Her Forever Family. Mae Nunn

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СКАЧАТЬ Lamar?” A female called from the triage area.

      “Yes, I’m Ben Lamar,” he answered the nurse.

      “Your son’s in number eight, sir.” She held the door wide and motioned for him to enter. “Right this way.”

      “How bad are his injuries?”

      “The doctor will answer all your questions.”

      Ben followed her a dozen steps down the hall. She stopped beside a treatment cubicle identified with a black number eight plaque overhead. Once more he was cast back to the night God had stolen Theresa away—the blood, the machines, the effort of the medical staff, the ultimate hopelessness.

      Father, why have you brought me this moment again?

      Before Ben was fully prepared for whatever sight might assault him, the nurse grasped the curtain and swept it aside. A physician in green scrubs bent from the waist applying the final stitches to close a gashed shin. When he stood to reach for a pair of scissors the patient became visible. Seeing Ethan propped in a sitting position next to a lovely redheaded EMT subdued the avalanche of fear Ben had been fighting back with a snow shovel.

      His first instinct was to rush to his son’s side and smother the boy with a bear hug. But for the last three years instinct hadn’t been worth the spit it took to lick an envelope. At least not when it came to dealing with Ethan. It was as if the onset of puberty had drained his son of all common sense. The once popular kid’s eccentric behavior couldn’t be explained away. He seemed to have lost all ability to interpret facial expressions and tone of voice. No matter what the words conveyed, the translation in Ethan’s mind was literal. While his peers socially matured Ethan didn’t seem to.

      His hearing had become even more acute. The sudden noise from a can opener or electric mixer could send him hiding in his room for hours. Ben could only imagine Ethan’s terror while swinging from a cable beneath a roaring helicopter.

      “Hey, buddy,” Ben kept his voice low and nonchalant as he’d been taught by the most recent in a long string of therapists. “It looks like you’re almost patched up and ready to go home.”

      “That’s a fact,” the E.R. doctor answered. “This young man needs a few days of rest and he’s got stitches in a couple of places, but he’s otherwise in good shape and quite a brave patient.” The doctor moved aside to give Ben clear access. But two steps closer earned him a threatening growl from a menacing-looking brown dog that stood on long legs in the corner of the room.

      “What is that mongrel doing in here?” Ben demanded, backing away. He and dogs were incompatible, like the Cowboys and the 49ers.

      The redhead seated beside Ethan’s gurney rose to her feet and gave a brief command. “Simba, down.”

      The animal complied. The growling stopped.

      “For your edification, Mr. Lamar, Simba’s a full-blooded Rhodesian Ridgeback and since she’s a licensed rescue animal she’s clear to accompany me everywhere I go.”

      Color shot through her lovely cheeks, her eyes flashed amber sparks. Ben knew the look of a lioness defending her cub.

      “I see. Well, thank you Miss—” he waited.

      “Stone. West Texas Rescue.”

      “Miss Stone.” He took the hand she extended, and her grip was firm. “Thanks for waiting with Ethan until I got here. Would you mind taking your dog out of the room and rounding up your partner for me? As soon as my son’s released we’ll be going. The sheriff was kind enough to give me a VIP escort and I don’t want to keep them waiting. But I have to thank the guy who performed that incredible air rescue.”

      “10-4,” she answered, then whispered something to Ethan that caused him to snicker. “Simba, heel.” The dog obeyed, falling into step beside her mistress with the bedraggled braid.

      When the curtain jerked closed behind them the E.R. physician and Ethan both chuckled.

      “What’s so funny?” Ben asked. It had been a mentally exhausting few days and he was the odd man out in the joke.

      “Sir, I think you’re going to owe Doctor Stone an apology.”

      “Doctor Stone?”

      “Doctor Alison Stone. She’s not only the best child psychotherapist on staff at the medical center, she was the guy hanging from that chopper with Ethan today. It was Alison Stone who rescued your son.”

      Chapter Two

      Ben hadn’t chased after a woman in a lot of years. A lifetime ago the female football groupies had been plentiful. And certain women had become regulars at his speaking events. Now that a reasonable period of mourning had passed, ladies were overtly showing interest he was still not prepared to return.

      But this chasing he was doing today was in the physical sense. The moment Ben realized he’d mistaken Doctor Stone for a general EMT, he’d promised Ethan he would return right away and had taken off down the corridor. A power walk turned to a trot as Ben left the air-conditioned building to be enveloped by the warm Texas afternoon. He darted for the south side of the complex in the direction of the helipad and closed the last fifty yards in an easy sprint, thankful he hadn’t given up running when he’d given up the game.

      Two volunteers in familiar jumpsuits stood sentry by the expensive chopper, but there wasn’t a redhead with a big dog in sight.

      “Excuse me,” Ben called. “Do either of you know where I can find Doctor Stone?”

      One of the men turned to respond, his eyes widened with the recognition Ben had come to expect but never took for granted. “Oh, Mr. Lamar, it’s you. Listen, we’re so grateful things worked out with your son.”

      “Thank you.” Ben shook hands with both rescue workers. “I can’t tell you fellas how much I appreciate the incredible job you did getting my boy out of danger.”

      “All in a day’s work, sir.” The man whose name tag identified him as Harry shrugged off Ben’s praise. “If you’re lookin’ for the Rock, she and Simba are probably huntin’ down a grassy spot.”

      “The Rock?” A play on her last name, maybe? What’s the deal with private jokes today?

      “Sorry,” Harry apologized for the confusion that must have shown on Ben’s face. “That’s our nickname for Doc Stone because she’s so solid under pressure, especially if a kid’s involved. She wouldn’t hear of anybody else making that pick up.”

      Ben shrunk another few inches. Not only had he insulted the lady’s ability and the pedigree of her animal, he seemed to have insulted her integrity as well.

      “Please, guys,” he pleaded. “Don’t take off with Doctor Stone on board until you know we’ve spoken. I might have offended her and I need to apologize.”

      “You got it. But whatever it is, don’t sweat it too much. It takes an awful lot to rile up the Rock.” Harry was reassuring.

      Ben wanted to be comforted by the comment, but evidence so far was to the contrary. Something in his gut told him there was a doghouse in СКАЧАТЬ