Light This Candle (Harlequin More Than Words) Read Online Free PDF

angels walk around among us on Earth.
They disguise themselves to look like regular people.”
    “Why?” Cody asked curiously.
    “I suppose so they can help people without them realizing an
angel is looking out for them.”
    “Do you think I’ll become a walk-around angel?”
    Mitch considered him. “I don’t know. But you’d make a great
one.”
    Cody nodded thoughtfully. “I’d come back and make my mommy
happy.”
    Talk about a body blow. The child’s words were a punch straight
to Mitch’s heart. He struggled to breathe and keep his voice steady. “You
already make your mommy very happy. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at
you. She loves you with all her heart.”
    “Yeah, but she’s scared I’ll die.”
    “Of course she’s worried about you. It’s what mommies do. It’s
in the mommy handbook.”
    “There’s a handbook?” Cody asked.
    “Oh, yeah. It has all kinds of rules in it. Like they have to
know exactly how to find stuff you lost. And they have to nag you to eat your
vegetables and brush your teeth and go to bed on time. And socks. They’re
supposed to be all tense about socks matching and staying in pairs in your
drawer.”
    Cody grinned knowingly. “Then I guess my mommy’s following the
rules pretty good.”
    Mitch laughed heartily. “Okay, kid. You and me. Combat
checkers. You up for it?”
    Cody laughed aloud and sat up a little straighter in his bed.
Mitch propped a couple more pillows behind him and spread the board out across
the boy’s lap. He happened to glance up and was startled to see everyone at the
nurses’ station staring in at him and Cody. They looked stunned.
    Alarmed, he checked the wires and tubes and monitors. Had he
accidentally disconnected something in making room for the checkerboard? Nope,
everything was beeping or displaying numbers. He turned his attention to
teaching Cody how to play the game. No surprise, the boy caught on immediately.
Soon they were deep into a discussion of tactics and making up silly new rules
of their own.
    It dawned on Mitch that he was actually having a great time
with a five-year-old. If his troops could see him now, they’d never believe
their eyes.
    * * *
    Cassidy could not believe
her eyes. What was that
man doing in her son’s room? She’d made it crystal clear last night
to Major McConnell that he could take his sympathy and his offers of help and
shove them. The military had already taken more than enough from her and her
son.
    She stormed forward, but the head nurse, a nice guy named Bill,
took her lightly by the arm and forestalled her. The nurse said simply, “He made
Cody laugh.”
    “What?” Cody hadn’t laughed in weeks. They’d all been deeply
concerned about the boy having sunk into a serious depression. The combination
of medications, illness, fear and impending death had taken the spark out of her
baby.
    “Clear as day. A bunch of us heard it. Rose Parker told us to
let him sit with Cody. Who’s that guy? He’s been in there with Cody for nearly
an hour, and Cody’s been smiling and laughing almost the whole time.”
    “What have they been doing?” she asked in shock.
    “Talking mostly. He’s been telling Cody stories. Taught him to
play checkers. That’s what they’re doing now.”
    “Checkers?” she repeated blankly. Jimmy had loved to play
checkers. Grief stabbed her heart, as sharp and hot as a newly forged sword.
Mitch must have known that about her husband. The kindness of teaching her son
pierced the outer layer of her emotional defenses just a little. But the major
was still a major and unpleasant reminder of a military she had no use for.
    Reluctantly she allowed that she ought to thank him for
teaching Cody the game his father had loved. Then she’d kick him out.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Righteous fire burning in her gut, Cassidy barged into
Cody’s room. But she stopped cold as her son looked up at her, his eyes glowing
with laughter and life she hadn’t seen in them for months. Had the