Meant for Each Other

by Ginna Gray

  Knowing Julia, Leah had listened with a grain of salt to her complaints about the husband and son she had abandoned. Even so, she had not expected to actually like Mike.

  These past few weeks, however, she had gotten to know him, not as Julia’s son but as a person.

  To Leah’s surprise, she had discovered that Mike was a warm, intelligent, caring, man with a devilish sense of humor and an innate sex appeal that took her breath away.

  Of course that was all there was to it, Leah assured herself. A little unexpected chemistry. Mike was a good-looking man and she was a normal, healthy woman in her prime. These last few years she had been so wrapped up in her busy practice she had almost forgotten that, but it was nevertheless true.

  Leah shrugged out of her lab coat and retrieved her purse and coat from the closet. “If you ladies are finished teasing, I’m going to see my brother.”

  Sandy sobered. “How is Quinton doing?”

  “Actually, he’s progressing quite well. They moved him into a private room today. He’s still in a bubble, but at least this one is big enough for him to get out of bed and walk around a bit. He has a long recovery ahead, but the prognosis is excellent and his spirits are high.” Thanks in no small part to his new best friend and hero, Leah silently acknowledged.

  “That’s great,” Mary Ann said. “Be sure and tell him hi for us and give him our love.”

  “I will. See you both tomorrow.”

  “And give our love to Dr. McCall,” Sandy called after her.

  Shaking her head, Leah headed down the hallway. She couldn’t get angry with Sandy and Mary Ann. The two women were her friends and the closest thing she had to sisters.

  In all fairness, she couldn’t really blame them for speculating about her and Mike. He had visited Quinton every evening for the past four weeks, and the hospital grapevine was buzzing.

  Leah didn’t like it, but there was nothing she could do to stop the gossip. St. Francis Hospital was like a small town. News spread among the staff before you could take the elevator from the top floor to the lobby.

  At least she had managed to keep Julia in the dark about Mike’s nightly visits—so far, at any rate.

  Leah was not normally a devious person, but she thought that withholding that bit of information seemed wise in this instance. In many ways, her stepmother was like a spoiled child—self-centered, volatile and unpredictable. Julia had a convoluted manner of looking at things. There was no way of knowing how she would react to the news of her two sons meeting, much less forming a friendship.

  After encountering Tess McCall the morning of Quinton’s transplant, Julia had raged and carried on for days, as though she, not Ryan, had been the wronged party in their marriage. She had wanted to march over to her ex-husband’s home and vent her spleen on him and his wife. It had taken the combined efforts of Leah and her father to dissuade her.

  A casual mention to Quinton that Julia might disapprove of him getting to know his donor and might even go so far as to have Mike barred from the room had been all the incentive that her brother had needed to keep quiet about Mike’s visits.

  For all Julia’s neglect and indifferent mothering, Quinton loved her and was touchingly loyal. He accepted his parents’ frequent and prolonged absences with forbearance and always made excuses for Julia’s shortcomings and self-indulgences, but he knew as well as Leah the unpredictability of his mother’s temper and behavior.

  Luckily, Leah had also managed to persuade Julia to stay away from the hospital in the evenings, although her stepmother had not made it easy.

  “I think it’s an outrage that a mother can’t see her son whenever she wants,” she had argued.

  “Julia, I told you, if you confine your visits to the early afternoons, Mike will most likely be with his patients, and your risk of running into him in the hospital will be much less.”

  “So? I don’t see why we’re going to so much trouble, anyway,” Julia had groused. “I mean, at this point, what difference does it make if I do happen to run into Mike? I doubt that he’ll recognize me. It’s been twenty-five years, for heaven’s sake. And even if by some chance he does, so what? What’s he going to do? Demand his bone marrow back?”

  Leah did not even try to point out the colossal callousness of that statement. With Julia, what was the point? In her mind, right and wrong were determined by what she wanted.

  Instead, Leah gritted her teeth and strove for patience. “Julia, don’t you see? We’re doing this to protect Quinton. Imagine how upset he would be to learn the truth at this point. He isn’t nearly strong enough to handle that news. A patient’s mental and emotional state have a direct bearing on his recovery. That sort of shock could set him back weeks, maybe even reverse all the progress he’s made. We can’t take that chance.”

  “Leah’s right, my darling,” her father had gently urged. “We must think of what’s best for our son.”

  “Oh, I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Very well. I don’t like it, but I guess, for Quinton’s sake, we can confine our visits to the afternoon hours.”

  Despite her grousing, Leah suspected that Julia was secretly pleased with the arrangement. She knew her stepmother; Julia rarely rose before noon, so skipping morning visits was no hardship, and she liked to keep her evenings free for social engagements. Already, she and Peter had hooked up with old friends who lived in the River Oaks section of Houston. Most nights, Leah returned home after a long day of working and visiting with Quinton afterward to find them out.

  Oh, yes, Leah thought, afternoon visits with Quinton suited Julia just fine.

  Now, if they could just get through the next few months without her stepmother learning about Mike’s visits, they would be home free. If Quinton continued to improve at his current rate, by summer he would be discharged from the hospital. Already, Julia was making plans to return to the south of France as soon as Quinton was strong enough to come home.

  Personally, Leah couldn’t wait. Quinton’s usual reaction to his parents’ departure was a mixture of disappointment and acceptance, but this time, thanks to the attention he was receiving from Mike, she didn’t think he would mind that much—at least, not until he realized that Mike’s daily visits would probably end once he left the hospital.

  It seemed that possibility had not occurred to Quinton.

  Leah had been trying to come up with a tactful way of preparing him, but she knew that no matter what she said, he would be crushed, so she had held her tongue.

  Leah herself viewed the prospect with mixed emotions. Common sense told her the best thing, certainly the safest thing, would be for her brother and Mike to part company. On the other hand, ethically and emotionally, that seemed wrong. They were brothers and as such had a right to a relationship. Plus, there was no denying that being around Mike was good for Quinton.

  Leah walked into her brother’s new room expecting to find him and Mike wrangling good-naturedly over some game or watching sports on television, as they had been every evening when she arrived, but Quinton was alone. Looking dejected, he lay propped up in the bed inside the isolation chamber that reminded her of a huge plastic wind sock.

  Leah was disconcerted at how deflated she herself felt. She quickly brushed the reaction aside, telling herself that it wasn’t because she had been looking forward to seeing Mike. She had simply grown accustomed to him being there each evening.

  “Well, hi there, sweetie,” she greeted Quinton, forcing a bright note into her voice. “How does it feel to get out of ICU and into your own room?”

  Quinton shrugged his thin shoulders and grimaced, but he didn’t bother to look at her. “Okay, I guess,” he said in a woebegone voice.

  “Hey, what’s this? What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy they moved you? You’ve been saying for days that you wanted out of that glass box.”

  “I did. I do.” Quinton plucked at the sheet that lay across his chest. “I just wish Mike were here is all.”

  “
Well, perhaps he’s busy.”

  “Yeah, he sent word that he had an emergency.”

  Relief poured through Leah. She had been afraid that Mike had simply grown bored with the nightly visits. Quinton would be devastated if his hero suddenly dropped him.

  “Ah, well, that explains it.” She lifted his chart from the pocket in the side of the bubble to scan the latest entries. “I did warn you that Mike is a busy doctor with a large practice. You have to expect these sort of things. After living with me all these years you should know that.”

  “I guess. It’s just that tonight was kinda special. You know? And I wanted him to be here.”

  Satisfied with what she’d read, Leah replaced the chart. “I’m sure he would have been if he could. But look on the bright side—you still have me.”

  Quinton had the grace to give her an apologetic half smile. “Yeah. Thanks, Sis. I really appreciate you spending every evening with me.”

  “Hey, sweetie, no problem.” She stuck her hand inside the plastic glove and gave his cheek a pat, the way she had done all his life. “Now then, what would you like to do? Play cards? Watch television? Or how about a game of Monopoly?”

  He shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Two hours later, Quinton was still glum. Like most teenage boys, he tended to be a competitive game player, but not even losing five games of gin rummy in a row to his sister sparked enough interest to rouse him out of his funk.

  Throughout the evening Leah remained determinedly cheerful, laughing and teasing, doing her best to coax him into a better mood, but it grew more and more difficult. Especially since she was feeling a bit down, too.

  As much as she hated to admit it, the evening visit just wasn’t the same without Mike.

  At first she had been edgy and uncomfortable in his presence. She had tried to remain a little apart from him and Quinton, to sit back quietly and observe their interaction without participating, but somehow that plan had gone awry. Without her quite knowing how it happened, she and Mike had become friends.

  There was something about Mike that drew you, a sort of effortless charm that beguiled and beckoned like the warmth of a cheery fire on a cold night. And it was just as irresistible.

  Before Leah had realized what was happening, she found herself joining in lively discussions about everything from the Dallas Cowboys’ chances of making it to the Super Bowl the next year to the possible existence of life on other planets. The three of them regularly played spirited games of Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and Aggravation that often as not resulted in good-natured insults and bantering. Though that sort of teasing was new to Leah, she was soon enjoying it and giving as good as she got. At other times, if Quinton had had a bad day and was fatigued, they watched television together.

  Oddly, even that was more enjoyable when Mike was there.

  Gradually, as Leah had let down her guard and they’d gotten better acquainted, she’d realized that he was not at all the way Julia had painted him. She was impressed by Mike’s good nature and unaffected manner, by his genuine friendliness. Most of all, she was impressed by his compassion and caring.

  Seeing the way Quinton responded to Mike’s attention, Leah realized sadly just how much her brother had missed having a strong male presence in his life. Though it wasn’t an easy admission to make, she also realized that she could not have asked for a better role model for Quinton than Mike McCall.

  After a couple of hours of trying to cheer up Quinton, Leah felt her cheeks begin to hurt from smiling, and she was getting so put out she wanted to shake him. She had to keep biting her tongue and reminding herself that he was just a boy and he was still in serious condition, for all that the transplant appeared to be a success.

  Finally, however, when Quinton answered yet another of her questions with a grunt, Leah lost patience. “All right, that’s it.” She slapped her cards down. “I’m not going to sit here any longer and watch you mope. I’m tired, and I haven’t had any dinner, so I’m leaving. Maybe you’ll be in a better mood tomorrow.”

  “Ah, Sis, I didn’t mean—”

  “Knock, knock.”

  Quinton’s gaze whipped to the doorway, and his face lit up like the Las Vegas Strip. “Mike!”

  Leah’s heart gave a little skip at the sound of Mike’s voice, but when she turned toward the door her expression was calm.

  He was dressed in green scrubs. The short sleeves of the loose garment revealed broad shoulders and muscular arms, the latter covered with silky dark hair. The wide vee neck also revealed the first few inches of the dark thatch that covered his chest.

  Leah’s breathing became shallow. She caught herself staring at those shadowy curls just below his collarbone and quickly looked away, but as he strolled past her into the room her gaze was drawn to his backside. She stared, experiencing a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach at the way the green cotton clung to taut buttocks, at the flexing movements of the firm flesh. She had been around men in scrubs for almost half her life. Why hadn’t she noticed before what a sexy garment they were?

  Mike’s hair stuck up in tufts where he’d run his fingers through it and whisker stubble shadowed his jaw. Fatigue had etched lines around his eyes and he looked exhausted, but that didn’t prevent him from teasing Quinton.

  “Hey, that’s not what you’re supposed to answer.”

  “Sorry,” Quinton apologized, grinning. “Start over.”

  “Okay. But get it right this time. Knock, knock.”

  “Who’s there?”

  “Wah.”

  “Wah who?”

  “Hey, you don’t have to get excited just because I’m here!”

  “Arrrrghhh.” Quinton clutched his throat as though he were choking. “Ah, man, every night you come up with a cornier one.”

  “Every night?” Leah echoed, looking stupefied. “Are you telling me that the two of you go through this routine every night?”

  “Yeah, Mike’s got a million knock-knock jokes.”

  “That’s right. I even have one for you, Doc.”

  “Oh, boy, this oughta be good,” Quinton said with relish.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Leah glanced uncomfortably at her brother and then Mike. “I really don’t think—”

  “Ah c’mon, Sis.”

  “Quinton—”

  “It’s just a joke. Be a sport.”

  “But it’s so silly.”

  “What’s the matter, Doc?” Mike drawled. “Afraid word will get out and shatter that dignified image of yours? Don’t you know that being silly now and then is good for the soul? Keeps us medical types from taking ourselves too seriously and developing God complexes. C’mon, loosen up a little. For once, do something just for the fun of it.”

  Leah hesitated, biting the inside of her lip, but when she glanced at Quinton and saw the pleading look in his eyes she gave in. “Oh, all right.”

  Mike grinned. “Knock, knock.”

  “Who’s there?” she asked in a bored voice.

  “Sara.”

  “Sara who?”

  “Sara doctor in the house?”

  “Heaven help me,” Leah muttered, but Quinton’s laughter was contagious, and she found herself fighting back a smile. “Mike, that was awful.”

  “Thanks.”

  Her confusion seemed to amuse Quinton even more. “Don’t you get it, Sis? That’s what make knock-knocks so funny. The cornier they are, the better.”

  “I see.” She cast another look at Mike. “In that case, you must be a riot during rounds.”

  “I do my best,” he replied with such obvious cockiness she had to laugh.

  “Look, kid, I just dropped by to see how you liked your new digs, but I can’t stay. I have been dealing with an emergency and haven’t eaten all day. If I don’t throw some chow down my throat soon I’m going to wind up in emergency.”

  “That’s okay. I understand.”

  Leah’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it! For two hours he had been feeling sorr
y for himself because Mike wasn’t there, while she had done everything but stand on her head to cheer him up. She opened her mouth to remind him of that, but before she could speak he went on in the same genial tone.

  “Hey, I know. Leah hasn’t eaten, either. Why don’t you take her with you.”

  “Quinton!”

  “Good idea, kid.” Mike’s eyes twinkled at her. “How about it, Doc? You game?”

  “Oh, uh, thank you, but no. I really couldn’t.”

  “Why not?” Quinton demanded. “You just said you were hungry.”

  Leah aimed a strained smile at her brother. “Quinton, I’d like to have dinner with Mike, but I’m sure that Cleo already has dinner waiting for me.”

  “Nuh-uh. This is her bingo night, remember? And Mom and Dad were going to that party at the Mathesons’. If you go home you’ll just have to scrounge up something and nuke it in the microwave.” Grinning, he looked at Mike and confided, “Leah’s a terrible cook. We’d starve without Cleo.”

  “Is that right? Well, we don’t want that to happen, so I guess you’d better come along with me, Doc.”

  “No, really, I can’t. I...I’m exhausted. What I really need is an early night.”

  “So do I. But that’s no problem. I know this great little restaurant not far from here. We can have a nice meal and relax and I’ll bring you back to pick up your car all within an hour. Hour and a half, tops.”

  “You mean you’re going dressed like that?” Her eyes ran over his scrubs, and he grinned and shrugged.

  “Sure. It’s an informal place. Besides, they’re used to people coming in like this. A lot of hospital people eat there.”

  “You see? That’ll work out perfect,” Quinton insisted. “You have to eat. You might as well do it with Mike.”

  Leah bit her lower lip.

  Mike eyes danced and his smile oozed male triumph. “Gotcha,” he mouthed at her, and she felt her face heat up.

  Chuckling, he grasped her elbow. “Say good-night to your brother, Doc.”