It Really IS a Wonderful Life: The Snowflake Falls but Hearts in Love Keep a Home Warm All Year Long by Linda Wood Rondeau Page A

you’re doing, dear. You’ve had enough pain to last a lifetime. Someday, you’ll understand why mothers butt in where daughters don’t want them to. Yes, you are a grown woman and entitled to your own opinions about men. Now go on upstairs and check on the kids. I’ll make the hot chocolate.”
    Sometimes the child senses a mother’s need as much as a mother does the child’s. Like Josh had. Dorie embraced her mother with a child’s enthusiasm. “I love you, Mom.”

Chapter Eight
      
    They squeezed into the last available booth at the West End Café. Dorie scanned the horde of customers. “Is it always this crowded in the middle of the week? I thought this town went to sleep by ten.”
    “I told you this place had the best donuts in the state. Of course, let’s not count the amount of cholesterol in them.”
    “Well, my cholesterol is fine, so I’ll take my chances. I’ll have an éclair and a mocha latte.”
    Gabe laughed. Not a snicker—a deep-from-the-gut guffaw. “Sorry. The coffee here is normal. Only the donuts are world famous.”
    “Regular coffee will be fine.”
    “Caffeine doesn’t keep you awake?”
    “Surprisingly, nothing does. I nod off faster than a narcoleptic. Fortunately, my kids are well-trained. When Mommy’s asleep, they stay in their rooms.”
    “You need more excitement in your life, not more caffeine.” Gabe’s eyes worked like pulleys, drawing her in. She couldn’t avoid gazing into those dark-blue oceans.
    A stout woman, about fifty, plodded to their table, her face lined from years of hardship. “Youse been waited on yet?”
    Gabe held up the menus. “What do you think?”
    The woman’s face hinted a smirk. “Look, Doc. None of your jokes tonight. You see we’re busy. Now whaddaya want?”
    “Sorry, Helen. By the way, this is Dorie Fitzgerald. Dorie, Helen Ingalls. No relation to the Walnut Grove Ingallses.”
    Helen grinned, showing the loss of three upper-middle teeth. “Feel old enough to be, though. Glad ta meet ’cha, Dorie. So what’ll ya two have?”
    “I don’t know. So many to choose from.”
    Gabe grabbed Dorie’s menu. “I’ll have hot chocolate and a bear claw. Dorie would like an éclair and a decaf.”
    “Order’ll be up in a jiff.” Helen spun toward the kitchen.
    Gabe reached into his pocket and pulled out his beeper.
    “Do you have it with you all the time?”
    Of course he does, you ninny. He’s a doctor—he’s important.
    “I’ve got an elderly patient in bad shape. He came into the ER this morning with an infected gall bladder. I had to perform emergency surgery and I couldn’t do a laparoscopic.”
    “Laparoscopic?”
    “That’s the more usual procedure. Much less invasive and requires only a small incision, so healing is faster. I had to make a wider cut. It’s a lot harder on the patient. Given his poor condition going into the surgery …”
    On impulse, Dorie reached for Gabe’s hand. “I know you care a lot for your patients.”
    “I told the hospital to call me if there were any changes rather than leave it to the on-call physician.”
    “I understand.” His obvious worry made him all the more attractive.
    Helen returned, wielding a laden tray. “Here you go, Doc. By the way, thanks for helpin’ Dad today. ’Preciate it. Glad you was around.”
    “Don’t mention it. All in a day’s work.”
    “I know you done your best, Doc. The rest is up to the good Lord.” Helen set the plates down, twirled, and bolted toward another table.
    Dorie gulped. “The man you operated on was Helen’s father?”
    He rocked his head back and forth, a move Daddy used to do when he didn’t confirm or deny something. “Of course, you can’t say … confidentiality.”
    He nodded.
    Helen no longer seemed like a caricature, but rather a sister with hurts and bruises Dorie could relate to. “No wonder she feels old. It must be hard to hold down a job and care for a parent.”
    The woman shouldn’t be working with her father