by Karen Rose
His little brother had chattered non-stop as they’d walked to Coach’s truck, telling Michael about the coloring and the treats and the toys and his trip into the basement to see the old-fashioned printing press. Coach Diesel’s friends had taken good care of him, the one named Marcus even buying the booster seat for Joshua because he was too young to sit in a car without one.
Michael was more than grateful. Joshua would never need to know any of what Michael had shared with the lawyer, then the cops. At least the cops were pleased with the sketch the police artist had done based on his description.
They’d seemed to believe him. It was a weight off his shoulders. But the bald man was still out there, still a threat to both Michael and Joshua. More so now if he found out that Michael had seen him so clearly.
A light tap on his good shoulder had him straightening his spine in a rush. His gaze jerked up, then higher still because Coach Diesel stood next to him, hands moving. He’d driven them from the police station to the Ledger office and then here, since Dr Dani had left her own car at the clinic.
‘Let me get Joshua,’ Coach signed. ‘You go inside with Dr Dani.’ He looked up and down the street with narrowed eyes and Michael realized he was looking for someone.
The bald man? Reporters? Either way, Michael wasn’t going to argue. He pulled his hoodie up and hurried to Dr Dani’s front steps. She’d opened the door ahead of him, but before letting him in, she abruptly turned to face him.
‘Do you like dogs?’ she asked. ‘Joshua, too?’
Michael nodded. ‘Yeah. Why?’
She gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. ‘I forgot to ask before we started for home. I have a dog. He’s extremely . . . enthusiastic.’
Michael eagerly stepped around her, then laughed when a golden retriever crawled across the floor on its belly, commando-style, its tail wagging triple time.
She shook her head, smiling at the dog. ‘I told him “down” and he knows hand signs.’ She showed Michael the correct sign, then shrugged. ‘Technically, he’s still down, but he’s very excited to meet new people, so he crawls like that.’
Michael dropped to his knees, patting his thighs, laughing again when the dog bounded to him. A second later, his face was getting bathed by the dog’s tongue. He buried his face in its soft coat and hugged its neck.
‘He smells good.’
‘He should. He had an appointment with the groomer today. She has one of those vans that comes to your house. We’re friends, so I gave her the key. She takes Hawkeye into her salon and makes him beautiful.’
Hawkeye. ‘You named him after the Avenger?’ he asked. The hard-of-hearing Avenger who wore hearing aids. It was the name he’d have chosen for a dog if he ever got one of his own.
‘I did. I’ve been deaf in one ear since I was born. I thought Hawkeye was a great name for my dog, even though he has amazing hearing.’ She leaned down to scratch behind the dog’s ears. ‘Right, boy?’ She looked over her shoulder and signed the dog back to the down position. The dog instantly obeyed, but its tail never stopped wagging.
Coach Diesel was coming through the door, Joshua tucked into his big arms, the little boy still asleep. Dr Dani quietly closed the front door after him, looking at the dog with her finger pressed to her lips. She pointed Coach toward the stairs, then gestured for Michael to follow her. He did, Hawkeye scrambling to walk at his side.
Dr Dani had a room for each of them. Nice rooms with soft beds. Posters on the walls. Everything looked new. And safe. She pulled the blanket back on the bed and Coach put Joshua in it so gently that Michael’s throat hurt. No one was gentle with Joshua. No one but me.
He lifted his eyes toward the ceiling. Thank you, he thought. If there was a God, he should be thanked, because this day could have ended up so much worse. Yes, the cops had talked to him about Brewer’s murder, but he’d had a fancy lawyer and Coach and Dr Dani hadn’t left his side. The cops seemed to believe him. He wasn’t in juvie, so he called that a win.
This foster situation was turning out to be okay. A nice house, safe neighborhood, a foster parent who was kind and who signed, a cool dog, Coach Diesel to keep them safe . . . And he and Joshua got to stay together. That was the most important thing.
Dr Dani covered Joshua up, then opened the closet door, revealing boxes labeled PANTS, SHIRTS, PJs, SOCKS, and UNDERWEAR. She rummaged in the PJs box and pulled out a pair of Spider-Man pajamas. She put them on the foot of the bed, then pointed at the stuffed animals on the closet shelf below the boxes.
‘Pick something you think he’d like,’ she signed to Michael without voicing, so they didn’t wake Joshua.
Michael went straight for a soft dog plushie. ‘He has one kind of like this at home,’ he signed, then carefully placed it next to his sleeping brother.
Dr Dani gave Michael’s shoulder a pat. ‘This room is safe. Nothing that can hurt a small child in here. The windows are locked.’ She tugged on one to demonstrate and it didn’t budge. ‘They’re also alarmed.’ She pointed up at the ceiling, where there was a strobe light, dark at the moment. ‘If the house alarm or smoke alarm goes off, the lights strobe. Your room has the same. It’s set up to be secure and safe for deaf and hearing kids.’
Wow. He had not expected any of this.
She showed Michael a baby monitor on Joshua’s nightstand. ‘I carry the receiver in my pocket. It vibrates when there’s sound. If Joshua wakes up and is afraid, I’ll know and can get to him quickly. Your room has the same setup, plus I have a panic button for older kids. Press it if you need anything, okay?’
He nodded, overwhelmed. ‘Thank you. So much.’
She smiled at him, then the two of them turned to find Coach Diesel filling the doorway. He’d been staring at them. Or at Dr Dani. Michael wondered what their deal was, but knew better than to ask.
He wasn’t sure they knew what their deal was, but he’d caught each of them looking at the other when they thought no one noticed. Kind of like high school, he thought with an eye-roll. Dr Dani was even blushing. He didn’t know older ladies like her still blushed. She had to be at least thirty. Maybe older. But he knew better than to ask that, as well.
Coach moved out of the way and Dr Dani showed Michael to his room. It was . . . super-nice. Posters of sports stars – hockey, baseball, football, even soccer – covered one wall. A second wall had photos of dancers, ice skaters, and musicians. The third wall was floor-to-ceiling shelves. Covered with books.
Michael’s pulse gave a little start. He loved books. There were none at his house. It wasn’t a question of affording them. Their real dad had left them money in his will. It was supposed to be enough for them to live comfortably, which, for Michael, included books. His mother just never saw the point.
He glanced at Dr Dani to see her smiling at him. ‘You like books?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘I love the library at school. I go whenever I can. I take Joshua to the public library, too. We take the bus. Can I . . . can I read any of them?’
She grinned at him. ‘Take your pick.’
He reached for Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways, but yanked his hand back at the last minute. ‘What if I have to leave before I’m done reading it?’
Dr Dani’s smile faded a little. ‘Then you can take it with you. I can get another.’ She took the book from the shelf and placed it in his hands. ‘It’s yours.’
Holding the book to his chest, Michael stepped back as she made her way to the closet and started rummaging in the boxes she kept there. Coach Diesel had followed them into the room and now stood staring at the shelves of books. Kind of like he’d never seen them before. Michael wondered if this was the first time Coach had been here.
That was interesting. Watching the two of them might be more fun than TV.
Diesel pulled a sci-fi novel from a top shelf and showed the cover to Michael. ‘I like this one. Have you read it?’
Michael shook his head, unable to hide his surprise. ‘No. You like sci-fi?’
Coach’s lips twitched. ‘I do. I’m a gamer. I love sci-fi and fantasy stories. Books or movies or games, doesn’t matter to me.’
Michael perked up. ‘You’re a gamer? Me, too.’
‘Tomorrow I’ll go home and get my system, if Dr Dani says it’s okay.’
She looked over her shoulder at them with a nod. ‘Fine with me.’ When she turned, she held pajamas, sweats, and a package of unopened briefs. She put them on the end of the bed.
‘Coach, would you mind letting Hawkeye out? He can run in the backyard for a few minutes.’
Coach Diesel gave her a slow nod, some kind of unspoken, unsigned communication passing between the two of them.
When Coach and the dog were gone, Dr Dani led Michael to the closet at the end of the hall. ‘Bathroom is first door on your left. Towels are in here. Hang them up if they’re still clean. If they need to be washed, take them downstairs to the laundry room in the basement. I’ll show you how to run the machine. You can wash your own clothes.’
He nodded, relieved. He didn’t want anyone seeing his bloody pants or briefs. It was humiliating enough as it was. ‘I will. Thank you.’
She gave him a knowing look, then opened the closet door and reached for a first aid kit on the top shelf. ‘Gauze and salve for your injury,’ she said, all business.
His cheeks flamed, but he nodded. Think of it as a mugging. Coach’s suggestion had worked with the lawyer and it worked here, too. He relaxed and took the first aid kit from her. ‘Thank you,’ he said again.
‘If you need anything, text me. My cell phone number is on the card next to the bed. If you start bleeding, you need to let me know. You can text me or write a note and leave it on my desk if you aren’t comfortable telling me in person, but you need to tell me. I won’t embarrass you, but if you continue bleeding, I need to get you to another doctor.’
He drew a breath and nodded. ‘I promise.’
‘Okay.’ She pulled a few bright red plastic bags from the top shelf. ‘Biohazard bags. It’s just good practice to put your bloody gauze in one of these and seal it up. If you leave the bag in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, I’ll check there and collect it.’
He took the red bags gingerly. ‘Okay.’
‘What about allergies? Food? Medication? For either you or Joshua?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing that I know of.’
‘Who’s your doctor?’
‘I don’t have one. I guess Joshua did, because he got his shots when he was a baby. I went with my mother when she took him to his doctor visits. She was kind of messed up then. My dad had just died. In Iraq. She drank a lot before then, but the drugs started after my dad died. She was pretty stoned the whole first year. She got a little better, but then it got a lot worse.’
Dr Dani’s expression softened. ‘So you’ve always taken care of Joshua?’
He nodded once, grateful that she understood. ‘Yeah.’ He’d been the one to hold Joshua while the doctor stuck him with needles. He’d given his brother his baths, changed his diapers, rocked him to sleep, fed him during the night. His mother had simply checked out.
‘I took care of my little brother when he was an infant, too,’ Dr Dani said. ‘My mom and stepdad died when I was sixteen. Teething and midnight feedings were so much fun, am I right?’
He huffed a chuckle. ‘So much fun.’
She looked to one side, head tilted like she was thinking, then nodded. ‘Do you get services in school? Speech therapy, anything like that?’
‘No, but I do have an interpreter, just like Greg.’
‘No hearing aids or cochlear implant?’
He shook his head again, sadly this time. ‘My dad – my real dad – once told me that my mom was afraid to let them cut my head open. He wanted me to have the surgery, but she insisted it wasn’t safe. But it is. And now it’s too late.’ He was fourteen, long past the time doctors did the implant surgery. Usually they operated on kids under two.
She lifted her brows. ‘Of course it’s safe, and it might not be too late. You’re a little old now, but if you’re interested, we can still look into it. For now, relax. I’m going to make dinner and maybe watch some TV. If you want to eat with Coach and me now, that’s fine. If you want time to yourself, that’s fine too. If you get hungry, there’s food in the fridge. Help yourself to anything you find, just don’t eat in here, okay? I hate mice.’
Michael grimaced. ‘Mice?’
‘I’ve never had them, and I don’t want to start.’ She looked around the corner, but they remained alone. ‘The basement is a rec room with video games and a TV.’ She smirked. ‘I’m a gamer, too, but don’t tell Coach. I don’t think he knows.’
‘You planning to hustle him?’ he asked.
‘Maybe. I haven’t decided yet. Take a shower, get comfortable. We’ll talk about all the serious stuff later, okay?’
‘Okay.’
‘Any questions?’
‘Yes.’ Why are you doing this for us? What are you going to want from us? And why do you have biohazard bags in your closet? But that wasn’t the question that rolled off his hands. ‘Are you rich?’ He immediately winced. It was rude, but he’d asked and now he couldn’t take the question back.
She blinked her mismatched eyes in surprise. ‘No. Barely middle class. Why?’
He gestured around him. ‘All this. The nice furniture, the books, the strobe lights. It all costs money. We had money and my mom never put in emergency strobe lights.’ He’d always wondered what might have happened had there been a fire. He wondered if his mother would have bothered to wake him up.
He was sure Brewer would have left him to die.
‘Well, I’m nowhere near rich. I’m house-poor, actually. I used to be an ER doctor and that paid well, but the clinic can’t afford those kinds of salaries. I pay my mortgage and bills, but that stretches every penny.’
He frowned. ‘So you take in foster kids for the money?’
Something flashed in her eyes. It looked like hurt. ‘I’m sorry,’ he signed.
‘It’s okay. It’s a reasonable question. No, I do this because I had a deaf teenager come through my clinic last year. They’d been hurt.’
Michael swallowed. ‘Like me?’
She nodded once. ‘I wasn’t certified for emergency placement then, so they went into the foster system.’
‘They?’
‘The teen was trans. They preferred “they”.’
Michael sucked in a breath that burned. He’d heard horror stories about what bullies in the foster system did to both deaf kids and trans kids. A deaf trans kid? Shit. ‘What happened to them?’
‘Kids snuck up on them. Hurt them. They didn’t die, but it was close. They’re forever traumatized.’
‘So you became an emergency foster parent.’
She nodded. ‘Yes. As for all the nice furniture and gadgets? You remember me telling you that Coach has rich friends?’
‘Yeah,’ Michael answered cautiously. ‘The rich guys just gave you money?’
‘Pretty much.’ She smiled. ‘See – and you might have to make a chart later to remember all this – my brother Deacon that you met today? His wife is named Faith. Faith’s uncle is the rich guy. His name is Dr O’Bannion. You remember Marcus, Coach’s friend from the newspaper office?’
‘The one who took care of Joshua. Yeah. And?’
‘Dr O’Bannion is also Marcus’s dad. He is very nice and very generous. When I was getting this place ready for kids, Dr O’Bannion showed up on my doorstep with his checkbook. All the books, the games, the clothes in the closets, the jungle gym out back – it’s all because of him.’
Michael frowned. ‘Why did he do it?’
Her smile was gentle. ‘Sometimes people are
just nice, Michael. It’s okay to trust. We’re good people. We will take care of you.’ She closed the closet door. ‘Take your time. Dinner won’t be ready for an hour or so. We can watch a movie after if you want to.’
Michael’s eyes burned. ‘Thank you.’
She cupped his cheek. ‘You’re welcome. You’re worth it.’
He watched her go down the hall toward the front of the house. When she was out of sight, he blinked and the tears streaked down his cheeks.
No, I’m not worth it. But Joshua is.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Saturday, 16 March, 8.50 P.M.
Dani stopped outside of her kitchen doorway for just a moment, just long enough to brace herself. She was about to be alone with Diesel Kennedy. And it scared her to death, because she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore.
She swallowed hard as she peeked around the door frame to where he sat at the table, staring at his laptop, the expression on his handsome face one of intense concentration. He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his huge hands.
Hands that had held her so damn gently. Hands that had held Joshua so gently. Hands that had encouraged Michael when the boy had been so scared.
Think of it as a mugging, Diesel had told Michael. And it had helped the boy get through the telling of his abuse.
It had been a . . . specific thing to say, the expression on his handsome face oddly personal. She wondered about it now, watching him glare at his computer screen. Wondered if the advice had come from his own experience. But that was not a conversation she felt comfortable initiating. If he felt like sharing someday, she’d listen.
As if sensing her presence, he abruptly shifted his gaze from his computer to where she stood, one of his dark brows lifting in question. But he said nothing. Just watched her watching him.
Busted. Dammit.
Cheeks heating, she entered the kitchen, going straight to the freezer, grateful for the frigid air cooling her face. And for the freezer door that hid her from his intense scrutiny. ‘I got Michael settled,’ she said, simply for something to say.
‘Good,’ he replied, the single word sending a shiver down her back.