Second Opinion

by Alexander, Hannah

  The young respiratory therapist didn’t smile much at work lately and several people on the emergency staff had noticed. Last week when Gina had her physical exam, none of her tests had shown a problem. She had placed her hope on some evidence of low blood sugar and that hope had been dashed when her tests showed normal. Her psychological tests had also revealed no problem.

  “She’s in the dining room with the kids right now,” Gina continued, her voice softer but no less resentful. “She’s probably trying to find out if I’ve been abusing them.”

  “Finding blame isn’t what this is about,” Lauren said.

  Gina shrugged and sighed. “We’ll see.”

  “Want to sit down and talk about it?” Archer asked.

  Gina hesitated. The steady directness of her gaze shifted from him to Lauren.

  He corrected quickly. “Better yet why don’t you point me to your hedge trimmers and I’ll have a go at the jungle that’s threatening to take over your yard while the two of you talk.”

  The tightness relaxed from around Gina’s mouth and a hesitant smile spread to her eyes. She told Archer where to find what he needed in her garage and he leapt from the porch. As he jogged away from them, Lauren couldn’t resist an appreciative glance at the way the late afternoon sunlight teased flashes of flame from his short brown hair. The broad shoulders were also nice.

  “I see what you mean.”

  Lauren blinked and looked at Gina to find an amused grin on her face. “What do I mean?”

  “No wonder you like him so much. He’s good-looking, sensitive, and he does yard work. Obviously athletic too. He has muscles where most men have flab.”

  Since there was no porch furniture, Lauren led the way to the front steps and sat down. “What’s going on between you and Natalie? You’re obviously still striking sparks.”

  Gina sighed and sank down, ruffling her hair with frustration. “I can’t get used to her barging into my home and trying to take over my life. She hardly knows me and yet she bombards me with all these questions, from my eating habits to the medicines we take to the kinds of cookware I use. She even checked out my vitamins. And she snooped into my family background. Called it a genogram. This woman wanted a family tree on me! Wanted to know what my childhood was like, how my parents raised me.” She shivered. “It’s creepy.”

  “Did you give her the info she needed?”

  There was an expressive silence. “Only what she needed to know.” Gina pressed her lips together as Archer returned from the garage, hedge clippers in hand. She lowered her voice. “My past is nobody’s business.”

  Lauren suppressed a sigh. “An unbiased stranger might be able to find some clue about what’s going on with you.”

  “Oh sure, and she might also find enough evidence against me to go flying into court and convince them to take my kids away from me. Last night she brought up the subject of foster care again. ‘Just as a worst-case scenario,’ she says.” Gina glared at the sidewalk in front of them. “I told her if she didn’t change the subject, I’d show her a worst-case scenario.”

  Lauren closed her eyes. Apparently the red hair really did come with a temper.

  “Sorry,” Gina said. “I’m venting. Honest, I’m not usually this cranky but it’s been so long since I’ve had anybody try to tell me how to live my life. She just barges in and plants herself in my home. And that other social worker, the one from the hospital?”

  “Rose Pascal?”

  “You heard what she said at that wraparound meeting. They can request that the court take my children away if I don’t cooperate.”

  It would do no good to argue right now. All Rose wanted to do was ensure the safety of Levi and Cody while they helped Gina work out her problems. What continued to disturb Lauren was Gina’s resistance to answering any questions about her past.

  This young woman desperately needed a friend but there were places in her life that seemed untouchable.

  “What upset me most,” Gina continued, “was that last night Levi overheard when she was talking to me about foster care. After she left it took me nearly an hour to calm him down.”

  “Poor Levi.” Perhaps Rose needed to find a more mature person for Natalie’s assignment. “I’m sure he was pretty frightened.”

  “Wouldn’t you have been scared when you were six if someone threatened to take you away from your parents?”

  “Terrified.”

  “Anybody would be.” Gina’s voice spiked in agitation. She pressed her lips together, took a deep breath, glanced at Archer. “I’m embarrassed about my yard. I was going to trim those hedges but then all this happened.” She let her hands drop to her lap. “It seems as if I always have something else to do and I’m not that great with yard work.”

  Archer finished one section and started stacking branches. For a few moments both Gina and Lauren watched him in silence.

  “You remember what we talked about during our first lunch together?” Gina said at last. “About getting that second opinion?”

  Lauren looked at her. “From the Great Physician.” Had her words actually made an impact?

  Gina continued to watch Archer though her expression told Lauren she wasn’t really seeing him.

  “The way you described it made it sound as if I would have to turn my whole life over to Him.”

  “He works best when we keep our own hands out of the way,” Lauren said.

  “It sounds to me as if I’d just be taking on a whole new set of rules and I’d still be in the same mess I’m in now. It wouldn’t change anything for me physically. This Great Physician stuff is really just about spiritual stuff, right?”

  Lauren gave Archer a wishful glance. She could use his support in this conversation. But then Gina might feel as if they were ganging up on her. “It’s hard to explain because everything about your life would be so different.”

  “In what way?”

  “Your whole mind-set changes. There’s a feeling of peace when you realize this life isn’t all there is. God loves you more perfectly than any parent could love a child.”

  Gina shook her head. “I can’t imagine that.”

  “It’s impossible for a human being to imagine God because He’s so far out of our realm. When you turn to Him you become aware of His power in your life. The more you turn your life over to Him the more complete it becomes. You learn that living for Him isn’t a chore or a burden, it’s a privilege.”

  “Kind of hard for me to see it right now.”

  “The very things God calls us to do are the most fulfilling elements of our lives. We are all created with different gifts, different talents. I believe God gave me the gift of healing and so I use my healing touch with my nursing skills. I also have a gift for teaching and so I use that gift teaching children in Sunday school and working with the older church youth.”

  “But Lauren,” Gina said, her voice suddenly going soft as she gave Archer a cautious glance, “what about children of your own? I know you want that more than just about anything else. Why won’t He give you that?”

  The question caught her off guard. Trust Gina to find the chink in her armor. “He never said He wouldn’t give me children. It isn’t as if I’m in my seventies yet.”

  “If He’s going to do it He’d better get going.”

  In spite of Lauren’s desire to reach out to Gina, those words cut deeply and Lauren fell silent.

  Gina caught her breath and looked at Lauren. “I’m sorry. That sounded mean and I didn’t intend for it to be.” She sighed and shook her head. “Go ahead and tell me about God.”

  Lauren detected a note of resignation in Gina’s voice. Why even bother? Gina wasn’t listening. All she wanted to do was argue and God was just a good subject to debate.

  Gina touched Lauren’s arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. But I do have a lot of questions and I don’t know anyone else to ask. It isn’t as if I can go straight to God like you can.”

  “You could.”r />
  Gina shook her head. “Not me.”

  “He would walk beside you and help you. He wouldn’t just slap a bunch of heavy rules on you, He would gently guide you like a loving father.”

  “My father died when I was ten.”

  “Oh Gina, I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t respond for a moment but continued to watch Archer. Lauren didn’t know what to say. Lord, please touch her heart. Let me know how to reach her.

  “He was a good dad,” Gina said at last. “He cared enough to teach me important things even when I was young. I remember he used to give me an allowance and he always made me save half of it. By the time I was nine I’d saved enough to buy my own bicycle. Because I learned how to manage my money I was able to buy this house with very small monthly payments.”

  “I love my father very much,” Lauren told her. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like to grow up without him, grumpy and cantankerous as he gets sometimes. But God doesn’t get cantankerous and He’s always patient with me.” Even when she made a mess of things like right now.

  Gina slumped and looked down at her hands. “Sorry Lauren. It’s kind of hard to compare God to my father.” She sighed and spread her hands in the air. “I’ve got too much to think about right now.”

  “Of course. You can talk to me about it anytime.”

  The younger woman pulled herself up. “I think I’ll go check on Natalie and see if the kids are finished. If they are, would you mind keeping them occupied for a while out here? That way maybe Levi won’t overhear another argument.”

  “I’d be glad to.”

  Gina nodded and murmured her thanks as she rushed in the front door.

  Lauren sighed and listened to the rustle of falling evergreen branches. The scent made her think of Christmas.

  “You handled that well.” Archer continued clipping.

  Lauren stood up and walked over to gather some of the branches he’d scattered behind him. “You were eavesdropping again.”

  “I have ears like an eagle.”

  “Eagles are famous for their vision, not their sense of hearing.”

  “This eagle was born with 20/20 hearing.”

  “You never were medically inclined.”

  He chuckled. “Did I ever tell you that I have always admired your ability to overanalyze my jokes?”

  “No.”

  “Didn’t think so.” He clipped a couple more big branches then stood back and admired his uneven handiwork. “Don’t tell Gina I’ve never trimmed a hedge before in my life.”

  “I won’t say a word.” She studied the shrubs with dismay. “I won’t have to.”

  ***

  “Your mother would have loved Dogwood Springs.” Grant tapped the brake and slowed to wait for a pedestrian to jaywalk across the redbrick street. Under protest from Brooke he had rolled down the windows. Now he drove slowly so that the wind wouldn’t ruffle her hair as she rode in rare silence in the middle of the backseat.

  “I wish we’d moved here sooner,” Grant said.

  There was a snort from the back, then more silence.

  “Mom loved St. Louis too, Dad,” Beau said.

  Grant stopped at a traffic signal and watched that same pedestrian rush in front of them in the crosswalk. “I know.” He turned his attention to his son.

  Beau rested his arm in the passenger seat window and studied the quiet bustle of the downtown area with interest. His square jaw came from the Sheldon side of the family but the dreamy tenderness of his eyes behind those wire-framed glasses came from Annette’s side. The dark gray color was pure Grant but the kindness and caring evident in them, in Grant’s opinion, came from Annette.

  “Maybe if we had come here a few years ago she could have learned to relax a little more, to take some time for herself every once in a while,” Grant said.

  Beau gave his dad a pointed look. “You’re dreaming again. She would have volunteered at the hospital and joined the neediest church and cruised the town in search of someone who didn’t have a home or food.”

  “Light’s green, Dad,” Brooke said. “Come on. I’ve got things to do and people to see.”

  Grant waited until another jaywalking pedestrian cleared their path and then pressed his foot on the accelerator. “I guess you’re right, Beau. She was a natural encourager.” He glanced into the rearview mirror at his daughter. “It’s a good habit to get into.”

  Brooke met his gaze in the mirror. “You’d be surprised what an encourager I would be if I had a car. You know that Meals-on-Wheels thing Mom used to do? I could do that.”

  Beau snorted. “How long would that last? You’d have to get up before noon.”

  “I made it to school on time every morning all year, didn’t I? It can be done. For a car I’d do it.”

  “Tell you what,” Grant said. “If you two get part-time jobs and earn enough this summer to pay half the price of a car, I’ll sign for you to get a loan so you can pay off the other half.”

  There was a gasp from the backseat. “What? You’re serious? You’d let us get a car?”

  “Yes, but the two of you would have to share it and you’d have to make payments and share the cost of insur—”

  A high-pitched squeal assaulted Grant’s ears and earned him a dirty look from his son when Brooke unsnapped her seat belt and grabbed her brother around the neck in a stranglehold of excitement.

  Beau fought her off. “Would you stop it? Put your seat belt back on.”

  “Why? We can’t be going more than five miles an hour.”

  “Brooke,” Grant warned.

  She did as she was told.

  “He’s tricking us, Brooke,” Beau informed her. “There’s no way we’d be able to earn enough money for the kind of car you’d want.”

  “Oh shut up.” Brooke giggled. “You could use a little of Mom’s gift of encouragement yourself, you know. Let’s start looking for jobs today.”

  While his children continued bantering, Grant once again allowed his thoughts to rest on Annette. It was true that she had been an encourager. Sometimes the job pressures that went with that particular role in life got her into situations she hadn’t been able to handle alone. Her caring spirit had seemed to radiate from her eyes and hurting souls had read that compassion clearly.

  Annette had given of herself when too many people only wanted to take. Too many abused and injured hearts were starved for the compassion Annette was eager to share. Grant had seen her in tears because she couldn’t always meet the pressing emotional, physical, or financial needs of others.

  Her natural tendency to encourage attracted people to her like wedding guests to the cake.

  Grant had loved her completely. Throughout their romance and marriage, no other woman had drawn him. How could they? Annette was the standard by which he viewed all other women. When she gained weight with her pregnancy and later failed to lose much of it, the height-weight tables might just as well have been adjusted upward for the whole world.

  Compared to Annette, every other woman had lacked that divine ingredient that had always attracted him to her.

  Now it frightened him that someone else had begun to set a few of her own standards. Now if a woman didn’t have a green-eyed smile that illuminated the room with sudden sunshine and didn’t answer to the name of Lauren McCaffrey, she was relegated to the ranks of “Thank you but not interested.”

  Grant was aware that some poor nearsighted women occasionally seemed to find him attractive. Sometimes he even picked up on gestures of flirtation—Annette had taught him to watch for the signs.

  But Lauren had never implied in any way that she thought him attractive or that she even noticed he was a male member of her species.

  “Dad! Where are you going?” Brooke’s sudden cry of alarm jerked Grant’s attention back to his driving just in time. He had signaled to turn the wrong way onto the only one-way street in Dogwood Springs.

  “Oops. Sorry.” He switched off the signal, waved into the rearvi
ew mirror in apology to the confused driver behind them, and drove another two blocks.

  “Maybe we don’t need another car,” Brooke said. “You need a chauffeur.”

  Chapter 16

  When Archer was nine years old he had attempted to help his mom out one day by cutting his younger brother’s hair. By the time he finished his brother was nearly bald, with stray tufts of blond hair sticking up from strange places on his scalp.

  Apparently Archer hadn’t learned his lesson because now, as he stood gazing at his latest effort, he realized that poor Gina would be left with privacy stubs instead of privacy shrubs if he continued.

  In frustration, he laid the clippers on the sidewalk and started stacking branches and he continued to practice one of the things he did well—eavesdropping.

  “Mama says I’m smart enough to read numbers and call for help on the telephone if she starts acting weird again.” Six-year-old Levi sat tightly against Lauren’s side as his little brother tried to squeeze in between them.

  “Your mother’s right.” Lauren’s voice was soft and gentle. “One of those telephone numbers is for me.”

  “Yes and she wrote down some numbers and put them by the telephone so we can call for help because she says I’m a big boy and I’m so smart she knows I can do the job right.” Levi paused and looked up at Lauren. “Do you have any more stories?”

  “Werewolf stories?” Cody asked. “Like Mama!”

  “Your mother tells werewolf stories?” Lauren asked.

  “No, but Cody likes the werewolf cartoons. It’s a good werewolf, though, like Mom. He acts weird and starts to make scary sounds in his throat like Mom.”

  “Your mom makes scary sounds in her throat.” There was no note of surprise in Lauren’s voice.

  “Yes, like the nice werewolf who runs away so nobody will see him grow hair and claws. Mom doesn’t want us to see her grow hair and claws so that’s why she runs away. What happened to David the shepherd boy? Will you tell us a story?”

  “Tell us a story!” Cody echoed his brother.