The Single Dad Finds A Wife Part 19

"Spring is gonna make her better."

Jeremy said it with such a.s.surance that all David could do was nod.

Jeremy sat on his lap. "Daddy, we need to pray for her."

Out of the mouths of babes, David thought.

So he and Jeremy prayed for the girl and for her family and for the medical team working to get her stabilized. Not too much later, they heard an ambulance.

Jeremy ran for the door, wanting to go see, but David caught him and held him back.

"She's going to the hospital, buddy. More doctors need to help her."

"My hospital with Dr. Emmanuel? He made me better, too."

He didn't know the extent of the girl's injuries, or if the little hospital in Cedar Springs would be where they took her or if they would airlift her to Durham and to the trauma center at Duke University Hospital. To his untrained eye, her injuries had looked horrendous. And he knew firsthand the panic and fear that her parents now faced.

"I don't know, buddy. It will depend on how badly she's hurt."

Jeremy considered that for a moment, then quietly asked, "Can we go see her?"

David looked at his son, who was now sitting in a little chair that had wheels and resembled a Formula One race car like his bed at home. "Who?"

"The girl."

Floored, David didn't know what to say. After a moment, he came up with a plausible response for his son. "We'll ask Spring about that, okay?"

Jeremy nodded, then scooted across the room to a toy box.

Almost a full hour pa.s.sed before Spring appeared in the entryway of the waiting room. She'd clearly washed up and changed clothes because she now wore slacks and a white cotton shirt.

David rose and went to her. "Is she okay?"

"Still in surgery at Cedar Springs General. Where's..."

Before she got the rest of the question out, she spotted Jeremy. He'd fallen asleep on the little sofa in front of the DVD. Her mouth curved up in a smile and then dismay.

"He saw?"

David nodded. "He wants to go see her. The girl."

"Her name's Maria," Spring said, pinching the bridge of her nose and then rolling each shoulder as if trying to get the kinks out. "Maria de Silva. She's six. I'll check with the hospital later to see how she's doing."

David glanced at Jeremy. "Thank you. He's really worried about her."

"Our little man has lots of compa.s.sion."

David glanced at her sharply, but her focus was on Jeremy.

Our little man. He wondered if she meant that literally or figuratively.

Jeremy had made it clear on more than one occasion, both lucid and drowsy, that he wanted Spring to be his mom.

David wanted the same thing and could think of nothing better in his life than Spring agreeing to be his wife and the two of them raising Jeremy and any other children who came along. He knew, however, that they had a long way to go emotionally as a couple before marriage and the long term could be considered. And there was still the business of the development project between them.

He was trying to figure out what to say to her, when Spring took his hand.

"David, I know this is going to sound strange. I want to-no, I need to clear my head and just..." She shrugged. "I don't know, just be. Would you mind terribly if we got out of here? Can the three of us just go somewhere to do something fun?"

He smiled and lifted her hand to press a kiss to it. "I like the way you think, Dr. Darling."

Not only did Spring want to do something fun, she had something specific in mind.

"This weekend is Common Ground's community picnic," she told him after Jeremy was buckled in his car seat and she and David settled in front. "I wasn't planning to go to any of the Friday events, but I think it would be perfect."

"What's on tap?" David asked as he started his SUV.

"All three of the Common Ground churches are hosting events this weekend. The Chapel of the Groves is showing family films all day with all the popcorn you can eat and some musical entertainment between the features. The Chapel of the Groves is Cecelia's church. Tomorrow, at my church, First Memorial, there's a picnic and bazaar, then fireworks later in the evening. And on Sunday, The Fellowship has services and puppet shows and carnival games."

"Sounds fun. Are you sure you're up for it?"

"Most definitely." To emphasize her point, she twisted around to look at Jeremy. "Want to go to the movies?"

"Yes!"

Spring sat back and glanced at David. "It's all settled. Two votes for the movies."

"Can we go to the hospital and see the girl?"

David and Spring shared a glance.

"The doctors are with her right now," Spring said.

"Dr. Emmanuel?"

"I don't know, Jeremy," she said. "But that's a good guess. He's a very good surgeon."

"I know," the boy said in a tone that was a bit too wise for his years.

"Tell you what," Spring said. "I'll see what I can find out after our movie. Okay?"

"Okay," Jeremy said, once again sounding like a four-year-old. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and stared out the window.

Watching in the rearview mirror, David looked at his son but didn't say or do anything about the thumb-sucking. Under the circ.u.mstances, the gesture seemed a comfort. David reached for his own comfort, clasping Spring's hand with his free one. She squeezed it lightly, then gave him directions to the Chapel of the Groves.

Jeremy fell asleep three-fourths of the way through the movie about talking cars. He lay curled on his side, his head in Spring's lap.

"Any word yet?" David asked when he saw her reach for her phone.

"Just checking now," she said. "He's really worried about her. He asked me again about her condition."

David ran a hand along his son's brow. "I've never seen him like this before. It's like he went from a little boy to a grown man."

"He knows some of what she's feeling," Spring said. "While he didn't have the type of injuries Maria has, he knows-whether consciously or unconsciously-that she's in pain and probably very scared."

"It puts things into perspective, doesn't it?"

Spring nodded. "It sure does."

The report about Maria de Silva that came in the next morning from the hospital was a good one. David gave Jeremy the news over breakfast in the hotel's lobby. Jeremy made one request as he started out of the hotel's parking lot to pick up Spring.

David glanced at his son in the rearview mirror. "Sure, buddy. We can do that."

Then, following the directions she'd given him, David made his way to Spring's house. She was watering a flower bed when they rolled up and walked toward her.

"I wanna help," Jeremy said eyeing the water coming out of the hose in a streaming arc.

"Good morning," she said. "Well, let's put you to work, then."

David watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as she guided him on where to spray the hose. Jeremy giggled as he got the hang of it with her help on the nozzle.

He hauled a bag of mulch to them and watched as Spring showed Jeremy how to spread it in the small flower beds after weeding.

"I see you finally found a helper for the garden."

David recognized the voice and tensed.

Today was supposed to be a day of no stress, a respite from arguing about architectural renderings, land use or historic preservation. Yet there stood one of the chieftains of the opposition. She was dressed casually in capri pants and a smock with pockets and had a floppy straw hat on her head.

He straightened, dusted off his hands and said, "h.e.l.lo, Mrs. Darling."

Lovie Darling looked him up and down, and then she sighed. "Good morning, Mr. Camden." The tone was civil if not warm. "And who is this?" she asked, bending toward Jeremy, who was now tugging on a weed in a small bed of colorful flowers. The weed was winning the battle against the boy.

"Mother, this is Mr. Camden's son, Jeremy."

"Hi," Jeremy said. "It's stuck."

"Let me show you a little trick," Lovie Darling said. She produced a pair of gardening shears and told Jeremy to watch as she made the cut. "When you do it here," she told him, holding the pesky weed at the base of the plant and burrowing a bit in the soil, "you get more of the root. You won't get it all, but it will take a little while before you have to weed again."

"What's your name?" Jeremy asked.

"You, my dear, may call me Lovie."

With the four-year-old as her a.s.sistant, Lovie Darling cleared the small patch of three additional weeds while both a bemused Spring and an amused David looked on.

After a quick washup to get the dirt off hands and Jeremy's face, Spring tucked a wicker basket and blanket on the rear seat of the vehicle. Then she, Jeremy and David were on the way to the bazaar and picnic. And Jeremy had a date to meet up with Lovie later at the church.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it," Spring said.

David chuckled. "After that planning commission meeting, I think I'll have to agree. It's the power of the cute kid."

When David made the wrong turn, Spring pointed out that First Memorial Church of Cedar Springs was in the opposite direction of where they were headed.

"But Cedar Springs General is this way," he said.

"Are we there yet?" Jeremy called from the backseat.

"Almost, buddy."

Spring raised her eyebrows, but David just smiled.

The Camden men led the way as if they, instead of Spring, worked at the hospital. She went with them, pausing briefly at the patient visitor desk.

"What's in the bag?" she asked David as they rode the elevator to the third floor of the hospital.

"Something Jeremy bought."

Her mouth curved up. "Jeremy bought?"

"Well, Jeremy picked out and Dad's plastic paid for."

"It's a surprise," Jeremy said, practically hopping on his toes in antic.i.p.ation.

"I think I know where we're going," she said in a low voice to David.

He laced her fingers with his as the doors swooshed open and Jeremy dashed out. "I think you'd be right," he said. "To the right, Jeremy."

The boy paused and looked both ways, then turned and looked up at his father.

"Face forward, the way we are," David said. Jeremy turned so his back was to them. "Now remember what we learned about the heart."

"Yes!" Jeremy placed his hand on his chest as if about to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the National Anthem at a ball game. "My heart is on my left, so we go that way," he exclaimed pointing down the correct hallway.

"Good job, buddy. We're looking for room number three-zero-six. You think you can find that?"

Jeremy nodded and walked slowly down the corridor, peering up at the room numbers and calling them out as individual digits as he went.

"Very creative," Spring complimented David.

He grinned. "I know the heart is really-"

She held up her free hand, stopping him. "That lesson is a perfect way to teach a young child about right and left. And look," she said. "He's found the room."

Jeremy stood outside Room 306, waving for them to hurry up. "I need my bag," he said in a loudish whisper.