Read Online Family Matters by Deborah Bedford - Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    â€œWhen you’re working with his elbows, you want to rotate the movement just this way….” Andy kept right on going.
    â€œHey,” Cody said to both of them. “This isn’t fair, y’all. All Mom has to do is write down the stuff. But I’m the one who has to do all the stuff.”
    â€œYou!” His mom bent down close to him and kissed his nose. “You’re doing a great job! You’re doing the hardest work of all and we know it.”
    Cody loved the way his mom smelled, like roses and outside. Andy smelled good, too, but his mother was special. He loved the way she told him he was doing his hardest work. And, best of all, he loved it when she cuddled with him now, though he knew he was getting much too old to admit that.
    â€œYou’re getting your tone back in your arms,” Andy told him. “It won’t be long before you’re swimming. ”
    â€œYeah.” Swimming sounded like the best thing in the world after lying in bed for so long. He listened while she told him all about her brother Mark and what he did with kids in the water. She told him about a little girl named Megan and how working in the water had helped her to be able to use her legs again. All the while Andy kept working on him and moving his arms every which way while his mom took enough notes to fill a book.
    He was the first one to see his dad standing in the doorway looking at his mom. “Hi, Dad!” he hollered so loud he made his mom jump. “Dad’s here!”
    â€œHello, kid.” His dad walked straight to the bed and gave him a hug. Cody knew his dad was pretending that he’d just gotten there. He wondered how long his father had been standing at the door watching them.
    â€œYou’re sweating,” his dad said.
    â€œThat’s because I’m doing therapy.”
    â€œAnd doing a good job of it,” Andy said as she laid his leg down and covered it with the blanket. “He’s doing great moving his arms. They’re loosening up nicely.” She touched him lightly on the nose. “Time for a break now, kiddo.”
    â€œI get to go to the therapy gym tomorrow,” Cody told his dad. “It’ll be my first time.”
    â€œGood for you.” And, for a moment, because his dad hesitated, Cody thought that he might not know what to say. “…I think that’s great. I wouldn’t expect a patient to do as well as you’ve been doing.” He bent over the bed and gave Cody several well-placed tickles right on the ribs as Cody rolled onto his side in a fit of giggles. “Stop doing so good! You’re doing too good!”
    â€œI can’t help it,” Cody squealed. “It’s just happening.”

    Jennie sat and watched her sleeping child for a moment, watching the flicker of lashes on his slightly flushed cheeks and the rise and fall of his small chest. “He’s doing so much better than they thought he would,” she said after a long silence. “Thank heaven for every breath that little boy takes.”
    â€œDo you really mean that?” Michael asked, because it suddenly seemed important to know where she was coming from. Was she really thanking heaven? He didn’t know if she’d ever have much trust in God.
    He searched Jennie’s face, thinking how different his ex-wife looked. Their eyes met and held.
    â€œSo,” he asked at last. “How, exactly, do you go about learning all this?”
    â€œI’ve got outlines of the therapies we’re supposed to do with him when we get him home. Or—” she corrected herself, realizing what she’d said “—when I get him home…and you get him home. I’ll never remember all this stuff if I don’t take notes.”
    Michael swallowed. Hard. Just looking at her he felt off-center. All he wanted to do lately was be around his ex-wife and do things for Cody. “You want to