His Holiday Family. Margaret Daley

      Chapter Two

      The crashing sounds of the falling timbers and the crackling of the fire haunted Gideon when he tried to sleep at the hospital. He remembered being put into the ambulance and glancing at the Magnolia Street Apartments as the structure caved in on itself, flames shooting upward as the blaze rampaged through it.

       The noises around him amplified in volume. The antiseptic smell of the hospital overwhelmed him. Sweat popped out on his forehead. His breathing became shallow, his throat raw.

       Finally, Gideon inhaled a deeper breath and regretted it the second he did. A sharp pain pierced through his chest. He clenched his jaw and rode the wave until it subsided to a throbbing ache. In spite of how he felt, restlessness churned through him. Scanning the hospital room, he resisted the impulse to walk away. The doctor should be here within a few hours to give him the okay to leave. But as he stared at the clock on the wall across from his bed, the second hand seemed to be moving in slow motion.

       The sound of the door opening lured his attention away from watching time inch forward. Kathleen Hart—last night he’d finally remembered she’d told him her name at the fire—entered his room. Her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail emphasized her delicate features—large, blue eyes like the Gulf off the shores of Hope, lips with a rosy tint that wasn’t from lipstick, and two dimples in her cheeks as she smiled at him.

       Dressed in blue scrubs, she approached his bed carrying a little plastic cup with his meds. “How are you doing today?”

       “Well enough to go home.” He held out his right palm for his pills.

       “Dr. Adams should be here soon. He does rounds after lunch.” Dark shadows under her eyes attested to not enough rest.

       He recalled her apology and hoped what had happened at the fire hadn’t caused her a sleepless night. “Where did you go yesterday? Nurse Ratched brought me my meds. She wouldn’t tell me what happened to you.”

       “I won’t tell Mildred you called her that.”

       He grinned. “She’s definitely a no-nonsense nurse. I’m glad you came back today.”

       “I work on this floor. I had to.”

       “Ouch. I think my ego was just wounded.”

       “Only think?” A twinkle danced briefly in her tired eyes.

       The shadow in her gaze tugged at him. He wanted to prolong the light tone of the conversation, but he needed her to understand how he felt. His injuries weren’t her fault. “You were upset yesterday. Are you all right today?”

       “The more important question is, are you?”

       “I will be in time.”

       “You shouldn’t be here right now. If only I had waited a little…” Her voice faded into silence, and she glanced away, swallowing hard.

       “I would rather err on the side of caution than have someone trapped in a burning building. What I did yesterday is part of my job. Occasionally we go into a fire looking for a person who isn’t there. It happens. You are not to blame.” He would never forget the firefighters who had rescued him and his younger brother from a fire when he was eight. If they hadn’t come into his burning house, he and Zach wouldn’t be alive today. “No more guilt over yesterday. I’m glad your sons are safe.”

       With her gaze still averted, she nodded.

       He wasn’t totally convinced she wasn’t blaming herself anymore, not if the furrowed forehead and the darkening of the blue in her eyes were any indication. “I’ve been hurt before. I won’t let a few cracked ribs and a broken arm get me down.”

       She swiveled her attention back to him, her expression evening out, but the dark circles under her eyes were still there. “Tell that to my son. He broke a bone in his wrist yesterday after I took him to his grandmother’s while I came to the hospital. That’s where I had to go. He told me at the doctor’s office that he wanted to see the hurricane coming in the Gulf. He thought the view would be better from the roof.”

       “I heard it turned toward Florida. We might get some high tides and rain, but hopefully that will be all.” He shifted in the bed and caused another shaft of pain to constrict his breath, but he tried to keep from flinching. He didn’t succeed.

       “Are you all right?” The wrinkled forehead returned with a slight tensing.

       “Just a twinge. Nothing that won’t go away with time. So how did he get to the roof? Ladder?”

       “That would have been safer. But he climbed the side of the house on a dare from his older brother. He didn’t make it. He fell while trying to hoist himself onto the roof.”

       Gideon whistled. “You’ve got a daredevil on your hands. What did your husband say about it?” The second he asked the question he wanted to snatch it back. He didn’t see a wedding ring on her left hand, but there was paler skin where one would have been. He couldn’t remember Ruth saying anything to him about her son-in-law, but then he and Ruth were only passing acquaintances on Oceanview Drive.

       “Derek died last year.”

       “I’m so sorry. I…” He didn’t know what else to say.

       “Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?” A professional facade fell into place as she checked his IV drip.

       He could respect that she wanted to shut down the subject of her husband. Losing a loved one was difficult. Although he had never been married, he’d lost too many people in his life not to feel a kinship with her.

       He grinned, wanting to see the light back in her eyes. “Other than get me out of here, no.”

       “Sorry, but Dr. Adams might take exception to that. Just as soon as he signs your discharge papers, you can escape.”

       “A hospital isn’t my favorite place.” Again he was reminded of his parents’ deaths. His father had died in the fire, but his mother with third degree burns had lingered for a day in the hospital. He had only been able to say goodbye to her at the end when she was unconscious. He would never forget that last time he saw her.

       “It usually isn’t for most people.” Her smile reappeared on her face, a sparkle shining in her eyes—making him forget where he was for a moment. “If you need anything, use your call button.”

       He watched her saunter out of his room. Occasionally he and Ruth would talk when they saw each other on the street, but with his crazy schedule, it wasn’t often. She had mentioned she had only one child, and then this August she had talked about her daughter returning home in September to live in Hope. Other than Ruth being excited her two grandsons would be close, she hadn’t gone into details about the move.

       From his and Kathleen’s few exchanges, he had sensed a deep hurt and now that he knew about her husband dying, he figured that must be why. One more reason he didn’t get too involved in people’s lives. He found after being shuffled between one foster family and another that it was safer to stay emotionally apart from others. Much safer.

       After passing out the medication to her patients, Kathleen came back to the nurses’ station to write in their charts. Dr. Adams nodded to her as he headed down the hall toward Gideon’s room. She smiled, thinking about how the man would finally be able to leave. Even with his injuries, he had exuded restlessness. When he had told her about a hospital not being one of his favorite places, she’d heard pain behind the words though he’d no doubt tried to hide it.

       Although he