Romance: Altered Engagement (Wild Hearts, Contemporary Romance Book 1)

by Nancy Adams

  “I'm not gonna give up,” Katie said, but Judy and Kylie only agreed to keep pushing her.

  “Okay, good,” Rob said. “Now, let's get Katie's shoes off. What we're going to do first is have her try to tell us where you're touching her feet, so take her shoes off and let her feet just lay on the mat. That's good, yeah, like that. Now, Katie, close your eyes and don't peek, no matter how tempting it may be.”

  Katie closed her eyes, and tried to concentrate on her feet. In some ways, it seemed like she could still feel them, but it was more like a memory of feeling them, and she didn't actually believe it was real. She knew that either her mom or Kylie would be touching her feet any second, so she was trying to will herself to feel whatever it was they did.

  Was that a flicker of feeling? She thought she felt something, touching her just below the ball of her left foot. “Did someone touch my left foot just then?” she asked. “Right on the bottom?”

  Rob said, “Well, they're actually touching both feet on the bottoms. Your sister is touching your left foot, right about the center of the sole. Is that where you feel something?”

  Katie slumped. “No,” she admitted. “I thought I felt something like, right around the ball of my foot, maybe, but I guess not.” She sighed and opened her eyes. “I know, we're just getting started,” she said, “but I keep hoping everything will just start working again, the way it did in the hospital.”

  Rob leaned forward. “You got feeling back for a bit while you were there?”

  Katie shook her head. “Not down in my legs, no,” she said, “but when I first got there, nothing would work. They thought I was in a coma, asleep, but I wasn't. I could hear everything going on around me, but I couldn’t feel anything, and I couldn't talk, or move at all. I tried, over and over, because I still had feeling in my head, and when they drilled these holes, it hurt!” She pulled a lock of hair aside to show where one of the holes had been. It was visible as an iodine-covered, quarter-inch circle with a couple of stitches in the center. “Anyway, they took me down for an MRI, and they wanted to see how I responded to Daddy talking to me, so he was in the room with me, with the big machine. I was trying to tell him I could hear him, and that I wanted to go home, and all of a sudden it came out of my mouth, and then my eyes opened, and everything from my waist up started working again. So that's what I mean, I wish it would all just start working and feeling again, like that.”

  Rob was staring at her. “Good grief,” he said. “I can't imagine what that must have felt like, but it's incredible that you went through it. You are one strong young lady. And it's possible that you'll experience another breakthrough like that, I'm not going to say it won't happen—but I can't make it happen, and so the only thing I know to do is to keep on working toward getting your legs back the only way I know how.”

  Katie smiled. “Thank you,” she said, and Rob cocked his head in confusion.

  “For what?”

  “For listening. For not saying it's hopeless. Right now, I really just need to believe there's hope for me to walk again before my wedding day, and you're giving it to me.”

  Rob seemed to blush just a tiny bit, then, and looked down at the floor for a second before going on. “Well, anyway,” he said, “what we've got to do is keep working on finding things you can feel. Ladies, what I'd like you to do is to use small, pointy objects—but not sharp things, like needles—and just lightly touch your way up her legs. When you're at home, this will be best on bare legs, but for now you can poke on her jeans.” He handed each of them a pencil, and nodded to Katie to close her eyes.

  She did, and tried to think about where she was being touched, but she couldn't actually say she was feeling anything. She was about to say so, but then there was a sensation that she was sure wasn't just in her mind, as she felt something poke into her right thigh.

  “Do that again,” she said, nodding to her mom, who was on her right. The feeling came again, and she reached down without looking to point at the spot where she was feeling it. “Did you just poke me right there?” she asked.

  “Almost,” Judy said. “It was actually just a little above there.”

  Katie opened her eyes, and looked at where her mom pointed, just a half inch from where she'd felt she was being touched. Rob was smiling, too, and then he said, “That's normal. Sometimes when you're not looking, it seems you feel something in a slightly different place than you actually do. That's encouraging, though, because you just registered sensation in a spot where you didn't have it before.”

  “Then, it's starting to come back?” Katie asked.

  “Well, we can say that you're regaining some sensation, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will be more anytime soon. All we can do is keep working on it, and as we see more sensation, we'll get a sense of just how you're progressing.”

  “Hey, as long as I can see some kind of progress, I'm feeling better about it all. It means there's hope, and hope is what I need most of all, right now.”

  “Of course it is,” Robe said. “I'm delighted to see any new sensation, because it does mean there is recovery progress being made. Now, let's go on. Keep poking, ladies!”

  Katie grinned and closed her eyes again, and knew that her mom and Kylie were poking at her legs again, but nothing seemed to come through until Judy poked that same spot again. “I felt that!” Katie said, and Rob said that was excellent, because it proved there was real sensation, and that it wasn't just a fluke.

  Finally, after an hour of this, Rob called a halt to it. “Okay, let's try something new and different,” he said, and Katie mumbled, “I'm for that!” Rob grinned.

  “Katie, I want you to move the stabilizer and lay on your back,” he said, and waited while she did so. She had to use her arms to lower herself back onto the mat, and even so, she sort of fell the last little bit, dropping her head onto it a little harder than she meant to. “That's good,” he said. “Now, what I want is for one of you to take hold of each foot, and use it to lift one leg at a time, pushing it up so the knee is bent, and then draw it back down while the other one goes up the same way. The idea is to make her legs move the way they would if she were riding a bicycle, think we can do that?”

  “Sure,” Judy said, and Kylie said, “Oh, yeah!”

  “Great,” Rob said, and then he looked at Katie Lou. “Okay, Katie, now I want you to try to stop them from doing it. Just keep telling your legs to push against them as they're lifting your feet up, and let's see if we get any resistance for them.”

  Katie grinned and nodded, and the exercise began. Judy lifted the right foot and started it on its circular motion, and as she brought it down, Kylie did the same with the left. Katie kept her eyes closed, and realized that she could tell which foot was being manipulated by the sensation of movement that it caused in her middle torso. Using that, she could concentrate on trying to resist with the proper foot each time, but it didn't seem that she was getting anywhere at all. Nothing she could do would cause her mom or sister to feel any resistance.

  6

  This exercise continued for a half hour, and then Rob called a halt to it. There had been no result from it, but he explained that he hadn't actually expected any. “Not yet, at any rate. You've suffered some pretty serious traumas to both your brain and your spine, and any of it could mean that you'll have problems in these areas. Dr. Capshaw will deal with those issues for the most part, but he'll keep after me to make sure you're working on your recovery, and I'll be keeping after you.” He looked at his watch. “That's probably gonna do it for today, but I want you back tomorrow morning, same time. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other for a while, because I want you here every morning, Monday through Saturday. If we're going to get you up by your wedding day, then we need to put in all the time and effort we can, right?”

  Katie grinned and nodded. “Right!” she said. “I'll be here, don't worry. I want this more than anyone!”

  He smiled at her, and she told herself that his smile wasn't ca
using that fluttery feeling in her stomach, even though she knew she was lying to herself. “Well, I can believe that,” he said. “So let's do our best to make it happen!” He got up and left the room, nodding to Judy and Kylie as he went.

  Katie used her arms to roll onto her side and then get into a sitting position. She looked at her wheelchair and reached out to pull it closer to herself.

  “Here,” her mother said, “let me help you...”

  “No,” she said. “I'm gonna need to be able to get in and out on my own, so let me try this. I mean, what if I fell out and you weren't home? I'd have to get back in, right? Let me try.”

  She turned herself around until her back was to the chair, then threw her arms up onto it and used them to lift herself upward. When she got her butt onto the very edge of the seat, she let her weight rest on it as she moved her hands up to grasp the arms of the chair properly, and then was able to raise up and let her butt swing back to where it should be. Once she was settled there, she reached down and grabbed her legs and put her feet on the footrests. “TA-DA!” she sang, smiling proudly, and both Judy and Kylie applauded her success.

  Katie didn't object when her mother took hold of the wheelchair's handles and began pushing her out the door and up the hallway. The waiting room was empty when they got there, so they stopped at the reception desk, where Anna the redheaded sister of Dr. Christopher was happy to confirm her appointment for the next day as well. Once that was done, they headed out the door to the Riviera, and were surprised to see Dr. Christopher himself standing there, admiring the car. When he saw them approaching the car, he smiled.

  “Is this yours?” he asked, and Kylie beamed.

  “Mine,” she said. “I bought it when I graduated high school, and I've been working on it little by little, as I can.”

  “Nice,” Rob said. “I like this model, though I confess I'm partial to the sixty-six GTO. It's more of a muscle car, while the Riviera was still a bit on the Buick luxurious side. Looks like it's in pretty awesome shape, though.”

  “Oh, it's got its quirks,” Kylie said. “You're into cars?”

  Rob grinned. “I like admiring them more than building them,” he said. “I've had a few that I was really excited about, but they take up so much time and money that I figure I'll worry about getting another one when I get my practice well established. Until then, business takes precedence!” He nodded at Judy and Katie. “Are you headed for home, or can I buy you ladies some lunch?”

  Katie laughed. “Isn't there some rule about doctors and patients not having lunch together?”

  Rob rolled his eyes. “Not really, as long as it's not something inappropriate. Besides, with what I'm gonna be billing your insurance company, I should probably do something to show my appreciation. There's a nice little restaurant just up the street, where I usually go. I'm just waiting for Anna, and then you could follow us up there.”

  Anna stepped out at that moment, locking the front door behind her. She turned and saw all of them standing there, and grinned. “What did I miss?” she asked. “Is he being a dork again? You can tell me, he won't mind.”

  “Get into the car, Anna,” Rob said with an exasperated tone. “Stop trying to embarrass me, and get into the car.” He pointed at a new Chrysler at the back of his parking lot, and Anna pouted her way toward it. “Sorry,” he said to the three of them, “she likes to poke fun, but sometimes she can be pretty annoying. I hired her because she needed a job desperately, and she's turned out to be absolutely the best receptionist I've had yet!”

  “He's only had four!” Anna yelled as she got into his car.

  Rob rolled his eyes and went toward it himself. “As I said, if you follow us, I'm buying lunch!” he called over his shoulder.

  Kylie looked at Katie and Judy. “What do you think? Want to go have lunch with the good-looking doctor who's milking your insurance company for all he can get?”

  “You're hoping I'll say yes, and that he'll figure out you're single and ask you for a date,” Katie said. “Has it occurred to you that he might not be single?”

  “He's not wearing a ring, and he's got his sister working for him as a receptionist,” Kylie said. “How much more single can you get than that?”

  Judy smiled. “Oh, I don't know,” she said. “I can imagine a wife who liked the idea that her husband had his sister working for him. Keeps him honest.”

  “Mom,” Kylie said, “that would have been back in your day. In the modern world, only a single man would hire his sister to be his receptionist, because he'd want it obvious to any attractive females who came in that he wasn't involved with the staff. It's a definite clue that he's available and looking!”

  “Whatever,” Katie said. “He's buying lunch, and we're in Maxwell, so I'm not likely to run into anyone who knows me, so let's go! Open the door so I can get into the car!”

  Judy opened the door, and Katie managed to hold onto the door and the roof and swing herself out of the chair and into the seat. Kylie stowed the wheelchair in the trunk and hurried to get behind the wheel, as Rob and Anna drove out of the lot. She fired up the big 455 and actually made the tires screech as she pulled out to follow them.

  “Holy cow,” Katie said, “can you at least drive like you’re not ready to drag the guy into the bushes? If he smiles at you the wrong way, you're going to embarrass all of us!”

  “I will not,” Kylie shot back. “Look, he knows you're engaged, Mom's old enough to be his mother, and he invited us to lunch, so there's at least a chance that he's thinking, 'hmm, the kid sister is cute and might be single!' If he is, I want to make darn sure he finds out I am!”

  “Wait a minute,” Judy said. “What happened to what’s his name you went to Florida to be with?”

  “George? Mom, George is just a friend from college, he's not like, my guy or anything! Besides, the second night we were there, I caught him with Natalie Miller, so even if I'd been interested, it wasn't going anywhere. Nope, I'm footloose and fancy-free! Oh, shoot, he turned—oh, it's the parking lot.”

  She turned the Riviera in behind him and parked right beside his car. Katie noticed that it was a 200, and thought that her father would definitely approve of Rob, should he find Kylie interesting after all. She knew Kylie would be ecstatic if he did; goodness, if she wasn't in love and engaged, she'd be flirting with the physical therapist herself! He was definitely a good-looking guy, and in terrific shape. Darren was handsome in a more classic sense, sort of like a movie star from the sixties, with his dimpled chin and broad face and forehead, and he was more intellectual than athletic. She'd never really thought about his lack of muscles before, but in comparison to Rob Christopher, Darren was sort of scrawny.

  Oh, well, she wasn't in love with his looks; it was the total guy that had caught her attention, and held it. And soon she'd be Mrs. Darren Allsip—provided she could get back on her feet in time to avoid a postponement!

  Postponing the wedding would be devastating, she felt. It would be just another injury from the accident, yet another way that fate had shoved a thorn into her flesh. She didn't deserve this, and she was sure of that; nothing she had ever done could have justified the way fate had turned on her like this.

  Even worse, though, she felt that a postponement would almost mean that the wedding would never happen, and that thought managed to creep in and take root despite how ridiculous she knew it was. There was nothing in her injury or the accident that could possibly justify or warrant calling off the wedding, nothing at all—and yet the fear was there, and she couldn't shake it off. She was scared to death that if the wedding got put off even for a short time, then it would never happen at all, and she wasn't sure she'd even want to live at all if that were to come true.

  It wouldn't come to that, though. She'd never let it come to that. She'd get up out of this wheelchair and walk on sheer willpower alone, if she had to, before she would let anything happen to her and Darren and their love for each other.

  The car door beside her open
ed, and she realized that they had parked and Kylie had gotten out her wheelchair. She swung herself into it, and her mom got out and began pushing it toward the door of the restaurant, where Rob and Anna were waiting.

  “Well, I'm glad you decided to accept my invitation,” Rob said. “Come on in, this place is great.” He held the door open, and Judy pushed Katie ahead, while Kylie stayed back to walk in beside Rob. When they'd all gotten inside, Rob led the way to a large table at the back, and even moved a chair out of the way so Katie's wheelchair could get up to the table comfortably.

  “I personally like the roast beef sandwiches, here,” he said, “but I'm told the chicken is also good.” He picked up a stack of menus that were in the center of the table and passing them out. “However, the sweet tea is delicious, and I recommend it to everyone!”

  “That sounds good to me,” Judy said, “I love sweet tea.”

  “Same here,” Kylie said, “and roast beef, oh yeah! I'm in!”

  Katie rolled her eyes, and that's when she saw Anna looking at her with a smirk on her face. The redhead flicked her eyes to Kylie, and then to her brother, and Katie knew that she'd caught onto Kylie's attempts at surreptitious flirtation. She winked, and Anna mimicked the gesture.

  The waitress came over to the table a moment later, and set glasses of sweet tea in front of Rob and Anna. “Hey, Dr. Christopher,” she said. “You brought company again.”