Read Rebecca's Little Secret for Free Online

said it wasn’t necessary.”
    “Take care of things,” Jeff ordered over his shoulder as he hurried after Rebecca.
     
    A N HOUR LATER , C HELSEA arrived at the office. Jeff had said he would take her to the French restaurant they’d skipped Monday evening.
    She was not happy to discover that her fiancé had left with Rebecca because Joey had gotten hurt. When she expressed her displeasure, Harriet asked, “Shall I call Rebecca’s house and see if they can tell me when Jeff will return?”
    “Of course I want you to do that!” Chelsea snapped. She paced the office as Harriet made the call.
    “I see,” Harriet said into the phone. “Will you have him call the office as soon as you hear from him? Yes, thank you.”
    Chelsea stared at her. “Well?”
    “He and Rebecca took Joey to Jeff’s dentist, butthey have to wait until he’s dealt with his other patients. They’re not sure when he’ll be back.”
    “And I’m supposed to hang around waiting for him?”
    Bill stepped out of his office. “What’s wrong?”
    Harriet explained the problem while Chelsea frowned at him.
    “That’s too bad. How about I take you to the coffee shop until Jeff can get back? Give your cell phone number to Harriet and she’ll call as soon as she gets some news. Isn’t that right, Harriet?”
    “Yes, of course,” Harriet agreed readily.
    “Good. Come along, Chelsea, my girl. We could both use a cup of coffee today.”
    And with that, Chelsea found herself swept out the door, much to Harriet’s relief.
     
    J EFF AND R EBECCA SAT with Joey between them. He leaned against his mother most of the time, but Jeff kept a hand on his shoulder. “Are you hanging in there, Joey?” he asked.
    As Betty had said, Joey’s tooth was wrapped in ice, and Joey held a bag of ice on his mouth, too. He lowered the ice. “Sure. It doesn’t hurt much.”
    “Keep the ice on your mouth, sweetie,” Rebecca said, squeezing Joey’s hand. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
    “No, it shouldn’t since Dr. John’s last patient went in half an hour ago. Then we’ll find out what can be done for your tooth, Joey.”
    “I’m sure it was a baby tooth,” Rebecca saidagain, as she had several times earlier. “His adult teeth won’t come in for a couple of years.”
    “We’ll wait and let Dr. John decide that.” Jeff stretched out his legs, trying to ease the tension he felt. He’d found it more difficult to withstand Joey’s pain than anything he’d ever suffered himself, including a broken bone when he was playing football in high school.
    The nurse returned to the waiting room to call Joey in. Both Rebecca and Jeff got up and accompanied him to the door.
    “Hello, Jeff,” the man in a white coat said in greeting. “Why don’t you introduce us?”
    “Sure. This is my son, Joey, and his mother, Rebecca Barlow.”
    “Hello. I’m Dr. John Ballard. Now, let’s see what happened, Joey. Can you smile for me?”
    Joey took down the ice pack and bravely tried to smile.
    The dentist patted Joey’s back. “Good try. Now I’m going to lift your lip, okay?”
    Joey nodded.
    The doctor looked at Joey’s gums. Then he asked if the tooth had been saved.
    Rebecca handed him the tooth wrapped in a clean cloth and buried in a bag of ice.
    Dr. Ballard set the bag of ice down on a nearby table, withdrew the cloth and unwrapped the tooth. “This is a baby tooth. There doesn’t appear to be any damage to his gums or any future teeth. His replacement tooth might not come as soon as we’d like, but it will come in.”
    “Is there anything we should do?” Rebecca asked anxiously.
    “You might give him some children’s Tylenol to ease the pain, and use ice until the swelling of his lips goes down. If he continues to have pain, call me.”
    “Thank you for seeing us today,” Rebecca said with a genuine smile.
    “Yeah, John, we appreciate it,” Jeff added.
    “You might want to get his teeth cleaned in six months or so. Give my nurse a