by Dianne Drake
“With what I’ve put you through, you’re entitled to ask me anything you want.”
“But does that mean you’ll answer anything I ask?”
“For you, pretty lady, anything.”
Solaina laughed. “I don’t know whether to believe that or not.”
“I’ve done a lot of things in my life, been a lot of things, said a lot of things. But here’s something you can count on. I’ll never lie to you. You may not like the truth you’ll hear from me, but it will always be the truth.”
“Another line?”
“I suppose that’s for you to decide, isn’t it?” He shifted position gingerly, sliding down a little further into the bed. “So are you always this wary of everyone, or is it just me bringing out the wariness in you?”
“Just you,” she said, trying to sound neutral. The truth was, she wasn’t nearly as wary of David as he might have guessed. She was wary of his expectations of her, and maybe a few little niggling feelings popping up for him, but not of him.
“And that, pretty lady, was a lie. You don’t do it well, you know. Those beautiful eyes tell me everything. Although I will say, you’re perfectly justified in being wary of me. You’re not the first who has been, and you certainly won’t be the last.”
“So why are people wary of you, David?”
“Is that the question you wanted to ask me? Because I think I’m going down for another nap in just a second or two.”
“One of the questions,” she replied, walking over to the kitchen. He needed another antibiotic, only this time she would give him the remainder of her naam phon-la-mai, except she would hold the glass since there were but three left in the cottage. “I have more, but I think that’s a good place to start.”
“And just when I thought you were about to enquire about my marital status.”
“I would if I were interested,” she said, removing the pitcher from the tiny refrigerator. “But I’m not, so I’ll stick to my original question. Why are people wary of you?”
“No, I’m not.”
She glanced over at him in time to see him mask a smile. It was nice having someone here for a change, she decided. Someone smiling at her from her bed. How long had it been since that had happened, for whatever reason?
“You’re not what, David?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what he was answering.
“I’m not married, engaged, trapped, committed, or casually involved.”
Solaina shook her head skeptically. “Not according to the papers in your wallet,” she teased. “I saw the picture of your wife and three children. Nice-looking family. And you have a cocker spaniel, David. Cute little dog. Cute kids, too. What were their names again? You kept mumbling them when you were delirious, but I’ve forgotten them already.”
“I’m not that loopy.” He laughed, glancing at his ring finger for a quick check.
“But I had you thinking that you might be, didn’t I?” This was a delicious little bit of banter between them. Delicious and natural. For a moment she almost fancied it into her future, but she pulled back on that thought before it got too far. This was a delicious little bit of banter between them, and that’s all that it was.
“OK, I’ll answer your question before you convince me that I’m a totally certifiable lunatic. Or I convince myself of it.” He chuckled. “People are wary of me because I’m blunt. I don’t have a lot of time to waste, or finesse if I think you’re wasting my time, and I tend to be a little more forward and exacting than I probably should be. Or a lot more, actually. Plus, I’m stubborn, I don’t always follow the rules—”
“That’s more than I wanted to know,” Solaina said, holding up her hand to stop him as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “So how about you just take this pill, and I’ll imagine the rest?” Howard had instructed her to bump up his dosage. Double it, triple it if she could. From what she could see in David’s response, it was working. He was much better.
“Told you I’m honest.”
“So you’re what? Thirty-five?”
“Thirty-six.”
“OK. You’re thirty-six, your wallet doesn’t have pictures of the wife and kiddies. No cocker spaniel either. And according to IMO, you went home a while ago. So why would they be saying something like that when you’re obviously not back in Toronto?”
“Because they don’t know, I suppose.” He sucked in a deep breath. “They were downsizing their unit in Cambodia. I wanted to stay, they wanted me to go. So I did, only not with them, and I suppose that once I was out the door, they simply didn’t follow me.”
“What did you do that got you into this shape?”
“Wrong place, wrong time, I suppose.”
“And that’s it?”
He shrugged. “People get mugged worldwide.”
“And there’s no cause for alarm. Is that what you’re telling me?” Solaina offered him a second sip of the fruit juice. He pushed her hand away, so she drank it instead. “I think you’re the master of the understatement, David. Or evasion. I don’t know which.”
“Right now, the only thing I’m the master of is an aching rib cage and a sore shoulder. And, believe me, there’s no evasion in that.” He slid down into the bed and pulled the sheet entirely over his chest. “Maybe I will just take that nap now and wait until your friend arrives.” Then he shut his eyes.
“And the doctor falls asleep just in the nick of time,” Solaina murmured, bending down until her lips grazed his ear. “Or else you would have had to tell me the real truth behind David Gentry,” she whispered. “The one where you reveal why someone would do this to you.”
Turning away, Solaina went back outside to the veranda, and her book.
He’d watched her read for almost an hour now. Mesmerized. That was the perfect word to describe the way he was feeling. Watching Solaina mesmerized him. Her every movement was so deliberate, yet so graceful—the way she turned a page, the way she picked up her drink, the way she tilted the brim of the straw hat she was wearing to keep the sun out of her eyes. She was something to watch, and he was more than glad to surrender yet another round of sleep to do just that.
Now that his mind was functioning better, he recalled the first time he’d seen Solaina. It had been, what? Just over a month ago, at the hospital in Chandella, he thought. He had been rather scruffy that day, just in from the jungle to check on a patient. Baggy khaki cargo shorts, a week’s growth of beard, a T-shirt with a ripped sleeve, wild hair that hadn’t seen a comb in a while. She would have looked right past him had he been in a place where she might have seen him. But he hadn’t been. His visits to the city were always a low-key affair, so not to attract too much attention.
Certainly, the Dharavaj government knew about his little hospital. He wasn’t operating under the radar in that respect, and he was licensed after all. The government was also generous enough to help secure visas for those who came over the border for medical treatment without the legalities in place. A few dollars and a couple of days, and the paperwork was in order.
But, still, the very nature of his hospital caused speculation because he wasn’t doing business in the traditional sense most people expected of hospitals. And it went against the grain of IMO, which always stayed above the radar in its operations. Which was the core of his problem. There were so many people under that radar who needed help—the ones without real identities, the ones without homes, the ones without a country. IMO was benevolent, but it required those things from its patients: names to put on the wristband; a city of residence; a nationality.
Over in Cambodia, IMO took care of the people who could provide those things. In Dharavaj, David took care of the ones who could not. And IMO had disowned him for it. His departure had been a slap at their system. And him going into their territory to bring back patients to his hospital was an insult. But one with which he could live.
Six months away from IMO and out on his own, he was pleased with the progress he was making. His surgery was set up well, his phy
sical therapy department was established. So, even if his hospital was not an overt endeavor in the truest sense of the word, it was a good one, and the one for which he’d searched for the entirety of his career. Maybe even before that.
Getting to the heart of the need—that’s all he’d ever wanted. And now he had it.
As he drifted off, David closed his eyes to conjure up the memory of the first time he’d seen Solaina. She had been in a two-piece, orchid-colored suit, hair up, just a touch of makeup…she smelt of jasmine that day, too. She’d rushed right past him, leading her group of nurses, and he’d smelled the jasmine and been fixated on it ever since.
Women had come and gone in his life. Just ask his wife. In one door and out the other without much notice. Permanent relationships just stifled. Or had the life sucked out of them. But Solaina was the memory that lingered on, the dream he begged for at night, the spontaneous smile that happened to him when he most needed to smile. Then to meet her the way he had…to literally run into her car. He chuckled. “Meant to be, Davey,” he murmured. “That’s the only way to describe it. You meeting Solaina like that was meant to be.”
Even though he said the words, he wasn’t so sure he believed them. Meeting her had been on his mind all these weeks now, and he could have—any day, any time. He’d known who she was, where she was. And even though he’d returned to the hospital twice after that first time he’d seen her, he’d purposely stayed away from the places he might stumble into her. Why? “Coward,” he muttered, although it was much more than that. What a woman like Solaina could do to a man like him really scared him, and that was the crux of his cowardice.
He really did want to find out what a woman like Solaina could do to him, which meant calamity. His first-time disaster had cost him six years. Five in the marriage and one on the skids, trying to get over it. Court battles, personal battles, infidelity…failed medical practice afterwards, woman after woman. He’d crawled back out of the dark days scarred and limping, figuratively, and had found his place. And it had had nothing to do with all the extraneous trappings. A kindly man with impeccable medical credentials had specialed him, helped him get back on track, then set him on a plane to Cambodia.
Now he was happy, settled, and no way was he willing to take the risk again. Not fair to him, and especially not fair to anyone with whom he was involved…Solaina.
Sighing, David rubbed his hand over his sore ribs and watched her shift in her chair outside, crossing her left leg over her right. The slight movement took his mind off the melancholia overtaking him, and he was glad of the distraction. She was in short shorts now, and her legs…Perfect. Long, slender, dark. Drawing in a breath almost hurt, just thinking about the most beautiful legs he had ever seen.
“Solaina,” he whispered. “Why you? Why now?”
CHAPTER FIVE
“WHEN did you get here?” Solaina gasped, dropping her book to the floor. She’d enjoyed it but, just like always, she felt mellow at the end. Happy endings always made her mellow, and today especially she was well past mellow and on her way to melancholia. Not because of the book, but because her life never turned out like the stories in the books she read. And perhaps there was still a bit of the little girl in her with the childish notion that everyone deserved a happy ending. Her own ending, however, was only adequate thus far, which by many standards was better than most. So she didn’t complain, even if she did have some leftover longings. “I didn’t hear you come up.”
Solaina jumped up to greet Howard. He was a portly bear of a man, bushy white hair, bushy white beard. She styled him as a jolly Santa because, apart from his physical attributes, he was jolly, with a laugh that never failed to cheer her up. Could she have chosen a father, she would have chosen Howard.
“We came up from the side of the cottage. Victoria didn’t want to go inside just yet. She said since this was a house call she was going to make good use of the beach this afternoon and leave all the medical bothers to us. So before we get to the particulars, I’ve come to fetch her a naam phon-la-mai, if you have some made. Nothing with that dreaded durian, however. It has such a stink, no matter what people say. Victoria was quite specific about not wanting it.”
“None of that dreaded durian,” Solaina said, falling into Howard’s open arms. “I’m so glad you’re here, Howard.”
“How have you been, dear?” he asked. “We haven’t seen as much of you lately as we would have liked. And I do apologize for taking so long to get here. Normally, a meandering road is a pleasant one to a man who doesn’t drive so quickly any more. But unfortunately it can also become a dreadfully slow curse.”
“I’m so sorry I pulled you away from your holiday, Howard. And never you mind about how long it took to get here. I’m just thrilled that you could come at all.”
“Since I retired, life is but one long holiday, you know, so don’t concern yourself about pulling me away. I’m just glad I can be of some help to you. And just between us, I don’t think my bottom would have gone in for another ride on an elephant. Victoria was enjoying our day excursions, but let’s just say I was getting a little weary of the lurching of the pachyderm.” He chuckled. “Coming here to help my favorite woman in the world, next to Victoria, has saved me a rather unsavory injury, I think.” He gave Solaina a fatherly kiss on the forehead. “So where have you been keeping yourself, besides holed up here with your patient?” Howard asked quietly, following Solaina through the veranda doors.
“Busy at the hospital, trying to finish off all my affairs before I leave.”
“You’re still thinking of leaving, are you?” he asked. “I’d rather thought you’d put that notion out of your head, if for no other reason than Victoria and I cannot do without you.”
Solaina laughed. “I’ll still be in Dharavaj for a while, until I’ve decided which post to take. And you know I’ll be back to see you as often as I can.”
“We don’t see you often enough as it is and we live just next door. So you’ll forget about us soon enough. You’ll send a card at Christmas for a year or two, then scratch us off your list.” Howard drew in a long, exaggerated sigh. “Victoria is most upset about this, you know. She’s not going to be at all pleasant about you leaving us when the time comes.”
Solaina handed the glass of naam phon-la-mai to Howard and shooed him out the door to his wife. “You tell Victoria to enjoy the beach, and that as soon as you’ve had a look at my patient in here, we’ll both be out to join her.”
“You, my dear, along with my precious wife, may enjoy the sand between your toes, but I’ll stay on the veranda and add a little grog to my naam phon-la-mai. Perhaps your guest might be well enough by then to join me in a nip. Good for what ails him, you know.”
Solaina glanced over at David and wondered if he was sleeping or faking. “Perhaps by then my guest will be gone, and you can have all the grogged naam phon-la-mai for yourself.”
Howard arched his bushy eyebrows and winked. “Some things are much better shared, my dear. Pity you haven’t experienced that in your life yet, but Victoria and I are still holding out some hope for you. You’re not a frump after all, and I should think some man would find you suitable.” He glanced sideways at David, and a broad smiled crossed his face.
“Suitable? I think it’s the other way around, Howard. If I’m in the market, I’ll be the one to find the young man suitable.” Solaina laughed, glancing over at David, too, just in time to see a big, fat grin cross his face. Before she could open her mouth to say a word, Howard gave her a friendly peck on the cheek and trotted away, naam phon-la-mai in hand, to his wife. “So stop your grinning,” Solaina said, once Howard was out of earshot.
“He’s right, you know. You’re not a frump.”
“Whether or not I’m a frump is not your concern,” she said, spinning around to the veranda door to wave to Victoria, who was wrestling an umbrella pole into the sand.
“Testy, aren’t you? Or is that defensive more than testy, because of what your friend said
?”
“You know what? I think I’ll have a try at that bullet in your shoulder with my fingernails,” she said, her back still to him. “After I sharpen them. You really don’t need a bullet to bite down on, do you?”
“Believe me, since I’ve met you, Solaina, I’ve dreamt about biting down on many things, and a bullet was never, ever one of them.”
Solaina turned slowly to face him. “In your dreams, Doctor,” she said, a slow, earthy smile spreading over her face.
“Speaking of which…”
When his eyes fluttered shut again, she breathed a sigh of relief. No point in making this personal, although it was becoming obvious that it could be. She had places to go, David had things to do, and neither of them were on the same path.
Too bad, she thought as a heavy-hearted feeling started seeping all the way down to her toes. Too bad.
“In my dreams, Solaina,” David murmured as he drifted away. “Always in my dreams.”
“You have David Gentry?” Howard Brumley chuckled as he rubbed his bearded chin. “That’s rather a hotbed of controversy to be lying in just about now, isn’t it?” he asked Solaina. “All that situation with him and IMO going round and round, then him walking out on them like he did and starting up on his own. Sticky, indeed. And now here you are, someone who helps train their nurses, stuck right in the middle of it.”