Healing June (Rebel Renegades #4)

Prologue

June Macintosh stared down at her legs, which weren’t really her legs.

They were metal poles that would support her in walking again.

She should be elated by that prospect, and while she was, she also felt like a bionic woman.

Something she hadn’t considered when she’d set out to be able to walk again.

“They don’t look the prettiest, but for now, we are focusing on function rather than looks,” Dr. Shane said gently, as if reading her thoughts.

Or maybe she’d just seen the look of shock on June’s face at seeing the legs on her for the first time. She had done the cast mold for them and had to wait for them to be designed to fit her. June had been filled with a mixture of excitement and nervousness while she waited.

“These will support me?” June looked down at them dubiously. While they were wide at her thigh and slid on with a snug fit, below where her knee should be was a metal stick and a foot that looked much smaller than her previous one had been.

June had lost both of her legs in a car accident when she was a teenager. She had been at a party with her friend who had driven them home drunk. Only they’d never made it home. They had only made it a few miles down the road before her friend had crashed and wrapped the car around a tree.

June had lost consciousness, and by the time help arrived, her legs had been pinned in the car for so long that she ended up losing them.

Her friend had been ejected from the car and killed on impact.

June had bitterly blamed her brother for a while since she had called him to pick her up instead of letting her friend drive, but he had been too busy with a woman to get her.

After her anger faded, she realized she was just as much at fault for what had happened. She could have taken the keys from her friend. Or found another ride. Instead, June had gotten in the car with her friend and lost her legs.

June had been content to just let life pass her by. Thinking she could never do all the things she had planned when she was younger, she had just given up. To make matters worse, her brother Liam hardly visited, as if he was ashamed to have a crippled sister.

It wasn’t until he’d brought his girlfriend Cora over to meet her that she learned it was guilt that had kept him away from her and all but forgetting she existed. He had failed her as a brother. When she’d needed him most, he had let her down. He felt just as much to blame as she did.

So, when she said she wanted to walk again, her brother not only looked for the best doctors but fully supported her every step of the way. Her caregiver Rosa came with her to Las Vegas where Dr. Lucy Shane was a renowned leader in amputees and giving life back to people with prosthetics.

Liam had learned about her through military personnel who had lost limbs and gone to her for help in getting their lives back.

The new limbs were not only realistic looking but also gave functionality for not only accomplishing everyday activities but also helping with shooting and other tasks they did while serving.

June didn’t need all that. She just wanted to walk again and not be pushed around in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Dr. Shane chuckled. “They will. After some physical therapy, they’ll do more than just support you. You’ll walk, run, swim. Everything you could do before you lost your legs.”

June wasn’t concerned about all that. She would just be happy if she could walk again; she didn’t expect to do more than that. She had never been an athlete, so running wasn’t a concern. Swimming was nice, but she hadn’t done it much even before her accident. Walking would be enough for her.

“Alright, June, stand up. Let’s see how they are.”

June took a deep breath as she pushed off the chair to a standing position.

Rosa jumped to her side, ready to lend a hand at a moment’s notice.

June didn’t know what she would have done all of these years without Rosa.

The woman was a saint. She cooked, cleaned, and cared for June, and while June appreciated and couldn’t have done anything without her, the woman was a mother hen to the extreme.

“I’m alright,” she assured her, waving off Rosa’s hand.

June had lost her parents a few years after her accident. It had just been her and Rosa for more than a decade. Rosa was as close to a mother and a friend as she had. Well, now she had Cora, Liam’s girlfriend. Cora never babied her but talked to her like a friend.

It also felt odd to be standing upright for the first time in years.

It was like being on stilts. Her balance felt off and as if she would tip over at any minute.

June stared down at her new feet and felt herself pitching forward.

She started windmilling her hands out to steady herself.

Dr. Shane and Rosa were both there to take her hands and steady her.

“Nina, you must sit down and rest now. Don’t push yourself too hard. Your back,” Rosa warned.

That was Rosa’s age-old argument. She didn’t want June to do anything in case she injured her back. The doctors had told her there had been fractures, but now the spine was weakened, and if there was enough force to it, she could end up paralyzed.

“Until you get used to them, June, try not to look down at the ground,” Dr. Shane cautioned her.

“But how will I know if I’m about to trip on a crack or something? I can’t feel anything,” June argued. Even though she had legs, she couldn’t feel anything but suction around her thighs.

“June, breathe. That will come with time. Baby steps.” Dr. Shane brought a walker around from behind her and put it in front of June. “Grab the walker,” she calmly instructed.

June did as she was told. It helped steady her, but she still felt like her equilibrium was off.

She couldn’t feel how far apart her feet were to keep her balanced.

June’s knuckles turned white with the death grip she had on the bars.

Her arms shook with the strain of holding herself up and from how tense she was.

She was so fixed on not feeling her feet, it took her a minute to notice she was still standing up.

June had almost forgotten how tall she was at five foot nine.

She had gotten so used to looking up at everything that it felt odd to have to look down again.

Rosa was five foot nothing. Dr. Shane was close to her height.

“Okay, now what?”

Dr. Shane stepped in front of her, keeping a hand on top of the walker. “Just stand there a moment. How do they feel?”

June squirmed, not sure how best to answer. It felt odd. She didn’t know if she could trust her balance since she couldn’t feel anything below her thighs. She didn’t know how far apart her feet were from each other. Was she leaning one way more than another? “Unsure,” she replied honestly.

“That’s to be expected, especially given the length from your accident until now and the spinal injury. We’ll have to take our time with things.”

“Will that greatly affect my recovery?” She had asked these kinds of questions before, but now that she was standing, she’d almost forgotten about them.

“It can, but like I said before, it will depend on the amount of work you put into it. I can only give you the tools. The rest is up to you.”

Dr. Shane stepped around behind her and gripped her hips. “What are you doing?” June asked. She wanted to step away from the touch, but she was unsteady as it was; if she tried to pull away, she’d fall for sure.

“Making sure your hips are even. It’s going to cause a lot of pain in your hips and joints if you’re lopsided.”

Oh, that made sense.

Dr Shane touched her hips with a clinical touch, moving this way and that, feeling her hip bones. After a moment, she stepped away. “Everything feels good. How does the socket feel? Loose anywhere or pressing painfully?”

“It feels good.”

Dr. Shane stepped back around in front of her. “Good, now take a step forward.”

“I can’t…” June felt herself panicking. She wasn’t ready to start walking yet. She needed more time to adjust to these legs. This wasn’t like throwing a person in the deep end of the pool to make them learn to swim.

“It’s okay, Nina,” Rosa encouraged next to her. She was a calming voice in the tsunami storm in June’s head. “You can do this. One step. That’s all it is.”

For every encouragement Rosa said, June felt herself relaxing and starting to believe in herself. She could do this. This was why she was here. This was why she had asked her brother to help her and find someone to help her walk again.

June shifted her weight to her left side and slid her right foot forward. She had to mentally tell herself not to look down but to just push her foot forward. She had no idea how far forward it went. It couldn’t have gone that far though.

“There you go.” Dr. Shane smiled. June’s arms began to shake holding up most of her weight. She didn’t trust her new legs enough to put all of her weight down on them. “You can sit back down now.”

Rosa placed a hand on her back and guided her to the seat. “You did so well, Nina.” Rosa beamed at her like a proud parent seeing her child walk for the first time.

“Thanks, Rosa.” June touched her forehead and noticed there was a bead of moisture there from her exertion. She would have to start going to the gym or something to build up her endurance.

“June, you did do very well. I’d like you to come in for physical therapy four days a week to start,” the doctor said as she made notes on the chart in her lap.

“How soon until you think I’ll be walking on my own without a walker or anything?”

Dr. Shane stopped writing and looked up at her. “Like I said before, that’s up to you. As long as you stick to the program and put in the effort, it could be within two months. But I will tell you now, there are days you are going to hate me and want to quit.”

“I’m not a quitter.” Quitting wasn’t in her vocabulary. June would walk again. She wouldn’t give up until she accomplished that goal.

Dr. Shane smiled at her again. “No, Miss Macintosh, you are not.”