Light This Candle (Harlequin More Than Words) by Cindy Dees Read Free Book Online Page A

she finds out on her own, she’s
going to be spitting mad at you.”
    “Then I guess she can’t find out, can she?” he replied
lightly.
    He might not be able to bring her husband back, but he could
darned well make her life a little less stressful. She was too independent to
let him help openly. He had no choice but to go behind her back. But Rose’s
warning stuck in his craw anyway. Was he making a mistake?
    Mitch escorted Rose inside impatiently. Huh. Who’d have guessed
he’d be chomping at the bit to see a five-year-old like this? But the kid was a
ton of fun to hang out with, and Mitch had gotten used to his daily visits with
the little squirt.
    He stepped into an unnatural hush and his heart lurched. A
cluster of scrubs surrounded Cody’s bed, although the medical staff didn’t
appear to be working frantically over the boy as they had the night he’d had his
heart attack.
    “What’s up?” he asked the lone nurse at the station.
    “Cody’s having a bad day.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Breathing distress. Bad oxygen saturation numbers. Heart
arrhythmia.”
    His chest clenched in worry. “Can’t anything be done to move
him up on the transplant waiting list?”
    “He’s already at the very top of it. Problem is he needs a
child-sized heart. And little kids don’t die every day. Plus, lots of parents
haven’t gotten around to designating their young children as organ donors.
Hearts for kids just aren’t that common.”
    A sense of helplessness coursed through Mitch, foreign and
toxic. He was used to fixing a problem. His life was all about taking action.
Controlling combat situations. Creating environments where victory was
inevitable. But Cody was different. Mitch was powerless to help the boy, and he
hated it.
    No wonder Cassidy could be so prickly. She must be going crazy,
feeling so helpless. Particularly if she was anything like him—and his
impression was that they had a great deal in common.
    “Can I go into Cody’s room? I’d like to say hi to Cassidy.”
    The nurse smiled warmly at him. “I imagine she could use a
friend right about now. I’ll need you to put on a mask and gown.”
    He suited up like a surgeon and headed into Cody’s room. He was
surprised to see the little boy awake and alert. For some reason he’d expected
Cody to be sleeping or unconscious.
    “Mitch!” Cody gasped in a horrible wheeze.
    Cassidy looked up at him, and he couldn’t see her expression
behind her surgical mask, but he thought that was gratitude in her eyes.
    He moved to Cody’s side. “Hey, buddy. How do like my getup? Do
I look like a superhero?”
    “Look like...Dr. Mistler,” Cody gasped.
    “Don’t let me try surgery on you, okay? I’m a lot better at
checkers than cardiology.”
    Cody smiled weakly at him and inhaled hard through the oxygen
tube under his nose. Mitch stepped back from the bed and joined Cassidy on the
far side of the room. “How are you holding up?” he murmured to her.
    “I’m fine.”
    She wasn’t fine, but he also understood that she wasn’t going
to admit to any weakness when Cody might hear her. “Is there anything I can do
to help?”
    “We need to distract Cody from his breathing problems. He gets
panicked and tenses up, and that only makes things worse.”
    “I might be able to do something about that.” Mitch moved back
over to Cody’s side. “Hey, Cody. I was thinking about how good you are at
checkers, and I think you might be old enough to learn how to play backgammon.
Your dad was a killer backgammon player, too. He used to bet with the guys in
our unit, and he took all their money from them.”
    “Really?” Cody wheezed.
    “Yup. Lemme see if there’s a backgammon board in the hospital
and I’ll show you how it goes.”
    Without him having to say a word, one of the nurses nodded at
him and left the room quickly. In less than five minutes a backgammon board was
placed in his hand.
    “Okay, Cody. You lie back for now. I’m going to hold