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“Are you still short of breath?”
The man nodded. “Not as badly as at the house. My wife says I had a panic attack.”
“Your oxygen saturation is ninety-two percent. That’s not too bad,” Dirk explained. “But it’s not as high as it should be in an otherwise healthy person either. I’m going to order a few tests just to check you out and make sure you haven’t fractured any ribs or worse.”
“Worse?”
“Fall injuries can result in serious damage to a person’s body.”
The man nodded. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
As always, Dirk responded to his patient, making Abby wonder how he could smile so sincerely at a virtual stranger and not his own kin. “Maybe you should stay off ladders for a while, too. Ask someone to help you with anything that requires climbing.”
“Tell that to my wife. She has no patience and had to have that star straightened before the kids and grandkids show up in the morning for Christmas celebrations.”
Finishing what she was doing, Abby excused herself and disappeared out of the bay.
The moment she finished giving report, she rushed away, determined to somehow find joy in the most magical day of the year.
Her favorite day of the year.
His least favorite day of the year.
A day she’d spend alone yet again.
Christmas Eve shouldn’t be a busy night in the emergency room, but this one was. Midnight had come and gone, so technically Christmas morning had arrived.
The only thing Dirk liked about Christmas was it meant the end was near. The end of the season, the decorations, the smells, the aggravation and harassment from family.
Yes, the signal that the end of the season was near was the best part of Christmas Day.
Or it had been.
Now he wasn’t so sure. Somehow he’d tangled thoughts of Abby up with Christmas and the thought of the end put his insides in a viselike grip.
The end of Christmas. The end of his relationship with Abby. No, he wouldn’t accept that. Not under the circumstances.
God, his family would be ecstatic when they found out she was pregnant. How many times had they attempted to set him up with someone when he’d lived in Oak Park? How many times had they told him to find someone new and start over? How many times had they called to say how much they’d liked Abby, what a great cook she was, what a warm house she’d had, what a generous person she’d seemed? And he’d let them, because Abby’s accusations had kept playing over and over in his head.
None of his family had understood that he hadn’t wanted a new start, that he’d wanted his old life, a life that had been snatched away.
A life that had ended on the day his wife and daughter had died. Dirk had buried himself right along with them.
He hadn’t been happy in years. Hadn’t even really wanted to be. He’d preferred to wallow in his grief.
Until Abby.
In moving away, he had started over.
Quite frankly, that had scared the hell out of him. Had put him on the defensive. Had caused mixed emotions to surge. Emotions that made him want to cling to Abby and the hope she gave him. Emotions that made him want to pack up his bags and get out of Dodge. Emotions that had made him hold her at arm’s length, just as she’d nailed him for doing to his family.
But he and Abby had a baby on the way.
A baby.
A precious new life that he and Abby had made.
When she’d fallen into her Christmas village table, he’d only been able to think of her safety, their baby’s safety. Maybe he could have righted the table had he gone for it instead, but all he’d been concerned about had been keeping Abby from falling to the floor.
