The Doctor Returns

by Stella MacLean

  “You’re such a romantic,” Sherri said affectionately. “You’re also my best friend.”

  “That I am. And as your best friend, I want you to look after your health. How’s your blood sugar doing?”

  “I haven’t checked for a while.”

  “Then I’ll let you go so you can do your blood check. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  “For sure.”

  As much as she worried about Neill’s talk with his daughter, she had her own issues to deal with, the major one being her diabetes. After she filled her cat’s bowl and gave him some fresh water, she checked her blood sugar. The test strip showed it to be a little elevated but still in the acceptable range. Satisfied, she decided to give her mother a call before starting dinner. Her mother answered on the first ring. “I’ve been waiting for you to call. I heard that you and Neill saved Charlie’s life. I’m so proud of you, dear,” Colleen said hurriedly.

  “Thanks, Mom,” she said, forcing herself to sound upbeat. “I was wondering if you might like to come over and have dinner with me?”

  “I’ve got an even better idea. Linda and I were just sitting here thinking that it’s time the three of us had dinner together—an impromptu girls’ night in. I’ve got stew simmering on the stove, and Linda’s made a peach cobbler with no added sugar for dessert. What do you say?”

  How long had it been since they’d had a meal together? Sherri wanted to change all that. After her trip to the hospital and her diagnosis, she’d intended to spend more time with her mother and her sister. “That sounds fantastic.”

  “Well then, get on over here,” her mother said.

  There was something so comforting about going over to her mother’s. Although there had never been much money for extras, there had always been lots of good food, and her mother always met her with a smile. But most of all, there had never been any doubt in her mind that her mother loved her, a basic fact that many people couldn’t claim as being true in their lives.

  When she reached the door of her mother’s house, she was met with a hug from her sister. “Tommy and Michael are sleeping over at friends’, so we have the whole evening,” Linda said, pulling Sherri toward the kitchen. “And Mom’s in her glory with people to cook for and fuss over. Right, Mom?”

  “You got it,” Colleen said, smiling at both of them across the kitchen island as they pulled out stools and sat down to watch their mother put the finishing touches on dinner.

  Linda settled in next to Sherri. Tonight, she was wearing a pair of hot pink glasses and had magenta stripes in her hair. Linda changed her hair color as often as she changed her glasses, but it was all part of her sister’s drive to prove that she was more than simply a woman who was overweight.

  Her smile was enthusiastic. “We’ve got lots to celebrate. Not only are you the heroine of the day, but I got a promotion at work. I’m now the information officer for the town.”

  “That’s great!” Sherri hugged her sister again, so pleased to see Linda enjoy her success. Linda had always worn her emotions on her sleeve, while Sherri had been the quiet one. As a result, Sherri seldom confided in her sister, uncomfortable with Linda’s over-the-top reactions. Observing her sister’s enthusiasm, she wondered if their relationship might have been different if she’d shared her disappointment over Neill all those years ago. Would her sister have been supportive? She shrugged mentally. She’d never know the answer to that question, and she couldn’t change what she’d done.

  Colleen set the ladle down on the ceramic mat next to the stove and turned to face them. “I haven’t felt this good in years. Both of my girls here with me, and both doing so well in their lives.”

  “Makes up for all the bad times, doesn’t it?” Linda asked.

  “Yep. We’re the unbeatable Lawson women,” her mother said, her voice brimming with pride.

  In that instant, Sherri was overwhelmed with love for her mother. Colleen had always felt she had to hold up the family name, in memory of the husband who’d died of a heart attack when Sherri and her siblings were in school. Her mom had been lucky to find a job that paid her enough to keep the house on Mark Avenue. “But none of it has been easy, has it, Mom?”

  She sighed. “No, but it doesn’t matter. As the saying goes, ‘It is what it is.’”

  “So tell us about you,” Linda said, turning to Sherri. “Tell us about what happened today.”

  Sherri related her morning: the trip to Cranberry Point, the frightening sight of Charlie’s truck coming down the hill and flipping on its side, Neill’s quick action and the surgery that followed. “I stayed with Charlie’s parents in the waiting room. They’re really worried about Charlie’s drinking, or at least his dad is. I’m not sure how much his mother knows.”

  Linda turned in surprise. “How could she miss it? His truck’s always parked at one of the bars downtown once the fishing trawler has docked. No one thinks he goes in there for the food, for heaven’s sake!”

  In all the times Sherri had been around Charlie’s parents, she’d never heard his mother mention anything about Charlie’s drinking. “Greg is worried, and after what happened with Sam, I can understand. I’m worried, too.”

  “Do you miss Sam?” Linda asked.

  She’d never talked much about her life with Sam because it all took place in Bangor, and she’d been afraid to talk about it for fear that she might accidently give away the fact that Neill was her baby’s father. “Yeah, sometimes.”

  “I’d always hoped you and Neill would marry. Still, I was so happy when you married Sam,” her mother said.

  “He used to drink, didn’t he?” Linda asked. “I remember being a kid and seeing him and Eldon Patterson sneaking beer out of the Patterson kitchen when Honey Patterson and I used to play together.”

  “Not really. Not until later.”

  “That’s not what I heard, but I guess it doesn’t really matter now. Why did you marry him so soon after you moved to Bangor?” Linda asked, a slow smile filling her face. “You didn’t have to get married, did you?”

  For a moment, Sherri considered telling her sister and her mother the whole truth about that period of her life—about her breakup with Neill, her near-disastrous breakdown after Patrick died—all of it. She wanted to get it all off her chest, to tell them why she’d had to lie about Patrick’s biological father. It would feel so good to finally share the most difficult period of her life with them, but as she looked from her sister to her mother, she couldn’t do it.

  She couldn’t betray Sam that way. Sam Crawford had been there for her during the worst time in her life. He’d promised to care for her and her child, and to be a good husband. He had loved her, and she had loved him for a brief period of time. She would protect his memory.

  And wasn’t her need to tell her family about Neill’s behavior just a little too much like revenge? And what would it accomplish, other than to divulge to her mother and her sister a lot of potentially hurtful things about the only two men she’d ever loved. Things that could end up hurting her mother along the way, the last thing she wanted to do.

  If she and Neill were going to embark on a new life together, if she genuinely wanted to put the past aside and focus on the future, she needed to do what was right for those she loved. And that included Sam, Neill, her mother and her sister.

  “We were expecting Patrick before we were married. We fudged my due date just a little. Sam wanted it that way,” she said, remembering how carefully she and Sam had worked to get the story straight, the one that would satisfy everyone’s curious questions.

  Linda gawked at her. “Sam? Sam was as straight as an arrow. Sam Crawford was a member of the Baptist Church.”

  “But it’s true.” Sherri glanced from her mother to her sister.

  “Oh!” Linda’s mouth popped open. She and her mother exchanged quick glances.

 
“It’s time I told you what a really fine man Sam was.”

  “Then let’s go and sit down where we’re comfortable,” her mother said, turning the burner off under the stew. “Food can wait.”

  After they’d settled into the sofa in the living room, Sherri took the chair across from them. “When I got to Bangor to start my nursing program I started dating Sam. He was a wonderful man, and someone who always saw the good in others. After we lost Patrick, Sam began to drink. As you said, Linda, he would sneak beer with a friend in high school, like so many teenagers did, but that was about it. When we began dating in Bangor, he was strictly a social drinker. After Patrick passed away, Sam changed.”

  “It must have been so difficult for you,” her mother said. “Why didn’t you confide in either of us?”

  “Sam didn’t want people to know, and I thought I was helping by protecting his behavior. The worst part was watching him harm himself that way and feeling powerless to do anything about it. That’s why I want to be there for Charlie, if I can help him.”

  “How?” her mother asked.

  “I’m not sure at the moment. All I can think about are Charlie’s wife and family. They love him, and he’s about to ruin everything with his drinking. Who knows how much worse it will get?”

  “I hope you didn’t keep your problems with Sam’s drinking from me out of some misplaced sense that I couldn’t handle it,” her mother said.

  Sherri nodded.

  “I can understand your concern for me, and it was very thoughtful of you but unnecessary.”

  “Mom—”

  “Yes, I worried about what people thought of me, and with reason, after the way your father’s family behaved when I married him. Still, I would rather have been able to support you through all of this. I’m so sorry you felt you couldn’t confide in me.”

  “Please don’t feel that way. It’s over, and I survived.”

  “On the subject of men, how are you and Neill getting along?” Linda asked.

  “Neill and I have been working on our relationship. He says he loves me and wants us to get back together.”

  “And you want that, too?” Linda asked.

  Did she? When he was around, she wanted to get back with him, but sitting there in her mother’s kitchen, she wondered if she might be making a mistake by letting Neill into her life again. After all, he’d only been home a short time, and he had to be lonely. And like he’d said, he was feeling guilty. Was guilt his real reason for wanting back into her life? And how would he feel if Morgan continued to behave toward her the way she had that afternoon? Had she allowed herself to be swept up in the excitement, the hope that she might reclaim her dream?

  How easily she’d accepted his sudden presence in her life while never really questioning any of it. Wasn’t that how it had been when he hadn’t come to Bangor? She hadn’t questioned him then; instead, she’d let him walk away from his responsibility.

  All the more reason to take it slow where Neill was concerned.

  As much as she loved him, there was so much history to overcome. If they were going to succeed in getting back together, they still had lots to work out between them. “We’ll see. Right now we’ve agreed to date.”

  “I’m so happy for you,” her mother said. “And I don’t want you to ever think that whatever happens in your life is cause for you to worry about how it affects me.”

  Linda squeezed Sherri’s hand in a show of support as she turned to her mother. “I understand where Sherri’s coming from. Don’t forget how upset you were when Doug walked out on me. Sherri’s right. You’ve had lots to deal with when it comes to your kids.

  “I see why you did what you did, Sherri. If I’d had any way of keeping my life a secret and saving Mom from the gossip mill, I would have. As it is, she’s been my rock, and my boys wouldn’t have the life they have if it wasn’t for her support.”

  Linda leaned over to her mother and hugged her. “I love you, Mom, and thank you so much.”

  “You girls have got to stop worrying about me.” Colleen patted Linda’s shoulders, her voice shaky. “I’m past all that. When I was younger, all I wanted was for my children to be successful and happy, but Ed taught me that’s not always going to be possible.”

  Linda gave her mother another big hug. “You didn’t have any control over what Ed did, Mom. Sure, he grew up without a dad, but so did a lot of teenagers, and they turned out okay. Ed made bad choices and he’s paying the price. End of story.”

  “I’ve come to realize that over the past couple of years, but there are still times when I wish I could have done more, maybe seen just how offtrack his life was, but he was always so good at keeping secrets.”

  “Amen to that,” Linda said ruefully.

  “While we’re on the subject of secrets, I have one of my own.”

  “You do?” Linda said.

  “What is it?” Sherri urged, anxiety coiling in her belly. “You’re not ill, are you?”

  “No, nothing like that. I should have told you months ago. I’ve been seeing someone. Well, not out in public so much as at the store.” She smoothed the hair from her face. “This is hard to say because I’ve worked with this gentleman for years.”

  “Are you talking about Leonard Hayworth at the supermarket?” Linda asked.

  “He got me my job, and he’s been there whenever anything went wrong in my life. I don’t mean that we had an affair, nothing like that. But after his wife died two years ago, we started going on dates out of town. He wants to stop sneaking around, as he calls it, and he’s finally convinced me that I don’t have to hide from what people think about me. And I did hide for years, he made me see that.”

  “You’ve been seeing Leonard, and I didn’t know about it?” Linda said, incredulous. “I live with you, and I didn’t know you were in a relationship. How did you manage that?”

  Colleen gave her a sheepish glance. “You were busy and didn’t notice.”

  “Those trips to Portland to meet high school classmates from upstate.” Linda chuckled. “Well, who would have thought that my mom would do something like that?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. We’re going to start acting like the couple we are. We simply decided that life’s too short to deny how we feel.”

  “Are you talking about marriage?” Sherri asked.

  “Oh, no. At least not yet. Leonard wants me to move in with him, but I’m not ready to go that route just yet. Besides, living together is not my style.”

  “Why not, Mom?” Linda asked as she leaned closer to her mother. “After all, it is the twenty-first century, and you’re not getting any younger.”

  “No, I’m not. But I have my plans for this house.” She glanced around at the high ceilings, the elaborate crown moldings and arched windows. “I also don’t want to rush into anything.”

  “Rush into anything? Mom, you’ve been a widow for over twenty years! I’d hardly call that rushing,” Sherri said.

  “Now, don’t you two gang up on me! Besides, if you must know, I nearly invited him here tonight, but I wasn’t sure how you girls would feel about it.”

  “Feel about it? We’re happy for you, Mom,” Sherri said, joining her mother and sister on the sofa and wrapping her arms around her mother. “You deserve every moment of happiness you can find. And if Leonard makes you happy, we’re all for it. Aren’t we, Linda?”

  “Of course! But it’s ticking me off that you’ve both found someone while I’m still single. It’s not fair,” Linda said.

  “Honey, your day will come. In the meantime, that’s enough about my private life. Let’s eat. One of you set the table and the other one can make the salad. The ingredients are in the fridge.”

  “You take the table—I’ll get the salad ready,” Linda said to Sherri before heading to the kitchen, catching up w
ith her mother and hugging her again. “It’s been a long time since the three of us spent an evening together like this.”

  They ate, laughed and chatted all through dinner. When it came time to go home, Linda walked her sister out to her car. “Sherri, I’ve never seen Mom so happy. Have you?”

  “When your kids were born, and when I graduated from nursing were the only two occasions that come close. But you’re right, Mom’s life has not been easy. I want her to have the kind of love that makes up for all of it.”

  “Always looking for perfection, aren’t you?”

  Her sister’s words took her by surprise. “Do you really think that?”

  “Yes, of course I do. You always had to have the best grades in school, the best summer job, the perfect dress for prom night. And now look at you. You’re perfect—perfect figure, perfect hairstyle and hair color. No one will ever be able to say you didn’t do everything as perfectly as you possibly could.” Linda wagged her finger at her. “I’ll bet there’s not a cup out of place in that kitchen of yours, am I right?”

  “Just because I like things neat and tidy...”

  Linda laughed and kissed her cheek. “Face it. You’re perfect. A pain in the butt sometimes, but still perfect.”

  “If you say so.” Sherri fluffed her sister’s hair.

  “Hey, don’t knock it. I wish I had your perfect genes.”

  Her sister seemed to take life in stride, as if whatever was thrown at her was meant to be. Sherri didn’t understand that sort of thinking, but maybe her sister’s approach would rub off on her. “Trade you one perfect gene for your hot pink glasses.”

  “Wait till you see the pair I bought in Portland. They’re tiger-striped.”

  Sherri chuckled. “I can’t imagine. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Want to do lunch someday soon? Now that I’ve been promoted, I plan to treat myself to the occasional day when I don’t brown-bag it to work.” She gave her magenta bangs a pat.

  “You’re on. Call me when you’re ready to hit the lunch spots.” With that, Sherri climbed into her car, started it up and eased down the driveway and onto the street.