by T. L. Haddix
He kissed her leisurely. “Soon though, right?”
“Soon. I have to stop by to check on those kittens, after all.”
After another kiss, he let her go. “See you tomorrow.”
Her father was nearly finished with the cleanup by the time she reached the kitchen a few minutes later. He glanced over his shoulder as she came in. “Did he get on the road safely? Brooke?”
She sniffled back tears, leaning against him. “I’m in love, Daddy. What the hell am I supposed to do?”
Arlen hugged her and patted her back. “Enjoy the journey, sweetheart.”
“And what if I’m on this journey alone?”
“You shouldn’t let that hold you back. You’re not responsible for his feelings, only your own. But something tells me you’re not alone, not in the least.”
“Really? You think so?” she asked wistfully.
He smiled at her. “Oh, yeah. Just give him time. Remember that feral cat I compared him to? Those don’t tame easily, but they do tame for the right person.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I hope you’re right. I really, really hope you’re right.”
Three weeks later…
As she went about doing her job, Brooke was in utter, quiet turmoil. It wasn’t that her feelings for Caleb had changed or that his behavior toward her had changed, but instead, a simple biological function that should have happened hadn’t. Her period, which should have started Monday, was late.
Brooke was never, ever late. Not once since she was a teenager—not even during the stressful times surrounding her mother’s illness and death. She didn’t have a clue what to do about that lateness, but time was running out for her to figure it out. She was due to start a new pack of birth control pills Sunday, and if she hadn’t started by then, she was going to have to take a test.
She didn’t even want to think about how she was going to tell Caleb. She’d not seen much of him this week outside of work, as there’d been a heavy, late-season winter storm that had caused a myriad of problems for the region. The roads were so bad the clinic had been closed for half the week. She’d only talked to him on the phone in the evenings, with no visits to his house, thanks to the rough conditions. He’d gotten several calls out to farms, including one where he’d helped rescue a cow from an icy pond, and she knew he was exhausted.
But if she was pregnant, the idea of which was enough to make her sick with nerves, they had to have a heart-to-heart talk and soon. She didn’t expect that talk to go well. It was too early in their relationship.
Friday afternoon, a few minutes before the clinic closed, fate caught up to her. She’d just helped bring in a dog who was an absolute mess with matted, wet, and dirty fur, and the stench rose up to choke her. She barely made it to the bathroom, where she threw up violently. Brooke never vomited, even when everyone else around her was succumbing to stomach bugs. It took every bit of her strength not to break down and cry, but she pushed her emotions down and cleaned up. Caleb was out on another call, thank God, or the knowledge would have done her in right then and there.
When she stepped out into the hall, Dr. Harvey was waiting on her with a stern, disapproving frown.
“I expected better from you, missy.” And he walked away.
Frozen, she stood there trying to figure out what to do. When the phone started ringing on both lines, she squared her shoulders and hurried to her desk. For right now, she’d settle for doing her job.
Caleb still wasn’t back by the time she clocked out, and Dr. Harvey was shut away with a patient. The only saving grace she could think of was that she and Caleb had managed to hide their relationship from everyone at work, and Dr. Harvey not knowing who she was involved with might buy her enough time to figure out what to do about telling Caleb. She was certain now, and taking the pregnancy test was just a formality. She’d observe that formality, but she knew the test would be positive.
Telling her father was something else she wasn’t sure she could do, even though she didn’t have a choice. She’d not planned this, couldn’t figure out how in the world it had happened given that she was on the pill. They’d had condoms, but after the first couple of weeks, they’d stopped using them, each trusting the other and disliking the barrier.
As she drove to the pharmacy, she wiped away tears. “Mom, you always said a woman shouldn’t have sex, protected or otherwise, unless she was prepared to face the consequences. God, I wish you were here to help me get through this.” She didn’t know how she was going to handle all the changes the pregnancy would bring to her life.
She gave a brief thought to Jeanette. Though she was sorely tempted to go see the doctor who was also a friend, she didn’t. She’d be going in soon enough, she knew. No, tonight she’d go home and lock herself in her room and grieve. Everything would change now, and she had to get prepared for that change, one way or another.
Chapter Eight
Walker didn’t make it back to the office until after seven on Friday evening, and if he hadn’t had two patients he needed to check on, he’d have gone straight home. He was in a foul mood, not fit for company. He’d spent most of the afternoon in a drafty barn, arguing about treatment with the owner of three sick horses—Walker knew they were on their way out, and the man refused to admit it—before finally putting them down despite the hours spent trying to save them.
His head was pounding, his throat was sore, and he was fairly certain he was running a fever. All he wanted to do was be home, warm and clean and in bed, with Brooke by his side to restore him to sanity.
Which led to another reason he was feeling cantankerous—he’d not been able to spend any time with her this week, and he’d had the harsh realization that he needed to be with her. Not just as a partner in bed either. For a man like Walker, the epiphany that he was in love wasn’t comfortable and warm and fuzzy. It was terrifying.
To his surprise, Dr. Harvey’s truck was still parked beside the building. Concerned and hoping that Dr. Harvey’s presence didn’t mean there was an emergency, Walker hurried inside. The clinic was quiet, however, no anxious pet parents in the waiting room, and Walker breathed a sigh of relief.
“Doc?”
“Back here.” The call came from the part of the clinic where Dr. Harvey had his office.
“You’re here late,” Walker said as he stopped in the office doorway. “Everything okay?”
Dr. Harvey took off his glasses and stared hard. “You look like seven miles of bad road. Old Mac give you a rough time?”
Walker snorted. “You could say that. The horses didn’t make it. He’s liable to call and complain.”
“He already has. The man lives to complain. I don’t see how his wife stands him. Speaking of wives, when are you and Brooke getting married?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, boy,” he said, standing to come around his desk. He stopped a couple of feet away from Walker. “She’s pregnant. Puked her guts out this evening. I’m assuming it’s yours.”
Walker couldn’t speak, and he sagged against the doorframe. He shook his head slowly, wondering if he was sicker than he thought. Surely he was, as he had to be imagining what he’d just heard.
“I should have known a bastard like you would take the first chance you got to pull yourself up by hanging on to her. I oughta beat the fire out of you, boy. She’s not meant for the likes of you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Walker managed. “She… did she tell you she’s pregnant?”
Dr. Harvey glared at him. “She didn’t have to tell me. I’ve got five daughters, and I’ve been around enough women who were breeding to know from a look what’s wrong with them. Well? What are you going to do about it? If you think you can walk away and not marry her, you think again. You’ll marry her and fast, or you won’t have a job in this town.”
Walker’s temper lit, ho
t and hard. “You’re my boss, but I’ll be damned if you’re going to tell me how to handle my personal life.”
The other man’s hand flew up before Walker could even blink, slapping hard across Walker’s cheek and the corner of his mouth. Stunned, all Walker could do was touch his face with astonishment. The instinct to hit back rose up, and his hand clenched into a fist, but he managed to tamp his reaction down.
“You need to learn your place, Doctor Walker. If you think I don’t have her father on speed dial, you’re an idiot,” Dr. Harvey sneered, leaning in. “Or maybe we’ll just take you out and get rid of you like a mongrel pup.”
The stench of scotch wafted across Walker’s face, and he realized his boss had been drinking. Swallowing hard, he kept his eyes on Dr. Harvey and reached into his pocket for his keys. A hot flush burned across Walker’s face as he realized his hands were shaking, but he managed to detach the small ring with the clinic keys from his others.
“I won’t be needing these. I’m done. Consider this my resignation, effective immediately.” Walker shoved the keys into Dr. Harvey’s chest. “And you leave Brooke the hell alone. Do you understand me? If you hurt her or bother her in any way, I will find out about it. And then we’ll see who gets treated like a mongrel pup.”
The older man laughed harshly, swaying on his feet a little as he stood back. “I figured you’d turn tail and run. Good. Get the hell out of here before I kill you. Don’t you ever set foot in this clinic again.”
Thankful his bag was still in his truck, Walker cautiously left, not turning his back on Dr. Harvey until he was well toward the door. Once he was in his truck, ready to pull out on the highway, however, he wasn’t quite sure what to do or where to go. He rubbed his eyes, a hard cough working its way up from deep in his chest. By the time it cleared, he was nearly breathless.
“Brooke…” Just the thought of seeing her right away hurt, and he couldn’t think straight for the thoughts racing around his head.
Deciding he had to get some sleep before he processed any of what had happened, he turned the truck for home. The whole way, he tried to puzzle through what Dr. Harvey had said.
“She can’t be pregnant. She can’t be. She’s on the pill.”
True, they hadn’t been using condoms. But he’d seen her take her pills. Besides, what reason in the world would she have for deliberately getting pregnant? It wasn’t like he was a catch, really, not for someone like Brooke. Certainly not the kind of man a woman like her would trap into marriage using that age-old trick his mother had tried so unsuccessfully with his father.
Maybe that was what hurt so much, he thought as he pulled into his driveway. Brooke knew some of what he’d gone through, as they’d discussed it late one night when neither of them could sleep and she’d been curious about his scars.
By the time he finished caring for the horses, spikes of pain so bad that he couldn’t even focus on the disaster his life had just become were shooting through his body. It took everything left in him to get the kittens fed and down some aspirin before he stripped and fell across his bed, his body seeking the healing oblivion of sleep before he could even turn off the lamp.
Chapter Nine
Brooke almost called in sick Saturday morning. It wouldn’t have been a lie; she’d woken up three times in the middle of the night to throw up. But she had a responsibility to her job, and regardless of her personal circumstances, people were counting on her. So she used a little more concealer than normal to cover up the dark circles under her eyes, and she headed downstairs.
Arlen met her in the foyer, coffee in hand. “Are you okay? I heard you get up several times last night.”
She avoided his eyes. “Sure. I’m just feeling a little under the weather. I’ve got to run, or I’ll be late. Love you!”
When she got to the clinic, she frowned. Caleb’s truck wasn’t there.
“Surely there wasn’t another emergency,” she muttered as she parked.
The lot was full even though they weren’t yet open, and as it was the first day the roads were truly clear, she expected the day to be hectic. As soon as she walked in, those suspicions were confirmed. The phone was already ringing off the hook.
“Where’s Dr. Walker?” she asked Gina as she stashed her purse in the desk.
Gina sent her a harried look as she headed for the hall. “Apparently, he quit last night. Today’s going to be rough,” she said in a low voice. “Doc hit the bottle last night too.”
Stunned, Brooke stared after her. Caleb had quit? Oh, that wasn’t good. No, that wasn’t good at all. Surely, Gina was mistaken. And Dr. Harvey had been drinking?
“I really should have stayed home today,” she whispered as she went to unlock the door, smiling tensely at the woman at the head of the line that was already forming. Brooke had the sinking suspicion that “rough” was going to be the understatement of the year.
By one o’clock that afternoon, a full hour after they were supposed to close for the day, she finally turned the sign from “Open” as the last patient left. She locked the door and, with a sigh of pure relief, leaned against it.
The only good news of the day, if one could consider it such, was that Dr. Harvey had left as soon as that last patient had cleared the exam room. That and of course that none of their patients had died. Without his presence, a palpable calm had washed over the clinic.
Gina, looking as tired as Brooke felt, met her in the hall. “Let’s get some air. Come on.”
Brooke followed her to the back door, and as they left the building, it seemed a bit like they’d escaped. The sun had come out, sending temperatures into the fifties, and it almost felt like summer compared to the cold weather they’d been having. She and Gina sat on the edge of the old picnic table the staff had added in the private space, and for a couple of minutes, they didn’t speak.
Gina blew out a breath. “So apparently, when Pam came in this morning, Doc was asleep in his office. She had to force him to get up and get showered before everyone else came in. When Walker didn’t show up on time, one of the girls asked about him. I wasn’t in yet, missed it by about five minutes, but I guess Doc took her head off just for asking. The long and short of it is he quit.”
“Why?” Brooke’s heart was pounding in her throat, and she could hardly breathe from nerves.
Gina shrugged, but she was studying Brooke with a shrewd look. “Doc said—I’m quoting here—‘The boy got impertinent and above his raising, and good riddance to him.’ Any idea what he meant?”
Brooke closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Fuck me.”
That surprised a laugh from Gina, but her humor didn’t last long. “I’d say that’s part of the problem.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and Brooke sniffed them back. “I’d say you’re right. I’ve not talked to him since yesterday morning. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’d best head out there. Does everyone know?”
“Nah, and I won’t say anything either. It took me a while to figure it out. I saw you slip him a note one day. Love letter?”
Brooke was horribly embarrassed. “Of a sort, I guess. God, what a mess. I appreciate your discretion.”
Gina smiled. “I like you and Walker both. He’s been a good friend to me since he got here three years ago, and so have you the last few months. The two of you are cute together. And maybe I’m hoping that when he opens up his own clinic, you two can get me out of this hellhole.” She shook her head, staring pensively at the back of the clinic. “Dr. Harvey’s drinking is getting bad. I don’t blame Walker for quitting, not one bit. I’d say he had good reason. He’s not impulsive—not on the big stuff, you know. I just worry about what’s going to happen to the patients.”
Brooke straightened. “I’ll talk to my father, see if he can help. He knows Dr. Harvey and his wife from way back. Wish me luck?”
“You’ve got it.”
She had the feeling she was going to need it. Luck, prayers, and maybe a miracle— and she wasn’t sure even that would be enough.
Chapter Ten
Coughing fits kept Walker tossing and turning most of the night, peppered with periods of uneasy sleep and vivid nightmares that blended the worst of the past with his present. By the time morning came, he was huddled in blankets in the living room, hands curled around a hot mug of tea, staring out the window and watching the sun peek up over the horizon. As soon as it was a decent time, he would put in a call to his Aunt Joline, who was a traveling nurse practitioner, and see if she could swing by on her way to work. Judging by the crud he was coughing up, he needed antibiotics.
For now though, he let the kittens play around his feet, dashing in and out of the folds of the blanket as they chased each other. The girl, whom he’d named Sneezy, sat on his knee and peered down at her brothers as though she was too good for their shenanigans. She’d improved nicely since he’d taken the litter in, and he’d be able to find the cats a home soon, a thought that left him feeling lonely.
“Maybe I’ll keep you,” he told her in a husky rasp. “What do you think about that?”
She gave a tiny yawn and stretched, then she pounced on Dopey, her brother, making him hiss in outrage.
Walker chuckled. “Okay, then.”
Offhand, he wondered what Brooke would think about him keeping the kittens, then he remembered Dr. Harvey’s revelations. Remembered that everything had changed. The tightness in his chest when he sucked in a breath was only partly due to the congestion in his lungs. Pregnant. A baby. Would she even want it? Walker didn’t know if he could stand it if she didn’t.
They’d not talked about kids, about the future, about anything serious. Other than the teasing remarks they’d exchanged a few weeks ago in the barn, they’d deliberately kept things light, easy. And until that day in the barn, he’d have sworn that was what he wanted. Since then, he’d been coming to terms with the knowledge that it wasn’t. Now this…