Read Love's Miracles for Free Online Page B

her ivory silk
robe. After ordering coffee from room service, she carefully placed her
briefcase on the delicate table next to the window and reached for the phone.
It didn’t take much effort to get through to Vinnie Zanelli.
    “Did
he agree to come in for treatment?” Vinnie’s voice crackled and Margo guessed
the inn’s wiring must be old.
    “It’s
too early for that. I’m going back out there tomorrow.”
    “I’ll
be down to go with you. I’ll arrive early in the morning. Can you pick me up at
the airport?”
    Margo
considered his request with mixed emotions. Originally she’d wanted Vinnie to
accompany her. But now that she’d made contact she didn’t feel she needed him
along. In fact, he could hamper the situation. But when she suggested Vinnie
not come, he adamantly insisted.
    Margo
hung up the phone, wondering if there was more Vinnie hadn’t told her. Perhaps
it was just as well he would be on the scene. She might gain a whole new set of
insights into Zane by seeing the two men together.
    Margo
picked up the receiver and dialed again. Her smile broadened as she heard her
mother’s voice.
    “Yes, maman . My room is wonderful.” Margo glanced across the antique mahogany
bed to the chintz curtains fluttering at the bay window. “You’d love it, in
fact. It’s one of those bed and breakfast inns converted from an old Victorian
house.”
    She
carried the phone across the room and sank onto the window seat. Outside, gulls
circled overhead. Waves crashed on the rugged coastline below.
    After
a few more minutes of chitchat, Margo got down to the real reason for her call.
“There’s more to the case than Vinnie Zanelli told me.” She twisted her finger
around a curl of hair, still wet from her bath. “He lied to me about his
brother wanting help.”
    Margo
straightened the ivory silk of her robe as she listened to her mother’s
questions.
    “I
don’t think he’s dangerous, but he needs help. I can sense it.”
    Margo
stood and began pacing the room as she explained. It often helped to look at a
case objectively when she discussed it with her mother. Bettina served as an
excellent sounding board for her troubled cases. Margo did the same for her.
They indulged in that breach of ethics because they knew their brainstorming
sessions about clients were confidential.
    “The
townspeople report behavior that could be P.T.S.D., yet he appeared in control
when I saw him. Reserved and hidden.”
    “He
didn’t get nasty with you?”
    “Just
angry that I was stepping in on his privacy. But that’s normal. Apparently he
didn’t ask for help. Vinnie assumed he wanted it.”
    “Could
be that he did ask,” Bettina reasoned. “Maybe he changed his mind when it came
right down to it.”
    “I
don’t think so.” Margo absently brushed aside the curtain and watched a couple
stroll along the edge of the cliffs. “He seemed too adamant about not needing a
therapist.”
    “Are
you coming home then?”
    “Vinnie’s
flying into Fort Bragg tomorrow morning. I’m picking him up and we’re going
back out there.”
    “You
think Zane will change his mind if his brother is along?”
    “I
hope so.” Margo cast one last glance at the couple and then dropped the
curtain. “I want to work this case.”
    “It’s
probably smart to give it another try,” Bettina agreed. “But you be careful.
Remember, you can’t help everyone.”
    “I’ll
be careful,” she promised.
    “I’ll
be home tomorrow night. Call me.”
    Margo
hung up the phone. Concern about her new patient made her restless and
unsettled. She was confident she could help Zane, but would he let her? Not
wanting to admit to having a weakness made people hide inside themselves
instead of seeking help. Her father had done that. She slammed her fists on the
sill. Yes. She’d make Zane accept.
    Her
father had needed help and refused to seek it. She and her mother had been
forced to watch him give up on life. Neither woman would allow it to