Michael's Discovery Read Free

envy that washed through him when he was surrounded by tight-knit families.
    “So, kid, what do you like to do?” he asked the toddler who seemed perfectly content to sit cuddled in his arms. “I’ll bet you have a doll or two at home. Maybe a stuffed bear.”
    Caitlyn listened intently, but said nothing.
    “Then, again, maybe you’re one of those liberated little girls who has cars and trucks,” Michael continued. “Your mom strikes me as the kind of woman who’d want you to grow up knowing that you have options.”
    Apparently he’d said the wrong thing, because Caitlyn suddenly looked around the room and huge tears promptly welled up in her eyes.
    “Mama,” she wailed loudly. “Mama!”
    She sounded as if her little heart was breaking. Feeling desperate, Michael awkwardly patted her back. “Hey, it’s okay. Your mama is just outside. She and your daddy will be right back.”
    That brought on a fresh round of tears. “Da-dada!”
    Michael was at a loss. He was about to panic, when the door swung open and Maggie and Ryan came breezing in. Maggie grinned, set the groceries beside the door and swooped in to pick up the squalling child.
    “Hey, baby girl, what’s all that noise?” Maggie chided.
    Just like that, the wails trailed off and the tears stopped. “Mama,” Caitlyn said contentedly, patting Maggie’s cheek. Then she turned back to Michael and held out her arms.
    Michael couldn’t help chuckling. “Fickle little thing, aren’t you?” he said as he reached for her. “You’re going to grow up and break some man’s heart.”
    “She won’t be dating until she’s at least thirty,” Ryan said emphatically.
    “Good plan. I can hardly wait to see how well youstick to it,” Michael said. “Especially since this one obviously has a mind of her own already.”
    “Don’t laugh. You might be called on to help me chase off the boys,” his brother informed him.
    Michael looked at the little angel who was now snuggled against him, half-asleep. “Just say the word,” he said solemnly.
    “That reminds me,” Ryan said, taking a slip of paper from his pocket and handing it to Michael.
    “What’s this?”
    “Maggie’s list of therapists. She reminded me just now to be sure and give it to you.”
    Michael’s gaze narrowed. “And the connection to your daughter’s social life would be?”
    “If you’re going to help me protect Caitlyn from hormone-driven teenaged boys, you’re going to have to be in top form,” Ryan said. “You might as well pick one and call. If you don’t, Maggie will.”
    Michael glanced toward the kitchen where his sister-in-law was busily arranging his groceries and dishes so things would be within reach. He took the list and stuffed it in his pocket without comment.
    It was only later, after Ryan, Maggie and Caitlyn had gone, that he took out the paper and glanced at the names. One jumped out at him: Kelly Andrews.
    Years ago his best friend, Bryan Andrews, had had a sister named Kelly. Was it possible that this was the same girl? He remembered her as being a cute, shy kid, but by now she would have to be, what? Twenty-four most likely.
    Michael had lost touch with Bryan years ago. Maybe he’d track him down and ask if his sister was a physical therapist. Purely as a matter of curiosity. He had no intention of asking some therapist to wasteher time on him, not when every doctor he’d seen had said that a full recovery was impossible.
    And, he thought with self-derision, anything less meant he might as well be dead.
     
    Kelly Andrews was as nervous as if she’d never worked with a patient before. She stood outside the small cluster of apartments in the freezing cold and tried to gather her courage. No matter how many times she told herself that Michael Devaney was a potential client, nothing more, she couldn’t help the rush of emotions that filled her.
    Michael had been her first teenage crush. Three years older than she was, he and her brother had been friends