Unforgettable Christmas Dreams: Gifts of Joy

by Rebecca York

  He hoped she’d give him some reasonable explanation for her tardiness, apologize once and for all, and promise it would never happen again.

  “Dr. Olson, thank you for your compliments and for recognizing my dedication to our patients.” She pinned him with a direct gaze, her big blue eyes meeting his straight on, and her subtle flowery scent accosting his senses. “As you’ve noticed, I always do everything possible to hasten their recovery.”

  “Huh...” Was that an opening for an apology?

  “Don’t you agree?” She tilted her head with a slight frown.

  “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  “Well, it’s that time of the year to recognize my good work and effort with more than words.”

  “Ah.” That was beyond anything he’d expected. At a loss of words, he arched his eyebrows.

  “Dr. Olson, I’m due for an increase.”

  Was she joking? “An increase?” Almost choking, he coughed to clear his throat. An increase, when he’d been tempted to fire her two days ago? “An increase is based on a positive review.”

  “Exactly.” Her bone-melting smile turned his knees into mush. Good thing he was sitting. “May I count on you for a glowing review?”

  Mentally shaking himself, he averted his gaze from her luscious lips. “Ms. Parker, I would have to mention in my review that you have been tardy almost every day for the last three weeks, that you’re out of reach at lunchtime, a no-no during your shift, and that I have trouble contacting you when I need you.”

  “But I always do a great job for you. In and out of the OR, right?” Her mouth curled down at the corners as if she were about to cry.

  “Before I write any review, why don’t you try to be on time for the next two weeks?”

  She lowered her head. “I was on time and even early yesterday.”

  “One day is not enough. The whole staff is watching you.”

  “I don’t care about the staff, Dr. Olson. Only about you, my boss.”

  His stomach twisted into knots, but he stiffened his back. Seriously, he couldn’t let a pretty smile and the tears glittering in her eyes make him cave. “Ms. Parker, you need to be on time or you’ll risk losing your job. This is a warning.”

  “No, please,” she begged, her hands rising in a pathetic appeal. “I need my job. I’m doing my best.”

  “But you’re always late.” He felt like a jerk.

  “I always make up for the few minutes I missed and do an excellent job. Please think about the increase.”

  He couldn’t believe she was about to cry. “I’ll talk to Dr. Turner.”

  “Please do that.” She stood and left without even a goodbye.

  Aidan stared at the door long after she’d closed it behind her. He doubted a call to Dr. Turner would help solve his dilemma.

  Dr. Turner, who’d hired Melody four years ago, had given her glowing reviews and substantial increases every year. He’d even confided to Aidan that Melody Parker was an amazing nurse, the best a doctor could wish to have at his side during a delicate surgery. Very conscientious, hardworking, attentive to her patients’ needs, and punctual. Punctual? Hmm...

  In fact, she’d been all that. Even punctual, at least for the first six months Aidan had worked with Dr. Turner, before the senior doctor had retired.

  Why did she have to spoil her perfect record, corner him with respect to their colleagues, and weigh on his conscience?

  Chapter Two

  At the end of his rope, Aidan called Dr. Turner. Maybe his former mentor would have some wise advice for him.

  “What do you mean a reprimand for being late? Are we talking about the same person?” Turner bellowed, his tone suggesting that Aidan had totally lost it. “I worked with Melody for four years. She’s the best. I can’t believe you haven’t written her review yet. Let me give you some advice, Aidan. Good nurses are not easy to find. Don’t push her away. Any hospital would be happy to offer her a great position and a matching salary.”

  Of all the... Aidan repressed an exasperated huff. Now he’d be the one to blame if Melody got upset and left the hospital.

  “So, according to you, Dr. Turner, I shouldn’t mention her tardiness in a review? Maybe I should mention it’s not important enough to affect her increase.”

  “I didn’t say that. Hmm, did you try to find out what has made her come in late recently? There must be a reason.”

  “I asked her. She won’t talk.”

  “Of course, she’s too proud to complain. Listen, in my desk—your desk now—you’ll find a folder with the reviews and increases of our staff. Look at it and maybe you’ll learn something. If not, ask Human Resources to give you the personnel files. As the new boss, you have the right to read them.”

  At least it was a concrete suggestion. “Thank you, doc. I’ll do that.”

  “Between you and me...” Dr. Turner lowered his voice as if talking in confidence, yet Aidan could hear a laughing undertone. “If I was still a young bachelor like you, instead of bickering with my nurse, I would take her out to dinner. Especially one as cute as Melody.”

  “Huh...” The nerve. Aidan’s grip on his phone tightened. “Thanks for the good advice.” As if he needed such advice.

  Five months ago, Aidan had asked her out—for dinner, and later for a drink and then finally just for coffee. She’d flatly refused. She was always too busy. He’d given up, thinking she must have a secret boyfriend.

  Ignoring Dr. Turner’s advice that riled him to no end, Aidan opened the drawer, sorted through the folders left by his predecessor, and pulled out the folder labeled Reviews.

  Trying to be fair, Aidan read the reviews in the order he found them. Dr. Turner hadn’t been particularly lenient to his staff, picking on mistakes or negligence toward the patients, with specific examples to substantiate his claims. No such things in Melody’s files, only praise about her patience, hard work, and smart handling of difficult cases, again with specific examples about her staying late or coming in early to care for her patients. If Aidan dared make a negative comment, he’d be the one questioned on his judgment.

  Exasperated, he replaced the folder in the drawer and called the HR office.

  “We shifted to computerized files,” the manager said. “I’ll send you those of your staff. It’s all confidential. The password is Neuro30//.”

  Aidan brought a cup of coffee from a vending machine and settled in to study the personnel files. They indicated the usual private information: date of birth, marital status, address and phone number, date of hiring, reviews, and special comments. He learned that Stacy was married, Heather divorced, Dr. Anwar had received his citizenship a year ago...

  Nothing he hadn’t known in Melody’s file, except a few details. She was twenty-nine. Looking at marital status, Aidan scoffed. Single was circled, and someone had scribbled planning to stay single. Dr. Turner was listed as her emergency contact. Did that mean she had no family, no relatives, no friends to rely on outside the hospital? The thought twitched his insides. Would that explain her aloofness?

  He entered her phone number and address into his phone, and decided to observe her for the next week. Nothing changed. She was late two days in a row, coming earlier with a plate of delicious cookies the day after, then on time, then late... What had he expected? The pattern continued as if she were completely oblivious to his scowls and the staff’s gossip.

  Broaching the subject with her wouldn’t help. After giving it some thought, Aidan concluded he’d learn more about her by driving to her house and discovering where she lived. Maybe then he’d be able to decide on a course of action.

  On Wednesday afternoon around five o’clock, he drove to her place, a fifteen-minute trip from the hospital. He circled the lower-middle-class neighborhood, then slowed and stopped in front of a duplex of two apartments. A badly kept lawn spotted with yellow dandelions and dark green moss formed the small front yard surrounding a canopied entrance porch.

  According to her file, she lived on the
top floor. He remained in his SUV, watching and thinking about what to do next.

  Maybe he’d knock on her door, use a friendly approach, and see if he could help her. Midway up the stairs leading to her apartment, he hesitated. Would she be upset by his sudden appearance at her home?

  Loud barking answered his mental question. He climbed a few steps and paused again.

  “Get him, Bernie. Get the mean robber,” a little girl shouted.

  A pet flap swung open in the bottom of the wooden door, and a German shepherd squeezed out. To Aidan’s alarm, the dog snarled and barked at him.

  “It’s okay. Calm down,” he said with a gentle voice to appease the beast. “Easy, boy.” He raised his hand in a friendly gesture.

  “No. Mean one,” the girl screeched. “Go, Bernie. Get him.”

  “I’m a friend,” Aidan said, not sure who he was talking to but hoping to save his hide.

  “No, nobody comes here. You mean, mean, mean.”

  At every mean, the dog barked louder.

  “Damn it.”

  “Get him, Bernie, please.” In full-fledged panic, the girl started crying. “Get him. Bite, Bernie, bite.”

  Encouraged by his little mistress, the dog meant serious business and pounced, jumping several steps at a time, obviously determined to tear the intruder apart.

  Aidan hardly had time to spin and dash down the stairs and out to the street, banging the door shut behind him, with the barking dog pursuing him and scratching at the street door.

  His heart pounding, Aidan leaned on the bumper of his car and waited, hoping that an adult would show up. The barking stopped for a moment and then the German shepherd appeared behind the window on the second floor, barking his head off.

  Was it really Melody’s house? Aidan checked the address on his phone. No doubt, he was at the right place.

  What the hell was going on in this house?

  As he debated staying longer or driving away, a car slowed down and parked in the duplex garage. Melody came out and raised her head toward the window where Bernie kept barking.

  “Easy, boy.” She seemed to notice the SUV in front of her house. “What do you...”

  Aidan straightened and walked toward her. “Melody.”

  “Dr. Olson? What are you doing here?” She opened big eyes, looking surprised and upset.

  He crossed his arms and pinned her with a stern gaze. “I came to see if I could help you in any way, but I must have frightened a little girl in the apartment upstairs. She released the dog on me and encouraged him to attack.”

  “Oh my God. You scared the hell out of Stella. She knows that no one ever comes in my absence.”

  “Who’s Stella?”

  “My daughter. Wait here. Let me see what’s going on.”

  The wind was knocked out of his lungs, but Melody didn’t wait for him to close his sagging jaw.

  ***

  Bummer, why had he stalked her all the way to her house? As if she didn’t have enough trouble at work and at home.

  “Stella, honey? Bernie, sweet boy?” she called from the stairs to reassure both her little girl and the big dog.

  “Mommy. You here?” The little voice came from the bottom of the door. Melody could bet that both Stella and Bernie had squeezed against the opened flap to peek at her.

  “Get up,” she said as she unlocked the door and opened it to lift her four-year-old sweetheart into her arms and pat the big dog with a gentle caress.

  “Oh, Mommy, we were so scared. There was a mean robber in the stairs. Bernie went after him.”

  The mean robber was waiting in front of her house, determined not to leave until he found out the answers to his questions. Melody sat on the sofa in the living room and settled Stella on her lap. Bernie crouched at her feet. Melody kept a hand over his head, softly raking his rich golden fur.

  “No, pumpkin, this man is not mean robber. He is my boss. We are together every day at the hospital. He came to visit.”

  “Why he came when you not home? You said no one come when you away.”

  The logic of a four-year-old. “He didn’t know I was not home and he didn’t know I have a little girl and a big doggy.”

  “Ah...so he not mean?” At every mean, Bernie released a deep groan.

  “Don’t say that word, baby. My boss is nice.” Melody caressed Bernie’s head. “Nice, nice.” Every nice was accompanied by a gentler stroke intended for the smart German shepherd to associate the word with good behavior. “His name is Aidan. Aidan’s nice, right, Bernie?”

  Bernie stared at her with an adoring gaze. Sometimes she wished people—men, in particular—could be as smart and loving as her big Bernie.

  “Okay, Mommy. Aidan nice. But Aidan gone,” Stella added with a placid shrug.

  Melody sighed. Unfortunately, her boss was not that easy to get rid of.

  “He’s still here. Outside. Waiting for me to call him inside.”

  “No, Mommy. Don’t call him.” Stella’s worries returned in spades at the thought of the mean robber coming inside their safe house. “Leave him outside.”

  How she wished. “I can’t. It’s not nice. He wants to meet you and Bernie.”

  “Me and Bernie don’t want to meet him.” Stella’s tone sounded as firm as could be.

  “Stella, don’t be difficult. I’ll bring Aidan here and you will say, ‘Hi, Dr. Olson.’ Nicely. Okay?”

  Stella frowned, pinched her lips, and responded with a stubborn look.

  “Okay?” Melody repeated.

  “I don’t want—”

  “You do as Mommy says. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Now sit in your rocking chair and hold Bernie’s collar.” She pointed a finger at the dog. “Bernie, you stay in place.” Bernie lay next to the child’s rocking chair, and Stella grabbed his collar.

  Fingers crossed, Melody walked slowly down the stairs, hoping that nothing else would go wrong today. She opened the street door and signaled to Aidan to come in.

  “Stella and Bernie want to meet you,” she said when he climbed the five steps to the porch. It wasn’t exactly true, but with a little bit of luck and careful conversation, Aidan’s visit might not turn into another disaster.

  “Bernie?”

  “Stella’s dog.”

  “Ah, that huge German shepherd.”

  Melody climbed the stairway as slowly as if it were a sheer wall of rock and ice, and paused at the door, ready to mutter a prayer. Aidan had followed her in silence. She moved to the side to reveal his presence.

  “Stella, say hi to Dr. Olson, my boss.”

  “Hi.” Stella studied him from under scrunched eyebrows.

  “Hi, Stella. I’m a friend of your mommy,” Aidan said in a soft voice.

  The dog sat on his haunches and emitted a low growl.

  “Hi, Bernie,” Aidan said with the same low tone.

  The dog jumped to his feet, but Stella held his collar, controlling him so far. Both the child and dog considered him with suspicious looks.

  “Bernie, say hi,” Stella ordered. The dog barked once. “Now sit.” To Melody’s relief, Bernie obeyed and sat.

  “Have a seat, please.” She indicated the chair at the opposite end of the living room, at the maximum possible distance from Stella and her dog, while she lowered herself onto the edge of the sofa. “What brought you here, Dr. Olson?”

  “Please, call me Aidan. We’re not at the hospital.”

  “All right, Aidan.” She primly crossed her hands on her lap, hoping Aidan wasn’t bothered by the strong dog smell permeating her old living room or allergic to the dog hair scattered over her furniture. On second thought, if he was bothered, he wouldn’t linger. Her worried frown relaxed.

  “We’re always too busy at work, and I wanted to talk to you. I thought coming to your place would be the easiest way to have a chat. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to cause such a commotion or scare your daughter.”

  Still not reassured, Melody nodded. He was a kind ma
n, much more decent than she’d assumed, but then weren’t all men kind when it suited them?

  “Incidentally, I didn’t know you have a daughter.” He looked right and left, searching, but not asking questions.

  “I’m not married.” Guessing his questions, she decided to clear the air right away. “The man took off the minute I announced I was pregnant.”

  Aidan’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I didn’t need him. I don’t need any man around.”

  His eyebrows shot up. Obviously he hadn’t expected her candor and had trouble recovering his wits. “Oh...huh... Where’s the babysitter?”

  Trouble was about to start. “Stella goes to daycare when I’m at work. I pick her up on my way back.”

  “But you were not here when I came.”

  None of your business, she wanted to blurt. “I had a quick errand to run where I couldn’t take Stella.”

  “You left her alone?”

  Under her arched eyebrows, Melody sent him a direct gaze. “With Bernie. Just for an hour. I couldn’t guess you’d show up unannounced.”

  “Bernie’s my plo-te-ttol,” Stella chimed in.

  “Your protector?” His eyes rounded in horror, and Melody braced herself for an honorable-man tirade. “You mean you left your daughter. Alone at home. For an hour.”

  “Not alone,” Stella protested. “With Bernie. He good. He defends me if mean robber comes.” The dog jumped to his feet with a growl, and Aidan straightened up.

  Melody huffed. “Stella, don’t say that word now.”

  Stella laughed and pointed to their visitor. “He not mean now.” But Bernie had a lower level of comprehension and the word mean meant he had to protect and attack. He growled and shook his head to escape Stella’s hold.

  His gaze fixed on the enemy, Aidan scowled. “I can’t believe it. You leave a four-year-old with a dangerous, uncontrollable dog.”

  Good Lord, Melody had to make the dog understand that Aidan was no foe. She scooted over next to him and grabbed his hand. “We have to fix the situation. Make peace with Bernie once and for all.” She stroked the back of his hand with smooth, soft motions. “Aidan nice, Bernie. Aidan very nice.”