“You guys make a good team.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE ENTIRE TOWN was buzzing with the news of baby Lucas and the miracle birth performed by their very own Dr. M.
Meera and Raj had gone back to the cottage for a few hours of sleep. The next morning, Raj insisted on coming with her to check on the new mother and baby. Meera checked Lily while Raj checked little Lucas. He was a pediatrician, after all.
“The baby is doing really well, but I would feel more comfortable if you both went to the hospital to get checked out,” he told Lily.
She looked at Meera, who agreed. “We can only do so much here. He needs a hearing test and immunizations. And you should see a gynecologist.”
Joe promised to take his wife and son to the military hospital that day.
When they were done, Meera thanked Raj. He smiled warmly at her. “Remember that time we did CPR on the guy who had a heart attack at the restaurant?” Meera nodded.
“We can do great things together, honey. We always have.”
She gave him a thin smile. She hated when he called her honey, and yet she’d never said anything to him about it.
“Is there a place where we can talk? Not at Jake’s ranch.”
“Sure.” Meera took him to the diner, where they grabbed coffee and pastries. Everyone stopped to hug and thank her. They all shook hands with Raj and politely thanked him, as well.
“Wow, Lily must be a popular girl in town.”
Meera shook her head. “She isn’t really. The town...it’s so hard to explain. They’re a family, and they take care of each other. They celebrate and protect one another. Think of it as a big fat Indian family in a small rural town. They gossip, they’re really hard on each other, but when it comes down to it, they’re there for each other.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, I know, it is pretty extraordinary.”
They saw Gloria as they passed the clinic. Gloria waved and came out to greet them. Meera stiffened. She was wearing a tight red dress, and Meera noticed Raj giving her a second look. Had Jake done that, Meera knew she would be green with envy.
Meera braced for Gloria’s signature sarcasm. Instead, Gloria hugged her tightly. “Thank you for saving baby Lucas. I’m really sorry I’ve been such a...well, you know.” She glanced at Raj. “Rose also told me to tell you that she rescheduled your morning patients to this afternoon.”
Meera thanked her as they walked away. She was grateful for some time to talk to Raj.
Meera led them to the park. It was the same place where she and Jake had kissed the first time. Meera warmed at the memory. She took a deep breath and looked at the spot where they’d stood. She needed to feel Jake’s strength.
“Do you remember the first summer you were home from boarding school?”
Meera nodded. “I was thirteen and desperately wanted to ride horses the way the other girls did, but I hadn’t been riding my whole life like they had.” She met his eyes. “You spent the entire summer tutoring me.” She knew what he was doing, reminding her how close they were.
He nodded. “Your parents bribed me to.” Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “I wanted to take you to the formal end-of-summer function my parents throw every year. Your father said you were a special girl and I had to earn the right to be with you.”
She blinked back tears. Her father always treated her as though she was the most precious thing in the world.
Raj clasped her hands. “I’ve loved you all my life, Meera.”
The lump in her throat grew, threatening to choke her. “I’ve never questioned your love for me, Raj, but we love each other as friends, not as a husband and wife should.”
“But that’s exactly the basis for a good marriage. We respect each other, we have the same goals in life, we get along. Our love will grow once we’re married.”
It’s a marriage, not a business merger. Jake’s words when she had first described her relationship.
“I’m not sure we have the same goals, Raj.”
“I know it seems as though we’ve been on different wavelengths recently, and I admit I’ve been so caught up in settling in at your father’s practice that I haven’t paid attention to you...”
“This is not about me feeling like I’ve been taken for granted.”
“Isn’t it?”
Meera narrowed her eyes.
“Meera, you are in a completely different world here. I felt the rush last night delivering baby Lucas. It’s thrilling to welcome new life—the adrenaline alone can make you feel things that aren’t real...”
She could see where he was going with this, and she wouldn’t let him marginalize her love for Jake. “Raj, please don’t. My feelings for Jake are not from an adrenaline rush or dopamine release of holiday happiness. I’m very fond of you, we’ve always gotten along and none of that has changed. This is not about how I feel about you, but what I feel for Jake. He and I have this thing... It’s...”
“Exciting, isn’t it? Your pulse races, you feel like you can do anything in the world.”
Meera glared at him. “It is not just a biochemical reaction, Raj. It’s real.”
“Okay, then why not come home with me? Wait to make any decisions until you’re in your own element. Let me remind you of the wonderful life we planned together. If you’re still in love with Jake, we can talk about it as a family, with your parents.”
She rubbed her temples. “Raj, I don’t want you to hold on to hope. I’m not going to change my mind about Jake.”
He smiled indulgently. “I’m not asking you to. All I’m asking is that you come home first. If you still feel the way you do now in London, then you’ll know it’s real.”
Meera closed her eyes. She would never convince him, or her parents, it was real until she could prove that being at home wouldn’t change anything. She nodded. “I was planning to come home as scheduled anyway, so I’ll do just that.”
“Good. I’ll stay with you, and we can fly back together.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“DR. M., YOU CAN settle this for us,” Billy John said as she walked into the kitchen. She had tiptoed out of the cottage, desperate not to wake Raj. He had been up early the past two mornings, so she’d taken him to the diner for breakfast. Today, she wanted to see Jake. Alone.
“What am I settling?” Meera poured herself a cup of coffee, and Kelly shuffled her chair over to make room for Meera to sit. Meera looked at the smiling faces and realized she missed having breakfast with everyone.
“Who was the last one to get their physical? It’s time to clean the house, and we figure it’s between Kelly and me.” Meera glanced around the table, mentally checking off which hands she’d seen, and in which order. Her eyes landed on Jake. “Actually, it’s Jake. He still hasn’t gotten his physical.” There was a chorus of comments and teasing. Jake held up his hands. “That rule didn’t apply to me!”
“Why not? You said everybody had to get one.” Jake scowled at Billy John.
“He’s right. I remember, we were right here in this room when you said it, Jake.”
Jake stood and put his plate in the sink.
“How about I do it after breakfast?” Meera stared at Jake, silently pleading with him to accept so they could talk.
“And after you give him a clean bill of health, he can scrub, scrub, scrub...get to it, Cinderella.” There was general merriment as they finished breakfast. Meera laughed with them, grateful for the chance to have a normal morning before she left for London. She went to the car to get her medical bag, relieved she hadn’t brought it into the cottage with her last night so she could avoid Raj. When she returned to the kitchen, everyone was filing out and Jake was piling plates into the dishwasher.
“I think they all knew we wanted to
be alone. I’ve never seen them leave the table such a mess.”
Meera handed him plates, and he loaded them in. They each grabbed a sponge; she cleaned the table while he scrubbed the counters. When they were done, she had him sit on the table and take off his shirt. She listened to his heart, her own beating wildly at the sight of his naked chest.
“So have you told him to beat it?”
“Yes, I mean...not exactly.” She sighed. “Raj is questioning whether my feelings for you are a result of holiday euphoria and has requested that I come back to London with him before I finalize any plans.”
Jake’s pressed his lips together. “I see. He thinks this is holiday Meera.”
“It’s not true, Jake. I know how I feel about you, and if I do what he asks, it’ll validate my decision for him...and for my parents. Raj and I have been friends for a long time—I’d like to indulge him.” She cupped his face and lifted it up. “Think about this from his perspective. We’ve been friends for almost twenty years, and he’s now seeing a new side of me. He needs time to come to terms with this, and I was planning to go to London, anyway.”
His back stiffened.
“Please understand.”
“And what if he’s right?”
Meera stepped back. “He’s not.”
Jake looked away. “Meera, I meant what I said when I told you I don’t want anything from you. If you go back and realize that this—you and me—was a mistake...” His voice thickened. “I just want you to be happy.”
Meera put her forehead against his. “I won’t change my mind. My heart won’t let me.”
“What about your father’s practice and your research?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet.”
“And what about your doomed karma if you live on a cattle ranch?”
She lifted her head. “I don’t know, Jake. I don’t have the answers. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. We have a lot of things we need to work on together, but first I need to deal with Raj and my parents.”
“When do you leave?”
“In three days. Dr. Harper signed off on my medical rotation, so I can leave a little early...and can come back to you sooner so we can figure this out...together.”
“Obviously, I’m interrupting.”
Meera startled at Raj’s voice. She dropped her arms to her side and stepped back from Jake. It looked bad, Jake with this shirt off, sitting on the table, her standing too close, head bent over his.
Remembering the stethoscope around her neck, Meera held it out to Raj. “I was doing a physical.”
Raj stayed silent.
Meera went about quietly completing the rest of the checkup, stealing glances at Jake. He refused to meet her eyes, his expression stony. Raj watched awkwardly.
When she was done, Jake’s voice stopped her cold. “Dr. M., thank you for doing the physicals on all my hands. That was the deal we had, and you fulfilled your share of it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
JAKE TAPPED HIS foot on the floor and took a swig of moonshine.
“It’s her party, she’ll be here.” Jake turned to look at Mrs. Hayes.
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“You’re worried she ain’t never coming back.”
He nodded.
“She’ll be back.”
“I’m not so sure,” he muttered. He glanced around at the impressive turnout. Not quite the party they had thrown Lily for her wedding, but it was something. The high school band was playing, all the ranchers brought meat and Mr. Cregg had special ordered tofu dogs for Meera. All for a woman who, just a month ago, had been shunned by the entire town. For the millionth time, he marveled at her. Four weeks ago he hadn’t known she existed, and now she permeated his life. What will I do if she doesn’t come back? Jake thought about his father’s words, the regrets he still harbored about not fighting for his momma. Would he go after Meera if she stayed in London? Would he leave the ranch? Was he holding on to it because it was his mint chocolate chip? He shook his head.
What if he was Meera’s mint chocolate chip?
The crowd’s sudden excitement let him know Meera was here. He stood up straight. She was leaving tomorrow morning, and he was thirsty for a sight of her. And there she was, dressed in a baby-pink T-shirt, jeans and a straw cowboy hat. People surrounded her; everyone wanted to talk to the guest of honor. She locked eyes on him. The crowd thinned, and he saw Raj next to her, his arm linked with hers.
Jake’s mouth soured. They looked like a couple. A—what was the phrase she’d used?—a well-suited one.
He saw them encounter Gloria. Meera whispered something to her, then slipped her arm away from Raj. He watched Raj’s eyes follow Meera as she moved away, but Gloria quickly cornered him.
He set down his cup and strode toward their spot.
“How’d you know I would know?”
She turned and smiled. It was a beautiful smile, but a sad one. “Because you always know what I need.”
He wrapped his arms around her, needing to hold her. He bent his head and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Love seems like such a small word for what I feel for you, Meera.”
She rested her head on his chest. “I know, Jake. I wish I could find a way to free myself from my sense of duty and responsibility and just stay here with you. But I can’t.”
He nodded. “I’m not asking. I promised you my love wouldn’t be conditional, and it isn’t. You’re not asking me to change who I am, so I’m not gonna ask you to change who you are.”
He felt her breaths coming fast and held her tighter. He thought about how she looked when she’d arrived with Raj, as if she’d been doing it all her life. “Do you love him?”
She tipped her head back. “Not the way I love you.”
“But you do love him?”
She shifted so she could look him straight in the eye. “We’ve been best friends for a long time. I can’t tell you I feel nothing for him—I wouldn’t have agreed to spend my entire life with him if we didn’t have something. I know this must be hard for you, but I do care for him. And he cares for me. That’s why he wants to make sure that my feelings for you are true. You understand, don’t you?”
He understood just fine. He knew she didn’t want to hear it, but she had to; he couldn’t let her go and get sucked into the vortex of her parents’ influence. He wanted her to think for herself, to question their motives before blindly following their expectations.
“Do you have a choice, Meera?”
She untangled herself from him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Meera, I’ll love you no matter what you do, but I need to know you’ll do what’s right for you and not what works for your parents.”
“I’ve always done what’s right for me.” Her voice held an edge.
Yeah, right. He thought about Raj’s smug expression when he arrived with Meera on his arm, as if he owned her.
“You’re not gonna like this, but when it comes to your parents, you seem to suffocate under a sense of debt. All I’m saying is make sure when you get there, you do what you want to do. Make sure the choices are yours, and not theirs cloaked in guilt.”
She stepped away from him. He went cold.
“Don’t you get it, Jake? My parents are a part of me. You say you want me just as I am? Well, my parents are a big part of that. Their values, beliefs, doing what makes them happy...that’s the core of my culture. I won’t disrespect my parents. You need to trust me to handle this the right way.” She wiped her eyes.
“Meera, I’m not asking you to shun your parents, just to be objective. Look at what just happened. Raj guilted you into letting him stay here so we couldn’t even spend your last few days together. You don’t see how they manipulate you.�
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“Right, Jake—you’d rather I stop letting them tell me what to do so you can tell me what to do.”
She turned and walked away.
He rubbed his neck. What was wrong with him? He meant to give Meera a nice send-off, something sweet to remember him by. As usual, he had screwed it up. He watched her retreating figure. He couldn’t let her go without a fight.
He walked back to the party and back to the “bar” Mrs. Hayes had set up. She handed him a cup before he even asked.
He strode to the band and asked to borrow a guitar, and all eyes turned to him when he started strumming.
“I haven’t heard that boy sing since his momma left.”
He closed his eyes and pictured Meera’s beautiful smile, heard her intoxicating laugh, felt her sitting beside him on his tractor. The song in his heart poured out. There was pin-drop silence in the room as he sang.
He didn’t think about the future, he didn’t worry about the sympathetic looks he would get from the town when she left. He wanted her to hear what she meant to him. He wanted her to understand how he felt about her.
When he was done, he opened his eyes and found Meera staring at him, tears streaming down her face. As soon as their eyes connected, she turned and ran, disappearing out of sight.
He went back to Mrs. Hayes, but this time she handed him a cup of water. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Raj standing there looking...as if he belonged on Meera’s arm. And here’s another fight I’m spoiling for.
“That was a nice song.” He might as well have said, I’m going to crap all over you.
Raj was shorter than Jake, with the same skin tone as Meera and the same accent. Well suited, indeed. The King and Queen of England.
“I just want to let you know that Meera won’t be coming back to Bellhaven.”
Anger boiled inside Jake, and he clenched his hands into fists. He could wipe the smug right off Raj’s face.
“That’s for her to decide.” He took a step toward the other man.
First Comes Marriage Page 20
