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  The emergency room doctor’s referral for Casey to see a hand surgeon had already been made. Standing over his stretcher, she held Casey’s left hand while placing another thick, blood soaked bandage to the side. Mary stood back, looking pale and on the verge of tears as her husband’s gaze shot to Danny. Casey titled his head and gave his best friend a slight shrug of his shoulders.

  “I’m putting you on the OR schedule,” the female surgeon said, “but it may take a few hours as our service has a case on the table and two to follow. I’m glad you brought in the severed last joint but it may be too shattered to reattach. Plus, sometimes patient’s don’t want it put back on. Your finger may not end up functioning as well with it as without it and sensation may feel odd if not bothersome.”

  The hand surgeon wrapped clean gauze over the top and continued. “We’ll talk about it more before we start. Either we’ll clean up what’s left of that finger and make a decent closure or see about putting the end back on if you’d like us to.” Following Casey’s gaze, she looked at Danny.

  “Hi,” Danny said. “I’m Dr. Tilson. I don’t think we’ve met.”

  “Dr. Parsons.”

  “What happened?” Danny’s mouth turned down as he looked at all three of them.

  “Rachel started her car when …,” Mary began to explain.

  Casey gently interrupted. “I had an accident. Rachel was leaving with Julia and she had some car trouble. My hand was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s all.”

  “It’s more than ‘that’s all,’” Danny said. “What exactly did happen to your finger?”

  Casey glanced at Dr. Parsons. “He’s lost the distal phalange of the left long finger,” she said. “He’s lucky it wasn’t more.”

  “I’m grateful it wasn’t my thumb or index finger,” Casey said,” which could have impacted what I do as a paramedic.”

  The surgeon nodded. “If there are no more questions at this time, I’ll get my notes written and I’ll see you probably this evening in the pre-op holding area.”

  “Thanks,” Casey said.

  “From all of us,” Danny agreed. “And, by the way, he’s probably not going to be a good patient so please also give post-op instructions to his wife or me.”

  -----

  While staff transported Casey to a hospital room where he’d wait until his surgery, Danny took Mary into the doctor’s lounge. They sat in the back corner as sunshine filtered through the window. It did little, however, to brighten Mary’s mood.

  “I’ll stay with him until after surgery tonight,” Mary said. “But you better go home. Sara and Nancy stayed there because Rachel will be coming back with Julia.”

  “And what happened with her car?”

  “As we left, she was calling a tow truck. I don’t know what the outcome was.”

  Mary twisted her hands in her lap. “I’ve never seen that much blood. I thought he was going to bleed to death.”

  Danny pushed back his sister’s long red hair. “He’ll be okay. He has you.”

  “And you, too,” she said. “But sometimes all of us cause him the biggest troubles or worries. And he never asks for anything. He’s the best.”

  “You’re right.” Danny said. “And his childhood - what happened - shaped him though he never, ever talks about it. We were already friends when his younger sibling died but, after that, I became like his brother. We’ve been his family for a long time.”

  Mary nodded, finally letting a tear stream down her face. “And if it hadn’t been for you being his best friend, I would have never been able to sometimes tag along, get to know him, and then fall in love when I moved back from Alaska. Although I probably loved him going back a lot longer than that.” She dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “You know, he didn’t even tell you back there.”

  “What?”

  “I half-scolded him about why he put his hand in the hood of the car with the engine running. That’s when he said the engine wasn’t supposed to be on.”

  Danny cocked his head with a puzzled expression.

  “He looked under the hood of Rachel’s car to see why it wouldn’t start. He told her not to start it but she did and that’s why he lost his finger.”

  Danny scowled and took a deep breath, pushing his fist into the leather cushion.

  “I am so sorry, sis. It’s my fault. I regret every day that I ever met that woman.”

  Mary took Danny’s hand. “She met you on purpose, Danny, and it was one of her great plans. Just like what happened with your patient and his bankrupt soft drink business last year. But don’t think that way because you have to forgive yourself. And don’t forget, you wouldn’t have Julia if it weren’t for Rachel and she was meant to be in your life.”

  -----

  Despite the morning’s circuitous events, Rachel made up for lost time. All she had to do was shorten a few activities and hurry like mad. A tow truck took her vehicle in to an open local car shop which was lucky for her since the Mazda dealer was closed on Sunday. With a little extra attention to the mechanic, he changed the snapped-off belt in no time.

  Next, she took Julia to a park beside her apartment complex where she made sure her daughter played and used the children’s equipment for over an hour until her energy level ran out of steam.

  Back at the apartment, Rachel made them both a late lunch and then nestled the sleepy little girl in her lap in front of several lit candles on the coffee table. The flames flickered and even warmed the small area around them.

  “Didn’t you have a swell time with your mother at the park today?” Rachel whispered in Julia’s ear.

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “You and I must stay together always,” Rachel said, stroking her daughter’s hair. “It’s the best way because Mommy loves you the most. I miss you way too much because you don’t live with me. And I cry, too, when you’re not here.”

  Julia tilted her head up. “Don’t cry, Mommy.”

  Rachel let out a sigh and held her daughter even closer. “I can’t help it when you are with Danny and those people.”

  “It’s okay, Mommy.”

  “It would only be okay if you only lived with me. You could still visit that other house once in a while.”

  A long silence ensued. Rachel continued stroking her.

  “But Mommy, Da-Ka is my favorite.”

  “I know, sweetheart, and I’m sorry Danny took Dakota away from me. I know what!” Rachel exclaimed. “I’ll give you the biggest present ever. I will buy you a puppy that will be your very own dog!”

  A smile erupted on Julia’s face and she clapped her hands. “Mommy, can I name her?”

  Chapter 4

  Since Mary stayed with Casey while waiting for him to go to surgery, she insisted that Danny go home.

  “Otherwise,” she said, “you’ll be here until late at night and Julia will be back at the house at five.”

  Casey nodded from the bed; a morphine shot had eased the throbbing, intense pain from his hand and had also made him groggy.

  “You stayed with me when I was hospitalized last fall,” Danny said. “You didn’t move from my bedside. What makes you think I wouldn’t do the same?”

  “Because, you dumbass,” Casey said softly, “the ‘one and only’ is bringing Julia back to the house.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mary said to her brother. “It’s the medication that’s talking.”

  “No, it’s not,” Casey said while staring at Danny. “And if you don't know what a dumbass is you're really a stupid dumbass.”

  “Casey!” Mary exclaimed.

  “It’s alright. He’s angry at Rachel and he’s too much of a gentleman to say so, so he’s taking it out on me. At least I’m good for something.”

  Danny leaned over and kissed his sister on the cheek. “Keep me posted. I will go home for Julia. That will also assure me that Sara won’t have to deal with Rachel either.” He looked up at the ceiling as if praying. “God forbid if Sara is the next one in line to render Rachel so
me kind of assistance.”

  “Good plan,” Mary said.

  “And one more thing.” He took a step closer to Casey. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. If I could give you one of my whole fingers, I would.” He turned and left with a heavy heart.

  “You told him what happened?” Casey asked his wife.

  “Think of it this way. You wouldn’t like it if I kept quiet about something happening to Danny. Would you?”

  Casey crossed his arms. As usual, Mary was correct. He finally let his lids close and rested … almost comfortably.

  -----

  The garage door was open as Danny sprayed cleaner on a back window of his car and wiped off Dakota’s nose smudges. The dog was behind him following his steps as he thought about Casey. He said a small prayer for him; he’d be going to surgery soon and, whatever the outcome, he hoped his friend would not have future limited abilities at his job.

  The sporty car pulled into the driveway and came to a stop. Dakota trotted over with his tail wagging and Rachel said, “Hi, my boy,” while getting out.

  “Julia ate a late lunch and had a little nap afterwards,” she added as Danny approached; she opened Julia’s door as Dakota nudged in to greet the youngster.

  “Hi, pumpkin,” Danny said, helping his daughter to the ground.

  After Julia gave Danny and Dakota a slight acknowledgement, she skipped through the garage, tippy-toed to the door handle and went inside. Danny picked up her bag as Rachel went back to the driver’s seat.

  He stood next to the open window but before he could say anything, Rachel spoke first. “By the way, I had my car fixed immediately and hurried to get Julia back to you on time.”

  As she didn’t even ask about Casey, Danny’s anger boiled up. “Well, aren’t you the saint?”

  “Thank you.” She lowered her sunglasses. “Now if you don’t mind, please step back. Casey already got himself hurt in this driveway today. I know you two are close but you don’t have to follow his stupidity.”

  With disbelief, Danny moved backwards. His mouth agape as she pulled away, he realized she was right. He had been ready to ask her why she had earlier turned on the car engine. Had it been a total accident because she didn’t hear Casey’s wish to not turn on the ignition?

  He had been ready to tell her the status of his brother-in-law at the hospital but it would have been on deaf ears.

  -----

  Danny finished his first surgery on Monday morning and bounded up the staircase two steps at a time hoping to see Casey before his discharge.

  “Good morning, you two,” he said on entering the room.

  Mary sat on the end of Casey’s bed with an open newspaper. She’d been reading to him from the Sunday’s sport’s section, a short article about Friday night’s basketball game.

  Danny sat down and leaned forward. “How did it go? And what did they do?” He eyed the bulky bandage wrapped around Casey’s left middle finger.

  “They cleaned it up and made a perfect closure. The hand surgeon thought the reattachment wouldn’t work and the severed piece was worse than she thought. Otherwise, it went smoothly. The anesthesiologist that you know gave me an axillary block with sedation and the finger was still numb for most of the night.”

  “But now he’s hurting,” Mary said, “even though they gave him a pain med this morning.”

  Danny rubbed his hands together, looked up and frowned.

  “What,” Casey said.

  “I hope you don’t get phantom limb pain.”

  “What’s that?” Mary asked.

  “That’s where an amputated limb or appendage is left with unusual feelings. It happens to patients over half the time. It feels as if the missing part is still attached to the body and the nerves that would have innervated the missing part cause pain.”

  Mary grimaced and glanced at her husband.

  “It can be agonizing,” Danny said. “Some patient’s report it as a burning or shooting pain and others experience tingling, itching or other sensations. It can’t be pleasant.”

  Mary buried her face in her hands, her red hair fell free alongside her face, and Casey reached out with his right hand to comfort her.

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” she said. “We’re not going to let this go.”

  “Mary wants me to sue Rachel,” Casey said, “but I’m not exactly the litigating type.”

  Danny raised his eyebrows. “You can make an exception, you know. It’s not uncommon for greedy litigators and lawyers to sue for pain and suffering.”

  “I can’t do that.” He looked at his hand, now resting on the white sheet. “Although I wonder what my medical bills are going to be after all this is said and done. Why don’t I sue her for all my out-of-pocket bills?”

  “You’re a gentleman, Casey Hamilton,” Mary said, “if you don’t sue her for more.”

  “That’s one reason you married him,” Danny said. “But possibly recouping your medical bills is better than nothing. Plus, it will be a thorn in her side although a cactus couldn’t penetrate her. Why don’t you use my attorney, Mark Cunningham?”

  “Sure thing,” Casey nodded. “I suppose he knows how to deal with Rachel, too.”

  “I’ll give him a call to start the ball rolling,” Danny said.

  Danny patted Mary’s shoulder. “I must get back downstairs for my next surgery. But do you know that today’s the big day? We’ll all be smiling later when Sara gets home.” He shook his head with amusement. “After work, she’s going for her obstetrician’s appointment and we get our first baby pictures. I can’t believe I’m going to be a father again.”

  After Danny left, Casey and Mary grinned at each other.

  “I haven’t seen him this happy about anything since our wedding day,” she said.

  -----

  Annabel strolled back to her dorm after her last morning class; during the lecture, she’d received a text message from David. He had been off campus for the weekend, his parents insisting he’d get more rest and fewer distractions at home. The previous night, his father had driven him back to his dorm where he was to skip classes until his doctor’s appointment with Danny on Thursday.

  Annabel piled the load of books she’d been carrying on her desk and looked again at David’s message: Grab a bite later? Meet you in the cafeteria?

  She couldn’t wait to see him. This had been the first weekend since they had met that they hadn’t spent time together. It had been a miserable two days, she missed him so much. He dominated her thoughts and it was difficult to get any studying done. Her two thumbs wiggled across the keypad and she typed back to him: For sure.

  In the small mirror Annabel had hung near the door, she ran her fingers through her hair to enhance its natural curl and looked at her teeth. After having braces for years, she was proud of her straight, white smile and still flossed her teeth regularly like before.

  She went back out and resumed thinking about David. At least they were sharing another biology lab class together this semester but, unless she saw him between classes this week, she wondered if she would see him at all.

  Annabel realized since they had been going together and having sex, her hormones seemed to ramp up as time went on instead of feeling like she was being fulfilled. Just looking at his dimpled chin and perfect shoulders made her yearn to be in his arms. And above all that, he had a fun personality, treated her terrific, and they hadn’t had a disagreement or misunderstanding yet. He was a source of strength and companionship for her and she began to realize that he may be in her life for a long, long time.

  Dressed in faded blue jeans and a long college sweatshirt, she walked over to the cafeteria and bounded up the steps to the balcony lounge where they occasionally met between classes or before lunch. Convinced that she didn’t see him on either of the two couches or chairs in front of the coffee shop, she stepped over to two of their classmates.

  “Hi, guys,” she said. “Have either of you seen David?”

  A short teen w
ith a Caribbean accent answered, “He was with us for a while. Left a few minutes ago with some basketball buddies.”

  “Do you know where they went?”

  “The guys were going to the gym,” the other one said, “to play ball for a few minutes. They were laughing that they rarely play outside of team practice anymore when Coach Newman can’t be so hard on them.”

  The corners of Annabel’s mouth turned down.

  “Don’t worry, Annabel,” the first teen said. “David said he was going to watch.”

  The second teen tapped his friend’s forearm. “But they were giving him grief to shoot balls with them.” He looked at Annabel. “They said David was grounded from playing and from team practice, but what was the harm if he was their fifth player just fooling around on the court.”

  “Okay, thanks.” She turned and ran down the stairs, biting the inside of her lip. Maybe it would be best if she convinced him to come back to the cafeteria with her and not watch them. Since he loved basketball, watching his teammates may be like purgatory since he wasn’t allowed to join in.

  She crossed the street south from the cafeteria and went into the large athletic center. After passing the Olympic-sized pool on the right, she went into the basketball court. A group of students were playing on her side and a shot to the backboard startled her as she passed by, not seeing David.

  As she continued to the other side of the gym behind the first row of benches, she finally made out the next group of students playing ball. Five of the school’s male basketball players were there, David included.

  Knowing she couldn’t get their attention until they took a break, Annabel sat on the bench. She thought about her father’s instructions; as far as she knew, there weren’t any exceptions he had listed to allow David to play sports. She had to admit he looked handsome in dark sweatpants and a logo tee-shirt but, damn it, he shouldn’t be out there. Grimacing, her heart rate sped up with anticipation. He better just be watching them and not get sucked up into playing.