One Week to Win His Heart

by Lucy Clark

  Besides, it was really her fault that her father had died. It was no wonder her mother’s family had written her off. Her father had been the beloved town doctor for years until that accident. It had been for the best that she’d left.

  Still, it had torn a hole in her soul. She’d got world experience, and a great education, but as a child she hadn’t wanted to leave Wolf’s Harbor.

  A social service worker from Juneau had come to take her away. Her father’s estranged mother in Boston had got custody of her. And, as a child, she really hadn’t had a say….

  “I don’t want to leave,” Evelyn protested, clutching her small rag doll and looking back at her father’s log cabin with longing.

  She loved her cozy home in the forest, where she’d used to wait for her father to come home. But he was never coming back. Her father was gone—and all because he had been on his way to see that woman. The woman who wanted to replace her mother.

  “You have no choice,” the social worker said, kneeling in front of her.

  She could see the pain in the woman’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Evelyn, but your grandmother in Boston is looking forward to your arrival and she’s your legal guardian now. Your father didn’t have a will and a judge has ruled in your paternal grandmother’s favor. You have to go live with her.”

  “I don’t want to go to Boston.”

  “I know.” The social worker squeezed her shoulder. “I wish you could stay too.”

  Evelyn picked up her knapsack, which held all her belongings, and took the social worker’s hand as they climbed into the taxi cab which drove them to the airport.

  The Cessna was waiting and there were other passengers climbing on board. She gripped the social worker’s hand as she looked back at the town.

  The taxi cab driver—Uncle Yazzie—had tears in his eyes as he waved goodbye to her.

  “Why can’t I stay with my uncle? Why can’t I stay with my grandmother? They can take care of me. I want to stay with them.”

  “Your grandmother in Boston has guardianship over you. The court has decided that you have to go to Boston, Evelyn. I’m so sorry. I know that you want to stay, but you have to be a brave girl. It will be okay.”

  A lump formed in Evelyn’s throat. She was leaving everything she knew, everything she loved, to live with a stranger.

  Uncle Yazzie scrubbed a hand over his face. “Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again soon.”

  Evelyn nodded and tried to fight back the tears as she walked away from the only family she’d known.

  She would never forgive herself for not stopping her father from going out that night to see Jocelyn—the woman he’d wanted to marry. If she’d stopped him he’d still be alive…

  “Ladies and gents, we’re now making our descent into Wolf’s Harbor. Please fasten your seatbelt.”

  The pilot made the same announcement in Tlingit and Evelyn felt sad that she’d almost forgotten her mother’s language. She understood it still, but when was the last time she’d spoken it?

  Evelyn couldn’t remember. Her grandmother had banned all talk of Alaska and anything of her past because it had been too painful for her, and Evelyn hadn’t wanted to make her grandmother upset. Her grandmother had blamed Alaska for taking her son away, for her having had to disinherit him. Alaska had ruined her father’s promising surgical career.

  Evelyn had still loved Alaska, but had said nothing to her grandmother about her love for her former home. She had always been worried her grandmother would send her away, so she’d just tried to please the woman.

  She hadn’t wanted to be alone. She hadn’t wanted to be sent away again.

  That trip to Boston… She’d known then what alone felt like. It had been terrible, and she’d never wanted to feel that way again.

  Except now you are alone!

  And it was her fault again this time.

  She’d been with Nathan for two years, but her career had always been more important to her. Nathan had a great surgical practice in Minnesota, and he wanted to settle down and get married. Only that was the last thing that Evelyn wanted.

  She didn’t want a family. One that could be taken away from her in an instant. One she didn’t deserve.

  There was a part of her that should have felt sorrow over losing Nathan, but she felt numb and a little bit relieved.

  He’d accused her once of being cold. And maybe she was.

  Of course being cold meant that you kept your heart intact. Not feeling was her armor. Her protection against pain. Her grandmother had taught her to guard her heart in order to avoid pain. Emotions were for the weak. And it served her well as a surgeon.

  She took a deep breath and looked out through the small window to see Wolf’s Harbor come into view through the misty summer rain that was clinging to the mountains.

  Her heart skipped a beat and her palms were sweaty, but she wasn’t sure if that was from the turbulence or from seeing the place where she’d been born. A place she’d never thought she’d see again.

  The sight of the boats moored at the town dock and even the vessels that were out on the eerily calm water made her stomach flip in anticipation. It was just as beautiful as she remembered.

  For the first year of her life in Boston she’d dreamed about Wolf’s Harbor, dreamed about her father, and then what she remembered had begun to fade as she’d integrated into life in Boston.

  Her grandmother had been distant and mourning her son’s decision to head to Alaska, and her grandmother’s grief and bitterness had seeped into their life in Boston. So they’d traveled a lot. Boston had been their home base, but she had always felt her grandmother had traveled so she wouldn’t have a moment to grieve for her son. Boston might have been a base, but it had never felt like home.

  She’d excelled in school, to please her grandmother, and had gone to Dartmouth and then Harvard Medical School. During her last year at Harvard her grandmother had died, but Evelyn’s time there had seemed to please her. The more Evelyn had excelled, the more her grandmother had seemed happy with her.

  She’d done her residency in Seattle, and earned a fellowship in obstetrics and neonatal medicine. She’d been searching for a new challenge when she’d been contacted by a surgeon friend in Sitka, who had begged her to come and take over her practice while she went on a three-month honeymoon.

  Evelyn had thought it would be good—she just hadn’t had any idea that part of the practice was a rotation in Wolf’s Harbor that her friend shared with a couple other OB/GYNs and that she worked there every three months. And the day Evelyn had landed in Sitka had been the day she was to start her three-month rotation in Wolf’s Harbor.

  At first she’d thought of not going, of letting her friend down, but she longed to see Wolf’s Harbor again. To help where she hadn’t been able to help before.

  She owed it to her father.

  To her home.

  Not your home.

  She had to remind herself of that. There was no place for her here. Not anymore. All she had to do was step in for the next three months and then she could leave with a lighter conscience.

  Dr. Pearson, the OB/GYN who was finishing his rotation in Wolf’s Harbor, would be waiting for her at the town’s clinic, where he’d hand over the keys to the clinic, and the furnished apartment they used during rotation, and would show her around before he drove back to Juneau.

  The plane landed with a bump on the small gravel airstrip and the props slowed down as the Cessna taxied to the terminal. When it had come to a stop and shut down, the pilot hopped into gear, opening the door as the ground crew pushed over the stairwell, and Evelyn could feel the hatches being opened to unload the cargo.

  The two other occupants—both men—grabbed their duffel bags and headed off the plane.

  Evelyn took a deep breath. You got this.

  She slung her laptop bag over her shoulder and unbuckled. When she stepped out of the Cessna she was hit by the scent of salt water, rain and damp. There was
a clanging from the buoys out on the mist-shrouded water. It hadn’t changed.

  Home.

  Evelyn closed her eyes to stop the tears that were threatening.

  “Come here, Evie.”

  Her father held open his arms and she ran to him, pressing her face against the soft flannel jacket he wore.

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  Her dad kissed the top of her head and smiled, his blue-gray eyes twinkling.

  “I love you, too, Evie.”

  “Do you need help, miss?”

  Evelyn shook the memory away and glanced down to see the pilot, in a flannel jacket that was similar to the one her father had used to wear, holding out his hand to her.

  She straightened her spine and beamed brightly at him, taking his hand as he helped her down onto the Tarmac.

  “Do you need help with your luggage?” the pilot asked.

  “No, thank you. I’m okay.” Evelyn shifted the weight of her carry-on bag on her shoulder as she walked onto the chip-sealed portion of the airstrip. She picked up her suitcase from outside the plane, where it had been unloaded, and popped up the handle to roll it.

  A gust of wind tossed her hair in her face and she cursed herself for not tying it back before she headed for the small terminal.

  I wonder if anyone will remember who I am?

  A knot formed in her stomach—because it had been twenty years since she had been taken away…twenty years since her father died. She remembered some faces, but she was sure most folks were long gone.

  Like her maternal grandmother.

  And her classmates at the small village school wouldn’t remember her.

  It was for the best that they didn’t.

  It was her fault her father had left that night in the rain and died. She should have stopped him.

  She’d taken away Wolf’s Harbor’s finest doctor. Now she was here to make it right.

  Or as right as she could in the limited amount of time she was here.

  The terminal was quiet. Everyone was dealing with cargo, rather than the few passengers. The other two who had been on her plane were long gone. They had somewhere to go. Loved ones to see.

  She had no one.

  “Can I help you?”

  Evelyn turned to the young woman who was manning the counter at the Wolf’s Harbor terminal.

  “I’m looking for directions to the town clinic.”

  The young woman smiled brightly. “It’s about a fifteen-minute walk from here. Do you want me to call you a taxi?”

  “That would be great. Thank you,” Evelyn said, smiling back.

  The young woman nodded, but didn’t pick up the phone. Instead she got up off her stool, and Evelyn saw the round belly of a pregnant woman under her hoodie.

  The young woman opened the back door and shouted. “I have a fare for you!”

  Evelyn’s pulse kicked up a notch, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it would be her Uncle Yazzie.

  His had been the only taxi cab in town twenty years ago. When her father had been working endless hours at the clinic, or in Juneau at the hospital, Uncle Yazzie would come and pick her up every day in his taxi cab and take her to school. She’d often stay with him and her grandmother. Her mother’s people.

  A young man of about twenty, who looked very familiar, came out from the back.

  He beamed at her and held out his hand. “Can I take you someplace, miss?”

  She didn’t answer as she racked her brain for how she knew this man.

  “Are you okay, miss?” he asked, appearing slightly uncomfortable with her staring.

  “Sorry, you look so familiar,” she said, before catching herself.

  “Really? I look like my dad—or so they tell me.”

  “Then it must be jet lag messing with me.” She rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t mean to gawk at you. Just déjà vu.”

  The young man smiled. “It happens. Don’t worry. Unless you know my dad?”

  “Who is your dad?” she asked.

  “Joe—Yazzie Sr. I’m Joe Jr. Do you know him?”

  Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat as she saw it now. Saw the younger version of her uncle in this young man. Obviously Uncle Yazzie’s son had been born after she’d left. For a moment she had a pang of homesickness. She’d missed Joe Jr.’s birth. Her cousin’s birth.

  Evelyn’s heart stopped its racing and she took his hand. “The name sounds familiar…”

  She wasn’t lying—she just wasn’t telling him the whole story. There would be time for that later…that was if his father was interested in seeing her again.

  “Not surprising. He doesn’t leave Wolf’s Harbor.”

  “Well, I’m Dr. Evelyn Saunders. I’m looking for a ride to the medical clinic.”

  “Of course—you’re the new OB/GYN in town for the next three months, yeah?” He picked up her suitcase.

  “I am,” Evelyn answered.

  “My wife…” He pointed over his shoulder at the young woman behind the counter. “Jennifer—she’s due in a month.”

  Jennifer beamed and nodded. “I have an appointment with you tomorrow afternoon, Dr. Saunders.”

  “Well, I look forward to seeing you then.”

  Evelyn quickly reassessed the small bump under her hoodie and some red flags went up. It could be nothing. Some woman were known to carry very small until right near the end. But Evelyn would be sure to check out Jennifer Yazzie’s file as soon as she got access to the patient records.

  She followed Joe Jr. out of the terminal and to a blue and orange cab that was painted exactly the same as the old cab she remembered, but a new model of the vehicle.

  She slipped into the passenger seat in the front and after Joe had got her luggage in the back he took the driver’s seat and started the cab.

  “Is this your first time in Wolf’s Harbor, Dr. Saunders?”

  “No.” She wanted to say yes—to serve her three-month rotation and maybe go unnoticed, so she could leave the painful memories of her past behind her—but she couldn’t lie.

  She’d lost a piece of herself when she’d been taken away from Wolf’s Harbor, and even though she was only going to be here for a short time perhaps she could lay to rest some of the ghosts that continued to haunt her. Stop the restless feeling she often got. The night terrors which sometimes still plagued her.

  “Really?” Joe asked. “I don’t remember seeing your face before.”

  “How old are you, Joe?” she asked.

  “Twenty—which I know is young to be a father…”

  “I wasn’t going to judge you for your age, or tell you that you’re too young to be a father—it’s just that the last time I was in Wolf’s Harbor I was ten, which was twenty years ago.”

  Joe beamed. “No kidding? Well, welcome home.”

  He didn’t pry further, for which she was glad, but she was sure that he’d soon be getting the word out that she was back.

  It would be better this way. To let everyone know that she had come back instead of facing a constant stream of questioning shock. She just hoped they wouldn’t all give her the cold shoulder as they had done for the past twenty years.

  Twenty years with no word from her family up here.

  Twenty years of silence.

  Joe pulled up in front of the clinic and she paid the fare, insisting that he keep the change. The clinic was a new building with red siding. It reminded her of a barn, but it was very clean, with the sign freshly painted. It sat on the main road downtown, and through the gaps in the buildings across from her she could see the tall masts and onboard hoists of the fishing boats in the harbor. Her father had practiced medicine out of a small storefront. This looked so much better than that cramped old space.

  Joe set her luggage down beside her.

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Saunders.”

  Evelyn grinned. “See you tomorrow, Joe.”

  She picked up her luggage as Joe drove away. The clinic sign said “Closed” and there was no sign of Dr. P
earson anywhere. It began to drizzle and Evelyn tried the handle. The door was unlocked and she stepped inside.

  There was no nurse behind the reception desk. It was quiet. Deserted.

  Great.

  She wandered past the reception desk, looking for someone. Anyone.

  “Dr. Pearson?” she called out. She was met with only silence.

  Just great.

  She peeked into an exam room and flicked on the light. It was modern and well stocked, which surprised her for such a small community. She wandered through the room, taking it all in. She couldn’t believe that she was back here. Back in Wolf’s Harbor.

  Home.

  Evelyn cursed under her breath. She had to stop thinking about this place as her home. This was not her home. It hadn’t been for some time.

  Still, it was hard not to think of those days. And all the time that had been taken away from her.

  And whose fault was that?

  “Who are you?” a harsh voice demanded.

  Evelyn spun round and was taken aback by the sight of the most handsome man she’d ever seen. She felt a bit stunned, and all she could do was stare at him in awe. He was tall, broad-shouldered. He wore a flannel shirt stretched a little tight over his strong, muscular upper arms. His dark hair was close-cropped and his skin was a warm, deep tawny brown. He had a neatly kept beard. But it was his eyes, a green-gray-blue, which were really stunning. Clear, bright—and focused on her.

  They held her rooted to the spot.

  “You’re not supposed to be in here,” he growled.

  “Are you Dr. Pearson?” she asked, finally finding her voice.

  His eyes narrowed. “No. He’s gone back to Juneau.”

  “What?” Evelyn frowned. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  *

  Derek had been in the back. He had been waiting for the new doctor to arrive, annoyed that Dr. Pearson had left for Juneau early and saddled him with the new OB/GYN when he had a full caseload as general practitioner to handle.

  He hadn’t left for a bigger city even though he could have.

  His mother had begged him to return to Chicago when Vivian died. She’d even offered to retire from her catering business to help him raise his daughter, but he couldn’t leave Alaska.