A Home for the M.D.

by Gina Wilkins

  Doreen O’Connor and Kathleen Baker were twins in their mid-sixties. Jacqui had met them only once, at Meagan and Seth’s wedding, and that had been only a fleeting encounter. Although they looked very much alike, Jacqui didn’t think they were identical twins. She saw a few differences in them that helped her tell them apart when LaDonna reintroduced them that evening. LaDonna did not refer to Jacqui as her daughter’s housekeeper but as a friend of the family. Jacqui didn’t bother to correct her, even though she certainly wasn’t embarrassed by her job title. She figured the aunts knew her role in the family.

  “And here,” LaDonna added with a warm smile, “is my new granddaughter, Alice.”

  The sisters greeted Alice pleasantly, urging her to call them Aunt Doreen and Aunt Kathleen. With her usual ebullience, Alice was soon chattering away to them as if she’d known them for years rather than having met them only once before. She led them off on a tour of the house before dinner. It didn’t take her long to charm them with her excellent company manners.

  Mitch’s sister Madison arrived shortly after LaDonna and the twins. She made a little face at Jacqui, who had opened the door for her. “Sorry Mom roped you into this,” she murmured. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “It’s no trouble,” Jacqui assured her honestly. “I always enjoy cooking for a dinner party. Everyone is gathered in the living room. I have everything under control in the kitchen, so why don’t you join your family?”

  “Is Mitch here yet?”

  “Not yet. He just called to say he’s running a little late and for us to start dinner without him if we need to.”

  Smoothing her breeze-ruffled blond hair, Madison chuckled. “The surgeon’s life. That’s why I chose psychiatry. Shorter hours.”

  Madison always teased about that, but Jacqui didn’t believe it any more than Madison’s family did. During the one-year-plus that she’d known Meagan’s younger sister, it had become clear to Jacqui that Madison was the most empathetic of the Baker siblings. Meagan and Mitch had both chosen surgery because they enjoyed the challenge of fixing something physical that was broken. Madison was more interested in soothing mental and emotional pain, whether triggered by chemical imbalances or life experiences.

  Jacqui was just putting the finishing touches on individual Caprese salads when LaDonna wandered into the kitchen. “Can I help you with anything, dear?”

  “No, thank you, LaDonna. Everything is almost ready.”

  The other woman had insisted from the beginning of their acquaintance that Jacqui should call her by her first name rather than the more formal Mrs. Baker. Fifty-nine and widowed for several years, LaDonna Baker eschewed stuffiness and formality, treating everyone with the same easy warmth. A CPA, she had gone back to work four days a week as a bookkeeper after the death of her mother last year. Like her three offspring, LaDonna didn’t seem to be content unless she was gainfully employed. She had taken a week’s vacation from her job to entertain her sisters-in-law.

  “If you think everyone is ready to eat, I can start serving. Mitch should be here soon, but he didn’t want anyone to have to wait for him.”

  “He works too hard. All my children do.” LaDonna shook her head in slight disapproval. Something about her expression reminded Jacqui very much of Meagan. Both Meagan and Madison favored their fair, slender mother. Although Mitch bore some family resemblance, Jacqui assumed he must look more like his late father.

  Responding to LaDonna’s comment, Jacqui nodded in agreement. “Yes, they do.”

  “And so do you. You’ve had your hands full taking care of Alice and Mitch while Meagan and Seth are away, haven’t you? And I’ve added to your work by bringing my sisters-in-law for dinner.”

  “I didn’t mind at all.”

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. I’m running out of ways to entertain them,” LaDonna confided in a murmur. “They get bored easily and want me to keep coming up with new things for us to do. At least a dinner party here is something different.”

  Jacqui chuckled. “Then we’ll make sure they’re entertained.”

  She honestly didn’t mind helping out with entertaining the women, even if it was just to serve them dinner. Jacqui had grown very fond of LaDonna during the past year. LaDonna had been nothing but gracious to her, and Jacqui admired the way LaDonna had welcomed Alice into her family. Jacqui doubted any future biological grandchildren would be treated with any more interest and affection from their “Mimi.”

  Jacqui had worried about LaDonna at the end of last year. Already saddened by the untimely loss of her husband, LaDonna had worn herself almost to the ends of her physical and emotional limits caring for her dying mother. She was still too thin, in Jacqui’s private opinion, but she seemed to be recovering now from her grief and stress. Her job had helped distract her from that trying time. As had her joy in her three children and her new granddaughter.

  “Don’t you even think about staying in here and serving while we’re eating,” the older woman warned with a shake of her finger. “You are eating with us, right?”

  The formal dining table seated eight, so there was room for Jacqui to join them, even though she would have been just as happy to eat at the breakfast-nook table where the casual family usually dined. But because LaDonna had already insisted she join them when they’d first discussed a menu for the evening, Jacqui knew there was no use in demurring. “Yes, I’ll join you. I can serve and eat at the same time.”

  LaDonna nodded in approval. “Good.”

  Jacqui slipped a pan of seasoned salmon fillets and a separate dish of asparagus spears into the oven to bake while they ate their salads; she had a Dijon-dill sauce chilling in the fridge to spoon over the fish she would serve with herbed rice and the lemon-sprinkled asparagus. She’d long since learned that careful timing was the secret to success with a dinner party, especially if she was eating and serving.

  Mitch rushed into the dining room just as Jacqui finished setting the salads in front of their guests. “Sorry I’m late,” he said a little breathlessly. “I had a procedure that took longer than I expected this afternoon.”

  Welcoming him warmly, his adoring mother and aunts presented cheeks for him to kiss. Grinning, he rounded the table, planting noisy kisses on those cheeks, then on his sister’s and niece’s for good measure.

  Alice giggled. “You didn’t kiss Jacqui.”

  Jacqui forced her smile to remain in place even as she shot Alice a look. “That’s not necessary,” she said lightly. “I’m not family.”

  Chuckling, Mitch leaned down to press a smacking kiss to her too-warm cheek. “Of course you are,” he said heartily. “You came with the package.”

  She busied herself with her salad as he took his seat. Apparently taking pity on her, Madison spoke quickly, asking Alice about her swim team, which started the conversation in a new direction.

  Grateful, Jacqui glanced Madison’s way, but because Mitch was seated next to his younger sister, she accidentally caught his eyes instead. He winked at her, making her look quickly back down at the tomatoes, mozzarella and basil on her plate. Although this was her favorite salad, suddenly she found it difficult to swallow.

  Jacqui fit in very well with his family, Mitch mused during the scrumptious dessert that followed her excellent meal. But she seemed to be doing everything she could to remain separate from them. She jumped up constantly during the meal to wait on everyone, serving from the left and removing from the right with the efficiency of a banquet server rather than an attentive hostess. She might as well have worn a name tag identifying her as an employee of the household. He wasn’t sure how, exactly, his mom had roped her into this, but Jacqui handled a last-minute dinner party with the same efficient aplomb with which she did all the responsibilities of her job.

  To give them credit, his aunts didn’t treat her any differently than they did any of the others at this somewhat unconventional dinner party. With their usual curiosity—okay, nosiness—they eagerly include
d Jacqui in the series of personal questions they threw at Mitch, Madison and even Alice. Jacqui, he noted, was good at giving polite nonanswers—so skilled at it that it was only later one realized she hadn’t really divulged much information at all.

  “Do you want to be a lawyer like your father or a doctor like your stepmother and her brother and sister?” Kathleen asked Alice during the dessert. “Or maybe a CPA like your new grandmother?”

  “Both my parents are lawyers,” Alice replied, carefully including her mother in the list. “But I want to be an orthodontist.”

  “An orthodontist?” Doreen smiled. “That’s not something you hear very often from a girl your age.”

  Alice grinned, displaying the braces she’d been wearing for just more than a year. “I’ve had plenty of chances to watch what my orthodontist does. It looks interesting. And I like the thought of making people feel better about their smiles.”

  “That’s very nice,” Kathleen approved. “A good reason to go into a field. That’s why all LaDonna’s children went into medicine, I’m sure—to help people. Not for the money.”

  Madison laughed wryly. “You really must have stronger reasons to go into medicine than money. In my opinion, no amount of pay is a good-enough incentive alone to get through medical school. There are a lot less stressful ways to make a decent salary.”

  Alice giggled. “Dad and Meagan are always play-arguing about which is harder, medical school or law school.”

  “Medical school,” Mitch and Madison said in unison.

  “That’s hardly fair,” Mitch’s mother commented. “Seth isn’t here to defend his side of the argument.”

  “Wouldn’t matter. He’d be wrong,” Mitch stated firmly, making Alice giggle again.

  “I wish they were here,” Doreen remarked with exaggerated wistfulness. “We haven’t seen them since their wedding. I was sure we told them then when we’d be here for a visit.”

  LaDonna shook her head firmly. “You said then that you were thinking about coming in September. It was only after Meagan and Seth made their travel arrangements for Europe that you switched the date to this week. The change worked fine for my schedule, but Meagan and Seth couldn’t just cancel or reschedule their one chance at a belated honeymoon trip.”

  Mitch knew his mom would get chippy if her sisters-in-law continued to criticize Meagan and Seth, even in subtle jabs. He was relieved when Madison, ever the peacemaker, spoke up quickly.

  “Jacqui, this cake is absolutely decadent. Sin on a plate but worth every calorie.”

  Mitch saw the flash of pride in Jacqui’s eyes before she replied in a stage whisper, “Don’t tell any of the others, but it’s actually a healthy recipe. It’s low-fat, low-sugar. Applesauce and crushed pineapple are what make it so moist and sweet.”

  “You’re kidding! Then maybe I should have a second slice,” Madison teased. “Really, it’s delicious.”

  The others all added their compliments to the dessert, although Mitch noticed Kathleen, the pickiest eater in the family, now eyed the cake with a little more suspicion. Both the twins were heavy, but Kathleen was the bread-and-sweet fanatic, refusing to even consider gentle suggestions that she should make healthy changes in her diet. He found it amusing that she’d been wolfing down the rich-tasting dessert with enthusiasm until she’d heard it wasn’t actually so bad for her.

  Jacqui really was an excellent cook. He’d heard Meagan and Seth comment about how much they enjoyed the meals she prepared for them. Seth’s former housekeeper had been more of a traditional meat-and-potatoes chef, leaning heavily on Tex-Mex recipes. Although Seth had confided that he’d loved Nina’s cooking, he had also admitted that Jacqui’s lighter touch with fresh vegetables and fruits and leaner meats was a much healthier diet for him and his daughter.

  Jacqui took as much pride in her work as any of them did, Mitch mused. Yet he suspected she was as aware as he was that housekeeping hadn’t been listed in the potential careers for Alice. It was a perfectly respectable and worthwhile job, but he had to admit it wasn’t one that immediately came to mind. He would like to know more about how Jacqui had ended up in this particular career—and if she had any plans to do anything different in the future—but she was so darned skittish about personal questions.

  Was it that evasiveness that made him so increasingly curious about her? Was she simply an intriguing puzzle he was drawn to solve? He’d always liked a challenge. But it felt as though there was more to his attraction to Jacqui. Had been from the start. Even though she hadn’t given him even a hint of encouragement.

  Well, not specifically, anyway. He thought of that moment when their paths had crossed on the stairs and he’d gotten the feeling she felt some sparks between them, too. Had that been entirely in his own imagination?

  “Your mother pointed out Seth’s house that’s for sale across the street, Mitchell,” Doreen remarked, seemingly out of the blue. He felt a muscle tense in the back of his neck. “It’s a very nice place,” she added. “You should consider buying it for yourself now that you need a new home.”

  Kathleen nodded energetically. “It’s lovely to live close to your sister, Mitchell. Doreen and I have never lived more than ten miles apart in our lives, and we don’t regret it for one moment.”

  “Twelve miles.”

  Kathleen turned to her twin with a frown. “What?”

  “The house I lived in with Gerald— That was my second late husband, Jacqui, God rest his soul. Anyway, that house was twelve miles from the town house you lived in then. You told Mitchell we’d never lived more than ten miles apart.”

  “Oh, good grief, Doreen, there’s no need to get that specific. What does it matter if it was ten or twelve?”

  “Well, you said ten.”

  Though he’d hoped the tiff would distract her, Kathleen turned determinedly back to Mitch. “The point is, it’s nice to live close to your family, even if they drive you crazy sometimes,” she added pointedly. “I think it’s a sign that the other house is still available just when your apartment burned down.”

  Kathleen had always been led by “signs” and “feelings.” Despite her own resistance to any well-intentioned guidance toward herself, she didn’t mind giving frequent advice to others, something the rest of the family tolerated indulgently. Most of the time.

  Although her twin had been widowed twice, Kathleen had never married. She claimed she’d had a lifelong “feeling” that she was meant to stay single and in a position to offer helpful, objective advice to others on maintaining their marriages and raising their children.

  Mitch had always figured that for the sake of the twins’ relationship, it was just as well Doreen had never had children with either of her husbands. Kathleen would have certainly been compelled to give her sister guidance on how to raise them, which Doreen would probably have resented eventually. As it was, both Kathleen and Doreen had been active, if long-distance, observers of their brother’s family life, asking questions and tendering parenting critiques whenever they visited. Mitch wondered if his dad had chosen to move from his childhood home in St. Louis to take a position at the university in Little Rock specifically to get a little farther away from his lovable but meddling older sisters.

  He didn’t voice that pondering aloud, of course. “I said I would think about it.”

  “A man—a doctor, to boot—should have his own house,” Doreen commented.

  “And a family to fill it with,” Kathleen added with a sage nod. “You’re over thirty now, Mitchell. Time passes before you realize it.”

  He kept his smile in place with an effort. “I’ll keep that in mind, Aunt Kathleen. Thanks.”

  He shot a glance at Madison, silently urging her to change the subject. But she merely gave him an exaggeratedly innocent smile in return, probably glad the aunts weren’t quizzing her about her life choices instead.

  “Even if you don’t buy Seth’s house—and I can’t imagine why you aren’t jumping at that chance, he’d probably make you a
good deal, being family and all. Where was I? Oh, yes, even if you don’t buy that one, you should consider buying or building rather than renting. Much better investment of your money.”

  “Thanks for the advice, Aunt Doreen.” He searched his mind quickly for a change of topic. “How’s your sciatica been lately?”

  “Don’t get her started on that,” Kathleen cut in quickly. “I agree with her on the buying versus renting. I’ve done both, you know, and when I was younger, I preferred owning my own place. Now that I’m older, it’s just too much upkeep. The senior living apartments Doreen and I are in now are perfect for us. But because you have no plans to leave Little Rock, you might as well invest in a nice house where you can settle down and raise a family.”

  Mitch noticed that Jacqui was focusing studiously on her tea mug, as if reading futures in the dregs there. He wondered whimsically if she could see his.

  Kathleen’s eyes narrowed on his face when he didn’t immediately respond to her comments. Another one of her “feelings”? “You aren’t planning on leaving Little Rock, are you, Mitchell?”

  “I get tempting offers from other places occasionally, but I don’t have any specific plans to move,” he replied lightly. “I just like keeping my options open, you know?”

  His mother made a funny little sound, as if she, too, had heard a hint of restlessness in his voice that was new to her. “Mitch? You’re thinking about leaving Arkansas?”

  Had she really just paled a shade at the very possibility? He tugged lightly at the collar of his white shirt. He’d left the top two buttons unfastened, but it still felt as if it had just tightened somehow. “I said I have no real plans to do so, Mom. I’m just trying to make the best decisions for my future. It hasn’t even been a week since my place burned down and I’ve been pretty busy at work since. You can’t expect me to buy a house in only a couple of days.”

  Taking pity either on him or their mother, Madison interceded then. “Tell our aunts about the trip you’re taking to Peru, Mitch.”