What The Doctor Ordered
Page 14
“It’s okay, love. Don’t think I’m telling you this to sway how you feel about me. I’ve prayed and I believe God opens doors and eventually you’re going to realize I love you and won’t leave—”
“Lindsay!” Rachel’s eyes widened in horror, and she screamed, a high, shrill scream that sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up.
Whirling, he saw what had her paralyzed with terror. Lindsay stood near the water, blood dripping down her head, her face white, eyes round. They both jumped into action.
Rachel ran to Lindsay, reaching her at the same time he did. Grabbing her daughter, she cried, “Lindsay, Lindsay, oh, baby…”
“Rachel!” Morgan commanded, having no idea how he spoke. He was trembling at seeing the little child covered in blood.
“She’s bleeding,” Rachel cried. She pushed Lindsay’s hair back, and a two-inch cut was revealed. “She fell. I—I don’t know—there’s so much blood!”
“Rachel!” he commanded again. “Give her to me.”
The authority in his voice reached her, and she released Lindsay.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” he murmured.
Lindsay burst into loud wails and threw her arms around him. Like a leech, Lindsay attached her arms and legs to him. “She’s going to need sutures. I have a bag in the car. But it’d be better if we took her to the hospital for this,” he said, and stood. “Think you can drive?”
Nodding, she stood, then rushed toward his car. Of all the times to forget his cell phone and pager. They were still at Ben’s in his house. Morgan stood with Lindsay in his arms and hurried to his car.
“She’s all bloody,” Rachel whimpered.
“She’ll be fine,” Morgan murmured.
“I should have been paying attention to her. She’s a handful sometimes but, oh, Morgan, I love her so much.”
Rachel started the car and took off. When she hit the highway, though she sped, she drove calmly and safely. “I do, too,” he said softly, even as Lindsay started to calm. “She’s going to have a headache. But she’ll be okay. She evidently tripped and hit her head, Rachel. It was no one’s fault. Sometimes things like this happen. You can’t foresee things like this, just like I couldn’t foresee what my wife would do, Rachel.”
Rachel’s gaze jerked quickly to Morgan before she looked back to the road. “Like I couldn’t foresee how Jim was going to change.”
Rachel parked at the ER. Morgan slipped out of the car with Lindsay in his arms. Rachel was right behind him. He took Lindsay to a trauma room, snapping out a description of Lindsay’s injury to the doctor on duty.
Then Morgan backed out of the room.
“Wait!” Rachel said. “What are you doing? Don’t leave her in there!”
Morgan wrapped his arms around her. “Come on. You can’t stay here. We have to go to the waiting room.”
Rachel shook her head. “You’re her doctor. You have to be in there with her. I—I trust you with her.”
He caught her hands, brought them to his mouth and kissed them. “Honey, I can’t go in there.” He imagined his words seemed odd, considering he was smiling so softly. He couldn’t help it. Her words wrapped around his heart like a healing salve in an open wound.
“But why?” she demanded, confused.
His emotion obvious in his voice, he said, “Because I love her as if she were my own, and the first thing you’re taught in medical school is never to work on someone you love.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Morgan wasn’t sure Rachel heard him. Suddenly she dissolved in his arms and held him close.
He wrapped his arms around her and guided her to the waiting room. Then he sat down, pulled Rachel onto his lap and cuddled her close.
“Did you mean it when you said you loved me, Rachel?” Morgan asked.
Her tiny body, nestled so close to him, felt so right, so perfect. He didn’t think he could take her rejection if she said no.
“Yes.” The answer was a mere breath of air whispered past his ear. But it sounded as loud as the Liberty Bell. It flowed through his entire being, bringing a rush of relief and joy.
Ben came striding toward them before Morgan could answer. Fairweather was a small town. Everyone knew everyone. The nurses here knew Morgan went to Ben’s church. They knew Betty, probably Rachel, too. It was inevitable that someone would call Ben.
“How is Lindsay?” he asked, stopping before them and kneeling, sliding a hand to Rachel’s back.
“She only conked her head, Ben. She’s probably getting sutures at the moment.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Someone called saying you’d brought her in and she was covered in blood and dying.”
“Gossips,” Morgan said affectionately. “Concerned, at least.” He gave Ben a significant look, and Ben, eyes widening, nodded and backed off.
He returned his attention to Rachel. “And I wasn’t lying when I said I loved you, darling.”
She tilted her head, and her red-rimmed eyes met his gaze. She must have accepted the love she saw in them because fresh tears welled and slipped over. “Oh, Morgan.”
“And I love Lindsay. How could I not?”
The ER doctor came out into the waiting room, rubbing the back of his neck. “Lindsay there is one lucky little girl. She’s going to be okay. As soon as we get her cleaned up, you can go in. Twelve stitches that child held. Nasty.”
Rachel cried in utter relief. Morgan smiled at the doctor. “Thanks Jerry.”
Jerry smiled, his eyes twinkling. “This is the type of news I like to give. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go write some orders.”
Ben moved to the pay phone, giving them some privacy.
Rachel hugged him close. “Oh, Morgan, I’ve been such a fool.”
Morgan returned the embrace. “Oh? How’s that, sweetheart?”
“I love you more than life itself. You’re nothing like Jim. Maybe at one time you made a mistake, but God forgives, and I have no right to hold something against you that you were brave enough to tell me.”
Morgan’s heart expanded with love. “Yes, love. I will never hide anything from you. That would only defeat marriage. I’ll always be honest with you. And that’s all I’d ask in return, for you to be honest with me.”
“How can you still care after what I’ve put you through this last week?”
Morgan smoothed her hair and rocked her in his arms. “You were scared, out of control.”
She nodded against his chest. “I just didn’t realize God’s in control, Morgan, even when we can’t see it.”
“Yes, He is, sweetheart.”
She cupped his cheek, her soft hand warm and gentle against his stubble.
“Does this mean you’ll marry me?” he asked, grinning at her, though he was serious as his gaze searched her face.
“Does this mean you’re asking?” Her eyes shone with love and joy. There was acceptance there and, yes, love. Love for him.
Morgan grinned, allowing the joy to bubble over inside him. She was his! He was hers! Thank you, God! “I haven’t asked you, have I?” he teased.
“Well…” she began. He stood and sat her in the chair. Rachel blinked. “Morgan? What—”
Dropping down on one knee, he took her hand in both of his.
All conversation around them suddenly stopped. Ben, who was talking on the phone to Betty, started whispering as he watched. Even the people at the nurse’s station quieted to see why the noisy waiting room had gone silent.
Morgan grinned. “Fairest lady in all of this earthly kingdom, I announce my love to you and these witnesses here. I would gladly slay any dragons for you, climb any mountains and mow any yard.”
Rachel giggled. “Morgan!” Her cheeks heated up to pink, and his naughty grin widened.
“To you, Rachel, I give you my heart, when I tell you I love you and wish you to be my wife for now and forever more. What say you, Rachel Anderson White? Will you do me the honor of becoming Rachel Anderson White Talbot? Or will you slay my heart, lea
ving it bleeding and in pieces?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “Never, my love. But I won’t be Rachel Anderson White Talbot.”
His heart plummeted. The people around them gasped. Then she smiled. “But I will become just Rachel Talbot.”
A cheer went up.
Morgan stood and pulled her into his arms. “Very well, then, Just Rachel Talbot.”
And there, in front of the citizens of Fairweather, Minnesota, they sealed their vows with a kiss.
Dear Reader,
When Love Inspired asked me to write this book, I was stunned and excited. When I found out what it was about, I just knew that God had a hand in it. You see, I was fifteen when my best friend, Teresa, had a child born with cytomegalovirus and total deafness. I grew up loving Steven Haynes as much as I loved his mom. In college, I studied to be a nurse. I was an EMT Advanced (IP in some states). I met my husband there and married. We decided to have children, and as much as I loved the medical field, I wanted to be with my children more. It was a true sacrifice, a love I never lost. When we moved to Louisiana, I got involved in bus ministry and met two wonderful children, Joey and Heather Thomas. Both were deaf. Through them, I experienced a whole new world as I learned slang sign language that I didn’t even know existed (ask me sometime how to say airhead)!
That’s why Lindsay is so special to me. Teresa is why the mother, Rachel, holds my heart. And Morgan, well, let’s just say he’s a bit of all the best doctors rolled into one. Thank you, Love Inspired, for the honor of writing this book and thank you, dear readers, for contacting me to let me know what you think of it.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Cheryl Wolverton for her contribution to the Fairweather miniseries.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2916-7
WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
Copyright © 2000 by Steeple Hill Books, Fribourg, Switzerland
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* Hill Creek, Texas
† Fairweather