“Or maybe she thought I just didn’t care,” he said with a sigh.
“Since we’ll never know for certain, why don’t we decide that you weren’t as much to blame as you are trying to be,” Sarah suggested with a small smile. “I think your grief over losing her is deep enough without punishing yourself with guilt that you might not even deserve.”
“You’re generous, Sarah,” he said, returning her smile with a sad one of his own.
“I’m not generous at all,” she corrected him. “I’m just being reasonable. I thought men appreciated that in a female.”
“I’m learning to,” Richard said with a smile as the train pulled into the station.
Sarah had to stop and catch her breath for a moment before she could tell the nurse what she wanted. She’d practically run most of the way to Dr. Newton’s office in an effort to get there in time for Brian’s appointment to get his cast off. “Is Mr. Malloy still here?” she finally asked.
The nurse smiled in recognition. “Oh, yes, I remember now! You came in with Mr. Malloy the first time. They’re still in with the doctor. Would you like to join them?”
“If it’s all right.”
“I’m sure it is.” The nurse led her back to the examining room.
She opened the door to a strange tableau. Dr. David Newton was hunkered down with one knee on the floor. Malloy was in the same position, facing him and holding Brian, who was making pathetic whimpering sounds and struggling to get free. He was deaf, so he hadn’t learned how to howl in his unhappiness.
Sarah saw at once that the cast was off his foot. There were some angry red lines where Dr. Newton’s knife had cut in order to make the necessary repairs, but otherwise the foot seemed almost perfectly normal in size and shape.
Both men looked up when the door opened, and Dr. Newton instantly rose to his feet. “Sarah,” he said in greeting. “How nice to see you. Mr. Malloy didn’t think you were coming.”
Sarah glanced at Malloy, who was rising more slowly since he had a squirming three-year-old to contend with. He avoided meeting her eye, and Sarah wondered why he looked so angry.
“I had a birth last night,” she explained to David, who had been an old friend of her husband’s. “I got here as quickly as I could,” she added for Malloy’s benefit. Could he be angry because she was late?
Brian had finally noticed her arrival, and now he was reaching out for her, anxious to escape his father. Brian was particularly fond of Sarah because she often brought him presents.
“What have you been doing to the poor boy?” she scolded the men, gladly taking Brian’s small body into her arms. He clung to her fiercely.
“We’ve been trying to get him to put his weight on his foot,” David explained. “He’s never walked, and his foot has been sore for a while, so naturally, he’s reluctant.”
Sarah turned to Malloy. “He’s probably just stubborn, like his father,” she said with a smile. He didn’t smile back. Maybe he really was angry at her. Or maybe he was just upset about Brian and didn’t want to show it. She didn’t bother to wonder how she knew that about him.
Brian was still clinging to her tightly. “Let’s see if we can give him a reason to walk,” Sarah suggested. “Malloy, take him back.”
“He’ll throw a fit,” Malloy protested.
“And he’ll want to get back to me,” Sarah said. “When he does, set him on his feet and let him go.”
“Wonderful idea, Sarah,” David said, moving out of the way to give them room.
Malloy’s dark gaze was unfathomable as he reached out and wrenched Brian away from her. The boy did pitch a fit, arms and legs flailing as garbled sounds erupted from his throat. Malloy held him at arm’s length until Sarah could step back a bit and stoop down, her long skirts pooling around her.
“All right,” she said to Malloy, who slowly lowered the boy to the floor.
“Brian, come here,” Sarah said, forgetting he couldn’t hear her. He didn’t need to hear to know what her outstretched arms meant, though. He tried to drop to his knees so he could crawl across the distance that separated them, but Malloy held him up, allowing his feet to touch the floor but letting him go no farther down.
His normal foot planted on the floor, but he kept drawing up the damaged one each time it touched.
“Come on, Brian!” Sarah urged him, beckoning him with her hands, her smile bright and encouraging. “You can do it!”
Malloy let him move forward a step when his damaged foot came down in front of the other one. The boy looked down in surprise and instantly drew the foot up again. This time, however, he stared at it, as if trying to figure out what it had done.
All the adults in the room held their breath as he tried to decide what to do next. After what seemed an hour, the boy gingerly lowered the damaged foot to the floor again, and this time Malloy quickly reached down and scooted his good foot forward, forcing him to take a step with his weight on the damaged foot. His knee buckled, but Malloy didn’t let him fall.
Brian turned his angel blue eyes to Sarah beseechingly, but she just kept smiling and beckoning. “Come on, sweetheart! You can do it!” she insisted.
He looked down at his foot again and this time lifted it tentatively and placed it down a step ahead. Sarah clapped her hands, and Brian smiled when he looked up and saw it. He wanted desperately to please her. She pointed at his normal foot and motioned for him to move it forward.
His beautiful face screwed up with mingled apprehension and determination. He tried one more beseeching glance, but Sarah nodded and beckoned again. “That’s right, you can do it!”
As quickly as he could, he threw his good foot forward a step, putting his weight on the damaged foot for only the briefest of seconds. But when he looked up, he saw Sarah was laughing and clapping again, cheering him on. Two more halting steps, and he had almost reached her. Frantically, he pried Malloy’s fingers from his hips, then lunged forward on his own, walking unaided for the first time in his life, and collapsed into Sarah’s arms.
She hugged him to her, fairly squealing with delight. David’s strong hands helped her to stand upright, and she swung Brian around in joyous celebration.
“Never underestimate the power of a beautiful woman, Mr. Malloy,” David was saying.
Sarah turned to Malloy to share this wonderful moment, but he wasn’t smiling. Could he possibly be unhappy that Brian could finally walk? Instinctively, she knew she had to make him part of this. “Now I’ll send him back to you, Malloy,” she said.
She carefully untangled the boy’s arms and legs from around her and turned him to face his father, then bent down and set him back on his feet. Malloy hesitated only an instant before going down on one knee again and reaching out for his son.
This time Brian knew what he was supposed to do. The damaged foot tentatively found the floor again, and when Malloy reached out, Brian began lurching clumsily toward him. Sarah held on to keep him from falling, but after a few steps, he impatiently pushed her hands away. He wanted to do it himself!
She let him go, hands still hovering only inches away, to catch him if he fell. But he didn’t fall. He staggered triumphantly into his father’s arms. Malloy enveloped him, burying his face in the sweet curve of the boy’s neck. Sarah felt the sting of tears as she stepped back.
Brian could walk. The wonder of it washed over her, leaving her weak with gratitude. “You’ve done a miracle, David.”
“All in a day’s work,” he demurred. “Bring Brian into the office when you’re ready, Mr. Malloy,” he added. Taking Sarah’s elbow, he guided her into his adjoining office and drew the connecting door almost shut behind them, allowing Malloy a measure of privacy to deal with his emotions.
For herself, Sarah could hardly hold back her own, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine what Malloy must be feeling. Brian would be able to walk. Soon he could run and play in the street like other children. His world would no longer be limited to the small flat where he lived with his grandmother.
And he would never become another cripple begging on the streets for his livelihood.
“Anne is angry with you,” David was saying as he seated himself behind his desk. Anne was his wife and a dear friend of Sarah’s.
“I hated breaking our dinner engagement, but I can’t plan my schedule the way you can,” she reminded him. “Babies come when they want to.”
“I was instructed to tell you that we expect you for dinner tomorrow evening, no excuses.”
“I’ll be there if you promise to allow me to come early so I can play with the children.”
