Wicked Healing

by Madden, J. M.

“Are you exercising today?”

  He grinned at her, arching his spine. “You know, I’m a little sore right now. I might take a day off and help you.”

  She laughed with him, taking the words as challenge, and led him to the barn.

  * * *

  By the time they headed back to the house Luca was whipped. Caring for the smaller animals wasn’t hard, but the horses were a pain in the ass. Erin had had a feed delivery that day and he happened to be there when the truck needed unloaded. Hauling fifty pound bags of food around was not as easy as he’d thought, but she did it like a pro, stacking the bags in the tack room. Then she’d had him carry her a couple of bales of hay. Twice, he’d fallen, because of the uneven weight distribution and not being able to feel his right foot. At least the feed bags he’s been able to foist over his shoulder so that he could see where his feet were landing.

  Larry, the bastard, bit the shit out of his good arm, leaving Luca cursing. But as he’d sat in the exercise barn and watched Erin move on the animal’s back, guiding him through a complicated set of moves, he’d realized how much he enjoyed what they’d done that day. He loved watching Erin. The joy she took in riding the animals almost made up for what pains in the asses they were.

  After she’d worked her ass off there she headed to the kennel. She’d fed and watered the dogs before her horse work, and by the time she was done in the barn the kennel dogs were ready for attention. One by one she went down the line, letting the dog out to play in the center aisle while she cleaned the room. This was familiar territory for Luca. When they were on-base they all took shifts caring for the kennel where their animals were kept. It was a dirty, stinky job, but it needed to be done.

  “This board tells me who’s doing what when,” she said, leading him to a giant whiteboard. “It keeps me on schedule and if someone has to come in to cover for me they can see right there what needs done. Sometimes even with the board I still lose track of things,” she laughed.

  The board itself looked confusing to him.

  She broke for lunch at one. Luca wanted to go shower and take a nap, but she shook her head and kept going, returning to the kennel for training. A few of the animals that had been brought in needed obedience training in addition to being boarded. And he realized that she did basic training with all of the dogs. When he asked her about it, she shrugged. “It’s good to help them remember, and they want to do some kind of job. So, I give them little tasks. I also have enrichment treats that keep them busy for a long time, like Kongs and treats frozen into ice cubes. If I believe that a couple of the dogs can go in together I’ll let them do that occasionally just for socialization. It’s my responsibility to take care of the animal, and I don’t feel like that ends with the physical.”

  Luca loved her even more for that sentiment. It was how he felt as well. He remember seeing a meme recently. There was a guy sitting on the end of a boat dock and he had all these worries floating around his head. There was also a dog sitting beside him. The only thought in the dog’s head was ‘how do I make him happy?’ They were such giving, self-effacing beings.

  “I admire the career you’ve made for yourself,” he told Erin abruptly.

  Surprise widened her clear gold eyes. “What? Oh, thank you,” she said with a smile. “If you’re expecting to be taken care of by a honey mama you’re with the wrong girl. This will never be a money making business. But it is satisfying. And you can be paid in all the love you can humanly take,” she cooed, leaning down to the effusive mixed breed shepherd. “Isn’t that right, Mavvers?”

  The dog bounded around her, ecstatic at being recognized and encouraged to do what he loved. then he ran toward Luca, the dog leash tangling around his legs. Before he knew it Luca was on the concrete, fighting off an overgrown puppy and laughing his ass off.

  Erin dragged the animal away but Luca had to wipe his face free of dog spit.

  “Okay, that didn’t go as planned,” he murmured.

  He also realized, somewhat belatedly, that his ass was on a wet concrete floor. It had just been cleaned, though it hadn’t had a chance to dry. “I might go change and make a few calls. Meet you on the back porch at six?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said, smiling. Quickly she leaned down for a kiss before walking Mavvers to his room.

  Luca took it as a mark of serious growth that he was able to get up off the ground without help. Considering Erin left him on the floor to get himself up, he would consider that another mark that he was healing. Once on his feet he headed out into the late afternoon heat to his apartment, Wicked at his heels.

  The voicemail he’d received had been in the back of his mind all day. He’d been planning on what to say, but when the call finally went through and Lt. Hampton’s sharp voice answered, his tongue shorted out. When he introduced himself, Hampton’s tone warmed considerably. It almost sounded like Hampton was happy Luca had responded to the voicemail.

  “Can you tell me a little about yourself?” the man asked.

  Luca explained that he and Wicked had been with the SEALs for several years and a vague idea of how they’d been injured. He didn’t go into how many were injured that day, but he did go over how many IEDs Wicked had found in his career. He explained how Wicked had been bred and trained by the best and that in spite of his amputation, he had a vital life ahead of him.

  “Wait, not to be indelicate, here, but I thought you were the amputee?”

  “We both lost a leg in the explosion,” Luca explained.

  “But the animal can still do everything he did before?”

  “Well,” Luca admitted, “I don’t have a lot of IED’s out here in the desert, or a lot of terrorists for that matter, but his core training is still intact and there are no signs of PTSD. Physically he’s perfect, running almost five miles with me every day right now.”

  Hampton expelled a breath. “I want you to come in this week, Mr. Carmichael, so that we can get you through this academy. As long as your background checks out and you pass the physical, we will find a place for you here at Phoenix PD. I have the hiring authority to say that. At the very least your K9 training will be invaluable. We have two K9s retiring in the next year.”

  Exhilaration roared through Luca and he only listened with half an ear as they scheduled the panel interview for Thursday, two days from now.

  “Bring three references, your discharge papers from the Navy and two forms of identification.”

  “Yes, sir,” Luca said quickly, and they hung up.

  For a minute he could only sit there, then the enormity of what had just transpired hit him. He sank to the couch, stunned.

  He had a job with Phoenix Police Department.

  Where was Erin?

  Chapter 14

  When Luca slammed through the patio door, almost taking out the door jamb with his leg, she thought something was wrong.

  “What?” she gasped, ready to bolt. There was a fire in the barn, or the horses were out…

  “I think I just got a job.”

  He held the phone out which was in his right hand. “He wants me to come in Thursday for an interview, but he made it sound like I was pretty much hired. As long as all of my paperwork checks out, which it will, they’ll find a place for me. “

  “No way,” she breathed. “That’s incredible,” she told him, leaning up for a kiss.

  Luca had a look on his face she’d never seen before. Self-satisfied, proud. Dazed.

  “You’re a damned Navy SEAL,” she told him, cupping his neck in her hands. “You both are. The government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars training you guys. PPD would be idiots not to take you.”

  Luca shook his head, reaching out to cup her face in his hands. “I love you, Erin. I don’t feel like any of this would have been possible without you.”

  She shook her head. “I haven’t been the idiot running outside in ninety-degree heat,” she laughed. “Your determination has gotten you here. And Wicked’s. Nothing else.”

 
; “No, but you believed in me, in us, and gave me hope when no one else could. You have no idea the impact you’ve had on our lives.”

  Erin tried to be guarded, but his words touched her, making her eyes flood with tears. “I love you. I love you both,” she said, reaching down to touch Wicked. “What an incredible opportunity.”

  Luca nodded. “I have no doubt we can do anything for them they need. He said he wants to get me through this academy they’re starting up because there are two K9s retiring this year.”

  Erin didn’t think she could smile any more than she already was. “Are you sure Phoenix is the place for you? I mean, you’ve been a California boy all your life.”

  He frowned a little. “You know, I love it here. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been in the Middle East for so long or what, but this landscape is home to me.” A thoughtful look entered his expression. “I have no desire to go back to California.”

  That made her incredibly happy. When he’d first moved down here he’d thought it would be temporary. Now that she knew he would be staying, some bit of tension released in her gut. “That makes me very happy,” she said softly.

  Pressing a kiss to her mouth he wrapped his arms around her and Erin sank into his love.

  * * *

  Luca wanted to call a couple of his buddies to let them know about the job but he thought it might be a little premature. Once he was actually offered the job he could let them know what was going on. In the meantime he was busting to tell someone so it was fortuitous that Paul called the next afternoon.

  “Hey, Luca. At one point Erin invited us to stay in her house. Do you think we can take her up on that offer?”

  She was inside getting them some iced tea for their lunch break. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, Paul. Come on out.”

  “Thanks.”

  Luca told Erin about then houseguests and she nodded. “He has to come get Sophie,” she said simply.

  “Do you think?” Luca asked. He thought so as well.

  “Definitely. She would be awesome for Hope.”

  Just a couple of hours later Paul’s truck was pulling into the driveway. Luca and Erin came out onto the front porch to welcome them. It seemed very normal, Luca thought, to welcome people to what he was beginning to consider his home as well as Erin’s.

  Hope was kicking in her child seat, trying to rush Paul to free her. With his prosthetic hand it probably did take more time. Finally, though, she was free and searching for Sophie. The little dog was curled up in the shade of the porch railing, but as soon as she saw the little girl she took off like a shot. Dog and girl met in a flurry of chatter from Hope and barking from the dog. It was like the two of them were talking about everything that had happened since they’d been apart.

  Paul stood at the front of the truck, hands on his hips. He walked to the porch steps, looking up at Erin. “I’m not going make it out of here without a dog, am I?”

  Erin grinned. “You knew you weren’t. You were on the hook as soon as they met. Come on in.”

  Paul retrieved their bags and, with a word to Hope, they followed them into the house. He laughed as the rest of the dogs crowded around him.

  Erin leaned close, pointing at the two Mastiff mixes. “Be glad she didn’t fall in love with one of them.”

  Luca laughed as Paul actually winced at the suggestion. “So true,” the older man said vehemently.

  Erin led them to the guest room where they would be staying and allowed Paul to get settled.

  “Come out when you’re ready.”

  Luca wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they left the room, squeezing her to him.

  Hope was sitting on the living room couch when they walked in, talking to Sophie. The little dog was curled up into a ball on her lap, loving being the center of attention. It was a beautiful scene and Luca was glad that the girl had connected so strongly with the animal. Wicked had gotten a stroke on the head as she’d passed him on the porch, but her attention had been on Sophie.

  When Paul returned Luca offered him a beer from the fridge and they settled to the island bar. Erin excused herself to run out to the kennel for a bit.

  “How was the aunt?” Luca asked.

  “Old and bitter,” Paul said, shaking his head. “This was a great aunt I remember much more fondly than she remembered me. I thought it would be good for Hope to see that she has other connections, but I think it backfired. We were just in the way and not wanted, so we left. I didn’t want Hope picking that up.”

  “Of course not,” Luca agreed. “Sometimes it’s best to let those connections go, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yes, I do, unfortunately,” Paul murmured.

  For the first time Luca thought about his mother. What would she do if he was hired on as a policeman? It definitely wasn’t the safe California Realty job she’d had planned out for him. Dad wouldn’t mind, but his mother would see it as putting his life in danger again.

  “Well, maybe next time you can just come down to see us,” Luca told him. And he told him about the conversation with the recruiter.

  “Luca, that sounds like a fantastic opportunity,” Paul said, laughing and pounding Luca on the back. “And if they can take you as a pair that would be even more amazing. Do you think he can still do everything?”

  “I have no doubt.”

  Wicked seemed to sense that they were talking about him because his tail started thumping against the floor from where he lay. Luca couldn’t tell he had any existing trauma from being injured. For a while, he’d watched Wicked’s reactions to everything— loud noises, strange smells, other dogs, crowds— waiting to see a wrong response, but it never happened. Large groups of people put him on edge a little, but that could be Wicked’s response to Luca’s own anxiety.

  Physically he ran as fast as he always did. They’d taken him in last week for a check-up with the prosthetic vet and they’d made a few adjustments but nothing major. Wicked’s leg was very basic compared to Luca’s prosthetic. The dog moved like he’d always had it though.

  “So, what does that mean for you two?” Paul asked, and Luca understood that he meant Erin.

  “I want to ask her to marry me,” he admitted.

  Paul grinned at him. “I think you absolutely should, then. What’s holding you back?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve only known each other a few months, you know? And we didn’t meet under ideal circumstances.”

  Paul made a face. “What’s ideal? I think if you’re in love it shouldn’t matter how you met.”

  “Hm. Yeah, I guess.”

  Was it really that simple? Was he overanalyzing everything? It had been less than six months since he’d been injured. Whether he felt it or not he wondered if he was level-headed enough emotionally to make major life decisions right then. It seemed stupid to wonder, but he did.

  And he’d heard stories about veterans, mostly men, falling in love with their caretakers. Erin wasn’t really that to him, but she was definitely close, and she’d helped him out way more than anyone else had recently. He didn’t want to confuse gratitude and appreciation for love.

  Luca frowned. Theoretically he would like to think that he would have pulled his head out of his ass eventually, but losing Wicked had been more devastating to him at the time than losing his leg. Then to be given the knowledge that he was alive. It was no wonder he looked on Erin as a fairy godmother, granting him his dearest wishes.

  It wasn’t just that, though. There was a light shining from her that drew him more than any other woman had and they had so much in common. She’d taken care of Wicked when he hadn’t been able and yes, he appreciated that but he also thought she would have done it without knowing him. Even without his mother hiring the firm out of California, if Erin had known about Wicked she would have taken him in. And he loved her for that.

  Paul was looking at him a little oddly. Had he said something? “Sorry, I was thinking.”

  “Obviously. I was just saying t
hat if you have a chance to find happiness you shouldn’t wait. You need to jump in with both feet, so to speak.”

  Paul gave him an ironic look and Luca cracked up. “And you need to grab this dog with both hands,” he returned.

  They were laughing their asses off when Erin walked in the door carrying a small tan carry crate and a wire cage with several things inside. Luca moved to help her. “You should have told me you needed help, babe.”

  She grinned and tilted her chin up at him and he couldn’t deny her a kiss. “Well, I didn’t expect to need help,” she admitted. “What were you guys laughing at?”

  The men shared a look. “Amputee humor.”

  She made an ‘ah’ with her mouth and walked to Paul, setting everything down beside him.

  “Awfully presumptuous, aren’t you?”

  Erin tilted her head at him. “Are you seriously going to tell that little girl no?”

  Paul’s face fell. “You know I can’t. That little darling has only been in my life a couple of months and I can’t imagine how I lived without her. How I could live without her. If that dog makes her happy I’ll deal with it.”

  Erin gave him a supportive smile. “That dog will be the companion that little girl needs. Her world is in upheaval right now and she needs something just for her. I suggest you give her as much responsibility caring for the dog that you can. I’ll go get you her veterinary records now and there’s a form I need you to sign accepting responsibility for the dog.”

  “Okay,” Paul said, looking at all the stuff in the cage.

  “Now for the important part,” she told him, waiting till he looked up. “Go tell her she can take Sophie home,” she grinned.

  Paul grinned as well. “It’s a bit like Christmas, huh?”

  Erin nodded. “It’s one of the highlights of my job,” she admitted.

  Paul headed into the living room to tell Hope that they could take Sophie home with them. Luca pulled her into a hug, laughing as they heard the scream, followed by the sobs.