Hard Love (Wild Hearts, Contemporary Romance Book 3)

by Nancy Adams

  Of course, he wasn't planning on being their instructor. Katie Lou had him all to herself in that regard.

  However, Saturday had finally arrived, and the dance was that evening. Rob was a nervous wreck, and he had spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to look his best, which was what led to the current comical conversation with his sister.

  “Bubba, please, listen to me,” Anna said. “You look fine. Fine, that's F-I-N-E. That suit will work—you don't have to go out and buy a new one, you don't have to have anything altered, and you don't have time for that, anyway. You might want to go with the red tie, rather than the blue one, but that's just my opinion. Other than that, though, you look great.”

  “Red tie? Are you sure? I mean, the suit is kind of a dark blue, so I thought maybe a light blue tie would work, but if you think I should wear the red one, then I can do that.” He took off the tie he was wearing and put the red one on in its place.

  Anna nodded. “Oh, yeah, that's perfect. And I do mean perfect, don't change a thing. No, leave your hair alone, did you hear me say don't change anything? I was being serious, you look perfect! Katie may not even recognize you, you look so good.”

  If she were forced to tell the truth, on the witness stand for instance, Anna would've had to admit that she was pretty much having the time of her life. She and her brother, who had essentially raised her since she was four years old, were probably as close as siblings could possibly be, but that didn't eliminate the natural tendency they had for picking on one another. Anna loved her brother very much, and had long hoped for him to find a girl he could truly love, so that he could begin to have a life of his own. Katie Lou Brennan seemed to be that girl, and Anna was happy for them both.

  There was a soft knock on Rob's bedroom door, and he called out, “Come on in, Linda.” The door opened, and a woman slipped inside, smiling at him as she did so.

  Anna smiled back at her. “Linda,” she said, “doesn't Robbie look nice?”

  The woman nodded vigorously, and any observer would have noticed that there was something childlike in her actions. “Robbie looks nice, nice,” she said.

  Linda was their mother. She had been injured in the same accident that had claimed the life of their father sixteen years previously, and left Rob in a wheelchair. He had suffered severe spinal injuries, and it took eight surgeries over several years to get him back on his feet. He and little Anna, who had only been four at the time, as well as Linda, had all gone to live with Linda's sister, Kay.

  Linda had suffered severe brain damage. She had regressed to the point that she was the mental equivalent of a five-year-old, with no memories of ever having been an adult. She did not remember her husband or her children, so as far as she knew, Rob and Anna were her own older siblings. Other than occasional flashes of the woman she once was, Linda was a child trapped in a grown-up body, and like many children, she wasn't capable of understanding a lot of rules. She could manage one rule at a time, but could not keep up with any kind of a sequence of them. She could not recognize normal social cues or signs of danger, and could easily be manipulated, so she could not be left unsupervised.

  Once, a few years before, Linda had slipped out the front door when everyone thought she was sleeping, and she had gotten lost among the city streets. She had wandered toward the downtown area, and when she encountered a group of people, she hurried over to meet them. She had stumbled into a homeless camp, where several people were living in cardboard boxes and makeshift shelters. A couple of the men had seen her, and when they realized that she was quite simple, one of them tried to take advantage of her, but the other protected her. He and a woman in the group took Linda away from that area, and found a police officer who knew Kay and recognized Linda. She got home safely, and Kay had alarms installed on the doors the next day.

  Aunt Kay, however, had passed away from illness a couple of years before, not long after Rob had started his own practice there in Maxwell. She had left her house and everything she owned to Rob and Anna, so they continued to live in the same place. The only real difference, other than Aunt Kay's absence, was that Linda went to an adult day care whenever Rob and Anna left for work.

  Most evenings, Linda was there at home with Rob and Anna. Even when one of them went out, which wasn't that common an occurrence, the other one usually stayed home to take care of her, and the only times they got to go out together were when Linda was staying with a caretaker. That would be the case on this night, with Anna staying home with Linda, while Rob took Katie Lou to the dance.

  Rob grinned at Linda. “You think I look nice?” he asked, and once again, Linda nodded vigorously, smiling as brightly as she could.

  “Robbie looks nice, nice, nice,” she said. Repeating something over and over was her way of adding emphasis, letting them know that she was serious about something.

  “Oh, I get it,” Anna said, “when I tell you that you look nice, you don't believe me, but when Linda says it, then it must be true, right? Well, I guess I can see which one of us really rates with you, can't I?”

  If his little sister hadn't had the glint in her eye that she did, he might have thought she were seriously offended, but they'd had these conversations so many times that he didn't worry about it anymore. Anna loved him, he knew, and they both loved Linda. This was their life, and he wasn't sure, just yet, how things might change if he and Katie Lou became truly serious about one another.

  Rob finally decided to take his little sister's advice, and declared himself ready. With Anna and Linda smiling and waving, he slipped out the door and into his car, driving away towards Ralston, where Katie Lou was waiting for him to pick her up.

  Eleven miles away, Katie Lou was going through similar emotional turmoil, trying to get herself ready for their date. She had tried on several outfits, and discarded all of them. She'd actually bought a couple of things specifically for this evening, a few days before when she'd gone on a shopping spree, but now that Saturday had finally arrived, none of them seemed as appealing as they had when they were hanging on the mannequins in the stores.

  “Oh, would you just chill out?” Kylie said to her. “If I remember correctly, you and Rob both said this wasn't really a date, right? You're just getting to know each other, right? Then why on earth are you getting so bent out of shape over what to wear?”

  Katie Lou turned and glared at her sister. “First outing with the new guy that you happen to really like, can you honestly tell me you wouldn't be stressing out this way? If you say you can, you're lying, so don't bother. And hand me those black pants, again.”

  Kylie grinned. “Of course I would,” she said, “and you'd be telling me to chill, now wouldn't you? It's what sisters do. Here.”

  Kylie handed over the slacks, and Katie carefully slid her legs into them, then stood and leaned against the wall as she pulled them up the rest of the way. She held onto her walker with one hand as she examined herself in the mirror. With the pale blue top she was wearing, the slacks looked pretty good, and if she wore the black blazer, that would top it off perfectly.

  She sat down on her walker and reached for her shoes. They slid on easily, and she decided she was as ready as she was going to be. Rob should be arriving sometime soon to pick her up, she realized, so she might as well stop trying to achieve an unattainable perfection, and just be ready when he got there. She stood again, took another look in the mirror, then took hold of Willy the Walker and headed into the living room.

  “My, don't you look nice!” Judy, her mother, said as she entered the room. “Allen, look at your daughter, isn't she beautiful?”

  Her dad turned and smiled at her. “Of course she is,” he said, “she inherited her looks from you, Dear.” He winked at Katie Lou, who smiled and winked back. “You do, Sweetheart,” he said. “You look absolutely beautiful. That doctor of yours is going to have to pick his eyeballs up off the ground once he gets a look at you.”

  “Thank you,” Katie said, “thank you both. We talked about
what to wear for this dance, and I'm just hoping this is okay.”

  “Oh, I'm sure it will be,” Judy said.

  “Katie, you gotta relax,” Kylie said, grinning. “It'll be fine.”

  Katie sat down on the couch, and the four of them watched the television program that her father had turned on while they waited. Rob was scheduled to pick her up at six thirty, so that they could have dinner before going to the country club. He'd made a comment that it was a great place to dance, but not so great for eating, so they planned to slip off to a nice restaurant beforehand.

  They heard a car pull up, and Kylie jumped to peek out the front window. It was Rob, of course, and Katie Lou found herself suddenly very nervous. She scooted to the edge of the couch, to make it easier to get up when the time came, as Kylie said, “He's coming, he's coming to the door.”

  Kylie scurried back to the chair she'd been sitting in and plopped in it, so it was Judy who opened the door when Rob rang the bell. Allen stood up as Rob came in, and the two men shook hands.

  “Good evening, sir,” Rob said. “I'm Rob Christopher.”

  Katie Lou watched her father's reaction, and suddenly got even more nervous when she saw his eyes narrow as he looked at Rob. He was quiet for just a few seconds, which made her almost panic.

  “Rob, I'm Allen Brennan, and it occurs to me that we've met before. Didn't I spruce up a car for you a few years ago? A GTO, as I recall.”

  Rob's eyes got wide. “Oh, my gosh,” he said. “I remember! Oh, that was a while back. It was my uncle's car, my aunt gave it to me and had you get it ready because it had been sitting in storage for so long.”

  Allen nodded. “Yep, that's the one I'm thinking of. How's it doing?”

  Rob shrugged. “Actually, it's back in storage. It's sitting in our garage at home, waiting for the day I have time to mess with it again. Maybe I should bring it back to you, let you work your magic on it once more.” He suddenly looked over at Katie Lou, and his eyes got wide as his smile got wider. “Oh, my gosh,” he said again. “Boy, sometimes fate just plays all sorts of tricks on you, doesn't it? The evening we came to see the car, you had two little girls there with you. I remember now, you told me they were your daughters. Who would've believed, all these years later, that we'd be reconnecting this way?”

  The five of them all agreed that it was a strange twist of fate, and Rob promised to bring the car over to see Allen one day soon. He complimented Katie Lou on how lovely she looked, and then the two of them walked out the door. Rob held the door as she pushed her walker through, helped her get down the stairs with it, and then walked beside her the rest of the way.

  2

  “Katie,” Rob said, “you look absolutely lovely. I was really blown away, because while I know you're beautiful, I didn't expect you to go to such efforts for tonight. This is just a social dance, a little thing to raise money for one of the local charities. It isn't that big a deal.”

  Katie Lou smiled at him. “You're looking pretty sharp, there, yourself,” she said. “That suit looks really nice on you, and the red tie just sort of sets it off.”

  They got to his car, and he used his remote to pop open the trunk. “May I?” he asked, and Katie Lou released her walker, leaning against the car for support as he took it and folded it, then put it in the trunk. He closed the lid and then walked beside her to the passenger door, opening it for her. He had carefully not offered to help her walk, knowing her independent streak.

  Once she was seated and settled in, he hurried around and got behind the wheel. “I was thinking that we could have dinner at one of the seafood places? Unless you prefer a steak?”

  “Seafood is fine,” she said. “I love shrimp, and scallops.”

  He smiled at her as he put the car in gear. “No lobster? I would've figured you for a lobster girl.”

  She shrugged with a grin. “I've had it, it's okay. I just prefer shrimp. And scallops, scallops are very good, too. What about you? What's your favorite seafood?”

  “Actually, we're in agreement. I think I might prefer scallops over shrimp, but I love them both. What about—oh, let's see, what's your favorite pasta dish?”

  “Mine? Hmm, let's see. I guess it would have to be plain old spaghetti, preferably with meatballs. I like it sometimes with just noodles and sauce, too, though. You?”

  Rob grinned. “Once again, we're on the same page. Spaghetti and meatballs, some Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top, and I'm just about in pasta heaven.” He glanced over at her. “We seem to be playing twenty questions. I think it's your turn to ask one.”

  Katie Lou turned slightly so that she was facing him a bit better, and smiled. “Oh, well, then, I need to come up with a good one. Let me see, let me see—oh, I've got one. It's not about food, though, is that okay?”

  “Of course it's okay,” he said. “This is twenty questions, you can ask anything, and I have to give a truthful answer. Just remember that the same goes for you, when it's my turn to ask. You have to tell the truth.” He grinned and winked at her.

  “No problem,” she said. “Okay, here's my question. How is it that a young, good-looking doctor like you isn't married?”

  Rob's eyebrows went up. “Okay, I'll confess I wasn't expecting that one,” he said. “On the other hand, the rules say I have to tell the truth, so I guess the truth is that I just never met the right girl. Couple times I thought I had, but—well, there are a few things about my life that won't necessarily be easy for any girl to accept. I guess that's part of the reason, too.”

  Now it was Katie's turn to raise her eyebrows. “Oh, come on now,” she said, “what could be so bad? Are you a serial killer in secret, or something like that?”

  Rob looked at her for a couple of seconds, then forced himself to look back at the road. “Katie—look, I really, really like you. I mean, as in, part of me is wondering if maybe there's potential that you might be that right girl, you know? The last thing in the world I want to do is scare you off, especially before you even get to know me on a personal level. Will you get upset with me if I tell you that there are some things I'm afraid to tell you right now?”

  Katie Lou stared at him for a long moment, and it dawned on her that his question bothered her. She liked him, too, and enough that she was wondering the same things. For him to imply that something in his past might prejudice her against him sort of stung. “You don't have to tell me anything,” she said. “I'm sorry I asked.” She turned and faced the road in front of them, and Rob knew that he’d made a mistake.

  He sighed, then very slowly, he reached over and took her hand in his. For just a moment, he could feel her resisting, but then she relaxed and let him pull her hand over and kiss it gently. She turned to look at him again.

  “No,” he said, “you're better than that. I shouldn't treat you that way. I'm going to go ahead and tell you, and all I'm going to do is ask you to have an open mind. Okay?”

  Katie Lou forced a smile onto her face. “Rob, I'm about to open a practice as a counselor,” she said. “If there's one thing I'm gonna have to be good at, it's keeping an open mind. But seriously, you don't have to tell me anything you don't feel ready to tell me. I'll trust your judgment.”

  Rob smiled. “I know you would,” he said, “but if you aren't the one, then I'd just as soon know it now. Katie—you know that I was in a bad wreck when I was a kid, and was in a wheelchair myself for a while, right?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Believe me, I can still remember Anna slapping me in the face with that, when I was so rude to you. I had it coming, too.”

  “Well, I think we told you that we lost our parents in that accident. That's true, but not necessarily completely true.” He paused, as if trying to think of how to phrase his next thought.

  “Not completely true?” Katie asked.

  “Katie Lou, my father died in that accident. My mother, on the other hand, suffered a severe head injury. There was quite a lot of brain damage, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but i
n other areas as well. She lost a lot of her memories, particularly memories after about her sixth birthday, and her abilities to learn were seriously damaged. What it boils down to is that, for the last sixteen years, my mother has been a six-year-old in an adult body.”

  Katie stared at him, her eyes wide. “And you and your sister take care of her?”

  Rob nodded. “Yes. She lives with us. When the accident happened, we all went to live with my Aunt Kay, but she died a couple of years ago, after a stroke. We call my mom Linda, now—that's her name, of course. She's a sweetheart, but sometimes it gets a little hard to cope with. I mean, after all, I remember her being my mother. Kind of frustrating that now I have to take care of her the way she used to take care of me.” He cast a sidelong glance at Katie Lou. “Please don't misunderstand me,” he said quickly. “I love her, no matter what. But, yeah, the situation has scared off a few women who might otherwise have been—well, might've had potential, let's say.”

  Katie looked at him, and her eyes were soft. “Rob,” she said, “a part of me wants to tell you how sorry I am for you, but that's about the loss of your mother. The rest of me wants you to know how much I admire you for accepting the responsibility of taking care of her. Of course it’s not easy, but then, nothing in life ever really is, now is it?”

  He shrugged. “It's easier on Anna, I think, because she doesn't really remember Mom the way she used to be. She was only four at the time, and the few memories she has of Mom are good ones, but faded. To her, Linda has been there most of her life, and they've been like sisters. I think the hardest part on her has been that she's grown up, while Linda stays the same. And Linda can sense that, too, but I don't think she really understands it.” He smiled and glanced over at Katie Lou, before looking back at the road. “Of course, Anna still gets down on the floor and plays dollies with her, and we all play Candyland and Old Maid. Linda has a decent life.”