Loving Miss Libby (20 page)

She struggled to direct him to Kate, but he wasn’t
listening to her.  And then, to her horror, she was struck by a wave of
dizziness and she passed out.

***

Dan paced in the hospital waiting room.  Both Kate
and Marky shared a seat, deriving comfort from one another.  They knew when
their dad found out they’d call Libby to the park and put her in harm’s way,
they were going to be in a heap of trouble.

When a doctor finally came out to talk to them, Dan
hurried over, his face set in a worried frown.  “Is she all right?”

“She has a concussion,” he told him.  “Fortunately,
Doctor Brar, our plastic surgeon was on call.  The gash over her eye was pretty
jagged, but Doctor Brar fixed her right up.  She won’t even have a scar.”

“Can I see her?” Dan asked.

The doctor nodded.  “Yes.  We’re going to keep her
overnight for observation, but if she’s doing well in the morning, we’ll
release her.  Come with me.  I’ll show you to her room.”

Dan turned to his friends.  “Will you watch the
kids?”

Cherise nodded.  “Sure.”

Dan was led down a long hallway and to an exam room
on the left.  As they stepped inside, the doctor paused briefly.  “Oh, one
thing, she keeps asking for Kate.  She’s adamant that she see her.  I don’t
think she’s going to calm down until she sees this person.”

“That’s my daughter,” he said, frowning.

He walked over to Libby’s bedside.  He winced.  Her
eyes were closed and her face was a mottled collection of blacks and blues. 
His heart gave a tug.  “Libby,” he said softly, “how are you feeling?”

 Her eyes opened and riveted on his face.  She
struggled to raise her head.  He could see she was slightly woosy, since she
swayed slightly.  “Dan?”  She watched him questioningly and then cried out,
“Kate!  Where is Kate?”

“She’s here,” he told her.

She appeared unconvinced.  “I have to see her. 
Please.  A man was…”

“What, Libby?”

“I saw him…”  Her eyes widened.  “He had a hold of
her and was pulling her away…  Oh, God!  Kate!  I need to see Kate!”

The doctor, nearby the bed, came closer.  He turned
toward Dan.  “Your daughter is here?”

“Yes.”

“Bring her in.  We need Miss Langstrom to lie
still.  Her state of agitation isn’t helping her condition.”

Dan hurried off and at the entrance to the waiting
room, he called to his friends, “Bring the kids.”

Dan took off in a jog back to Libby’s room and his
friends followed with the children.  The group entered the room.  Libby
narrowed her eyes, an attempt to see clearly, but everything was fuzzy.

“Kate…” she murmured.

“She’s here, Libby,” Dan said.

Libby struggled to see.  Finally, her vision cleared
slightly and she spotted the man who had grabbed a hold of Kate earlier.  She
pointed an accusing finger.  “He took Kate.  He took her!  Kate! 
Kate!”

The little girl hurried to Libby’s bed.  “I’m here,
Miss Libby.”

“Kate?” 

“I’m here.”

Libby stared intently into the little girl’s face,
and her own face crumpled with relief.  She grabbed at Kate, until Dan lifted
her onto the bed.  Libby snatched her into her arms and held onto her, as if
for dear life.  She pulled back, to search Kate’s face, and then embraced her
again.

She reached out to Marky, who hurried to the other
side of the bed.  He climbed up, unassisted, and she reached out to him.  He
leaned toward her and she pulled him into a fierce hug.

She held onto both kids, the tears streaming down
her face.  “Oh, Father, thank you for these children.  Thank you, thank you
that they’re both safe.”

Dan gently lifted the kids off of the bed, unsure
what Libby was so worked up about.

Finally, Libby opened her eyes again and glanced
around the group.  She aimed a shaky finger at the man she’d seen take Kate. 
“You took her.  I saw you!”

“Libby, this is my friend Corbin.  He’s Cherise’s
husband,” Dan said softly, confused by her behavior.

“Your girlfriend, Cherise?” she clarified dazedly.

Corbin gave a burst of laughter.  “Something you two
need to tell me?” he said, watching both his wife and Dan mock suspiciously.

“Not that I know of,” Cherise said.  “How ‘bout you,
Dan?  Have you been confusing work for romance?”

He watched her, his mouth opened in stunned surprise. 
He opted to ignore Cherise’s teasing and turned to Libby instead.  “Libby, what
are you talking about?  I’m afraid you’re confused.  Cherise is my partner in
the Traffic Homicide Unit at the Sheriff’s Office.”

Libby watched him, as his handsome features swam
before her eyes.  She closed her eyelids and began drifting off to sleep.

“I guess we’ll have to straighten this out later,”
Dan said, giving Corbin an uncomfortable glance.  “I have no idea why Libby
thought…”

“That you two have been carrying on behind my back?”
he interjected with a hoot of laughter.

“Hey,” his wife said, slugging him in the arm.  “I’m
a prize, so you know.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, still chuckling.

The group left Libby’s room, Dan hesitantly bringing
up the rear.  Where had Libby gotten her ridiculous ideas about him and Cherise
being a couple?

***     

Dan and the kids arrived home, exhausted.  “Kids,
get ready for bed,” he told them.  “We’ve had an eventful evening, and we all
need a good night’s sleep.”

“Are we going to the hospital in the morning, to see
Miss Libby?” Kate asked.

He nodded.  “Yes, we’ll go by first thing.” 

He ran a hand through his hair.  He still wondered
where she had gotten such ridiculous ideas about him and Cherise being…  He
couldn’t imagine anyone thinking he and Cherise were involved.  They were
co-workers, friends, like brother and sister…

“Good night, Dad,” Marky said, as he started up the
stairs.

“Good night, Dad,” Kate called, as she followed him.

She was so relieved it hadn’t occurred to their father
that she and Marky were responsible for the confusion about Cherise and him. 
She wasn’t fooling herself, however.  By tomorrow the cat would be out of the
bag.

After her father had tucked them both into their
beds, and gone downstairs to close up the house, Kate hurriedly ducked into her
brother’s room. 

“We’re in big trouble,” Marky said gravely.

“I know,” Kate said with a sigh. 

Marky suddenly grinned.  “But Kate, one good thing
happened tonight!”

Kate met his gaze and smiled.  She knew to what he
was referring.  Miss Libby loved them!  She had hugged them just like that
mother at the park had hugged her lost daughter. 

“She loves us,” Marky said smugly.  “I knew it all
along.”

“Now, if only she could love Dad,” Kate murmured. 
“If only.”

***    

Dan and the kids arrived at the hospital first thing
in the morning.  When they entered Libby’s room, they found her sitting
bedside, dressed and apparently eager to leave.

Dan winced when he saw that her face looked even
worse today.  The colors had deepened and spread, and her eye was badly
swollen.

“Oh, Libby,” he said sadly.  “Your poor, poor face.”

“She’s still beautiful!” Marky declared.

“Well, thank you,” Libby said, smiling his way. 

“Yes, son, she is,” Dan said, prompting Libby to
send him a surprised glance.

A nurse stepped into the room with Libby’s release
instructions.  Libby listened, nodding when the nurse told her to apply ice
packs at varying intervals to her face.  She also told her it was important
that she stay down for a couple days, since she’d sustained a bad concussion.

The nurse turned to Dan.  “Are you her ride?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“Oh,” Libby said.  “Thank you.”

Soon she was sitting in Dan’s car and being driven
home.  She was happy to leave the hospital, since she’d never been comfortable
there.  She gave a relieved sigh when Dan pulled up to his house and parked
alongside the curb.

“Thank you for the ride,” she told him, smiling.  “I
really appreciate it.”

She reached for the door handle.

“Don’t you get out of this car,” he said, “until I’m
at your door to help you.”

“Oh, okay, yes.  Thank you.”

She sat obediently until he opened the door for her
and helped her out.  She thanked him once again and she started for her house. 

“Wait just a minute!” he said.  “You’re not going
home.  You’re coming to my house, where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Oh, Dan, that’s not necessary.  I’m fine.”

He shook his head adamantly. 

She was too tired and dazed to argue, and allowed
him to escort her into his house and to his comfy couch.  She sat down and he
instructed Kate to retrieve a couple pillows from his bed.  “Honey, you’ll find
clean pillow cases in the hall closet.”

She nodded and hurried off.

When she returned, Dan put the cases on the pillows
and plumped both, before setting them on the end of the couch.  “Lie down,” he
told Libby.

She smiled self-consciously.  “Dan, it’s sweet of
you to want to help out like this, but I’d probably be more comfortable at
home.  I tend to like to be alone when I look like…”  She pointed to her misshapen
face  “…This.”

“You’re beautiful, inside and out,” Dan said softly.

The kids giggled and he apparently remembered they
were nearby.  “Guys, I need a word with Miss Libby.”  He paused and stroked his
jaw.  “You know, as I was laying in bed last night, worrying about Libby, and
wondering about how she might have gotten some misimpressions about me, I
couldn’t help but wonder who…”

The kids didn’t wait around to hear him finish. 
They tore out of the room.

Dan shook his head, smiling after them.  “So, Miss
Libby,” he said, “I think you and I have a few things to discuss.”

“We do?”

 He nodded.  “Oh, yes, we do.  I think, thanks to my
children, that you may have derived some false impressions about the nature of
my relationship with Cherise.”

She braced, waiting for clarification.

“Do you remember Cherise being in your hospital room
yesterday?” he asked.

“I don’t remember much,” she admitted, searching her
memory.

“Okay, so, I suspect that you somehow got the
impression that Cherise and I are involved.”

“Were involved,” she clarified.

He laughed.  “Oh, really?  So we broke up?”

“Yes.  The kids said you were devastated by the
breakup.”

He laughed again, shaking his head from side to
side.  “I wonder what prompted them to concoct a story about Cherise and me?”
he wondered aloud.

“So, you’re not…?”

He shook his head.

“And have never been?”

He shook his head again.

“Then why?”

They both sat silently for a moment, thinking. 
Libby was first to speak.  “I think they were trying to assure I realized what
a catch you are, since someone else was interested.  And they convinced me
Cherise didn’t treat them well when you weren’t around.”

He laughed.   “They do have a faux contentious
relationship with her, but it’s all in good fun.”

“Yeah, I heard that for myself, although I’m
understanding what I heard a bit more clearly,” she admitted.  “They wanted me
to do daycare for them, I’ve realized, and they managed to orchestrate that
more easily by convincing me they needed protection from the awful Cherise.” 
She laughed.  “By the way, if what I do remember of yesterday is accurate, she
seems nice.”

“She is nice,” he said, shaking his head ruefully.

He sighed and searched Libby’s face.  She didn’t
miss the sympathetic glance he gave her when his eyes lit on her injuries. 

“I look like a crash test dummy,” Libby muttered,
and Dan laughed.

“You’re beautiful,” he assured her. 

She gave him a dubious look and he moved closer to
her, staring intently into her face.  He swallowed hard.  “Libby, so you know,
I haven’t dated since my wife died.  I haven’t been interested in a woman since
then.  Well, until I met…”  He smiled self-consciously.  “You.”

Libby’s heart leapt in her chest.  Had she heard Dan
correctly?  He was interested in her?

He took her hand and held it tightly.  “Libby, I
think I fell for you way back when you first moved in.  I used to see you
working in your yard, but I just wasn’t bold enough to introduce myself.  You
were always so kind and loving toward the kids.  But then Marky started
launching balls at you, and causing you injury, so I pretty much gave up any
idea we could be friends.”