Healing Gabriel Read Online Free Page A

my brother might have
some human contact.”
    “I’m not mad.”  Morgan patted her arm.  “Although I’m not
sure it’ll work.  I don’t know him very well but your brother seems pretty
intent on keeping everyone away.”
    “He wasn’t always like that.  He was such a sweet, sociable
kid.  He always wanted to be around others, wanted to help them however he
could.  He’s great with animals.  He was going to be a vet and he would have
been a damn good one.”
    “Can I ask what happened to him?”  Morgan asked quietly.
    Lacey took a deep breath.  “When he was fifteen he and some
of his friends went for a drive.  His best friend Tony had just gotten his
driver’s license and so they, along with two other boys, took Tony’s mom’s car and
went driving.  They were hit by a drunk driver.  The car caught on fire.  Two
of the boys died in the fire.  Tony and Gabe were rescued but both of them were
terribly burned.  Tony died two days later without ever waking up.  Gabe nearly
died but he – he’s so strong you know?  Always has been.  He recovered but he
was left with horrible scarring.”
    “Is it all over his body?”  Morgan asked.
    Lacey shook her head.  “No.  It was just his upper body that
was burned and mostly just the left side.  It goes a little further on to the
right side on his back, but they pulled him out of the car and put him out
before it could go further down his body.”
    “Oh man.”  Morgan whispered.  She couldn’t imagine how much
pain, how much suffering Gabe would have went through as he healed.
    Lacey, her face pale and her hands trembling, sat down at
the table.  “The doctor said he was actually quite lucky.  His face was burned
of course, but it missed his eye and his ear.  He could have been blinded or
gone deaf.  His chest and back got the worst of it, although for a while there
they thought they might have to amputate his left arm.”
    Morgan sat down at the table and took Lacey’s cold hands in
her own.  “I’m sorry Lacey.”
    “Yeah, me too.  I wish you could have known him before this
happened Morgan, I really do.  Anyway, his body healed but emotionally he just
shut down.  People talked and stared of course.  It’s a small town and he couldn’t
get away from it.  He gave up on being a vet and took some courses online to
become a website developer.  He’s successful at it but he does all of his work
from home.”
    Lacey picked at one nail.  “After mom and dad died, he
became more and more withdrawn.  Natalia drew him out of his shell for a bit,
but even she wasn’t enough to bring him completely out of it.  Now he just
spends all of his time at the farm, only goes into town when necessary, and I
get more and more worried about him by the day.  I’ve tried everything –
sympathy, bullying, anger, tears – but nothing gets through to him.  I had
actually hoped he would come to the barbeque tonight, but I should have known
better then to get my hopes up.”
    Morgan squeezed her hand as Lacey wiped away the tears that
were dripping down her face.  “Anyway, I’m kind of hoping that with another
human being out there, maybe he’ll start to come out of his shell a bit.”
    Morgan smiled.  “I’ll do what I can Lacey.”
    “Thanks Morgan.  I appreciate that.”  Lacey replied.  “Now,
tell me where you’re going with Andy on your date.”

Chapter 3
     
    She didn’t notice him.  He was sitting in the dark on the
back porch, drinking a beer and staring at the garden when she walked past the
house along the stone walkway.  She was humming softly to herself and he
watched as she stopped to smell the lilac tree. 
    Vincent growled loudly and before he could stop him, the dog
was bounding off the porch towards her.  He barked once and she jumped before
turning towards the dog.
    “Vincent hush!  It’s just me.”  The dog’s growling turned to
a low, pleased whine and she giggled softly when he head butted her