Free Here to Stay (Silhouette Special Edition) by Kate Freiman Page B

made their slow, awkward way toward the elevators, the woman introduced herself as Emmy’s mother, Doris.
    “So you’re Caitlin and Hilary’s grandmother,” Sasha said, hoping to take her mind off the dizziness.
    “I certainly am. I can’t wait to tell the girls I’ve finally met you. They’ve been after me for ages to come to one of their meetings, but honestly, horses frighten me. They’re so big. And they can be very dangerous.”
    Sasha heard Miles grunt at this point in Doris’s monologue and she knew he was thinking about Desperado. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything to scare Doris about her granddaughters. “Most of them aren’t dangerous,” she said hastily.
    “It only takes one,” Miles muttered.
    Sasha decided to ignore him. She was having enough trouble staying upright until the elevator stopped at his floor.
    “You know,” she said to Doris as they negotiated their way down the hall, “if you come to a meeting, you don’t have to get close to the horses to watch the girls. Think about coming soon. They’d love it.”
    “Maybe I will. The meetings are at your farm, aren’t they?”
    “Yes. Saturday mornings.”
    Doris halted at Miles’s door, giving Sasha a moment to grasp the doorframe while she led Miles into the room and settled him on the edge of the bed. Doris then turned to reach a helping hand to Sasha as she followed, a little queasy from the elevator ride. Gratefully, Sasha let the older woman help her into a chair beside Miles’s bed.
    “I think I will come to a meeting,” Doris said firmly. “I’ll tell the girls. It will be fun.”
    “Great.” Sasha remembered something Caitlin had told her. “And Doris? I’ve got a litter of the sweetest kittens I need to find homes for. Two of them are gray tabbies.”
    “Oh! Gray tabbies?” A sad look crossed Doris’s soft face. Then she beamed at Sasha. “Yes, I think I know someone who would like two tabby kittens. I’ll bring my cat carrier, if that’s all right.”
    Sasha gave Doris’s hand a quick squeeze. After she’d asked Miles four times if he needed anything else, Doris finally left them alone. Sasha couldn’t help laughing at the bemused expression on Miles’s face, even though her own face hurt with every change of expression.
    “What?” he demanded.
    “I think she likes you.” He shrugged, but his expression seemed to soften a little. “I have a feeling you aren’t used to being mothered quite so aggressively.” He snorted. Sasha wondered if perhaps she’d accidentally hit on some truth about Miles.
    Miles ran his right hand over his chin. “I suspect you’re right,” he said thoughtfully. “She really takes this helping stuff seriously, doesn’t she?”
    Sasha tried to nod but her head protested and her neck stiffened. Instead, she grunted agreement. “She’s been a widow for a long time. The girls told me her old gray tabby cat died at Christmas, and Emmy says she’s very lonely. That’s why she volunteers here, and in a home for mentally challenged adults.”
    “What about emotionally challenged adults?” he asked, his crooked grin not at all convincing. “That’s supposedly my problem. Your friend Peter thinks my memory is playing hide-and-seek over something I don’t want to remember.”
    “Is that possible?”
    “What could I be trying to forget? Think I did something horrible? Tax evasion, maybe? Maybe I’m a serial murderer. What do you think, Doc?” He studied her so intently that she felt her already painful face burn with a blush.
    “I think you couldn’t possibly be a murderer, or anything remotely like that. I think it’s possible something awful happened to you, but I can’t believe you would do anything horrible to anyone else.”
    “Do you always see the best in everyone?” he asked quietly.
    Embarrassed, she shrugged. “I try.”
    “Aren’t you ever wrong?”
    “I keep hoping my optimism will be rewarded.”
    “And what about the monster who attacked