A Mommy for His Baby

by Molly Evans

  Beau let Daisy out of the SUV and looked at her with a grin lighting up his face. “It’s a good day when people are waiting at the door to get in.”

  “It is.” Aurora had to agree with that. “I think I should have a key, in case you’re late or something—don’t you?”

  “Absolutely.” He led the way with Daisy to the clinic door and opened it. “Come on in, folks. Give us a few minutes to get organized, then we’ll see you right away.”

  “It’s okay. You go ahead. It’ll probably take me that long just to get in the door.” The woman getting out of the car waved them ahead as her caregiver retrieved a walking frame.

  Within a few minutes Beau had opened the doors, turned on the lights and grabbed Daisy’s bed from the car. She followed him, sniffed it, then turned around in a circle three times and settled into a tight ball beside Aurora at the desk.

  “Sign in, please, and we’ll get you back to see the doctor shortly.”

  “It’s okay, dear. Take your time. I’m in no hurry.” The elder woman walked stiffly with her walker, and the young caregiver in attendance. “We’ll wait over here.”

  “Thank you... Mrs. Kinsey.” Aurora read the name, then looked at the woman, trying to place her. “Mrs. Janet Kinsey?”

  The woman didn’t stop, but nodded. “Yep. That’s me.”

  “You were the high school librarian, weren’t you?”

  “For forty-five years.” She negotiated her way to the chair and turned around to peer at Aurora through thick glasses.

  “I graduated there a few years ago. I’m Aurora Hunt.”

  “I remember you now. Always a bright smile, if I remember correctly.”

  At that, Aurora couldn’t help but grin. Another fond memory was bubbling up inside her. All the wonderful times she’d spent in the library, feeding her reading addiction. “That’s what you remember about me?”

  “Was I wrong?” Mrs. Kinsey turned to her attendant. “It’s that smile I’ve never forgotten.”

  “Me either, Mrs. Kinsey.”

  Beau appeared at the desk and surprised Aurora. Though he spoke to the elderly woman, his gaze was on her.

  “That smile is etched in my memory, too.”

  With that, he stepped over to the woman and offered his assistance.

  “Let’s get you back and have a look at you.”

  “Oh, thank you, Beau.”

  She abandoned her walker for the arm of a strong, handsome man. Nothing wrong with her decision-making processes.

  “You’re a dear, too.” She patted his arm and held on to him.

  Aurora took her vital signs. “Your blood pressure is up, Mrs. Kinsey. Are you taking your medication?” She referred to the patient’s medication list on the computer chart.

  “Yes, but I ran out on Saturday and didn’t realize ’til then.”

  “We’ll get you squared away.” Aurora put the equipment down.

  “I know it’s none of my business, but I was wondering...are you and Beau dating?”

  “Dating? Oh, no. His nurse went on maternity leave yesterday. We’re just friends and co-workers. I’m helping him get the clinic organized.”

  The older woman snorted, and cast a look of disbelief at her caregiver. “That’s what Mr. Kinsey and I said when we were working together and people asked. Just friends.” She slapped her thigh and barked out a laugh. “’Til I got pregnant—then it was all over, with a quick wedding at the JP.”

  “Oh, really. There’s nothing like that going on between us, Mrs. Kinsey.”

  The heat of a blush worked its way up Aurora’s neck. That was always a dead giveaway when she was emotional. Just because she’d had carnal thoughts about Beau it didn’t make them true, so technically she wasn’t lying.

  “Guess we’ll see how true that is if I see an announcement in the paper someday.”

  “An announcement about what? Tuning in to the gossip of the day, are you?”

  Beau smiled and gave his best doctor face to his patient.

  “Oh, I’m just giving Aurora a hard time.”

  “I’m going to head out to the front. I think I heard someone.” Aurora made a beeline for the door.

  “Awfully flighty for a nurse, don’t you think?” Mrs. Kinsey asked Beau.

  “She’s just fine. Today’s her first day, so I think we’ll have to give her a break.”

  “She’s a fine girl. Make someone a good wife, too.” The woman gave him a pointed look over her glasses.

  “You seem to be pretty focused on getting one or both of us hitched.”

  “Yes, well...” She sniffed and looked away for a second. “I’m itching for some grandchildren, but my kids aren’t cooperating, so I guess I’m taking my frustration out on anyone I can.” She patted Beau on the arm. “Sorry about that.”

  “I’m certain you’re right about Aurora. I just hope she doesn’t leave me to go on maternity leave the way my last nurse did.”

  “You need yourself a good woman, Beau. It’s been enough time now. You’ll never forget Julie, but moving forward is important, and that little baby of yours needs a mama.” She patted his hand, offering sympathy in a simple gesture.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Kinsey. I appreciate your concern. But how about we talk about you today?”

  How was he going to steer the conversation away from this direction?

  “I don’t think talking about me and Aurora will get your blood pressure back where it belongs.”

  “You can divert the conversation, but the facts remain the same.” With that, she huffed out a sigh of resignation.

  “No doubt. Now, what’s bothering you today?”

  Though Beau didn’t let on to his patient that she’d struck a nerve with him, he was irritated that people thought they could tell him what he needed to do with his life. That was the one giant problem with living in a small town. Everybody knew everybody’s business, and if they didn’t they thought they should. Right now all he needed to do was get his clinic to the next level and take care of his daughter and his dog. That was all. Not have his intriguing thoughts about Aurora reinforced.

  He listened to her chatter on about this and that, general aches and pains, all attributed to the aging process of a seventy-year-old and maybe a bad pair of shoes.

  “Give me that bag of dirt,” she said to her caregiver, who handed her a zipper bag of a white powdery substance, which she held out in front of Beau.

  “What’s that?” It looked like powdered sugar—or an illicit substance he didn’t want to know about.

  “Diatomaceous earth. Ever heard of it?” She held the bag up in front of her.

  “It keeps bugs out of your kitchen, doesn’t it?” He had a vague memory of hearing about it in his biology class or something, but that was it.

  “This is food-grade diatomaceous earth, and I want to take it. Any problems with that? A friend of mine takes it and tells me all her joints have stopped aching. I want mine to stop, too.”

  “Got plans for dancing at the Legion Hall?”

  “Don’t you put it past me, young man.” She gave a sly smile, and Beau barked out a laugh.

  “I certainly won’t.”

  “Since Mr. Kinsey died a few years ago I’ve been known to shake a leg now and then. I just don’t want to break a hip while I’m at it, you know?”

  “I’ll have to check into this a bit further and run it against your medications in our computer program, but at this point I don’t see that it will interfere.”

  “Good—’cause I’m already taking it. At my age, I can’t wait around on things.”

  “Maybe that’s why your blood pressure is up, then?” He posed the question.

  “Nah. I ran out of my prescription and the pharmacy wouldn’t fill it until I came in and you app
roved it. Sheri’s such a stickler for the rules. So approve it. Then I can get on with my life before I have a stroke.”

  “Mrs. Kinsey, why weren’t you this funny when I was in high school?” Beau felt an inappropriate chuckle bubble within him.

  “Oh, I was—but back then staff weren’t supposed to show they had a sense of humor. Made for some pretty dull classes, I have to say.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re not holding back now.”

  He finished the appointment and escorted her and her caregiver out to the front.

  “Do you need a follow-up appointment, Mrs. Kinsey?” Aurora asked as they approached the desk, which was amazingly clean for the first time in months. How had she done that so quickly?

  “No. She’s good,” Beau said. “Mrs. Kinsey, I’ll call you with the information on any medication interactions.”

  “Good. If I’m not there leave a message, ’cause I’ll probably be out looking for a new dancing dress. There’s a sale on this week.”

  Beau didn’t know whether she was serious or not and looked at Aurora, who widened her eyes and shook her head. It was anybody’s guess.

  “At least she’s not driving, right?” Aurora said after the woman and her attendant had left the building.

  “No kidding. I don’t remember her being so funny when we were in school.”

  “She wasn’t. Seriously.”

  “But how about this desk? What did you do? Just shove everything into the trash and make it look like you cleaned?”

  “No, that’s something that you would do—not me.” She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a serious look.

  “Oh, touché.” But he had to admit she was probably right. He tended to clean with a backhoe.

  “I did come up with something I’d like to go over with you.”

  “Oh, sure—what is it?”

  “How about you pull up a chair beside me and we can look at this together? It’s for the Brush Valley Day celebration.”

  “Oh, right.” He dragged a chair close to her and settled in to look at the piece of paper in front of them. “Hit me with it. What’s your mad plan?”

  “My mad plan is to have a booth there all day and reach out to people coming and going. We can offer a blood pressure clinic and be on the lookout for people who are at risk who might need a follow-up. It’s also time for flu shots. At the other end of the table we can have that going. Both are ways to get people to stop for a minute and get something for free, which they love, and a quick check that takes less than five minutes. We can have them fill out a form for our information, and we can give them some information, too.”

  With her excitement, her eyes became animated and filled with light, while her hands gestured over the most important points. It was an endearing sight.

  “Get something. Give something. Makes sense.”

  “Exactly. We give them something—the BP check or the shot—and they give us the chance to introduce ourselves to them, tell them about the clinic and make contact with potential new patients.”

  “Think that will work?”

  At this point he had no idea. He didn’t like wasting time or resources, but this felt right. Felt good. In this area he had little to no experience, so he was going to have to trust Aurora’s instincts.

  “Well, sure. Why not? A lot of the people we know are aging. Besides, who wants to go to a town eleven miles away or more through the mountains just to have a flu shot or a checkup when you can get it in your own backyard?” She took a breath, warming to her topic. “Especially in the winter. The roads are treacherous a lot of the time, and people simply won’t go when the roads are bad.”

  “Good point.”

  He knew his mother hated to drive when the roads were bad, so he had firsthand experience with that. There was no bus or taxi service out here. If you couldn’t drive, you were stuck.

  “There are all kinds of unhealthy things going on at the fair, but it brings people in—especially the barbecue chicken at the firemen’s booth.”

  “That’s my all-time favorite and it’s caused me years of indigestion.” Just the memory of it made his mouth water.

  “I know—me too. I love the contrast of the firemen using their fire to teach safety to kids and at the same time to cook chicken as their fundraiser.”

  Beau sat back and thought about her ideas as he looked at the paper and the unreadable notes she’d scribbled all over the notepad.

  “I think this is a fabulous idea. Too bad it’s too late for us to get into the county fair.”

  “I can call them and see if there’s space—or maybe we could set up shop in the tent with the firemen. They have a spot already, right?”

  “They do. Okay. Give them a call and see what you can come up with.”

  Minute by minute his admiration for her was growing.

  “Okay. We’ve got a lull now for a bit, so I’ll do that. What was that you were talking to Mrs. Kinsey about? Something interacting with her medications?”

  Those blue eyes of hers looked directly at him and for a second, his heart paused and his mouth went dry. How could an innocent look cause such a reaction in him? Had he been suffering from a lack of female companionship for so long that a look could turn him inside out? He didn’t think so and he frowned, turning away from that idea. He was made of sterner stuff than that. He had to resist.

  “Oh, yeah. I’ll do that now. She was wondering about diatomaceous earth. Ever heard of it?”

  A change of topic was a good idea right now. It would keep his mind off what he would do to Aurora if he could.

  “No, can’t say as I have. What is it?”

  “It’s an insecticide—”

  “Eww. And she’s taken some?” Horror filled Aurora’s eyes.

  “No. She wants to take some food-grade DE for her aches and pains.”

  “Wow.” She made a face that showed she was interested, but equally puzzled. “Think I’ll have to look it up. I have aches and pains too, and as long as I’m not poisoning myself I’d give it a shot.”

  “Oh, really? My manipulations aren’t enough for you?”

  Mock horror filled his eyes, and he placed a hand on his heart, as if she’d seriously wounded him there.

  “It’s not that.” A light blush crept from her neck up over her cheeks.

  “Then what is it?”

  He was teasing her, and thoroughly enjoying the light blush that filled her cheeks. She used to blush a lot in school, and he’d gone out of his way to do or say things that would embarrass her. Now he felt a stirring in his heart that hadn’t been there since Julie had died and part of him had died with her.

  Maybe that part of him wasn’t dead after all...just wounded. Deeply. That was curious and interesting and scary at the same time.

  Mrs. Kinsey’s words came back to him. It was time. He’d mourned Julie and would never forget her, or how deeply they had loved each other. Was it really time to move on? How was a man to know after a relationship like that? He’d never love that way again. That much he knew. But some part of him was waking up, wanting to connect again.

  Aurora had just come back to town. She was here temporarily. He couldn’t start depending on her, or start liking having her around so much, or he was going to get his heart broken all over again. He had to think this through with more than one certain body part. Chloe was his number one priority. He couldn’t let Aurora into her life and then watch her walk away. He could deal with the pain, but he wouldn’t put his child through that.

  With a frown, he pushed back and stood. “Never mind. Give the county fair people a call and see if we can get in anywhere.”

  “Beau? What is it?” She placed a gentle hand on his arm to stop him from walking away. “We were having a good time, then you switched gears and shut down. Did
I say something I shouldn’t have?”

  Those big blue eyes of hers looked up at him like he’d just stabbed her through the heart. He had to remember she had baggage, too. It wasn’t just him. Yet that was even more reason not to think of her as anything else except temporary and a friend who was helping him out for a while. So many reasons they shouldn’t be together.

  “No. Nothing.” He looked away and shoved his hands into his pockets. How was he going to explain this to her?

  She stood and faced him, her eyes wary but determined. “Now, that’s just not true. We both know it. If you’re uncomfortable about something it’s best to talk about it—not pretend it’s not going on or ignore it.” She curved one hand behind her ear, the way she did when she was nervous.

  “No, you haven’t done anything. It’s just that—”

  The door opened, and they froze.

  “Is this the right place?” A middle-aged man entered and took off his coat. “I can’t decide if I’m a dog or a cat today.”

  At his words the moment between Aurora and Beau was shattered. It was all business again.

  “Of course this is the right place.” Aurora greeted the man with an overly bright smile. “What can we do for you today?”

  Beau waited as she had the man sign in and give her his insurance information. After that Beau led the man back to the patient exam room and focused on the problem in front of him—not on making new ones with Aurora.

  * * *

  Keeping herself busy with filing and organizing took up the majority of Aurora’s morning. Although she hadn’t quite lied to Beau, she had misrepresented what she’d done in order to clear the desk. She wasn’t that efficient. What she’d done was put all the piles of paperwork, lab results, faxes and miscellaneous other stuff into two boxes that now sat on the floor at her feet, out of view of the patients. This gave an immediate view of cleanliness and organization—a professional atmosphere a patient would feel comfortable in.

  After that she’d cleaned the surface of the desk, so she had a clutter-free, dust-free surface to work on. Clutter, she understood. Dirt, she had a personal problem with.

  Now that everything was clean she began to go through the papers, sorting them into piles: letters that needed to have copies mailed to patients, information that might need a phone call for follow-up, before being scanned into the electronic medical records. All things that made a good first impression on new patients.