by Dianne Drake
“Believe me, we never even came close to intense, let alone moony.” Although when he’d woken up to find her sleeping in his arms, the feelings that had run through him then had been more intense than anything he’d ever felt in his life. “I ruined her little holiday, and I think she resented that from the start.” He chuckled. “Can’t blame her on that one, though. She was out for some time alone with a romance novel, and what I brought her was anything but romance.”
“The question is, did she want romance?”
“She wanted peace and quiet.”
“Did you dent her car when you ran into it?” Matteo asked. “Maybe you should go back there, have a good look, make reparations if necessary.” He grinned. “And I’m not talking about financial reparations here. Maybe something more in keeping with that book she was reading?”
“Maybe I should go catch up on some of the charts while you actually do some work.”
“Oh, so the boss returns with a whip and a vengeance. What are you going to do? Dock my pay if I mess about out here another few minutes? So tell me, how would you go about taking something from nothing?”
David laughed. Matteo had an irreverent way about him that always caused David to perk up when he needed it. Of course they didn’t get paid much for this. The hospital funding was adequate from various humanitarian sources, but the best they could, or would, manage was a living stipend. And that did not translate into living at the high end. A private room, food, and pocket change for the necessities. That was it.
But Matteo had known that, coming in. So had David. And neither of them would have made a change for anything. “I’m sorry you were worried about me,” he said. “There were a few times I was pretty worried about me, too. And now that we don’t have the Hummer, I don’t know what we’re going to do for transport.”
“Somebody wants us out of here,” Matteo said, concern registering on his face. “Don’t know why, exactly. Could be personal, but I don’t think that I’ve offended any woman enough lately that her husband would come after us. Could be professional, but I just don’t see IMO turning into an arch-enemy over some turf dispute. We’re on the same side. We just go about our duties differently. Maybe they are prickly about the whole matter of losing us.” He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah. That can’t be it. It was six months ago now, and I don’t know why they’d still be taking it so badly they’d come after the hospital, and you. Unless they want to shut us down so they can get you—or all three of us—back. You, me and Howard.”
“If they wanted me back, they wouldn’t shoot me. Who’s in charge now? I haven’t kept up.”
“They took on some business genius named Léandre. He’s going to take them in that new direction they want to go.”
The direction that had caused David, Howard and Matteo to leave. The one that was so much about bottom lines and expenditures and things that weren’t the grass-roots cause David admired. Maybe the business emphasis was necessary. IMO was growing and fiscal responsibility was certainly a part of it. As a director of a small hospital, he knew that. But the bottom line should never replace care and concern, and when IMO had announced that it was cutting back its operation in Cambodia because of finances, and that it would soon start evaluating the patients based on need, that’s when he’d known it had been time to leave. As far as he was concerned, if they came to him, they had a need. The rest of it didn’t matter.
He didn’t fault IMO for their change. They were a large international organization now, and to spread themselves all about the globe perhaps the changes were necessary. But on a personal level he didn’t agree with the changes. Which was why he’d left. The Cambodia unit needed its experienced doctors. But the plans had been to pull them out and send them away, no matter what—him to an administrative position, Howard to retirement, and Matteo to who knew where.
It had been a done deal by the time he’d been called in on it. Howard’s exit papers processed, after all the man had done for them, David’s transfer papers ready…A shabby way to treat volunteers, so he’d spouted off—in retrospect, more than he should have—then had left. Yet he had a hard time believing that their new business guru would have it in for him or his hospital. “Never met him, never heard of him. And if IMO is behind the sabotage, what would be in it for them other than to prove that they’re right? It’s not about egos after all.”
“If not IMO, Davey, then who?”
David shrugged with his one good shoulder. “Coincidence, maybe. Unrelated events piling up on us.”
“But you wouldn’t run out, would you?” Matteo asked, suddenly serious. “Now that you’ve been attacked?”
“It makes me more determined to stay, actually. We’re doing a good thing here, and I’m not budging from this place.”
“Even for the lovely Solaina?”
David sighed wistfully. “Unfortunately, even for the lovely Solaina, if she would have me. Which she wouldn’t.”
“And we’re right back to you going all moony over her.” Matteo patted his friend on the shoulder. “You’re hopeless, Davey.”
“Well, for once we agree.”
“So, what do we tell the authorities about your last little fracas?”
“Same thing we told them before. Don’t know who, don’t know why. And when the regional minister writes up his report, it will get filed away with the rest of them, under the sign of the great big question mark.”
“This one needs to stay at the top of the stack,” Matteo said. “Vandalism is one thing, but what they did to you…”
David sighed. “Look, I’m tired. It’s been a rough few days.”
“And as your physician, I prescribe bed rest. Alone.”
“I should argue with you, and insist on doing some work around here to help you get caught up. But for once you’re right. I should rest.”
“I’m right?”
“Just this once,” David said, as he dragged himself back inside Vista and into his own little room.
“Where am I now?” Solaina muttered, stopping her car to take a look at her surroundings. Not that having a good look around mattered, since she’d never been here before. “Kantha has got go be around here,” she said, walking to the rear of her car, as if that would make a difference in what she would see.
And if she did see Kantha from there, or David’s hospital, what then?
Honestly, she didn’t know. “Hello, David. I just happened to be in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d stop in and say hello.” He wouldn’t believe that, even if he was delirious again. “I think I’m lost.” That much was the truth, but unless Chandella had moved to the other side of the country, there was no reason to be lost in these parts. “Here’s a bill for the dent in my car.” Good one, and if she tried, she could probably kick a dent right in the spot where he’d run into her.
Solaina slumped down over the top of her car and moaned. This was a silly notion any way she played it out. She wasn’t sure why she was chasing after him, wasn’t sure why she wasn’t turning back, wasn’t sure why she wasn’t going forward. “Make up your mind,” she muttered, wondering if banging her head on the car might bang some sense into herself.
Here she was, standing on the bank of the Kantha River, looking across at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. A beautiful church with fine architectural detail, and quite a surprise out here. One of the locals, a young boy of about ten, had pointed her in this direction over an hour ago, promising her it was the fastest way to get to the hospital. Then he’d held out his cute, grubby little hand, expecting payment for his directions. Solaina obliged, naturally. How could she not?
The boy had said the hospital was up on the hill, that she would see it from the overlook when she saw the church. Which she hadn’t, of course. Then she’d driven to the next overlook, and the one after that. And now, five overlooks later, she was about to resign herself to the notion that David Gentry had been a figment of her tired imagination all along, and his hospital cal
led Vista, in the town called Kantha, simply did not exist.
“OK, David. Where are you?”
She turned slowly, taking in every vantage point for the last time. If she couldn’t find it this time, she was going to go back to Chandella and forget this whole weekend had ever happened. Out of sight, out of mind, out of memory.
One more full sweep of the area and nothing came into view, so Solaina went back to the car door, preparing to get in and admit her mistake in coming here. But as she twisted around to sit down, she spotted something far off in the distance. It was indeed on a hill, as the boy had said, and overlooking practically all of the tiny town below it. And so hidden she wondered if it was even meant to be seen. “Guess I’ll go give it a look,” she said. She had come this far after all. What was one more dead end?
Thirty minutes later, and one bumpy roadway after another, Solaina finally arrived. VISTA the sign over the door read. Not Vista Hospital, not in a native language. Just plain VISTA. And that it was. The view was spectacular.
Out of the car, Solaina paused for a moment to capture the full essence, then she headed up to Vista’s main door, not quite sure what she’d find, or even what she should expect to find.
What she found, however, was a tiny yet modern little hospital, looking pretty much the way any hospital on the outskirts of Kantha should look. Neat, clean, something that might have been more appropriate to the 1950s. She was actually impressed. Somehow she’d expected something more in the way of a jungle hut, with a thatched roof and no doors.
“May I help you?” a kind-faced woman asked. Cambodian, Solaina guessed.
“I’m here to see David Gentry.”
“Dr Gentry is resting. He’s not well. Would Dr Carlini do?”
Solaina hadn’t pictured David here with another doctor. The image was of David alone, slaving over his work twenty-four hours a day. But as she watched two more people in green surgical scrubs cross the hall, she realized this was a well-staffed facility, and David might actually be one of several doctors. “I’ll talk to Dr Carlini,” she said.
A handsome Italian appeared several minutes later and grabbed her hand in a hearty shake. “Matteo Carlini,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “And what may I do to help you?”
“My name is Solaina…”
“The Solaina?” he asked, giving her a good, hard onceover, then smiling his approval.
She nodded, glancing down self-consciously at her shorts, then looking back up at him and smiling. “Yes, I’m the Solaina, if that’s in reference to David. Solaina Léandre.”
Matteo whistled. “Now, that’s something I didn’t expect to hear.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Believe me, from where I’m standing there’s absolutely nothing to be sorry about. At least, I don’t think there is.” He shook his head, then grinned. “Let me go get Davey for you.”
“If he’s sleeping, I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Trust me, he’s already disturbed.”
Matteo scrambled off down the hall while Solaina leaned against the wall and waited. And watched. She couldn’t see the patient wards, but as someone whose job it was to evaluate staff, the staff here was excellent in everything she could see. Professional-looking, professional-acting, not loitering, no idle chatter. Even though she couldn’t see their work, they would have certainly passed muster in their ancillary particulars, and normally when that happened, the work was exemplary.
David was a lucky man to be working here at Vista, she decided.
“What do you mean, she’s here?” David mumbled, not even opening his eyes.
“I mean here. Outside, in the waiting area. Waiting!”
“She’s in Chandella by now.”
“Long legs—the kind that make you ache all over from wanting them. The most beautiful black hair I’ve ever seen. Black eyes. She has a hint of an accent—French or Haitian. Couldn’t tell which.”
“She’s here?” David gasped.
“Wake up, Davey. She’s not only here, she’s looking for you. Lucky man!”
David pulled himself up to the side of his bed. “Did she say what she wants?”
“No, nothing like that. But she did say something pretty damned interesting.”
“What?”
“Her last name.”
Frowning , David tried to dredge it up. “Back in Chandella I only heard her first name, and when I was with her…” He started to push himself up out of the bed, but Matteo laid a hand on his shoulder and forced him to stay there.
“Think you’d better stay down for this one.”
“What?”
“Her last name. You definitely don’t want to be standing for it.”
“Just tell me what her name is,” he snapped.
Matteo grinned, then took a step backwards. “Léandre. Her name is Solaina Léandre.”
David groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “It’s a coincidence, right?”
“If you say it over and over, maybe that’ll make it so.”
“It’s a coincidence,” David repeated, although he was already connecting the dots mentally. They were all connecting now into one great big picture that looked like IMO.
“Judging from the rather unpleasant look on your face, I’d say you’ve gone and fallen in love with…well, she could be the enemy, now, couldn’t she?” Matteo commented, smiling. “And it’s rather likely that she is.”
“Let’s just say I’ve fallen into something, and I’m not sure what it is.”
“I’d suggest that, instead of wasting time here with me, you go out there and ask her. Because if you don’t…”
“Five minutes. I need to splash some water on my face, put on a clean shirt…”
“Three minutes, then I’m bringing her in here. The rule of the game, Davey, is that you never, ever, leave a lady like Solaina standing alone for five minutes.”
As soon as Matteo shut the door behind him, David struggled over to the sink, dragged a cold, wet rag over his face and looked at himself in the mirror. It was all the same—same cuts and bruises, same tired expression. But now there was a worried look added to the mix. Worried because she was here. Worried because her name was Léandre. Worried because he wasn’t sufficiently convinced that IMO wasn’t behind this string of assaults. Just plain worried all the way round, but most of all because of the feelings he had for Solaina. It would have been so much easier if she’d gone back to her world and left him to his.
But he was very glad she hadn’t. One more meeting with the lovely Solaina was worth everything.
David headed to the door into the hall, stopped, took in a deep breath and braced himself. “She’s not the enemy,” he whispered. At least, not until proven guilty.
Not an enemy to his heart. And that was the real problem.
“It’s a beautiful view fromhere,” Solaina said, gazing out over the valley below the hospital. It was late now, and the gentle pinks and golds of dusk were settling over the jungle. “A nice place for a hospital.” She spun around to David, who was still standing in the doorway. “Why did you leave the way you did?”
“I had to get back.”
She studied him for a moment. He was rigid, she thought. Not nervous, not necessarily in pain, but definitely not comfortable. This was not the David she’d spent the last couple of days caring for. Something about his delirium had made him rather loose and charming. And bits and pieces of David had popped out all over the place when he’d been ill. But now? What had happened to him? “That’s it? You had to get back? I think a goodbye might have been in order. I was worried about you.”
“You were in the bath. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“So you did, what? Call your friend to come get you?”
“Howard made the call, actually. To let everybody here know I was safe. And he arranged to have Matteo come and fetch me today, when I was up to the trip back here. I just didn’t want to be any more of an inconvenience about this than I already wa
s, Solaina. And you were put out, having me there. You can’t deny it.”
“Inconveniencing me is about removing a bullet from your shoulder and, believe me, you have no idea how that inconvenienced me. As far as being put out by having you there, yes, I suppose I was a little. I got over it, though, and rather enjoyed having the company for a change. But you letting me know you were leaving was not an inconvenience, David. It was a basic civility that, quite honestly, I expected from you.” She turned away from him to look back over the valley. It had been silly to come here. She’d known that at the start of the journey and now, at the end, he was emphasizing that. It was quite clear he didn’t want her here, and if she couldn’t tell it from the bristly set of his body, she certainly could from the ice-cold tone in the few words he had spoken to her. She didn’t belong here; he didn’t want her here. “I’m sorry for bothering you,” she said, stepping off the porch and contemplating a dead run straight to her car to spare herself any further humiliation.
What had she thought, coming here anyway? She, who didn’t do romance, had been caught up in a moment. In a fantasy. And the price was total embarrassment. She deserved it, of course. Let your guard down, and look what happened. She and David weren’t friends now, and they weren’t going to be friends. She should have let it go when he’d walked away. Patch him up and set him free.
Before she was ten steps off the porch, David caught up with Solaina and grabbed her arm. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” he panted, so winded he actually leaned heavily into her for support.
“No, I suppose you didn’t, since you did not tell me where here was.”
“But you found me.”
“Only because you babbled about Kantha when you were feverish. And Howard did mention your hospital. It’s not easy to find, David. I asked ten people in town before I found one little boy who knew where you are. It took me hours.”
“We have one purpose…”
“Landmine victims,” she confirmed.
