Chapter 8
T he next day, Nelly had just arrived, and Dani called out to her, asking her to come give an opinion about flowers. Nelly stepped in Dani’s office and smiled at several displays. “Oh my gosh, those are gorgeous.”
“I was thinking about the red ones,” Dani noted hesitantly.
“If you’re thinking about the red ones, then you do the red ones,” Nelly stated. “Don’t let anybody talk you out of doing what you want.”
At that, Dani smiled. “You’re such a great cheerleader.”
“Hey, this is your wedding. You’ve waited a long time. You make it just how you want it.”
“I would have been just as happy with a simple small wedding,” she murmured.
“Sure, but it’s not just me cheering you on right now,” Nelly noted. “The whole center is.”
“And I know that.” She gave a small shrug. “It just seems, I don’t know, maybe selfish in a way.”
Nelly stopped and stared. “How on earth could picking red roses for your wedding be seen as selfish?”
“Because a lot of money is going into this wedding. Money that could be better spent on other things, like Hathaway House or the horses or the animals with Stan. That doesn’t even begin to count the time spent by the volunteers, just to make this day more special .”
“I think a whole lot less time has been spent than you think,” Nelly said, with a wry smile.
“Almost everybody I know who is donating their time to make this happen are so happy to do it,” she explained.
“I know I am. I know that Ilse is. Everybody involved in this is. Plus, Bella got you a deal on the flowers from a local florist. There’s the minister who, as you had already helped his son, is doing this for free. ”
Dani looked up, and her eyes glistened with tears. “I know. It’s so wonderful. I have absolutely no reason to complain. Everybody is bending over backward to make this happen.”
“When’s Aaron coming in?”
“Not for another month. He’s got two more practicums to go, and then he’s done,” she stated proudly.
“I’m really proud of him, and I don’t even know him,” Nelly said, with a laugh.
“You will certainly meet him soon, but he’s been gone longer than he was ever here,” she admitted.
“It’s been great though, seeing him follow his dream.
Just so much has been happening with Aaron that it’s hard not to feel proud of his accomplishments.
And he’s a huge reminder to everybody here that you can do whatever you want to do,” she declared loyally.
She gave a headshake. “Now, I’ll focus on some work. ”
“You do that.” Nelly laughed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.”
“Distract me all you want,” she murmured. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing is better than helping you out for this special day.” And, with that, Nelly went to her office.
She grabbed her file set aside for today and headed out to meet the new patient who had just come in.
There was always a turnover here, and sometimes it was faster than she expected, as people did better or as funding got cut or as the staff made needed changes.
In this case a bed had come open because of a hospital visit that changed the course of the other patient’s treatment.
So now Nelly had a new patient to replace the former patient.
By the time Nelly was done with her morning rounds, it had been a busy morning, and she was good with that.
She preferred busy over anything else. She walked down to check on Zander.
When she entered his room to find it empty, she frowned at that but carried on through her day.
She would catch up with him somewhere along the line.
That’s how it was here. Some days it worked, and some days it didn’t for her and for him.
By the time she wandered to his room again at the end of the day, there was still no sign of him.
Shane caught sight of her and said, “He’s in the pool.”
“Ah,” she murmured, yet frowned.
“Zander wanted to go in. I figured, if he needed something different, something to boost him, he would benefit from the pool,” he muttered. “Am I worried about him getting sick? Always. Still, we have to test the waters somewhat.”
She nodded. “I get that. However, when he goes down, it seems to take him a long time to get back up again.”
“It does, and that’s sad. We’re still beefing up his immunity, but it’s much improved from where he was initially, when he first got here,” Shane noted. “But, hey, he’s doing pretty well. I was just there.”
“Is he allowed to stay in?”
“One of the therapists is down there working with another patient, so she’s keeping an eye on him,” Shane replied. “So I’m off and heading to town. I’m on some secret wedding stuff missions,” he whispered, with a laugh.
“You too, huh ?” she said, with a big smile.
“I think we all are. Haven’t had this much fun in a long time,” he admitted, with a bright smile. “And Dani deserves it.”
And that was a sentiment that Nelly heard over and over again because it was true. Dani did deserve it, and she’d worked so hard for everybody else’s happiness that they were all more than eager to pitch in to make her wedding day something special.
Still unable to help herself, Nelly wandered down to take a look at Zander in the pool. As she stood at the edge of the water, it took him a long moment to realize she was here.
He broke through the water, saw her, and grinned. “Are you coming in?”
She shook her head. “I’m a bit on the tired side.”
“The water would be good for you,” he suggested. “I find it rejuvenates me completely.”
“Maybe,” she replied, still hesitating.
“If you come in now,” he added, “we have time for a swim before dinner.”
She laughed. “That’s one of the reasons I came now, was to see if you were going to dinner tonight.”
“Oh, you can bet I’m going,” he declared. “No more missing meals for me.”
“I’m also a little worried about your staying too long in there,” she acknowledged, eyeing him carefully.
“You and everybody else,” he teased. “I think you’re about the fourth person to double-check on me.”
She grinned. “Hey, we’re all just one big happy family.”
“According to everybody in this big happy family, they all have secret plans for Dani’s wedding,” he noted. “It seems to be the event of the year.”
“Probably of a lifetime,” she claimed. “If we’re honest, Dani’s been waiting years for this.”
“So I understand,” he agreed, with a nod. At that, he shivered once. She frowned immediately. He raised a hand and muttered, “I know. I know. That means it’s time to get out.” He slowly made his way toward her. “Actually, you know what it means? It’s time for the hot tub.”
And, with a grin, he dashed into the hot tub—or at least as fast as he could make that dash happen.
She laughed as he sank under the hot water. “Now that makes more sense,” she muttered. She walked over and sat down on the side of the hot tub and asked, “Will you be here long?”
“Why? Do you want to go somewhere?”
“No, I’ll just go home, have a shower, and unwind from the day. Then I’ll come back and collect you for dinner.”
“I’ll have to get changed for dinner too,” he noted. “So what time is it roughly?”
“About 4:15, 4:20,” she replied.
“So how about we meet for dinner at five?”
“You’re on.” She got up with a wave and walked away.
Zander called out, “Hey, is somebody doing a bridal shower for Dani?”
“Yes. All of that’s been arranged. I got my invitation already.”
“Good, I would hate to think something like that was getting missed.”
“Not getting missed at all,” she said. “It’ll just roll into everything else that’s happening around here.”
He nodded. “Is there a wedding gift registry set up somewhere too?” She frowned at him. He shrugged and asked. “Can’t I contribute?”
“You absolutely can,” she replied. “I’ll have to find out who’s handling that though.”
“You do that. At least we still have enough time to order something.”
“Depending on what she wants. Knowing her, she’s asking for donations to Hathaway House.”
He stared at her and nodded. “I bet she’s done exactly that.”
“We’ll see.” She gave him a smile, before leaving.
As she walked back to her apartment, she realized that was exactly what Dani would have done.
And yet Dani would still like some more personal things, even if just contributions toward a honeymoon.
At that thought, Nelly frowned. She didn’t know even what was going on with the honeymoon or many of the other plans.
All she had heard was that Aaron had planned their honeymoon as a big surprise for Dani.
And, as Dani dealt with the ever-growing list of wedding guests, Nelly couldn’t seem to keep up with all the added surprises coming up to celebrate Dani’s and Aaron’s big day.
*
Several days later Zander slowly made his way to the dining room for lunch. He planned on meeting Nelly here if he could. When he looked up to see a strong and fit man striding toward him, Zander sighed as the newcomer got close. “Please tell me that you graduated from this place.”
At that, the man stopped and laughed. “Absolutely I did.” He reached out a hand and introduced himself. “I’m Aaron, by the way.”
Zander smiled. “Ah, you’re Dani’s beau, aren’t you?”
Aaron chuckled. “If that terminology is still used, then yes.”
“I’m Zander.”
“I stopped in just for the day,” Aaron shared. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hey, hang on a minute. A bunch of us want to figure out if we could do something special for Dani. We don’t really have any idea what though.”
He frowned at that. “I know that she would prefer charity donations to a personal gift.”
“Sure, but that’s not for her.”
“And she would say this wedding isn’t about her either,” he added, laughing.
“Maybe. It would just be nice if we could do to something to make her personally happy.”
Aaron nodded. “Let me think about it. I’ll get back to you.”
“Here’s my phone number.” Zander wrote it down on a piece of paper from his wallet and handed it over. “If you come up with anything, I know a bunch of us who want to do something special.”