Light This Candle (Harlequin More Than Words) (3 page)

She rolled down the window to thank him, and then added, “You
think about what I said. That girl needs you. And I’m thinking maybe you need
her.” On that note, Rose stomped on the accelerator, forcing him to jump back as
her muscle car surged forward.

Now, what on earth did she mean by that parting shot?

CHAPTER THREE

Cassidy shifted position and a sharp pain shot through
her neck. She woke the rest of the way and the full effect of sleeping in an
uncomfortable recliner chair slammed into her. If a load of rocks had been
dumped on her, she wouldn’t feel much worse.

With consciousness came memory. She jolted upright.
Cody
.

The steady beep of his heart monitor soothed her panic. He was
still alive. He’d had another heart attack last night. A bad one this time.
Although in his condition, they were all bad. And each one took its toll,
leaching away a little more of his precious strength. He would need every bit of
it to survive a heart transplant—if and when a heart became available.

“There you are, baby girl,” a female voice managed to boom from
the doorway and still seem quiet.

“Hey, Rose. How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine. Question is, how are you?”

The social worker had been a godsend, a surrogate mother and
sturdy shoulder to cry on over the past few months. The formidable woman had
been able to cut through the layers of military bureaucracy and get Cody’s
health insurance straightened out when no one else could.

“I’m fine,” Cassidy lied.

“And Cody?”

“He’s stable. He had a heart attack last night, but Dr. Mistler
is amazing.”

“Your boy’s the amazing one. He’s some fighter. Like his
mama.”

Cassidy didn’t know about that. Her breakdown last night had
been pretty epic. And she hadn’t been much better during the crisis with Cody.
The encounter with that major had really shaken her up. Of course, she was such
a mess right now that it didn’t take much to freak her out.

“I’ve got good news for you, Miss Cassidy.”

She stared at the brimming excitement on the social worker’s
face suspiciously. Good things didn’t happen to her these days. “Yeah?” she
asked cautiously.

“There’s an organization in town that gives financial aid to
single parents in situations like yours...”

With dying kids
. It was sweet of
Rose to avoid speaking those words aloud. Cassidy tuned back in to what the
social worker was saying.

“...rent’s caught up and next month’s is paid in advance. Plus,
there’s extra money for other bills,” Rose finished triumphantly.

Cassidy’s mind went blank. Clean-as-a-whiteboard blank.
That horrible pile of envelopes and string of nasty messages
on my voice mail are going away?
She whispered, “It can’t be.”

“It can and it is. If you’d like to bring in your other bills
from home, I’ll go over them with you and we’ll figure out how to best use the
leftover money.”

Too shocked to sit still, Cassidy leaped to her feet to face
the counselor. “But that’s impossible.”

“What’s impossible about it? Mindy Atwood was a mom just like
you with not one, but two sick boys in the hospital, a single mom trying to pay
her bills, but unable to work because her babies needed her by their sides. She
founded Patches of Light to help out other parents like her. Like you. I just
wish you’d told me you were in trouble sooner, sweetie. We could’ve saved you a
bunch of grief.”

“But why? Why me?”

“Because your boy needs you, Cassidy. I contacted Ms. Atwood
last night and she took care of everything.”

“That’s—” she searched for a word “—incredible.”

Rose stepped forward and swept her up in a big, hard hug. “It’s
high time something went your way, girl. Next thing you know, your baby’s gonna
be going home as good as new. You’ll get on with life, and someday you’ll be
able to help out another parent in need the same way Ms. Atwood helped you. It’s
a great big circle, life. Everything that goes around comes around.”

Cassidy supposed that was true in theory. But all that had been
going around in her life for the past two years was pretty awful. She didn’t
need any more of that coming back her way.

“Honey, you look beat. Why don’t you go on home and take
yourself a nap and a nice, hot shower? I’ll call you if Cody wakes up.”

Cassidy smiled gratefully at the social worker as she gathered
up her purse. “You’ve just lifted a terrible burden off my shoulders. How can I
ever thank you?”

“You stay strong for your boy and keep on smiling. That’s
thanks enough for me. It’s how we humans roll. We help each other with our loads
in life.”

Maybe, just maybe, Rose was right.

* * *

Mitch rolled over in bed, blinking at the bright
sunlight coming in his window. His internal body clock wasn’t adjusted to United
States time and shouted at him that the sun was in the wrong place. Normally he
slept like a baby when he got home to his own bed, but last night he had tossed
and turned, disturbed by that Parker woman’s parting comment to him. What did
she mean by saying he needed Cassidy Frazier?

He’d never needed anyone. Not since he’d left home at
seventeen. He’d gone to college on an ROTC scholarship and never looked back.
His parents hadn’t been bad people or abusive. They could be accused of benign
neglect, but that wasn’t so unusual these days. They’d been so caught up in the
rat race of owning whatever the neighbors did and then keeping up with the bills
that they hadn’t had much time for him and his kid brother. He’d learned most of
his ethics from superhero cartoons and picked up his competitive edge from video
games. The military had provided the structure he craved. Order. Predictability.
Heck, three square meals a day.

But a woman? With a kid? What did he need with those? He had no
idea if he’d be a half-decent husband, let alone a father. Lord knew his own dad
had been a poor excuse for one. Nope, he had his career. That was enough for
him.

But an image of that ramp full of families yesterday flashed
through his head. The laughter and tears. And love.

Nah. That stuff only led to heartbreak. He’d stick with his
job.

And speaking of which, he was on two weeks’ mandatory leave
effective today. He’d declined both of the rotations stateside for R & R in
the middle of the deployment, preferring to stay in the field with his troops.
But there’d been no avoiding this enforced vacation.

What was he going to do with himself? The townhome community he
lived in hired a landscaping company to mow all the lawns and common areas, so
he had no yard work to catch up on. The guy he’d paid to look after his place
was handy and there were no maintenance projects waiting for him. His truck was
running fine thanks to the mechanic he’d left it with during his deployment.
This was one of those times when he could really use a dog that needed a
walk.

At loose ends, he got up, wandered into his kitchen and whipped
up a batch of his world-famous pecan pancakes. He ate in front of the TV,
catching up on local news. Amazing how he’d been gone for nearly two years and
everything was still so much the same.
But not for a young
woman who’d lost her husband and was on the verge of losing her
son
.

Why couldn’t he get Cassidy Frazier out of his mind? The terror
on her face last night as the doctors fought to save her son was freaking
haunting him. Frustrated, he went for a run and showered, but was still unable
to shake the image of her from his mind.

Fine. He knew how to recognize a losing battle. He threw on
jeans and a golf shirt and headed for the hospital. He wasn’t sure exactly what
he was going to do when he got there, but he was done fighting his instincts,
which were shouting at him to get his sorry butt over there.

He knew where to park this time and walked in the main
entrance, signed in and got a visitor’s badge with minimal hassle. He headed for
ICU *2 and was startled in the elevator to realize that he was nervous. He,
who’d faced down enemy mortars, ambushes and deadly firefights, was scared of a
slip of a girl with big brown eyes and a perky ponytail.

He stepped out into the curving hall. His gaze went immediately
to the spot where he’d first seen her sitting on the floor, hugging her knees
and crying her eyes out. Nada. His stomach actually fell a little in
disappointment.

He headed for the nurses’ station and asked the first person he
saw, a male nurse, “How’s Cody Frazier this morning?”

The answer wasn’t tremendously reassuring. “Holding his
own.”

“And his mom?”

“I just came on duty. I haven’t seen her yet.” He turned and
headed into Cody’s room.

“Mitch! There you are. I have great news for you.” Mitch looked
up as Rose Parker bustled into the central area, her eyes alight. “The Patches
of Light folks have taken care of everything. You should have seen Cassidy’s
face when I told her. It was like the whole world smiled for a moment.”

His breath caught in his throat.
Thank
God
. “And she has no idea it was me?”

“None.”

“Where is she?”

“I sent her home to get some sleep. Poor child was wiped out
after last night.”

The nurse emerged from Cody’s room and joined them. “Cody’s
awake. Should we call Mrs. Frazier?”

Conflict played across Rose’s face. “I sent her home less than
an hour ago. And she desperately needs some sleep. I’ve got a meeting with
another family in a few minutes or I’d go in and sit with Cody.” She turned to
Mitch suddenly. “Would you do me a giant favor and go visit with him for a
little while?”

“Me?” He didn’t know the first thing about five-year-olds.

“Sure. Why not?”

“What do I talk about with him?”

“You were a five-year-old boy once. You tell me. I have
complete faith in you to figure it out.” And with that breezy pronouncement, she
turned and abandoned him. Cold. In the middle of the ICU with the nurse looking
at him expectantly.

“Will you make the introductions?” Mitch asked the guy
drily.

“Sure. Come with me.”

Reluctantly Mitch followed the nurse into the room, which was a
tangle of electronics and tubes and monitors. “Hey Cody,” the nurse said
quietly. “I brought a friend of your mom’s to meet you.”

Mitchforced himself to step forward. Boy, Cody looked little
and lost among all those tubes and wires. He had big brown eyes like his mother,
but his hair was very dark like Jimmy’s. He had the look of Jimmy about him, but
softer. Younger.

“Hi, Cody. My name’s Mitch. I was a friend of your dad’s.”

The child’s face lit up, albeit weakly. “Really? Can you tell
me a story about him?”

Mitch looked doubtfully at the nurse and whispered, “I don’t
want to upset him.”

The nurse considered for a moment. “His mom tells him stories
about Mr. Frazier all the time. As a rule, Cody seems to enjoy them.”

Mitch turned to the boy. “Do you remember your dad much?”

“Not really. I was pretty little when he went away. And then he
had to go to heaven. Pretty cool that God picked him to be an angel, huh?”

Wow. Cassidy had done a nice job of guiding Cody through the
loss of his father. This kid seemed pretty well-adjusted over Jimmy’s death.
Mitch said carefully, “Your daddy and I were soldiers together....” That made
the child’s eyes shine. Mitch pulled up a tall stool beside the bed as he cast
about for a harmless story to share about Jimmy. “Well. I met your dad about
seven years ago. Before he and your mom were married and before you were born.
And your dad was quite a hel—” he corrected himself hastily “—heck raiser. He
got in trouble with a few of his buddies for getting into a fight. Have you ever
been in a fight?”

Wide-eyed, Cody shook his head.

“Good for you. Your daddy would be real proud to hear that.”
But remembering vaguely what it was like to be five, he added in a
conspiratorial undertone, “Wanna hear about your dad’s fight?”

A big nod at that.

He launched into a heavily sanitized version of the bar fight
that had erupted between a bunch of marines and Jimmy and company. He called
upon his own comic-book memories in describing the fight and made sure to paint
Jimmy as the hero of the entire encounter.

When his story finally wound down, Cody said eagerly, “Tell me
another one!”

“Want me to tell you about what your dad did in the military?
It’s pretty cool stuff.” He commenced describing how Jimmy and the other guys in
their unit crept to the front lines of war zones and beyond to spot enemy
emplacements and call in air strikes and artillery bombardments. Cody was
spellbound, and Mitch found himself warming to the project of making the little
boy smile.

And then came the questions. Dozens of them. About Jimmy and
Jimmy’s job and the military. He was careful about how he portrayed Jimmy. After
all, it was Cassidy’s right to determine how her son remembered his father.
Mitch assumed she wouldn’t mind him painting Jimmy in a heroic light, however.
Given her reaction last night, though, he steered clear of the questions about
the military altogether.

Thankfully, Cody drifted to other topics soon enough. He was
clearly a bright and curious child. Mitch found himself really enjoying watching
how the child’s mind worked.

“Do you like to play games?”

Mitch was caught off guard by Cody’s question. “Sure. How about
you?”

“Uh-huh. I like video games and computer games. When I’m
feeling good, I can play on that TV. The controller’s over there somewhere.”
Cody waved a hand with an IV tube in the back of it.

“I used to be pretty good at video games,” Mitch said. “Wanna
have a go with me?”

Cody’s face fell. “Maybe when I’m feeling a little better.”

Wow. What five-year-old turned down playing a video game? It
was a stark reminder of just how ill this kid was. Mitch asked gently, “Is there
a game you don’t have or would like to learn how to play? I could get it and
bring it back.”

Cody considered for a moment and then surprised him by
announcing, “Checkers. I want to learn how to play checkers.”