But the years had slipped away. Whenever she brought it up, Doc was philosophical. Let Brett take the residency, hed said. It would make him a better doctor when he did come back.
Well, now he was home, but apparently not to stay. Her throat tightened. She hadnt realized how much shed been counting on his return until she saw him. How much longer could they continue at the clinic if he didnt take over? The secret Doc insisted she keep weighed on her heart. If only she could share it with Brett
There you are. Brett touched her arm, and the cake platter tilted in her grasp. He grabbed it, setting it down. Anne sent me over to tell you to relax and enjoy the party. Theres plenty of food here. More fat and calories than this bunch should have in a month.
She managed a smile. Keep it light. You cant confront him here, so keep it light. Youre back in Bedford Creek, remember? A party isnt a success unless the hostess stuffs everyone.
Nobody serves crudités and yogurt dip?
Not unless theyre serving fudge and cookies with it.
This was better, joking back and forth with Brett as if it were the old days, burying her worries about the clinic, about Doc, about the future. And ignoring the tingle of awareness his closeness brought. She had to keep things on this level for the moment.
She tried unobtrusively to move a step farther away. Ignoring his warmth and strength would be easier if he werent quite so close to her, close enough to smell a faint trace of spicy aftershave, close enough to see the gold flecks in his green eyes.
Anne tells me youre a bridesmaid in the wedding next month.
She nodded. It was safe to talk about Anne. Weve gotten to be good friends since she moved here. Shes really someone special. The secret of Emilies birth parents had brought Anne to Bedford Creek, but it was the love shed found with Mitch that made her stay.
She looked at Anne, bending to disentangle Emilies tiny fingers from the bow of a present. She admired Annes cool urban elegance without wanting to be like her.
He followed the direction of her gaze. They are happy, arent they? He almost sounded as if he needed assurance.
Of course. Her surprise showed in her voice. Theyre perfect for each other. Dont you think so?
He glanced down at her. Guess I never thought Mitch would settle down. But once he met the right woman, it was all over for him.
She couldnt help but smile. You make it sound like a prison sentence. Is that how you see marriage?
It is meant to be permanent.
He looked back toward the other room, and she realized he was watching Alex Caine, the third member of the trio of friends. Alex, his lean face serious as always, stood back a little, leaning on the cane he sometimes had to use.
Alex is doing better. She answered the question he didnt ask. Alex had barely survived a plane crash the year before, suffering a head injury that eventually healed and a shattered knee that still pained him. It was small wonder his friends worried about him.
Brett nodded. Alex is toughnobody knows that better than I do. Hell be fine. He focused on her. So how come I havent heard about an engagement party for you? Guys must be standing in line.
In Bedford Creek? She lifted her brows. There arent enough eligible single guys to form a line.
Dont give me that. You ought to be wearing a ring, too.
She shook her head. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Thats the way I like it, although Ill never convince my mother. Shes eternally hopeful of getting both her daughters married off.
She must Brett interrupted himself to look down. Did you know there was someone under the table?
She bent, lifting the hem of the linen tablecloth. Come out, Kristie. Come on, right now.
A small, sticky hand closed around hers, and her niece slid out from under the table. Chocolate smeared Kristies hands and mouth.
Whos this? Brett knelt beside the pajama-clad figure. I havent met you before, have I?
Finger in her mouth, five-year-old Kristie had an attack of shyness. She leaned against Rebeccas skirt, shaking her head.
Brett looked up, a question in his eyes.
Kristie is Quinns daughter. It was useless to hope he wouldnt ask more questions. He and Quinn were the same age, and theyd been childhood friends. Honey, this is Brett. Hes an old friend.
I dont think I knew your brother had come back home. Brett stood. My mothers intelligence-gathering skills must be getting rusty.
Hes not. Home, that is. Her heart ached at the thought of her brothers battle with grief over his wifes death six months earlier. Hes finishing up a job. Kristie is staying with us until he comes back.
Brett seemed to process very quickly all the things she didnt say. He smiled down at Kristie. Sounds like youre a lucky girl, staying with your grandma and aunts. Is there still a tree house in the willow out back?
Kristie nodded. Aunt Rebecca and me painted it. Its yellow now.
Id like to see that sometime. Do you let boys in?
That earned a shy smile. Youre not a boy.
Im not? He gave her a shocked look.
Youre a man! She erupted in giggles, and he joined her.
Brett had made another conquest, not surprisingly. He always had been able to charm the birds from the trees. And there was genuine kindness behind his smile. Small wonder even shy Kristie responded to it, just as Rebecca had.
She must have been about her nieces age when shed solemnly asked Brett if hed marry her when she grew up. Theyd been in the tree house, and she could still smell the lilacs that had been blooming in the garden.
Brett had been kind; he was always kind. Hed taken both her hands in his and assured her shed meet someone shed love lots more than him. He was going to be a doctor, hed told her. He promised hed come back and take care of all of them.
Shed tried to blink tears away, knowing a rejection when she heard it, even at five. Shed nodded, as if accepting his words, but her heart had known she loved him.
Now, she could only hope Brett had forgotten that embarrassing incident.
Come on. She took Kristies hand. Time we got you back to bed.
At least that would get her out of Bretts company for a few minutes. She wouldnt have to pretend nothing was wrong, and she wouldnt have to pretend she wasnt affected by seeing him again.
Kristies curly red head burrowed against her skirt. Im tired, Auntie Rebecca. Carry me.
Brett scooped her up before Rebecca could move. Ill take her.
Wait, let me wipe off the chocolate. She snatched a napkin. You dont need to do that. You should stay here and visit with people.
She hoped there wasnt a desperate edge in her voice. The last thing she wanted right now was to be alone with him.
He ignored her. Here we go. He hoisted Kristie, hands now clean, to his shoulder. Hold on tight. He started for the archway, bouncing her so that she giggled and clutched his hair.
Managing a meaningless smile for anyone who might be watching, Rebecca followed.
They trooped up the wide staircase. At the top, she nodded toward the door next to hers. This is Kristies room.
They trooped up the wide staircase. At the top, she nodded toward the door next to hers. This is Kristies room.
Duck your head, Kristie. He stooped under the door frame, earning another giggle, and plopped Kristie on the white single bed with its bright quilt. Ready for bed.
Wound up, you mean. Rebecca pulled back the quilt. In you go, and say your prayers. Its way past bedtime, and you have school tomorrow, remember?
Kristie pouted. Dont want to go to bed. Dont want to go to school. She bounced. I want to stay at the party.
Rebecca could read the warning signs of a disturbed night. Kristie
Brett sat down on the edge of the bed. Youre not going to tell me this girl goes to school, are you? What are youfifth grade? Sixth?
Kristie giggled, not seeming to notice that he was putting her down on the pillow, tucking the quilt around her. Im in kindergarten.
Wow! He managed a suitable look of surprise as he clicked off the bedside lamp, leaving the room bathed in the soft glow of the night-light. So how do you like kindergarten?
Okay, I guess. She looked down. Sometimes Jeffy takes my crayons. And he says Im aa carrottop. She said the word as if it were monstrous.
Rebeccas throat tightened. Shed known something was wrong at school, but Kristie had been stubbornly uncommunicative about it. Now shed blurted it out to Brett on the basis of a five-minute acquaintanceship.
Do you know what a carrottop is? Brett smoothed her red curls.
She nodded solemnly. Grandma had some carrots in her garden.
Brett lifted a springy strand of red. Ill bet she did, but Jeffy was talking about your hair. Because he thinks its the color of a carrot. He glanced up at Rebecca, smiling. Aunt Rebecca had hair this color when she was your age, and I always thought it was the prettiest hair color in the world. Maybe Jeffy thinks so, too.
Rebeccas heart gave a ridiculous thump. He was talking nonsense to soothe Kristie, of course. She couldnt let it affect her. Couldnt let it bring back sharp, evocative images of a much younger Brett. He wasnt that person anymore. And she wasnt that little girl.
But he teases me.
Ill tell you a secret. Brett leaned close to the child and lowered his voice to a whisper. Boys only tease girls they like. He looked up at her again, eyes laughing. Isnt that right, Aunt Rebecca?
She kept smiling by sheer effort of will, heart thumping. Thats right.
She wasnt the child whod idolized him any longer. But shed have to do something about the ridiculous way her heart turned over every time he smiled at her.
Chapter Two
Memories assailed Brett as he poured a mug of coffee in the sunny kitchen of his parents house the next morning. Memories of himself and Angela, back when shed been the most important person in his world. He had to smile now at that infatuation. Angela didnt seem to have grown up at all since then. It was Rebecca whose maturity astounded him.
Mitch and Alex hadnt changed, though.
He smiled, thinking of them, but a shadow tinged his mind. He could keep his problems a secret from most people, but he couldnt withhold them from Alex and Mitch.
Still, their support was one thing he knew he could always count on, no matter what. The three of them had faced death together, once upon a time. That had created a bond nothing could break.
His mind drifted back to the party the night before. Rebecca had been right Mitch and Anne really were meant for each other. The fact that theyd be starting married life with a ready-made family of her adopted baby and his foster son just seemed to add to their glow.
Alex was another story. Brett frowned down at his cup. Alex might be able to hide his pain from other people, but not from him. Hed give anything for a look at Alexs medical charts. He owed Alexowed him a lot. If there was a way he could make up for the past, hed like to find it.
He put down the coffee. Somehow everythingevery concern, every conversation, even every thought, led him straight to the clinic. Rebecca was probably wondering why he wasnt there already, and she wouldnt hesitate to tell him so. If hed known pesky little Rebecca would turn into such a beautiful, determined young woman, maybe hed have stayed in touch.
Or maybe hed have avoided her like the plague.
He didnt owe Rebecca an explanation, regardless of whether she agreed. But he certainly owed one to Doc, easy or notand it was time he paid him a visit.
He drove out to the corner, then turned uphill. In Bedford Creek you were always going either up the mountain or down toward the river. There wasnt anything between. The town was wedged tightly into the narrow valley, with mountain ridges hemming it in.
The new tourist brochures his mother had sent him described Bedford Creek and its mountains as the Switzerland of Pennsylvania. People had obviously tried to live up to that billing, decking houses with colorful shutters and window boxes. Now, the boxes overflowed with marigolds and mums.
Apparently the publicity campaign was working. Strangers slinging cameras dotted the sidewalks, and a line waited to board the old-fashioned steam train for a jaunt through the mountains to see the autumn foliage. In another week or two the woods would be in full color, and the place jammed.
Doc Overtons clinic sat at the top of the hill, its faded red brick looking just the same as it always had. Bretts first glimpse of the familiar white clapboard sign swamped him in a wave of nostalgia. He pulled into the gravel lot and got out of the car slowly.
What had led to that promise hed once made Rebecca about becoming a doctor? One of those early visits, when Doc thumped him and patted his head and told him he was fine? Or when Doc had responded to the interest hed shown in some procedure, taking the time to explain it to him? Whenever it had been, Doc Overton had certainly been part of it.
It had been too long since hed been back, too long since hed let Doc know how much he appreciated his mentoring. That had to be a part of the talk they needed to have. He took the two steps to the porch and opened the door.
New wallpaper decked a waiting room that was far more crowded than he ever remembered it being. It looked as if hed have to postpone their conversation. Clearly Doc wouldnt have time for a talk this morningnot with all these patients waiting.
He didnt intend to rush this conversation. Telling Doc the changes he wanted to make to the future they had once planned wouldnt be easy.
Maybe the best course was to see Doc and arrange a time when they could be alone, uninterrupted. He exchanged greetings with people he knew as he edged his way to the desk.
He nodded to the receptionist, wondering if she was someone he should remember. Im Dr. Elliot. Id like a word with Dr. Overton when he has a moment.
Brett. Rebecca appeared from behind the rows of files, looking startled. I didnt expect to see you so soon.
He lifted an eyebrow. Funny. I got the impression Id better show my face around here pretty quickly or someone might get after me. Cant imagine why I thought that.
A warm flush brightened her peaches-and-cream complexion. I cant either. She gestured toward the hallway. Come on back.