Promise of Forever

by Patt Marr

  Kendra smiled and sighed contentedly. “I like this. It’s like we’re a family.”

  Beth glanced at Noah. His eyes were on his cereal bowl, but he was blushing from the neck up. If she were prone to blushing, she would be doing the same thing.

  “Hey! I got a good idea!” Kendra was so happy, she bounced in her chair. “Beth, you can have pizza with us Friday night!”

  Noah looked too startled to speak.

  “We have pizza every Friday night.” Kendra’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. “You can come with us, Beth.”

  She would love that. An evening with them would be something to look forward to. Beth waited for Noah to second the invitation.

  He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Kendi, Friday is only a couple of days away. Beth may have other plans.”

  Was that classic male evasion or had he given her an escape route to save Kendra’s feelings?

  “Can you have pizza with us, Beth?” Kendra said hopefully.

  It wasn’t in Beth to disappoint a child, but it also wasn’t in her to go where she wasn’t wanted. If Noah wanted her along, he had to say so in a straightforward way.

  When he remained silent, she said, “I think I’m supposed to be with other friends that night.” Meg and she had planned to get together sometime during the weekend, but they hadn’t set a time. Her answer left a loophole if Noah spoke up with a real invitation.

  “Kendi, we really need to leave,” he said, standing, “or we’ll both be late this morning.”

  He carried his dishes to the kitchen, rinsed them and started to stack them in the dishwasher, but she stopped him. “You don’t have to do the dishes.”

  “Sorry. I must have been on autopilot.”

  “Don’t apologize for a good habit!”

  “Beth, about having pizza,” he spoke too softly for Kendra to hear, “I’ve tried to teach Kendi to check with me before she does things, even issuing a pizza invitation to a friend. She’s so much like her mother—generous, kind, ready to help—but I want Kendi to learn caution…and to think before she acts.”

  “I understand,” she said, “and I’m glad you told me. You did the right thing.”

  You did the right thing. The phrase looped in Noah’s mind, and he nicked himself shaving. Had it been the right thing to deny Kendi the pleasure of Beth’s company this Friday night? Was he wrong to put a halt on a relationship that had no future?

  “Daddy, we’re going to be late,” Kendi said, coming to the bathroom door as she had every two minutes.

  Since the school bus had come and gone, he was her transportation to school this morning.

  It would make him even more late to work. Beth wouldn’t mind, but he couldn’t afford to lose time, and he needed to be there to keep an eye on Mona.

  “Daddy, I’ve been thinking.”

  He wiped his face clean and slapped on the aftershave Harlene had given him for his birthday.

  “Why can’t Beth have pizza with us Friday night?”

  “For one reason, you invited her without checking with me first. We’ve talked about that.”

  “If I say I’m sorry and won’t do it again, can Beth have pizza with us Friday night?”

  He dried the sink area, hung his towel on the rack, snagged the top of his fresh scrubs from the door hook and slipped it over his head. He hated to disappoint her, but it had to be done. “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

  “Dr. Beth would love Sluggers pizza.”

  “Maybe you can take her there sometime. She’s your friend. Friday is our time. Just you and me.”

  He headed for the back door, knowing she would follow.

  She grabbed up her backpack and trailed him to the car. “Daddy, Beth is our friend.”

  “But she’s also my boss, Kendra. I don’t think we should hang out with my boss.”

  “She’s not my boss.”

  Nobody was his daughter’s boss, but they were working on that.

  “Daddy, Jesus wants us to have friends.”

  Who needed church when he had his daughter to preach? He opened the car door for her and waited for her to clamber in and lock her seat belt.

  “I have lots of friends, Daddy, but you only have Harlene and me.”

  That’s all he had time for, but he wouldn’t lay that guilt trip on Kendi.

  “Pleeease, can Beth have pizza with us?”

  “Kendra, it will be you and I having pizza at Sluggers, or it will be you and I having red beans and rice at home.”

  She shuddered in disgust, showing what she thought of his alternative menu. The one time he’d tried cooking Merrilee’s Cajun specialty, Kendi had disliked it so much it had been an effective threat ever since.

  It worked this time, too. On the drive to school, she didn’t mention pizza with Beth again. Or talk to him, not even when she got out of the car.

  That sure didn’t feel like the right thing.

  At the clinic, he arrived just in time to hear Mona chastise Beth in the hall outside Exam Three.

  “You cannot wear these silly hats and expect anyone to take you seriously,” Mona said, gesturing to the grinning green frog on Beth’s head.

  Its plastic feet clung to the sides of her head, acting as stabilizers. How could Mona complain when their boss looked so cute?

  “The amount of patients you’ve inherited from Dr. Crabtree is a tribute to his excellence, but, you, Beth Brennan, are ruining his practice!”

  “It’s my practice to ruin,” Beth said reasonably. “Mona, you obviously disapprove of my style of practicing medicine. Life’s too short to be upset all the time. I appreciate how loyal you’ve been to the clinic, but you don’t have to stay.”

  “I most certainly do! Somebody has to make sure you don’t run this practice into the ground!”

  Whoa! That was uncalled for. “Hey,” he called so Beth would know he was standing by.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Mona said, brushing past him. “Vanessa’s late, too. You’ll have to handle the office alone. I’m going for coffee.”

  “Have a donut, Mona,” he said, just for her ears. “Sweeten up, or people will think you’re a grouch.”

  “Oh, that’s lovely,” she said sarcastically. “I want things done in a professional manner, and I’m to blame? This disrespect never happened when Dr. Crabtree was here.”

  Mona slammed the door on her way out.

  “It’s only the third day,” Beth said wearily. “I tell myself, it’s going to get better.”

  Noah didn’t think so, but Beth was calling the shots. If she had the patience to wait for Mona to show her respect, he could hang in there and be supportive. “I like your hat, by the way.”

  “So did three-year-old Graysen Drezek, and I liked his mom. We’re going to have lunch one of these days. Stacee Drezek said Mona hinted that I was just Keith’s temporary replacement.”

  That blew his mind. “His temporary replacement?”

  “I don’t know which is worse—that Mona might believe it or that she voiced that belief.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know. To begin with, I’ll pray about it.”

  Prayer. Right. That sounded like something Merrilee would have said. If Beth wasn’t going to tell her grandfather about this, he had to. That was his job.

  “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but my family has been pushing me to let Mona go.”

  When he already knew that, it felt odd not saying so, but how would she feel, knowing her grandfather had asked him to keep an eye on Mona? “Maybe you should let her go.”

  Beth shook her head regretfully. “I don’t want to begin this job by costing Mona hers. I want to prove to her—and myself—that Jesus’ love is big enough to handle any situation.”

  Noah used to hear that kind of thing when he went to church with Merrilee. It sounded good in theory, but it didn’t work in real life.

  When Vanessa returned, Noah brought her up to speed on the situation w
ith Mona. She was just as uneasy with Beth depending on prayer as he was.

  “If Mona’s going to talk bad about Dr. Beth, I’m going to talk good!” Vanessa said, determination in her dark eyes.

  The moment Mona walked back into the office, Vanessa crooned, “Have you ever seen a doctor who loves babies as much as Dr. Beth?”

  He could follow her lead. “You should see how she plays with them when she does the exam. She’s as thorough as Dr. Crabtree ever was, but Beth enjoys her job.”

  That earned him a killing glare from Mona. Perfect.

  “It’s just precious, how sweet Beth is with the little kids, too,” Vanessa gushed.

  He couldn’t gush. “She’s cool with the teens, too.”

  “Have you noticed how well she keeps on schedule?” Vanessa asked, pouring it on.

  Good one, Vanessa! The schedule had been a problem for Crabtree, and it had always annoyed Mona. “I have noticed,” he agreed, “and it knocks me out how she can do that without seeming rushed.”

  “I love it how she never talks down to anyone, even when they’re stupid.” Vanessa turned toward Mona and aimed that one directly.

  His turn. “I love it how she puts the parents at ease. In fact, I’ve never worked with a better doc.”

  Vanessa slid him a secret low-five.

  The sugar-sweet jabs at Mona weren’t particularly mature, but they were complete truths, and Noah felt righteous, establishing his allegiance to Beth.

  Maybe it did some good. Mona kept her hateful remarks to herself for the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon. It was so unlike her that Noah waited for the other shoe to drop.

  One of the last patients of the afternoon was Beth’s nephew, Trey’s two-year-old son. Noah had done the intake and left Beth with little J.T. and his mother, Isabel, when the lobby door burst open.

  “Where’s my son?” Trey Brennan demanded, his face flushed with anger.

  “In Exam Two,” Mona said promptly, as if she’d been expecting Trey.

  Trey dashed down the hall as if a Code Blue had been called. Noah sprinted to catch up. If Beth needed an ally, he was the man for the job.

  But Trey came barreling out of the exam room, his toddler in his arms, meeting Noah face-to-face. “Get out of my way, Noah!”

  Noah didn’t budge. “Is there a problem, doctor?”

  “Trey!” his wife pleaded, tugging on his arm. “Don’t.”

  “Izzie, I told you not to bring my son here, and I meant it. Move, Noah.”

  Not in this lifetime. “You’re scaring your son, doctor.”

  “That’s not your business.” He shoved against Noah.

  He’d have to do better than that. Noah stood firm, blocking his exit. “There are people in the waiting room, doctor. Is this what you want them to see?”

  Tears ran down J.T.’s face as he screamed and held out his hands to his mother.

  Beth’s green frog hat tilted when she grabbed her brother’s other arm. “Trey, let’s talk about this calmly.”

  Roughly, he pushed her away.

  “You don’t want to do that again,” Noah said, crowding Trey’s space. If it weren’t for the baby, he would take the guy out, here and now.

  “When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it, Nurse Noah,” Trey said nastily.

  “Trey, at least use the door in my office,” Beth’s voice shook with emotion. “No one should see you like this. You’re acting crazy.”

  “What’s all this noise?” Beth’s grandfather limped through the lobby door. “And why is my namesake so upset?”

  “J.T. wants his mother,” Vanessa said from her desk. Her satisfied expression said she’d been the one to call for reinforcements. Had Dr. Brennan asked Vanessa to keep an eye on the situation here, too?

  The old man leaned on his cane, his eyes narrow with disgust. “Trey, unless you want people to think you’re as unbalanced as your mother, I’d say you’d better give that baby back to Isabel.”

  That was a low blow, but Trey had asked for it. The guy looked so unstable that Noah backed closer to the senior doctor, ready to keep him from harm.

  Little J.T.’s sobs were out of control, and his breath came in spasms.

  “Trey, this is too much for J.T. Think what’s best for him,” Beth begged.

  “It’s not you! That’s for sure.”

  “We don’t have to decide that today,” she said more calmly than Noah could have managed.

  “‘We’ won’t decide it at all.” Trey said, his face menacingly close to hers.

  “Trey, give that baby back to his mother,” the senior Brennan repeated, his voice steely with authority. “Now!”

  Noah thought how angry he would be if someone gave him orders about Kendi. Would Trey defy the chief?

  “If you want to keep your office here,” Dr. Brennan added, “you’ll treat my doctors with respect. All of my doctors…your sister included.”

  “But look at this office! And look at my sister! She has a frog on her head! She doesn’t belong here, and you know it.”

  Ooh, bad choice of words, but Dr. Brennan could level people bigger than Trey.

  “Trey, if you don’t want to be hauled out of here in restraints, you’ll hand that poor baby over to Isabel. Get yourself some help before you end up like your mother.”

  Chapter Ten

  Beth sat on the sofa in her grandfather’s office, just as she had a year and a half ago. She’d left not knowing why she was going or whether she’d come back. Now, it seemed as if the Lord had planned it that way. She didn’t know then that God’s plan can be impossible to see.

  This evening, she was here to evaluate her first week at BMC, and the first thing she wanted to say was how grateful she was that Grandpa had kept his word. He’d backed her up and encouraged her to be as eccentric as she wanted.

  Strangely, her individuality didn’t appear to be the point of conflict she’d expected. As her sister-in-law, Isabel, said, it took more than funny hats, yellow sneakers and a VW to qualify as eccentric in Beverly Hills.

  Except for her problems with Mona and Trey, she’d gotten along with the family and the BMC staff fine, and she loved private practice. Not only did she have less people to answer to, she had free time. It was as though she’d been given a free pass to life and didn’t know what to do first.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Grandpa said, shuffling into the room, leaning on his cane.

  “Sit down, Grandpa. What can I get you?” As many hours as he spent in his office, he’d furnished it with a small refrigerator, and his office assistant kept it stocked with beverages, fruit and sandwich supplies.

  “I think I’d rather wait and have an early dinner. I could use some company. Do you have dinner plans, darling?”

  “Not unless they’re with you.”

  “You would spend Friday night with your old grandpa?”

  “With pleasure! I did get an invitation from someone younger, but it fell through.”

  “Someone’s loss is my gain,” he said, sinking down beside her on the sofa.

  “Noah’s little girl invited me to share their pizza night…but Noah un-invited me.” She’d hoped right up until their last patient left that Noah would change his mind and ask her to join them.

  Grandpa frowned. “It’s not like Noah to be rude.”

  “He wasn’t rude. It was some kind of lesson for his daughter, something about not being impulsive. It might have been related to his wife’s death.” She hadn’t listened well because she’d been thinking he was just too polite to say she wasn’t his type.

  “You must not know how Noah’s wife died.”

  “Do you?”

  “I got a firsthand account from Stan Calloway, my old golfing buddy. He knew Merrilee McKnight from church and was with her the day she died.”

  “What happened?” Maybe she would understand Noah better if she knew this.

  “Stan and Merrilee McKnight were talking as they walked out of a grocery store, and th
is disheveled young woman approached them, saying her boyfriend was going to kill her. She needed to get away fast.”

  “That sounds like a setup.”

  “Stan thought so. He pulled out his phone and said he would call 911 and stay with her until help arrived. But the woman turned to Merrilee, frantic, sobbing, begging for a ride. Stan strongly advised against it, but soft-hearted Merrilee said she thought Jesus would want her to help the woman.”

  “Stan offered help.”

  “Exactly. But Merrilee got suckered in and let the woman into her car. An accomplice overpowered Merrilee and administered a fatal blow to her head. Merrilee was dead at twenty-six. Kendra and Noah’s lives were changed forever.”

  “That certainly explains why Noah wants Kendra to learn caution.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Grandpa, on the day of my reception a year and a half ago, you sent Noah to bring me to your office. Why him?”

  “It was Keith Crabtree’s idea.”

  “But why would Keith do that?”

  “You were always special to him, Beth. He saw how your mother treated you children. Trey became a bully, Ry became a rebel, but you were this tough little girl who wouldn’t let anything get her down.”

  “I wasn’t tough. I just learned to stay away.”

  He pulled her over, and she leaned her head on his shoulder as she had many times before.

  “While you were at school, Keith kept tabs on you. He knew how great you were with kids and how much you love your work. At the reception, when I announced that you were coming aboard, I didn’t say you were his chosen successor or that he was retiring because that’s the way he wanted it—but he was proud of you, darling.”

  That made her feel ten feet tall. She wanted to thank him, but it wouldn’t be easy considering he’d retired to a South Sea island far away from everything and everyone.

  “When the others were watching your mother act out, Keith was watching you. He saw you were in trouble, and he sent a man whose grief was still new—a man who wouldn’t ask questions or gossip about you later.”

  Noah was still that way.