by Dianne Drake
“Erin,” he said, hugging her the way a father would.
“You get more beautiful every time I see you.”
Serek Harrison was one of her father’s oldest and dearest friends. A man who, over the years, had been wise in his advice on her own treatments. Her godfather, actually, not her uncle, even though that’s what she’d always called him. Also an oncologist and head of the Port Wallace Public Hospital, he was semiretired now, and Erin believed with all her heart she owed part of her life to this dear man. “And the ocean breeze isn’t taming my hair at all,” she said, laughing. Prior to all her various times through chemotherapy, her hair had been more on the brownish side and definitely as straight as a board. Over the course of time, it had turned into a wild mane not completely out of control but close to it if she wasn’t careful.
“It’s beautiful hair,” he said, in his smooth Jamaican lilt. “So, tell me, child. How is my old friend doing? I don’t get very good feelings when I talk to him, and I haven’t had time in the past few months to go to Chicago to visit him.”
Pulling out of his arms, she sighed. “It’s hard to tell. He doesn’t talk about it. But he doesn’t do much of anything nowadays either. He’s totally quit his practice, as well as his position at the hospital. And while getting the children’s hospital up and running has him interested, even that wasn’t enough to motivate him to come here with me. And you know he’s never passed up a chance to come home. But now he’d rather sit in his study, making phone calls, than be here.” She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m worried about him, Uncle Serek. I’ve never seen him like this and it scares me. It’s like he doesn’t have anything to live for any more.”
“Well, Algernon is a stubborn man. Not prideful, but set in his own ways, and when he’s fixed on doing something—like adopting a pretty little girl child no one wants him to have—you can’t get him to change his mind.”
“That’s the problem. He’s so set right now, and not set in a good way. He says he’ll come down here when I’m ready to make the final move, and maybe he will, but I’m not even sure about that any more. Not sure about anything where my father is concerned.”
“Walk with me, child. I have a patient to see in Emergency. One of our moonlighters, as you call them, is attending one of my Hodgkin patients for a non-related problem, and he wants me to come and have a look.”
“You don’t like moonlighters?” She was referring to physicians who worked various shifts at the hospital but were not regular employees. They were called moonlighters because more often than not they worked the dreaded night shift, the shift regulars liked to avoid when possible.
“We love our moonlighters. Have a very good one I’m afraid we’re going to lose shortly. Or so I’ve just been informed. Of course, if you’re moving to the island permanently.” He grinned. “I can be persuasive, Erin. I’ll give you my time for your kiddies like I’ve already promised, and maybe you can give me a little of your time for my emergency department. Does that seem like a fair exchange?”
“If you want to take a chance, because I haven’t worked in Emergency since I was in medical school.” Of course, she hadn’t worked in obstetrics since med school either, and that’s what Coulson had her doing.
“It’s like riding a bicycle. Once you learn how to do it, you never forget.” He sobered. “Did you ever get to ride a bicycle when you were a child? ”
“By the time I was well enough to play outside, I was old enough to drive a car. So, no, I never got around to the bicycle.”
“Then someone will just have to teach you. To live on the island, you must have a bicycle.”
“Do you?”
“Mercy, no! I have a very nice automobile, and a wife who delights in driving me because she believes I drive too fast. But maybe you and I will have time to learn to ride a bicycle together.”
“Bicycle paths.” she whispered absently.
“Excuse me?”
“Bicycle paths. Around the hospital. My children will need bicycles because I think some of them will be able to ride. Maybe not the two-wheelers, but I’m sure some will be able to handle the three-wheelers. So we’ll need riding paths.”
“My donation, then. Bicycles and a bicycle path. Along with someone to teach you to ride.”
“All that, plus your time?” What an amazing man. She loved him nearly as much as she did her father.
“It’s worthy, and it will give me something to do in my retirement. Besides, if I learn how to ride, and you have those bicycle paths laid in, that will give me more excuses to come visit my old friend and his lovely daughter.” He shoved through the open doors to the emergency department then held them open for Erin. “And I won’t let Algernon go to waste, Erin. You have my word on that. I love that man like he’s my own brother, and I’m glad he’s coming home, where he can be around his friends. He’ll find himself here.” He gave her another huge hug. “We’ll make sure of that.”
“You don’t know how that makes me feel, hearing you say it,” she sniffled.
He chuckled. “And you don’t know how it makes me feel knowing that you’ll be here, moonlighting, every once in a while. Or spending time with Alvinnia and me, when you’re able. You’re a daughter to her, you know. Now, put on a white coat and come and see this patient with me. And the doctor you’ll be meeting is quite interesting, too. A headstrong fellow, but good.” He grinned his infamous grin. “Handsome, too, and, if I’m not mistaken, single. Don’t know him well. Wasn’t the one to hire him, but I’ve heard good reports of his skills. And did I mention handsome? So maybe you can get to know him in due course?”
“You sound just like my father,” she said, swatting playfully at his arm. “He’d turn himself into a doting old matchmaker if I ever gave him the least little bit of encouragement.”
“Because your father is worried he won’t get grandchildren. And I’m worried I won’t get grand-godchildren. We’re turning into old men, child. And old men need children around them to keep them young. You wouldn’t deprive us of that, would you? ”
“I’ll have plenty of children for you at the hospital. And right now I’m really just interested in getting it going. No entanglements.”
“Even if they’re handsome?”
“Especially if they’re handsome.” As they strolled through the tiny emergency department, Erin was impressed by what she saw. Emergency was full to overflowing, but people were patiently awaiting their turns to be seen. “And I especially don’t want an entanglement if it comes in the form of a.” Pushing through the curtain in cubicle number three, where Serek’s patient waited, Erin stopped dead in her tracks. “In the form of him!“
Adam turned round, didn’t smile at her, but definitely looked surprised to see her. “Are you following me?” he asked.
Serek looked first at Adam then at Erin as a sly grin spread across his face. “So you two know each other?”
“It’s his hospital I bought,” she explained.
“You own a hospital, Adam?” Serek asked. “You never told me that.”
“Used to own one. Not operational. Sold it to …” He nodded toward Erin.
“It’s what I bought for the children’s hospital. And he thinks I won’t be able to make it work.”
“Well, I had no idea that’s where you lived, Adam. But it’s certainly a small world, isn’t it, with you working here and Erin buying your hospital? You two have quite a connection.”
“Then you two know each other?” Adam asked.
“I’m trying to convince Erin to come and moonlight for me.” Serek grinned. “And since you two seem to be living in the same area, maybe you could ride in together. It’s a long drive, and you can keep each other company. And, Erin, child. Alvinnia’s going to be so excited by all this.”
“Alvinnia?” Coulson questioned, clearly confused.
“My wife,” Serek replied.
“My godmother,” Erin added. “And Serek is my godfather, by the way.” She latched onto the olde
r man’s arm. “He’s also one of the volunteer doctors who’ll be coming to my hospital. Along with Aunt Alvinnia … she’s a surgeon.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. You’re actually getting a surgeon?” Coulson looked first at Serek then at Erin and it wasn’t her imagination that made her think she heard a loud, discouraging sigh escape his lips. She did, and she saw the look of disappointment on his face. Rather than the satisfaction she’d expected to feel, she actually felt sad for him. Another best-laid scheme gang agley. He couldn’t even hide the disappointment. Of course he’d thought she would fail and go away. Of course he’d thought he would swoop in then and pick up the pieces and be all the better for her defeat. Yet there wasn’t great triumph in this victory and she did feel bad for him.
Not bad enough to give up her hospital, though. “Yep, I’m getting a surgeon.” Which meant Erin was one step closer to her dream while Coulson was one step further from his. What concerned her about this situation, however, was that she cared that he was a step further away. She wasn’t sure why she cared, but she did. And it was unsettling.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE one thing that was for certain with a good boat—the hull didn’t give way. That’s what his grandfather had said the day he’d decided to sink the boat and let it spend its eternity on the ocean floor, building up a coral reef and habitat for little sea creatures. The Stella, as his grandfather had named it, had almost given way with a hole so large in its hull that the expert boat repair shops in Portland had all turned it down. Quite simply, it would have been less expensive to buy a new boat. And Cornelius Coulson, not being a man who cared to wander too far from home to look for any more marine repair shops, had taken that as a sign. He’d run aground on an outcropping of rocks one time and survived, and he wasn’t going to tempt fate by repairing the boat and risking another rock outcropping. Better to allow nature to reclaim the wooden 1951 Lyman Islander than let it claim him or anybody he’d loved, his grandfather always said.
But Adam had begged to keep the boat. For a playhouse. Or they could turn it into a pretend fort or even a make-believe pirate ship. All imaginative plans for a ten-year-old. Luckily, Grandpa Coulson had seen merit in turning Stella, named after his wife, into a toy. And that’s how Adam Coulson had become the only kid in his school who owned his own boat. Albeit one that wasn’t sea-, river-, or pond-worthy.
Twenty-six years later, he still owned the boat. It was his legacy from an extraordinary man and pretty much the only thing his wife hadn’t wanted to snatch away from him in the divorce. Stella kept him grounded as a man, and testified to the fact that nothing was futile if you wanted it badly enough. She was nearly sea-worthy again. It had taken him the better part of the past ten years to bring her back to this point, an hour here, a few minutes there. And while he didn’t fancy himself as a master ship repairman, he’d taken a fair amount of pride in the project. Wished his grandfather could have seen the transformation. Oh, there were still some minor things to do … a bit more varnish, some work to unwarp the warped deck, a new wheel … nothing insurmountable. Which was why, when he took to sanding the deck, like he was doing today, he felt his spirits lifting. Stella was a symbol of what he could do. So was the white building sitting off in the distance. The hospital. The courts had seen fit to let him keep a modest inheritance from his grandfather, along with Stella, and he’d celebrated that small victory by buying the hospital with that inheritance. Except that was half-gone now. But maybe that was good. He was trying hard to think so, anyway.
“It’s all good,” he muttered, crawling forward on his hands and knees to the plastic cooler with the bottle of water. He grabbed the water and two cups, poured and handed one cup across to his companion who sat opposite him on the deck, cross-legged. “It has to be all good, Tadeo,” he said to the bright-eyed boy who came so often to the beach to help him with the boat that working on the boat without Tadeo didn’t seem right. “Because if it’s not, then what’s the point?”
“All good,” Tadeo agreed, smiling.
“So, what kind of sandpaper do we need to use over in that corner of the deck? “ He pointed to the right stern. Another source of pride these days—Tadeo. He’d gone from withdrawn to involved. His skills at boat refurbishing weren’t bad either, for a kid his age.
“Fine grit. To finish it. Then extra-fine, before we do the varnish.”
Yes, Tadeo had come a long way these past few months, and the change was satisfying to Adam. But it also pointed out something painfully obvious … how absolutely, totally alone he was in the world. He looked at Davion as a protégé, and Tadeo as a protégé as well. He was doing things with them he’d have loved doing with his own son … except for the obvious. He didn’t have a son. But what could he expect? He couldn’t hang on to a relationship that might give him a son or daughter and, more than that, he didn’t particularly live a lifestyle that would be attractive to a woman. No stability, no woman, no children. There was definitely a pattern there. Or maybe it was a habit. Didn’t matter, though. Alone was alone, any way you stated it.
His mind wandered to Erin. She had such … stability. It suited her. Became her. And he had … well, an old boat, a transient medical practice, and several odd jobs. Nothing someone stable would want. Not that he would even consider having anything with Erin. Or maybe it was the other way around. She wouldn’t consider having anything to do with him. Didn’t matter. It was what it was, and he was good with that. “The varnish is a way off,” he explained to Tadeo. “Especially when we’re doing all the work the old-fashioned way … by hand.” No sander, no tools. Just what his grandfather called elbow grease. And it was a good thing to teach Tadeo, like it had been a good thing taught by his grandfather. Life moves too fast, Adam. Sometimes it’s nice to slow down and enjoy the process. There’s a good view, and a good lesson in the process if you look for it. How many times had he heard those words? Well, this was the process and the view was good, especially when he watched Tadeo taking it all in.
“But you’ll let me help?” Tadeo asked.
“Couldn’t do it without you. And you remember what I promised?”
“That I’ll be the first one to steer the boat once you get it away from the dock.”
He gave Tadeo a thumbs-up. “The very first one.” It wasn’t much for all the hours Tadeo had put in, but Tadeo clung to that promise like he’d clung to the very same promise of steering the boat when his grandfather had made it to him.
“Are you busy?” Erin called from the bow.
Adam rose, waved her aboard. “Use the ladder, and watch your step. It could shift in the sand.” Naturally, he stood to help her, but by the time he’d got to the side to extend a hand, she’d already scrambled over the rail.
“That’s the ma’am doc,” Tadeo said, shrinking back against the side.
“He’s shy with strangers,” Adam explained to Erin.
Erin kept a respectful distance from the boy. “My name’s Erin,” she said to him. “And I used to be shy, too.”
His eyes widened, but he said nothing.
“But if you’d like to tell me your name, I’d certainly like to know.”
Tadeo thought about it for a moment, the full weight of a serious decision scrunching up his face. Then, gravely, he nodded. “Good afternoon, ma’am. I’m Tadeo, ma’am. Tadeo Alejandro Reyes.”
“Good afternoon, Tadeo Alejandro Reyes. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, trying as hard as she could to be serious when all she really wanted to do was break out in a grin, the boy was so cute. But his serious demeanor set her tone, and she stayed serious as well. “I’ll be living here all the time, so maybe we’ll see each other again.”
His answer was to pick up a piece of sandpaper and go back to work on the decking.
“Cute little boy,” Erin whispered to Adam.
“Good helper, too. Shows some definite skill in woodworking. So, what brings you to my side of the property line? Come to admire my boat? ”
“Your
boat?”
“The only thing I have left after both you and my ex-wife got through with me.”
“Am I detecting some bitterness about women in general, Coulson?”
“Never bitter when I’m on my boat,” he said, stroking the smooth wooden deck rail like it was the smooth flesh of a woman. “She’s the one woman who won’t ever let me down.”
“Looks like it’s been around for a while.”
“She. She’s been around for a while. Longer than any other female in my life, come to think of it.”
“Well, never let it be said that I came between a man and his boat. So.” he held out a box to him “… take this, then I’ll leave you to get back to whatever it is you’re doing with your boat.”
“Sanding,” Tadeo said. “Then we’re going to start varnishing.”
“He’s anxious to move on to the next phase of restoration,” Adam commented, taking the box. “Couldn’t get this boat back into shape without him. So … if I open this, will something jump out and bite me?”
“Just open it, Coulson. I’m trying to make a nice gesture here, and you’re ruining it.”
“Nice gestures involve giving me back my hospital, but since my hospital won’t fit into the box.” He opened the lid. Studied the stethoscope for a moment, then pulled it out and put it around his neck. “Tadeo,” he said. “Come over here. I want to try something out.”
The boy obliged, taking care not to walk too close to Erin. When she noticed, she stepped back to give him freer passage to Adam. “What is it?” he asked.
“Haven’t you ever been examined by a doctor?” Adam asked, frowning.
Tadeo shook his head. “Pabla says we don’t need doctors. Sometimes Trinique looks at me, but never a doctor.”
