Friday morning, Nora’s cell phone rang. She half expected it to be Patty again, but it was Tony Monroe from the law firm. Her firm. Funny how she no longer thought of it as hers.
“Hi Tony, how are you?”
“Hi, Nora. I’m calling with good news.”
“Oh?”
“The firm’s investigation of you is complete. We are convinced that you were not aware of Henry’s illegal behavior during the Samson merger, and you were not involved in any illegal activity yourself.”
Nora knew a response was required, but she honestly wasn’t sure what it was. Thank you? No, she wouldn’t thank him for putting her on leave for weeks now, making her sneak out like a thief in the night, and plant suspicion into the hearts and minds of their colleagues.
I told you so? That would certainly be true. She had told them, from Day One that she was innocent of any wrongdoing. But “I told you so” wasn’t the professional way to go.
Tony was waiting for something, so she said, “Okay.”
“You’re welcome to come back to the firm, Nora. Complete reinstatement.”
“Mmm hmmm. I’ll consider that. I’ll let you know soon.”
Tony hesitated. “What do you mean? You’re not coming back to work?”
Going into all the details about her inheritance, her plans for initiating a Dress For Success affiliate, and for living in Murrells Inlet full-time, was not something she wanted to tackle right now. Stubbornly, she held onto the Saturday deadline she’d set for herself. She had one more day. And Tony’s revelation that she was just as innocent as she always claimed to be, wasn’t going to change that. She refused to let him change her timeline.
“Can I call you tomorrow, Tony?”
“Well, yes. You have my number, Nora.”
“Right. Talk to you tomorrow.” She disconnected the line, taking delight at his confusion. Her reaction was very different from what he’d been expecting. Of course he’d expected her to be grateful, excited, thrilled that their investigation was complete and in her favor. Dying to come back to work with them.
And to be fair, why wouldn’t he think that? That’s the person she was when he’d practically kicked her out the door. But she’d changed since she’d left. Her life was different now. Her goals had altered, and her focus for this new stage of her life had transformed drastically.
God had worked through her and showed her his purpose for her life. At least, for this stage of her life. Now that she knew the firm wanted her back, it seemed that much easier for her to leave.
She had a fleeting idea, and before she changed her mind, she decided to act on it. She picked up her phone and Googled the number for the jail where Henry was staying. She waited through several transfers, and then asked to speak to Henry. Good thing she didn’t have anywhere else to be because he didn’t come onto the phone until close to twenty minutes later.
“Henry, hi, it’s Nora. How’s it going?”
“Nora, hi. And I’m going to treat that question as rhetorical.”
She smiled at his dry humor. “Well, I hope things are going well for you. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, darling. I appreciate your loyalty, I truly do, but I want you to do something for me.”
“Anything I can possibly do, I’ll do.”
“Nora, your loyalty to me has put blinders on you.”
“Henry, I’ve worked side by side with you for case after case. You helped me when I was a new lawyer. I’ve reviewed your work, I’ve admired you, I’ve learned from you.”
“But Nora, I made mistakes.”
Nora’s heart pounded. He’d told her before that he was guilty, and she hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“I’m not proud of it, Nora, I’m truly not. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t know it was wrong. I stole money from our clients, pure and simple. I opened up opportunities for profit that I didn’t tell the firm about, that slid right into my pockets.”
“Henry!” Nora closed her eyes, unable to defend him any longer.
“I’m ashamed of going corrupt after so many decades of being honest. I know you looked up to me, but I owe you the truth. My lawyer has very little defense for me.”
Her breathing grew heavy, her fingers tingly.
“Nora, you’re a good person, a great lawyer. Learn one last lesson from me. Don’t give in to the greed. Remember why you chose this line of work in the first place – because you wanted to help people – and don’t veer from that. Stay steadfast. It’s too easy to cheat, but you’re too good for that.”
A shiver moved down her spine and her hands went shaky. She dropped her phone by accident, but when she retrieved it, the line had disconnected. Her mentor, her Henry, her partner, was guilty.
She tossed the phone on the table and sat in silence, her mind running. He’d given in to the pressure. Being an honest lawyer and collecting the vast paychecks available to him wasn’t enough. He’d turned a dark corner and started milking the firm and the firm’s clients for money that didn’t belong to him.
If Henry could take this dark turn, who wasn’t at risk of making the same mistake?
An hour later, Nora heard the clang clang of a truck entering her property. She ran outside in time to see Shaw’s pickup truck, towing a small trailer, pull away through the pasture on the other side of the fence. They were coming to capture the alligator. It would be safer to sit in her apartment and let Shaw take care of it for her, but isolated safety was highly overrated. She hiked through the pasture, and fifteen minutes later, reached the beach. Spotting the truck parked about two hundred yards down the beach, she made her way toward it. Shaw was leaning over something on the sand. He caught a glimpse of her and raised his hand.
Whether it was a ‘hello’ or a ‘stay away,’ she wasn’t sure.
She got closer and saw that the other man was knee deep in the water, extending a metal pole out in front of him. He was a tall, skinny guy with longish, stringy hair. Suddenly, a shout pierced the air, “Now. Now, Shaw!” Shaw ran into the water and the two men, hands gloved in leather, grabbed an object and together pulled it out of the water. As it emerged, Nora could make out what it was: a big wire cage that contained a fully alive, snapping alligator.
She couldn’t help the scream that ripped from her.
Shouts passed back and forth between the men as they dragged their load onto the shore. The cage had handles on both sides, and the leather gloves helped protect their hands, however the monster inside looked fully capable of figuring out a way to chomp down on fingers and draw blood.
They brought the cage to a halt and both men fell back on the sand, away from the alligator, their chests heaving. Nora ran over to Shaw and kneeled beside him, pulling him into a hug. “Are you okay? Are you both okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Nothing like a little adrenaline rush.”
Shaw’s friend laughed. “He’s a little cupcake, don’t let him fool you.”
Nora looked at him, eyebrows up. “Do you mean Shaw’s a cupcake, or this alligator here?”
The man laughed uproariously. “I’ll let you call him a cupcake. He wouldn’t take it too kindly from me.”
Shaw shook his head. “Nora, this is Sam. He’s the guy I told you about, The Crocodile Hunter of the Low Country. Sam, this pretty lady is my friend Nora.”
Sam positioned himself on his knees and held his hand out to shake hers. “Nice to meet you, Nora. And thanks for letting me take this critter of yours. I have just the spot for him.”
“Really. And where is that?”
“I own a reptile preserve about twenty miles from here. I lost an alligator to old age about two months ago. This little beauty will fit right in.”
“How nice. That’ll make me sleep a little better, knowing he’s in a good home.” She said it sarcastically. What she really meant was, knowing he’s away from here.
“I hear he got you.”
“He sure did.” Nora rolled her pant leg up, tugged on the tap
e holding down her gauze bandage and put her stitched leg on display.
“Oh, lordy, yes he did get you. Nice stitches though.”
Nora grinned proudly at Shaw. “Our friend the veterinarian stitched my leg.”
“This tough lady walked all the way back to the barn after this guy attacked her,” said Shaw. “Talk about strong.” He gave her a look of pride and Nora’s heart swelled.
Sam was still looking at her scar. “He coulda gotten you a lot worse, you know.”
“I know. I got lucky. If being bitten by an alligator is lucky.” She chuckled.
“He’ll have a good life at my place, don’t you worry about that.”
Shaw pulled three bottles of icy cold water out of the truck, and they all sat on the sand to get their pulses back to normal before loading the caged alligator into the trailer. Other than an occasional snap of his teeth, he seemed to be calming pretty well.
Sam left them to take a closer peek at the alligator and Nora took that moment to say, “Shaw, I think I’ve come up with a purpose for the property that would be a good fit for me. And would satisfy Aunt Edie’s edict. And the Lord’s expectations in Matthew.”
“Wow.” A smile jumped onto his face. “This is big news.”
She nodded happily. “It is. I’m feeling really good about it. In fact, tomorrow is my deadline to make up my mind, and I think I’m there. I’ll just sleep on it and see if it still feels right in the morning.”
“Congratulations. I can’t wait to hear about it.”
“I’ll tell you all about it when we don’t have a killer reptile sitting a few feet away.” She laughed. “Oh and also, my partner at the firm called. They finished their investigation and found me innocent.”
He snorted. “Well, of course they did. Took ‘em long enough.”
She grinned. This man was so on track with her. How did she luck into meeting a man who was nice, supportive … and handsome? And someone who seemed to like her as much as she liked him?
She was new to this God stuff, but she was convinced that he was involved. “Thank you for all your support and guidance,” she said for his ears only. She reached out her hand and he grasped it.
He shook his head. “No, this is all you.”
“No, don’t be modest. You were instrumental. You opened my eyes to what God wanted for me. And I can’t thank you enough for that. You’re … you’re a good man, Shaw.”
Shaw’s eyes darkened. She barely caught it, but once she had, it was unmistakable. He turned his head away from her, and seemed about to respond when Sam said, “Well, we better get this fella out to the preserve. You ready?”
Shaw nodded and came to his feet, pulling her up along with him. He dusted the sand from his pants. “Yep.” He turned to Nora. “We’ll talk all about it next time.”
Next time. It had a nice ring to it.
She kept her distance while they took hold of the metal handles of the cage again, counted together, and on three, hoisted the cage into the trailer. They closed the door and then dashed to get into the truck.
“Thank you. I can’t thank you both enough.” They’d put themselves in danger for her. She wasn’t used to this type of chivalry.
“No, thank you. Appreciate the call,” Sam said.
Shaw winked in her direction. “Want a ride back to the barn?”
She shook her head. “No, no, that’s all right. I’m staying as far away from those sharp teeth as possible.”
“I get that,” he said with that slow smile. “You be careful getting back.”
“It’s a beautiful day for a walk.”
They drove slowly away, conscious of the bumping of the trailer on the sand. She hoped they’d stay safe on the other end of their trip, where they’d release this “cupcake” into the reptile preserve.
Nora woke from a sound sleep. She sat straight up in bed and gasped, then listened in the quiet, trying to figure out why.
Pound pound. What was it? Something hard was pounding against something hard. Then, footsteps. And murmured nickers.
Nora rose and slipped into jeans and boots, threw a sweatshirt on. The minute she opened the door leading from her apartment into the barn, she knew. It was Maggie.
She ran down the aisle and peered into the dark stall. Maggie was pacing inside, leaning and moaning against the wooden wall, then jumping forward, kicking the wall with her back hoof. Maggie never had restless nights. Something was terribly wrong.
She ran to the light switch and flipped it, bathing the entire stall row in fluorescent light. She ran back to Maggie’s stall. The horse hadn’t seemed to notice the difference. She was still restless and frantic, unable to calm. She opened the stall door and slipped inside it. Maggie’s wide and frenzied eyes spoke to her, help me. Nora inched closer, took hold of her head and leaning in, whispered to her, “Maggie, take it easy. Take it easy, baby. Shhhhh.”
The horse shivered and her tail twitched. Nora made a decision and left her again, running back to her apartment. The best way she could help Maggie was to get Shaw out here. He would know what to do to help her.
She placed the call and listened to it ring. She glanced around the room till her eyes lit on the clock. It was three am. Not a normal calling time, but veterinarians were probably accustomed to the phone ringing in the dark of night.
“Hello?”
The female voice startled her, and she pulled the phone off her ear to look at it. My gosh, had she called the wrong number, waking someone unnecessarily at this ungodly hour? But … no. The contact was clearly Shaw’s.
“I’m sorry …,” Nora stammered, her brain too foggy to make sense of this. Why would a woman be answering Shaw’s phone at 3 am?
“Hello? Yes?”
“I’m looking for Shaw Flynn? The veterinarian? I have a pregnant mare who is in distress but it’s way too early for her to give birth.”
“Your name please?”
“Nora Ramsey.”
There was a shuffling on Shaw’s end of the line and in the distance, Nora heard the woman say, “Dad? Dad, wake up. A pregnant mare is having trouble. Nora Ramsey.”
Then, within a few seconds, Shaw’s voice came on. “Nora? What’s wrong?”
She was so thrown for a loop – not just by his phone being answered by a woman, but also from the discovery that the woman was his daughter, evidently – that she didn’t respond.
“Hello?”
“Yes, sorry.” What did she have to be sorry about? “Shaw, Maggie’s in trouble. She’s pacing the stall, making noises, kicking the wall. I’m really worried about her.”
“I’ll be right there.” And the call disconnected.
Judging from his arrival time, he must’ve left his place immediately and broke speed limits. He parked his truck outside, then jogged into the barn carrying blankets and a leather bag. He headed for Maggie’s stall and was so focused on the horse that he didn’t greet Nora until he’d been in the stall for a minute. He was tending to Maggie, talking softly to her, running his hands all over her. Nora slipped into the stall and closed the door behind her. His head came up and they locked eyes.
His looked guarded, protective, closed off. A wall of ice had gone up between them that had never been there before. He knew she had every reason to be … what? Angry? Curious? Suspicious? An awkward pause, and then he turned back to the mare without a word.
Obviously they had to talk. About the phone call, about the fact that he had a daughter, about why he’d never even mentioned that fact.
But now was not the time. Now, it was Maggie’s time.
Nora stepped over to him and put her hand over his. His gaze darted to hers again, and this time, his expression wasn’t as tense. It reflected relief. “How can I help?” she asked.
“Fill some buckets?” he said.
She nodded and carried out the task. She found a half dozen buckets, filled them with water, made trips back to the stall with them. Shaw pulled a hypodermic needle out of his leather bag and meas
ured out liquid in a vial. She wasn’t in the stall when he injected the mare, but by the time the last buckets were delivered, Maggie was noticeably calmer.
“What do you think has happened?”
Shaw shook his head. “The infection may be causing a premature delivery. I’d like to stop it if I can. The timing is suspect. She’s too early to deliver a healthy colt. It would be better for both mama and baby if we could stop the contractions.”
While he was concentrating on the mare’s back half, Nora stroked her face gently. “How do you do that?”
“I gave her a relaxant to help her calm down. Now I’m going to inject a drug to work on the contractions. Slow them down and get them to stop. Hopefully."
He filled the needle with another clear liquid and quickly injected it into Maggie’s haunch. “That’ll get into her bloodstream and if successful, we’ll start seeing improvement in a few hours. Meanwhile, we need to keep her still. Stress or exercise could induce labor – the opposite of what we want.”
Nora continued her slow stroking of Maggie’s face – her forehead, her nose, her neck, her ears. Between the sedative taking effect and her rhythmic stroking, she could see the horse starting to settle down. “I think it’s working,” she whispered to Shaw, trying not to alarm Maggie.
He nodded. “Pick up one of those water buckets and see if you can get her to drink.”
She did as he said, and soon, Maggie was taking a couple sips at a time. Shaw put on some plastic gloves and started poking around in places Nora didn’t really want to think about. He patted Maggie on the flank and said, “Hang in there, little lady.”
“What did you just examine?”
“I was checking her cervix dilations. She hasn’t decreased since the meds, but she hasn’t increased either.”
Nora breathed sharply. “So, that’s good?”
Shaw shrugged. “I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s good. But, it’s not bad.”
Nora gave him a fond smile. It was obvious he loved his patient, and animals in general. Such a gentle, caring man.
Yet, a man with a secret.
Sanctuary (Murrells Inlet Miracles Book 1) Page 13