Her Mistletoe Protector

Besides, she figured Joey would feel better, knowing firsthand that Nick was going to be all right.

When they arrived at Chicago North Hospital, they found Nick was a patient in a regular room rather than being back in the ICU. They walked into his room just as a voice announced through the overhead speaker that visiting hours would be over in fifteen minutes.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” she asked, crossing over to Nick’s bed. Joey stood at the foot of Nick’s bed, regarding him thoughtfully.

“My ears are blistered from having the doctors yell at me for fifteen minutes straight, but otherwise I’m good.” His expression was more relaxed, and the brackets around his mouth had vanished, which she assumed meant he’d been given some pain medication.

“You look much better,” she murmured. “And you deserve to have your ears blistered after that stunt you pulled.”

“They wanted to transport me back to Madison General, but I guess the doctor there wasn’t too interested in having me back.” A hint of a smile played along the corner of his mouth. “Can’t say that I blame him.”

“How’s the circulation in your arm?” she asked, glancing at the limb that was currently propped up on two pillows.

He moved his fingers and shrugged his right shoulder. “Pretty good, I guess. I can move my hand a bit more. No harm done, at least according to the surgeon here. I think that’s one of the reasons he didn’t push the issue of sending me back. Apparently, surgeons don’t like to pick up other surgeon’s leftovers.”

She laughed, extremely relieved to hear that Nick wasn’t any worse for wear.

“How long will you have to stay in the hospital, Nick?” Joey asked anxiously.

“Shouldn’t be more than a day or two,” Nick responded.

Joey’s expression clouded. “But that means you’ll be in here over Christmas.”

“That’s okay,” Nick said quickly. “I don’t mind.”

There was another overhead announcement instructing all visitors to leave the building, so Rachel reached over and took Nick’s good hand in hers, squeezing gently. “We’d better get home. I promised Joey that he would be able to sleep in his own bed tonight.”

“All right.” Nick’s eyes were at half-mast and she suspected that he’d be asleep before they made it out the front door.

“See you tomorrow,” she promised, releasing his hand. “Come on, Joey. Let’s go home.”

“Bye, Nick.” Joey flashed a grin before following her out of the room.

As they left the hospital to flag down a cab, she decided that since Nick was going to be in the hospital for Christmas, they would need to bring Christmas to him.

* * *

Nick hated being stuck in the hospital. The only bright spot in his day was that his arm seemed to be doing better. The doctors had taken down the bulky dressing to examine the incision and hadn’t put it back on, making him feel ten pounds lighter.

“Looks better than it should,” the surgeon told him grudgingly. “Considering you went several hours without your blood-thinning medicine, you’re extremely lucky.”

“I’m blessed,” Nick corrected with a grin. “Truly blessed.” He’d slept on and off during the night, waking up between pain medication doses, but he’d had plenty of time to think about what had happened up at the cabin. How much he’d wanted to live, when he’d managed to convince himself that he’d be happy for God to call him home. After missing his wife and daughter for so long, he realized that God meant for him to move on with his life. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve a second chance, but he couldn’t deny the way Rachel and Joey had wiggled their way into his heart.

Now, if he could only find a way to convince Rachel to take a chance on him.

Outside his window, he noticed snow was beginning to fall. He wondered if that change in the weather was part of the reason that Rachel and Joey hadn’t come in to visit him yet.

He couldn’t bear to think that maybe they wouldn’t show at all. Rachel had said she’d see him tomorrow. Surely she wouldn’t have said that if she hadn’t meant it.

But when the lunch hour came and went he began to lose hope. He exercised his fingers the way he was supposed to and wondered if he could convince Jonah or someone from the precinct to bust him out of here again.

If she didn’t show up soon, he’d have no choice but to go to her.

“Knock-knock,” a voice said from the doorway. Relief flooded him when he realized that Rachel and Joey had arrived.