Kaddy Chaak’s career is in jeopardy, her social life is non-existent, and instead of spending the holidays at home with everyone she loves, she’s in the hospital with her chronically-ill, probably-dying nephew Everett, wondering if her dead sister could have fixed this. The one bright note in an otherwise bleak winter is a potential visit from the Polar Terror, the only super villain north of the 66th parallel, to make little Everett’s hospital wish come true.
Kaddy’s not really expecting him to show. At best, she expects a lackluster cosplayer with a half-hour to spare.
What she gets is a swoon-worthy stranger full of secrets, who might just sweep her off her feet–and maybe help her leave the past behind, once and for all.
A heart-warming stand-alone addition to the popular Heroes and Villains series.
Chapter One
KADDY LEANED HER HEAD against the pale yellow wall of the hospital room, closed her eyes, and tried not to hear the constant whooshing and beeping of the machines.
The ticky-tick-tick of the heartrate monitor.
The two-minute beep as the IV dropped another controlled dose of pain medications that seemed to do no good.
The whock-whock-whock of the second hand on the clock.
There was no escape.
She couldn’t even run outside to the snow and let that peace envelope her. Not while Everett was lying in bed, staring out the window at the flat roof of the parking garage, refusing to talk.
With a sigh, she tried to reach him. Again. “Do you want to watch some TV?”
Everett didn’t move.
“We could play with your action figures.” She pushed herself out of the uncomfortable chair and walked over to his bed.
Everett let her pull the plush Polar Terror doll out of his listless hand.
She bopped him on the nose with it. “The Polar Terror is coming! He’ll walk right out of this storm and—”
Everett rolled to the side, crossing his tiny arms as best he could. His bottom lip quavered with anger and pain.
“I’m sorry.” Kaddy put the doll back next to him. “We’re going to find a way through this, Ev. I promise. And then we’ll sew you the Polar Terror costume you wanted.”
“There is no Polar Terror,” Everett whispered, his first words all day. “Nobody comes to rescue you.”
She rubbed his shoulder gently. “I know, bud. That’s why you have me. You and me, we can handle anything.”
“Not this,” he whispered. “Not cancer.”
Tears choked her. “We will,” she whispered just as a softly. “We’ll find a way to make it all right.”
Everett squeezed his eyes shut.
Kaddy slumped back. Even if—and it was a really big if—the hospital pulled off a miracle and Everett got better, she wasn’t going back to a job.
Her firm had been very patient, let her take a leave of absence, but her boss was retiring and the incoming boss hadn’t liked her. He’d questioned her education, her field time, her work ethic… And while the guy couldn’t come out and say it, his tone all but screamed SINGLE MOMS NEED NOT APPLY.
She shook her head. Being a single mom hadn’t been her choice. She wasn’t even dating when Everett was born.
But then there’d been a car accident a semester before graduation. Her sister and brother-in-law were killed on impact.
The idea of being a working, single parent was terrifying, but letting Everett bounce between foster families wasn’t an option either.
Squeezing the guard rail of his hospital bed, she stood up. One way or another, she’d make a good life for him. That’s what moms did.
There was a tentative knock at the door, like the person on the other side was hoping they wouldn’t get an answer, but knew they would.
Rolling her eyes, Kaddy cracked it open for the inevitable nurse.
Andrea, the ever-perky Dream Coordinator for Merriton Pediatric Hospital, looked at her with the world’s fakest smile, wide, frightened blue eyes, and damp blonde hair that looked like she’d gone outside without her usual hat.
“Yessssss?” Kaddy dragged the word out.
Andrea squeezed through the tiny crack in the doorway and slammed the door shut. “Okay. Hi, Kaddy! Everett! It is so good to see you two!” The words were rushed, panicked, and had the forced joviality of true terror.
But this was the Yukon in mid-winter, not some American city where a bomber was going to hold them hostage. “Is… is everything okay?” Kaddy asked.
The only thing that would scare Andrea was a really bad diagnosis. Kaddy’s stomach flipped as tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn’t handle that.
“Just dandy!” Andrea’s voice squeaked. “Actually.” She faked a laugh. “Funny story. Everett has a visitor. And, I know he’s been so tuckered out, the poor thing, so I was thinking we should reschedule. Don’t you? That’s great!” she rushed on, not letting Kaddy answer. “I’ll cancel. He can come back some other time.”
Not bad news then.
Everett rolled over in his bed, forehead wrinkled in confusion.
“Who came?” Kaddy asked. The hospital attracted an eclectic group of visitors. Usually hockey stars, medical students, and politicians on goodwill tours. But Andrea welcomed all of them with open arms. “It isn’t the Maple Leafs again, is it?” No one this far north loved the Maple Leafs.
Andrea’s head shook so hard Kaddy worried the woman was going to give herself a concussion.
“Okay…” Kaddy glanced over at Everett who was showing the first interest in anything since his chemo treatment two days earlier. “Is there a reason you don’t want this person to see Everett?” She licked her lips and mouthed, Is it child services?
“Worse,” Andrea whispered hoarsely. She leaned forward and murmured a name in Kaddy’s ear.
Kaddy’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Like… for real? You—” She stopped herself just in time and leaned forward. “You found a cosplayer to play the Polar Terror?”
She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her whisper. Everett was going to be over the moon.
“No.” Andrea shook her head and glanced over her shoulder. The color drained from her face. “He’s… he’s not fake.”
“Who isn’t fake?” Everett demanded from the bed.
“Just say no.” Andrea grabbed Kaddy’s elbow. “Please?”
Kaddy shook the other woman off and looked at the door. There was a thin layer of frost on the door. A suspiciously thin layer. Like someone was intentionally cooling the door for a grand entrance.
She narrowed her eyes.
Would the Dream Coordinator come in here acting terrified just to sell the idea of a super villain at the hospital? Yes. Yes she would.
It’s exactly the sort of thing a perky, cheerful-before-coffee, former cheerleader would do.
Kaddy crossed her arms and sighed dramatically. “I don’t know, Andrea. Ev’s had a really rough week. I don’t think he should have visitors. Not even the Polar Terror.”
The heartrate monitor screamed in excitement as Everett sat up like he was attached to a spring. “The Polar Terror?”
With a burst of cold air, the door fell inward. Ice crystals glittered as icicles formed on the ceiling.
That was some impressive special effects budget.
A man in the Polar Terror’s costume stepped in, towering over even Kaddy, who hadn’t been called short since she turned thirteen and shot up. The muskrat parka, a rabbit fur hat, a strip of seal skin, a fur pouch, beadwork on his boots… and of course the very modern black balaclava with the Under Armor logo.
The Polar Terror had come to Merriton.