by Dianne Drake
Then, after all those years of believing, as the patient, and even as a doctor, that nothing could happen, she’d had the recurring feeling that maybe, just maybe she might be pregnant. Missed period one month and she’d convinced herself it was stress, that her job was demanding. Missed period the second month and she’d gone to the local pharmacy for a home pregnancy kit, then had sat it on the bathroom countertop and stared at it for three days before she’d opened it. After that she’d waited another two days before she’d actually gotten around to using it. Then, when that test strip had gone from pink to blue, she’d run, not walked, but run to the corner pharmacy, bought another kit, done another test. Then gone back to that same pharmacy one more time, one more kit.
A kindly pharmacist who’d seen her grabbing yet another test kit off the shelf had suggested she go see an obstetrician, and offered to make a referral if she needed one. But she was an obstetrician, and a very pregnant one, she was coming to realize. Also a very overwhelmed one. “Right now, your only problem is that your mother’s very tired. But I’m on my way to fix that situation immediately.”
Bryce Evans. Her miracle baby. She couldn’t wait for his arrival into the world. Nothing other than that really mattered. And she was so happy…
“Thanks for making a house call. We’re not busy right now, but with David out of town, it’s like I’m doing the work of a dozen different people and there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be.”
Dr Neil Ranard handed the bottle of pink bubble-gum-tasting liquid over to Laura. They called it bubble-gum tasting, and he’d successfully convinced a number of his young patients that was the case, but to him it tasted like…medicine. Nasty, nasty medicine. “Just give her the dose listed on the label and she’ll be fine. There’s a sore throat bug going around the elementary school and Emily is one of the many. Also I’ll want to check her again in a couple of days, but she’ll be ready to come to the clinic by then.” Yes, he still made house calls. In a small town, that was possible, and he really liked getting back to personal medicine. Two years away had taught him so many things, but the biggest lesson learnt was that everything he needed was here. He was a small-town doctor, and that’s exactly what he wanted to be.
“Can you stay for dinner, Neil? I have only a handful of paying guests checked in right now, and I’m making enough food for an army. Can’t get out of the habit of cooking for a lodge full of people when the season shuts down, I guess.”
“Wish I could, but I really should get back. With Walt Graham retired now, and Eric Ramsey being tied up with the twins—they’re both down with sore throats—we’re a little short-handed in emergency. And I’ve still got a few appointments to take care of at the clinic before I go make hospital rounds. But thanks. I appreciate the offer.” At the White Elk Hospital and Clinic, he was the pediatrician, but family practice was also his responsibility, as well as covering Emergency when it was necessary, and doing the occasional mountain rescue. It was a varied job, and in such a small setting every doctor was called on to do pretty much whatever they had to. Medical convention aside, he loved it. Where else would he be so fortunate as to be involved in so many things?
“Can’t you wait five minutes, while I get something together to send back with you? It’s better than what you’ll get at the hospital, and you know hospital food is what you’ll end up eating.” She grinned. “Think about it, Neil. Institutional cooking versus home cooking.”
Home cooking, a luxury he hadn’t even had those months he’d been married. It sounded good, actually. Anything resembling a normal life sounded good. Otherwise, for him it would be whatever the hospital cafeteria special was. “OK, you’ve convinced me. Mind if I go sit in the dining room and pour myself a cup of coffee while I wait?”
Laura dismissed Neil with the wave of an unconcerned hand, and he ambled into the empty dining room, went straight to the service bar and poured his coffee, then took a seat by the window that gave him the best view of the Three Sisters. Magnificent view, and one he had so little time to admire these days. It was also the view that had drawn him back home, even when he’d vowed, almost three years ago, not to return. But he’d returned, in part because he liked skiing when he had the time. And the fresh air. Most of all, he liked the nice people. All that, and the exciting nature of his medical practice. Here, in White Elk, he had it all. Or most of it. Because the memories of his short-lived marriage were here, too. As were the memories of the day his wife had run off with his brother.
But the good outweighed the bad. That’s what he kept telling himself and maybe someday he’d even convince himself of it, because some of the memories were bitter. And forever unresolved.
Neil stretched out his long legs and leaned back in the wooden chair, trying to empty his mind of everything. Movement at the opposite end of the dining room caught his attention, though…attention in the form of one very pretty, very pregnant woman who was sizing up the various tables, obviously looking for one with the best view.
He studied her for a moment. She looked almost lonely, ambling from table to table the way she was, all by herself. And here he was, occupying the one with the view he knew she had to be looking for. Immediately, Neil sprang to his feet, and even thought to motion her in his direction, like he was the maître d’. But as he plucked his coffee mug up off the table and stepped away from it, she found her seat on the opposite end of the room, in a spot overlooking the town—all the shops, and the people bustling up and down the sidewalks.
Funny, he thought, how people had different ideas of what was perfect. Personally, his idea of perfect went to something wild, something without people. Hers went to just the opposite, it seemed.
“Your dinner, Neil,” Laura said, setting the brown paper bag full of plastic containers in front of him. “There should be enough to get you through the next couple of days, and if there’s not, come back. There’s always more where that came from.”
“Appreciate the home cooking,” he replied absently, unable to take his stare off the woman, who was now seated with her back to him.
Laura, noticing his intent stare, smiled. “She checked in several hours ago,” she whispered. “Not from around here. She registered her home address as Chicago and I don’t know a thing about her other than that.” She paused, then chuckled. “Except the obvious.”
“And that she looks lonely,” he commented out loud, although he’d meant the remark to stay in his head.
“You know, she did look a little lonely, come to think of it. I thought she was mostly tired, though.” Laura shrugged it off as she scurried over to the other table to take Gabby’s dinner order, while Neil stayed there, sipping his coffee, watching a while longer than he really should have, given his schedule.
Strangers came to town all the time. In fact, the town’s economy was built on people coming here to stay for a while, whether to ski, or shop, or simply have a nice holiday. He barely even noticed them unless they had a medical problem. So what was it about this woman that caught his attention…not only caught it, but held it?
Nothing, he said to himself. Absolutely nothing at all. Right now, he didn’t get involved. Not with anyone. He was married to his work, and he owned a part interest in a hospital. That was enough to keep him out of trouble, keep him fairly contented, keep him reasonably happy. Life was good. Why try for anything else?
Thinking about what had happened the last time he’d tried for something different was what propelled him back to his feet, and carried him right out the door. When he got to the entrance, though, Neil stopped and turned back to look at her, and that’s when he saw her face. She was…beautiful. Stunning. Honey-blond hair falling gracefully to her shoulders, her blue eyes cast downward. Almost shyly…eyes that could only have been blue. And perfect lips. He was observing her as a physician, of course. Only as a physician.
She was what that pregnant glow was all about. He wasn’t sure he’d ever truly seen it before, but now that he’
d seen her, he knew what it looked like.
In that brief moment when his eyes were still fixed on her, she glanced up at him, stared outright for a long moment, then looked away. That’s when Neil knew he’d better leave before good judgment was overcome with something he didn’t understand, and he intruded where he clearly wasn’t wanted. But once outside on the walkway, he looked back up to the window where she sat, and…was she staring at him? It seemed she might have been.
Handsome face. Rugged. Nice firm jaw, nice straight nose. With his wavy black hair, she imagined dark brown eyes. Or green. No…they had to be dark brown.
It was a face that should have been familiar, but nothing in her memory could place him. His eyes haunted her, though. So familiar. But she didn’t often forget a man so handsome. Yet in that span of mere seconds, when their gazes had crossed, it had been like she’d been looking into eyes she’d looked into before. The same, yet not.
Just pregnancy hormones kicking in. Still, at first glance, he’d seemed so familiar. Then, at second glance, he didn’t at all. His was one of those faces that would plague her for a while, though, until she placed him, or forgot him.
“Who was that?” she asked Laura, as Laura placed the handwritten menu on the table in front of her. Potato, vegetable and salad choices were the same with every meal, and she had her choice of meat, poultry or fish.
“Neil Ranard. He owns the family practice clinic at the hospital. And, actually, he’s part owner of the hospital. Specializes in pediatrics, but all the docs there do a little bit of everything.”
Would she have known him from some medical event—a seminar they’d both attended, perhaps? Or maybe a medical convention?
In theory, that sounded good, except she rarely ever had time for seminars, and as for medical conventions…She’d been to exactly one, and it hadn’t been the White Elk doctor she’d fixed herself on there. So that left…Honestly, she didn’t know. And she didn’t want to keep thinking about it. “I think I’d like the vegetables only, if you don’t mind. Bryce and I don’t seem to do so well with meat these days.”
“Bryce?”
Gabby laughed, self-conscious. “My baby. I’m going to name him Bryce, and I guess I’m getting in the habit of using his name. Thinking of him as a person.” She’d been in the habit from the moment she’d known she was pregnant. It was going to be a boy, and she would name him Bryce after her father, a decision made the instant she’d thrown away the third pregnancy kit. Bryce…that was the only way she could make sense of things.
Laura laughed. “Boys are nice. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. We’ve got three girls, and I’m not sure if I’d know what to do with a boy now, after so many years.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure I’m going to know what to do with a baby, boy or girl.”
“You’re…alone?” Laura asked, hesitant.
“Well, I was until about seven months ago.” Noncommittal response that would suffice. Smiling, she patted her belly. “But that’s sure not the case now.”
“I talked to my girls too…in the womb. Read books to them, sang to them, played music for them. My husband thought I was crazy, but for the whole time I was pregnant, I wasn’t alone, and I needed to make that connection.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’d better get back to the kitchen.”
Once Laura was gone, Gabby turned her attention back to the window, wondering if she’d see the man, Neil Ranard, again, but he was gone. Oh, well…
“I’ll take both of them.” Two quilts weren’t too many, and both were so adorable. So were the fifteen newborn outfits she’d bought, along with the crib accessories, the bootees, the hats…There were so many baby things she’d never thought about before and, so far, she’d bought every single thing she’d looked at. This morning her ankles were normal, her back felt fine, Bryce was kicking up a storm, and she was totally in love with Handmade for Baby. It was an amazing little store, fronted on the main street right next to a candy store. She hadn’t been in there yet, but she would. And she intended to browse through the little maternity boutique that Debbi Laughlin, the babystore clerk, had recommended.
“You staying here long?” Debbi asked. She was seventeen at most, with short, spiky yellow hair, a pierced eyebrow, and an engaging, warm smile.
“Just another day, then I’ll be going back to Chicago.”
Debbi arched her eyebrows over the mention of Chicago and Gabby’s gaze fixed on the little silver ring anchored there that bobbed up and down. “I’ve always wanted to go there. Maybe even save my money and move there, go to college…anywhere but here.”
“You don’t like it here?” Gabby asked. So far, she hadn’t found anything in White Elk she didn’t like.
“It’s OK, if you’re old, I suppose.”
Old, like she was? Gabby laughed inwardly at the thought. Thirty-three wasn’t old, but to someone Debbi’s age, it was ancient. “Well, I think it’s a nice little town.”
“Little’s the thing. I don’t like little. It’s boring.”
And Gabby didn’t like big any more, but she supposed she’d have thought a small town was the end of the world when she’d been younger. She and her dad had always lived in a big city—Chicago, New York, San Francisco—and that’s what she knew. All she knew. But those pregnancy hormones were changing her in ways she hadn’t expected, for now her ideal seemed just the opposite of Debbi’s and in some ways the opposite of the ones she’d become comfortable with in herself until she’d gotten pregnant. “Well, then, you’d like Chicago, because there’s nothing little about it.”
“What do you do there?” Debbi asked, as she folded the first quilt into a box.
“I’m an obstetrician. That means—”
“I know what it means. My uncle’s a doctor here.”
Was she related to Neil Ranard? “Dr Ranard?”
Debbi shook her head. “Dr Ramsey. He works with Dr Ranard when the twins aren’t sick. Which they are right now, which is why I’m here and my mother isn’t. She’s helping Uncle Eric.”
“Twins?”
“My cousins. Both of them down with a sore throat and I told my uncle I wasn’t going anywhere near them, so my mother’s there helping take care of them and I’m here, doing this.”
And not loving it, Gabby thought. Too bad. Life was too short not to love what you were doing.
Debbi folded the second quilt into another box, then sat it in the stack with at least fifteen other boxes. “So, did you come to take over for Doc Graham?”
“Who’s Doc Graham?”
Debbi blew a bubble with her gum, then popped it. “The obstetrician. He retired so he could have more time to hike, and go skiing. If it were me, I’d retire and get out of here.”
“No. I’m not here to replace Doc Graham. I’m just traveling through, and decided to stop and do some shopping.”
Debbi nodded, but the expression on her face showed that she thought Gabby was crazy for intentionally staying in White Elk when she didn’t have to. “So, what do you want me to do with all this stuff?” she asked.
Good question. Gabby hadn’t thought that far ahead, and her first response was to give Debbi the address to her Chicago condo and have every last thing shipped there. But for some reason she didn’t understand, she decided instead to have it sent back to her cabin at the lodge and figure out what to do with it later. Farewells with Debbi were brief, but she felt compelled to tell the girl to look her up if she ever made it to Chicago. Debbi’s response was to roll her eyes, plug the earpieces back into her ears and listen to some tune Gabby was sure she’d never heard of.
Next, she visited the candy shop, then the maternity boutique, sending more packages back to her cabin from both shops, as well as stopping at the corner toy store and showing amazing restraint by buying only one stuffed teddy bear and a little wooden train set Bryce wouldn’t play with for years. Shopping done, she felt amazingly good. Refreshed. Full of energy. So she wandered down the street, in the direction of the hospital. D
eliberately.
What a cute hospital! Not at all institutional-looking, like where she’d worked back in Chicago. That was a real brick-and-mortar structure, nine stories tall, spanning several blocks, if you included the various clinics and asphalted parking lots. This hospital was quaint, made of logs, resembling a mountain lodge more than it did a hospital. If not for the sign out front indicating that it was, indeed, White Elk Hospital, she would have walked right on by, looking for a more regular-looking institution.
So, she was there. Wondering what came next. “Maybe I’m crazy,” she whispered to herself. “But if they do need an obstetrician…” That’s what Debbi, the store clerk, had implied. But why had she deliberately come here? To apply for the job? No way. Quaint was nice for a visit, and while she wasn’t big-city obsessed like Debbi, she was reasonably sure that she agreed with the girl on the fact that White Elk was too small.
But here she was anyway. It must have been the nesting thing again. Had to be. More rushing hormones telling her to settle down, make a real home for this baby, and White Elk Village was a nice candidate for all those things. Except the idea was ridiculous. Her opportunities here would be too limited. Besides, nobody needed a seven-months-pregnant obstetrician. And at seven months pregnant, the obstetrician didn’t really need a full-time job. Money wasn’t a problem, but time on her hands was. She did want to work. Loved working, and she already missed it.
“But I’ve never lived in a city smaller than Chicago,” she said to Bryce, “and I’m not sure your mother is cut out for small-town living.” Even though this small town was tugging at her. “And don’t go telling me I can make a go of it anywhere I want because I’m not sure I can. There are so many things to consider, like my career, and your education.”
“Excuse me? Can I help you with something?”