Angels in Pink: Holly's Story (Lurlene McDaniel (Mass Market)) Read Online Free Page B

by Holly and Raina’s suggestion for a carnival. “There are organizations that specialize in events like this. They set up fund-raising for schools and churches. It would probably take about a year to get such an event arranged. Maybe we could do it in conjunction with the hospital’s seventy-fifth anniversary! That’s coming up next year. It would be a great fund-raiser if we invite the whole community. Let me check into it.”
    Raina and Holly exchanged smiles.
    “Now, how about this year?” Sierra asked. “How’s it coming along?”
    After they gave her their report and the list of volunteers who’d signed up, they headed off to their separate floors and daily duties. Holly was just getting off the elevator when she saw a little boy coming down the hall, walking beside a woman pushing a baby in a stroller. She called out, “Ben? Is that you?”
    The boy looked up and saw her and his face broke into a grin. He began running. Holly knelt and caught him when he threw himself into her arms, shouting, “Holly!”
    She laughed and tousled his blond hair. “You look so grown-up.” He must be close to seven now, she calculated. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been five and just completing his second round of cancer treatments.
    He grinned and she saw that his two front teeth were missing, with one new tooth partially grown in. “I told Mom you’d be here.”
    The woman with the stroller came hurrying up. “Holly? I can’t believe it! All he’s talked about was seeing you again. I told him you probably wouldn’t be here, but he was so sure. And he was right!”
    Holly stood, and with her hand on Ben’s shoulder, she gave Beth-Ann Keller an impromptu hug. “Is this your new baby?”
    Beth-Ann beamed a smile down at the child in the stroller. “This is Howie. He was born last August, just after Ben came home.” The plump-cheeked baby was happily chasing cheese crackers around the tray of his stroller.
    “He’s so cute.”
    “Cute as me?” Ben asked.
    She squeezed him more tightly. “No one’s as cute as you. You still my special boyfriend? Or did you go and fall in love with some first-grade girl?”
    Ben made a face. “Girls have cooties.”
    “I’m a girl.”
    “You’re different.”
    Because of his mother’s difficult pregnancy, Holly had been Ben’s best friend during his chemo treatments. She’d gone with him to every treatment, taking him for ice cream in the hospital cafeteria afterward, a ritual he’d loved despite frequently throwing up every bite once they returned to his room. Her heart seized as a thought struck her. “Why are you here?”
    “Just a checkup,” Beth-Ann said, as if sensing Holly’s fear. “He’s had some blood work done.”
    Ben held out his arm. A bright blue Band-Aid with drawings of Spider-Man stretched across the inside of his elbow. “I didn’t even cry.”
    Holly’s heart melted. “You’re so grown-up.”
    Baby Howie gurgled. Beth-Ann said, “We should be going. It’s a long drive home.”
    “I’m really glad I got to see you,” Holly said. She hugged Ben goodbye.
    “Am I
really
still your boyfriend?”
    “You are,” Holly said, making him grin more widely. She watched the elevator doors close and turned away, pressure in her chest and good feelings swimming through her. She thought of Shy Boy, then mumbled, “Yes, Ben. You’re still my one and only. But I’ll bet you’ll leave me for a second grader. Oh yes. Bet you will.”
    “What’s wrong?” Kathleen had gone over to Carson’s after work, only to find him angry and agitated.
    “Dad and I had a blowup.” He paced his room, dodging the pinball machine and jukebox.
    “About . . .?” She knew he had a knack for getting into trouble, but so far this summer he seemed to be doing better.
    “He found out I was taking the EMT course.”
    “What’s so horrible about that? I would have thought he’d be glad.”
    Carson gave a derisive laugh. “It’s not
real
medicine. I told