In a Doctor's Arms

by Lisa Mondello

  She let out a heavy sigh. She missed Dennis. Lord, how she missed him. And she wasn’t going to stop missing him by sitting in Hartford crying.

  Without thought, she dragged the cordless phone from the end table and punched in a number. Vanessa Kaufmann picked up on the third ring.

  “What’s doing, honey?” Vanessa asked, her voice spirited as always. “It’s so good to hear your voice again!”

  “I’m going to need a room.”

  “A room, huh?”

  “Just in case.”

  “Does this mean what I think it means? Are you coming back to Stockington Falls for good, or is this just a visit again? Either way, I’m thrilled.”

  Teresa smiled inwardly, a heaviness finally lifting from her heart. A lot had to happen before she could make that decision for sure, but this was a first step.

  “I tell you what. You’ll be the second one to know.”

  The clinic was quiet, Dennis thought as he finished sifting through a mountain of paperwork ready to be submitted to insurance companies. Usually medical staff did all the paperwork, but there were patient reports and dictations he had to attend to himself. Sometimes it was just easier to do the work instead of passing it off and explaining things.

  It was certainly easier than going home to an empty house like he had the past few weeks. St. Patrick’s Day was going to be a wild weekend. Hal and Vanessa Kaufmann were throwing a big party in celebration. Chances were a few of those partygoers would land up in the clinic for one reason or another. The clinic hadn’t been that busy since New Year’s Eve, and he hoped that St. Patty’s Day wouldn’t end up like that.

  A light down the hall flicked on, drawing Dennis’s attention from an insurance form.

  “Forget something, Cammie?” he called out. No answer.

  With the sound of footsteps echoing in the empty corridor, he pushed out from behind his desk. “Cammie?”

  He heard the door to the room diagonal from his office unlock. It was the room Teresa had used while she was working at the clinic. No one had used the room since she’d left for Hartford.

  His heart slammed against his ribs as he bolted through his office door into the hallway. The door to Teresa’s temporary office was ajar, and light spilled into the dim corridor. A few wide strides and he was standing in the doorway, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.

  Teresa Morales stood behind the old utilitarian desk like a mirage. Her silky hair flowed down around the shoulders of her coat. Her deep blue eyes smiled up at him, causing an electric explosion inside him.

  She nonchalantly reached into the cardboard box propped on the barren desk and pulled out a picture frame, gently placing it on the corner of the desk before uttering a word.

  “Good evening, Dr. Harrington.” Her voice was smooth as silk and floated to him like a whisper on the wind. “When you weren’t at the farmhouse, I figured I’d find you here. You know, too many late nights can’t be good for your health.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes. And eating fine home cooking from Roma’s by yourself is nice, but—”

  “What are you doing?” he said.

  She slipped out of her coat and draped it on the chair before coming around from behind the desk.

  “I didn’t think there was any reason to wait until tomorrow to unpack. Especially since you were still here.”

  He stood like stone, his mouth agape. Her expression suddenly collapsed and her smile faltered.

  “I wanted to surprise you. I thought maybe I’d try to get a state grant to work part-time at the high school,” she said, dragging in a deep breath and then sighing. “I should have called and told you I was coming. I just assumed… I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.”

  He tamped down the slice of hope. “Tell me one thing. Are you really here in Stockington Falls for good?” he asked, his voice slightly breathless.

  She was here in front of him after all these weeks. All the nights he’d lain awake, memories of her haunting him, were forgotten in an instant. But if she walked out of his life again, he didn’t think he could bear it.

  She tossed him a wry grin, light reaching her eyes and making them spark to life again. “I figured since you didn’t call, I’d just take matters into my own hands.”

  “I wanted to give you time to heal.”

  She smiled up at him and his heart squeezed. “I’m all healed, Dr. Harrington. And I know what I want. Do you still have my room back at the farmhouse?”

  “The guesthouse isn’t an option,” he ground out, his voice harsher than he’d intended. “Not on a permanent basis anyway.”

  Her gaze drifted from his face to the box on the desk. She pulled out a book and dropped it on the desk with a clunk. “I understand if you need time. I reserved a room at the resort just in case—”

  “Not at the resort either. I want you with me.” He advanced toward her, scooping her into his arms without really knowing that he’d done it. Teresa was in his arms, and that was all that mattered. “I know what I want, too, Teresa. I don’t want to spend another day without you.”

  He kissed her neck, dragged in the scent of her—the soft feel of her—and felt himself go weak. He’d tried so very hard these past few weeks to rid himself of his longing for Teresa Morales, but now that she was in his arms again he couldn’t deny it any longer. She felt so absolutely right, so exquisitely perfect pressed against him that something inside him finally slipped into place, and he knew without a doubt she belonged in his life forever.

  “I love you, Teresa Morales. You can’t know how much I’ve been missing you.”

  “I love you, too,” she said against his lips, tears breaking free from her eyes.

  He kissed her again, tears building behind his eyelids. How had he been so blessed for God to bring such an amazing woman into his life?

  “I know you wanted to, but you were right not to ask me to stay. Although I have to admit I hated you for it that first week. I wanted to stay, and I wanted you to ask me to stay. But it wasn’t fair for me to put that all on you. I realize now it was just a cop-out, another way for me to avoid what I didn’t want to face. I needed to go back to Hartford to know that Mariah’s death wasn’t my fault. I’m good at what I do, and I love doing it. But I don’t need to be in Hartford. I belong here with you.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, I want you to really be sure.”

  She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning into his embrace. “I’m not running away from anything anymore, Dennis. I’m running to something I want so very much. And I’m not letting go this time.”

  “There might not be as much excitement for you here in Stockington Falls. Can you live with that?”

  She chuckled softly against his ear. “I have a feeling our lives will be changing soon enough and we’ll have all the excitement we can handle—God willing, anyway.”

  He gazed down into her tear-filled eyes, realizing that tears were blurring his own vision. “What do you mean?”

  “Walking around the high school last week I realized that I’d been running a long time, even before Mariah’s and David’s deaths. And now I think I’m finally healed. There is more I want in my life. I’ve always thought of the kids I work with as my kids. But when I think of us, I realize I want to have a family of my own. You did say you wanted children, didn’t you?”

  He dug his fingers in her silky hair and kissed her lips softly. He couldn’t possibly love this woman any more than he did right at that moment.

  She laughed through tears. “Do I have to do all the asking, Dr. Harrington, or are you going to finally ask me?”

  His laugh was rich, coming from deep within the swells of his heart and happiness. “Marry me, Teresa. Make babies with me. Be my wife, my family, my best friend. Let me love you always.”

  Tears spilled over the rims of her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  “Not as long as your answer is yes.”

 
; “Yes, I will marry you, Dennis.”

  He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her again, vowing to never let her go. With Teresa in his arms, with the future they’d yet to share ahead of them, he knew that home would never be a lonely place. She’d come into his life needing time to heal. But winning her love, feeling it fully, had healed a lonely heart he didn’t even know needed mending. And that heart was his own.

  Dear Reader,

  Like most stories, In a Doctor’s Arms started out as a small seed of an idea. But unlike many of my other books, this story has a history.

  Stockington Falls doesn’t exist on any map. It’s a fictitious town in Vermont that was created over ten years ago through an IM conversation with my dear friend Cathy McDavid. Our idea was to take each season and create a novella series that would span a full year. We each wrote two stories. Although the novella was never published, what came out of working on that project is an amazing friendship that I will always cherish!

  “A Time to Heal” was the title of the first story I wrote for that novella series. Rather than keep that story hidden away under the bed collecting dust, I pulled it out, took another look and thought it would make a great Love Inspired romance. That novella became the bones of the story for In a Doctor’s Arms. As I reestablished my connection with these characters from Stockington Falls, Vermont, I fell in love with Teresa and Dennis all over again. I hope you will, too!

  I love hearing from readers. Please visit me and other Love Inspired authors at:

  http://www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com

  http://www.ladiesofsuspense.blogspot.com

  http://www.loveinspiredauthors.com

  Many blessings,

  Lisa Mondello

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  Raising teenagers can be difficult. Have you or someone you know had to deal with the same pressures of raising a teenager like Benny? How did you handle it?

  Teresa finds herself confronting the very thing she fears most, counseling another teenager in trouble. Have you ever had to face something you feared that strongly? How did you overcome your fear?

  Dennis is stuck in a difficult position. His nephew clearly needs help, but he doesn’t want to pry into his sister’s personal life either. How do you think Dennis handled the division of uncle versus doctor with his sister and nephew? Would you have done something different?

  Despite falling in love with each other, Dennis knows Teresa needs to go back to Hartford and face the pain she’s running from in order for them to have a chance at a real relationship. Teresa clearly wants Dennis to ask her to stay in Stockington Falls, taking the burden of going back and facing the past off her shoulders. Do you think it was fair of her to expect this?

  Depression issues can affect an entire family. How does Benny’s depression affect his parents? His uncle?

  Do you think Teresa was too hard on herself about Mariah’s death? In what way did her experience shake her relationship with God?

  Bullying in school can be very damaging to a child’s self-esteem and leave the child depressed. Do you know of a child who has been affected by bullying at school? How did you help them deal with it?

  How was Benny’s confrontation at the community center good for him and for Teresa?

  How did Teresa finally reconcile her guilt and her distance from her faith?

  What is your favorite scene in In a Doctor’s Arms? Why did that scene have an impact on you?

  Was there any one character in In a Doctor’s Arms that you could relate to more than the others? What did you see in that character that made you feel that way?

  Teresa’s knee-jerk reaction after Mariah’s death was to run away from the pain. Have you ever run away from a problem or failure in your life? How did it make you feel to do that? How was the situation resolved?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8860-1

  IN A DOCTOR’S ARMS

  Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Mondello

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

  ® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

  www.SteepleHill.com