janet dailey- the healing touch Read Free Page B

in the sun and sip ice tea.
    She sighed to herself. No such luck. The busy life of a vet didn't offer her much time to be lazy.
    She found Katie and the kid romping in the backyard. Playing a game of tag, they seemed to be enjoying each other's company.
    "Hi, Dr. Rebecca!" Katie shouted as she ran toward her.
    "Hello, Katie." Rebecca reached down to pet the goat. It lowered its tiny head and butted against her fist. "I see you've been teaching her bad habits," Rebecca teased.
    "I didn't have to teach her that," Katie said with a giggle. "She seemed to know it all by herself."
    "Yes, goats are little rascals. You have to teach them to behave. How is she doing?"
    "Oh, fine," Katie said. "I named her Rosebud. But I call her Rosie."
    "Rosie... um..Rebecca said thoughtfully. She studied the little goat, its silky white coat, its long floppy ears, blue eyes and pink nose. "Rosebud. Yes, I like that name. It's perfect for her."
    Katie beamed at the praise. "I'm out of school now for the summer," she said. "We play all the time. She's my best friend."
    Rebecca looked around for any sign of another human being. In the distance, Neil was digging in the garden, and his wife, Bridget, stood in the kitchen window.
    But Katie's father was nowhere in sight. And Rebecca was sorry to see that Katie had no other children to play with.
    "So, it's just you and Rosie?" she asked the girl. "No people friends to play with?"
    The girl looked sad for a moment, then shook her head. Her black curls bounced and shone in the sunlight. "Nope. Just me and Rosie. I don't have any other friends."
    "Don't you ever invite the girls from school to come over?" Rebecca asked. She thought of all the wonderful times she had shared with the Flores girls here at the Casa.
    "I used to have friends over to play," Katie said. She wouldn't look up at Rebecca as she bent to scratch behind Rosie's ear. "But that was before. You know... when we lived in Los Angeles and my mommy was still alive."
    An unexpectedly sharp pain shot through Rebecca. The pain of loss that was always so close to her heart.
    About the time she dared to hope the wound might have healed a bit, something pricked it, and the pain returned as deep and searing as ever.
    "I'm sony, Katie," she said. She stroked the girl's shining hair. "It's hard to lose someone you love. Believe me, I know."
    Katie looked up at her with curious eyes. "Really? Did someone you love die, too?"
    Closing her eyes for a moment against the memories, Rebecca found them there, playing on the screen of her mind. The emergency call in the middle of the night—a dog at the Humane Society, hit by a car, in need of immediate attention. Tim volunteering to go. "You've had a tough day, Becky. I'll take care of it. Just go back to sleep." Hours later, the other call—from the Highway Patrol.
    "Yes," she said, opening her eyes. "I lost my husband. He was a veterinarian, too. We had a practice together. We'd only been married two years."
    "Was he sick for a long time?" Katie asked.
    So, Rebecca thought, that's how her mother died. A long illness.
    "No," she said. "He was in a car accident."
    "Oh..." Katie nodded in understanding. "That must have been awful. You didn't even get to say goodbye."
    "No, I didn't," Rebecca agreed. "I think that was the worst part."
    Katie looked away, as though remembering. "My daddy told me to tell my mommy goodbye," she said. "But I cried, and I wouldn't do it. I was just a dumb
    seven-year-old. Now I'm eight, and I'm a lot more grown-up."
    "Yes, I can see that," Rebecca said with a smile. "But you shouldn't blame yourself. Everyone finds it hard to tell someone they love goodbye. I don't think you were a dumb seven-year-old. I think you were just really scared, that's all."
    Katie's eyes brimmed with tears, but she smiled up at Rebecca. "That's nice," she said. "Maybe that's all it was."
    "I'm sure of it."
    "Want to see something really neat?" Katie asked, suddenly lighthearted.
    "Sure, what is it?" Rebecca