“As they say, ‘One man’s mistake is another man’s opportunity,’ or something like that.”
“Only if she wants to be another man’s opportunity. But I don’t.” And she meant it. Some people were meant to be alone, and she was one of those people. Although there were times she wished that weren’t the case. “See you in a little while at the wading place.”
* * *
The wading place turned out to be a wide spot in the pristine stream that ran serenely through the property. Surrounded by trees and rhododendron bushes, it was very isolated, and so clear and perfect that the pebbles on the bottom glistened like diamonds in the sun. Before they were even settled into a picnic spot, the girls had their shoes off and were wading across the shining pebbles, the water only coming barely above their ankles.
“I think I was just an excuse to come here,” Keera said to Reid, who meandered in a few minutes after she was settled on the blanket. “This is...beautiful. It’s a shame Megan couldn’t have come along, too.”
“Another day,” Reid said, dropping down beside her. “To be honest, this spot is one of the reasons I bought the whole camp. I was looking at three different places for sale—two were former camps that had closed, and one was an undeveloped piece of property. I’d known for a while this was something I had to do.” He smiled as he began to remove his shoes. “It came to me in a dream one night. Inspired, I think, by a picnic I’d taken the girls on earlier that day. Emmie was pretty sick, but she’d really enjoyed her time outside, and I thought about all the other kids with leukemia who barely ever get to see the light of day.
“Then I remembered all the fun times I had as a kid when I’d gone to camp...one thing led to another and I literally had a dream about being a camp leader.
“It stayed with me, so after a while I started looking into what it would take to set up a camp. The answer was, pretty much everything I had. But money’s replaceable, you know. Children aren’t. So I started looking, took the girls along with me. And when we were walking over this property and stumbled on this spot...well, you see how the girls reacted. What could I do?”
“Other than buy it for them and go broke.”
Reid smiled. “So I’m flat broke for a while. No big deal. I have a good medical practice, and I’ll earn it all back, and then some, over time. The thing about the camp is this is where I really learned to not think in terms of material possessions so much as value or worth. It changed my whole outlook on life. Allowed me to give something to the girls that goes beyond what money can buy.”
“Allows you to give that to other people’s girls and boys as well. I like the way you’re putting your medical skills to other less traditional applications. I’m basically a traditionalist. I need four walls and surgical instruments, and anything else throws me for a loop. But this is...well, in a sense I suppose you could call it a hospital, because it does tend to the needs of children who need tending.”
“A hospital without walls,” he said. “I like that. So, are you coming wading, too?”
“Are there things in the stream that can bite me?”
Rather than answering, Reid nearly doubled over laughing. “Maybe tadpoles,” he finally managed, “but I don’t know if they even have teeth.”
“I’m serious. I’ve never really been a nature girl, and sometimes I’m not so brave in the unknown.”
He pointed to his daughters, who were busy splashing each other.
“OK, I get it. If they aren’t afraid, I shouldn’t be afraid.”
“And I won’t desert you, Keera. If I see a menacing tadpole swimming in your direction, I’ll shoo it away.”
“My knight in shining armor,” she said, as she slid out of her sandals and rolled up the bottoms of her scrub pants.
“It’s hard to believe you’ve never been wading,” he said, extending a hand to help her up off the ground. “Makes me wonder what other kinds of things you’ve never done that I might be able to show you.”
She took his hand and let herself be pulled to her feet. But once she was up he didn’t let go of her hand. Instead, he held it as they walked towards the stream. Like lovers, they strolled along the path, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, as if they’d done it before. Or should have done it before. “I’ve lived a sheltered life,” she admitted at the stream’s edge. “You know, die-hard city girl.”
“Well, welcome to the country, city girl.” He led her into the water. She clung to him even harder.
“It’s not like a wading pool,” she said as she relaxed.
“No, it’s better.”
“Yes,” she almost purred. “It’s much, much better.” But she wasn’t sure what, exactly, was better. Was it the water or the fact that she liked holding Reid’s hand? Or the fact that he still wasn’t letting go? That was the part she liked best, she decided. Definitely the part she liked best.
* * *
“It’s only for a week,” Reid said, laughing as Keera picked out the tenth outfit for Megan. Clothes, plus dolls, accessories, all kinds of little-girl things.
After a little wading and a quick picnic, they’d returned to camp and she’d spent the rest of the afternoon with Megan, reading to her, playing games, even watching her sleep. Something about the child pulled her in. Maybe it was the fear she saw in her eyes, or that look of being a little girl lost. A look she was sure she herself had had most of her childhood.
Her heart did go out to Megan, more and more with every passing minute, because each minute brought the poor child closer to the reality that awaited her. A reality Keera couldn’t change. So even after an afternoon spent renouncing the material things in life, Keera was having a good time trying to compensate for Megan’s terrible losses by piling new material things on it. And, admittedly, she loved little-girl shopping, and wished desperately Megan could have come along to be part of it.
“I want her to have nice things wherever she goes to. Wherever social services puts her.”
“I imagine they’ll gather up some of the things she already owns,” he said.
“Which will only remind her of what she’s lost. No, I’ll buy her everything she needs for her new life.”
“But what if she has a favorite doll or book? Doesn’t she deserve to have those with her?” He liked this fierce attitude she was taking up on Megan’s behalf. Whether or not she wanted to admit it, Keera was investing a little of herself in that child, and that was a good thing. Although Reid wasn’t about to fool himself into believing that she would keep the child, as she’d been brutally honest about that more than once.
“What she deserves is to move into her new life without sadness left over from the old one,” Keera said as she grabbed the cutest little pink, fuzzy pajamas off the shelf, looked them over, then went back for an additional pair in yellow.
“So, what about you? We’ve been here an hour, our reservations are in twenty minutes, and you’re still in your scrubs. Remember how we came here to buy you something respectable to wear to dinner tonight?”
“Twenty minutes?” Keera rolled the shopping cart at Reid, then spun away. “Go ahead and start checking out,” she called back to him as she literally ran to the ladies’ department. “By the time they get most of it rung up...” The rest of her words were lost as she rounded a corner, while he stood in the middle of the aisle, simply smiling. Losing her had definitely been her ex-husband’s mistake. Huge mistake!
It was a thought still on Reid’s mind a few minutes later when Keera skidded into the checkout line behind him, her arms loaded with...well, he wasn’t sure. Dresses, underwear, shoes? No way she could have done all that shopping in such a short time. But, as it turned out, she had, because as the last of Megan’s items were scanned, Keera added her armload to the end of it. After she’d paid, she grabbed one of the bags and headed straight for the ladies’ room, from which, a min
ute or two later, she emerged looking remarkably put together in her little black dress, matching shoes, and...make-up.
“How did you do all of that in...?” He glanced at his watch, exaggerating a shrug.
Laughing, Keera brushed her fingers through her hair. She’d pulled it out of its no-nonsense ponytail a minute earlier, but hadn’t had time to run a brush through it, and it looked like the mane of a wild horse. Untamed, a bit flyaway. But she was dressed otherwise, and actually felt pretty good about the way she looked. “Years of practice, street clothes to scrubs in a minute flat. My best record.” She grinned. “This took a little longer.”
“Longer? I think if you could patent the formula, husbands all over the world would buy it. I know my dad and my brothers-in-law would.”
“Just a matter of practice,” she said, taking several of the bags from Reid then following him out to the car. “My mother and I had to...let’s say we had to be on the move at any given second, so I learned early on that I either had to be fast or things got left behind.” Including her, several times.
“Well, you look amazing,” he said, eyeing her from head to toe. “Can’t imagine how you’d improve on it if you’d had, say, half an hour.”
“Primping for half an hour’s a waste. In that same thirty minutes I could have a patient totally prepped for an incision. Or have that incision made, and be well on my way to exploring an occluded artery.”
“Nice dinner conversation,” he said, holding open the car door for her.
“Except we’re not at dinner yet.” Stepping in, she smoothed her dress and tried to pull it down a little over her legs, but it was a bit short, riding halfway between her knee and thigh when she stood and scooting up even shorter than that when she was seated. A fact she caught Reid checking out. Surprisingly, she liked seeing that he liked what he saw. “And I promise to be on my best behavior as soon as we arrive at the restaurant.”
“Coming from you, that almost sounds boring.”
“Maybe it will be,” she said, as he climbed in next to her. “So, you’re sure it’s OK, both of us being away for the evening? And your girls?”
“Tonight I’m running second place to cook’s basset hound, who’s the dorm guest for the evening. Besides, I promised the girls I’d tuck them in later.”
“Do you read them bedtime stories?”
“Sometimes. Or we just talk. They tell me about their day, I modify my day for them. We talk about their plans for the future. Those kinds of things.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Didn’t you ever do that with your mother?”
“My mother was...she was usually working when I went to sleep. We didn’t have a lot of time for the traditional mother-child kind of thing. Or, in your case, the daddy-daughter thing.”
“Too bad, because I enjoy it. Probably more than my girls do. For them it’s a bedtime ritual, but for me it’s about staying in touch and keeping myself involved in their lives.”
“Lucky little girls,” she commented, settling in to watch the view.
All those years ago, when she’d moved to Tennessee, it had been to get away from the harsh realities her life had slammed her with. Being the daughter of a prostitute hadn’t been easy. Neither was big city life when you were a little girl alone. So she’d promised herself someplace nice when she got away, and that was the first thing she’d done.
She’d loved Tennessee, loved the mountains, the blue skies. Even loved the occasional bear that had come raiding her trash cans at night. For Megan’s sake, she hoped the child would have an adoptive family who stayed in Tennessee. A family like Reid’s.
Or...would he adopt her? Would he want one more daughter to tuck in at night? Traditional families were good and social services usually held out for those, but untraditional or single-parent families were good, too. Just look at Reid’s family. As a child, she’d have loved having a parent like him instead of what she’d had.
So, maybe seeing if Reid would adopt Megan would be worth pursuing. Just not now, though. She’d have to wait until he knew her better and got attached to her. She’d also have to wait until she knew if Reid even wanted more children. Although he certainly seemed like the type who would.
“But overall a situation like yours wouldn’t do for me. Like I said, I’m not cut out for it. Half the time I’m not even home at bedtime, and if someone expected me to tuck them in or read to them, they’d be out of luck.”
“You really don’t want children, do you? I’ve known a lot of women who say they don’t but they eventually change their minds. Especially when their biological clock...” He stopped, exchanged a quick glance with her. “None of my business, right?”
“I don’t hide the fact, Reid. Never have. So it doesn’t matter whose business it is, because it’s simply a statement of fact. And even when my so-called biological clock starts ticking, nothing’s going to change.”
“Even if you meet the man of your dreams who wants children?”
“Especially if I meet the man of my dreams, because he’s not going to want children. That’s part of my dream.”
“You’re a hard case, Dr. Murphy. And you’ll be quite a challenge for some man someday.”
“I take that as a compliment, Dr. Adams.” So maybe the harder she pushed the child away, the more he might be inclined to keep her. Because she truly wanted Megan to have a daddy like Reid. All children deserved to have a daddy like Reid.
* * *
“The mountain trout is wonderful,” she said, taking the last bite of her food. “Everything about this restaurant is wonderful. Do you bring the girls here?”
“No, they prefer pizza. But every now and then I need some adult food, and an evening without the girls, so The Trout is usually my destination. An hour from Sugar Creek gives me a nice drive, time to relax. Nice scenery along the way. Then all the ambiance here.”
“I guess I’m surprised you’d leave them.”
“Sometimes you have to.” He grinned. “Parents have lives too, you know. And Brax—my partner’s father—loves taking the girls for pizza, along with his grandkids. They have a pizza night once a week.”
“So, how does parenting work with your medical practice?”
“My partners, Deanna and Beau, have a couple of children, and Brax is always ready to babysit. So they were more than happy to throw my girls into the mix when I moved there. Like I said, there’s pizza night, and Brax is always willing to stand in if I’m called out.”
“Sounds like you got lucky.”
“I did. We originally lived in Memphis—it’s where I did my residency, then I stayed. But that’s where Emmie was so sick for so long, and I didn’t want her to always have the reminders around her. So, when her medical care scaled back to where it is now, we started over. Little town, big life. It’s perfect for us. And with the camp being so close...” He shrugged. “It works.”
“So, have you ever considered adding a Mrs. Adams to your family? I know you said you’re not dating right now, but what about the future?”
“She’d have to be awfully special. Like I said, I’m pretty protective of my girls, and I don’t want to upset the balance only to find it doesn’t work.”
“Like my marriage. Definitely a balance out of whack there.”
“But you got out before there were kids.” He swallowed hard, looked embarrassed. “Well, except the one.”
“Except the one,” she repeated.
Keera was so easy to talk to. In fact, Reid had never known someone he’d wanted to open up to the way he did with her. Maybe it was because she was safe. Because she wasn’t out to snag a doctor the way so many women in his past had been.
With his past couple of dates, the subject of marriage had come up almost immediately. Marriage, the future as a couple, building a house together...first-date nonsens
e in which he didn’t want to indulge. Besides, if they’d known what they were trying to snag—a doctor whose every last cent went to his camp or to his daughter’s medical care, who worked more hours than any one should ever have to, who lived in a rented, cramped cottage rather than owning a sprawling mansion—there wasn’t much there to snag.
He chuckled to himself. It wasn’t the lifestyle he’d thought he’d have when he’d committed to being a doctor. No, it was a much better one. He wouldn’t trade a second of it, hard knocks and all.
“So, have you given any thought about what you’re going to do with Megan once she’s better? Keep her until social services place her, give her up right away?”
“Hope that social services can find her a good situation as soon as possible. Or maybe that’s something I could do. She deserves someone who wants children. Someone who wants to be a mommy or a daddy, together or separately.”
“Which is still not you?”
Keera laughed. “Which is still not me. Good try, though.”
“She’s an amazing little girl. Smart. Very pretty.”
“And very much the product of an affair that was, in part, responsible for the demise of my marriage.”
“Ah, yes. The illegitimate child.”
Infuriated, Keera spun to face him. “Don’t you dare call her that! Whatever her parents did isn’t her fault and she shouldn’t have to...” Stopping, she saw the amused look on his face. “OK, I get it. You’re testing me. Trying to see if I might have feelings for her. Or if I would come to her defense. Well, yes and yes. I’m not heartless, Reid. I just know who I am.”
“You’re sure about that?”
She hunkered down into her chair and folded her arms stubbornly across her chest. “Absolutely. I’ve had a lot of years coming to terms with me, and I know exactly who I am and what I’m about.”
Sometimes, though, she did wonder how much she really knew, or didn’t know. After all, she was spending a week at a camp for kids, even enjoying it, and nowhere in her knowledge of herself would she have ever thought something like that could happen.
A Child to Heal Their Hearts Page 7