The M.D. Meets His Match

by Marie Ferrarella

  He kissed her fingertips. “Just the beating of my heart.”

  She pulled her hand away. There, she’d heard it again. “No, I’m serious.”

  Jimmy listened. There was nothing. “What do you hear?”

  “An engine. A motor.” Or maybe it was something else. “Something. It’s in the distance, but it’s getting louder.”

  He still didn’t hear it, but didn’t question that she did. “You’ve got better hearing than a bat, then. But that’s where the comparison ends.”

  He was just humoring her, she thought. Undoubtedly he probably assumed she was so desperate to be found that she was imagining car engines. But she was hearing something. And it was getting louder.

  Max. Max was coming for them. Oh, my God, she had to get dressed quickly. April reached for her clothes. “No, I—”

  The next thing she knew, the door was being pushed open. Sucking in her breath, April had only enough time to grab the moth-eaten blanket and pull it to her. And then she was looking up at her brother’s face, trying to ignore the fact that Shayne and Ike were right behind him.

  Max looked by turns surprised, relieved, and then greatly amused.

  The initial protective instinct faded a second after rising. No one could make April do what she didn’t want to do. That meant she wanted to be with this man. After resigning himself to the idea that April was never going to find anyone she would trust enough to become vulnerable with, seeing her in this sort of a situation made Max want to smile.

  It took an effort to keep the expression from his lips. April would have his head.

  “And here I was, worried that you might be freezing to death.” He shook his head, relief washing over him in long, comforting waves. She was safe, that was all that mattered right now. “I should have known you’d find a way to start your own fire.”

  Temporarily at a loss, April raised her chin, fervently wishing she could make herself invisible by merely closing her eyes, the way she’d once believed as a child.

  With as much dignity as she could muster, she said, “Would you give us a moment, please?”

  “Take all the time you want, darlin’,” Ike drawled, turning his back to the pair. He caught Shayne’s eye and winked. “We’re just very glad to find that you’re both alive. Really alive,” he emphasized. “You’ve got no idea what Shayne’s been putting himself through, thinking that something might have happened to you because you went to the village instead of him.”

  His jeans on, Jimmy padded across the floor to retrieve the boots he’d abandoned near the door.

  “Why wouldn’t we be alive?” Sitting on the floor, he began pulling on his boots. “In case you hadn’t noticed—” he looked at Max “—your sister’s one hell of a woman. She doesn’t go all to pieces at the first sign of an emergency the way a lot of other people—male and female,” he added for her benefit, “would in her situation. She’s a survivor. That gives anyone with her more than a fighting chance.”

  Finished hurrying into her clothes, April looked at Jimmy in mute surprise. Other than Max when she’d managed to pin him down, no man had ever willingly given her her due. That Jimmy did stirred a warm pride within her she didn’t know what to do with.

  “Well, in that case,” Ike suggested, tongue in cheek, “maybe we should just leave.” He waved a hand at himself and the other two men.

  “No, you’re here, you might as well be of some use.” The smile that came to April’s lips was apologetic. “I guess what I mean is that we really did need rescuing. The car won’t start. There was no place to house it and I think the battery’s frozen.” She looked at Luc. It was his car, after all. “I’m sorry.”

  Luc had lived in Hades all of his life. It wasn’t anything that he hadn’t encountered before. “No problem. I’ll have your sister look at it. If anyone can make it run, June can.”

  Max suddenly remembered the others. “June’s out looking for you, too. Hell, we’ve got half the village out looking for the two of you. I’d better get on the radio and see if I can get in touch with any of them, tell them the search’s over.” He hurried out the door.

  April pressed her lips together, contrite. She’d forgotten about that, forgotten how everyone in Hades always pulled together, no matter what their differences, whenever anyone was in trouble. It was as if they were all members of one large, rambling family. No matter what, they looked out for one another.

  She supposed that was the one thing she’d missed, being away from here. Shoving her hands into her pockets, she looked at Ike and Shayne. Apologies didn’t come easily to her, but she’d never shirked what she felt was her responsibility.

  “Thanks for coming out. I’m sorry to have put everyone through this.”

  Jimmy slipped his hand onto her shoulder in a manner she found both possessive and oddly comforting, though she tried to block out the latter.

  “It was my fault,” he told them. “April wanted to start back, but I made her wait while I stopped to have a cup of coffee at Jack’s house. We would have beaten the storm back if it hadn’t been for me.”

  She looked at him, puzzled. Why was he lying for her? She didn’t need anyone running interference for her, even though she should have known better and hurried him along. “No, I—”

  Shayne didn’t want to hear any more apologies. It was behind them now. “Well, you’re all right now so there’s no harm done.” He opened the door to leave. “Next time, bring a thermos.”

  “There’s not going to be a next time,” April told them. Checking the fireplace to make sure the fire was out, she nodded at Jimmy. “His vacation is almost over and he’ll be going back.”

  “Forgot about that.” Ike looked at his cousin’s brother-in-law. “I guess I just started getting used to you and thought you were one of us.” His eyes swept toward April. “You, too.”

  She met the comment with ambivalent feelings. Part of her wanted to reaffirm that there was no doubt that she was no longer one of them. That she’d outgrown this hayseed of a town. But another part wanted to take umbrage at being dismissed so cavalierly, because, God help her, she was part of them. And a piece of her always would be.

  She was beginning to wonder if that was a blessing or not.

  She didn’t want to think about it. “Let’s get back,” she urged. “Gran must be frantic.” And then it occurred to her. Hurrying to where Max stood by the plane, completing his radio message, she grabbed his arm to get his attention. “If June’s out looking for me, who’s staying with Gran?”

  Max replaced the receiver. “Mrs. Kellogg,” he told her.

  Her eyes widened. The name conjured up vivid pictures of a dour old woman in her mind. “The old grocer’s wife? The one who started the last fire?” In one of her long, newsy letters, her grandmother had written to her how part of the emporium Luc now owned had burned down. The fire had threatened the Salty, as well, before it had been put out by the volunteer fire department. It had begun because Mrs. Kellogg had forgotten about a pot of soup she’d left cooking on the range. “My God, what was June thinking?”

  “That she didn’t want to lose her sister, would be my guess,” Jimmy said, slipping his arm around her shoulders. He noticed that she stiffened at his touch. Their idyllic time, he decided, was over. A sadness blended with another feeling that surprised him. It was the feeling that came over him when he faced a challenge.

  She didn’t need him running interference or making excuses for her family. “Let’s go,” April ordered, climbing into the plane.

  “What about the box of canned goods?” Jimmy wanted to know. They’d eaten very little during their stay here, rationing the cans in case they would have to last a long time. Most of their time together had been occupied by matters other than food.

  “Leave them for the next person who’s marooned out here,” she said, strapping herself in. She looked expectantly at Shayne who was still standing outside the plane with the others. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

 
; Amusement creased Ike’s lips. “You heard the lady.”

  “You know,” Max said as he climbed in behind Jimmy, “I’d forgotten how much the sound of your voice could make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.”

  “We’ll reminisce about that later.” Leaning forward, she gripped the back of the pilot’s seat, as if that could somehow make the plane take off. “I want to get back to Gran before something happens to her.”

  “She’s heartier than you think,” was all Max said as Shayne started the engine.

  Since she was the first one on the plane, per force, April was the last one out when they landed. As soon as her feet hit the patchy snow-covered ground, she was off and running for the post office.

  “You know, if you break your leg, you’re not going to do anyone any good,” Max called after her, shaking his head.

  She didn’t bother acknowledging him. She was too intent on trying to fight off the bad feeling she had, the feeling that something had happened to her grandmother while she had been up there in the cabin, getting lost in Jimmy’s arms. What she should have done, she upbraided herself, was try to figure out a way they could have gotten back. Or at least gotten word to someone. That both options had been impossible to follow through on only made her frustration that much greater.

  Bursting into the post office, her lungs screaming from her effort, she looked frantically around, fearing the worst.

  Her grandmother was behind the counter, just the way she’d been for nearly half a century, looking very intent on sorting mail. She looked up the moment she heard the door open, hope creasing her brow.

  “April!” Her hand pressing heavily down on the counter for support, she struggled to her feet. “I knew you were all right. I just knew it.” Beaming, blinking back tears, Ursula opened her arms wide.

  April flew into them and suddenly found herself propelled back to her childhood, where Gran’s arms had always formed a welcoming haven, no matter what was going on in the world outside her arms.

  Blinking back her own unfounded tears, April searched the older woman’s face. “Are you all right?”

  “I am now, now that you’re here.” She wiped away a tear with the back of her wrist then looked over April’s head at the men entering the post office. “Are you all right, Doc?”

  “Never better.” Coming forward, Jimmy stopped by April. “Had your granddaughter watching out for me.”

  Ursula nodded knowingly as she looked at April. “Then you were in good hands.”

  “I’ll say,” Max muttered under his breath, only to be given a dirty look by April.

  Immediately interested, Ursula cocked her head. “How’s that?”

  “Nothing,” April said quickly. “Max is just being Max.” She looked at her grandmother. “You should be in bed.”

  Ursula glanced over toward the back stairs. “I was too restless to stay in bed. But I think I could do with a bit of rest now that you’re back.”

  That Gran gave in so easily worried her. “Want help up the stairs?” She took her grandmother’s arm.

  Very gently, Ursula pulled herself free. “No, I’ll be fine.” And then she hesitated. “Maybe the doc would like to help me up the stairs.”

  April didn’t like the sound of that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “April?”

  Her grandmother’s voice penetrated the restless haze that had been pressing down on her all night, just as it had the past three nights, ever since she and Jimmy had been rescued and returned to Hades. With little sleep to her credit, her temper was short, even with Gran. Right now, April figured she wasn’t even good company for a wolverine.

  No matter what excuse she’d silently rendered, she’d felt herself becoming vulnerable back when they’d been snowed in. Vulnerable to the point that her emotions had come all unraveled for the first time in years. And, for the first time in her life, she’d forgotten to keep them under control. She’d allowed herself to react to Jimmy, to let some part of her think “What if…?”

  Except that she knew all about what-ifs. If she fell in love, really in love, what would happen would be that she’d end up just like her mother and countless other women who’d loved and lost and suddenly no longer remembered how to place one foot in front of the other to get through a day. April knew herself well enough to know that she wasn’t one who did things by half measures. If she loved, she’d love completely and if she lost, as she knew she would, then the very heart would be cut out of her.

  It very nearly was when her father had abandoned them. How much worse would it be if it was the man who she’d given herself to, body and soul?

  She wasn’t about to allow herself to find out. This policy of evasion she’d adopted would see her through until Jimmy left Hades. She only had two more days to play hide-and-seek with him and then he’d be gone, on his way to Seattle. And she would go on just as she had before, just a little wiser.

  And she was going to make damn sure this kind of thing wasn’t going to happen again. No other man would ever be allowed to creep into her mind and remain there, haunting every thought she had.

  In the meantime, she needed support and cooperation. That meant not having to put up with her grandmother’s continuous testimonials about “the new doc.” New doc. As if he was staying here. It was obvious that her grandmother had taken leave of her senses and become smitten with a man one third her age. A man who, for some reason, Gran somehow saw her with. As if that would ever happen. April was far too bright for that. Sure she’d gotten a little giddy, a little carried away, but she was over that.

  If she hadn’t been, she would have found some way to see him in the last three days. And she hadn’t. She’d avoided him as if he were all seven of the Bible plagues all rolled into one.

  Raising herself up on her elbows, she called out to her grandmother, “Gran, please, I’m tired and I don’t want to hear any more arguments about how wonderful ‘the doc’ is. If he’s so great, you marry him. I hear Seattle’s great this time of year.”

  “April.” The voice was thin, reedy and breathless before it cracked.

  April bolted upright, listening, alert. She didn’t like the sound of that. Something was very wrong.

  Forgoing her robe, she hurried into her grandmother’s room down the tiny hall. Ursula was still in bed, too weak to sit up on her own. April turned on the light and bit back the cry of dismay that materialized on her lips. Her grandmother’s face was ashen and she was clutching her chest.

  With panic slashing at her on all fronts, April dropped to her knees. She tried very hard to keep her voice calm to prevent her grandmother from becoming agitated. “Where does it hurt, Gran?”

  Watery eyes turned to her. April saw the fear mirrored there that she was trying to bank down. Her grandmother wasn’t one given to complaining. “I can’t catch my breath, April.”

  “I’ll get Shayne.”

  Reaching for the telephone, she started dialing before she realized that there was no sound on the other end. The phones were dead again for the third time in four days. Another storm had hit them this afternoon, just as furious as its sister had been several days before.

  April unsuccessfully swallowed an oath.

  “It’s all right,” Ursula murmured. “This’ll pass, and I’ll be fine.”

  April wasn’t so sure and she certainly wasn’t about to bet her grandmother’s life on it. Her first thought was to go and bring Shayne back with her, but she didn’t want to leave Gran alone. If the unthinkable happened, she didn’t want her dying without someone beside her.

  “Sure you will,” she said with far more conviction than she felt. “But just to be on the safe side, I’m going to take you to him.”

  Ursula’s breathing had steadied a little, but she didn’t feel strong enough to make it on her own power. She held on to April’s hand tightly. “I really don’t know if I can—”

  “Yes, you can,” April said firmly. “Look at me, Gran.” April looked into the eyes of th
e woman who had been her entire world after she and her siblings had been orphaned. Never mind that she had been determined to help raise the others and declared herself a responsible, independent person, it had been Gran who’d always been her rock. “Now you are going to walk out of here and we’re going to see Shayne. I’m going to help you so you don’t have to be afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Ursula lied. She rubbed small, concentric circles on her chest. “I’m just being foolish. It’s probably nothing more than just indigestion.”

  Very slowly, April helped her grandmother into a sitting position, using her shoulder as leverage to give Ursula some support. “Fine, then I’ll get you a box of antacid tablets—after I hear Shayne tell me it’s indigestion.”

  Dangling her feet over the side of the bed, Ursula watched as April quickly put socks and shoes on her feet. “But, April, we’ll wake him up. It’s the middle of the night.”

  April quickly threw an outfit together for her grandmother to keep her warm. “This is Alaska, Gran. It’s the middle of the night six months out of the year,” she quipped. “No one’ll notice.”

  “Shayne, open up. It’s April!”

  It had taken her exactly three minutes to throw on her own clothes and then ten to get her grandmother down the stairs and into the car. By the time she’d closed the vehicle door and turned on the ignition, she was almost as drenched with perspiration as the time she’d gone photographing alligators in the Bayou in August.

  When her grandmother’s breathing became labored, April had driven like someone possessed to Shayne’s house.

  The front door to Shayne’s restored two-story house finally flew open. Blinking his eyes, trying to focus and clear his brain of sleep, Shayne looked at April a second before recognition set in. Behind him, his wife Sydney was just coming down the stairs.

  Shayne could barely make out the vehicle in the background. “April, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s Gran.” April fought back the wave of hysteria that came at her with a vengeance. “I think she’s having a heart attack.”