LITMIR.BIZ

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forget, her neck throbbed and her knees and hands stung from the abrasions. Despite Noah’s continued insistence that she needed medical attention, she’d tended to her own injuries while Pilar was in surgery for a repair to her shattered ulna.

      Darcie tugged the collar on her shirt higher to hide the purpling marks from the attack. She would hate for the ugly bruises to scare Isabel or Pilar even more. Pilar was already staring at Darcie, her eyebrows in bushy arcs. She made the sign of the cross on her chest while mumbling something in Spanish. Darcie didn’t speak Spanish, but she knew the sweet woman was praying for her.

      That wasn’t new. Pilar always offered up prayers for Darcie. It seemed odd that Pilar—a woman who had very little in life and had so many needs of her own to pray for—felt compelled to pray for her. It made Darcie uncomfortable to have someone treading on the edges of her personal life.

      Needing a distraction for Pilar, Darcie spotted her iPad lying on the bedside table. Pilar worked from home and when her computer died a few weeks ago, Pilar had borrowed Darcie’s iPad. As the EMTs wheeled her out of her home, she’d insisted on bringing the iPad with her, enabling her to work tonight.

      Darcie tapped the screen. “Is the job still going well?”

      The corner of Pilar’s mouth tipped up. “Thanks to you. Your daily visits to Isabel have given me more time to focus on work. I am now making my quotas.”

      “Have you started getting paid yet?” Darcie hated to ask such a personal question, but she was skeptical about Pilar’s new job. When Mayte went into rehab, Pilar had to leave her job as a cashier to care for Isabel, and this job seemed too good to be true. Darcie had been around the FRS team long enough to know that trusting people were often taken advantage of with work-from-home schemes.

      Pilar’s smile widened, wrinkling the crow’s feet by her eyes. “My salary is directly deposited into my checking account as I finish each assignment.”

      “Good.” Darcie had never been so thankful to be wrong. “It’s great that you found the perfect job.”

      “God is with me, is He not?”

      Darcie nodded, but didn’t say a word. God. She wasn’t sure she saw Him in any of this, or in much of anything. Not since she’d lost Haley in a freak car crash.

      Pilar gestured at the iPad. “And it is wonderful that you have loaned me your iPad. You and Detective Noah have been so generous. I have saved my money and will be able to get a new computer soon.” Gratitude shone on her face. “Detective Noah has even promised to help me find a quality computer for a good price.”

      “Are you ever going to start calling him just plain Noah?”

      “Just plain Noah is much longer than Detective Noah, I think.” She chuckled. “But no, I will continue to use Detective with him just as I call you Nurse Darcie. It is my way of showing my respect.”

      “We don’t need that, Pilar. We know you respect us and our work. In fact, I wish you would stop. At least with me.”

      “Then I will.”

      “I have to go to the bathroom,” Isabel announced from where she sat watching television.

      Pilar started to move as if she planned to get up to help Isabel.

      “Don’t even think about it,” Darcie warned. She squeezed Pilar’s shoulder to soften the admonition and looked down into her eyes ringed with dark circles. Assuming the care for an injured young child was taking its toll on Pilar. She wouldn’t admit it or complain at all. She loved Isabel and was thankful to have custody of her granddaughter, who’d lived many years with Mayte in terrible conditions.

      Darcie firmly clasped the handles of Isabel’s wheelchair, not caring that the pressure smarted against her skin. She’d rather be in pain than think about the callout where she’d found Isabel living in a squalid apartment with drug paraphernalia all around.

      Darcie’s anger from that day came roaring back. How could a mother treat her child like that? How could Mayte even have a child when Darcie’s precious Haley been taken from her?

      No, stop. It does no good.

      What was the point in doing so? She’d asked these questions over and over, year after year, and God never answered. She’d concentrate on what she could do. Like spend even more time with Isabel to give Pilar a break.

      Darcie wheeled Isabel into the bathroom and helped her maneuver the ankle-to-hip cast weighing her down. Darcie settled Isabel in place, then turned her back to give her privacy. Maybe for Darcie to get her emotions under control, too.

      She took deep breaths like she’d done daily after Haley had died. Darcie couldn’t save her own daughter, but she’d saved Isabel and could help improve her quality of life.

      Darcie closed her eyes. Envisioned a happy place. A nice home for Pilar and Isabel, free from guns and gangs. Even Mayte could live there when she came out of rehab. Darcie imagined a cute little house in the sun. White with blue trim. A garden for Pilar. A swing set for Isabel. Birds chirping. Butterflies floating overhead. Maybe a rainbow or two.

      A knock sounded on the door to Pilar’s room. Darcie jumped and spun. Noah’s deep voice soon rumbled through the space.

      Noah. It’s just Noah.

      She blew out a breath. She’d been expecting him and was honestly glad he was here. She felt safer with him around. Far safer. But that wasn’t good. She couldn’t let herself depend on him or want him in her life for any reason.

      “I’m done, Darcie,” Isabel announced.

      The innocence of the little girl’s voice instantly replaced Darcie’s thoughts with a smile. She helped Isabel wash her hands and get back into the chair, then stole a quick hug, drawing in the fresh scent of her strawberry shampoo. She loved the feel of the trusting child offering uncomplicated love and affection.

      “Can we go see Noah?” she asked, her expression excited.

      “Of course.” Darcie wheeled her into Pilar’s room.

      “I’m glad you came,” Isabel said.

      “I’m glad to see you, too.” Noah flashed a smiled but then stepped toward Darcie.

      His worried expression set her anxiety flaring up again.

      “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” he asked.

      Darcie’s gut cramped hard, but she fought back the panic and looked at Pilar. “Will you two be okay if I step into the hallway for a few minutes?”

      “Yes, of course,” Pilar said, but her brow was tight with concern.

      Darcie strode into a hallway similar to the ones she’d walked in during her years as a nurse. Noah moved close enough for a whiff of his spicy aftershave to overcome the familiar hospital smells. Close enough to see the small dimple in his cheek that always appeared when he smiled.

      Ignore it. Ignore him. Ignore the desire to let him hold you and chase all your troubles away.

      Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.

      She would forever be in his debt for his help. She was also thankful he continued to help Isabel and Pilar, too. Darcie was able to handle a few hours here or there in his company while they focused on helping someone else. But now...now there would be an investigation into her attack. How was she going to avoid him as she’d tried to do since they’d met? To avoid the chemistry that always sparked between them?

      She wasn’t about to follow her interest and risk her heart again. Not with him. Not with any man. Not after losing her precious Haley and then her ex-husband, Tom, when he abandoned her after he was unable to deal with his grief. She’d once believed the people she loved could help her deal with life’s trials. Believed that God could banish problems. But now she knew everything in her life depended on her and her alone.

      She might be physically attracted to Noah, but it would go no further.

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