Aidan: Loyal Cowboy: Aidan: Loyal CowboyThe Family Plan

by Cathy McDavid

  “Plenty.”

  She dropped them off at the curb. Chase took one gander at the length of the line outside the theater and the vast number of excited little girls and groaned. Dozing during the movie might be harder than he thought.

  “Come on, Daddy.” Now it was Mandy’s turn to take him by the hand and drag him along to the ticket window.

  While they waited their turn in line, Chase watched Jolyn drive across the parking lot. Her truck was easy to spot with its ladder racks and toolboxes. She didn’t go far. Pulling out into traffic, she drove across the street and into the Pineville Medical Complex parking lot.

  Even after the opening credits to the movie were rolling, Chase was still wondering about the nature of Jolyn’s personal errand.

  * * *

  “MEET ME IN MY OFFICE, Ms. Sutherland, when you’re finished dressing.”

  Dr. Hamilton’s expression was carefully schooled and gave away nothing. His equally unreadable nurse followed him out of the examination room, leaving Jolyn alone.

  Tossing the paper sheet she’d worn into the hamper, she struggled into her jeans, socks and shoes, the process made difficult by her throbbing knee. Sitting for even the short period of time it had taken Dr. Hamilton to conduct his examination left her afflicted joint stiff and aching. She wasn’t looking forward to the hour-long drive home.

  He was seated at his desk and waiting for her when she entered his office. “I’d like you to have a CAT scan done on your knee as soon as possible.”

  Apparently, he wasn’t one to mince words.

  Dr. Hamilton was one of two orthopedic surgeons in a town too small to support many specialists and, according to Jolyn’s research, the best available. She’d arranged to have her records transferred to him last week.

  “Is something wrong?” A stab of worry pricked her middle. Until now, she’d assumed her pain was the result of overdoing it.

  “Perhaps.” He handed her a sheet of paper. “A CAT scan will help identify any problems.”

  Jolyn glanced down at the paper. It was a referral to an imaging center located in the same building, one floor up.

  “They won’t be able to take you without an appointment or I’d send you there today,” Dr. Hamilton continued, his pen scratching across a small pad. “Perhaps you can stop by on your way out and make one. The sooner the better. In the meantime, here’s a prescription to relieve some of the discomfort.”

  “I don’t want anything that will make me sleepy. I have too much to do over the next few weeks not to be fully alert.”

  “Then you also have too much to do to be laid up, which is where you’re heading if you don’t take it a little easier.”

  Dr. Hamilton didn’t sugarcoat things, either.

  “Look,” he said, his demeanor softening, “the CAT scan is just a precaution. I don’t believe you’ve damaged your knee, not permanently and not yet. But you will if you aren’t more careful.” He passed her the prescription order. “Rest as much as possible. And keep your leg elevated. An ice pack every three hours wouldn’t hurt, either. I’ll call you when I get the results of the CAT scan.”

  He was right, of course, much as Jolyn hated to admit it. She’d been pushing herself too hard and too long.

  “I’d also like you to start seeing a physical therapist three times a week.”

  Jolyn’s jaw dropped open. “I can’t make the drive that many times. I have a business to run.”

  “Your knee won’t get better on its own.”

  “I know.” Panic rose inside her. “Is there something I can do at home? I remember a lot of the exercises my last therapist taught me.”

  He frowned. “You really should work with a professional.”

  “What about a nurse?” Susan Raintree’s daughter-in-law, Aubrey, ran the local clinic. Surely she had experience with physical therapy.

  Dr. Hamilton relented, though hesitantly. “I suppose, if that’s our only choice.”

  They discussed details for another five minutes. Jolyn promised to have Aubrey call Dr. Hamilton right away.

  A small pharmacy was located on the first floor. Jolyn decided to stop there and have her prescription filled after heading upstairs to the imaging center and making her appointment.

  Stepping off the elevator onto the third floor, she briefly studied the directory before turning left. A door near the end of the hallway opened and a middle-aged couple emerged. Jolyn didn’t pay much attention to them until they were ten or twelve feet in front of her. At that point she glanced up… and stopped dead in her tracks.

  So did they.

  “Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?”

  * * *

  WATER BUBBLED FROM the center of the indoor fountain and tumbled down in musical, glistening columns. On the tiled bed of the fountain, a blanket of coins glittered and shimmered. Each one, Jolyn imagined, represented a wish. Given the fountain’s location in the lobby of a medical center, those wishes were probably for good health or a speedy recovery.

  “The mammogram was just routine,” Jolyn’s mother said from beside her. They sat on a concrete bench facing the fountain. Her father had taken Jolyn’s prescription into the pharmacy to have it filled. “When a woman reaches my age, she’s supposed to have one every year.”

  “I thought you just had one in October.”

  Her mother’s smile was a little too bright and a little too forced. “No. It was last spring.”

  That was a lie, but Jolyn didn’t call her mother on it. She remembered her parents coming out to visit her in Dallas during her third surgery and her mother talking about a recent checkup—complaining, really, about how the older she got, the more tests her doctor insisted on having done. A mammogram was one of the many irksome tests she’d mentioned.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were having it done today?” Jolyn asked.

  “I guess I forgot. It’s really no big deal.” Her mother turned her smile up another notch. “Why didn’t you tell me about your doctor visit and that your knee is so bad?”

  Turnabout, Jolyn supposed, was fair play. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “Oh.” Her mother’s smile lost its luster. “And I would have.”

  “Like me. Like I would have worried if I’d known you were having a mammogram that wasn’t part of your regular checkup.”

  Jolyn waited for her mother to contradict her. She merely stared into space. On the other side of the fountain, people came and went on their way in and out of the medical center, a few in wheelchairs or on crutches.

  “I also didn’t tell you because I knew you’d nag me not to work so hard and to take better care of myself.”

  “You’re right about that,” her mother agreed.

  “Do I have the rest of it right, too?” Jolyn placed a hand on her mother’s.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You didn’t tell me about the mammogram because I’ve got enough on my plate already and you didn’t want to add to it.”

  Her mother said nothing, which was an answer in itself and cause for concern.

  “I’m surprised Dad didn’t say anything.”

  “He didn’t know about my appointment until the other day.”

  Concern, hell. Fear caused Jolyn’s chest to tighten. If her mother had also kept her father in the dark, then whatever was wrong must be serious.

  “Mom.” She curled her fingers around her mother’s and squeezed. “Please, tell me.”

  Her
mother went quiet again.

  “Dottie.” Jolyn’s father came up behind them. He handed Jolyn the bag containing her prescription and then rested his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s time you came clean?”

  She remained stubborn for only a few seconds longer, then succumbed to the pressure. “I found some lumps in my breasts.”

  Jolyn swallowed. “Lumps?” The word came out rough and strange, as if her voice belonged to someone else.

  “Three.”

  “What…um…treatment did the doctor recommend?”

  “That will depend on the results of the mammogram. The lumps may not be cancer.”

  Cancer. Jolyn willed herself to relax, for her mother’s sake more than hers. “When…when did you discover the lumps?”

  “A few weeks ago, give or take.”

  “And you’re just now having a mammogram?”

  “I didn’t go to the doctor right away.”

  “Why not, for crying out loud?”

  “You were coming home, and I didn’t want to—”

  “Good Lord, Mom! That was over a month ago!”

  Dottie sniffed and wiped her nose. “Please don’t be upset with me.”

  Jolyn was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice.”

  “You’re worried.” Her father left her mother’s side and sat on the adjoining bench. “We both are.”

  “Does Steven know?”

  “Not yet. And don’t you tell him, either.”

  Jolyn would respect her mother’s wishes, but grudgingly.

  All at once she understood. Her mother’s recent moodiness, her desire to be a bigger part of Jolyn’s life, her renewed pressuring of Chase to have the DNA testing done, were prompted by a fear of having breast cancer.

  She couldn’t blame her mother. If Jolyn thought she had a potentially life-threatening disease, she, too, might start acting oddly or even unreasonably at times.

  A young woman pushing a wailing baby in a stroller passed them.

  “Maybe we should go someplace else,” her father suggested in a gentle voice. “This isn’t the best place to talk.”

  Jolyn glanced at her watch and gave a low groan. Five-forty. “I have to go. Chase and Mandy came with me and are waiting at the minimall.”

  “That’s right. You mentioned it yesterday.”

  But not my doctor’s appointment, Jolyn silently admonished herself.

  She could hardly be angry at her mother for her being secretive when she herself was guilty of the same thing.

  “Let’s all sit down after dinner,” her father suggested. “When we can relax.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” her mother said.

  “I’ll be late.” Jolyn subconsciously rubbed her knee, responsibility weighing heavily on her. “I have to take Chase and Mandy home and unload all the material I bought.”

  “Can’t that wait until tomorrow?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” If she let the chore go until the morning, she’d have that much more to do in a day that was already busy. “I guess I could pay one of the laborers to do it.”

  Jolyn found it hard to think. She was tired, in pain and struggling to come to terms with her mother’s startling news. Standing required effort. She slowly straightened her aching leg and adjusted the shoulder bag she used for both a briefcase and a purse. The three of them moved away from the fountain.

  “Wait!”

  On impulse, Jolyn reached into her bag and rooted around on the bottom for a coin. When she found one, she closed her eyes and tossed it into the fountain.

  Her wish made a small splash, then floated to the colorful tile bottom where it joined all the other wishes.

  Chapter Six

  “You want to come in for a few minutes?”

  Chase’s offer was so sincere, and so sweet, Jolyn had a hard time saying no. “Thanks, but I can’t. My parents are waiting dinner on me.”

  And after dinner, they’d discuss her mother’s…health concern.

  “You okay?”

  He’d obviously picked up on her glum mood, which would have been impossible to miss. She’d hardly spoken on the drive home.

  “I’m fine. Just tired.” And she was. Physically, mentally and emotionally. While she did want to talk with her parents—needed to talk to them—she wasn’t altogether sure she was up to it.

  Dusk had begun to fall about the same time they reached the outskirts of Blue Ridge. Indigo shadows cast by the nearby mountains—the same ones that gave the town its name—blanketed the ground, giving Chase’s house a sleepy, almost surreal look. Just enough light remained for them to see that the carpenters had finished the exterior framing.

  “Look!” Mandy exclaimed from the backseat. “There are walls.”

  Jolyn came to a stop near the back door.

  “Pull around to the clinic,” Chase said, “and I’ll unload the material you bought.”

  “That isn’t necessary. I’ll do it in the morning. Or have one of the guys.”

  “Let me help.”

  “Chase.”

  His response was to hunker down in the passenger seat and stretch out his long legs.

  “Daddy. Can I call ’Lizabeth and tell her about the movie?” Mandy pulled on the door handle, readying her escape.

  “Sure, honey. Take your time. I’m going to help Jolyn unload.”

  Three seconds later, the truck door slammed shut behind Mandy. Chase still hadn’t moved.

  “Fine.” Jolyn had witnessed the infamous Raintree stubborn streak before and knew there was no use fighting it.

  Pressing down on the gas pedal, she eased the truck toward the clinic, then turned around and backed up to an opening in the walls, which would eventually become the clinic’s front entrance.

  “Where do you want this?” Chase easily lifted a box of nails from the bed of the truck that Jolyn would have never been able to carry by herself.

  “Over there.” She trailed after him, a bundle of insulation under each arm. “In your surgery.”

  “My surgery,” Chase repeated. With a satisfied smile.

  Jolyn watched through the open framework as he set the box of nails down on the concrete next to a stack of two-by-fours and surveyed his surroundings.

  “Maybe when we’re done you can give me the grand tour.”

  Her resistance wavered. “All right.”

  She convinced herself her reasons were purely professional. A client had just asked to walk the job site with her, and she had an obligation to show it to him.

  In reality, she didn’t want to go home. Not yet.

  They made quick work of unloading. It was almost too dark to see when Jolyn took Chase from room to room, explaining what had been done and what would be done over the coming days.

  “I’m impressed,” Chase said as they entered the large walk-in supply room.

  “Thanks.” Jolyn was proud of the clinic and the way it was coming together.

  “It’s bigger than it looked on paper.”

  “That’s only because the walls aren’t finished. Once the drywall goes up, the rooms will shrink.”

  She caught sight of a crumpled paper sack in the corner, leftover trash from somebody’s lunch. Annoyed, she stooped to pick it up. She maintained a strict policy about keeping the construction site clean, especially this one as it was someone’s home.

  Snatching up the paper sack, she straightene
d and twisted sideways. Pain—needle sharp and unexpected—exploded in her knee. Without meaning to, she cried out and would have lost her balance if not for Chase.

  He caught her by the elbow before she fell. When that didn’t stop her forward momentum, he wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her against him.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I d-don’t know,” she stammered, slightly breathless and hurting too much to lie. What she wouldn’t give for one of those pain pills the doctor had prescribed right about now. “Just give me a minute.”

  “Take all the time you want.” He tightened his hold on her.

  Slowly, the pain lessened. Embarrassment filled the wake it left behind.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling even worse when she realized her hands were gripping Chase’s shirtfront. She loosened her fingers and attempted to disengage herself.

  He would have none of it.

  “Not so fast.” His head dipped and his lips brushed the top of her hair.

  Jolyn’s heart began to pound. How long had she wanted to find herself in this exact position, locked firmly in Chase’s embrace, their bodies perfectly aligned?

  “I’m fine.” She wasn’t, and not just because of her knee, but he didn’t need to know that. “You can let me go now.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” He shifted and pressed his cheek to her temple.

  Oh, God! He was going to kiss her. Bad idea. Really bad. For so many reasons.

  She placed her hands on his arms and gave a gentle push. “Chase, you can’t.”

  “Can’t what? Walk you to your truck?”

  If Jolyn’s knee didn’t still throb like the dickens, she’d kick herself. He wasn’t going to kiss her. And she couldn’t feel like a bigger fool.

  “Or do you mean this?” he asked.

  His lips sought hers, settled into place and very quickly took control, parting hers with an expertise he’d lacked in high school. Her reluctance lasted about two seconds before she succumbed with a sigh that slipped out of its own volition.