Chapter 15 Elise
Elise could still feel the warmth of the sweet success on her cheeks, even after the lights around the campus quad had been shut down for quite a while. The glow lingered, humming under her skin like she’d swallowed a star.
The Live Nativity had been a wild, improbable triumph.
Even Eeyore kept his braying to respectable limits and carried Mary with true grace. The hay bales stayed upright. The angels didn’t push over the manger. The choir had knocked it out of the park.
And Shambles, the beautiful miracle sheep, trotted out with her new patch around the eye Wade had saved, like a queen wrapped in wool. Her owner had been in tears when he thanked them for saving her sight.
“This was unreal.” Nicole threw her arms around Elise, nearly knocking a headband of tinsel off. “Seriously. I’m so proud of you. That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Agreed,” Cameron added, and then leaned down to hug Elise carefully from behind her chair. “You pulled off an amazing night, E.”
“Thanks, Camelot,” Elise whispered, her throat tightening at the pride in her brother’s eyes. “And one week from tonight, you two will pull off another amazing event.”
Cam and Nicole looked at each other with that glint Elise was used to seeing in their eyes.
“We will?” he joked.
“What are we doing?” Nicole asked.
“It’s New Year’s Eve. Want to go crazy and get married?” Cam kissed her on the lips. “Pretty please?”
Nicole just laughed and gave him a hug. As they joked around, Elise glanced over at the barn where Wade stood talking to the vet students who’d played Joseph and the innkeeper.
He winked when he caught her eye, making her stomach flutter.
Butterflies? No, these were full-on Christmas cardinals taking flight.
Her parents were nearby, talking with one of the professors. They kept looking over with soft, melty eyes that clearly communicated how they felt about tonight. Deep, strong pride in their daughter, which made her feel like she’d been dipped in warm chocolate and life was nothing but goodness.
“Hey,” Cameron said quietly, pulling her attention back. He leaned down so his face was even with hers. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Sure.” Elise turned her chair to face him. “What’s going on?”
Nicole squeezed Elise’s arm. “I’m going to say goodbye to my mom and dad. I’ll be right back.” She kissed Cameron quickly and darted away.
Cameron stayed beside Elise, rubbing his gloved hands together for warmth. “So…I’ve been watching you tonight.”
“Creepy,” she teased.
“I mean it. I haven’t seen you like this in—” He exhaled as he straightened. “—a long time. Maybe ever.”
“Like what?”
“Happy is kind of an understatement,” he said simply. “Actually, my little sister is radiant.”
Her eyes stung instantly at the tone, which was bittersweet and hopeful. “Cam…”
“And I’ve also been watching him.” He jutted his chin toward Wade. “Man of the hour.”
She snorted. “Is that what he is?”
“You tell me what he is, E. Other than a good guy and a decent vet—I can see all that.”
“He’s…” Warmth bloomed deep in her chest. “He’s certainly got my attention,” she finished, getting the expected look of uncertainty from Cam.
“So what does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I like it. And him.”
“So do I,” Cameron said, the three words lifting her heart. “He seems solid. He watches out for you, makes room for you, includes you without making a big show of it. The good kind of protective. Of course, he lives in Alabama.”
“He does,” she conceded.
“I mean, there’s letting you be independent in Eagle Mountain and there’s…impossible.”
She blew out a breath. “You, oh great patrolman of the slopes, are officially in front of your skis. We’ve…barely kissed.”
His eyes flickered at the word barely, but he nodded. “I’d say be careful, but that’s just dumb. What I will say is this—you deserve everything in the world, Elise. The best guy, the truest love, the greatest life. You never need to compromise on that, or not realize your worth.”
There was no way to stop the tear, so she just wiped it away. “I adore you, you know that?”
“Obviously.” Cameron smirked, but his smile grew genuine. “I love you, too, E.”
Her heart folded as she reached for his hand and squeezed. “Same, Camelot.”
Nicole drifted back and they said goodbye with more hugs. Elise promised to be at the lodge with Mom and Dad after she got a little extra sleep on Christmas morning.
After that, Elise went back into the barn where she spotted Wade with Shambles, dragging a bale of hay into her stall, talking softly to his favorite patient.
“Look at her,” she said as she wheeled into the stall. “She was perfect tonight and she could see all her adoring fans, thanks to you.”
Wade dusted hay off his jacket. “Thanks to us,” he corrected. “Are you done here or do you stay until the last four-legged actor is asleep?”
“I’m just about done. The set gets broken down next week sometime. My parents have the van and I’m going back to Heber City with them after I finish closing up this place.”
“I’ll help you,” he said.
Together, they passed every stall while the last of the visitors left. They stopped together and talked to each animal, giving some treats and attention. He talked to each creature with love, remembering their role in the play, checking hooves and hay bales.
That alone made her chest feel full.
When they finished, Wade shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “I had an interesting talk with Luis Mendes.”
“Our dean? I barely had a minute with him. What did you talk about?”
“How much I love Great Basin Vet Institute.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”
“I do,” he said. “And…did you know he’s thinking about opening an oncology department next year?”
She sucked in a soft breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“I told him about my residency at Auburn and he…”
When he didn’t finish, she looked up at him. “He…what?”
“He was interested in possibly having me coordinate a residency program here once he hires a department head.”
For a moment, it felt like her whole body went numb, not just her legs. “Here?”
He pulled over an overturned feed bucket closer and sat beside her chair, their shoulders nearly touching.
“Would that be so bad, Elise?”
“It would be…” She thought about all the words she could use. Amazing. Wonderful. Miraculous. Dreamy. Even…impossible. “Nice,” she finished, protecting her feelings with the simple word, but hating how lame it sounded.
He gave a dry laugh. “Nice for me…or you…or the school…or…”
“You want me to say it, Wade?”
“Yeah.” His voice was rough, but he took her hand and grazed her knuckles with his thumb, and nothing about that touch was rough.
“It would be nice for…” She swallowed and held his gaze. “Us.”
“Yeah.” This time he dragged the word out and smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
She chuckled. “You’re, uh, not sure how I feel? Please.”
He just looked at her, his bottle-green eyes warm and inviting. “Hey, a guy can hope, but there’s never any guarantee with a beautiful blond cowgirl.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m officially in the crush stage,” she admitted. “You?”
“I kinda cruised by crush on our first date. Bypassed attraction in the OR. I’m officially into a heavy ‘like’ and hoping it just gets better.”
Was this really happening? She bit her lip to keep from giggling like a schoolgirl. “Things are definitely looking in your favor, Dr. Reynolds.”
He leaned in and closed the space between them, punctuating the heady conversation with an even more dizzying kiss.
“So…” He said when they broke apart. “Speaking of high hopes and the future, I’ve also been doing a little research.”
She blinked at the surprise change of topic. “On sheep or local vet oncology practices or…what?” She couldn’t wait to hear his next take on what might be ahead for them.
He let out a long exhale, his breath fogging in the cold. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment. You have time or are your parents ready to go?”
She glanced at the door. “They ran into some old friends from my horseback riding days and are gabbing with them. Go on.”
What else could he say? He’d just admitted he liked her and would consider a job here. What was left? She lifted her chin, bracing for something beautiful.
“I’ve found out about some amazing studies on spinal injuries. Specifically, functionally complete thoracic injuries. I didn’t want to bring it up until I had solid options—real science, not junk stuff.”
“Oh.” Her stomach gave a small, warning pinch.
“So I talked to an old college buddy of mine,” he rushed on, missing the shift in her voice. “I remembered he did a fellowship with a team studying peripheral nerve interfaces in humans. Have you heard of neural cuffs?”
She shook her head, a tight little motion, not trusting her voice.
“What they’ve done is just incredible,” he said, his excitement ramping up as hers did the opposite.
“They wrap around damaged nerves and send signals past the lesion. Paired with a brain-computer interface, patients can control movement below their injury. It’s early-stage in people, but the data?
” He shook his head, awestruck. “It’s unbelievable.
Some folks regained voluntary knee motion. ”
Her breath froze in her lungs as the first real words started to form in her head.
He wants to fix me.
“And that’s just the first thing,” he continued, not noticing her stiffen or the fact that she hadn’t said a word or reacted with the slightest…
interest. “There’s also this stem-cell protocol—guided regeneration near the injury site.
They use induced pluripotent stem cells.
It could repair micro-damage. Combine that with epidural electrical stimulation and—”
“Wade…” Her voice was barely a breath.
“And the robotics!” he barreled on, enthusiasm blinding him. “AI-driven gait tech. It reads micro-signals from your quads and translates them so you can walk with an exo-frame. Elise, you could hike, or dance, or—”
“Wade.”
That time, her voice cracked and he finally stopped.
Confusion knit his brow. “What’s wrong?”
Elise blinked hard, fighting the sting in her eyes. “Why…why are you telling me all this?”
“Because I thought you’d want to know.” He leaned closer. “This is life-changing stuff. Real possibilities. I just…I wanted you to have hope.”
He wanted her to have hope—or he needed it himself?
“Hope for what?” she asked.
“For—” He swallowed. “For walking. Or standing. Or just…having more mobility and independence.”
Her entire body went icy. The barn, the falling snow, the warm light—all of it faded under the weight of his words.
“Do you think I’m not independent now?”
“What? No—Elise, no, that’s not what I mean.”
“You’ve been researching.” Her voice trembled. “Calling people. Studying things. Because you think I need to be fixed.”
His eyes widened. “Elise, no. That’s not—”
“You literally said these treatments could help me have…hope. Make me normal, I suppose you mean.” Her voice cracked again. “So what am I now?”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“But that’s how it felt.” Her throat closed. “Like you see me as a lost cause you want to save.”
Wade shook his head. “I would never—”
“You said that in the OR,” she continued. “That lost causes are your thing. That’s why you do oncology. And tonight, when you’re talking about all this research…it feels like I’m the lost cause du jour.”
“No! I’m not trying to fix you. I’m trying to help. To give you options. That’s what we’re both trained to do.”
“But you didn’t ask if I wanted options.” Tears burned behind her eyes. “You didn’t ask if I’m okay with who I am now.”
He froze, some color draining from his cheeks.
“You assumed,” she said. “You assumed that I want to be fixed or saved or…improved. Or maybe it’s worse than that.”
He winced. “Worse?”
“Maybe you can’t think about an ‘us’ until both of us are…normal.”
Wade inhaled like she’d struck him. “Elise, that’s not it. I—I love seeing you exactly as you are.” His voice shook. “I wasn’t saying you needed anything. I was excited and stupid and I should’ve asked first.”
But the damage was already threading its way deep into her heart.
“I can’t do this conversation right now.” She turned her chair toward the open barn doors.
“Elise—please—”
“My parents are waiting.” She grabbed the excuse and prayed it was true as she wheeled outside. Snowflakes kissed her cheeks as she looked around the dark for her parents, who were across the quad near the firepit, deep in conversation with old friends.
She headed that way, everything quiet except for the noisy, horrible, not normal crunch of her wheelchair rolling over fresh snow.
“Elise!” Wade hurried after her, reaching her side quickly. “I didn’t mean any of it the way it sounded.”
She didn’t turn. “Then why were you researching? Why look up ways to fix me?”
“Because I care. Because I…I wanted to help.”
“By changing me?” She wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. “By making me someone who can fit into your world?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Maybe not,” she conceded, her breath coming out in shaky puffs. “But that’s how it feels.”
“Elise, I don’t want to change anything about you,” Wade insisted. “Nothing. I swear. I just got excited about possibilities. I thought I was giving you good news.”
“Well, you made me feel like I’m not enough,” she said. “And do you really think I don’t know about some of those things? That I haven’t looked into…all the possibilities?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “We haven’t talked about it and that is entirely on me. I should have asked you first. Hundred percent. I’m sorry.”
She eyed her parents, watching them rise to say goodnight to their friends. Her eyes shimmered with tears she could no longer blink away.
“This was all too good to be true,” she whispered. “I should’ve known.”
“Elise—please—don’t say that. I care about you. I want to be with you.”
“You want to fix me,” she said softly, wheeling toward the firepit. “That’s not the same thing. Good night, Wade.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
She looked up at him, seeing the hurt and worry in his eyes, believing he was sorry, but that didn’t make this ache any less.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Thank you for the help. Merry Christmas.”
She got a glimpse of his face as she rolled away, the look in his eyes absolutely heartbreaking.
Who was she kidding? What made her think a guy like Wade Reynolds would want…a cripple?
Somehow, like she always did, she managed to bury her pain and the loss of the life she was supposed to have. She smiled and gave a wave to her parents, whose love had never wavered whether she walked or wheeled.
That’s what she needed in her life—not someone who wanted to change her. She couldn’t be changed, and if Wade Reynolds couldn’t accept that, then he was not the man for her.
There might never be a man for her, she knew, and that was just…fine.