Christmas Miracle: A Family by Dianne Drake Page B

on-call rooms…won’t even try and persuade you to let me stay.”
    “I can drive myself.”
    “You’re exhausted.”
    That, she was. And this was an argument she wasn’t going to win because she was in no condition to drive.
    “How about this? I’ll take you home, and when we get there you can decide what you want to do with me? Fair enough?”
    “I’m not going to send you away. But…”
    “But you’re still not easy with the decision of having me stay there…not when Tyler’s not there.”
    “Maybe a little. But he’ll be there in a day or so. And I want him to be comfortable, to be settled. And with Christmas coming…”
    He shushed her with a finger to her lips. “One day at a time, Fallon. And on this day I’m taking you home tosleep. When you wake up, we’ll decide what happens from there. OK?”
    She nodded her agreement. He was so easy to give in to. And that was the problem. She wanted to give in. With James, she always wanted to give in.
     
    Fallon slept the whole way home and, to be honest, she didn’t remember getting out of the car and walking into her house. Surely, the brisk winter wind or the falling snow would have woken her up, but her first recollection when she finally opened her eyes was of her sofa. She was under the patchwork quilt she kept on the back of it, all comfy and safe. She was still tired, and a little achy from over-exertion. Most of all, though, she was really wishing the morning light wasn’t peeking in through the living-room curtains because she wasn’t ready to start the day.
    “I didn’t look when I undressed you,” James said.
    He handed her a mug of coffee, but she refused it. Instead, she peeked under the covers to find, much to her relief, that she was still dressed. No snow boots, no socks, but otherwise decent.
    “You thought I’d strip you naked?” he teased.
    “I don’t know what you’d do.” Finally, she snatched the mug from him and took a sip.
    “Actually, what I did was carry you in from the truck.”
    “No, you didn’t,” she said, forcing herself to sit up.
    “Well, somebody did. And I’m the only one here.” He stepped back then grinned at her. “You’ve put on a couple pounds, Fallon. And I’ve got the sore muscles to prove it.”
    “I have not,” she argued, realizing he was just trying to get a rise out of her.
    “If that’s how you want to argue this thing, that’s fine with me.”
    “You!” she said, tossing a throw pillow at him. ‘You always did like to goad me into things.”
    “Or out of things…like your clothes, if I recall. But that didn’t take much goading, did it? In fact, I remember a few times when you—”
    She thrust out her hand to stop him. Just like that, the light moment between them was over and all the bad things were weighing her down again. “Not the past, James. I don’t want to talk about the past.”
    “Was it that bad for you, Fallon? Because I thought you were happy…we were happy together.”
    They had been. She had been. But that had been a different life. One to which neither of them could ever return. And the way this conversation was turning into those memories—that was the reason she couldn’t be around him. It was too painful.
    Fallon cleared her throat. “Is…um…is Tyler going to be released today?”
    The expression on James’s face shifted almost instantly, going from warm and caring to reserved. “Eric wanted to run another set of tests this morning…a fasting blood sugar in case his mood swings are coming from an onset of diabetes, but he’ll release Tyler after lunch if nothing shows up. Under the present circumstances, I don’t think we should come back here to stay. You need more rest, and—”
    “We can get along, James. You can bring Tyler back here, and the three of us can get along.”
    “The three of us, maybe, but what about the two of us?” James sighed deeply, audibly. “I don’t know any more, Fallon. One minute you and I are doing fine,