...about us. And she can’t make decisions about where you and I go with this relationship.”

  She leaned her forehead against his chest. “I wish that were true. But I don’t want to come between you and your family, ever.”

  “I love you, Kate. Why spend the next years of college apart when we could be together?” His heart lifted when she didn’t immediately disagree. “We could get married next week. The week after that.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Will your family disapprove?”

  At that, she wryly shook her head. “They wouldn’t care.”

  “Well, mine will accept this.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “They’ll come to love you, just as I do. I promise.”

  “I love you, too, more than I could ever say.” She silently looked up at him for so long that he feared the rest of her answer. “I just hope you’re not wrong.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  KATE HELD UP HER HAND to stare at the ring on her finger, shifting her hand in the candlelight of the church to catch the sparkles.

  It had been his grandmother’s ring, and she could well imagine the value of it. She had little knowledge about fine jewelry, but it seemed to have perfect clarity and the brilliant cut caught fire in the sun. Jared had kept it in his safe-deposit box at the bank since the day his grandfather gave it to him after the death of Jared’s grandmother.

  She could only imagine what Sylvia thought about a treasured family heirloom falling into such disreputable hands. Jared had called her the evening Kate said “Yes,” and she’d heard only his side of the conversation, but the woman had been anything but pleased.

  So be it.

  Perhaps Kate’s dreams of having an extended family, with dinners on Sunday and warm, happy holidays together, would never come true, but she and Jared had each other, and her happiness had grown with every passing day.

  And what had started as an engagement had rocketed forward in a white heat, with neither of them seeing any point in delaying beyond the first available date at the church.

  “You’re sure you want to go through with this?” she asked quietly. “I know it isn’t the sort of fairy-tale wedding you would’ve had if you were marrying someone else.”

  “You are my fairy tale,” he whispered back. “I don’t need anything else.”

  And it was true for her, too.

  The small chapel stood near the college. Built of massive, rough-hewn stone back in the 1800s, it smelled of candles and age and crumbling hymnals. Harsh late-afternoon February sunlight filtered through a dozen intricately cut, jewel-toned stained-glass windows on the west side of the church, bathing the heavy pews in glowing light, the flickering candles adding a touch of intimacy.

  Only Deanna, Leesa and Phil were present, but the elderly minister smiled beneficently on them all and delivered a warm message about love and commitment. And his wife, a frail old dear with violet hair and hands roped with veins played the organ with ethereal grace.

  Closing her eyes, Kate imagined a church full of flowers and well-wishers. But none of that would have made the day more special than it already was as she stood at Jared’s side, looking up into his dark, handsome face as he spoke his vows.

  Sure, they were young. Broke. Had years of school left. But with this kind of soul-deep love, how could anything go wrong?

  PRESENT DAY

  Sylvia glared at the doctor, the monitors around her bed and the young nurse hovering just beyond arm’s reach. Her angry gaze settled on Kate next and hardened to pure steel.

  “Leave it to you to cause trouble,” she hissed. “Even now, with my son so badly injured.”

  “Dr. Kate didn’t make the call, ma’am,” the nurse ventured, shooting a wary glance between Kate and the staff physician, Dr. Walters. “The ICU nurses did.”

  Sylvia waved her off like a troublesome fly, her anger palpable. “Tell these people to let me go at once. I need to be with Jared, not wasting my time like this.”

  Dr. Walters cleared his throat. “You fainted, Mrs. Mathers. Your blood pressure was just 70 over 54, and your pulse was too fast. We want to run an EKG to make sure nothing’s wrong before we release you. Have you had any chest pain?”

  “No.”

  “Shortness of breath?”

  “No.” The nurse moved forward to pull the blood pressure cuff from its holder on the wall above the head of the bed, but Sylvia swung her legs off the gurney and batted her away. “I’m refus
ing medical care. Is that clear enough?”

  The doctor frowned. “I really think we should—”

  “Let me be.” But Sylvia’s face turned ashen as she slid off the gurney and her knees buckled.

  Dr. Walters caught her under one arm and the nurse under the other. They gently backed her into a chair where she slumped forward, a sheen of perspiration forming on her forehead.

  “Are you her daughter?” Walters asked.

  Kate shook her head. “Daughter-in-law. Her daughter, Julia, is trying to arrange the soonest possible flight here from New York. Sylvia’s son—my husband—is a patient in the ICU.”

  “We need to run some tests. I’m guessing we might even want to keep her overnight.” As an afterthought, he turned to Sylvia and appeared to carefully choose his words. “I’m concerned about your heart. We certainly don’t want to take any chances now, do we?”

  “Humph.” But this time, she didn’t argue.

  “Whatever it takes. We just want her to be safe.” Kate reached over and rested a hand on Sylvia’s shoulder. “It’s time for me to go sit with Jared for a few minutes, but then I’ll be back.”

  Beneath her hand, Kate felt the old woman stiffen. Alarmed, she bent closer. “Are you okay? Does your chest hurt?”

  But it wasn’t pain reflected in Sylvia’s eyes. It was the first hint of fear and loneliness the woman had ever revealed, though Kate knew she was too proud and stubborn to ever admit it.

  “This is the place to be if you’re not feeling well, and you’re in good hands. I promise I’ll let you know immediately if there are any changes with Jared, okay?”

  When Sylvia responded with a single, curt nod, Kate hurried back to the ICU and took her place at Jared’s bedside.

  He lay there without moving, and his thick, dark eyelashes didn’t even flutter when she took one of his hands in hers. She shot an anxious look at the monitor stands on the other side of the bed. The fluorescent green lines continued to slide across the screens; his heart, pulse and respiration were as steady as before.

  One of the nurses—Barbara S. on her name pin—silently appeared at her shoulder. “The surgeon was back in while you were gone. The pressure in Jared’s skull hasn’t gone down as much as he hoped, so he added another med to the IV that should help.”

  Alarm flashed through Kate. “I want to talk to that doctor.”

  Barbara smiled. “He thought as much. He’s doing rounds, but he’ll be back. He said to tell you it’s not unusual to put a patient into a barbiturate-induced coma for a while to help bring that cranial pressure down.”

  Kate mentally reviewed the complications of barbiturate use in animal medicine and guessed at the similarities in humans. “But the risks... Is he aware of the risks?”

  “Altered heart function and liver damage are possibilities, but of course we are monitoring your husband very closely, and he won’t be on it for very long.”

  Soothing words for family.

  Generalities.

  Comfort.

  Optimism.

  Heaven knew how many times she’d handled distraught families just that gently during the critical illness of a beloved pet. But what Kate needed now was for Jared to open his eyes and look at her—for him to know his own name, and where he was, and what he’d had for breakfast.

  “No matter what else happened yesterday, we can work through it,” she whispered softly. “Come back to me, please. Come back.”

  The nurse slipped away and left Kate to sit with him alone. But despite what Barbara had said, Kate knew there was still a very real possibility that Jared wouldn’t survive this endless night...or that he might never be the same.

  And, once again, she began to pray.

  BY SEVEN O’CLOCK IN the morning, Kate was exhausted after running between Sylvia’s room and the ICU.

  “Mr. Mathers will be fine if you want to slip home for a while.” Marie, the perky redheaded nurse who’d just arrived for first shift, checked her watch. “I don’t expect the docs to come around for at least another hour, maybe more.”

  At the thought of a good, hot shower and a chance to check in at the vet clinic, Kate nodded. “You’ve got my cell number?”

  Marie nodded. “Taped to the front of your husband’s chart, as well as on the records inside. If he so much as looks at me cross-eyed, I’ll give you a call.”

  “Or even if he just opens his eyes, let me know. He hasn’t stirred a bit.”

  “And we don’t expect him to. Not yet.” The young nurse fairly vibrated with energy as she shelved the chart and bustled from the nurses’ counter to Jared’s bay, where she examined the bags of IV saline and meds hanging above his bed. “But I’ll call you, I promise.”

  “ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T want me to come in with you?”

  Casey shook her head and managed a smile. “I know you have to get back to work in Madison, and the ICU would only admit family members, anyway. Thanks so much for everything, though.”

  Deanna bit her lower lip, as if worrying over just how much to say. “It...will be a shock, seeing your dad. It was for me when my dad had a heart attack. All the tubes and wires and monitors were sort of scary.”

  “I know.” Casey opened her car door, then leaned over to give her mother’s old friend a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’ve been the best. Thanks."

  She fetched her duffel and backpack out of the backseat of the SUV, nodded in farewell, then trudged through the automatic doors of the ER.

  Even before she’d got on the plane, fear and dread had been churning through her stomach over the upcoming scene with her parents. Arriving to find Deanna waiting at the airport instead of Mom, and hearing the awful news about Dad, had made everything a thousand times worse.

  The nurse at the desk waved her over to the elevators.

  Outside, the air was crisp and sweet with the scent of a northern spring, and the early-morning light was still soft with a wispy mist that intensified the lush green landscape of the hospital grounds. Inside, the bright lighting and the smell of disinfectant made her eyes burn as she sidestepped a woman scrubbing the floor and stepped into the elevator.

  She hadn’t let herself think about this moment.

  She’d politely refused to talk about it with Deanna.

  But now it was here. The elevator doors were opening. And straight down the long hallway, she could see the ICU sign on a set of double doors.

  Her hands shook as she hiked her backpack higher up on her shoulder and took one slow step after another toward those doors. How bad was he? Would he even make it? Would he even know her?

  A single, hot tear slid down her cheek as she tried to imagine life without him...his playful teasing, the truly awful jokes that sent Mom and her into gales of laughter, because they were so silly. The sweet gifts he bought at the most unexpected times, just because.

  She didn’t deserve a great dad like him. Not now. And how could she even begin her explanations when he and Mom were already dealing with so much?

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed on the door and found herself in yet another hallway that opened up into a visitors’ lounge, with doors marked ICU—Limited Admittance straight ahead.

  As if by magic—or an unseen alarm—a stocky nurse came through the doors and smiled. “You must be Casey. We’ve been watching for you, dear. Come on in.”

  “Is he... Is my dad...okay?”

  “He’s sleeping very soundly right now, thanks to some of the medications. But you can go in and sit with him awhile.”

  Nervous, Casey forced herself to follow the nurse into the ICU to a curtained section where she could see only the end of the bed and the outline of some sort of frame to keep the bedding away from Dad’s burned flesh.

  The nurse smiled sympathetically and rested a hand on Casey’s arm. “It’s hard, I know. But his color is good, and he’s a strong man. The doctors say that he might even be able to go home in a few weeks. Maybe less.”

  Casey nodded to her in thanks and stepped aro
und the bed to the chair placed near Dad’s head.

  Just as the nurse had said, he looked as if he were simply sleeping—except for the stark white bandaging on his head, such a contrast to his dark hair, and all of the tubes trailing from the IV bags hanging on a tall pole.

  The sounds of a compressor and the soft beeps and chirps of the various monitors were deafening against the hushed silence of this place.

  Prickly tears filled her eyes and she scrubbed them away. He looked so alone, so defenseless. Up close, she now saw the tiny sutures marching up the side of his lean face and the lines of stress at his mouth and eyes.

  “Oh, Daddy,” she whispered, touching his still, cool hand where it lay on top of the covers at his side. His complete lack of response frightened her and she jerked her hand away. “Why isn’t Mom with you?”

  Of course, her mother was at her clinic 24/7, and her father was always immersed in his law practice. Last summer, he’d rarely come home before ten at night, with all the extra hours he donated to the free clinic. How close were they, if they hardly ever saw each other anymore?

  The thought filled her with a sense of loss over the family they’d once been, back when the house was filled with laughter and the weekends were spent on outings together.

  “I’m here, Daddy. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need to talk to you so badly.”

  She tentatively took his hand in hers once again and held her breath, waiting for his fingers to curl around hers and squeeze, acknowledging her. Wishing Mom would suddenly stride into the room and announce that everything would be all right.

  Though maybe it was better this way...a chance to be with him alone for a while. A chance to unburden her heart, even if he couldn’t really hear her.

  “Daddy,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry about your accident. You’ve got to get better. You’ve just got to.”

  A nurse peeked around the curtain at the foot of his bed. “Just a few more minutes, dear.”

  Casey nodded and turned back to her father’s still form. “And there’s something else...something I’ve got to tell you, but I don’t know how. You and Mom always wanted the best for me. And you’ve given me so much—”