Free Changed by His Son's Smile by Robin Gianna Page B

to do rounds on patients.
    A halo of curly blonde hair immediately caught his attention. Dani moved her stethoscope here and there on a child’s chest, and while he couldn’t really see her expression, he knew it would be intent and focused.
    As though she could feel him looking at her, heart-stopping blue eyes lifted to him, and for a moment they stared at one another across the room. She seemed so far away and yet not, as though they were touching one another, breathing one another’s breaths, sharing one another’s thoughts, despite the expanse between them.
    Trent leaned closer and in an undertone said, “Yeah, she’s crazy about you. Take my advice, and I’ll call the preacher.” With an unholy grin he headed towards one of his patients.
    Chase inhaled a deep, mind-clearing breath. Why not give Trent’s method a try? What he’d been doing the past few days hadn’t seemed to convince her, that was for damned sure.
    He joined Dani as she checked on her patient to find out what she thought of the child’s condition. She smiled at the boy before turning to Chase. “His lungs seem to be clear today. I think it’s fine for him to go home tomorrow. Will you tell him?”
    The boy grinned at the good news and pumped his arms in the air victoriously. Dani joined him, smiling brightly, mirroring his fists pumps with her own as she exclaimed, “Yahoo!”
    The boy laughed, and Chase marveled at her cheerful exuberance. From the very first moment he’d met her he’d noticed that whenever she walked into a room, worries cleared, people smiled, and the rise in energy seemed palpable. His own energy included.
    He turned to Dani. “I’m about to check on Apollo. Want to join me?”
    Her beautiful eyes smiled at him. “Yes. I was waiting for you.”
    He liked the sound of that. More than liked it, and wished it was true in more ways than for work. Like in her room at night. In her life, for ever.
    It was all he could do not to clasp her face between his palms and give her a soft kiss. He turned away and walked toward Apollo’s bed.
    The boy’s mother had gone somewhere for the moment, with the blankets she used as she slept on the floor carefully folded and stacked. Apollo looked uncomfortable with the apparatus holding his leg in traction to keep the bones aligned, and his expression reflected his misery. He touched the child’s forehead with the backs of his fingers, and it felt thankfully cool. No fever was a good sign.
    “Does your leg hurt?” he asked. They’d kept him on painkillers, but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. “Is the traction rubbing against you anywhere?”
    The child shook his head then turned his attention to Dani as she stopped at the other side of the bed. And who could blame him for wanting to look at her? He himself could look at her all day and night, and never tire of her sweet face and vivacious smile.
    “The nurses tell me he’s eating and drinking okay, so that’s good,” Dani said to Chase. She examined the stitches in Apollo’s forehead closely, then put her stethoscope in her ears and pressed the bell of it to his chest.
    Chase studied the pin he’d placed in the bone as it protruded from the boy’s skin. Thank God it wasn’t bleeding and didn’t show signs of infection. The boy was lucky. “Your leg looks good. Pretty soon we’ll change the cast to cover your whole leg, okay?”
    Apollo nodded, still looking miserable, poor kid. Chase wished he could hurry the process, but controlling the pain was the best he could do for now.
    “Vous avez...un coeur...très fort,” Dani said haltingly to Apollo.
    Chase had to grin at her accent, which was pretty bad, but he gave her credit for trying. “She’s right,” he said in Fon, in case the boy wasn’t adept at French. “You do have a very strong heart. And your leg will be strong again, too. I promise.”
    “You’ll be getting better every day, and that should make you smile.” Dani placed her fingers gently on the