Nearly twenty minutes later, they emerged from the cellar. Nora was one of the last to step out into the murky darkness that was just beginning to clear. The main street had been spared, so her shop was still standing. But two side streets looked as if they’d been crushed by a giant. Debris lay scattered everywhere, and there was a bright red pickup truck parked on the sidewalk by the hardware store. A bright red pickup truck that hadn’t been there before the storm.
The first light drops of rain fell, making her jog toward her shop. The storm was moving northeast, which meant the ranch had already been hit. She wanted to call and see if everything was all right with her family.
She caught up with a couple of her clients as everyone hurried to cover. She offered assistance in the way of a sturdy arm. As she and the last stragglers entered the salon, Jill put down the phone.
“It’s dead,” her stylist said. “No real surprise there. We don’t have electricity, either.”
Nora grinned. “I can fix one of those problems, if not the other.” She walked over to her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “Welcome to the new century. If the cell towers survived we should have service this way.”
She turned on the small phone, then handed it to Jill. “You’ve got kids. Check on them first. I’m sure they’re fine, though. Judging from the direction the storm is heading, I’ll bet it missed your place by several miles.”
Her stylist gave her a grateful smile, then began pushing numbers. Nora saw that Mary and Kathy had already helped their clients collect purses and coats. Everyone was instructed to stay home until power was restored, then return to get the rest of their hair treatment.
Mrs. Arnold, her asthma under control and her hair still tightly rolled in curlers, slipped a scarf over her head. “This will probably dry on its own,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll come back when it does and you can comb it out.”
“Absolutely,” Nora promised. She was about to say something else when she noticed Rosie running toward the medical office across the street.
Nora stepped outside. “Are there injuries?” she yelled.
Rosie paused to catch her breath. “About a dozen or more. Orchard Park is completely gone. There were young kids at home with their moms, plus the construction workers at the new places. Dr. Remington is assessing the injuries now, and we’re going to call in a helicopter for the worst ones. I need to bring supplies.”
Orchard Park was a new residential subdivision in Lone Star Canyon. It was only about half-completed with dozens of houses in various stages of construction. The homes were smaller and less expensive—perfect starter places, which meant plenty of families with young children.
“Do you need another pair of hands?” Nora asked. “Everyone here is fine. I don’t know first aid but I can follow directions.”
Rosie gave her a grateful smile. “Absolutely. Come help me carry stuff back, then we’ll put you to work.”
Nora quickly made arrangements for the salon. Jill was going home to check on her kids. Mary would walk a couple of their clients home while Kathy stayed at the salon. That taken care of, Nora hurried toward the medical offices and prayed that the injuries were minor. For herself she also prayed that she didn’t have to see too much blood. She could verbally take down any man anywhere, but the sight of blood sent her to her knees.
The helicopter lifted off with a rush of wind that reminded Stephen of the tornado. When the pilot had turned west, toward the county hospital, Stephen shifted mental gears, releasing that patient to the care of the Medi-Vac team and focusing on the few people he had left to treat. Nurse Rosie, efficient as always, had helped him evaluate injuries. She’d collected supplies, found family members and had generally acted like the professional he knew her to be. What was surprising was her assistant.
When Rosie had run back to the office for more supplies, she’d returned with an armful of necessities and Nora Darby. The beautiful twenty-something brunette didn’t know squat about being a nurse, but she pitched in wherever Rosie said, applying pressure, irrigating cuts, holding hands, offering words of comfort. She’d gone pale a few times, but otherwise had been a trouper. She might have a dangerous mouth on her, but she also had plenty of backbone and compassion.
He walked to the makeshift first aid station he and Rosie had set up in the parking lot of Kroger’s market. The long awning provided cover from the rain that continued to fall. Stephen checked stitches in the index finger of a sobbing four-year-old, then removed glass from a young man’s eye.
“You’ll need to come back in the morning,” he told the carpenter. “I’ll take off the patch and we’ll do a quick vision test. But from what I can see, you’re going to be just fine.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
The two men shook hands. Rosie walked over and smiled at the patient, then looked at Stephen. “We’re about done here,” she said. “Do you want to head back to the office in case we get walk-ins? I can stay behind and gather the equipment.”
“I’ll help,” said one of the construction guys who had brought in his buddy. “We can put everything in my truck.”
Stephen figured his generosity had less to do with an altruistic nature and more to do with Rosie’s curvy, petite figure and warm brown eyes. In the past six months he’d learned that his incredibly efficient nurse was in her mid-thirties, divorced and kept to herself in her spare time. Sort of like Nora, he thought, eyeing the tall woman talking to a young mother with two scared but uninjured kids. Except Rosie always had a kind word for everyone and Nora had a chip on her shoulder the size of an SUV.
He and Rosie were about the same age. They were both single. He supposed that something should have sparked between them, but it hadn’t. They were work friends, nothing more. So far no woman had captured his attention—not that he was surprised.
He left Rosie with the calf-eyed construction guy and started walking back to the center of town. From the corner of his eye, he saw Nora move in his direction, then pause as if the thought of them sharing each other’s company was more than she could stand.
“I won’t bite,” he promised, motioning for her to join him.
She raised a single eyebrow. “I wasn’t worried about you doing anything,” she said in a bored tone that implied whatever he might want to do couldn’t be of interest to her.
Stephen considered himself a sensible man, but for the first time in a long time he felt himself wanting to respond to a challenge. Even more fascinating, as the tall beauty fell into step next to him, he found himself intrigued by the woman. Who was Nora Darby and why did she hate every man on sight?
“Thanks for your help today,” he said.
“Not a problem.” She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “We were lucky. There wasn’t much damage in town. I’ve talked to my mom on the cellular phone and I heard that our ranch is fine, but I don’t know about the others. You could get a few more injuries from the outlying areas.”
He hadn’t thought of that. “Good thing we’re going back to the office, then,” he said. “People will look for me there.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, a pickup truck doing at least fifty rounded the corner. The vehicle nearly went up on two wheels. The driver spotted them and started honking, then slid to a stop in the center of the road.
“Doc, Doc, you gotta help!” An old man climbed out of the cab and raced around to the bed of the truck. “My boy. He’s cut real bad.”
Stephen was already running toward the tailgate. He climbed up and registered that Nora had followed.
A man in his late twenties lay stretched out on several blankets. His skin was blue-white, his eyes closed, and there was blood everywhere.
Stephen heard a faint moan from beside him, but couldn’t spare her a glance. “Where is he cut?” he asked.
“On the upper arm, by his shoulder,” the old man said. “I put pressure on it but the blood wouldn’t stop.”
Stephen saw the wad of bandages and lif
ted them. Blood spurted. He shoved the cloths back in place. There was no way to tell how much blood the man had lost. Too much, for sure. He was already in shock.
Stephen looked at the old man. “Drive,” he commanded. “We’ve got to get him to my office. Now!”
The father complied, hurrying to slide behind the wheel. Stephen opened the first aid kit he’d carried back and dug out several thick bandages. He replaced the soaked ones with a fresh one and ordered Nora to press down hard on the open wound.
The truck bounced through the center of town and screeched to a halt in front of the medical offices.
“Don’t move,” he instructed Nora as he jumped down and ran inside.
Less than a minute later he returned with two IVs—O negative blood and saline. When he had them hooked up, he traded places with Nora.
“I’m going to have to sew him up,” he said, looking at her for the first time since he’d climbed in the back of the truck. She was nearly as white as his patient. “Can you help me?”
She nodded, then swallowed. “I need about thirty seconds first.”
For what? he wondered. But before he could ask, she scrambled out of the truck, ran to a nearby trash can and threw up. As promised, in thirty seconds, she was back at his side.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“No, but that doesn’t matter. I’m not going to pass out and if I have to puke again, I’ll do it over the side.”
She pulled on the gloves he passed her, then listened while he explained the procedure. When he handed her more bandages and an irrigation solution, she gamely did as he instructed. She had to pause to throw up again, but otherwise was as calm and efficient as Nurse Rosie herself.
It was dark by the time the ambulance had pulled away to take the man to the hospital. Nora leaned against the wall of the medical office and told herself to keep breathing. At least her stomach had settled in the past couple of hours. She hadn’t thrown up so much since a bout with the stomach flu three years before, and frankly she could happily go a lifetime without having it happen again.
But despite feeling weak and shaky, she was also proud. Even though her medical training consisted of knowing how to apply a Band-Aid, she’d been able to help today. She’d aided her community in its time of need.
She looked at the now-dark Snip ’n Clip and thought about going over to put everything to right in the shop. Electricity had been restored around five, so she could sweep and vacuum and…She sighed. Not tonight. She was too tired.
“How do you feel?”
She looked up and saw Stephen Remington walking toward her. He’d removed his blood-spattered coat along with his tie. Before she could answer, he touched her forehead, then reached for her wrist and took her pulse. What was more annoying than him touching her was the way her heartbeat seemed to flutter slightly at the contact. Okay, the man was a halfway decent doctor, she thought grudgingly. That didn’t give him the right to examine her.
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling free of his fingers and summoning a weak excuse for a glare. “Say thank you and move along.”
“Thank you,” he said. “But I’m not moving along. You haven’t had anything to eat today, and what you ate this morning is long gone.”
“In more ways than one,” she said, smiling in spite of herself.
“My point exactly. So let me express my gratitude in a practical way. Let me buy you dinner.” He pointed to the diner open at the end of the street. “I’ve sampled most of what they have on the menu. It’s not half-bad.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “Thanks for sharing that but you do realize that I was born in this town and that I’ve lived here all my life? Chances are I’ve eaten at the diner more times than you, so I don’t need your commentary on the menu.”
“Why are you so crabby? Must be low blood sugar. You need food.”
He put his hand on the small of her back and urged her forward. Amazingly enough…she let him.
Chapter Two
S he had not been thinking, Nora thought in disgust as she and Stephen Remington were led to a booth at the rear of the Lone Star Café. Normally the diner was full for breakfast and lunch, but fairly empty for dinner. However, with half the town still not having electricity and the diner being on the “have” side, families had come in to get a home-cooked meal and to talk about the tornado. Which meant there were plenty of interested parties to watch her sit down across from the doc and to make whispered comments that just happened to drift across the entire restaurant.
She made sure she took the seat that put her back to the crowd so she wouldn’t have to watch their intrigued expressions. She sighed. There wasn’t much to do in Lone Star Canyon but talk about the neighbors. Despite a couple of spectacular exceptions, she’d managed to stay out of the limelight. Tonight that had changed.
“Why the heavy sigh?” Stephen asked as he picked up a menu. But rather than studying the list of offerings, he gazed at her, as if her answer was the most interesting thing he was bound to hear all day.
“People will talk,” she said shortly. She didn’t have to look at the menu. She ate here enough that she could practically recite it by heart.
“About the tornado? Why not? Things like that don’t happen all that often.”
She was willing to admit he was reasonably good-looking and he’d worked hard to save several lives. She’d heard that he was a nice man, not that she was interested or looking, but he had to be about as thick as a board.
“Not the storm,” she said, wishing Trixie would hurry and take their order, or even better, that she hadn’t agreed to dinner in the first place. “About me being here with you.”
“Oh.”
There was a wealth of meaning in that single syllable. She wasn’t sure what, but she didn’t like it.
“Yes, oh. I don’t want the entire town speculating about my personal life.”
“Because…” His voice trailed off.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. She also spoke slowly so he could understand her meaning. “Because people might think we’re on a date.”
“I’ve heard that you don’t date much,” he admitted. “In fact I was informed that better men than me have tried and failed in that department.”
“I do not appreciate being spoken about behind my back.”
“As you weren’t in the room it would have been difficult to have the conversation in front of you.”
“You could have not had it at all.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I didn’t start it, someone else did. I simply participated.”
She pressed her lips together but didn’t respond. There was no point in talking about this any further. However, Stephen didn’t share her opinion.
“So what’s the big deal?” he asked. “How come you don’t go out much?”
“Miss Nora hates men,” a voice announced cheerfully.
Nora held in a groan. Her wish for Trixie to appear had been granted, but she was sure the timing couldn’t be worse.
Stephen turned his attention to the pretty forty-something waitress with big hair the color of fire. Trixie gave him a flirtatious wink.
“Nora here is our Himalayan mountain range. You can look all you want and on a clear day she seems real approachable, but if you try to conquer her, you’re gonna freeze to death.”
“Thank you for sharing, Trixie,” Nora said dryly.
“Just trying to help,” the waitress offered with a big smile. “The meat loaf is great tonight, as always. So’s the fried chicken. I’d pass on the fish. It sat out a bit while the tornado ripped through town.”
Stephen touched his menu. “Why don’t you give us a minute. In the meantime, Nora, what would you like to drink?”
“Coffee,” she said, wishing there was a way to walk out of the diner and never be heard from again. She could feel the heat flaring on her cheeks. It was like being sixteen again and confessing to a girlfriend that she had a crush on Bobb
y Jones. Unfortunately his little sister had been lurking around the corner and had run off to blab the news to the entire school. Nora had endured an entire week of singsong chants of “Nora loves Bobby.” The fact that the object of her desire had asked her to go to homecoming with him had only taken away part of the sting.
It’s not that she was interested in Stephen Remington, but she didn’t appreciate being compared to a mountain range that could freeze a man to death.
“I’ll have coffee, too,” he said.
When Trixie left there was a moment of silence between them. Nora searched frantically for a neutral topic. Anything that didn’t involve her romantic past. Unfortunately her mind was blank.
“I heard that there was some damage on several of the nearby ranches,” Stephen said casually. “You mentioned you’d spoken with your family. They’re fine, right?”
She was so grateful, she almost decided she liked him. Almost. “Yes. My mom said that except for my brother’s house being totaled, the damage was minor.” She thought about Jack’s small two-bedroom structure. “He’ll be able to rebuild fairly easily. The hands were all accounted for. She told me there was more damage at the neighboring Fitzgerald place. The fence line was knocked down, but the great patriarch Aaron won’t let anyone help repair it, which is typical.”
Stephen leaned forward. A lock of his sandy brown hair fell across his forehead, giving him an oddly appealing look. Innocently devious, like a little boy about to pull a prank.
“That’s right. You’re a Darby, aren’t you? One part of the infamous Darby-Fitzgerald feud.”
Trixie appeared with the coffee. Nora quickly ordered meat loaf while Stephen picked the fried chicken. When the waitress left, he shrugged. “I know food like that is bad for me, but it’s a weakness. I allow myself to have it a couple of times a month. I figured I’d earned it today.”
She thought about the lives he’d saved, how he’d stayed so calm, despite all the injuries. While she’d been busy barfing her guts out, he’d been fixing the problem.
Unexpectedly Expecting! Page 2
