Free The Winter of Candy Canes (A Sweet Seasons Novel) by Debbie Viguié

reached her at the same time the three kids did, and the guard swooped, tucking a child under each arm, and ran with them back toward the line. The third child fell upon Candace, beating her with tiny fists and screaming, “Present!” at the top of his lungs. He stepped on her fingers, and one fist caught her on the cheek. Pain seared through her.
    The second security guard grabbed him and headed over to assist his partner with crowd control. Candace pointed toward the fleeing father and children, and two more security guards took off after them.
    The fifth security guard knelt down beside her. “It's okay, Candace, you can stop smiling,” he said.
    “Thank you,” she whispered.
    “How bad are you hurt?” he asked.
    She shook her head. All she knew was that there was pain everywhere.
    “I need a stretcher for one of the candy cane elves,” he said, speaking into his radio.
    A garbled reply came back.
    “Yes, it's Candace,” he answered.
    Of course it's Candace
, she thought as she laid her head down.
Who else would it be?
Not a season could go by that she didn't find herself in “the Hospital Zone.”

8
    The stretcher arrived, complete with a paramedic, her mom, and Josh. “This is weird,” Candace said as she stared up at all of them.
    Pain was knifing through her left knee, growing increasingly worse by the minute. The guard said something about the shock wearing off. He also kept her from looking at her leg, which was starting to freak her out.
    “Oh my!” her mom burst out when she saw Candace.
    Josh went completely pale. “Hey,” he said, his voice shaking. “I heard someone over here needed a cheermeister.”
    Suddenly a wave of pain unlike anything she had ever experienced before washed over her, and all she could do was scream. It ended a few seconds later. “I'm sorry!” she gasped. “I couldn't help it.”
    Another wave of pain came and she screamed again. It felt like fire was pouring through her body. The wave stopped, and she felt herself slump.
    She saw Lisa appear behind the others. “Only Candy can scream that loud,” she was telling someone.
    “Your knee is dislocated,” the paramedic explained. “You're going to continue to have waves of pain like that until it's putback in. Normally, I'd wait until we had you in the nurse's station, but it's going to be a long, bumpy ride on this stretcher and —”
    Candace screamed again as another wave hit her, and she couldn't hear what he said next. “I'm sorry,” she gasped again when it was over. “Can you fix it?”
    “Yes. I've seen a couple of these before, but it's going to hurt.” He turned and addressed himself to the others, “You might want to look away.”
    Josh knelt down next to her head and started stroking her hair. He looked like he was going to be sick.
    “Don't throw up on me,” Candace warned.
    “I won't,” he promised.
    The paramedic and the guard moved her onto her back, and another wave of pain had her screaming for what seemed like forever.
    “That famous Candy scream. People all over the park will know it's you,” Josh said.
    Her left leg was bent, and she felt the guard grab her foot. “Pull her leg straight slowly,” the paramedic said.
    When her leg was nearly straight, she felt the paramedic touch her kneecap and shove it back into place. The relief was instantaneous.
    “Thank you!”
    “It's going to be incredibly sore, and you'll have pain for a few days, but at least everything is where it should be,” the paramedic said.
    He and the guard lifted her up and put her on the stretcher.
    “The evil little boys took girl presents,” she said. Somehow that made it a little better. They weren't likely to like what they got.
    “We'll find them,” the guard assured her.
    “You two can come with us,” the paramedic said to her mom and Josh.
    “What about your booth?” Candace asked.
    “Sue's watching it for me,” her mom said.
    Things started to get a little fuzzy, so Candace closed her eyes