“Why not?” Bethany asked bluntly.
The other woman might look as soft and fragile as puff pastry but that impression was obviously an illusion. She was glad for it, Anna thought. Bethany Holloway appeared more than a match for her oldest brother, who could sometimes be domineering and set in his ways.
“The last thing you need on your wedding day is to have a simmering family feud boil over and explode all over the place. It would be better if I stayed away.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!”
If Bethany hadn’t sounded so sincere, Anna might have taken offense. Instead she merely shook her head.
“It’s not ridiculous. None of them are even talking to me right now. I ran into David ten minutes ago just outside and he looked right through me as if I wasn’t even there. I got the same treatment from Ella last week when I bumped into her on the fourth floor.”
Compassion flickered in the depths of Bethany’s green eyes. “That must have hurt.”
For half a second, she thought about shrugging off her sympathy but the sincere concern in Bethany’s expression warmed somewhere cold and hollow inside her.
“Like crazy,” she admitted quietly. “Ella used to be my best friend. Now she won’t even talk to me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I knew they would be upset that I’d chosen to work for Northeastern HealthCare. I guess I’d hoped they would at least try to hear my side of things.”
“You Wilders all feel passionately for the things you care about,” Bethany said.
“I’m not one of them,” Anna said quickly.
As far as she was concerned, that was the crux of the problem. She didn’t have the Wilder medical gene and she didn’t have their dogmatism.
“I’m sure Peter told you I was adopted,” she said when Bethany just looked puzzled.
A strange, furtive look flickered in those green eyes. Bethany opened her mouth to respond then closed it again, as if she had suddenly reconsidered her words.
“I’ve heard the story,” she finally said. “Peter told me he was ten years old when your father brought you home and claimed he found you on the steps of Walnut River General. It was a defining moment in his life.”
She stared. “In Peter’s life or my father’s?”
“Well, I’m sure in your father’s life as well. But I meant Peter.”
“How?”
“As the oldest son he felt responsible for the rest of you, and for your mother’s feelings, as well. I know she…wasn’t well those few years before you came into the family.”
A polite way of saying Alice Wilder had suffered deep depression and had ended up medicated in the years before Anna’s adoption.
“Yes,” she answered warily. Her relationship with her mother had always been complicated. She had loved Alice, as every child loves her mother, but their relationship had always felt strained. Cumbersome. Deep in her heart, she had wondered why her mother didn’t quite seem to love her as much as she did Peter, David and Ella.
James had more than compensated for any coolness from Alice but the pain still lingered.
“Your father worked a great deal,” Bethany said. “As the oldest son, Peter always felt responsible for everyone’s happiness. His mother’s. David’s. And then when you and Ella came along, for yours, as well. I don’t know that that has changed much over the years. He loves you very much, Anna. And he misses you. They all do.”
She might find it a little easier to believe if she hadn’t experienced firsthand the compelling evidence that none of the Wilders was thrilled to have her back in town.
“He might be angry with you right now over the merger,” Bethany continued, “but that’s because he feels as if your father’s legacy is threatened.”
Anna’s frustration erupted. “It’s a hospital! It’s walls and a roof and medical equipment! What kind of legacy is that? James’s legacy ought to be the children he left behind. Children who have grown into four fairly decent adults who are doing their best to make the world a better place for others. That’s a legacy to be proud of, not the hospital where he spent every waking moment he should have been spending with kids who needed their father!”
She was mortified the moment she heard the heat and lingering bitterness behind her own words.
She thought she had gotten over all that when she walked away from medical school—the secret fear that her father would only love her if she became a doctor like he was, if she devoted all her energy to the hospital where he had rescued her.
How many times had she heard that story about finding her on the hospital steps? Too damn many.
You were the only infant ever left at Walnut River General. I knew the minute I saw you that you belonged in our family. James always used to say that with pride in his eyes—whether for the hospital he loved or for her, she was never quite sure.
She couldn’t help wondering what might have happened to her if she had been left somewhere else besides the hospital—an orphanage, a garbage can, even James’s and Alice’s own doorstep.
Would he have wanted her at all?
“From what I’ve heard of your father, I know he was very proud of each of his children,” Bethany said.
Each of the three physicians in the family, perhaps. As for her, Ella and their brothers wondered why she’d kept her job with NHC a secret for two years. She could just imagine what James’s reaction would have been if he had known before his death that she had gone to work for a corporate entity he would have considered the enemy.
The shock alone would have brought on that fatal heart attack.
She forced a smile. “I’m sure you’re right,” she murmured, though the lie tasted like acid.
“Peter is your brother, despite your current…estrangement. He will feel your absence at the wedding deeply, no matter what he might say. Will you at least think about coming?”
Anna shook her head. “You’re a very persistent bride, aren’t you?”
Bethany smiled. “That’s a polite way to say stubborn as a one-eyed mule, isn’t it? I can be, when the situation demands it.”
She might not be the woman Anna would have expected her brother to fall for, but she decided she very much liked Bethany Holloway. Somehow she had a feeling they would become good friends. It was a comforting thought.
“I’ll think about it,” she answered. “That’s all I can promise right now. The wedding is still three weeks away. A great deal can happen in three weeks.”
Bethany opened her mouth to respond, but before the words could escape, Anna’s attention was drawn to a trio of men entering the cafeteria—J. D. Sumner, new chief of staff Owen Mayfield, and Richard Green.
Richard spotted her and Bethany at almost the exact same instant. She saw something bright and luminous flash in his eyes for just an instant before it faded.
A moment later, he excused himself from the other men and made his way toward their corner booth.
Anna was aware of several things simultaneously—the funny little dip and shiver of her stomach as he approached, the clean, elegant lines of his summer-weight charcoal suit that made him look as gorgeous as if he had just stepped out of a gentlemen’s magazine, the faint lines of fatigue around his blue eyes.
Most of all, she was aware of how her heart seemed to tremble just at the sight of him.
“Good afternoon.”
He smiled freely at Bethany, but his light expression faded when he turned his attention to Anna.
She tried to ignore the shaft of hurt piercing through her at the contrast, aware of how very tired she was becoming of fighting battles with everyone she encountered at Walnut River General.
“J.D. was just telling me you were working here this morning,” Richard said.
“Yes. The hospital’s legal counsel apparently won’t give permission for me to take any records off site,” she said pointedly.
“All in one more effort to make your life more difficult, I’m sure,” Richard said dryly.
She made a face. “It certainly does. But the administration has been kind enough to give me a temporary work space. I suppose I should be grateful they stopped short of blocking access completely.”
“Since the municipal council has approved your inquiries, legally there’s nothing the hospital can do to stop you.”
His hard voice stopped just shy of outright hostility but it was enough to make Bethany blink and Anna bristle.
“No. I don’t suppose there is,” she said evenly. “Short of tackling me in the parking lot and tying me to a bench somewhere.”
Something warm and slightly naughty sparked in his eyes for just an instant, then it was gone. Still, her insides shivered in reaction.
“I was trying to reach Alfred Daly but perhaps you can give him a message for me.”
She gazed at him warily, wondering just how many other people from her past would she alienate before NHC succeeded in its efforts to absorb Walnut River General into its family of hospitals.
“All right,” she answered.
“Please let him know I will be representing the hospital for the foreseeable future. My partner is taking an indefinite leave of absence.”
She thought of the attorney she had met only a few times since coming to Walnut River. He had seemed very nice, if somewhat distracted. Never once had he looked at her with anything resembling scorn, unlike others she could mention.
“Everything’s all right, I hope?”
His expression registered surprise at her concern and he hesitated for just a moment before answering. “I’m sure it will be.”
He said he was representing the hospital for the forsee-able future, which must include the NHC merger negotiations. The jitters in her stomach became a sudden stampede. There was no escaping the grim realization that she would have no choice but to work closely with Richard Green if she wanted to pull off this merger.
“I will let him know,” she answered coolly, pleased her voice didn’t reveal any of her inner torment. “I should tell you in the interest of disclosure that your partner asked for copies of the reports I’m working on. Our legal team agreed to provide them as a show of good faith to demonstrate our willingness to cooperate as fully as possible. I can have them ready for you first thing in the morning.”
He frowned. “No chance they’ll be ready before then? I’m going to be in court the rest of the week. Tonight would be the best chance for me to find time to look at them.”
She quickly considered her options.
She could be an obstructionist and tell him no, that she couldn’t possibly finish the financial study until the next day. But that wasn’t exactly true. She was close to being done and with a little accelerated effort, could have things wrapped up in a few hours.
“I can try to finish them tonight and run them over to you at home.”
Again, the flicker of surprise in his expression frustrated her. Once they had been close friends. He had known her better than just about anyone in her life, except maybe Ella. Did he really have to register such astonishment when she tried to be cooperative and do something nice?
“That would be perfect. Thank you.”
Still annoyed, she gave him a cool, polite smile. “You’re welcome. Give me your address and I’ll run them by when I’m done.”
“You don’t need an address. I’m living in my parents’ house. It was too much upkeep for my mother so I bought it from her after my father died. She lives in a condo just a few blocks away.”
Anna had always liked Diane Green. She had been warm and gracious, always willing to open her home to Richard’s friends. His house had been the high-school hangout, with its huge game room and built-in swimming pool.
It would be a lovely place to raise a son, she thought.
“I don’t know what time I’ll be finished. It might be late.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be up late prepping for court in the morning.”
She nodded and managed to hang on to her polite smile when he said a cool goodbye to her and a much warmer one to Bethany before he returned to J.D. and Dr. Mayfield.
She watched his elegant frame walk away for just a moment longer than she should have. She knew it as soon as she turned back to Bethany and found Peter’s fiancée watching her with upraised eyebrows.
“I’m sorry. What were we talking about?”
“My wedding.” Bethany grinned suddenly. “But that’s not important right now. I would much rather hear what’s going on with you and sexy Richard Green.”
“Going on? Absolutely nothing.”
She cursed her fair skin as she felt heat soak her cheeks. She couldn’t bluff her way out of a blasted paper bag, the way she turned red at the slightest provocation.
Bethany didn’t look at all convinced. “Are you sure about that? There was enough energy buzzing between the two of you to light up the Las Vegas strip.”
“We grew up together. His house is just a few blocks away from where we grew up and we were always good friends.”
“And?”
She could feel her blush deepen as she remembered that last night together and the kisses and touches she had never been able to forget.
For one shining moment she had held paradise in her hands.
He had offered her everything she’d ever dreamed of. He had told her he was in love with her. She could still remember her giddy joy, how she had wanted nothing more than to hold on tight and never let go.
She had wanted so much to grab hold of what he was offering—but she hadn’t been able to figure out a way to break free of her family’s expectations while holding tight to Richard at the same time.
Seeing him again, learning more about the man he had become, made her see how immature a response that had been for a girl of twenty-two years.
She had been so certain she had to take all or nothing, to sever all ties to Walnut River if she wanted to escape the immovable path her family expected her to take.
But Richard had never placed the kind of unrealistic expectations on her that her father had. He had even told her if medical school wasn’t for her, she needed to decide earlier, rather than later.
What would have happened if she had decided she could still drop out of medical school and pursue her business career while maintaining a relationship with Richard?
It wasn’t at all helpful to speculate on the hypothetical, she reminded herself harshly. The truth was, she had turned her back on Richard when she had turned her back on her family. That ship had sailed, and all that. She would never know, so there was absolutely nothing to be gained by speculating on what might have been.
“There’s nothing between us,” she assured Bethany. “I haven’t seen him in eight years and now we’re on opposite sides of the hospital merger.”
Which might as well be a twenty-foot high fence topped with another five feet of razor wire for all the chance she had of breaching it.
CHAPTER SIX
“Dad! You shut my door! You know I can’t sleep with my door shut all the way!”
Ethan’s voice echoed down the hall, drawing nearer with each word, and Richard sighed as he straightened and closed the oven door where he’d just set his dinner to warm.
Here we go, he thought.
He turned and, just as he expected, he found Ethan in the doorway wearing his Buzz Light year pajamas, his little mouth set in a disgruntled expression.
“Sorry, bud. I forgot.”
“You forgot everything tonight! You forgot to give me an Eskimo kiss and during bathtime you didn’t even ask me my five fun things.”
Guilt pinched at him and he wished that he could split himself into two or three people to get everything in his life accomplished. His court appearance in the morning weighed heavily on his mind—but his son always had to come first.
“I’m sorry. It’s been a long day,” he said. “I’ll do better tomorrow, okay? Come on, let’s get you back into bed and you can tell me your five fun things.”
“Okay
.”
It was a tradition they had started as soon as Ethan learned to talk, where each evening they would share five interesting things they had seen or done that day.
Ethan’s list usually consisted of games or toys he and his nana had played with that day. It was sometimes a scramble but Richard usually tried for a little creativity in his own contributions to the game. Today he was afraid he was running on empty.
“You said that yesterday,” Ethan exclaimed when Richard tried to use the colorful clown that stood outside the local hamburger joint with a signboard and a pleading expression as one of his five interesting things to report about his day.
“But this time he had on one of those crazy rainbow wigs,” Richard said. “I didn’t tell you that yesterday.”
Much to his relief, his five-year-old accepted his logic and climbed into bed obediently.
They exchanged hugs and the obligatory Eskimo kisses then Richard tucked him in for the second time that evening. “This time I’m spraying glue on your pillow so you can’t get out again.”
While Ethan giggled he pretended to spray an aerosol can around his son’s bed, his hair, behind his back. “There. Now you’re stuck. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Okay. But don’t forget to come unstick me in the morning before you leave. Nana said we can go to the park after breakfast and I don’t want to miss it.”
He smiled and kissed his son on the nose. “I will. I’ve got magic un-stick spray just waiting for morning, I promise.”
This time, he left Ethan’s door slightly ajar and returned to the kitchen. His stomach rumbled at the delicious smells starting to emanate from the oven. A quick check of the timer on the oven revealed he still had twenty minutes before his mother’s lasagna would be finished. That should be long enough to go over his opening argument one more time—that is, if he could hang on to his limited concentration long enough to do the job.
He sighed again, all too grimly aware of the reason he had been so distracted all evening.
One word.
Anna.
Since bumping into her at the hospital cafeteria earlier, he hadn’t been able to shake her from his mind. The curve of her cheekbones, the little shell of her ear, the fragile vulnerability in the set of her mouth he wondered if anyone else could see.
Reunited in Walnut River Page 6