Read Online Christmas Miracle: A Family by Dianne Drake - Free Book Online
Authors: Dianne Drake
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dear. When the fire started, I was gathering up my photo albums, hurrying too much, then…” She shook her head. “I don’t remember.” Edith Weston lived at the lodge. Was one of White Elk’s grand matriarchs.
“We’re going to get you comfortable, Edith. Are you in any pain?”
The woman shook her head. “Just embarrassed that I’m taking up your time when you have so much to do.”
Fallon patted her hand. “Truth is, Edith, I’d rather have you taking up my time than anyone else.”
“I’m still sorry about my timing,” Edith managed. She reached out and took hold of Fallon’s hand. “But my home is burning down now, so I guess this is as good a place for me as any.”
Edith was showing such courage in the face of adversity. It was something Fallon wished for herself, but her time for that kind of courage had passed, and she’d proved herself lacking. “Did you get your photo albums?” Fallon asked. “Before you had to leave, were you able to find them?”
“Most of them. The important ones. One of the firefighters put them aside for me, promised he’d bring them to the hospital for me later. Those are my memories, Fallon. Good and bad, memories are the things we can hold dear when everything else is gone.”
“Well, I’ll make sure they get to your room. And, Edith, if you need anything… anything …please let me know.” Edith was like the grandmother she’d never had. The one who’d baked her cookies over the years, and listened to her when everything had been falling apart. Edith had come to sit with her in the rehabilitation hospital, the only person she’d asked to be there while fighting for her life at first, then fighting to keep her baby. She hadn’t included Gabby or Dinah, hadn’t included James. But she’d turnedto Edith because she’d needed the comfort of a mother or grandmother. Someone who’d seen life and known its pain. Someone whose sympathy was expressed in her eyes, and by the way she’d held Fallon’s hand in the roughest hours. Her other friends would have cried, their eyes would have been sad. But what Edith had given her had been poised composure at a time when that’s what she’d needed more than anything. “But right now we need to get you into bed and make sure you’re as comfortable as possible. Then get a doctor in to see you.”
Edith looked up at Fallon and there were no lies to be told in the eyes of either woman. “I worry about you, Fallon. When I knew he was here… You’re not making it right between you two yet, are you? You haven’t told him the things he has a right to know?”
“And hurt him?”
“Pain is part of life, my dear. Once in a while it makes us grow stronger. Often, when it’s shared with those we love, we become better for it.”
“I made bad choices, Edith. You know that. You were there, telling me to do the right thing. And I wasn’t listening to you.”
“But it’s never too late to do the right thing, dear. Never too late.”
Down the hall, James watched the exchange between the two women. While he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he saw the tender, caring way Fallon responded to the woman in the wheelchair, and he wanted to punch the wall in frustration. Tomorrow, when this was over, she would go right back to being the way she’d been all these months, withdrawn, hesitant. At least, with him. And it was so wrong. Yet he wasn’t sure he knew how to get through to her…not in the way that mattered. As more nurses showed up to work, and a few more doctors camein as well, all of them glad to take instruction from Fallon, all of them depending on her to make the emergency room work the way it should, James knew, more than ever, that he couldn’t give up on Fallon. He wasn’t sure he could fix their relationship, wasn’t sure they could ever get back to the place they’d been before she’d been injured. But he was sure that Fallon needed this hospital and, more than that, this hospital needed
“We’re going to get you comfortable, Edith. Are you in any pain?”
The woman shook her head. “Just embarrassed that I’m taking up your time when you have so much to do.”
Fallon patted her hand. “Truth is, Edith, I’d rather have you taking up my time than anyone else.”
“I’m still sorry about my timing,” Edith managed. She reached out and took hold of Fallon’s hand. “But my home is burning down now, so I guess this is as good a place for me as any.”
Edith was showing such courage in the face of adversity. It was something Fallon wished for herself, but her time for that kind of courage had passed, and she’d proved herself lacking. “Did you get your photo albums?” Fallon asked. “Before you had to leave, were you able to find them?”
“Most of them. The important ones. One of the firefighters put them aside for me, promised he’d bring them to the hospital for me later. Those are my memories, Fallon. Good and bad, memories are the things we can hold dear when everything else is gone.”
“Well, I’ll make sure they get to your room. And, Edith, if you need anything… anything …please let me know.” Edith was like the grandmother she’d never had. The one who’d baked her cookies over the years, and listened to her when everything had been falling apart. Edith had come to sit with her in the rehabilitation hospital, the only person she’d asked to be there while fighting for her life at first, then fighting to keep her baby. She hadn’t included Gabby or Dinah, hadn’t included James. But she’d turnedto Edith because she’d needed the comfort of a mother or grandmother. Someone who’d seen life and known its pain. Someone whose sympathy was expressed in her eyes, and by the way she’d held Fallon’s hand in the roughest hours. Her other friends would have cried, their eyes would have been sad. But what Edith had given her had been poised composure at a time when that’s what she’d needed more than anything. “But right now we need to get you into bed and make sure you’re as comfortable as possible. Then get a doctor in to see you.”
Edith looked up at Fallon and there were no lies to be told in the eyes of either woman. “I worry about you, Fallon. When I knew he was here… You’re not making it right between you two yet, are you? You haven’t told him the things he has a right to know?”
“And hurt him?”
“Pain is part of life, my dear. Once in a while it makes us grow stronger. Often, when it’s shared with those we love, we become better for it.”
“I made bad choices, Edith. You know that. You were there, telling me to do the right thing. And I wasn’t listening to you.”
“But it’s never too late to do the right thing, dear. Never too late.”
Down the hall, James watched the exchange between the two women. While he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he saw the tender, caring way Fallon responded to the woman in the wheelchair, and he wanted to punch the wall in frustration. Tomorrow, when this was over, she would go right back to being the way she’d been all these months, withdrawn, hesitant. At least, with him. And it was so wrong. Yet he wasn’t sure he knew how to get through to her…not in the way that mattered. As more nurses showed up to work, and a few more doctors camein as well, all of them glad to take instruction from Fallon, all of them depending on her to make the emergency room work the way it should, James knew, more than ever, that he couldn’t give up on Fallon. He wasn’t sure he could fix their relationship, wasn’t sure they could ever get back to the place they’d been before she’d been injured. But he was sure that Fallon needed this hospital and, more than that, this hospital needed
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