Carla Cassidy - Anything for Danny

Dear Santa Claus,

Before I tell you what I want this year for Christmas, I want to thank you for bringing me that super model of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber plane last year. It took me a long time to put it together and now it’s hanging over my bed.

This year I’ve got something harder in mind, but it’s something I want really, really bad. I’d like it if you could please do whatever you can to get my mom and dad back together again. I know, it’s going to be a tough job, but they belong with each other. We need to be a family again and I know you can pull it off if anyone can.

I’m just a kid, but I know Mom and Dad still love each other. Grown-ups can be pretty dumb, huh? I would really be happy if you could do this for me as soon as possible.

Yours truly,

Danny Morgan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

is an award-winning author who has written more than fifty novels for Silhouette Books. In 1995 she won Best Silhouette Romance from Romantic Times BOOKreviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998 she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series.

Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more books and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.

To my dad. Your courage inspired, your

laughter enlivened, your love warmed me

through the years. I love you, big man!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

“Sherri, you can’t be serious about this,” Margaret, Sherri Morgan’s best friend, said in dismay.

“I’m very serious about it.” Sherri poured Margaret another glass of iced tea, then rejoined her at the kitchen table. “You know what this means to Danny.”

“Yes, but a cross-country trip in a motor home…in the winter…with Luke…it’s madness, sheer madness.” Margaret frowned and twirled a strand of her shoulder-length blond hair. “Mark my words, it’s madness.”

Sherri smiled ruefully. “It probably is, but Luke and I have agreed that if this is what Danny wants, then we’ll give it to him. Besides, with three weeks of Christmas vacation from school, it’s the best time to go.”

“But I thought you and Luke barely speak to each other, that there was all kinds of bad blood between you.”

“We speak,” Sherri replied. “We don’t see each other often but when we do we’re always civil and polite. As far as bad blood…it’s been five years since our divorce. I don’t hold any grudges. I have my life and he has his.”

“I still say the whole idea is crazy. What are you going to do if you get snowed in someplace?”

“Dig out,” Sherri returned with a grin.

Margaret frowned. “What did the doctor say? Is Danny really well enough to make the trip?”

Sherri’s smile trembled slightly. “Dr. Winthrope says if we’re going to do it, now is the time. Danny’s stabilized for the moment, but who knows how long it will last?” A sharp stab of pain pierced her heart as she thought of her nine-year-old son.

Sweet Danny with the sunshine smile and overwhelming enthusiasm for life. Cheerful Danny…her life. His diagnosis of leukemia a year before had thrown her world topsy-turvy. “Anyway,” she continued, shoving these sad thoughts aside, “it’s all set. With both Danny and me on Christmas vacation and the weather so unusually mild, there’s no reason not to go. We leave first thing in the morning.”

“Well, I think the whole thing is crazy,” Margaret repeated once again. “Can you put up with Luke for three weeks in the cramped confines of a motor home?” Margaret eyed her skeptically.

Sherri slowly nodded. “Sure. I can put up with anything for any amount of time for Danny,” she replied with grim determination. “Even Luke.”

“Hey, Mom, it’s here!” Danny’s excited voice drifted in through the kitchen window. “Come out and see. It’s here. It’s here!”

“Goodness, what’s he talking about?” Margaret looked at Sherri curiously. “You’d think the Goodyear blimp just parked on your front yard.”

Sherri laughed. “Not the Goodyear blimp…the motor home. The people from the Dream Producers said it would be delivered some time this morning. Come on, we’d better get out there or Danny will have a fit.”

Together the two women grabbed their coats, left the kitchen and walked out into the early-morning Connecticut sunshine. Sherri stepped off the porch, then stopped and caught her breath as she eyed the shining vehicle parked along the curb in front of the house.

It was bright blue, with the Dream Producer’s logo on the side. It was huge. It was a monstrosity. It looked more like a house than a vehicle. And that’s exactly what it would be for the next three weeks, their home on wheels.

“Hi, Sherri.” The driver, one of the volunteers from the Dream Producers Charity, got out of the motor home and gave her a jaunty salute.

“Hi, Ross,” she greeted him warmly. Over the past several weeks Sherri had grown close to all the volunteers who’d worked so diligently to make Danny’s dream wish come true.

“Here are the keys, an instruction manual and an itinerary and map that will take you to the Grand Canyon.” He handed her the items. “We’ve marked the campsites that are close to area hospitals and also tourist attractions that are open year-round that we thought might interest Danny. We’ve also got a weather radio inside the R.V. so you can find out about weather conditions.” He frowned, eyeing Sherri’s slender arms and short stature. “You sure you can handle driving this baby?”

Sherri nodded confidently. “My family took a trip with a motor home the summer I was sixteen. I did a lot of the driving.” She smiled at Ross. “I don’t know how to thank you…how to thank all of you.” She took Ross’s hand in hers and held it close. “You’ve all done so much for us…for Danny.”

“The best thanks is to give that boy the trip of his dreams.” Ross patted her hand and released it. “Make yourself and that boy some precious memories. That’s all the thanks we need.”

“Hey, Mom, come on in…this is awesome!” Danny’s voice rang from one of the windows of the huge R.V. “There’s a bathroom and bedroom and everything. Margaret, come on in and see everything. Mom, come on!”

Ross laughed. “Go on, he’s waiting to show you around.” He paused and smiled at Sherri once again, a bittersweet smile. “That Danny, he’s a special kind of kid.”

She nodded, a lump forming in her throat as she remembered that Ross had lost his thirteen-year-old son the year before to bone marrow cancer.

“Go on, go to him. Make every moment count. Make some memories.” Ross’s eyes were over-bright as he gave her arm a quick squeeze, then went to the car that waited to take him back to the Dream Producers headquarters.

Sherri hesitated a moment, swallowing the emotions that lately were always too close to the surface, the tears that always pressed against her eyes.

It was a rule…Danny’s rule. No crying allowed. From the moment they had learned the extent of his illness, he’d been firm in his demand of no crying where he could see it or hear it. In the months that had passed, she had grown quite proficient at silent weeping, usually at night into her pillow.