The Road to Reunion

“They’re so sweet.” The medication was making Molly drowsy. She blinked heavy eyelids and leaned against Kyle’s shoulder for support. After only a moment, his arm went around her.

She knew he was simply steadying her. A friendly, platonic gesture—but it felt good to be held by him, anyway.

Carrying a pair of metal crutches and pushing a wheelchair, the nurse returned. “You can ride out in this, then use the crutches when you get home.”

Molly wrinkled her nose as she studied the wheelchair. “I’d rather walk out on my own, thank you.”

“Get in the wheelchair,” Kyle murmured. “You’ll likely spend the next few weeks on those crutches. You’ll be plenty ready to get rid of them as soon as you can.”

The memories mirrored in his eyes showed her he knew exactly how important it was for her to assert her independence again. She wondered how long he had been on crutches. She knew he must have hated every minute that he had been incapacitated.

This, she thought with a sigh, was not at all the way she would have chosen to bond with him.

Chapter Five

The McDooleys lived in a small but comfortable house behind the office of the picturesque motel tucked into a hillside near downtown Gatlinburg. The town, itself, was a prime tourist spot, the streets crowded with restaurants, miniature golf courses, candy stores and boutiques filled with souvenirs and craft items.

A large aquarium was a main draw, along with an observation tower and a ski lift that rose from the main thoroughfare into the mountains that loomed over the town. A gondola lift carried tourists upward in another direction, disappearing into the more distant mountains.

Even in town, Molly was delighted to see the numerous streams she already associated with this area. Swollen by the rains, they rushed along the sides of the roads and flowed through the center of town beneath bridges and pedestrian walkways. Gazing up at the mountain tops, hearing the sound of splashing water always in the background, she could see why Kyle had chosen this beautiful and peaceful place for his recuperation.

She would have loved to spend an entire day exploring every cranny of the inviting town, and several more trekking through the mountains and nearby park areas. She was thoroughly disgruntled with the way her spur-of-the-moment trip had turned out.

Framed photographs of Tommy McDooley covered the walls and most of the flat surfaces of his parents’ home. From infancy to military service, every stage of his life had been documented and was lovingly displayed. A few snapshots of Kyle were mixed in with his friend’s. In most of them, he stood at Tommy’s side, or slightly behind him. But there were a couple of shots of Kyle alone, proving that the McDooleys considered him a member of this family.

Awkwardly balanced on her crutches, Molly circled the living room, studying the photographs while Kyle hovered behind her, poised to catch her if she stumbled. Jewel was in the kitchen finishing lunch preparations, having firmly declined offers of help. Mack had excused himself for a few minutes to check on a new employee in the motel office.

Molly paused in front of a photograph of Tommy with his parents. “Tell me about Tommy. What was he like?”

“He was…” Kyle looked at the picture, a muscle working in his jaw. “He was a great guy.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, and he seemed to know it. But she could tell by his expression that he simply couldn’t say anything more just then. There was so much pain in his eyes when he looked at his friend’s photograph that it made her own fill with tears. She turned away quickly to hide them, nearly overbalancing on her crutches.

Kyle caught her elbow to steady her. “You can’t move that quickly on these things,” he said, his voice gruff. “You’ll fall flat on your face.”

“They’re a pain in the…leg,” she amended quickly. “But I guess I’ll get used to them eventually.”

“You’ll never get used to them,” he corrected her. “You’ll just learn to use them better.”

“How long did you have to use crutches after you hurt your leg?”

“Too long,” he said shortly.

“Were you—”

“You really should sit down,” he cut in, motioning to ward the deep-cushioned, floral couch against one wall of the tidy living room. “The doctor told you to keep that foot elevated for the rest of the day. You’re supposed to have an ice pack on it, too. I’ll go get you one.”

“I’m keeping the weight off my ankle by leaning on the crutches,” she reminded him, but she moved toward the couch, anyway. To be honest, her arms were starting to get tired—and her entire body ached as a result of the jarring fall. She saw no need to mention either of those facts to Kyle; he would just start feeling guilty again.

The couch was so soft that she sank deeply into it. Kyle insisted on propping her foot on a pillow on the oak coffee table. Though she felt rather foolish, she didn’t argue with him. She lay back against the cushions and nodded when he said he was going to get an ice pack.

Left alone in the silence of the living room, Molly focused on a portrait of Tommy in his dress uniform. He’d had such a nice smile.

She wished she could have met him, she mused, her eyelids getting heavy as the medications combined with the shock of the accident sapped her of any remaining energy. She would have given anything to spare Kyle the heartache she had seen in his beautiful brown eyes.

It wouldn’t have been too difficult to talk Kyle into taking a pain pill, himself. He hurt all over. He’d overdone it trying to half carry Molly to her car after she’d fallen. Then, unable to sit still long enough to rest his leg, he’d paced restlessly through the hallways of the hospital while she’d been treated.

Hadn’t they been a pair this afternoon, he thought with a disgruntled shake of his head as he headed back to the living room to tell Molly that lunch was re