by Gina Wilkins
“Maybe she’s eating a little better. Not a lot.”
Teasing forgotten, Meagan and Madison shared a glance in response to their mother’s worried expression. Their mom was reluctant to admit that her own mother was failing rather quickly from congestive heart failure and other ailments.
The woman Meagan and Madison had always known as “Meemaw” was in her eighties, having been somewhat older than average when her only child was born. A lifetime of self-neglect had taken its toll on her health; their grandmother had always been the type to take care of everyone but herself, Meagan thought with a little wince. Apparently, it was a genetic trait. Meagan would have to do better about making sure she took time for her own health needs from now on.
As should her mom, she thought, looking in concern at her overextended parent. Mom was too thin, she thought, studying the slender frame outlined by her mother’s casual outfit of jeans and a Doctor Who T-shirt Mitch had given her as a joke. Their mom loved that silly T-shirt and wore it all the time around the house. But was it a bit looser on her today than it had been a few weeks earlier?
“You have to take care of yourself, too, Mom. Between your part-time job and serving as full-time caregiver for Meemaw, you’re wearing yourself out. Not to mention the way you’ve been fretting about me since my surgery, despite my assurances that I’m healing rapidly. I wish you’d let us hire someone to help you.”
All three siblings had offered to pitch in to hire round-the-clock help for their mother and grandmother. Their late father had left his widow in decent financial shape, but she still worked ten hours a week keeping books for a little insurance office owned by a longtime friend. Having worked as a CPA her entire adult life, she missed having a job outside the home, she’d admitted. Meemaw’s health care plan paid for someone to come in a few hours a week—long enough for her daughter to escape to her job for those few hours—but anything more than that would have to come out-of-pocket, an expense frugal LaDonna wasn’t sure she could justify.
As she always did, their mother shook her head firmly. “All of you are still paying off medical school loans. You need your money for your own futures. Meemaw and I are getting along fine for now.”
“I paid off my loans last year,” Meagan reminded her. She made a healthy salary as a surgeon in the teaching hospital, as her mother was well aware. She could probably make even more in private practice, but she enjoyed teaching and she earned enough for her needs and then some.
“Yes, but now you have a house payment.”
“Which I can afford. It isn’t as if I bought a mansion.”
“I know, dear, but you should put some money away for your retirement. It gets here before you know it. And you should take some time to travel and have a little fun while you’re still young. You’ve worked so hard. You deserve a few luxuries. You all do. I’m so proud of my kids.”
As if on cue, there was a thump on the kitchen door. Without waiting for a response, Mitchell entered in his usual rush, tossing his keys on the kitchen counter with a noisy clatter and leaning over to kiss his mother with a resounding smack. “Hi, Mom. Coffee still hot? You saved me some cake, right?”
Delighted, she rose immediately from her chair. “Of course I did. I’m so glad you could make the time to stop by.” She had called him to tell him his sisters were there and to see if he could join them for a brief visit. “It’s so nice to have all my kids home at one time for a change.”
Grinning at his sisters, Mitch dropped into an empty chair at the table. “When you said there was cake, I knew I’d better get here fast or these vultures would gobble it all up. I just happened to have a couple free hours this afternoon, though I have to get back to the hospital by five.”
“Then we’ll enjoy you while we have you,” his adoring mother replied, setting a cup of coffee and a huge slice of german chocolate cake in front of him.
“What’s up with you two?” Mitch asked his sisters, pushing his perpetually-shaggy dark blond hair out of his face as he picked up his fork.
“Meagan’s got a new boyfriend,” Madison replied immediately with a mischievous smirk. “He’s a single dad, so she could end up a stepmom.”
“Madison!”
Mitch eyed Meagan’s annoyed expression. “A single dad? Thought that was against your rules, sis.”
“Rules go out the window when ‘twue wuv’ comes in,” Madison teased.
Exhaling heavily, Meagan rose to refill her coffee cup. “Honestly, Mom, you spoiled your baby terribly. She’s never going to grow up.”
“Not if I can help it,” Madison agreed with a laugh. “But I won’t tease you any more about Seth today. Mom’s getting that you’re-going-into-time-out-young-lady look.”
“And you are, too, if you don’t stop harassing your sister,” their mother replied with an exaggerated sternness that didn’t fool any of them.
Enjoying the rare interlude with her family, despite her younger sister’s teasing, Meagan returned to the table and firmly changed the subject. Still, thoughts of her upcoming date with Seth hovered at the back of her mind. She knew she would ask herself later, when she was alone, if she had made a mistake in agreeing to go out with her intriguing neighbor despite her long-standing dating rules.
Chapter Four
On the following Tuesday afternoon, Seth entered his kitchen from the garage, setting down his car keys and sniffing the air appreciatively. “Smells delicious. Spaghetti sauce?”
“The sauce is simmering and the garlic bread’s wrapped in foil in the warming oven. Salad’s in the fridge. All you have to do is boil the pasta,” Nina assured him with a smile as she emerged from the open doorway of the laundry room attached to the kitchen, her arms filled with fluffy towels folded straight from the dryer.
The housekeeper’s gray hair was in the usual loose bun at the back of her head, and her chubby figure was encased in dark stretch pants with a loose, floral polyester shirt. Seth had rarely seen her wear any other style. She was in her late sixties, but she looked and acted younger. Though a few pounds overweight and on medication for high blood pressure, she was in pretty good shape overall, bustling around the house with almost endless energy during the hours she worked for him, keeping his household running like a well-oiled machine.
“That sounds delicious. Thanks.”
“You’re home early.”
Because Alice was old enough to be on her own for an hour or so, Nina was usually either already gone or on her way out when Seth arrived home unless they’d arranged for her to stay with Alice when he had plans that kept him out late. Occasionally she ate dinner with him and Alice, but Nina had a busy calendar. Most of her evenings were filled with activities, from bingo to church activities to her bowling league. His sixty-something widowed housekeeper had a much more active social life than he did, Seth thought wryly.
“I had an appointment canceled at the last minute, so I sneaked out while I had the chance. Where’s Alice?”
“She’s out in the backyard with that hound of hers, trying to teach it tricks. I wish her luck. That mutt’s got a head harder than a concrete wall.”
Seth chuckled. “He does at that.”
Still, even after just one obedience class, he thought he was seeing a little improvement in Waldo’s behavior. Or was he being too much of an optimist?
“I’m just going to run these towels upstairs and then I’m done for the day. Unless you want me to cook the pasta for you before I leave? Won’t take me but a few minutes.”
“No, thanks. I’m perfectly capable of boiling pasta. I know this is your bingo night.”
Smiling, Nina left the kitchen, humming some old gospel song under her breath, as she was prone to do. He really was fond of Nina, Seth thought, setting his briefcase on the kitchen table. She was a treasured member of his small family.
He shrugged out of his suit coat, slung it over the back of a chair and opened the fridge. He was thirsty. He’d have a quick sip of the fresh-brewed iced tea Nina always
kept on hand, then head upstairs to change before cooking the pasta.
“Hi, Dad.” A radiant smile beaming from amidst her wind-tossed curls, Alice burst through the back door into the kitchen. “I’ve been walking Waldo on the leash. He’s doing a lot better. He sits almost every time I tell him to.”
“Just keep working with him, he’ll get there.”
“I know. He really is smart.”
“If you say so,” he teased, ruffling her already-tousled hair.
“Aw, Dad. You know he—”
A muffled shriek and a heavy thump from another part of the house interrupted Alice’s words. Seth set the tea glass down so abruptly that liquid splashed on the counter, but he didn’t linger to clean it up. He dashed out of the kitchen toward the foyer stairway.
His heart almost stopped in response to the sight that greeted him there.
Nina lay at the bottom of the stairs, one leg twisted horribly beneath her, her face ashen and damp with the tears streaming from her eyes. “Oh, Seth, I—”
“Don’t try to talk,” he urged, kneeling beside her and taking her hand. He didn’t want to move away from her even long enough to grab a phone. “Alice, call 9-1-1.”
Looking shaken, his daughter dashed for the closest telephone. Alice had been trained from an early age how to make emergency calls for help, Seth reminded himself, folding both his hands around Nina’s icy one.
“I fell,” Nina explained unnecessarily through trembling lips, her voice a choked, pain-ridden whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
He couldn’t imagine why she was apologizing. He hoped she wasn’t going into shock. Frustrated by his sense of almost overwhelming helplessness, he tried to keep his voice calm and soothing. “Just lie still, Nina. Alice is calling an ambulance. We’re going to take very good care of you, you hear?”
She closed her eyes. Her hand was so cold and limp in his that it scared him for a minute, but he could hear her ragged breathing. She looked so uncomfortable in the twisted position, but he was terrified to try to move her. What if she had a spinal injury or something? He had very little experience with emergency first aid.
“The ambulance is on the way,” Alice reported breathlessly when she returned, her young face bleached of color. “Is she going to be okay, Daddy?”
“She’ll be fine,” he said firmly, hoping to reassure Alice and Nina—and himself, as well.
Nina groaned softly without opening her eyes. He wasn’t even sure she’d heard him.
The doorbell rang only a couple of minutes later. It seemed too soon for the ambulance to have arrived, he thought with a frown. Nor had he heard a siren.
Alice rushed to open the door. “Meagan,” Seth heard her say, to his surprise. “Nina’s over here, at the foot of the stairs.”
He felt the frown he was already wearing deepen. Alice had called Meagan? He wasn’t sure why. They needed paramedics, not a friendly neighbor.
Looking more composed than any of them, Meagan knelt at Nina’s other side, giving Seth a little nod of greeting as she did so. Leaning over the housekeeper, she spoke quietly, her voice reassuringly steady. “Nina? Can you hear me?”
Her eyes still closed, Nina whispered, “Yes.”
Doing a quick visual assessment of the housekeeper’s position, Meagan asked, “Will you open your eyes for me?”
Maybe Meagan had dealt with this sort of thing before, Seth thought, finding some measure of comfort in her composure. She seemed to have some idea of what she was doing—which was more than he could say for himself.
“I hurt.” Nina’s broken whimper was heartbreaking. Seth squeezed her hand gently again, wanting to remind her that he was there for her.
Though her expression held sympathy, Meagan continued to speak firmly. “I know you do, but I’d like you to open your eyes for just a minute. Did you hit your head?”
Her face pinched and dazed, Nina responded to the resolute tone. Still clinging to Seth, she squinted up at Meagan. “I—I don’t think so. My leg.”
Meagan held Nina’s other wrist now, her fingers placed purposefully on the older woman’s pulse. Definitely knew what she was doing, Seth concluded, rapidly adjusting his previous impressions of her. For some reason he couldn’t explain, he’d thought of her as an office worker at the hospital. Now he guessed RN. It seemed odd now that they’d never talked about her work.
“Yes, I can see you’ve broken your right leg.” Meagan ran a hand lightly down Nina’s side and hip, her fingertips skimming the twisted leg through the fabric stretched over it. “Lie very still and I’ll try to ease you into a little more comfortable position while we wait for the ambulance, okay? I don’t want to move you much, but it must hurt twisted under you this way.”
“Uh—should you move her at all?” Seth asked in concern. “I mean—”
Meagan gave him a rather quizzical look, but replied lightly, “I’m only going to shift her position a very little. It will take some of the pressure off her hip and knee and maybe ease her discomfort a little. Let her keep holding your hand. Do you understand, Nina? Squeeze Seth’s hand if you need to. I don’t want you to try to move at all, just let me make the adjustments. Tell me if I do anything at all that causes you more pain.”
Biting back another protest, Seth watched as Meagan carefully and competently eased the older woman into a somewhat less twisted position. And then he blinked in bemusement when she drew a stethoscope out of the canvas bag she’d set on the floor when she’d knelt down. He’d thought it was a purse.
“Does your blood pressure normally run high, Nina?”
“Y-yes. A little.”
“All right. Try to breath naturally. I hear the ambulance approaching. You’ll be at the hospital soon and we can get you all patched up. You’re going to be fine, okay?”
“Thank you, Dr. Baker,” Nina whispered. She had always called her Meagan within Seth’s hearing before, obviously on invitation to do so, but she seemed to take comfort from the more formal title now. “You’re welcome.”
Seth glanced at Alice, who crouched nearby, rocking slightly to calm herself as they waited for help. She didn’t look at all surprised to hear Nina call Meagan doctor. Apparently, he was the only one who hadn’t known.
The wail of the distant, but approaching siren was growing louder when he regained his voice. “You’re a doctor,” he said rather stupidly, his mind reeling from the series of shocks.
Glancing up from her ongoing examination of his injured housekeeper, Meagan returned his look with a slight frown of confusion. “I’m a surgeon. I thought—surely you knew that?”
“No, I—” He pushed a hand through his hair, trying to get a grip on his rattled emotions. “I didn’t know. Alice told me you worked at RCMC, but I thought—well, I guess I assumed you worked in the administrative offices.”
“Oh.”
He couldn’t tell from either her tone or her expression whether she was insulted by his assumption. Had it been a sexist conjecture on his part? He didn’t believe that. He had simply misinterpreted the few bits of information he’d been given about her. Apparently his daughter had known Meagan was a doctor, since she’d called her to come assist Nina. He could think of no reason for Alice to deliberately withhold the information, so she must have assumed, like Meagan, that he had already known somehow.
He was hazily aware that his perception of Meagan had just shifted, but he didn’t allow himself to analyze the change just then. He had to make sure Nina was tended to, and he heard the ambulance pulling into the driveway at that moment. Alice had the front door open and was out on the porch, waving frantically at the paramedics.
After greeting the EMTs—both of whom seemed to recognize her, Seth realized—Meagan pulled Seth aside while the medics stabilized their patient for the ride to the hospital.
“I’ll ride in the ambulance with Nina,” Meagan offered. “She seems to be doing fairly well, but I’m a little concerned about her blood pressure. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” she added q
uickly in response to whatever she saw in his expression. “And these guys certainly know what they’re doing. I just want to monitor her during the ride.”
He nodded. “Alice and I will follow in my car.”
“Drive safely,” she warned him. “It will take a while for her to be processed and admitted. I’ll find you in the emergency waiting room as soon as I have news for you. Is there someone you should call for her? A family member?”
“Her daughter lives in Mississippi. I’ll call her now. Nina doesn’t have any other family in this area that I’m aware of.”
“Her purse!” Alice dashed out of the entryway, returning moments later with a big, red leather bag. “I bet her insurance cards and everything are in here.”
“Good thinking, Alice. We’ll need those.”
A little color returned to his daughter’s pale cheeks in response to Meagan’s praise, Seth noted before he turned to Meagan again. “Get her the best help available,” he urged. “Don’t worry about costs, we’ll take care of that.”
Meagan nodded. “Don’t worry, Nina will get the best of care.”
“We’re going to move her to the gurney, Dr. Baker,” one of the paramedics announced, having secured the housekeeper to a backboard.
Slinging the strap of Nina’s bag over her shoulder and tucking her own beneath the same arm, Meagan nodded and moved toward them, patting Alice’s shoulder with her free hand as she passed the girl. “You’ve been very helpful, Alice. I’m proud of you for staying so calm.”
“I don’t feel calm,” Alice said to Seth, leaning against him for a moment. “I’m so scared for Nina.”
He wrapped his arms around her in a bracing hug, needing the contact, himself. “Me, too, honey. But she’s getting help now. She’ll be okay.”
Alice nodded against his chest. “Meagan will take care of her.”
“Yes,” Seth murmured, watching Meagan follow the others out the front door toward the waiting ambulance. “She will.”