Maid to Fit (17 page)

Kayla recognized the look of interest the boy gave to her daughter and a small part
of her panicked. Would Addie be smarter than she’d been at that age and resist the
temptation to grow up too fast? She and Addie had talked about sex, boys and protection
and all those uncomfortable topics, but that had been when it seemed unlikely. Now
that it was a possibility, perhaps it was time to bring up the conversation again.

“I will see what I can do, but we need to go, Addie,” she said, pulling Addie’s arm
so that she moved away from the boy.

“See ya, Chase,” Addie said with a wave as she followed Kayla to the car.

They got in and buckled up. Addie looked at her and said, “Are you really going to
call him? Did you guys make up?”

Addie sounded so hopeful that all Kayla could do was smile weakly at her. Was it possible
that Addie had grown as attached to Ronnie as she had? As Kayla opened her mouth to
answer, her cell phone rang. Digging the phone out of her purse, she noticed the call
was from the nursing home.

“Ms. Clark, this is Mr. Wilkerson. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we are
currently unable to locate your mother. We have called the authorities and they reviewed
the security cameras both inside and outside the building. It appears she slipped
out during the lunchtime visitation hours. She has been gone a little more than an
hour but she can’t have gone far. I apologize and promise that we are doing everything
we can to locate her. We wondered if you had a photograph of her that you could provide
the authorities to aid in the search,” he said.

Her mother had finally done it. She’d gone looking for the good-looking guy she’d
been talking about for more than a week now. The nurse had told Kayla that a male
orderly who normally worked with her mother had recently quit and they felt that was
Mary’s way of asking about him.

But now she was gone. It was mid-December, and though the temperature was reasonably
mild at the moment, they were in Ohio, and the weather could change in a matter of
hours. And it was supposed to be very cold overnight.

“I’ve got a picture of her at the house, I will grab it and be over there as soon
as possible,” she replied, hanging up her cell phone. Seeing the alarm on Addie’s
face Kayla said, “Grandma is missing. She slipped out during the lunch visitation
and hasn’t been seen since.”

“Oh, God, Mom! I’ll get the team to help us look for her,” Addie said, pulling out
her own cell phone.

“Your friends won’t know where to look or even who they are looking for, but I appreciate
the thought. The police are looking and we are going to run a picture over and help
look, as well,” she replied.

“Mom, they all met Grandma! Ronnie had us go there a couple of days before competition
to practice for her as a thank-you for her buying our custom competition CD,” Addie
said.

“Grandma doesn’t have any money. I’m her power of attorney and I handle all of her
finances,” Kayla said in confusion.

“Ronnie said
Grandma
paid for the CD and that someday I would thank him for making me go visit her. It
was late when you got home that night and I was doing homework and I forgot to tell
you, and then with competition and everything…”

The truth must have hit Addie at the same time it came to her. Ronnie had paid for
the CD…
but why?

Kayla would have to wonder about that later, for now she needed a picture of her mother
and she needed to get it to the nursing home. She only half listened to Addie calling
Chase and explaining about her grandmother’s disappearance.

Kayla managed to get home, find the picture and get to the nursing home in record
time. Entering the lobby, she was met by Mr. Wilkerson, the nursing home administrator,
who ushered her into his office. A uniformed officer and a detective greeted her.
After she gave them the picture of her mother, the officer headed out with it while
Kayla stayed to answer questions for the other man.

At some point Addie slipped out of the office, so after Kayla finished answering questions,
she went to find Addie so they could start looking. Several kids were in the lobby
finishing up a plan about where to look.

“I appreciate you kids searching for my mother, but you must be very careful. God
forbid it gets dark before we find her, but if it does, you head home. Make sure you
let Addie know when you make it home safely,” Kayla said. “Addie, you keep in contact
with me on your phone. I don’t want you to end up missing, too. Remember—not past
dark. It’s not safe.”

Where would her mother go? Would she forget where she was heading and then wander
around aimlessly? Addie and her friends were headed outside just as inspiration hit.
Kayla hadn’t checked the nanny cam while she’d been off work because she had the time
to visit twice a day and hadn’t thought it necessary.

She ran back out to her car and grabbed her laptop out of her briefcase and then headed
to her mother’s room. After connecting the device, she began reviewing video from
earlier. She watched her mother wandering aimlessly around her room, wringing her
hands and mumbling something about a handsome man in a uniform.

Would her mother really go outside in the cold in search of the orderly who had quit?
Even with her dementia, it didn’t make sense. Wouldn’t she just wander around the
halls of the nursing home? Yet the facility’s security video clearly showed her mother
heading across the parking lot.

“How long has she been missing, Kayla?” Ronnie asked from behind her.

Kayla jumped at the sound of his voice and startled even more upon turning around
to find Sergeant Buck with Ronnie, only a couple of feet away. Something like relief
came over her.

“She’s been gone about an hour and a half. How did you—”

“Addie called me. I told you before that you could always call me. Obviously Addie
listens better than you do,” he said.

She ignored his comment. “She seems to be looking for one of the orderlies who normally
takes care of her. He quit last week and she’s been talking about the handsome man
in the uniform for days now. From what the nurse says, Mom must have gone looking
for him. I just don’t understand why she would have headed outside instead of roaming
the halls,” she said.

Ronnie looked thoughtful for a moment. “Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is nearby.
Maybe she’s looking for your dad…not the orderly.”

Then, finding her mother’s robe and nightgown, he scooped them up in his large hands
and knelt in front of the dog. Buck suddenly became very alert. Ronnie held her mother’s
clothing and let Sergeant Buck sniff them for a few seconds. Then Ronnie said, “Seek.”

Sergeant Buck sniffed all around the room until Ronnie called him out of the room,
allowed the dog to sniff Mary’s clothes and again said, “Seek.”

Again the dog began sniffing, making his way down the hall. Laying the laptop on
the nightstand near her mother’s bed, Kayla followed them. Ronnie motioned for her
to stay back. She watched Buck head out to the lobby and then stop in front of the
entrance door and whine. Ronnie opened the door and led the dog outside. He again
held out her mother’s clothing. After Sergeant Buck sniffed them, Ronnie said, “Seek.”

Looking at her, he said, “Buck’s not really trained for search and rescue, but he’s
a damn smart dog, so I figure it doesn’t hurt to try.”

She watched in amazement as Sergeant Buck headed across the parking lot using the
same path her mother had taken a couple of hours earlier. She followed a few steps
behind Ronnie and the dog as the three of them headed across an open field. The farther
the dog went the more concerned Kayla became. Traffic along U.S. 35 got louder and
louder with each step they took.

After walking a good while, they ran into a fence. The dog turned and began following
the fence line, sniffing along the ground. They continued on until Kayla noticed that
the nursing home was out of sight. The sunlight was fading and it would be completely
dark within the next hour. She found herself quietly praying that someone would find
her mother soon. Her mom had to be cold; she hadn’t been wearing a coat.

Just as Kayla was beginning to think that Buck was only wandering around and wasn’t
really tracking anything, the dog sat down and looked up at Ronnie with a whine.

“Mary? It’s me, Sergeant Brown. We met a few days ago—you may not remember me. Are
you out here?” Ronnie said loudly turning in a circle.

Kayla heard her mother’s fragile voice call for help before she noticed a frail arm
waving from a patch of tall grass straight out from the direction that Buck sat facing.
Kayla ran over to her mother and knelt down next to her. Mary was so cold her lips
were blue and she looked pale. Ronnie and Sergeant Buck were suddenly right next to
them, and Kayla watched in a daze as Ronnie laid Mary’s clothes on top of her then
shrugged out of his coat and laid it across her mother’s shivering body.

“I need to run and get some help,” Ronnie said to her. Then looking at her mother,
he said, “Mary, it’s awful cold out here this evening. Would you mind if my dog Buck
sits next to you to keep warm?”

When her mother looked at him but didn’t respond Ronnie knelt down near where she
lay on her side and pointed to an area next to her. “Buck, down.”

Kayla watched as Sergeant Buck lay down next to her mother and scooted slowly on his
belly until he was right up against her body. Ronnie tucked his coat around her mother
and said, “I’ll be back with some help, ma’am. Just try to keep my dog warm until
I get back.”

Then Ronnie took off at a run across the open field back toward the nursing home.
Kayla watched him until he was out of sight. Looking to where her mother lay snuggled
with Sergeant Buck, Kayla noticed the dog looked away from her as though he were afraid
of her.

Afraid she might pass out again perhaps.

The irony wasn’t lost on her that the one thing she feared most in this world had
given her back one of the things that meant the world to her. She slowly and gently
touched Sergeant Buck on the back. “Thank you, Sergeant Buck.”

The dog finally met her eyes and she swore some form of silent understanding passed
between them. She texted Addie that her grandmother had been found and she should
head back to the nursing home and wait for Kayla there. Then Kayla lay down facing
her mother and threw her arm over Mary’s frail body. With the help of the largest
dog she’d ever seen, she made a sandwich around her freezing mother while they waited
for Ronnie to come back with help.

“Do you think that soldier might know Douglas Clark? He’s stationed at the base,”
her mother asked quietly.

Ronnie had been right. Her mother had been out searching for a husband who had been
dead for more than a decade. How could Ronnie have possibly known that Kayla’s father
had been in the air force and that her mother was looking for him?

Her parents had had a love that was from another time and place. Kayla’s entire childhood
had been spent watching her mother and father share looks that only they understood
and speak a silent language only they could comprehend. As much as her mother had
forgotten, she obviously remembered the love of her husband.

After what seemed like an hour later, Kayla heard the sounds of people. She sat up
and waved the rescue workers over. Only when Ronnie approached and said, “Buck, come,”
did the dog finally move away from her mother.

Kayla stood and moved out of the way so the rescue workers could help her mother.
The next thing she knew, Ronnie came up behind her, wrapped his thick arms around
her shoulders and pulled her back against him. Amazingly, he was warm…
and wonderful.

It took the EMTs a little time to get her mother loaded and strapped onto a board
that they then carried across the open field toward the nursing home. Ronnie didn’t
ask questions or blame her for not doing a better job of taking care of her mother.
He didn’t say anything. He simply guided her out of the field with one massive arm
around her shoulders while he led Sergeant Buck by the leash with the other.

The EMTs loaded her mother into a waiting ambulance and Ronnie assured Kayla that
he would take care of getting Addie home and settled. Addie was kneeling on the hard
ground next to Sergeant Buck with her arms around the old dog. Only when the ambulance
actually took off did Kayla realize that her mother still clutched Ronnie’s jacket
in her frail hands.

Ronnie and Sergeant Buck had literally saved her mother’s life.

Ronnie’s words came back to her.
He saved my life a few years back and he’s been with me ever since.

If Addie hadn’t called Ronnie this whole night might have ended differently. Kayla
was grateful that he’d been there yet again helping her in that special way that was
all Ronnie. She’d thought that being without Ronnie was getting easier with every
passing day, but she was way off base. She had only missed him
more
with each passing day.

He’d started out as hired help, for cooking, cleaning and running errands. Now he
was…now he was a
part
of their lives. Things were better when he was around. Everything seemed to fit into
place, compliments of Ronnie.

It was past time she swallowed her pride and talked to him about how she felt. If
he wanted out, then fine, but maybe they could still be friends.

At this point, she would take whatever version of him she could get.

Sometime later she received a text message from Addie. She was at home and fine and
Ronnie had gone back to his place but said to call him if they needed anything. Ronnie
had helped because Addie had asked him to, but now that everyone was fine he just
went on back home.

Didn’t he get it?
She
needed him
…and not just when her life was crazy.

Chapter Ten

Ronnie started awake at the sound of his cell phone ringing. Groping around, he managed
to push the button and answer.