Now he was desperate to see her, suddenly worried that she was gone, out of his reach forever. He managed to find some clean clothes in the back of his closet and was out of the house in record time, only stopping long enough to pick up a huge bouquet of flowers on the way. This time of the day, he knew that she’d be at the clinic seeing patients, but he’d wait as long as it took for her to be free.
He rushed through the door of the clinic, flowers in hand, face flushed from rushing. Bernice was at the front desk, not the least bit surprised to see him. She’d known that he’d show up here eventually. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit that she couldn’t wait to tell him that Venetia was gone; it would serve him right for the way he’d treated her.
Lewis took a deep breath and approached Bernice, a little worried when he saw the look on her face. “I’m looking for Dr. Bradford. Is she here by any chance?”
“No, Dr. Zeihr, I’m sorry she’d not.” Bernice wasn’t about to make this any easier than she had to.
“Could you tell me when she’ll be back? I really need to talk to her. I need to apologize,” he said, not caring what the woman thought of him. He’d say anything to get to Venetia back.
“Well, you’re probably going to want to put those in some water,” she said, gesturing to the flowers he was carrying. “They probably still won’t last six months, but...”
Lewis didn’t let her finish her sentence but interrupted. “Six months? She’s going to be gone for six months?”
“I’m afraid so. She’s somewhere in Brazil with Doctors without Borders. She left a few weeks ago. By now, she’s somewhere in the rainforest in a little village,” Bernice said, enjoying the look of panic that came over Lewis’ face as her words sunk in.
“But that can’t be right,” he said, sinking down into a chair, completely oblivious to the other people in the room who were shooting him dirty looks, since it was clear that he was the reason their favorite doctor had left.
Lewis couldn’t believe what he’d just been told. Venetia had taken off to Brazil, something she’d talked about a lot. With a sinking feeling, he realized just how much he’d suddenly expected her to give up. If someone had asked all that of him, he would have reacted the same way. No wonder she’d left him, he’d been completely selfish, only thinking of himself and what he wanted.
“It probably didn’t help that she saw you with that other woman a few weeks ago. That seemed to be what threw her over the edge,” Bernice said, pleased to see his distress. Too bad she hadn’t thought to record this.
“What? What woman?”
“You were both dressed up, obviously going out,” Bernice said, eliciting a hiss from the people in the waiting room.
“That was my sister. I took her to a benefit a few weeks ago,” Lewis said, then realized what Venetia had thought. “Did she think...Oh, no. That was only my sister.”
That fact made Bernice feel better, but it still didn’t excuse Lewis’ behavior. The man had behaved like a selfish child. He’d hurt Venetia and, as far as she was concerned, lied to her. He’d have a hard time making her feel too bad for him.
This had just gotten worse than he’d ever imagined it could, he had to fix it. He had to talk to Venetia, surely there was some way to get in contact with her. Even in those remote villages, there was always some kind of communication for the doctors.
Lewis jumped up. “I have to talk to her. How can I get a hold of her?” he said, approaching the desk again.
“I don’t know. She calls us,” Bernice said, happily telling him the truth.
“Well, where is she? You must at least know that. I’ll go find her if I have to. Yes, that’s what I’ll do, I’ll go find her. That’s better than talking to her. I have to fix this, I love her. I don’t care about anything but being with her. Baby or no baby, I want Venetia by my side,” he said, talking to himself as much as Bernice.
Bernice wasn’t quite convinced. “What?”
“I was stupid, only thinking about what I wanted. I should have given her more time, I should have listened when she talked, and I should have been more understanding. Bernice, please help me,” he said, feeling like she was his last hope.
Bernice had finally heard enough. “The best I can do is give you the name of the village where she’d stationed. But you know she could be anywhere in the area. If someone needs her in another village, she’d go,” she said, handing him a slip of paper with the name of the village on it.
Lewis looked at the paper in his hand, his only connection to Venetia for the next six months, and he felt a burst of hope for the first time in weeks. “Thank you, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I know they weren’t for you, but please take these,” he said, shoving the flowers at her. “Someone should enjoy them, they won’t survive all the way to Brazil.” He was out the door so fast, he didn’t hear the cheer that went up in the waiting room.
Lewis soon learned that flying to Brazil and finding Venetia was going to be much harder than he’d imagined standing in the clinic waiting room. It had been no problem booking a flight to Brazil, but no one he talked to had heard of the village nor could they find it on a map. Brazil was a huge country, spanning many hundreds of miles; finding her might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Finally, he had no choice but to schedule an appointment with Doctors without Borders, they would be able to tell him how to find her. But even there he came up against a brick wall; they refused to give him any information. The woman who he met with was nice enough but of absolute no help.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Zeihr, I just can’t release any personal information. It’s our policy; you have to understand it’s beyond my control.”
This had been Lewis’ last hope. He had nowhere else to turn. Then he was suddenly stuck by an idea. “What if I sign on for a six-month posting, can you send me where she is?”
“Well, we don’t really have enough funds to send another doctor to the village, but I might be able to find you something close,” she said, not sure if that was a good idea.
“I’ll sponsor myself, I know lots of doctors do that,” he said stubbornly.
The woman sighed, knowing when she’d been beaten. It had always been their policy to allow doctors to sponsor themselves if they wanted to get specific postings. Pulling a large envelope out of her desk, she said, “You’ll have to fill this out. It might take as much as a month to get your paper work processed. I can’t do it any faster.”
“Then I’ll have to be happy with that. Thank you, I’ll get these back to you right away,” he said, getting to his feet, a glimmer of hope forming deep in his heart.
The woman hadn’t been kidding about it taking time. Long after Lewis had made arrangements for other doctors to take what patients he still had, almost three weeks in fact, he finally got a call. He’d been approved to take a post in the same village as Venetia. As it turned out, they needed another doctor in the area.
He would still have to wait another week before leaving, but now that he knew it wouldn’t be long until he saw Venetia, he could handle a short wait. He had no idea what he would say to her or how she would react when he showed up. It had been explained to him that communication was tricky as best, there was a satellite phone, but it was used only in an emergency.
On the morning his flight was to leave, he called his sister to tell her thank you for opening his eyes. She’d laughed and made one more excellent suggestion. “If I were you, I’d have a ring in my pocket when I got there. You’re going to have to do a lot of groveling and a ring always sweetens the deal. Good luck, see you in six months, hopefully with Venetia.”
So, before he boarded his flight, he made a quick stop at his favorite jewelry store. Then, ring in his pocket, he was off to Brazil and the love of his life. Praying the entire way that she’d forgive him and take him back, his life was nothing without her in it.
Chapter 7
Venetia was more than a little relieved when
they topped a rise and she saw the little village perched high on a little vista on the side of the mountain. She’d been told that it would a difficult trip to the village, but that hadn’t even begun to describe what it had been like. Even with a group of seasoned villagers who had been sent to escort her, it had taken days to travel only a few miles.
It hadn’t helped that they’d been loaded down with not only her supplies but a solar panel of all things. Somehow, her trip had been hijacked by a scientific foundation who was experimenting with solar energy in the rainforest. The stupid thing had been following her all over Brazil, from the airport all the way here to the village, hundreds of miles on just about any kind of transportation you could think of.
She couldn’t wait to meet the scientist it was being delivered to; he could have at least met them before they started the trek through the jungle. But, now with the village in sight, she felt much better. When she’d started this trip, her energy level had been high, but after three weeks of travel her reserves were all but depleted. She knew the accommodations wouldn’t be great, but at least there would be hot food and a place to sleep.
Best of all, she was home. Or at least what would be home for the next six months. That thought brought a fresh wave of nerves, but she knew that she’d be fine. She was here to help, and she wasn’t the first doctor that had been sent into this area. The villagers who had been sent to escort her the last few miles had seemed happy to see her, if a bit restrained.
But any worries about how she would be accepted were quickly proven silly when they got close to the village and the children came running to greet them. At the top of the path, a woman in ceremonial robes stood patiently as they made the last steep climb to the village. As rude as it was, when she reached the top, she turned and looked out across the valley.
The sight that greeted her was mile after mile of pristine wilderness, the likes of which she’d never seen. The only evidence of humans here, miles from any real civilization, was the trail they had just been on. It was like she’d gone back in time, to a time before humans began to destroy the planet. Here there was no smog, only the clear air that smelled of both life and death.
Coming back to reality, she realized how rude she must seem. “I’m sorry, it’s just so beautiful,” she said with a small bow to the woman who waited patiently for her to address her. “Thank you for allowing me to come here and learn from you.”
Venetia had carefully planned what she would say when she met the village leaders. Since there had been other doctors here, she knew that there was a medicine woman in the village who was really the leader and keeping her happy was important. Besides, the jungle was full of plants that modern medicine had only begun to understand, she might really learn something from her.
“You are welcome. Come, you look tired, it’s a long way from your home to ours. We’ll eat and then I’ll show you where you can sleep,” the woman said, holding out her hand. “I’m Veronica Hernandez, but you can call me Ronnie.”
Venetia took her hand, feeling an immediate connection to the woman who led her to the center of the village and a feast that had been set out there. Without hesitation, her guides dropped the gear, including the solar panel, and eagerly lined up for the food. Knowing that they would only begin once she had, she bravely stepped up to the array of food that looked as foreign to her as if she’d suddenly arrived on a different planet.
Sensing her problem, Ronnie came over and helped her fill her plate, then led her to a grouping of pillows on a colorful rug spread on the ground. She sank down wearily, then gingerly began to taste the food on her plate. By the time Ronnie and some of the other villages joined her, she’d discovered the food while strange looking was excellent. Slightly spicy but full of flavor and texture.
When she’d finished her meal, a young girl took her plate, then led her to a thatch hut where there was a pallet laid out for her. “Aunt Ronnie said you should rest for a while, then later you can meet the village. She’ll make sure your things are put in the medical hut.”
Venetia had been so tired, she’d forgotten about her gear, but since she felt that she could trust Ronnie, she laid down and was asleep in minutes. She must have slept for a few hours when a big commotion in the center of the village woke her up. Sitting up, she stretched her sore muscles; it was going to take her a little time to adjust to the physical part of her new life.
She found that she was still thirsty, but to her pleasure there was another cup of that wonderful tea she’d had at dinner sitting by the pallet. Once she’d finished it, she felt ready to face what lay outside the hut. The commotion had calmed down, but she could still hear excited voices and laughter. When she emerged from the hut, she saw the girl who had brought her there waiting outside; she had some kind of needle craft in her hands and was diligently working on it.
But when she saw Venetia, she jumped to her feet and tucked it behind her back. “I’m just learning,” she said, clearly embarrassed.
“Good for you. I’ve never been very good at making things. Maybe you can show me when you’re done, but until then it’s our secret,” she said, winking.
It must have been the right thing to say because the girl gave her a big smile and said, “You look better. It’s a difficult climb to the village for outsiders, but you’ll get used to it after a while, most do. Ronnie’s at the fire ring with the man from the foundation.” The girl, Venetia would later learn, was Ronnie’s niece, Maria.
“Well, I’d like to meet the man who made us drag that thing all the way out here,” Venetia said, feeling more like her old self. She hadn’t thought about Lewis in days; in fact, when she did think of him it didn’t hurt so much.
It seemed impossible that she could have gotten over him that quickly, but with so many new experiences occupying her mind, it had been easier lately. But she knew that deep in the night, he’d be in her thoughts again. That was always when it was hardest for her, late at night, when they would have been tangled together in bed.
Thoughts of Lewis were still fresh in her mind when she sank down onto the pillow next to Ronnie. “You look much better, but I sense a sadness in you,” Ronnie said, looking directly at Venetia. “A man would be my guess.”
Venetia was impressed with Ronnie’s insight, but she didn’t want to talk about her love life, so she only said, “Yes, same old story I suppose. I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind. Where’s that scientist I keep hearing about?” Venetia asked, trying to change the subject.
Ronnie knew that now was not the time to push Venetia, but she also knew that she’d been sent here to learn something about herself. It had come to Ronnie in her sleep the night before that she was supposed to help this woman in some way. She had no idea how, but the guides had told her to be prepared, and she always listened to the guides when they spoke to her.
“Come, I will take you to meet him. He says he can bring solar power to the village. I haven’t decided if that is good or bad, but I’m willing to let him try,” Ronnie said, as they made their way through the village, which was much larger than Venetia had first thought.
There she saw the solar panel and the man who must have been the creator of her torment on the trip here. His back was to her as he gently unwrapped it from the packing it had been strapped in to protect it from the rough terrain they’d had to cross. By the time it was unwrapped, the thing turned out to be much smaller than she’d imagined. She couldn’t see how that little panel would be able to supply much power to the village, but she also didn’t know much about solar power.
Once unwrapped, the man gently picked it up and took it into what she assumed was the largest hut in the village. It had no windows and was shaped like a barn; she imagined how dark it would be inside and shuttered. She’d found over the last few weeks that she really hated bugs, from the flying stinging ones to the huge ones that seemed to be able to scale just about any surface. Who knew what might be in the dark corners of that hut.
“That’s the
medical hut. The doctor usually sleeps there, but in your case I’ve made room for you in my hut,” Ronnie said, pointing to the large hut.
Venetia couldn’t imagine sleeping in there and wasn’t all that happy about setting up the clinic in there. “It doesn’t have any windows.” Venetia couldn’t help herself.
“No, the last doctor didn’t want any. But we can make some, it’s easy enough to do.”
“Yes, please. Lots of windows to let in the light and fresh air.”
Ronnie looked around, then called to one of the men who had been helping unwrap the solar panel and gave him what were clearly orders in a strange mix of Portuguese and an Indian dialect she’d never heard. “Done, now let’s go meet our scientist. We’re very popular in this village in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I guess you are.” Venetia laughed.
When they stepped into the hut, Venetia was pleased to see that the place was lit up with as many lamps as there were flat surfaces. No way would there be any bugs hiding in the corners with all this light. When the man who was bent over the solar panel turned around, Venetia was stunned to discover how good looking he was.
In almost direct contrast to Lewis, he was dark with dark hair and brown eyes, a perfect match for his olive skin. He was a very attractive man. “You must be Dr. Bradford. Thank you so much for providing an escort for my solar panel. I know it must have made your trip more difficult, but I just couldn’t get away to meet you.”
Venetia had no choice but to be gracious faced with such a thank you. She could say nothing else but, “It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m glad it made it in one piece.”
“I’ve been waiting forever to get this up, I can’t wait to see how it works. It’s a new design, and if it works as well as I think it will, it’s going to change the life of millions of people around the world.”
Their Miracle Baby (BWWM Romance Book 1) Page 7