Then Comes Love

by Candice Poarch

  Only a grandfather and half sister. “No,” Jasmine said. “My family lives on the West Coast. I’m from L.A.”

  “Noelle is from there,” Leila said. “Beautiful place. I visited there a few years ago. Anytime you need somebody, give us a call. And I mean that. You’re not alone here.”

  “That goes for all of us,” Mr. Avery said.

  Deeply touched, Jasmine thanked them and continued to the powder room. Growing up in this family would have been so different from what her life had been. But she wouldn’t dwell on it. These people weren’t responsible. Her donor father was dead. The man who gave his sperm and didn’t give a second thought to his offspring. How could any person do a thing like that? She was a product of him.

  Girl, you have to calm down, or else you’re going to be a basket case. She had to get through lunch and she couldn’t go in there acting as if she was mad at the world. Schooling her emotions was easy. She’d mastered the technique when she was ten.

  Jasmine cupped her hands under the water and splashed some on her face. She dried off with a clean towel, giving herself a minute before she joined the others.

  The huge dining-room table was laden with food. It was apparent Leila liked to fuss over people. Not used to being fussed over, Jasmine felt uncomfortable.

  Through a clogged throat she forced the food down. Conversation volleyed around her and at her. For a moment, she stopped eating and took slow breaths until her stomach stopped turning.

  She was finally there, in her grandfather’s opulent dining room. Clearly king of his domain, the gentle, soft-spoken man sat at the head of the table, Colin at the other end. Jasmine sat beside Noelle and Leila sat across from them.

  Jasmine just didn’t understand it. This family had money—plenty of it. Mackenzie Avery had been born in to money. As a veterinarian, he made plenty on his own. Why would he, a man who could offer his offspring everything, become a sperm donor?

  “Ouch! You’re hurting her!” six-year-old Kelly Kingsley exclaimed. They were in one of the examining rooms in the Avery Veterinary Clinic.

  As much as Dr. Drake Whitcomb wanted to wallow in his own problems, he had to get his head back on his job.

  “I’m not hurting her, sweetheart. Just examining. Here, feel this.” Dr. Whitcomb held the stethoscope to Kelly’s hand so that she could see it was harmless. He was getting ready to leave the clinic when they brought the injured collie in. Everyone had left except for the vet tech and office manager.

  “Can I keep her?” the little girl asked Drake as if the decision was his and not her mother’s.

  “No, honey. You already have two dogs and two cats, not to mention the bird and hamster,” Marsha Kingsley, the child’s mother and Drake’s neighbor, responded with a sad smile. The woman clearly indulged her child. “Your daddy will get rid of us if we bring one more animal home.”

  “But what will happen to her?”

  “We’ll take her to the pound. It’s a place for homeless animals.”

  “It’s not fair.” The child’s face puckered. “What happens if no one comes for her?”

  “We’ll let the people at the pound decide,” Marsha said.

  “Mama, can’t I keep her? Please? Please?”

  Marsha sighed. “I wish we could, but…”

  “Tell you what,” Drake interjected. “We’ll keep her here for a while, at least until she heals.”

  “What then?” the child wanted to know. “Do you have a dog?”

  Drake laughed. “No.”

  “Dr. Whitcomb spends a lot of time here. He doesn’t have time for pets.”

  “The dog can stay here, too. It’s a place for animals, isn’t it?”

  “You’ve got a point there,” Drake said, and eased the stethoscope in place to listen to the dog’s heartbeat. It was a skittish little thing. All nerves. Her coat was smeared with blood, and her hair was dull. She responded as if she’d been a family pet at some point, but someone had recently beaten her with a hard object and she was a bloody mess.

  “Ouch,” Kelly said again when the animal whimpered.

  “Honey, the doctor listens to your heartbeat and it never hurts,” Marsha said.

  Kelly quieted and Drake tried to keep his focus from straying to the call he’d received an hour ago—a call that literally changed his life.

  “Is she going to be all right?” Kelly asked again.

  “We’ll see,” Drake responded, smiling at the child. He was a small-animal vet, and soothing anxious souls was part of the job. “I’m going to take her to the back. While I examine her, I want you to think of a name. We can’t call her Dog, can we?”

  “Okay. I don’t like needles,” the child said. “She won’t, either.” A fist closed around Drake’s heart. The child was so cute she’d already stolen his heart. “It’s going to hurt.” The child’s face puckered up as if she was going to cry.

  Drake and the vet tech moved the dog to a cart. The tech wheeled her to a back room to take X-rays.

  “You can wait out in the reception area, but we’re going to be a while. You might want to go home,” he said.

  “Will you call us and let us know how she did?” Marsha asked. “I’ll pay for her care.”

  “I’ll call,” he said.

  Ponce Rommel, one of the office’s large-animal vets, would have suggested he euthanize the animal and be done with it, but that wasn’t Drake’s way. He gave all his animals the best care he possibly could.

  In back, the tech had the X-rays up and ready for him to look at. He viewed them one by one. With at least two to three hours of work ahead of him, he cleared his mind and got started.

  The dog was resting in his cage. Drake’s customer had left hours ago and he called Marsha to let her know the dog was out of surgery.

  He went outside to check on the animals in the barn, the makeshift home he’d arranged for the homeless animals once they’d healed from their injuries. Drake had only been there eleven months, but it was well-known around town that if a sick animal needed a home, Doc Whitcomb was the man to see.

  When Drake came back inside, the office manager was still with the vet tech. The office was closed and Drake went in the back to check on the newly-named Hugs. He shook his head. The dog was stuck with the name the child had given her.

  “How are you, girl?” Drake sat on the floor in front of the cage and stroked the partially sedated animal. Sad eyes stared into Drake’s. It tugged at Drake’s heart. He’d planned to leave her at the office. The night tech would keep an eye on her. But her sad eyes touched his again. She seemed to feel as lonely and as desolate as Drake himself felt.

  Who had abandoned her? And why? Drake continued to stroke her fur. Hugs shuddered and settled. What would happen when he left? Hugs would probably feel abandoned again.

  He didn’t want to be alone tonight. They needed each other. He sighed. He couldn’t leave her.

  He’d planned to hang around and wait for Jasmine. She was late returning from her appointments. She’d gone out to River Oaks today. He hadn’t expected that to happen so soon. Although she’d never admit it, he knew she was apprehensive about her first visit there. He felt as if she was being tossed into the lion’s den her first day on the job. The plan was for her to go with Dr. Floyd Parker the first time, but he’d been on another call and couldn’t get away.

  Drake had no doubt that Jasmine was qualified, but there was a world of history at River Oaks and she was just now coming face-to-face with it.

  He was ready for home and needed to get Hugs settled in for the night. “I’m going to get a bed for you, girl. Be back in a sec.” He brought himself to his feet in one smooth motion. As soon as he closed the door behind him he heard raised voices.

  “What do you mean you’re quitting?” the office manager, Jeff Daniels, asked as he sailed out of his tiny office. “You can’t quit just like that.”

  “I sure as hell can,” Ponce said.

  “We finally got you some relief.”

&nb
sp; “I’m not having my reputation dragged through the mud with Floyd. I don’t know why Mackenzie hired him in the first place. You should have let him go a long time ago.”

  “Let him go and leave only one vet to handle a practice large enough to keep three working overtime? At least Floyd doesn’t harm the animals. He does the routine jobs. And we got you some help, Ponce. We hired Jasmine. You can’t just leave the new vet here alone. Think of Mackenzie and all he did for this practice.”

  “Look, I’ll work out my two-week notice, but after that…” Ponce headed to the computer.

  “In that two weeks, think about staying. I did a thorough check on Jasmine before we hired her. She’ll take all the pressure off you.”

  “She shouldn’t have to. Floyd doesn’t carry his load, and you know it. Half the time I have to finish up jobs he starts. I spent half my day doing just that and I’m sick of it. Haven’t had a vacation in…I can’t remember when.”

  Desperate Jeff pitched. “With Jasmine here, we’ll remedy that.”

  “But Floyd’s still here. Either Jasmine or I will have to do most of the work. Nothing’s changed.” Ponce sighed. “I don’t know. He was Mackenzie’s friend and I know George isn’t going to fire him. It’s not going to do any good for me to stay on longer.”

  Hands balled in fists, Jeff shoved them into his pockets. “Do you already have someplace to go?”

  Ponce shook his head.

  Jeff pushed his glasses up on his nose and sighed. “Give us six weeks, please. I’ll talk to George.”

  “When?” Ponce glared as if he didn’t believe it.

  “Soon, okay? Listen, don’t do this to Jasmine. See how things go with her here.”

  Ponce gave a jerky nod and sat at the computer.

  “It’s not as if he doesn’t offer anything. He’s a hell of a salesman. He’s brought more business here than we can handle.”

  “We don’t need a salesman. We need full-time vets,” Ponce said. “Who will pull their load.”

  Jeff plucked off his glasses, wiped a weary hand across his face and marched back to his office, closing the door behind him.

  This was a long-standing argument between Floyd and Ponce. Drake had let his feelings be known, but he wasn’t going to argue the point over and over. It was Ponce’s nature to complain. He always kept the atmosphere tense.

  Drake was about to approach Ponce when Jasmine threw open the door and rushed in like a tornado.

  “Hi, Ponce,” she called out.

  Drake remained unseen in back of her.

  “How was your first day?” Ponce asked.

  “Busy as hell, otherwise okay,” she said. “Got a couple of extra calls. Spent more time than I’d intended at the Avery’s. Did a few ultrasounds, some injections. Looked at a sick horse. You want a whole list before I put it in the billing system?” she finished as he stared at her.

  “Damn it, Floyd was supposed to go there. And he took the tech with him. What the hell has he been doing all day? You should have been off a couple of hours ago.”

  Jasmine shrugged. “It got assigned to me.”

  “Need help inserting the notes?”

  “Already done on my BlackBerry. Just need to take a quick look to make sure it went over okay.”

  “Be my guest.” Ponce got up and Jasmine slid into the seat, logged in, quickly scanned through her notes and made a couple of notations. With arms crossed, Ponce rocked back on his heels.

  “That’s it.”

  “You’re kidding?” Ponce leaned over and frowned at the screen.

  “I love having my BlackBerry.”

  “We’re going to have to discuss updating things around here, at least if I stay.”

  Jasmine stopped, glared at him. “If you stay? You’re thinking of leaving?”

  “We’ll see. Don’t worry about it. I’m here for now.”

  Jasmine dragged a hand through her hair. It was windblown, feathery and pretty. Whiskey-colored eyes narrowed with fatigue. Her cheeks had reddened from the wind and her dark blue sweater clung to her pert breasts. There was nothing special about the blue sweater, but what it covered sent Drake into a tailspin.

  She got up from the computer and Ponce sat in the vacated chair. Her long legs marched across the floor on a mission. Drake realized he was staring. He fumbled with the door as if he’d just gotten there.

  She’d been in just one day, damn it, one day, and already his heart leapt as if he’d galloped a thousand miles. He may not have seen her over the last four years, but he knew her from way back. Didn’t help. She had changed so much and now he could get lost in those damnable eyes.

  She followed him to the storage room in back of the building.

  “I want to talk to you,” she said with a curt nod. “Outside.”

  Drake had expected this. He led the way out back. “What’s up?”

  “I appreciate your help. But you’re Steven’s friend and I don’t trust him. Never have. Steven has done nothing but play games and made life miserable for me from the moment I met him.”

  Jasmine paced away, glancing over her shoulder. “This is my career. You mess with me, you’ll have a fighting tiger on your hands. And trust me, you don’t want that,” she said before she marched back into the building, letting the door slam behind her.

  She hadn’t changed one bit, Drake thought, feeling her boot heels gouging his back. She was still prickly and paranoid as heck. He should have stayed in Vermont. Hell, no. His butt was freezing up north and the pay was only a fraction of what he made here.

  Drake opened the door and went to Hugs. Seconds later he felt Jasmine beside him and stiffened, waiting for another shot. He glanced up. She nodded toward the bed. “What’s going on?”

  “A client brought her in. She’s homeless. I’m taking her home.”

  “Can’t the tech watch her?”

  “Yeah.”

  She gazed at him and nodded in understanding. “Need help?”

  He waited for lightning to strike. “Sure. I want to limit her movement,” Drake said. “So tell me, how did the appointment at River Oaks go?”

  For a moment she was silent as they started carrying Hugs’s cage to his SUV.

  The prickly woman was always on guard. But she was serious about her work. Ponce and Floyd were impressed and it took a lot to impress Ponce. But then, Floyd had watched Jasmine work in Kentucky.

  “It went better than I had expected.”

  “What did you think of Noelle and Mr. Avery?”

  “They were both very kind. They’ve invited me to some party Saturday,” Jasmine said, frowning.

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  She shrugged.

  Drake noticed her hands shook slightly.

  When animals were out of sorts, a gentle hand and kind words usually soothed them. Her actions were a clear sign of just how much she was rattled, but so was he.

  “We’ve put in a long day,” Drake said.

  “I have one more stop. A stallion with a hot leg,” she said, closing the tailgate. “The trainer thought it should be better by now. Wants me to take a look. See you tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” Drake said, but as he watched her climb into her SUV he wondered why, after the way she’d lit into him, she came back to assist him.

  She was some woman, if he could forget her resemblance to Jeckyll and Hyde. Hell of a worker. But personality-wise, she could use some help.

  Drake massaged the back of his neck. Knowing that Ponce was considering leaving, he was seriously having second thoughts about bringing her on board. He’d known Floyd didn’t carry his weight as a large-animal vet and Ponce was dissatisfied, but he’d been so wrapped up in his own work, he hadn’t noticed how bad things had gotten. Floyd often helped Drake with the small-animal portion of the practice, another sore point with Ponce.

  Ponce never admitted that Floyd’s work had value. Drake owed his quick success to Floyd. Floyd was a people person. He might not do the hard medical work the rest
of the vets did, but with his gregarious personality, people loved him. He brought new business to the office—business none of them had to go searching for.

  Jeff’s car was still in the yard as Drake climbed into his SUV. He felt sorry for Jeff. The man worried about everything. He had a wife who was good friends with Mackenzie’s ex and she loved to spend money. No one knew if Mr. Avery was planning on keeping the practice open. He could easily sell the practice and all the vets would find themselves out of work. Jeff certainly couldn’t afford to have the practice closed.

  Drake glanced toward the barn. He’d wanted to stop by there before leaving. But not tonight. He needed to settle Hugs.

  Chapter 2

  Why was she here? Jasmine had asked herself that very question a million times before she came. Now that she was in Virginia—sitting in her SUV in front of her grandfather’s vet practice, no less—she continued to ponder.

  She could have chosen a dozen different locations. The most sensible option would have been to stay put right in Kentucky thoroughbred country. But she didn’t choose sensibly.

  The answer was simple when she stopped rationalizing. A thousand questions circled in her mind—questions that had been there since she was fourteen when Steven had told her she was a freak. It’s right here, he’d said, pointing to a sheet of paper he’d found in her mother’s private files. Your father was a sperm donor. You don’t have a real dad. I always knew you were weird. She’d quickly snatched the paper from Steven and had run to her room to cry behind a locked door. She wouldn’t let him see her cry.

  After she’d dried her tears she had read the page from top to bottom. Her father was identified with a number and he was listed as an “open donor.” It was a couple of years later that she’d discovered that by him being an open donor she had access to his identity when she turned eighteen. On her eighteenth birthday she’d learned that his name was Mackenzie Avery and he lived in Virginia. The next time one of her stepsiblings called her dad a Thing, she’d tossed the name Dr. Mackenzie Avery in their faces.