Warm Hearts Read Online Free PDF

been away from home since the age of eighteen, that if something were desperately wrong the police would call—but it wasn’t worth the effort. She had made each of the arguments before. She knew that she could make them until she was blue in the face and still her mother wouldn’t hear.
    So she changed the subject. “How’s Dad?”
    â€œOh, he says he’s all right, but I see him wince every time he moves.” Her voice dropped to a mumble. “I’m sure there’s something the doctors aren’t telling us.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t catch that.”
    â€œHold on a second, dear. I’m going to pick up the phone in the den so I can sit comfortably.”
    Caroline could picture the scene; it was a recurring one. Her father was no doubt nearby, and her mother wanted privacy, which did not bode well for Madeline Cooper’s frame of mind. That was nothing new.
    â€œHow are you doing, Caro?” came a deep, affectionate voice.
    â€œI’m fine, Dad. How about you ? Leg aching?”
    â€œNothing I can’t handle, despite what your mother says—”
    â€œYou can hang up now, Allan,” Madeline shouted the instant she picked up the extension.
    â€œBye-bye, Daddy. We’ll talk more another time.”
    â€œSure thing, sweetheart.” The line clicked.
    â€œThat’s better,” Madeline said. “I don’t want to worry your father, but I do think the doctors are hiding something.”
    â€œWhy would they want to do that?”
    â€œI don’t know, but I feel it.”
    â€œYou’re imagining it, Mom. Believe me.”
    â€œBone cancer. That would account for the pain, wouldn’t it?”
    â€œDad does not have bone cancer.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œBecause he broke his leg when he tripped in the garage. It was set wrong the first time, and now they’ve rebroken and reset it. There’s the clear-cut cause of his pain.”
    â€œBut you don’t know it isn’t cancer.”
    â€œDad has seen more doctors in the past few months than he has in his entire life. They’ve taken blood and done a dozen other tests. If he had cancer, they’d know it. Doctors today are very cautious. They have their eyes wide open. My guess is they’ve ruled out everything from asthma to corns.”
    Madeline seemed momentarily pacified. “Still…”
    â€œThere’s no ‘still’ about it. You’re working with the best orthopedic team in the state. They’re as sure of their work as any doctors can be. You said that the X rays were okay. Didn’t they tell Dad to expect some pain?”
    â€œSome pain I don’t mind. Plenty of it, well, that’s another story.”
    â€œDad sounded fine to me.” In fact, he’d sounded fine each time she’d spoken to him since the surgery, which was one of the reasons she felt so complacent.
    â€œHe tries to hide it, but I can see it in his face. It’s difficult for him even to shift position.”
    â€œIt’d be difficult for anyone with a full-leg cast. That thing’s heavy.”
    â€œI suppose.”
    â€œLook at it this way, Mom. You know exactly what the problem is. We’re talking bones here, not heart or lung or some other vital organ.”
    â€œBut if he never walks right—”
    â€œYou don’t know that that’ll be so. The doctors have said that he’ll spend six weeks in a cast, then another month or so in therapy. Wouldn’t it be better to wait and see how things go before’ assuming the worst?”
    â€œHe’s an active man, Caroline. You know that. If the leg doesn’t heal right, his whole life-style will change.”
    â€œThat’s not so ,” Caroline insisted. She was trying to be patient, but after years of hearing the direst of dire predictions from her mother, her own patience was in short supply. She was