Whispers on the Ice by Elizabeth Moynihan Page B

crossed arms, as the nurses carefully sawed the cast from his leg, laughing easily at some joke he’d told, their work seemingly undisturbed.
    “How’s the leg look?” Whittaker asked the doctor, nodding toward the x-ray the doctor was reviewing.
    “Very good—but I wouldn’t expect any quads out of him for at least another nine months, maybe a year,” the doctor suggested, sliding the x-ray off the screen and into an envelope.
    “That won’t be a problem—his quad days are over,” Whittaker stated factually. “In fact—his singles days are over. He became half of a pair six weeks ago.”
    “I’d read something to that effect in the newspaper. But I’ve discovered you can’t always believe what you read,” the doctor quipped.
    “Well this time they got it right. He’s now part of Jamison and Rocmanov,” Whittaker explained.
    “Sounds like part of a law practice.”
    Whittaker laughed, nodding in agreement. “I don’t care what it sounds like, as long as it works.”
    “Will it?” the doctor inquired, scribbling notes in Aleksei’s file.
    “I think the potential is there. They’re both proven skaters. A semi-truce has been called so hopefully they won’t kill each other this week but they haven’t actually ‘skated’ together yet.”
    “Due to his leg.” the doctor finished the thought, still scribbling notes.
    Whittaker glanced back at Aleksei, watching his reaction as the nurses made the final cuts and carefully removed the cast, then the padding and cloth covering his lower leg.
    “Who’d you say his new partner is?” the doctor asked suddenly.
    “Jordan Jamison,” Whittaker answered, his eyes taking in the doctors surprised look and nodding in agreement.
    “Will it work? He’s got to out-weigh her by over one hundred pounds and have over a foot on her,” the doctor guessed.
    “So you know her.”
    “Treated her after her partner threw her into the boards. Luckily it was just a hairline fracture, and her partner then wasn’t that much bigger than she was. On the ice together, they looked pretty equal. But I’ll tell you, when I had her on the table, she wasn’t a whole lot bigger than a peanut!” the doctor’s stated, concern clear in his voice.
    Whittaker chuckled softly at the doctor’s comment. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that ‘ peanut ’. The first time she met Aleksei she flipped him off. You could say she fired the first shot and it took them a good three weeks to get to where they could be on the ice together and not go for blood.”
    “I thought you said they haven’t skated together yet?” the doctor asked.
    “They haven’t. Aleksei has been sitting on the most uncomfortable steel chair I could find for him, center ice, watching her literally skate circles around him. I figured it would be good for the boy to see how she moves, and who knows, maybe make him a little humble. Besides, just because he was fool enough to jump off a mountain doesn’t mean she should fall back on her training. He’s just going to have a whole lot of catching up to do,” Whittaker stated.
    “Can he do it without further injury?” the doctor asked seriously, watching Aleksei as the nurses carefully applied lotion to his dry, scaly leg.
    “That’s why he’s now part of a pair, less strain on that leg. I won’t lie to you; it’s not going to be easy getting him back to a hundred percent. But if you could see how Jordan rides his ass and taunts him, he’ll do it just to get the chance to exact revenge on the ‘ peanut ’.”
    “Why do I have the feeling there’s more here than you’re telling me?” the doctor inquired with a knowing smile.
    “Suffice it to say, you don’t have to worry about Jordan’s well being,” Whittaker offered.
    “What about Aleksei’s well being?” the doctor asked.
    Whittaker shook his head sadly. “As far as I’m concerned, Aleksei’s well being flew out the window when he took on that little bitty spitfire and expected