All for Aaron

When Kelly Foster divorced, her senatorial-hopeful ex-husband paid off the judge and Kelly's lawyer, enforcing unbelievable rules, including the fact that she may never date and her son has to attend a school for the profoundly autistic. If she breaks any of the rules, her autistic son will be taken from her and put in an institution, where she'll never see him again. But when Kelly meets her son's delectable teacher, Dr. Drew Miller, she has to keep her distance for her son's sake, sacrificing her own happiness with the man of her dreams.


Fan Email: All For Aaron

I have received the most amazing email from a family with a 3-year old son on the autism spectrum. Here's the email:

'We are the parents of Manuel, a 3-year-old child who has autism. We'd like to congratulate you on your book. It deserves a lot of success. We'd like to share with you a video we've made telling our experience trying to raise awareness about autism. The link is the following: https://youtu.be/gKu7CsoPblI or you can search Manuel's Song autism in youtube.

Best wishes,
Olga Lalín and Xosé Manuel Durán'

The video made me cry. What an amazing family! They truly love their child. I wish them the absolute best!

Excerpt

"I'm sorry. Aaron usually listens to me." Kelly Foster Hunter bent down, watching her four-year-old blond son stare at the lights in the hallway. "Aaron, can you hear me?" She stood with Dr. Johns, the principal of the school, embarrassed by the cooing noises coming from her son's mouth. "I'm so sorry." She covered her eyes, not knowing what to do.

The principal touched her arm, making her move her hand. "Mrs. Hunter, it's okay. This is normal behavior for an autistic child." Dr. Johns turned toward a man joining them. "I'd like to introduce you to Aaron's teacher, Dr. Miller. He's been at this school for the past three and a half years."

Straightening up, Kelly faced the adorable teacher, taking in his brown hair, electric blue eyes, and high cheekbones. If she were allowed to flirt, she decided he would be the type of man she would single out first. She could see the muscles in his arms, even though he was wearing a nice dark blue suit, setting off the color of his eyes. If she didn't stop staring, she'd soon be swooning over this man.

She caught her breath and smiled. "Hello, Dr. Miller. It's nice to meet you." She shook his hand while he returned her smile.

"Nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Hunter." He raked his eyes down over her, making her aware of the expensive suit she had to wear for her job. He probably thought her to be rich, but she was anything but rich.

Kelly faced him with a grin, challenging the man who gazed at her a little bit too long for her liking. It suddenly hit her that this man might even be on her ex-husband's payroll, so she had to be careful. She wasn't going to let him think she would bow to any man…especially someone who worked at Waltman Academy, the exclusive school for autistic children Aaron was ordered to attend.

Dr. Johns bent to talk to her son, who was still watching the ceiling light while moving his fingers slowly in front of his face. "Hello, Aaron. This is Dr. Miller."

Dr. Miller knelt to talk to the young child. "Aaron, can you look at me?" Aaron ignored Dr. Miller, who touched her son's arm. "Aaron, I'm Dr. Miller." He gently moved Aaron's face to meet his, and Aaron lowered his eyes, avoiding all eye contact.

"He won't look at you," Kelly said.

"It's typical for autistic children because it can cause anxiety. I just wanted to see what he does if I make him look at me." Dr. Miller moved his eyes to Aaron's and Aaron turned away. "I think we have a lot of work to do, but at least he knows I'm here."

Aaron looked upward and cooed at the ceiling. He moved his hand up to his face and stared at the light through his ever-moving fingers. Dr. Miller took the child's hand away from his face, while the boy watched the lights. The teacher then studied Aaron's eyes as if he was checking them for responsiveness. It made Kelly wonder about his background.

Dr. Miller finally moved Aaron's hand back to its original position, stood and faced Kelly. "He'll be fine. I'll be here after school and we can talk about what I observe today." He took Aaron's hand and walked toward the classroom with him.

"Thank you," Kelly said. "I hope everything goes well. If not, you can call me at work, and I'll be here as soon as I can."

Her eyes met his as he turned and stopped for a long glance one more time. She could feel them connect to each other in a strange way. Dr. Miller grinned as he turned, then took Aaron into the classroom.

Kelly sighed and mentally wrote him off, just like all of the other men she'd met since before the divorce. It was too risky even to think of dating anyone, thanks to her ex-husband and her current situation.

She watched them walk away then turned toward Dr. Johns. "You'll call me if anything happens, right? You should have my work and cell numbers."

"Yes, Mrs. Hunter. If we can't reach you, may we call your ex-husband?"

The thought just made her angry. "No. We just got divorced, and if I show any type of weakness, he'll take Aaron and put him in an institution. Call me for everything and don't bother Richard. I've also taken my maiden name of Foster, so if you want to put that in your records, I'd appreciate it."

"Yes, we can do that. Aaron's name will remain Hunter, right?"

"Yes. Thank you." She shook Dr. Johns' hand and left, with her poor young son in the care of total strangers for the first time in his life. But she had no choice, because the court and her husband demanded it for the divorce. Walking out of the building, she got into her car, backed out and headed down the street.