Broken Lion (8 page)

More cheering.

“Some of you probably heard I got hurt during my last fight.” Murmurs from the crowd. “Nothing to worry about. The doctors said they can fix it. I have surgery in a couple of weeks. Right now, you’re probably wondering about the wheelchair. With my knee out of commission, I got to wondering about all the ways you could teach martial arts to people who spend their lives in a wheelchair. Just because they’re disabled doesn’t mean they’re helpless. Martial arts are for everybody. Lemme give you a demonstration. Robert? You mind coming up here a second?”

A tall muscular young man who wore a gold uniform and a black belt and looked about seventeen trotted across the mats toward Lion. He stopped and bowed before dropping into a fighting stance.

“Robert, go ahead and take a shot.”

“Sir.” Robert nodded and bowed again. Then he danced around on his toes in front of Lion for a moment before throwing a lightning fast punch.

Lion exploded into action—still sitting in the wheelchair—and trapped Robert’s arm, yanking him forward. Robert stumbled and Lion twisted the young man’s torso so he fell face first into Lion’s lap. Lion’s elbow arced up and down in a flash, stopping a millimeter from cracking the back of Robert’s skull.

Scattered applause from the crowd.

Robert got up and tried again. Every time he threw a punch or a kick, Lion blocked him and subdued him, all while sitting in the wheelchair. After numerous attempts, Robert was breathless. Lion hadn’t even broken a sweat.

I was amazed by Lion’s ferocity when he took action but also impressed by his restraint. I was also a little bit turned on by his rampant masculinity. Even limited by the wheelchair, he was in total control.

“Thanks, everybody,” Lion said, taking the microphone back from one of his uniformed helpers. “Give Robert a hand.” People clapped. “As you can see, being in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you’re helpless.”

Someone from the audience asked, “Do you teach wheelchair classes? My nephew is paraplegic.”

“We do. Talk to me about it after tonight’s demo.”

“I will.” She seemed pleased.

“Any other questions?”

For the next fifteen minutes, Lion answered whatever the audience asked. There were questions about martial arts in general, about his career, about whether or not he would continue fighting after his knee healed. He answered everything with a sense of humor and humility. There was no sign of the cocky arrogant asshole who came into my ECU several weeks ago. But his playfully adorable grin shone the whole time.

When the Q&A was officially over, Lion thanked everyone and was immediately surrounded by people on the mat. He signed autographs and took pictures with his fans.

“If anybody is interested in taking classes here at the dojo,” Lion said, “we’ll be having a free intro class this weekend. Grab one of the instructors in a gold uniform if you want to sign up.”

“Mom!” Daniel said. “Can I go? Please please please? He said it was free!”

“Why don’t we talk to your dad first.”

Lion said to everyone, “Please keep in mind, class space is limited. So sign up quick before it fills up.”

“Mom!” Daniel begged.

“I don’t know, Daniel.”

He shook my arm. “Mom! We need to sign up now!”

“Okay! Calm down.”

I let Daniel drag me inside. I looked for the nearest instructor. Maybe I could sign Daniel up and get out of here before Lion noticed me. It was pretty crowded. Then Donald could take Daniel to classes, and Lion would never know Daniel was my son because his last name was Wright. I crossed my fingers.

“Brigid?”
That voice
.

Ooze
.

Damn fingers. Crossing them never worked.

I ducked my head and hid behind the nearest tall person.

“Dr. Flanagan?”

Ooze.

“Mom!” Daniel whispered. “He’s talking to you! The teacher is talking to you!”

“I know, honey.”

“Excuse me,” Lion said as he wheeled toward me. People made room for him. “Hey, Dr. Flanagan. What are you doing here?”

“How do you know my mom?”

Lion’s eyes landed on Daniel. He looked at my son thoughtfully for a long time.

That’s when it hit me. The few men I’d dated since the divorce had run for the hills when I told them about Daniel. I put my hands on his shoulders and smiled. “Lion, this is my son Daniel.”

“Nice to meet you, bud. You can call me Lion.” He held out his hand to shake. He waited. “How long you gonna leave me hangin’, Dan the Man?”

Daniel grinned and they shook. I could tell he liked his new nickname and was already looking up to Lion. I imagined most people did. Except me of course.

“What’d you guys think of the demo?”

“It was awesome,” Daniel said.

I asked, “How is your knee?”

“Doing good. Still waiting for the surgery. Prehab is great. Been doing all the exercises. My range of motion is almost back to normal.”

“That’s terrific.”

Lion smiled at Daniel. “You gonna come out for our free class?”

Daniel looked at me, “Can I, Mom?”

“We have to talk to your dad.” I watched Lion’s eyes for a reaction.

Daniel gasped, “But if we wait, we might miss out!”

“Don’t worry, Dan the Man. I’ll save you a spot.” He winked at him.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want to have some other boy or girl miss out.”

“Don’t worry, Brigid. I’ll make sure no one gets left out.”

“That’s very generous of you.” It wasn’t lost on me that Lion was doing everything he could to make room for my son. I also noticed he wasn’t flirting. Just trying to help Daniel. That either made Lion the most manipulative man I’d ever met, or a decent human being.

“Excuse me, Mr. Maxwell?” It was a random man with his teenaged boy who wore a gold #TeamLion T-shirt. “Can we get your autograph for my son?”

“Sure,” Lion smiled at the man and signed a glossy color photo of himself with a Sharpie pen and handed it to the teenager.

“Thanks,” the kid said. He obviously wanted to talk more with Lion.

“We should go,” I whispered to Lion. “You’re busy.”

“If you want to stick around, I’ll be here until we close.”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to get in your way.”

“Mom,” Daniel said, “Can I get an autographed picture too?”

I sighed, “Of course.”

Lion signed another one from the stack in his lap and handed it to Daniel while chatting with the teenager in the #TeamLion shirt about his last fight. As soon as Daniel took the photo, I made sure he said thank you and I ushered him out the door.

I didn’t want to spend any more time with Lion because I was afraid I might start to like him more than I already did.

And that was far more than a doctor should.

Chapter 8

BRIGID

My phone vibrated in my lab coat pocket several days later while I was at the hospital.

Donald: Can you take Daniel this Saturday? I have a business thing I can’t get out of.

Me: On Saturday?

Unlike me, his job was Monday thru Friday and he had relatively normal hours. I depended on his normal hours, especially having his weekends free because mine rarely were.

Donald: Yes. Is that a problem?

Me: I’m on call all day Saturday. You know that.

Saturday was also the only day I had to go grocery shopping, pay bills, do laundry, clean house, etc.

Donald: Can you change your schedule? Just this once?

Me: You know I can’t.

Nobody ever wanted to cover a Saturday shift. I was usually the one covering it for everyone else.

Donald: Please don’t give me any grief about this. I need to do this business thing.

Me: I’m not giving you grief.

Donald: I don’t want to argue about it. Can you please take Daniel tomorrow to his karate thing?

Not surprisingly, Donald had readily agreed to signing Daniel up for classes. He cared about his son, and Daniel desperately wanted to do it. The only thing I didn’t like about karate for Daniel was that it kept me tied to Lion Maxwell. If I had to be the one taking Daniel to class, how was I going to avoid the man? There was always my neighbor Heather. She was a stay at home mom who had kids Daniel’s age and babysat for me all the time. Maybe she could do it. I hated passing the buck, but I needed to steer clear of Lion.

Me: I’ll see if Heather can take him.

Donald: Can you please make it work? For once?

I scowled at my phone. I could hear Donald’s haggard tone in my head. It was the tone he used so often toward the end of our marriage. The one that made me feel like an absentee mother.

Donald: Let me know ASAP. If you can’t, I’ll ask Mom and Dad to cancel their trip to Palm Springs. I don’t want Daniel missing his first day of class.

He wasn’t trying to make me feel guilty. His parents Ronald and Linda did more than their fair share of helping with Daniel. They were like second parents and they had made it possible for me to get through four years of medical school and then residency with a young son. So my guilt was genuine and I deserved it.

Me: I said I’d ask Heather.

Donald: Please make it happen. For your son.

Ouch. That stung.

Anyone who ever said women could have it all—a career, a happy marriage, children, and a sex life—were absolute liars. Being Super Mom sounded good in fantasy land, but in reality it was impossible. Someone was always disappointed: your husband, your children, your boss, you, your patients, or your bank account. In my case it was all of the above.

Had someone told me in advance this would happen, I never would’ve gone to medical school. I absolutely loved Daniel. He was my world. My life. With the help of Ronald and Linda, which had included living with them rent free, becoming a doctor and raising a son had seemed completely doable. Add to that the fact my mother was the primary breadwinner in my family (she was a Nurse Practitioner), and I had wanted to be a doctor since I was six, and getting my MD seemed inevitable. Sadly, I had been in denial about how demanding the hours of med school and residency would be on my marriage. Something always had to give. For me, it had been my marriage. I wasn’t able to give it the time it deserved. I thought I had, but Donald thought otherwise. I couldn’t really blame him.

I sighed.

This was the life I signed up for. Before the divorce, it had been tolerable and often enjoyable. Whenever I’d had spare time, I spent it with Daniel. He was the brightest light in my busy schedule. I had tried to include Donald in everything we did, but he never seemed satisfied. At least he didn’t try to shut me out of Daniel’s life after the divorce. Our current relationship was workable and generally polite, and we always put Daniel first. But as always, my time was limited by my schedule. Maybe in a few years, after I gained more experience, I would join a private practice. Then I’d have more time for my son.

Hopefully.

Believe me, I beat myself up every day over my choices.

Again, I blame the Super Mom fantasy.

Me: I’ll make it work. Can you bring Daniel to my condo first thing in the morning?

Donald: Would your highness like anything else?

I hated it when he did that.

He was the one who got treated like royalty. For all I knew, his business thing was an early morning golf game at the Beverly Hills Resort with prospective clients and he didn’t want to be late to tee off. Me, I didn’t have time to exercise. Going to the gym meant that much less time with Daniel. Schmoozing at the golf course was hardly what I’d call work. Clearing an impacted bowel or delousing a patient was work.

Me: If you bring him over first thing in the morning, I’ll make sure he gets to karate class. Your parents can go to Palm Springs and you can do your business thing. Then everybody will be happy.

My happiness wasn’t part of the equation.

As long as my son was happy, that was good enough for me. Secretly, I dreamed of having a life of my own outside of work.

Experience told me that wasn’t a dream I should hold on to.

With any luck, when I brought Daniel to class on Saturday, Lion wouldn’t be the one teaching. He was a symbol of the life I wanted but couldn’t have.

Hopefully he would have his staff teach for him and I could forget about him for good.

Chapter 9

BRIGID

“Hey! It’s Dan the Man!” Lion was greeting everyone as they walked into the dojo late Saturday morning. This time, he was on crutches instead of the wheelchair and had his knee brace on. He wore a gold instructor’s karate uniform with black karate pants and a black belt. The top had various embroidered patches that made him look official and authoritative. Not that he needed any help. His physique alone was sufficient. I could see his chest muscles flexing in the V of the uniform top whenever he leaned on the crutches. But there was something about a man in uniform.

Daniel was all smiles when Lion greeted him. “Hey!”

“Hey, Brigid.” Lion grinned.

I rolled my eyes, “Hello, Mr. Maxwell.”

“Call me Lion.”

“Fine. Lion.”

“Do I call you Lion too?” Daniel asked.

Lion grinned. “Call me sensei.”

“What’s that?”

“It means teacher.”

“Oh. Cool. Hey, sensei!”

“Hey, bud.” Lion smiled at me. “I like this kid.”

“Me too.”

“You ready for class, Dan the Man?”

“Yeah!”

Lion turned to the young man I recognized from the wheelchair demonstration the other night. “Hey, Robert? Can you and Melanie get Daniel a uniform and help him and the other kids get dressed for class?”

Melanie looked about sixteen and was too cute in her gold instructor’s uniform. She and Robert nodded and led the kids into the back, carrying a pile of new white uniforms in plastic wrappers.

There were other supportive parents sitting in chairs near the front windows, but for the moment, Lion and I were relatively alone.

“What do I owe you for the uniform?”

“It’s free if Daniel signs up for a regular class.”

“Oh.”