Healing Hearts

by Margaret Daley

  “Yes, sir. I’ll start working with my dad on that so if Mrs. Rosen says yes, we’ll have some dogs ready.”

  “Are you sure I can’t have Gabe?” Mr. Johnson patted the Lab continuously as he talked.

  “Yes, but I’ll find one you’ll love as much as him, probably a little smaller. I’ll still bring Gabe to see you if you want.”

  He snorted. “Don’t think that’s possible. Gabe is special. I’m warning you now. I’m gonna wear you down.”

  Later, as Abbey strolled from the courtyard with her two dogs, she ran into Mrs. Rosen in the hallway. “Just because one family member thinks it would be a good idea doesn’t mean it will happen, Ms. Harris. A handful of patients are taking part in your sessions. That’s not many compared to the overall number of residents in the nursing home. I’m not disrupting this place for a handful.”

  “I understand. Perhaps, to be fair, you could let me hold a couple of ‘sessions’ in the rec room. Although the wind was partially blocked today in the gazebo, I still noticed that one lady was sneezing and she had to go inside earlier than she wanted. You know how bad allergies can be in Oklahoma, even in June. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want the residents sitting outside in extreme heat in July and August.”

  “Good day, Ms. Harris.” The director continued her trek toward the administration office behind the front counter in the lobby.

  Not one word about the rising temperatures. Usually Abbey could keep her temper under control, but it was becoming increasingly hard with that woman. She was straight out of the Dark Ages. Abbey’s blood pressure shot up. Her hands curled and uncurled as she glimpsed the director disappear into her office, the door shutting as if that would keep anything unpleasant out. But that wouldn’t stop Abbey from fighting for what she thought was right.

  * * *

  Madi rolled her manual wheelchair into the dining room of Winter Haven Ranch, which overlooked the front driveway, and positioned herself at the window to watch for Abbey.

  Dominic set his bag and briefcase on the floor in the foyer near the door. He heard his sister come back into the foyer. “What’s up, kiddo?”

  “Nothing. What time is it now?”

  “Five minutes later than the last time you asked.”

  “Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

  “Another five minutes. Are you sure you’re okay with me going to Houston for a few days?”

  Madi nodded. “Abbey is gonna bring some games for us to play. She said she had a special one if I do everything Greta tells me to do tomorrow.”

  “You know how important your physical therapy is, even if you can’t bear weight right now.”

  “I like Greta. She thinks riding a horse would be good for me later.”

  “Once the doctor says we can, I’ll look into it.”

  “What time is it now?” Madi asked as she made a circle and went back to the window.

  “Two minutes later.”

  “What’s taking her so long? Maybe you should call her.”

  Dominic leaned against the doorjamb into the dining room. Madi drummed her fingers against the arm of the wheelchair. An occasional sigh escaped her lips. He knew the second she spotted Abbey’s car. His sister’s expression brightened, and a huge smile replaced the worry lining her face.

  “She’s here!” She maneuvered around him and headed into the foyer. Each day she was becoming stronger and stronger wheeling her manual chair. Madi stopped only a foot from the door.

  “I don’t think they’ll be able to get into the house. Move a few feet back.”

  After she did, she glanced over her shoulder. “Okay?”

  “Perfect. You’ll be the first person Gabe and Abbey see when I let them in.”

  As he swung the door wide, Abbey stepped up onto the deck running the length of the front of the house. Gabe trotted next to her without a leash on, and she carried a white fluffy dog. Her expression was like a ray of sunshine warming him. He hadn’t realized how much he was looking forward to seeing Abbey, even if it was only for a short time before he left for Houston.

  “Is that her?” Madi held out her arms for the dog. “She’s like a big fat cotton ball.”

  “Don’t let her hear you say fat. You know how girls are about their weight.” Abbey passed the bichon to Madi.

  His sister giggled. “No. They want me to eat more to gain weight.”

  “Oh, if I only had that problem.”

  Dominic’s gaze skimmed down Abbey’s five-foot-two-inch frame, and he thought she looked just fine.

  “Will Gabe and...” Madi’s mouth twisted in a thoughtful expression. “I need to come up with a good name for her.” His sister lifted the dog and rubbed her cheek against her. The bichon rewarded her with several licks. “I’ve got it. Cottonball. How about that name?”

  “I like it.” Abbey saw his bag nearby. “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah, we’ll take my car,” he said, glancing out the door at her yellow VW Beetle, “since I don’t think yours will hold all of us. That way we can take the two dogs, too.” He knew Madi would insist.

  “Good call. I’m not sure Mrs. Ponder is ready to deal with them by herself. Cottonball is used to taking over the house, wherever she was before she came to me.”

  “Where’s your luggage?”

  “In my car. I was going to go back and get it.”

  “I’ll do it, then we can be on our way.” Dominic strode toward her car. It fit Abbey’s personality. He peered back at his dad’s black SUV parked near the door. Practical. A workhorse. Did that fit him even though it was his father’s?

  After he had unloaded Abbey’s car and transferred her possessions to the house, he scanned the foyer. “Where’s Gabe?”

  “Exploring the living room. Don’t tell Mrs. Ponder,” Abbey said, and withdrew her leash from a bag and made her way into the room.

  “Go on outside with Cottonball. I’ll leave your manual wheelchair out there for when you all come back.” Dominic followed his sister down the ramp to the SUV, then he took the bichon and placed her in the backseat.

  As he was transferring Madi into the car, Abbey came out of the house with Gabe right next to her. She put the Lab in the back with Madi and Cottonball while he stuck the wheelchair in the back of the SUV in case it was needed.

  When he rounded the front of the car to get into the driver’s side, he met Abbey. “I know you asked me earlier on the phone about taking Madi to church. That’s fine with me.”

  “Has Madison been to church much?”

  “I don’t know. We went once on Christmas Eve when I was visiting two years ago. My mother’s faith was strong, and we went every week when she was alive. Dad stopped going after she died. A lot of things changed then.” But so had Dominic, especially when he’d moved to Houston.

  “How old were you when she died?”

  “Twelve.” His gaze roped hers. “Dad retreated for several years. I didn’t know how to help him.”

  “Looking back with regret doesn’t do much for me. There’s no use beating yourself up over what you should have done. It sounds like your father finally got his life together. He married again and had a child.”

  Dominic frowned. “Yeah, he did.”

  Silence hovered between them.

  Abbey cleared her throat. “I think it’ll be good to get Madison out of the house a little now that she’s starting to feel better. She seems to have more energy each day.”

  “I trust you. Use your judgment.” When he said those words, part of him was surprised, because trust didn’t come easy for him. He’d trusted his father and Susie and look what had happened.

  As he moved past her, their arms brushed against each other. The brief contact stayed with him as he drove to the small airport where the company jet waited. The whole way there Mad
i talked to Gabe and Cottonball, telling them what she was seeing out the window as though they couldn’t see for themselves.

  He slanted a look at Abbey. She shifted toward him and caught him peering at her. The corners of her mouth tilted up.

  “I hope everything goes all right in Houston,” Abbey said, tucking her auburn hair behind her ears.

  When he returned his attention to the road, he still felt her gaze on him. “So do I. I’m not sure what to say to the family tonight at the wake.”

  “The right words will come to you.”

  He wasn’t so sure. After burying several close family members in his thirty-one years, he’d rather avoid funerals. He still hadn’t come to terms with his father’s and Susie’s deaths. But he had a responsibility, and he wouldn’t shirk his duties—not to his company and not to his sister.

  He parked near the front of the small airport terminal and twisted around. “Kiddo, I’ll be back by Sunday. If you need to talk to me, have Abbey call me. Okay?”

  Madison nodded, her expression solemn.

  She had been fine with him going when she heard Abbey and Gabe were staying with her, but from the storm-dark blue of her eyes, he still had reservations about leaving. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yes,” his sister squeaked out. “Abbey explained this was important for you.”

  “Yes, but if you need me—”

  “Go.” Holding up the white dog, Madi buried her face against Cottonball.

  Abbey opened her door and climbed from the SUV. “You heard her. Go.”

  He followed suit and skirted the front of the car to give Abbey the keys to the vehicle and house. “I shouldn’t have let her ride to the airport. This can’t be good for her to see. I should have thought of that. But she insisted on riding with you.” The muscles in his neck and shoulders bunched up into tight knots.

  “As Madison said, go. We’ll be okay. Call when you reach Houston and talk to her. That’ll make her feel better. I thought I would take her by my father’s animal hospital while we’re out. I’m going to surprise her. A tour might take her mind off you flying to Houston.”

  “She’ll enjoy that.” He took her hands, drawing closer to her. “Thanks for helping me.” For so long he felt he’d done everything on his own, that any help he’d received was from paid employees. Foreign emotions had rocked his world of late.

  “I’ll be praying for you and the family.”

  “No one has said that to me in years.” The very thought that she would unraveled some of the tension clenching him at having to leave his sister and attend Robert’s funeral.

  “Well, then it’s about time someone did.”

  A strand of her red hair swept across her face and, before he realized it, he smoothed it back, his fingertips grazing across her cheek. The touch of her soft skin tingled through him, and he quickly lowered his arm to his side.

  He cleared his throat. “I’d better go.”

  As he strode toward the building, he glanced over his shoulder to find Abbey where he’d left her, watching him. His world tilted off its axis. He needed to go to Houston, to be back in a familiar environment. He was losing all sense of who he was. Who he wanted to be. And somehow Abbey was the cause of that.

  * * *

  While Abbey parked in front of the animal hospital, one of her hands touched the cheek that Dominic had touched not twenty minutes ago. Her stomach still quivered from the brush of his fingers. She could almost imagine it was a caress, but that was a dangerous assumption.

  She turned to see if Madison was still asleep. Not long after Abbey had left the airport, she’d glimpsed the child’s eyes close, her body slumped partially against Gabe, with Cottonball sitting contently in her lap.

  She would be with Madison for the next two or three days. What had possessed her to offer her services to Dominic? At the moment, looking at the child’s beautiful features, she couldn’t separate Madison from Lisa in her mind. All the bittersweet memories flooded her as though the dam she’d shored up around them finally broke.

  I shouldn’t have done this. Sure, I wanted to help both Dominic and Madison. I always want to make things better for others—sometimes without thinking it through. Her father had called her a caregiver and hadn’t really been surprised when she’d told him she wanted to be a social worker rather than a veterinarian.

  Whether or not she should have offered to care for Madison while Dominic was gone, it was too late to change it. She would have to deal with her feelings, and his, when he returned to Cimarron City.

  “We’re here,” Abbey finally said.

  Waking up, Madison looked around. “Where are we?”

  “I told my dad how much you like animals, and he thought you might enjoy a tour of his hospital. If you don’t want to, that’s okay. We can go back to the ranch.”

  “Are you kidding?” The girl sat up straight. “Are we taking Gabe and Cottonball inside, too? I don’t want to leave them in the car.”

  “Of course. Gabe comes here a lot and knows how to behave. You can keep a hold on Cottonball. Do you think you can do that?”

  “She’s good. She’ll stay in my lap.”

  “Then let’s go. My dad is expecting us.”

  When Abbey brought the wheelchair around and moved Madison to it, the girl took Cottonball and held her against her. Abbey put Gabe on his leash, and they headed into the building. Inside, her father and several of the employees, including Emma, stood in the reception area waiting for Madison. A large sign hung across the doorway into the back read Welcome Madison.

  Her dad, who wore a party hat and had a noisemaker, said, “We’re so glad that you could come and see us today.”

  Her friend and vet hospital employee, Emma Langford, added, “We always like a chance to celebrate and show this place off.”

  Abbey’s father blew into the noisemaker. Emma and the other two employees did the same, and in the background there was a chorus of dogs barking as though her dad had planned that.

  Madison smiled from ear to ear, clapping and letting go of Cottonball.

  The bichon jumped down and shot toward the doorway into the exam rooms and kennel area. Her dad tried to catch Cottonball, but she slipped through his legs. The barking increased to a din.

  Madison slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes huge. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that.”

  The child pushed herself off the seat of the wheelchair and tried to stand as if she wanted to chase after the dog. When she couldn’t she plopped down, dropping her head.

  Chapter Six

  Abbey darted after Cottonball. She’d seen the fear on the dog’s face when her dad had blown into the noisemaker. The sound had spooked her. In the hallway Abbey glanced both ways trying to decide which way the little dog had gone. The kennel was on the right, along with all the dogs barking. To the left were the exam rooms. She turned to the left, hoping Cottonball was seeking some quiet.

  Her father came in as Abbey found the bichon under the chair in the second exam room. “I’ve learned today she’s scared of loud noises.” She picked up Cottonball and cradled the dog’s shaking body against her chest. “You’re okay, girl. Let’s take you back to Madison. She’s worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry, Abbey. I wanted to make the child feel special. Instead she’s crying in the reception area. She thinks she did something wrong, and Cottonball is going to be hurt.”

  When Abbey heard her father’s words, she hurried from the room and came to a halt near the doorway where Madison had wheeled herself.

  Dominic’s sister raised tear-filled eyes to Abbey. “You found her. I thought I had lost her because I didn’t hold on to her tight enough. I promise I’ll be careful next time. I don’t want to lose another dog.”

  Abbey placed Cottonball in Madis
on’s lap, then knelt in front of her. “You did fine. None of us knew Cottonball doesn’t like loud noises. They don’t bother Gabe or my other dogs.”

  Her father stopped behind Abbey. “Now that we know, we’ll be more careful in the future with Cottonball. I’m Abbey’s dad, Dr. Harris. I’ve heard a lot of nice things about you from my daughter. Are you ready for a tour of the animal hospital? We had a pregnant dog left on our doorstep this morning, and she delivered a few hours ago. She has three puppies.”

  “Why did someone leave her here and not come back for her?”

  “Probably because they didn’t want to deal with a litter of puppies. Sadly it happens sometimes.” Her dad started walking toward the kennel area of the hospital.

  As Abbey wheeled Madison behind her father while he showed the girl the play yard for the animals that were staying overnight, the large cages each pet had and the operating room, she remembered the desperation in Madison’s voice when she’d said she couldn’t lose another dog. She thought back to the death of her first pet. It had devastated her, and she’d never wanted to care for another animal. Her dad had taught her the best way to get over her grief was to give her love to another animal rather than hold it close to her heart. After that she started caring for another pet, then another. That might work with animals, but she didn’t think it would work with people.

  And yet, she ached to be a mother again. Was that why she was drawn to Madison in spite of the feelings and memories she evoked? Abbey wasn’t quite sure.

  * * *

  Later that night a bark penetrated Abbey’s sleep, followed by something cold against her hand, nudging it. She opened her eyes to find Gabe staring at her, a soft light from the hallway streaming through the doorway into the bedroom she was using next to Madison’s.

  Gabe yelped again.

  “What’s wrong?” Abbey sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Is it Madison?”

  He barked once.

  Abbey quickly rose and started for the hall. Gabe ran ahead of her. Something must have happened to Madison, or she was having one of the nightmares Dominic told her about. Abbey’s heart pounded as she increased her pace.