Healing Hearts
Quinn Valley Ranch Book 27
Kay P. Dawson
Contents
Thank You
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Gertie’s Diary
About the Author
Also by Kay P. Dawson
Thank You
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Chapter One
“Some days I just wonder why I stay at my job. It makes me so upset when things like this happen, and I just end up taking it home with me. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a nurse anymore.”
Vicki leaned on her cart next to the produce in the Quinn Valley Quick-EE Mart, where she stood talking to her sister Brooke. Days like today left her feeling completely drained, and the last thing she’d wanted to do after work was to come grocery shopping. But she knew there was no food in her cupboard and now that her brother Travis was married, she couldn’t really show up there every evening for supper like she’d always done before. He liked to cook, and she didn’t.
It had been a perfect arrangement. Until every single one of her siblings had fallen down the rabbit hole of wedded bliss within just a year.
Now, she had to face many evenings eating alone. She cringed inwardly as she had the familiar feeling hit her that she was actually the last Quinn standing without a ring on their finger—out of all twenty-five Quinn cousins.
Just over a year ago, they’d all been happily single, living life free and full of joy. Family get-togethers were chaotic, but fun, and they’d all laughed off their Grandma Gertie’s attempts at telling them they needed to start giving her great-grandchildren.
Vicki had never dreamed there would actually be any hurry to settle down and start a family, but apparently she was the only one who didn’t get the memo. Now, in a short time, every single one had been hit with cupid’s arrow. Meanwhile, the only thing she’d been hit with was the bill for numerous bridesmaid’s dresses, wedding gifts, and the realization she would always be the “extra” when getting together for family game nights now.
If that didn’t make a person want to sit down and eat three tubs of chocolate ice cream for supper, she didn’t know what would.
“Vicki, stop talking like that. The reason you care so much is also the reason why you’re one of the best nurses out there. It’s just what makes you who you are. I know how much it sucks having days like this. But you also need to remember why you’re doing this job. And that’s so you can make a difference in these people’s lives. Trust me, every single resident in the nursing home loves you like a daughter. I’ve seen how their eyes light up when they see you walk into the room.”
Brooke was a doctor in Quinn Valley and worked closely with many of the residents in the nursing home where Vicki was the head nurse. If anyone could understand the feelings she had right now, it was Brooke.
“I know. And I know I could never give up being a nurse. It’s just so hard some days. Seeing Margaret sitting by the window, just giving up on life, breaks my heart. Every morning she has a glimmer of hope in her eyes when she asks if I’ve heard anything from her grandson. Then that spark fades when I have to tell her no once again. Maybe I should have just stayed out of it and not given her any false hope at all.”
“You did what you had to do for someone you care about a great deal, Vicki. There’s nothing wrong with that. The only person who should be feeling bad in all of this is the grandson who can’t be bothered to come and see a woman who obviously loves him. All you can do is be there for Margaret and let her know that even though you might not be her family by blood, she has someone to care for her in her final days.”
Vicki let her eyes follow the people in the store going about their shopping without a care in the world. Since Quinn Valley was a small town, many of the shoppers were stopping to chat with someone they knew or smiling and offering a quick greeting in passing.
As she said goodbye to Brooke and continued around the aisles in the store, her mind wandered back to Margaret.
She was glad she’d met up with her sister so she could talk about her concerns. With patient confidentiality, she wasn’t able to discuss personal matters about the residents with anyone else. But Brooke was Margaret’s doctor and had been with them both often, so she already knew what was going on.
Margaret was one of the sweetest and kindest ladies Vicki had ever known, besides her grandma Gertie, of course. She wasn’t much older than her grandma, but unfortunately Margaret’s health had been declining since she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a few years ago. She had moved herself into the nursing home shortly after her husband passed away, knowing she was going to require more care and didn’t have any family who could help her.
Over the past few months, Vicki had formed a close relationship with the woman, and Margaret was more than just a resident in the nursing home where she worked. She would do anything to make Margaret happy before the disease took over her body.
Which is why Vicki had been trying to reach the only family Margaret did have—a grandson in Boise. Vicki had seen pictures of him as a young boy, but apparently Margaret hadn’t been in contact with him for years. She didn’t have pictures, letters, cards or anything except the faded photo album from years ago.
Margaret had spoken of him often and said how much she would love the chance to see him again. Vicki hadn’t asked what happened or why there hadn’t been any contact because she sensed the sadness the older woman felt and didn’t want to bring up bad memories. She figured Margaret would tell her when, and if, she wanted to.
But a few weeks ago, Margaret had asked her if she could help her find her grandson. Vicki hadn’t been able to say no, even though she wondered what would happen if she couldn’t find him. Or worse, she found him, and he wasn’t interested in coming to see his grandmother.
And it seemed like that was exactly what had happened. After she found him, Vicki had left messages on his voice mail and had tried sending emails telling the man about his grandmother and how she’d like to see him.
It was obvious he was ignoring her.
Vicki couldn’t control her agitation as she thought about the ungrateful grandson who was missing out on the chance to make his loving grandmother happy. She pushed her cart angrily out the door onto the sidewalk in front, not even paying attention to the people she passed by. All she wanted to do was get home and make the hot dogs she had planned for supper. Just forget about work and how upset poor Margaret was going to be again tomorrow when she asked about her grandson.
She walked along the sidewalk until she got to the yellow striped crossing and shoved her cart toward the pavement. Not designed to be pushed with such force on the uneven surface, the front wheels rattled. With a sudden jolt, her stomach slammed into the handle as the small wheels stuck into a ridge between the sidewalk and pavement of the parking lot.
Before she could even figure out what was happen
ing, she felt her entire body being lifted up and over the now tumbling shopping cart. She flailed helplessly, trying to stop everything from going over. But because she’d chosen a smaller cart and had also picked up a large water bottle to replace on her cooler at home, all of the weight went to the front, propelling her forward.
All she could think about as she flew over the top of the cart like a gymnast, making a fabulous dismount off the vault, was that she was glad she was wearing scrubs and not a skirt. Her legs were over her head and she knew nothing would have been left to the imagination for the horrified onlookers who were no doubt watching in shock.
She landed with an undignified thud on the ground past the toppled shopping cart with her groceries strewn around her. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion as she turned to watch her three oranges slowly roll down the incline toward an oncoming car. Her large water bottle caught up to the oranges and bounced into the air as it hit a speed bump before rolling into the tire of a parked car, just narrowly missing the one that had stopped for the oranges.
Vaguely, she heard some gasps from the people who had witnessed her display of gracefulness. No one seemed to know whether they should come and help or turn and pretend they hadn’t seen anything to save her from even more embarrassment.
At this point, she was sure there was nothing in the world that could possibly make this worse anyway, so saving her from embarrassment wasn’t even an option. She moved to stand up, not daring to make eye contact with anyone around her, but before she could get up, a hand reached down and a man’s voice sent shivers down her spine. Maybe it was the knock she’d taken on her head, but she was sure she’d never heard a voice so sexy and soothing.
“Are you all right? Here, let me help you up.”
When she lifted her head and met the bright blue eyes staring at her with a mixture of concern and barely contained laughter, she groaned inwardly.
Of course a gorgeous man she didn’t know would have been coming along at just the right time to witness everything.
She took his hand and let him help her up, keeping her eyes down as she tried to wipe all the dust and dirt from her clothes. What little dignity she had left was gone the minute she heard his voice again.
“You really have to be careful when driving these shopping carts. Maybe they should come equipped with air bags.”
When she met his gaze again, she squinted in annoyance. Those blue eyes were dancing with amusement, and even though she appreciated that he was the only one who had stopped to check on her, she wasn’t going to let him laugh at her.
She knew there’d probably be enough of that going on inside the store from everyone else who’d continued past her once they realized someone had offered assistance. Although once he’d offered, it seemed to galvanize a few others into action. Better late than never. She assured everyone she was fine, and most of them continued on their way.
Except him.
“I think you’re meant to go down the small sloped section on the sidewalk and not try to bounce over the curb.”
She rolled her eyes and bent down to start retrieving her groceries. “Thank you for stopping, but as you can see, I’m fine so you can continue on your way.”
But he crouched down beside her and started to pick up the smaller items to put back into the bags. He winced and wrinkled his nose as he picked up her carton of eggs, now dripping with a yellow, gooey mess. “Looks like you’re having them scrambled.”
She quickly grabbed them from his hand. “They’re fine. I’ll just have to cook them when I get home.”
She knew she couldn’t do anything with them, but she just wanted everything about this mortifying incident over with.
“I’ll go retrieve your water bottle before it decides to roll any farther away.”
Vicki let her eyes lift for a moment to watch him walk over to the parked car. If she’d met him in any other way, she knew she’d have been instantly attracted to him. He was tall, blonde, and obviously wasn’t a stranger to hard work. When he lifted the water bottle effortlessly, she could see the muscles straining beneath his tight shirt.
For crying out loud, Vicki. Give your head a shake. She chastised herself under her breath as she put the last of her groceries into their bags and stood back up. She lifted the cart back up onto its wheels, so he could place the water inside.
“Thank you.” She snatched the bag he then picked up off the ground and threw it into the cart beside the water.
She knew she should try being a little nicer to him since he was only trying to help. But at this moment, she would rather be sitting in the middle of a swarm of bees completely naked than be facing the humiliation of what he’d just witnessed.
So the sooner she could get rid of him, the sooner she could tuck her tail between her legs and slink off home to hide under her covers until morning.
“I think you might need some new oranges.”
She cringed as they both watched another car drive into the parking lot and proceed to leave a mushy mess under the tires.
“I’m fine. I don’t need any oranges.” She placed the last of the bags back into the cart and gave him the biggest fake smile she could manage. “Thank you for your help.” No matter what, she’d never let anyone know how much her dignity was wounded.
She tried to push her cart away, but he put his hand on it and nodded his head slightly in her direction. “You might want to get that looked at.”
Her eyebrows came together in confusion.
“Your forehead is bleeding.”
Of course it was. In the middle of everything, she hadn’t even noticed an injury as she’d desperately tried to just get away before she died of humiliation. Now though, even before she could bring her fingers up to touch it, she could feel the warm trickle of blood as everything started to throb. Obviously, in all of the embarrassment, she hadn’t even noticed being wounded.
She quickly wiped the blood away and continued to smile. “It’s just a scratch. I’ll clean it up when I get home.”
This time, she pushed her cart hard enough to get things moving away from him. She could see her car at the far end of the parking lot, and every step she took seemed like it was getting even farther away.
Please, let me make it to my car without any more damage to my pride or my groceries.
She didn’t dare turn around until she reached her car. Her eyes slammed into his as he continued to watch her. He wasn’t trying to hide his smile anymore as he lifted his hand to wave.
“I was just making sure you made it to your car without further incident. Drive safe!” He yelled loud enough for anyone within a ten-block radius to hear.
As he turned to walk into the store, even from where she stood at the far end of the parking lot, she had to fight the urge to throw her one remaining, unbroken egg at the back of his head.
Chapter Two
“Oh, Vicki. I was so excited, and I knew you had a day off before I’d see you again to tell you. I thought the nurse was lying when she said I had a visitor. But as soon as he walked in, I knew it was him. I haven’t seen him since he was a boy, but I knew right away. He looks just like my Danny did when he was a young man.”
Vicki sat on the edge of the bed and let Margaret tell her everything. She’d indeed had the day off, so when she’d come into work today to find out that Margaret’s grandson had shown up out of the blue, she’d been excited to hear all about it.
“I’m so happy that he came, Margaret. I was beginning to wonder why he hadn’t replied or returned my calls, but at least we know he was getting them now.”
Even though she was happy for Margaret, she was a bit annoyed that the man hadn’t had the courtesy to at least give her a heads up that he was coming. After all, she’d been the one to go to all the trouble of finding him and she would have loved to be here when he’d arrived to see Margaret.
“He’s such a nice young man, Vicki. I know you’ll like him. He apologized for not being able to visit but he’s been very
busy.”
Vicki had to turn her head so Margaret couldn’t see her roll her eyes. She was sure he was busy. Too busy to take the time to drive a few hours to come visit his own grandmother for the past twelve years or so. Vicki knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would drive across the country if she had to, no matter how busy she was, to visit her own grandparents. And she would do it often.
But she had to remind herself that not everyone had the kind of family she did. And it wasn’t fair to judge someone without meeting him first. If he was important to Margaret, then Vicki would try her best to like the man.
Besides, she needed to protect the older woman in case her grandson turned out to be someone they couldn’t trust. Vicki had seen it more times than she cared to remember when a long-lost family member showed up, just in time to make amends, and be sure they received a nice payout when the loved one passed.
Margaret’s grandson had a lot of proving himself worthy before Vicki would give him her trust.
“Well, I’m so glad things worked out, Margaret. Hopefully he’ll make coming to visit a more regular occurrence now, since he only lives a few hours away.” When she’d been searching for him, Vicki had honestly believed the man must live in some far away state. At least that would have accounted for the lack of contact with his grandma over the years.
But he was in Boise, literally only a few hours away from Quinn Valley.
“I hope so too. He’s staying in town for a couple of days to visit with me, and I wanted you to be here when he came in today, so I asked him to come by early.”
Healing Hearts: Quinn Valley Ranch Book 27 Page 1
