by Betina Krahn
She turned in his arms and buried her face in his shirt, her shoulders quaking as she fought to contain her grief.
“Come on, Kate.” He led her down the hall to a deserted waiting room and settled on a sofa beside her. A sizable ball of tissues later, her tears had stopped, and he lifted her chin to look into her eyes.
“I must be a mess,” she said, trying to look away, but he tugged her gaze back to him.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said with complete sincerity.
She melted visibly and stroked his cheek.
“Thank you for helping, for sitting with me and Miguel. I know this isn’t your job.”
“Anything that worries or troubles you is definitely my job. You’re special, Kate Everly. The world can’t afford to let anything happen to you. I can’t afford to let anything happen to you.”
She searched his face—for what, he wasn’t sure. But he sensed she needed something from him, something warm and true and from the depths of him. Any other time that thought would have scared the bejesus out of him. Just now, it seemed like the very reason he was born.
“You have the biggest, most loving heart in the world,” he said, pouring conviction into each word. “And you back it up with action. Do you know how rare that is?”
Pain flickered through her expression and he pulled her against him and wrapped her in his arms, wishing he could anchor and protect her.
They sat in the waiting room, holding each other, cradling hope for Miguel and Alejandro between them.
After a while he set her back and went out in search of a vending machine. When he returned, he brought her a soda and an update.
“I checked with his nurse. Pretty much the same.”
“Thank you.” When she’d had a drink, he settled beside her and pulled her back against him, cradling her in his arms.
“Kate, you’re not responsible for what happened to him any more than I am or Alejandro is. The responsibility for that falls on Raul and on him alone. He’s the monster. He is the one who used and then brutalized a young boy given into his care by a dying mother.”
“But Miguel wouldn’t have been in that situation if I hadn’t—”
“He was already in that situation. He and Alejandro were already defying their uncle to bring dogs to the shelter. It was probably just a matter of time until Raul found out.”
“That’s no excuse, Nick. I knew it could get him in trouble, and I urged him to help anyway. I’m an adult. I should have been more responsible with him and his safety.”
“And if he hadn’t helped, ninety dogs would still be caged and starved and beaten,” he said. “Life isn’t a scale, sweetheart.” He stroked her cheek. “You can’t balance a possible good deed against all the possible bad things that might result. If you did, you would never do anything good or right.”
He realized he was talking to himself as well as her, and that insight rocked him for a moment. He threaded his fingers through hers, and she laid her head against his chest.
“You have to do what you know to be good and right,” he continued. “You give it your all and trust that something, somewhere will make the outcome what it should be.” Her gaze came up to meet his. He was quoting her own words to her and she seemed surprised.
“Wasn’t it a wise young veterinarian who said that she learned early on that we’re a conduit for healing, not the source? Well, I think that’s not only true of healing, it’s true of doing good, as well. We’re conduits for good, not its source. We’re not responsible for every life we touch. That’s too big a burden for any human being to bear.”
She reached up to stroke his face. “You’re a remarkable man, Nick Stanton.”
“Nah,” he said with a wry grin. “But I am teachable. And believe me, sweetheart, I’ve been paying attention. Everything you’ve said to me, every wise observation and loving pronouncement you have made is stored right here.” He tapped his chest above his heart. “And I think it’s making me a better man...a better dad...a better human being.”
She pulled back to look at him, and he could see she was trying to drink in the full impact of his words. She had given him her heart and he was giving it back to her...just when they both needed it most. He felt her pulse began to pound as he lowered his face to hers and pressed his cheek against her temple.
“We haven’t known each other for very long, but somehow I can’t imagine my life without you in it.” His words washed over her in a delicious, sense-warming wave. “This may not be the best time or the place...but then, it may be the perfect time and place... I love you, Kate. I feel like you’re already part of my heart and my family, and I want to marry you. It doesn’t have to be right away, but, please, don’t make me wait too long.”
“Nick Stanton, rescuer of dogs, star of my dreams and defender of my heart... I love you, too.”
She gave him her answer in a kiss so hot and full of passion that he feared they might set off a smoke alarm in the hallway.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, Kate arrived at the hospital to take up her vigil at Miguel’s bedside with a bit more hope. The neurologist said his cranial pressure was better and he was holding his own. There were positive signs in his reflexes, and there were no seizures or other complications. The question of lasting damage was still unanswered and probably would remain so until he awoke and they could assess him further.
It wasn’t exactly good news, but it was good enough...something to hang their hopes on. When Alejandro arrived with Nance, he didn’t seem all that impressed with the doctor’s opinion.
“He get better,” the older boy pronounced, holding his young cousin’s hand through the bed rails. “You get better, Miguel. I show you llamas. Yes, an’ ostriches. We feed them today. Miz Nance an’ me. She has animals. A donkey, little like a dog. Pigs. Goats. She says we come to help her. Maybe stay with her. But you get better, little one. Wake up an’ you see.”
Kate studied Nance’s face, seeing in it the same mixture of stubbornness and compassion that had shaped her own life. She caught her grandmother’s eye with a questioning look, and Nance gave a sharp nod that said it was settled and there was nothing left to discuss. Kate had seen that look many times. She smiled softly and nodded back. She knew what it was like to be rescued by Nance Everly, body and soul. She patted Miguel’s arm, thinking he was in for quite an adventure when he woke up.
For the first time, she was thinking in terms of “when” not “if,” and knew just who to credit for that positive change in her outlook.
Later that day, when Nick arrived at the hospital, Kate felt like her world had just arrived. He learned of Nance’s plans for the Vasquez boys and after a moment, nodded.
“I can see that. It would be beneficial both ways.” He offered Alejandro a hand and after a moment of confusion on the youth’s part, they shook. “Welcome to your new life, son.”
When Nick left to get them something to drink, Alejandro looked at Kate with a touch of surprise. “He shake my hand.”
“Yes, he did. That’s what a man does to show welcome and respect to another man.” She smiled as Alejandro straightened and his face gradually lit from within. She watched him stand and go to Miguel’s bedside and take his hand.
“I am here, Miguel.”
Two long days passed without much change in Miguel’s condition. The swelling in his brain was going down, but he hadn’t awakened. Between her clinic and the hospital, Kate was putting in long hours. Nance took Alejandro to see Miguel each day, and they sat for hours with a book at his bedside, while Nance helped Alejandro with his reading. Each evening, Sarah brought Ben for a visit and on one visit, the boy insisted on bringing Miguel a dinosaur from his collection. He put it on the bedside table, but after looking at it there, he didn’t seem especially happy.
Nance sugg
ested they take a walk and before long they were back with a can of soda that seemed to have brightened Ben’s mood. Kate was focused on Miguel and didn’t pay much attention to the change.
The next day, Kate dropped by the hospital over her lunch break to find Nick had already been there, delivering a bouquet of balloons from the guys in his station. They were tied on one of the bed rails. Sarah had brought some flowers, but they weren’t allowed in ICU, so she left them at the nurses’ station and came back with a lifelike stuffed puppy instead.
Kate studied the toy and smiled. Leave it to Sarah to find the perfect gift for a young boy who loved dogs more than his own safety.
On the sixth day, Kate met with Miguel’s doctors and learned that his pressures were finally back within normal range. They were just waiting for him to wake up.
That evening, Nick was already filling the doorway to Miguel’s room when she arrived—a tactic they’d begun to use when more than two people were inside and they didn’t want the nurses to see it. She slid her arms around his waist from behind and gave him a hug, laying her head against his broad back.
“I hope that’s you, Kate,” he said, his voice rumbling against her ear. “Because if it’s not, we’re in trouble.”
“It’s me,” she said, sliding around him and into his arms, where she got a glimpse of the room. Too many people, again. Alejandro was there with Nance and Ben. They were focused on something—something moving on the bed. A puppy!
They’d smuggled in a puppy, and it was climbing all over Miguel, sniffing and licking and scratching at the sheets to make a nest for itself. She stared for a minute, unable to decide whether it was crazy or genius.
“Are you part of this?” she asked.
“I wasn’t. But I am now. Accomplice. Dead to rights.”
“It was Ben’s idea,” Nance said proudly, beaming at her eight-year-old coconspirator.
“He didn’t need a dinosaur, he needed something real,” Ben explained. “A puppy. He loves puppies, so why not bring one to help him?”
“So I brought a puppy from the shelter and helped sneak it in,” Nance said. “Nick’s been running interference.”
“What happens if it pees on the bed?” Kate said, still undecided whether it was a good thing, but loving the way the miniature schnauzer puppy—one of their rescues—was curling up by Miguel’s head on the pillow.
“Then we change the sheets,” Nance said, motioning to the pile of linen perched on a linen cart along one wall. “No biggie.”
“Yeah, no biggie,” Ben echoed, beaming.
“Your grandmother is a subversive element,” Nick said, putting an arm about her. “And it looks like she’s turning my son into one, too.”
“You okay with that, Mr. Law-and-Order?” Kate looked over her shoulder at him, sinking back into his embrace.
“I think I could get used to it.” He chuckled. “Plus, I want to see if it helps. I’m working on a theory.”
It took another evening of “puppy therapy” for Miguel to awaken. When he opened his eyes to noise and confusion, the first thing he saw was a scruffy little puppy face next to his, and a cheer rang out, bringing the nurses running.
Nance grabbed Alejandro and danced him around the room. Ben climbed up on the bed to retrieve the puppy, who had begun to yip frantically, and Kate tried to explain to the glowering nurses why they had so many visitors and a contraband canine in the room.
Everyone but Alejandro was kicked out immediately, but not one of them was sorry. Miguel was awake and talking—at least to Alejandro.
By the next day, they were holding puppy therapy in the family waiting room of the regular med-surg floor; Miguel had graduated out of ICU and was getting food and physical therapy to help him regain his strength. Alejandro was overjoyed to see his cousin recovering and told Miguel about all that had happened since that day at Clara Crowder’s farm.
Mercifully, Miguel didn’t remember much of the trauma that put him in the hospital, but he broke down in tears of gratitude when he heard he wouldn’t be going back to his uncle. Nance—who knew people in every part of Lakeview’s officialdom—announced that she had discussed the subject of becoming a foster parent to Miguel and Alejandro with a friendly caseworker. With a little luck and some canny persuasion, she expected that Alejandro and Miguel would soon be coming to stay on the farm with her.
Miguel seemed a little confused. Alejandro explained and described the farm, and soon he was smiling and eager to explore Nance’s menagerie.
The day he was discharged, Miguel had a crew of hospital staff people saying goodbye and even more people following him and Alejandro to their new home. It turned into a welcome home party, with volunteers from Harbor, troopers and two and four-legged friends from Kate and Jess’s practice.
As the day wore on and things quieted down, Nick and Kate slipped away for a walk among the trees. They ended up in the field where they had first kissed, sitting on the same rocks.
“I’ve been working on a theory,” Nick said, holding her hand. “Well, it’s not entirely mine. I borrowed parts of it, and other parts are still in the works.”
“Oh? Are you going to fill me in or do I have to coax it out of you?”
“Coaxing isn’t necessary, but would be appreciated.” He leaned in for a kiss that left her humming with satisfaction. “So, you know how I ‘rescued’ Soldier and then he rescued us?”
“Funny how that worked out, huh?” She leaned her head on his shoulder. In truth it was more than amusing, it was miraculous.
“Well, I think the same thing happened to Miguel. He helped rescue the dogs, and then one of the puppies helped bring him back to us. I’m seeing a pattern here.”
“Yes?” She waited, sensing something important coming.
“There’s something special between people and animals—especially dogs.”
“I think that’s been pretty firmly established,” she said with a chuckle. “For, like, a few thousand years.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure we’ve really plumbed the depths of the human-canine relationship. I think there’s more to it. There’s a healing quality that seems to go both ways. And I’ve done some research on what’s happening with vets coming back from deployment with health problems and PTSD. Did you know there are organizations that select and train dogs to help veterans cope with the stresses of returning to civilian life?”
“I’ve heard of them. I don’t have firsthand knowledge. Every now and then, I get some materials in the mail about charities that sponsor companion dogs for vets.”
“Clearly there’s something about dogs that aids healing and grounds people emotionally...helps them cope. Given what happened with me and Soldier, I’d like to start a chapter of one of those organizations in this area.”
She broke into a huge grin. “That’s a wonderful idea, Nick. It would be a great way to help vets and shelter dogs at the same time.”
“There’ll be paperwork and some fund-raising to do. But I could take Soldier with me. He’s become a real buddy these last few days. I look forward to coming home...seeing his tail wagging and watching him jump around to greet me. I swear, he grins at me. Sometimes I think he’s about to burst because he wants to tell me something. Last night he followed me into my room and slept at the foot of the bed.”
“Wow. Should I be jealous?” She laughed and clamped her arms around him, wringing a small wince from him. “Ooooh, sorry.”
“Squeeze away, Doc. That’s one thing Soldier will never be able to do. And, of course, there’s this.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her to within an inch of her sanity. Minutes later they were rudely interrupted by a pair of pushy dogs seeking attention. Kate laughed and slid off her perch to kneel by Goldie and give the dog that had brought them together a gentle hug. When she looked up, Soldier was sit
ting nobly at attention while Nick lavished him with affection.
The sight produced a sweet pang in her chest, and she thought to herself, Gran is right. Good friends do make good medicine. Whether those friends have two legs or four.
EPILOGUE
EIGHT MONTHS LATER, a sizable group of guests gathered at the Everly farm for the celebration of Kate and Nick’s wedding. A number of guests had brought four-legged friends to the ceremony, including Hines, whose much-reduced Moose was basking in attention, and Ben, who led Soldier and Goldie down the aisle as honored guests. That handsome pair of dogs, the wedding program said, were matchmakers extraordinaire...having brought Kate and Nick together...and having been instrumental in their courtship.
Participating as ushers were Miguel and Alejandro Vasquez, who had indeed become Nance Everly’s foster kids. She was delighted to have them around to share her house and her beloved animals. The pair had enrolled in school and were making great strides.
Sarah and Nance sat at the front, side by side. They had become good friends, and Sarah now volunteered at the shelter one day a week. Nance had begun taking cooking lessons from Sarah and, with her granddaughter now getting married, she turned her meddlesome sights on Jess Preston. If ever there was a gal who needed to settle down, she was heard to say, it was Jess.
Ben acted as best man for his dad and beamed through the ceremony that made Kate his stepmom, as well as his friend. He was still playing soccer, but he made plenty of time for stargazing, helping out at the clinic and going fishing with his dad. Goldie did indeed sleep in his room at night. And so did Soldier.
A new face appeared the week of the wedding: Kate’s brother. Jace Everly hit town like a hurricane and set half the county’s eligible female population aflutter. He had a natural magnetism that charmed everyone but Jess, who found him pushy, overconfident and generally unbearable. She did manage to put up with him during the wedding rehearsal and the walk down the aisle...where she caught him winking at a couple of Kate’s female college friends in the third row.
