“His wife was with him.”
Any woman who helped kidnap another woman’s children was lower than dirt.
Liz started toward her house. She was determined not to run, but she could feel her feet moving faster and faster. Wild thoughts whipped through her mind—thoughts of her children whisked away to a foreign country, held prisoners on a mountain estate patrolled by armed guards. She told herself not to be foolish. David was selfish and thoughtless, not crazy. But the nightmarish images wouldn’t leave her mind. Then, when she was halfway there, she saw Matt’s station wagon turn the corner at Hannah’s Drugs.
Liz started running.
All remembrance of their differences went out of her mind. Now everything would be all right. “David has kidnapped the children,” she cried. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him with all the hunger of seven lonely, desperate days.
She’d never thought anything could feel so wonderful, so right as Matt’s arms around her. The feel of his body pressed tightly against hers, of his lips kissing her hungrily, were like a safe haven. She didn’t have to stand alone anymore, didn’t have to be afraid. He still loved her.
“He didn’t kidnap them. He took them on a picnic.”
The jolting sound of Marjorie’s voice reminded Liz that David had her children.
“Where did he take them?” Matt said. He turned to face Marjorie, but he kept a satisfyingly firm hold on Liz.
“I didn’t ask, but he said Liz knew he was coming.”
“He lied,” Liz said to Matt. “I mean I invited him to come see the kids, but he said he’d have to let me know. I’d never let him take my kids without me being with them. We’ve got to find him.”
“I’m sorry,” Marjorie said, “but Rebecca was so set on going I figured it was all right. She said he looked just like the picture you gave her.”
Realizing her children wouldn’t recognize their own father, Liz had given them a picture of David. Rebecca had taken it to her room, had started asking questions about her father several times a day. She asked most often about the new family he might have with his new wife. Rebecca had decided she, too, wanted more family. Liz wouldn’t put it past her daughter to have asked David and his wife what they were going to do about it within thirty minutes of meeting them.
“There are dozens of places where they could go for a picnic,” Marjorie said. “It would take you the whole weekend to check them all.”
“Where’s he staying?” Liz asked. “He probably asked directions from somebody at the motel.”
“He didn’t say,” Marjorie said.
“We can call all the motels in the area,” Matt said. “There aren’t that many.”
“I’ll help,” Marjorie said.
They called all the motels within fifty miles, but none of them had a David Rawlins registered.
“I told you he took my children,” Liz said. Her fear had grown as motel after motel proved to be a dead end. “He just drove in, picked them up and drove away again.”
“Did they take any clothes?” Matt asked.
“Why should he? He can buy them anything they need.”
“Why don’t you look?”
Liz didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of that herself. Only one drawer in each room had been disturbed. Each child had taken a bathing suit.
“It looks like they really did go on a picnic,” Matt said. “They’ll probably come rolling up about dinnertime.”
Liz was feeling a little less frantic, even a little embarrassed, but she had to know her children were all right.
“He said something about taking them out to dinner,” Marjorie said.
“Then why can’t we find him at a motel?” Liz demanded. “If he weren’t such a snob, he’d have stayed at the hotel.”
Their gazes locked. None of them had thought to check with the old Civil War hotel down the street.
“He sure is staying here,” the clerk said. “Booked the Robert E. Lee suite for three nights.”
“Did he say anything about going on a picnic?”
“Yeah. He asked directions to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I told him it was too far away. I talked him into going to the battlefield outside of Newmarket”
Liz turned to Matt. “That’s only fifteen miles from here.”
“You want to go?”
“I have to.”
As soon as they were in the car, Matt turned to Liz. “I’ll help you find David on one condition.”
“What?”
“You’ve got to stop fighting him and work out some terms. The kids are obviously not afraid of him, or they wouldn’t have left Marjorie’s. He has a right, legal and moral.”
“I know. That’s why I called him, why I gave Rebecca his picture. I’m just afraid he doesn’t really care about them. He never did before.”
“People change. I did. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t much of a concession. She didn’t really have a choice. But as her fear for her children subsided, her worry over what Matt had done resurfaced. Why hadn’t he come back to Iron Springs sooner? Why had he gone to Richmond?
“I missed you,” Matt said as he started the station wagon and backed out of the driveway.
Liz’s head snapped around until she was facing him. He was looking both ways before he backed out into Iron Springs’s nearly always empty street. For the first time, she wasn’t overwhelmed with how handsome he was or his great body. The only really important fact at this moment was that he was there, next to her, that they were looking for her children together.
“I missed you, too.”
“They offered me the job,” Matt said as he pulled out onto the road. “It’s even better than I thought. In addition to everything Georgia told me, they’ll help me set up my own practice. With their connections, I can go almost anywhere in the country I want. It’s a dream job.”
Liz held her breath. He hadn’t said anything about her or the kids going with him. Surely he hadn’t changed his mind. She didn’t care if she had to join two country clubs and learn to make polite conversation with all the mothers at the most exclusive school in town, please, God, don’t let him have changed his mind.
“I turned it down.”
“Why?” The word came out almost like a squeak. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. That job was everything he’d ever wanted, virtually handed to him, and he had turned it down.
“Like I said, I missed you. And the kids. And Iron Springs. No job is worth it if I have to do without all of you.”
She wanted to speak, to say something to express even a fraction of the emotion that was choking her, but she couldn’t. Her willingness to compromise, to follow him, seemed insignificant by comparison.
“But that wasn’t the only reason I turned it down,” Matt said as they headed out of town and up the grade over the mountain. “I’ve been wanting to become rich and famous for all the wrong reasons. You were right. I should have gotten over what happened in Gull’s Landing long ago. Maybe I did. It just took you and the kids to show me. I’ve been depending on money to give me a sense of security. I’ve also been depending on keeping my distance to keep me from being hurt.
“I was just as big a coward as I accused you of being. I can’t cure everybody. It’s going to hurt when I fail, but getting close to people like Josh gives meaning to my work. I changed my mind about what I want to do.”
“You can’t give up your dream because of me,” Liz said. “I won’t let you. I know I’ve been selfish and stubborn and cowardly, but I’d never make you give up something that means so much to you. You can’t stay in Iron Springs just because of me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sadie told me about the clinic being moved.”
“I talked them out of it. In fact, with Dr. Kennedy’s retirement, they’re going to expand it, send us another doctor.”
“Is that what you were doing in Richmond?”
“Part of it.”
“And the rest?”
“I’ve decided I want to become a pediatric surgeon. I was seeing what I can arrange. They’re thinking about letting me set up a unit at the hospital in Harrisonburg. I’ll stay in Iron Springs until they decide.”
“Matt, why are you doing this? You could start a unit nearly anywhere in the country. Why should you choose Harrisonburg?”
“I realized I’ve been trying to belong my whole life. I never did until I was sent to a place I hated before I ever set eyes on it. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I belong here. Maybe my mother came from a place like this. Or my father. I don’t know. I just know I discovered security isn’t about money or fame. It’s being connected to people, putting down roots, belonging somewhere.”
They reached the top of the grade and started down the other side. Liz realized she didn’t remember a single curve on the way up. Matt hadn’t been tense. He’d finally gotten used to the roads. Maybe he really did belong. He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
“I want to marry you, Elizabeth Rawlins. I want to be your husband, your lover and your friend. I know I have to share Ben and Rebecca with their real father, but I feel like we’re a family already.”
Liz wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him senseless. Instead, she had to watch through her tears as he negotiated one hairpin curve after another. But she could wait. There would be ten miles of easy driving to hang on to his arm while she told him how wrong she’d been, that she would follow him anywhere, convince him she would never again put any conditions on her love.
But after all that, if he still wanted to stay in the valley... well, she supposed she’d just have to put up with a cup of life that insisted upon running over.
By the time they reached the battlefield park, Liz was so happy she would have given David anything he wanted. Except her children. They both came running the minute they spotted Matt. Liz was certain they loved her best of all, but today she had to take second place to Matt. Today she didn’t mind.
They both jumped on him, calling his name, wanting to know where he’d been. It made Liz tear up to see how much they’d missed him. They didn’t stop until he’d picked them both up.
“I thought you were never coming back.” Rebecca said when she was securely settled in his left arm.
“Come play with us,” Ben said. “Daddy can’t play kick ball as good as you.”
“That’s because you haven’t dragged him outside every night for the past two months,” Matt said. “Give him time. He’ll learn.”
“Who is that man?”
Liz turned as David spoke. Her breath caught in her throat as, for the first time in three years, she faced the man who’d been her husband. Her first reaction was to wonder how she could have been married to a man who seemed like such a stranger to her now. Her second impression was that he seemed even more handsome than she remembered.
“Hello, David.”
“I want to know who that man is.”
He was jealous. If he hadn’t been such a louse, she could have almost felt sorry for him. “This is Matt Dennis,” she said, “the doctor at our clinic.”
Matt let the kids slide out of his arms. “They’re a great pair,” Matt said as he shook hands with David. “I’m going to marry their mother, so I imagine I’ll be seeing a lot of them.”
“Ben hasn’t stopped talking about you since he got in the car,” the woman said.
“I’d like you to meet my wife, Phyllis,” David said belatedly, still looking stunned.
Everyone shook hands.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” Phyllis said.
Liz didn’t know how to respond in the awkward silence that followed. She could tell from Phyllis’s tone that none of it had been complimentary.
“Can we have a bigger family now?” Rebecca asked.
Matt picked Rebecca up and tossed her in the air. “If I find any babies lying around the hospital, I’ll be sure to bring one home for you.”
“I want one, too,” Ben said.
“Babies can’t play kick ball,” Matt warned.
“Then I don’t want one,” Ben replied.
Matt took the kids by their hands. “Why don’t you two come with me and Phyllis, and I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing while I’ve been gone?”
“What about Mama and Daddy?” Rebecca asked.
“They’ll be along in a minute.”
Liz watched them walk away, each child holding one of Matt’s hands, both talking at once, neither listening to what the other was saying. Phyllis followed behind, throwing irritated glances over her shoulder at her husband.
“Are you really going to marry him?” David asked.
“Yes.”
“He can’t have any ambition if he means to stay in a place like this. He’ll never make any money. Don’t think I’m going to support you as well as the kids.”
Liz bit her tongue. “I don’t want your money, David. I never did.”
“Well, I’m going to send it. And I want an accounting every month.”
Liz vowed to herself that she’d never touch David’s money. Every penny would go into a college fund.
“Now let’s talk about some regular visits.”
Liz knew David hadn’t changed, that he would never be able to give his children the love and understanding they needed. But that wasn’t such a problem anymore. They had Matt.
And so did she.
“I’m glad you let the children stay with David,” Matt said to Liz as he brought the station wagon to a halt in the driveway. He was relieved she had made her peace with David. He was also looking forward to a little time alone with her.
“There wouldn’t have been any point in bringing them all back here,” Liz answered. “Both of them ignore David when you’re around.”
“I know you’re still unsure about him. But for their sakes, you’ve got to do everything you can to help them build a good relationship with their father.”
“You’re very strong on this father relationship, aren’t you?”
“I intend to be the best stepfather possible. But no matter how much they love me, I’ll never be their real father. There’s something only he can give them. I can’t explain it, but I know it’s true.”
“Your love may not be enough for them, but it’s more than enough for me,” Liz said as she leaned over and kissed him. “I’m very glad you came back. It saved me having to find a baby-sitter while I went looking for you.”
A thrill of satisfaction raced through Matt. “You’d have come after me?”
“I spent days phoning half the medical establishments in Richmond and Charlottesville. I don’t know your friends, Matt. I have no idea where you go when you leave Iron Springs. You might as well have disappeared off the face of the earth. Don’t ever do that again.”
She came into his arms. They didn’t have a lot of room in the front seat of the station wagon, but he couldn’t wait long enough for them to go inside the house.
“I had a terrible time while you were gone,” Liz said once she was comfortably settled in his arms. “I was miserable, cranky, no good for anybody. Even Salome missed you.”
“I’m not marrying Salome.”
“I’m glad. She’s discovered a new brand of lipstick that actually glows in the dark. I don’t think you’ll like it.”
Matt laughed. It felt good to be home. Incredibly, Salome and her lipstick were part of it. But the best part was right here in his arms, and that’s where he meant for Liz to stay.
A knocking on the window disturbed them in the beginning of a very satisfactory kiss. He looked up to see Marjorie peering in at them. It was obvious she wasn’t going to go away. Liz sat up and rolled down the window.
“Did you find the kids okay?”
“David had taken them to the Newmarket battlefield. They’ll be back for supper.”
“Why don’t you bring them over to my house?”
“I couldn’t do that. There’s s
ix of us.”
“That’s no problem. After all, it’ll be sort of an engagement dinner, won’t it?”
Matt and Liz both stared at Marjorie.
“You two are engaged, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
“Good. Everybody’s been wondering when you’d get around to it Now we can start planning the wedding.”
Liz turned to Matt. “I’m sorry.”
Matt laughed. “Don’t be. I’ve always wanted to feel like I belonged. Now I do.”
Liz ended up with a much bigger wedding than she had wanted. David and his wife flew back for the wedding. Georgia arrived looking resplendent in a red suit that for once outshone Salome’s lipstick. A small contingent of doctors from Richmond and Charlottesville showed up.
Everybody in Iron Springs turned out, from Solomon Trinket to Ben and Rebecca’s playmates. Everyone considered it a community affair.
Matt wore a navy suit. Liz wore a blue dress. Aunt Marian was the matron of honor, Dr. Andrews the best man. Rebecca was the flower girl, Ben the ring bearer. He dropped one of the rings halfway down the aisle, but he promptly retrieved it by crawling between the legs of several laughing guests.
Afterward they ate fried chicken and drank lemonade on the lawn down by the lake. Matt had just bitten into his third drumstick when Ben started begging him to play kick ball.
“Not today,” Matt said. “I’ve eaten too much. Besides, I’m all dressed up.”
“I’m all dressed up, too,” Ben said, “but Mama doesn’t care.”
“Oh, yes, she does,” Liz said. “That’s a brand-new suit. You’ll have to wear it to church for at least a year. Now go visit with your father. He has to go back to New York tomorrow afternoon.”
Ben went off, but Rebecca didn’t. “Why aren’t you playing?” Liz asked.
“Can we have a bigger family now?” Rebecca asked.
Matt laughed. Liz blushed.
“We can talk about that later.”
“Salome said you could start working on one as soon as you married Matt. I waited a long time to ask. Can’t you start working on one now? Please.”
Just What the Doctor Ordered Page 24