The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3)

by T. E. Killian

  “Oh Mike, that’s simply wonderful news. I’m so happy for you.” She leaned back and said, “But you know you’ll still have to work hard in PT to be able to walk again.”

  He shook his head and she pulled the rest of the way back and stood in front of him.

  “Yeah, I know. Stella and Mark both already drilled me on that. You’d think I was a slacker the way everybody’s reminding me of the same thing. I’ve always been a hard worker and a fighter. And that’s not going to stop now.”

  Daisy knew his anger wasn’t directed at her so she smiled and said, “Just the same, Mike, it’s fantastic news. I’ll keep praying for you.”

  Mike’s eyes glazed over but he didn’t respond to that other than to turn back to Floyd and say, “Let’s go Floyd.”

  Shortly after the two men left, Stella called them back for Barbie’s appointment.

  Fifteen minutes later, when Stella was finished with Barbie, she turned to Daisy and said, “Do you think Barbie could wait in the waiting room by herself for a few minutes, I’d like to talk to you alone if you don’t mind.”

  Daisy thought the worst. Something had to be wrong with Barbie or maybe one of her other residents and she began to worry.

  Stella laughed, placed a comforting hand on Daisy’s shoulder, and said, “Oh no, it’s nothing bad about anybody. I just want to talk to you about Daisy, okay?”

  Daisy tried to get the lump out of her throat that had suddenly risen there. “Sure.”

  She turned to Barbie and said, “Barbie, why don’t you go into the waiting room and read another book. I’ll just be a minute more.”

  “Okay Miz Daisy.”

  With that, Barbie cheerfully went out and Stella closed the door behind her.

  Stella smiled and said, “Relax Daisy. As I said before there is nothing wrong. I just wanted to talk to you.”

  When Daisy took the chair Stella indicated, Stella pulled another one up to sit in front of her.

  “I recently heard that you are a RN.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I was just wondering. You know me. I’m so noisy that Mark’s always telling me to mind my own business”

  She giggled. “And you can tell me that too if you’ve a mind to.”

  Daisy waited and was rewarded when Stella sighed and said, “I know that what you do there at that home is truly wonderful and it must also be rather gratifying, but . . .”

  Daisy tried not to get angry. She truly liked Stella. “I have my reasons for not being in nursing right now.”

  Stella didn’t give up and Daisy groaned when she said, “Do you mind telling me what those reasons might be?”

  Before she could think of how rude it sounded, she blurted out, “Yes, I do mind.”

  Then she quickly said, “Oh Stella, I’m so sorry.” She reached for a tissue from the box sitting on the desk nearby as her eyes began to tear up. “It’s just that I really don’t like to talk about it and I’ve told it three times in the last week or so.”

  Stella stood and said, “I understand Daisy. Please forget I even asked, okay?”

  Daisy suddenly didn’t want their conversation to end this way. She looked at Stella, really looked at her, and saw a woman around her age who seemed to want to be her friend. How could she turn her away? She didn’t really have any friends in Crowleyville and Stella was the second woman that day to make overtures toward her.

  She held out her hand. “Please sit back down Stella.” She looked at her watch. “If you have the time, I think I would like to tell you the whole story.”

  Stella sat back down and Daisy told her story.

  When she finished, Stella had tears streaming down her cheeks and she leaned forward and drew Daisy into a hug.

  “I’m so, so sorry, Daisy. I had no idea.”

  After a short time of Stella patting Daisy’s back while they both cried softly, she stood and pulled Daisy to her feet with her.

  Stella reached for a tissue and wiped her eyes. When she turned those eyes back on Daisy, she could see that Stella was very serious.

  “You see, Daisy, the reason I was asking was that my nurse just gave her two weeks’ notice this morning.” She wiped her eyes again. “And I would dearly love to have a nice Christian woman like you working with me.”

  Before Daisy could even think of what to say, Stella went on. “Working here wouldn’t be anything like working in the ER. We seldom have any kind of emergency here and certainly not from car accidents. You would be able to use your nursing skills to their fullest and not have to be reminded of things you don’t want to be reminded of.”

  When Daisy opened her mouth to refuse, Stella placed both hands on her shoulders and said, “No. Don’t say anything right now. I don’t need an answer right away. So why don’t you go home and think about it for a few days . . . please?”

  Daisy left there with her mind spinning and didn’t really remember driving back to the home.

  Chapter Six

  Wednesday morning Jason came early to take Mike to his PT appointment. Mike had to laugh. He knew why. Jason had been in and out of his house over the past two days and he talked about Karen all the time.

  Jason blushed when Mike called him on it. “I know why you’re early today. You can’t wait to see that little Karen can you?”

  Jason didn’t reply to that question. He just plopped down in a chair near Mike’s recliner and said, “Am I that early?”

  Mike just laughed and after a minute said, “It won’t do you any good to get there very early. She won’t come out to get us before the appointment time anyway.”

  Jason sighed dramatically and leaned back in his chair.

  Sarah came in and said, “Hi Jason. It’s good to see you again.”

  He smiled at her and said, “Hi, Sarah. I won’t be able to take Mike to his PT appointment Friday. I have to be in court all day.”

  She smiled and said, “That’s okay, I should be able to take him then.”

  A few minutes later, they left for Mike’s appointment. When Karen called them in, Mike was watching Jason. He was surprised at how calm and self-assured the guy seemed to be today. That sure was different than he’d been on Monday. And Mike was a little disappointed. He’d looked forward to watching Jason fall all over himself again.

  Mike was almost shocked when Karen leaned over him, pulled him out of his chair, and sat him onto a padded table about the same height as his chair. This little woman sure was stronger than she looked. He looked up to see an equally shocked expression on Jason’s face, which quickly turned to admiration.

  Mike smiled to himself. It looked like the puppy-dog expression was back. Maybe he’d have a little fun after all.

  When Karen straightened up she said, “Okay Mike, today won’t be much different from Monday, but don’t go getting used to this easy stuff. Your doctor has given the go ahead for us to do some more strenuous exercises on Friday. And we’ll work our way up from there next week.”

  She smiled at him and he could see why Jason was so infatuated with her. She had a nice, cheery smile.

  “I hope you’re ready to start working really hard starting Friday. We’re going to have you up and walking before you know it.”

  He sure hoped she was right. He knew he’d be more disappointed than ever now if it did turn out that he wouldn’t be able to walk again.

  After about thirty minutes of the same exercises from Monday, Karen left to get something she needed for the next set of exercises.

  Mike stretched out on the table and Jason leaned over him and said, “She’s even more beautiful today. And have you noticed how sweet her personality is?”

  Mike laughed and tried to tease Jason. “Yeah, if you’ll notice, she’s that way with everybody here though, not just us or especially you.”

  That didn’t even faze Jason. He just kept on praising Karen until he saw her heading their way again.

  She worked with Mike having him do different movements and exercises the rest of the tim
e.

  When she was finished, he looked up at her and said, “What kind of shape are my leg muscles in right now?”

  He could tell that she was a little hesitant to answer that question so he explained. “It’s not going to make me give up no matter what you say. I know they must be pretty bad since I haven’t used them at all for six months.”

  She smiled at that and said, “Yes, you’re right. All of your muscles are pretty loose but they haven’t begun to atrophy yet which is an extremely good sign for six months of inactivity.” She chuckled. “You must have been in very good shape when this happened to you.”

  He snorted and said, “I was an undercover cop. I had to be in good shape if I wanted to stay alive.”

  She looked quickly over at Jason in his uniform and understanding began to show on her face.

  Jason spoke before Mike could stop him. “No, Karen, he wasn’t with the sheriff’s department. He was a fed, DEA.”

  “Oh.”

  Mike could see the change in her expression go from surprise to understanding then possibly to respect in a matter of seconds.

  But Jason wasn’t finished yet and Mike was ready to come up off that table and belt him one if he didn’t stop.

  “Do you know our sheriff, Floyd McCracken?”

  “Why yes, I do. He and his wife are members of my church.”

  Mike didn’t like the sound of that. He kept bumping into people who were members of that church. Even Daisy was a member there.

  Jason continued, “Well, a former drug lord broke out of prison and went after Floyd for putting him there. But instead of going directly after Floyd, he kidnapped his daughter. When Floyd went after them, the guy had him down and was about to shoot him when Mike here stepped out of the woods shot it out with him.”

  “Oh my. That must have been frightening.”

  While Karen was still looking at Jason, Mike was making a slashing gesture across his throat in an attempt to get him to stop.

  Karen turned to him and Mike realized that Jason had just shot himself in the foot. She looked at Mike with admiration that he didn’t really want from her. Why couldn’t she look at Jason that way instead?

  About then, Jason realized his mistake and gave Mike a pleading look. Why not? The guy was okay and deserved an even chance with the girl.

  Mike cleared his throat and Karen’s expression returned to normal. He gestured toward Jason. “This guy was the first one on the scene and he held my head up out of the snow until the paramedics got there.”

  She looked back at Jason but it probably wasn’t quite the look he’d hoped for but it was better than before.

  As they were leaving, Jason stepped up to Karen and Mike, suspecting what he was up to, began wheeling himself out of the room.

  A couple of minutes later Jason came through the swinging doors with a dejected look on his face.

  Mike didn’t have the heart to tease him this time. So he said, “Shoot you down?”

  Jason nodded, grabbed the wheelchair handles, and began pushing Mike out the front door.

  “Yeah, she said she isn’t dating anyone right now and doesn’t want to start for a while.”

  Mike looked back up at him. “Does that mean that she might be open down the road a bit?”

  Jason frowned and shook his head. “I really don’t know. She didn’t say yes or no to later when I asked her.”

  “Well then, you still have a chance. Cheer up man.”

  * * *

  Daisy had just stepped into their apartment after she and Lucy had lunch with the residents when she heard her cell phone ringing. She looked around and realized that she’d left it on her kitchen counter.

  When she answered it, it was her brother Chet.

  “Hey little sis where you been? Mom just called me and said they tried to call you but you didn’t answer.”

  “Oh, Hi Chet, I guess I went to lunch and left my cell phone in the apartment. What’s up? They’re both all right aren’t they?”

  He chuckled. “It depends on your definition of all right. I think they’re okay, at least physically. But they landed in Springfield an hour ago and they’re headed your way. Just thought I’d try to give you at least a few minutes warning.”

  “Oh no! I wonder what they’re up to now.”

  He laughed and she said, “Thanks Chet. But there’s something you’re not telling me big brother. I can hear it in your voice. What is it? You might as well tell me. I’d rather not find out the hard way when they get here. So tell me . . . please.”

  He laughed loudly this time. She knew he loved it when she begged him. He was only a year older than she was and they had always been close.

  He finally answered in a teasing voice, “I’m not sure you really want to know.”

  “Tell me! Or I’ll tell them some of the things I know about you that you don’t want them to know.”

  He laughed again and then she could tell that his voice became serious.

  “Well, it seems that Mom got one of her feelings again. You know the one where she thinks one of us is in trouble or danger of some sort. The bottom line is that she thinks you need them right now for some reason.”

  Daisy fell back onto the sofa. “Great! That’s all I need right now.”

  His laughter continued. “Better you than me this time, Sis. You know I’ve had enough of their interference to last me a lifetime.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I just don’t think I can handle them right now with everything else I’ve got going.”

  “Hey, Sis, what’s going on down there? Maybe I can help in spite of our parents. You know I can always get away for a day or two any time I want especially this time of the year.”

  She knew that was since he was a CPA and August was always a slow month for him.

  “No that’s okay. I’ll be all right if I can only convince Mom that I am and I can get them back to Florida in a few days.”

  “Hey. Do me a favor and make sure they don’t come up here before they go back, okay? The way Mom sounded on the phone just now, I don’t think I want to be around either one of them for a while.”

  “Sure, Chet. I’ll try.”

  With that, they hung up and Daisy looked around her apartment. She jumped up and began straightening things and taking all of Lucy’s toys and coloring books into her bedroom.

  She quickly made both beds and that was all the time she had before she heard Lucy squeal in excitement.

  “Mommy, Mommy. Look. Grandma and Grandpa are here. Look. Look.”

  Daisy stepped out of Lucy’s bedroom in time to see all three of them coming through the apartment door. Her dad was carrying Lucy so her mom was free to rush over and embrace Daisy.

  Connie Young, who was an older version of her daughter, leaned back and looked deeply into Daisy’s eyes. “I was right.”

  She turned to Daisy’s dad and said, “See Frank, I was right. I can see it in her eyes. Aren’t you glad we came now?”

  Frank Young wasn’t tall but he was still a big man with a barrel chest and thick arms and legs. At fifty-nine, his hair was still as brown as it had been when he was twenty. She marveled at how neither one of them looked their age. Florida must really be agreeing with them.

  Daisy wondered what her mom saw in her eyes besides wariness or possibly a little fatigue. But that wasn’t enough to worry about. At least she didn’t think so.

  She turned to her mom pretending that Chet hadn’t already told her and said, “Why did you two come like this without letting me know you were coming?”

  As if she wouldn’t have been able to guess even without Chet giving her a heads up.

  Connie Young looked into her daughter’s eyes again and said, “You know me. I got one of my feelings. And you know how accurate they always are. Anyway, I feel that you’re in danger of some kind and your dad and I are here to help keep you and Lucy safe.”

  Daisy blew out a deep sigh. “Mom, when are you and Dad going to realize that I’m not Lucy’s age anymore. I
’m thirty-three years old and I think I can take care of myself just fine.”

  Connie laughed that off and said, “Not when you’re in danger Honey. And I just know that you’re going to need all the help you can get this time too.”

  She didn’t directly refer to when Richard and Richie had died but Daisy knew that was what she meant just the same.

  “How could I be in danger Mom? All I do is work here at the home. I’m not even out and around town very much except on Sundays and then only to go to church and maybe out to eat. What kind of trouble could I possibly get into here?”

  Connie shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest. “Just the same, Daisy, a feeling is a feeling. And I know that when I get them something is about to happen. So your dad and I are here and we’re not leaving until we know you and Lucy are both safe again.”

  Daisy knew that it did no good to say any more. When her mom’s mind was made up, her dad didn’t even try to change it. So she led them over to her living room and they all sat with Lucy on her grandpa’s lap jabbering away about something one of the residents had done that she thought was so funny.

  When Lucy finished her story, Frank looked at his daughter and said, “Why don’t you humor your mother and tell us everything that’s new that you haven’t told us over the phone?”

  Daisy started to try to brush him off, but realized that you just didn’t do that to Detective Captain Frank Young, St. Louis P.D. Even though he was retired, he was still just as sharp at reading people as he had been on the force.

  She let out a heavy sigh and began. “I really don’t know what to tell you that would satisfy you. I’ve made a new friend at church. She’s a physical therapist and recently moved here from Springfield.”

  Connie pulled Lucy down onto her lap as the little girl came to her. “Is there something about her past that might be dangerous?”

  Daisy shook her head. “No, she just needed to get away from all the people there since her fiancé left her at the altar three years ago and she couldn’t stand the pity anymore. I wouldn’t think there would be anything dangerous about that.”

  Frank cleared his throat and said, “How about any men in your life?”