Saving Dr. Ryan

by Karen Templeton

  “Gotta get my baby fix,” she said, swooping the now awake Amy Rose out of the stroller and settling her into the crook of her ample arm. Apparently Ruby knew all about Maddie’s predicament, although Maddie had felt obliged to straighten out one or two minor alterations to her story that had transpired somewhere along the grapevine.

  “So you planning on sticking around?”

  “I don’t see as I have much of a choice…what is it, Noah?” she said when he tugged on her sleeve.

  “C’n I go look at the candy and stuff?” he asked, pointing at the goodies lined up by the cash register.

  “I suppose, long as you take your sister with you.”

  Then Ivy Gardner breezed in, skirts and poncho flapping. She waved at Ruby, grinned and yelled out “Hey!” to Maddie, then helped herself to a cup of coffee from the pot still steeping behind the counter.

  “Clouding up again,” she said, clomping over to the table. She’d looped her long braids up around her ears today, which made her cheeks look even rounder than ever. As Maddie was skootching over in the booth to make room for Ivy, another woman, this one sporting a hairdo that defied both gravity and time, hustled into the diner, her arms wrapped around herself over what was clearly a beauty shop smock in a shade of purple picked expressly, Maddie decided, to set off the orange hair. Even from here, Maddie could see the turquoise eye shadow. Clearly this was somebody unafraid of strong color.

  She, too, waltzed on behind the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee, grabbed a creamer from a tub under the coffeemaker, and made her way over to the table. Noticing that it was already full up, however, she grabbed an empty chair and swung it around so she could sit at the end of the table.

  “Lord, but it’s nippy out there,” she said, ripping off the top to the creamer with long, shocking pink fingernails that Maddie bet the farm weren’t hers. “Nearly froze my butt off, just in that short walk.” Then she smiled at Maddie and extended one many-ringed hand. Maddie half expected the woman’s face to crack and fall off in pieces into her coffee. “I’m Luralene Hastings, I run the Hair We Are, two doors down. And don’t take this the wrong way, sugar, but who the hell did that to your hair?”

  Maddie blushed a little, reaching up to touch her hair as Ruby said, “Honestly, Luralene—that last dye job must’ve seeped into your brain!”

  “For your information, Ruby Kennedy, I do not dye my hair. This is just a rinse, you know, to give it some highlights. And I’m sorry, honey,” the redhead said to Maddie. “I honestly didn’t mean to be rude—”

  “No, it’s okay,” Maddie said, badly wanting to look away before her retinas melted. “It was a beauty school cut. And that was some months back. I keep meaning to get it trimmed but…”

  The other two women immediately jumped in with how Maddie’s hair looked just fine and all that, but Luralene must’ve felt her honor was at stake or something, because she ended up telling Maddie she could come in to her shop anytime and she’d have her new girl, Stacey, give her a trim for free because most of their clients liked a more formal style, you know, so Stacey didn’t get much chance to practice cutting hair worn natural like Maddie’s.

  “Oh. Okay,” she said, wondering why her children weren’t pestering her to go home so she could gracefully extricate herself from all this.

  But then the women got to talking about the Logan boys, as they called them, and Maddie’s ears perked up. Since Amy Rose was making noises about eating again, anyway, she just unbuttoned her shirt and let her have at it, which in turn provoked no end of ooohs and ahhs from the women, while Noah and Katie Grace played tag around the tables.

  Ivy got up to get another cup of coffee, returning moments later. “Never saw two people more in love than those boys’ mama and daddy,” she said, dumping three packs of sugar into her coffee. After a slurping sip, she added, “But it took close to ten years before she got pregnant with Hank….”

  Well, that led to several minutes’ worth of stories about the three brothers as boys, until Luralene leaned forward, talking out of the corner of her mouth. “But what nobody can figure out is why none of ’em are married.”

  “No problem figurin’ out why Hank’s not.” Ruby’s face got all pinched with concern. “That boy’s still grievin’, anybody can see that,” she said, then filled Maddie in about Hank’s loss.

  “And what really tore Hank up,” Ivy put in, “was that, even with him being a cop, he couldn’t do anything to help find the killer. So I guess he’s been using that motel of his like some kind of therapy. But it’s still not healthy, the way he keeps to himself.”

  “Then there’s Cal,” Luralene said, “who just can’t seem to make up his mind. Of course,” she said with a pointed look at Ivy, “I suppose there’s a reason for that.”

  Ivy huffed out a sigh. “Oh, Luralene…the boy hasn’t even laid eyes on Dawn but a couple times since she went away to college. A high school crush, is all that was. Over and done with. Anyway, he’s young yet. He’ll settle down when he’s ready.”

  After several minutes’ worth of surmising about Cal and Ivy’s daughter Dawn, the discussion finally snaked around to the only subject that interested Maddie.

  “As for the good doctor,” Ivy started out, but Luralene interrupted her with, “Which reminds me, I still haven’t gotten a bill from him from when I had, you know—” she lowered her voice again “—my little problem,” which of course prompted appropriate inquiries as to her health.

  After Luralene assured them she was fine, Ruby said, “Come to think of it, we haven’t gotten a bill yet for Jordy’s sprained wrist. I’ve been so busy, I plumb forgot about it. You suppose they got lost in the mail?”

  “Um…”

  All three heads turned to Maddie.

  “Well, I don’t know for sure, but when I happened to see into his office this morning, I noticed his desk piled to kingdom come with papers and things. So maybe he never got around to sending his bills?”

  “That could be,” Ivy said, toying with one of her braids. “He had somebody handling that for him, but she got married and moved away, and he hadn’t done a blessed thing about replacing her—”

  “Talk about keeping to himself,” Luralene put in, her tastefully arched brows drawn together. “At least Hank has an excuse. With Ryan, though, he’s just been alone for so long, it’s gotten to be a habit.”

  That got a chorus of “uh-huhs” and “that’s rights”, which Maddie—who had reached the limit of her patience, especially because her butt was getting numb from sitting so long—interrupted by asking flat out what they thought the problem was.

  Ivy blew out a stream of air. “Not that I’m one for telling tales out of school, but he’s got this notion in his head that no woman would ever be able to deal with his crazy schedule, what with him being a country doctor and all.”

  “Well,” Ruby said, her mouth all twisted up, “I don’t suppose it’s that crazy a notion. After all, Doc Patterson was divorced twice.”

  “Oh, please, Ruby,” Ivy said. “You know I thought the world of that man, but he didn’t have a lick of sense when it came to picking women. In any case, Ryan didn’t always feel that way. True, he didn’t have the girls hanging off him in high school like his brothers did, but he dated Suzanne Potts for years—”

  “Potts,” Maddie said, her brow crinkled. “As in, don’t-eat-that-tuna-casserole Potts?”

  All three ladies burst out laughing. “Suzanne is Arliss’s daughter,” Ivy said. “Sweet girl, actually. But clueless, if you ask me. It’s not like she didn’t know what she was getting into long before she and Ryan got engaged, seeing as Doc Patterson had been the family doctor for years. And I guess things were okay as long as Ryan was just sharing the practice. Unfortunately, maybe three months or so before the wedding, Doc Patterson suddenly passed on, and the whole shebang fell into Ryan’s lap. Didn’t seem to bother him any—he’d always expected to take over when Doc retired, anyway—but Suzanne was another story. Didn’t
help it was that spring we had that late outbreak of flu, you remember?” she said to Luralene and Ruby, who both nodded. “Ryan was kept hopping for two weeks. And to hear Suzanne’s mama tell it, I guess Suzanne felt she’d always come second in Ryan’s life.” Ivy shrugged. “So she called off the wedding.”

  Maddie waited out the spurt of anger, then asked, “Is she still around?”

  “Oh, no. She moved to Oklahoma City shortly after they broke up, got married to somebody else. I don’t think she’s been back to visit her folks but two or three times since she left.”

  “And the doctor doesn’t date at all?”

  “He did some, after Suzanne left. But not seriously. And then he just…gave up.”

  From the back, the phone rang, followed immediately by Jordy’s bellow out to Ruby that it was for her. Then Luralene looked at her watch and let out a squawk, jumping up from the table. “I plumb forgot I had a three o’clock! Eunice’ll never let me hear the end of it if I’m late! Nice meeting you, Maddie!” she said, yelling over her shoulder on her way out for Maddie to drop in anytime for that trim.

  Thinking she really needed to get going as well, Maddie glanced over at the children, who were lying across the stools on their stomachs and spinning themselves silly, only to jump slightly when Ivy, who’d switched to the other side of the booth, touched her wrist.

  “There’s something else,” the older woman said when Maddie looked over. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, because Ryan doesn’t know I know…” She backed up a little, squinting at Maddie. “You promise not to breathe a word of this to anybody?”

  Well, for pity’s sake—who would she tell? “I promise.”

  Apparently satisfied, Ivy leaned closer. “See, I know there’s a couple other doctors who’re wanting to set up a centralized clinic for the area. You know, so they could spell each other sometimes, maybe split the salary of two nurses between them? They’ve approached Ryan I don’t know how many times in the past year about going in with them, but he’s not having any of it.”

  Maddie frowned. “Why?”

  Ivy shrugged. “Damned if I know.”

  “But if anybody needs a partner, it’s him!”

  Ivy’s brows lifted. Maddie flushed.

  “In his practice, I mean,” she said, even though, yes, she knew what Ivy was thinking, that Ryan needed a partner on a much more personal level as well.

  But what did this have to do with her?

  Lucky for her, the kids started up with the afternoon crankies right about then, so she had her excuse to leave before the conversation got any more complicated. Although, by the time she got home and got the youngest two down for their naps, her thoughts, which had been swirling around inside her head like the fake snow inside a glass globe, suddenly settled into place.

  Whatever leftover feelings Dr. Logan had for his fiancée, or how he chose to handle his private life, were none of her business. She was more than done with the foolishness of trying to change a man—even if it weren’t way too soon after Jimmy to even be entertaining the idea of becoming interested in somebody else. But the fact of the matter was, Dr. Logan needed someone to help him straighten out his paperwork—and maybe make sure he got a decent meal every now and again—and she needed to not only work off her medical bills, but to keep a roof over her babies’ heads until such time as she could make her own way….

  Well, the solution was obvious, wasn’t it?

  It was nearly seven o’clock by the time Ryan finally got back to the house. No sooner had he left Sherman at the hospital—as Ryan had hoped, the middle-aged, potbellied lawyer had had more of a fright than an attack, although now maybe he’d actually start doing something about losing that extra forty pounds he was hauling around—than he’d gotten a call from the high school to check out three football players who’d gotten a little overenthusiastic in their tackling. The boys were banged up some, but otherwise fine…and God willing, nobody would need Ryan until tomorrow morning. A full night’s sleep would be a godsend. Not that he was holding his breath.

  Speaking of holding his breath—the instant he walked through the door, his stomach sat up and begged. Fried chicken, if he wasn’t mistaken. Some kind of baking, too. Then he heard the laughter. Maddie’s, primarily, but the kids’ were giggling their heads off about something as well.

  Ryan shut his eyes, as if he could shut out the sound any more than he could the enticing scent, tempted to think Not fair. Still, he yanked off his muddy boots—years of his mother’s fussing about tracking up the house had, in Ryan’s case, taken hold, although the same couldn’t be said for his brothers—and set them on the mat by the front door, then padded in his stockinged feet to the kitchen.

  Somehow, at this moment, having his solitude invaded didn’t seem so bad.

  A pair of small heads, one blond, one dark, were bent over his kitchen table, intent on coloring what looked like those placemats with the maps of Oklahoma on them that Ruby gave out to her younger customers. The baby was in her swing, no-color eyes big as all get out, calmly taking it all in. And Maddie was flitting from place to place in the kitchen, doing…cooking things.

  Katie looked up and saw him, breaking into an instant, dimpled smile that came damn close to knocking him for a loop. “Look, Dokker Rine!” she said in a scratchy voice reminiscent of her mother’s. The child held up her map, which was covered top to bottom with bright, enthusiastic scribbles. “I drawed!”

  “You sure did, honey.” Ryan took the map from her to get a better look, tucking down the corners of his mouth in mock seriousness as he studied it, then returned it to her with an approving nod, palming her silky head. “Wish I could draw like that.”

  Ryan glanced over at Noah, who was painstakingly coloring within the lines, his tongue stuck out in concentration. The boy’s slender fingers clutched an orange crayon so tightly, Ryan half expected it to snap.

  “Hey, grasshopper—whatcha got there?”

  “Nothin’.” The boy angled his body over the paper, his brow tightly knit. “You can’t see.”

  Brows lifted in question, Ryan looked over at Maddie, who’d stopped her fluttering about to watch; she met his gaze for a second, if that, only to sigh and lift one shoulder in response. Close enough to Noah to touch him, she reached out, stroked his hair.

  “Go on, now,” she said, her voice barely audible over the sound of the chicken sputtering and sizzling on the stove behind her. “Show the doctor what a good job you’re doing.”

  The boy’s shoulders tensed; clamping down on the crayon even harder, he shook his head.

  There were shadows in Maddie’s eyes when she returned her gaze to Ryan’s, shadows which didn’t quite vanish when she smiled.

  “Well. Good. You’re back. I timed it just right, then,” she said, swiping her hair out of her eyes with her wrist. “The kids already ate, but I figured you wouldn’t mind something that didn’t come out of a casserole dish for a change. So why don’t you go on ahead and get washed up, dinner’ll be in about ten minutes. And afterward, we can discuss my idea.”

  Uh-oh. “Idea?”

  Her smile was just the slightest bit unsteady. “Uh-huh. And this one makes a lot more sense than the first one did.”

  He could only hope.

  He’d eaten four pieces of chicken. No, make that five. And mashed potatoes with gravy and fresh steamed broccoli—which actually wasn’t all that bad, the way Maddie cooked it—and biscuits. Oh, sweet merciful heaven, the woman could make biscuits. Then she put the older two to bed, saying he’d need the time to let his dinner settle before the cherry pie.

  Cherry pie?

  They’d managed to redistribute a lot of the offerings from the week before, including most of the desserts, but there hadn’t been a cherry pie among them. And Ryan was quite partial to cherry pie.

  Quite partial.

  Maddie came back to the kitchen, met his gaze, then let out a sigh. “I’m real sorry about the way Noah acted before din
ner. When you tried to see what he was coloring? That last year or so, Jimmy…well, he seemed to forget a lot that Noah was just a little boy. He got on his case about a lot of things he shouldn’t’ve. It’s made Noah real sensitive, afraid of being criticized, you know? He didn’t mean to be rude—”

  “Maddie,” Ryan said quietly, “it’s okay. Little guy’s been through a lot.” He felt his mouth twitch. “And I don’t offend easily, believe me.”

  She smiled a little at that, then stood there fiddling with her hands, as if she wasn’t sure what came next.

  Ryan sat back in his chair, his hands braced on the edge of the table. “Been a long time since I had a meal like that in my own kitchen. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal like that in my own kitchen.”

  Her smile loosened up some. “So it was okay?”

  “A lot more than okay, Maddie. I may not be able to move for a week. Where’d you learn to cook like that?”

  A cloud flitted across her eyes before she went to clear the plates. “From my last foster mother. Grace Idlewild…no, no—it’s okay, I’ve got it,” she said when Ryan tried to help her. “Anyway, Grace figured learning how to cook would give me something to do other than sit around and mope all day.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Not at first. Until she told me if I wanted to eat, I’d have to cook. So I learned. It’s all just plain home-cooking, though.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.”

  Her gaze flicked to his. “I was afraid you’d maybe compare me to your mother or something.”

  “My mother?” He shook his head. “Not a chance. Mama was a musician—she taught piano and violin—not a domestic. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Ethel, our housekeeper, no telling what we would have eaten.”