The Fortune Most Likely To...

by Marie Ferrarella

  The way he said it, she felt as if he was implying she was the nervous person.

  You’ve got to stop reading into things, she upbraided herself. Out loud she told him, “You look fine. We need to go in,” she said, changing the subject as she turned toward the building. “I need to get a few things before we head out.”

  Everett nodded, gesturing toward the main doors. “You’re the boss,” he told her.

  That almost made her wince. “This’ll work better if you just think of me as your tour guide,” she said, avoiding looking at him.

  Holding the door open for her, Everett followed her into the building. “You told me that you manage the department,” he recalled.

  “I do,” she answered cautiously, wondering where he was going with this.

  “Then that would make you my boss for this,” Everett concluded. “At least for now.”

  This had all the signs of degenerating into a dispute. But Everett was doing her a favor by coming in today and he was getting no compensation for it. She didn’t want to pay him back by arguing with him.

  “Whatever works for you is fine with me,” Lila told him loftily.

  He smiled at her as they headed toward the elevators. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Was he just being agreeable, or was that some sort of a veiled warning, she wondered. This was all very exhausting and they hadn’t even gotten started, Lila thought.

  The next moment, as she got into the elevator, Lila told herself that any way she looked at it, this was going to be one hell of a long day.

  But then, she had her doubts that Everett was going to be able to keep up. Making house calls to all the people on her list was going to turn into a marathon as well as an endurance test, at least for Everett.

  And maybe her, too.

  Getting what she needed from her office, Lila led the way back out of the building. “We’ll use my car,” she told him.

  “Fair enough,” Everett answered agreeably. “You know your way around here a lot better than I do.”

  “At least in the poor sections,” she answered. They had barely gotten out on the road when she said, “Be sure to let me know when you’ve had enough.”

  He thought that was rather an odd thing to say, seeing as how they hadn’t even been to see one patient yet. “And then what?” he wanted to know.

  She spared him a glance as she drove through a green light. The answer, she thought, was rather obvious. “And then we’ll stop.”

  “For the day?” he questioned.

  “Well, yes.” What else did he think she meant? They weren’t talking about taking breaks.

  “You made it sound like you needed me for the long haul,” he said. And to him, that meant the entire day—with the possibility of more after that.

  “I do.” However, she didn’t want to seem presumptuous and she definitely didn’t want to totally wear him out. “But—”

  “Well, then that’s what you’ve got me for,” Everett said, interrupting. “The long haul,” he repeated.

  Was he saying that to impress her, or did he really mean it, she wondered.

  “I just wanted to warn you,” she said as they drove to a run-down neighborhood. “This isn’t going to be what you’re used to.”

  He looked at her then. “No offense, Lila, but we haven’t seen each other for a very long time,” he reminded her. “You have no idea what I’m used to.”

  Everett was right, she thought, chagrined. She had no idea what he been doing in the years since they had seen one another. She knew, obviously, that he had achieved his dream and become a doctor. She had just assumed that he had set up a practice where he tended to the needs of the richer people in Houston. It never occurred to her that he might concern himself with even middle-class patients, much less those who belonged to the lower classes: the needy and the poor. And she had no idea that he ever volunteered his time to those less fortunate.

  “You’re right,” she admitted quietly. “I don’t. I just know that your parents had high hopes for you and that you weren’t the rebellious type.”

  Everett was only half listening to her. For the most part, he was taking note of the area they were now driving through. It appeared seedy and dilapidated. It was light out now, which made the streets only a tad safer looking.

  He tried to imagine what it was like, driving through here at night. “How often do you come out here?” he wanted to know.

  “As often as I need to. I usually accompany the doctors who volunteer at the Foundation. It wouldn’t be right to ask them to come here and not be their go-between.”

  “Go-between?”

  She nodded. “Some of the doctors have never been to places like this before. They’re uneasy, the patients they’ve come to treat are uneasy when they see the doctor. I’m kind of a human tranquilizer,” she told him. “It’s my job to keep them all calm and get them to trust each other enough so they can interact with one another,” she explained.

  “A human tranquilizer, huh?” he repeated with a grin, trying to envision that. “I kind of like that.”

  She laughed as she brought her small compact car to a stop in front of a ramshackle house that looked as if it was entering its second century.

  “I had a feeling you would.” Pulling up the hand brake, she turned off the ignition. “We’re here,” she announced needlessly. “You ready for this?” she asked, feeling somewhat uneasy for him.

  Everett looked completely unfazed. “Let’s do it,” he told her, getting out on his side.

  Lila climbed out on the driver’s side, rounded the hood of her car and then led the way up a set of wooden stairs that creaked rather loudly with each step she took. Like the house, the stairs had seen better years and were desperately in need of repair.

  Reaching the top step, she approached the front door with its peeling paint and knocked.

  “The doorbell’s out,” she explained in case Everett was wondering why she hadn’t rung it. “I’ve been here before,” she added.

  “That was my guess,” Everett responded.

  A moment later, the front door opened rather slowly. Instead of an adult standing on the other side, there was a small, wide-eyed little boy looking up at them. He was holding on to the doorknob with both hands.

  In Everett’s estimation, the boy couldn’t have been any older than four.

  Chapter Seven

  Lila thought that Everett had dropped something when she saw him crouching down at the door of their first house call—single mother Mrs. Quinn. The next moment, she saw that what he was doing was trying to get down to the level of the little boy who stood across the threshold.

  “Does your mom know you open the door to strangers?” Everett asked the boy.

  The little boy shook his head from side to side, sending some of his baby-fine, soft blond hair moving back and forth about his face. “No. Mama’s asleep next to my little brother.”

  “You’re very articulate,” Everett told the little boy. “How old are you?”

  “Four,” the boy answered, holding up four fingers so that there would be no mistaking what he said. “What’s ar-tic—, ar-tic—” Giving up trying to pronounce the word, he approached it from another angle. “What you said,” he asked, apparently untroubled by his inability to say the word.

  “It means that you talk very well,” Everett explained. Then he rose back to his feet. Glancing toward Lila so that the boy would know she was included, he requested, “Why don’t you take us to see them? I’m a doctor,” he added.

  That seemed to do the trick. The little boy opened the door further, allowing them to come in. “Good, ’cause Mama said they need a doctor—her and Bobby,” the four-year-old tacked on.

  Impressed at how well Everett was interacting with the boy, Lila let him go on talking as she and Everett followed him through the cluttered
house.

  “Is Bobby your brother?” Everett asked.

  This time the blond head bobbed up and down. “Uh-huh.”

  “And what’s your name?” Everett asked, wanting to be able to address their precocious guide properly.

  “Andy,” the boy answered just as he reached the entrance to a minuscule bedroom. “We’re here,” he announced like the leader of an expedition at journey’s end.

  There was a thin, frail-looking dark-haired woman lying on top of the bed, her eyes closed, her arm wrapped around a little boy who was tucked inside the bed. The woman looked as if the years had been hard on her.

  Andy tiptoed over to her and tried to wake her up by shaking her arm.

  “Mama, people are here. Mama?” he repeated, peering into her face. He looked worried because her eyes weren’t opening.

  Lila finally spoke up. “Mrs. Quinn?” she said, addressing the boys’ mother. “It’s Lila. I brought a doctor with me.”

  The young woman’s eyelashes fluttered as if she was trying to open them, but the effort was too much for her. She moaned something unintelligible in response to Lila’s announcement.

  Before Lila could say anything either to the woman or to Everett, he took over.

  Moving Lila aside, he felt for the woman’s pulse. Frowning, he went on to take her temperature next, placing a small, clear strip across her forehead.

  “No thermometer?” Lila asked.

  “This works just as well,” he assured her. Looking at the strip, he nodded. “She’s running a low-grade fever.” Checking the boys’ mother out quickly, he told Lila, “I can’t give her a flu shot because she already seems to have it. But I can lower her fever with a strong shot of acetaminophen.”

  As Everett spoke, he took out a syringe and prepared it.

  Andy’s eyes followed his every move, growing steadily wider. “Is my Mama gonna die?” he asked, fear throbbing in his voice.

  “No, Andy. I’m going to make your mom all better. But you’re going to have to be brave for all three of you,” Everett told him. “Think you can do that?” he asked, talking to him the way he would to any adult.

  The boy solemnly nodded his head. He held his breath as he watched his mother getting the injection.

  “Good boy.” Everett moved on to the woman’s other son. “Looks like he’s got it, too,” he said to Lila. Turning to Andy, he asked him, “Andy, do you know how long your mom and brother have been sick?”

  Andy made a face as he tried to remember. He never took his eyes off the syringe, watching as the doctor gave his brother an injection next.

  “Not long,” Andy answered. “We were watching Captain Jack yesterday when Bobby said he didn’t feel so good. Mama carried him to bed and she laid down, too.”

  Everett turned to look at Lila. “Captain Jack?” he questioned.

  “It’s a syndicated cartoon,” Lila told him. “I think it airs around eight or so in the morning. One of the women in the office has a little boy who likes to watch it,” she explained in case he wondered why she would know something like that.

  “So Mrs. Quinn could have been sick for a couple of days?” Everett questioned, attempting to get a handle on how long mother and son had been down with the illness.

  Lila was about to narrow it down a little more. “Mrs. Quinn called my office yesterday, but I didn’t have anyone I could send.”

  Everett nodded, taking the information in. “You can only do as much as you can do,” he told her. He knew Lila would beat herself up but it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t make doctors appear out of thin air.

  He performed a few tests on Mrs. Quinn and Bobby, and then he turned in Andy’s direction. “It’s your turn, Andy.”

  Andy looked totally leery as he slanted a long glance in the doctor’s direction. “My turn for what?” he asked in a small voice.

  “You get to be the one in your family to get a flu shot,” Everett told him.

  “But I don’t want a shot. I’m not sick,” Andy cried, his voice rising in panic.

  “No, you’re not,” Everett agreed. “And if you let me give you a flu shot, you’ll stay that way. Otherwise...” His voice trailed off dramatically.

  Andy tried to enlist Lila to help him. She was just returning into the bedroom, bringing bottles of drinking water she’d brought with her in her car.

  “But won’t a flu shot give me the flu?” the boy asked, anticipatory tears of pain already gathering in his eyes.

  “No, it acts like a soldier that keeps the flu away,” Everett told him. “You don’t want to get sick like your mom and your brother, do you?” Everett asked. “Someone’s got to stay well to take care of them.”

  Andy looked torn, and then he sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

  “Good man,” Everett congratulated the little boy with hearty approval.

  Lila set down the bottles of water as well as several pudding cups and bananas she’d brought in. “Attaboy,” she said to Andy. “If you like, I’ll hold you on my lap while Dr. Everett gives you that shot.”

  She didn’t wait for the boy to answer. She gathered him up in her arms and held him on her lap.

  “Okay, Dr. Everett. Andy’s ready.” She felt the little boy dig his fingers into her arm as Everett gave him the flu injection. She heard Andy breathe in sharply. “You were very brave,” she commended the boy.

  “I’ll say,” Everett said, adding his voice to praise the boy. As he packed up his bag, he looked around, concerned. “Is there anyone who can stay with the kids until Mrs. Quinn is well enough to take care of them?” he asked Lila in a low voice. “I don’t like the idea of just leaving them this way.”

  “Mrs. Rooney comes by to stay with us sometimes whenever Mama has to go out,” Andy said, looking from the doctor to Lila as if to see if they thought that was good enough.

  “Do you know where Mrs. Rooney lives?” Everett asked Lila.

  “I think that’s the woman next door,” she told him before Andy could respond. Shifting Andy off her lap, she rose to her feet. “I can go and knock on her door,” she volunteered.

  “We’ll go together,” Everett told her. When she looked at him quizzically, he said, “You shouldn’t be out there alone.”

  In a low voice, she told Everett, “I’ve been dealing with people in this neighborhood and places like this neighborhood for several years now. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “No,” Everett agreed. “I don’t ‘have to.’ But since I’m here, I’d feel better going with you,” he told her, adding, “Humor me.”

  Instead of answering him, she looked at Andy, who was rubbing his arm where he had received his vaccination. “Andy, do you know if Mrs. Rooney does live next door?” she asked.

  Sniffing as he blinked to keep big tears from falling, Andy nodded. “Uh-huh, she does.”

  Lila smiled at Everett. “Problem solved. I’ll just pop in next door and ask the woman to keep an eye on this family.”

  She glanced at her watch. They had spent more time here than she’d anticipated. She was glad that it had gone so well for Everett, but they did need to speed things up.

  “And then we’re going to have to get a move on,” she told Everett. “Otherwise, we’re not going to get to see all the people on my list unless we work through the night and possibly into the next morning.”

  He hadn’t thought that there were going to be that many houses to visit. But as far as he knew, Lila had never been one to exaggerate.

  “Then you’d better find out if Mrs. Rooney is willing to stay with Andy and his family,” he urged.

  That went off without a hitch.

  After getting the woman to stay with the Quinn family, Lila drove herself and Everett to the second name on her list.

  Again she was treated to observing Everett’s bedside manner. She was completely amazed b
y how easily he seemed to get along with children. Not only get along with them but get them to trust him and rather quickly.

  She smiled to herself as she recalled worrying that he might frighten the children because he’d be too stiff or too cold with them, but that definitely didn’t turn out to be the case. Right from the very beginning, she saw that Everett knew exactly how to talk to the children.

  Moreover, he acted as if he actually belonged in this sort of a setting.

  Talk about being surprised, she mused.

  As they drove from one house to another, Lila found herself wondering what these people who had so little would think if they knew that the man who was administering their vaccinations, writing out their prescriptions and listening so intently to them as they described their symptoms was actually a millionaire’s son with a thriving, fancy practice back in Houston.

  She laughed quietly to herself. They’d probably think that she was making it up because Everett seemed so down-to-earth, not to mention so focused on making them feel better.

  As she continued observing Everett in setting after setting, Lila could feel her heart growing softer and softer.

  It became harder for her to regard Everett in any sort of a cold light and practically impossible for her to keep the good memories at bay any longer.

  Everett had grown into the good, decent man she had, in her heart, always felt that he was destined to become.

  * * *

  “How many more?” Everett asked her as they drove away from yet another house.

  He and Lila had been at it for a straight twelve hours, stopping only to pick up a couple of hamburgers to go at a drive-through. They ate the burgers while driving from one patient to the next.

  Keeping her eyes on the road as she drove, Lila smiled at his question. She didn’t have to pull out her list to answer him. “That was the last house on my list.”