Close To Home (Westen Series) (19 page)

“Emma.” Clint quietly called her name from the doorway, signaling her to come over.

“I’ve talked with Thomas,” he said in a hushed voice. “They have no way of paying a major hospital bill until the harvest. Even then it’s questionable. However, I can’t in good conscience send Naomi home. She needs at least two days of observation before I’m sure the D&C won’t be needed.”

Worry threaded his voice.

“What’re you going to do then?”

“Just what Doc Ray would do. Keep her here and not charge them until the harvest is paid for.” He held her hand in his. Slowly, he brushed his callused thumb over her knuckles. “Emma, it’s been years since I’ve done more than the elementary obstetrics that we do in the emergency room. Would you stay and help me watch Naomi?”

“I’m not a nurse, Clint.”

“I know, but you have some med school experience, a good practical head on your shoulders, and as an OB tech I’m sure you’ve seen more hemorrhages than I have. I really need your help here.”

“What about the boys and Mama? Suzie can stay with them this morning, but I hate to impose on her longer than that.”

“I’ll have Suzie bring them all here before lunch so I can recast their arms. Your mother can help Harriett. I doubt we’ll see any other patients the rest of the day. If you take the boys to school after I’ve recast their arms, I’ll go over in the afternoon, work on the house and watch them like I’ve been doing the past few weeks You can call me over there if Naomi’s condition warrants it or you need me for anything. Then you can have dinner with the boys, and I’ll stay with Naomi.”

“And tonight?”

“Tonight, we’ll take turns napping and caring for her. Harriet can stay at your house.” He gave her a half grin. “If spending time in my company two nights in a row won’t ruin your reputation.”

A slow heated blush crept over her and she returned his smile. “Doctor, I can stand the heat if you can.”

He chuckled. The deep rumbling sound warmed her more. “Let me reassure Thomas and get things settled. Would you ask Millie to bring the baby here for us to watch, too? She said she left him with the oldest daughter.”

“That’s a good idea.” She went to find Millie, her mind wondering how close she really intended to get to Clint Preston.

* * *

In the early evening light, Clint watched Emma gently stroke Naomi’s face. Over the years he’d known nurses who used the gentleness of a healing touch to help their patients. Apparently, Emma had learned that skill from one of them. Kara hadn’t. Thinking back on his relationship with his former lover, Clint couldn’t remember her ever crying over nearly losing a patient as Emma had the other night. And Kara never would’ve agreed to nurse a poor Amish woman with no pay or overtime incentive.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against the doorframe and watched Emma check Naomi for further bleeding. His mind continued to drift through his own recent past.

What had he ever seen in the tall, willowy blonde he’d dated for five years and briefly contemplated marrying? From the beginning he’d known she wanted to marry a doctor, any doctor, but wouldn’t be inconvenienced by having a child. Kara’s ultimate betrayal with the abortion had been the final straw, shining a light on the farce of their relationship. Since moving to Weston, he’d rediscovered his roots and with them, his sanity.

Emma smiled at him. As it so often did now, his heart beat a little faster. He wondered if she had any idea how beautiful she was, or how much he’d come to care for her? Maybe this was where he was meant to be. Here in this small town with Emma and her family, these people who tried to live a simpler life than the one waiting for him back in the city.

With a final pull on the covers, Emma tucked them around their patient then walked toward him. It seemed so natural to him to cup her face with his hands to stare into the blue depths of her eyes before leaning in to kiss her.

Before the kiss could deepen into something more, he lifted his head and gazed into her passion filled eyes. “How’s our patient?” he whispered.

Emma blinked, then shook her head as if to clear her mind of the kiss. Her bemused reaction pleased him.

“Her bleeding is normal now. And her blood pressure and pulse are stable. I think she’s going to be fine.” She leaned back to study him a moment. “How did your afternoon with the boys go?”

“Cleetus and the Sheriff’s son came by.”

“Gage?”

The pleasure in her voice when she said the other man’s name sent icy shivers over his ego. He tried to ignore it. The guy was her cousin, after all. “Yeah. He’s an odd one, isn’t he? Why’d he come back here?”

Emma let out a soft sigh. “His marriage fell apart. Uncle Lloyd didn’t give me any details, but Gage went undercover for awhile, then that blew up in his face. He nearly died. So, now he’s home living with his dad.”

“And he’s your cousin, right?” Oh man, that sounded like jealousy even to him.

“Yes, Uncle Lloyd is Mama’s youngest brother.” She tipped her head to one side, in that habit she had when something puzzled her. A slow grin spread over her face. “Why, doctor? You’re certainly not jealous of him, are you?”

“Of course not.” Clint swallowed hard. “Anyway, they came and helped me hang the drywall. Then the boys and I taped the seams. Lorna sent Rachel with dinner. Ben and Brian were sweeping when your mother sent me to get you to eat with them. I’ll take over here, while you deal with two dust-covered helpers.”

“Oh, thanks! Take me away from cleaning one mess to cleaning another.” She twisted her face into a comic scowl.

He winked and handed her jacket to her. “Yep. My mama didn’t raise a fool.”

“That could be debatable, doctor,” she teased as she shrugged the jacket on. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Harriet is going with you. She’ll watch the boys, and you can bring me a plate of food when you come to spend the night with me.” He added the last part just to watch the blush creep over her face once more.

“Oh, great! Knowing Harriett, she has us in bed the whole night, instead of taking care of a patient.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Emma smacked him none too lightly on the arm. “And you don’t help matters any by making her think it’s going to become a habit.”

As she walked away from him, heading to the front door, it became acutely important to him that she realize he wasn’t playing a game with her. He wanted it to become a habit, not just for him, but for her, too.

Quickly, he narrowed the distance between them. He grabbed her by the arm at the door. “Emma, I don’t go to bed with just anyone. I don’t play games. Not about sex or the person I’m involved with.”

“Is that what we are, Clint? Involved?”

“Yes, dammit.” With a powerful jerk, he pulled her to him, crushing his lips to hers. A fire burned inside him for this woman. A blue flame, the hottest kind of heat, so fierce, he feared it might consume him. Yet, he knew deep in his heart he would do anything to protect her. Couldn’t she feel it too?

A soft moan from the room down the hall cut through the passion pumping in Clint’s veins. He reined in his desire and lifted his lips from Emma’s. He rested his forehead against hers. Eyes closed, he dragged in a ragged breath. “Go home, Em. Your sons need to spend time with their mommy. I’ll be here when you get back.”

He slipped in one more quick kiss, then headed to Naomi’s room, listening all the way as Emma fled the clinic.

* * *

For a long time Emma stood on the porch watching the clinic, mustering her courage before returning. She’d almost decided not to. The kiss and Clint’s admission that they were somehow involved left her frightened, yet thrilled.

Could she handle this? Should she take the risk again after so many years alone, and such a deep betrayal? Would her heart bear it if it were torn apart, once more?

She’d never been a quitter. Scrappy, that’s what her father called her. In the end, her courage and sense of duty stepped up to the plate and she found herself headed over to the clinic once more.

Quietly, she walked down the hall to the small room where Naomi recuperated. Emma peeked inside.

There sat Clint in the antique, weathered oak rocker next to the matching four poster bed. Naomi lay sleeping beneath the Star of Ohio quilt his aunt Caroline had quilted for the room years ago. In Clint’s arms lay a small bundle. He softly hummed as he rocked back and forth. He appeared so natural, so content, comforting the little boy. Emma’s heart turned over. Nothing could have assured her more that he meant to protect her, than seeing him so gentle with the tiny baby.

“Come on in,” he called softly, when he looked up and saw her standing there. “Meet Isaac Daniel Elder.”

She tiptoed in so as not to awaken the sleeping mother and knelt down beside the chair. “When did he get here?” she asked, peeking in at the dark-haired infant.

“Millie brought him by while you were with the boys. Naomi will rest better if he’s close by.” He continued to look at the little boy in his arms. “I thought it would be a good thing for him to have a little time alone with his mother. With all those big brothers and sisters, he may not get much of her time when they return home. Not to mention, he should start breastfeeding as soon as possible.”

“Has he nursed yet?”

For the first time since Clint had stormed into her life, a light blush crept into his cheeks. He swallowed. “I…I was sort of waiting for you to come back. You have more experience, ah, helping mothers and babies breastfeed.”

She tried not to grin at his stammered explanation.

“Although I was beginning to think I was going to have to put him to his mom’s breast myself. What took you so long?”

His question sobered her. She didn’t want him to know she’d considered not coming back tonight. She didn’t want him to learn what a coward she truly was. Emma knew that frightened young mother of two babies still lived deep inside her.

Fear had been her companion for six years. The panic of finding herself an abandoned single mother nearly dragged her to the bottom of the sea of emotions the day she walked out of that courtroom. With each day that she and her boys survived, her terror ebbed a little more. Whole weeks passed when she didn’t fear bill collectors or social workers that might bring a new disaster down onto her head. The dread that her boys might be taken from her was always a constant threat in her quiet moments.

She kept her fear hidden. She knew Clint wanted her to trust him. Without saying so, he’d asked her to trust him. And she didn’t want to disappoint him. Yet, she didn’t know if she would survive.

With a deep breath, she reached for the sleeping child. “I had to tuck the boys in. They wanted an extra story. Then I opened the mail.” She knew she babbled, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. “I looked into the front room. You’ve made great progress in there. I don’t think I could ever have gotten that much accomplished in such a short time all on my own.”

Clint handed her Isaac, then stood. With a soft kiss, he stopped the flood of her words. “It’s okay, Emma. I know you’re scared. We don’t have to move at this any faster than you’re comfortable. Tonight, we’ll just concentrate on Naomi and this little fella here. Okay?”

She nodded, her heart a little lighter.

“And when they’re home, all settled in, you and I’ll figure out where exactly we’re headed with all this.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek. Then with a light tap on her bottom, he headed to the door. He stopped and smiled that devilish smile of his. “There isn’t some of Lorna’s meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans in the staff lounge for me, is there?”

Emma laughed. The man was an incurable flirt. “Yes, along with a big bowl of peach cobbler.”

“Mmm, mmm. I think I love Lorna.” He licked his lips in a comic fashion.

Emma laughed harder as he headed down the hall.

“He’s a good man.”

Startled by the voice from behind her, Emma turned to find Naomi studying her from the bed. Hugging the baby a little closer, Emma hurried to her side. “Yes, Naomi, he appears to be a good man.”

“You can trust him, Emma.”

“Do you think so?”

The Amish woman nodded slowly. “There is strength in his eyes. You can depend on him. But he is wary, just as you are.”

“Oh, I doubt that. I’m sure the good doctor can be one tough customer.”

Naomi turned onto her side, opened her gown and reached for her son, who was busily making a smacking sound on his fist. “Emma, you need to look beyond your own pain and you will see more clearly. He hungers for you and he hungers for a family. But someone hurt him almost as deeply as you have been hurt.”

Emma watched as the little baby latched on to suckle at his mother’s breast. When no further assistance seemed needed, Emma walked to the window and stared into the star-filled sky. “How did you see all this in him, Naomi?”

“I watched him rock Isaac. Pain does not cross a man’s face when he holds a child, unless he has lost a child of his own.”

The weary mother’s words drifted off. When Emma turned she found her patient sleeping while the baby instinctively nursed. She sat in the rocking chair, waiting for the little boy to finish eating.

Naomi’s words filled her mind. Had Clint been betrayed like she had? Did he hide his own pain?

T
he autumn night sky blinked with the twinkling of a thousand stars. Emma gazed at them for a moment before pushing the front porch screen door open. After cleaning up both mother and child, she’d tucked Naomi and her son in for the night. Then she searched the downstairs of the clinic for Clint. She found him here, sitting on the porch swing.

Not quite touching him, she eased herself onto the swing. Once she was settled, his foot rocked back and forth, keeping the swing moving in a slow, steady sway. The chirping crickets joined the low buzz of the cicadas. Occasionally, a bullfrog’s big bass voice bellowed, punctuating the idle chatter of the insects. Soon frost would cover the ground then stillness would settle over the farmland.

Emma relaxed. Clint’s nearness no longer frightened her. How comfortable she’d become in such a tranquil setting amazed her. This was one of the reasons she’d returned to Weston—the peacefulness of the country. She wondered if Clint missed the city’s hustle. Or did he feel the restful calm here, too? Did the magic draw him in as it had her?