The two men carried on a conversation over the top of her head as they exited the building. Laura heard the words, but their meaning didn’t penetrate. Bail, charges, felony, controlled substances. Her head hurt. She felt sick to her stomach. All she wanted was to crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head, and hear nothing but silence for a while.
At the curb, Isaiah stopped to shake the attorney’s hand. “I appreciate your quick response.”
The attorney patted Laura’s shoulder. “Mr. Coulter’s sister is married to Ryan Kendrick. Any friend of the Kendrick clan is a friend of mine. Not to worry, Ms. Townsend. We’ll have this ironed out in no time.”
Laura let Isaiah lead her to his Hummer. She was glad when he grasped her at the waist and swung her up onto the seat. Her legs felt like limp noodles. A few minutes later, as he drove through town, he reached over to squeeze her hand.
“We’ve rearranged the schedule, honey. Your shifts are covered indefinitely. Until this is resolved, you don’t need to worry about anything.”
Laura thought of the kennel dogs. She would miss being with them every day. “Am I still in trouble?” She knew she should ask more detailed questions. Had he figured out how someone had gotten into her trunk without keys? Had he figured out how someone had obtained her security code? Did the police have any other suspects? Was she out on bail? And if so, what exactly did that mean? But her brain had reached overload. “Is it likely that they’ll take me back and put me in jail?”
“I hope not.” He glanced over at her. “We’ve sent all our emergencies to another doctor, canceled all appointments, and closed the clinic for the day.” He glanced at his watch and then at his side mirror. “Tucker’s meeting with me at my place in about an hour. We’ll get to the bottom of this, Laura. You have my word on it.”
Laura trusted Isaiah Coulter more than she’d ever trusted anyone. But she also realized that he couldn’t pull answers out of a hat. In short, she was still in serious trouble, and unless something happened to cast suspicion on someone else, there was every possibility that she could go to jail.
Oddly, the prospect didn’t completely terrify her. Maybe she couldn’t talk very well under fire, but that didn’t mean she was totally clueless about the law. A prosecutor had to prove guilt. When this case was reviewed, any lawyer worth his salt was bound to see that there were holes in it large enough to accommodate an eighteen-wheeler. She’d been with Isaiah. She’d had no car. She had no criminal record. The blood tests would show that she’d never used drugs. At the end of the day, Laura felt confident that she would prevail.
She just prayed she wouldn’t be forced to prevail from a jail cell.
Once at the house, Laura allowed Isaiah to baby her. Physically she was fine, but her damaged brain needed a rest. He pushed her down on the edge of her bed and removed her shoes. Then he drew back the covers so she might lie down. A few minutes later he brought in the portable stereo, plugged in a Christmas CD, set it at a low, soothing volume, and served her a piping-hot cup of herbal tea.
“Thank you, Isaiah. I’m sorry for going brain-dead. I’ll feel better in a bit.”
He leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Hey, no apologies. Getting arrested is scary as hell.”
She gave him a questioning look. “You’ve been arrested?”
“Once in college. The charges didn’t stick.”
As he fed the puppies, he gave her what she suspected was a slightly fictionalized account of the incident. “I was with Tucker in a university bar, just standing there, minding my own business.” He grinned and winked at her. “There was this trellis thing that divided the room. Anyway, a couple of guys Tucker and I knew were pretty lit, and God only knows why, but they decided to rip the trellis apart.”
Laura took a sip of tea. “You weren’t involved?”
“Hell, no.” He went to the cage for another puppy. As he sat back down on the foot of the bed, he added, “Neither was Tucker. Problem: When you’re close to six feet, five inches tall, you stand out in a crowd. We were near the guys who did the dirty. One of us—I can’t remember now if it was Tucker or me—tried to make them stop. From across the room the bouncer and bartender thought we were the ones who did it.” He finished with the last puppy. “My one experience with getting stuffed and cuffed. Not something I’d like to repeat.”
Laura was starting to feel a little better and managed a smile. “Me, neither.”
“You won’t,” he assured her. The doorbell rang just then. He straightened from the puppy cage. “There’s Tucker now.” He leveled a finger at her. “You rest. Understand? At least an hour. Let your brain defrag.”
“Yes, sir.”
Laura had just drifted off to sleep when she heard voices lifted in anger. Her first thought was that the police had come for her. Isaiah was cursing. Over the soft Christmas music playing on the stereo, he sounded very upset. As much as Laura appreciated his loyal defense of her, she didn’t want him to get in trouble with the law.
She swung out of bed and padded barefoot from her room. To her surprise, no one was in the living area. Following the sound of voices, she moved hesitantly toward the kitchen. As she came around the rock fireplace that divided the living and formal dining rooms, she realized that it wasn’t Isaiah talking so loudly, after all, but Tucker. She froze in her tracks. An instant later she had firsthand knowledge that the old adage was true: Eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves.
“Are you out of your mind, Isaiah?” Tucker demanded in a hushed yell, clearly pitched low so he wouldn’t be overheard. “Surely you don’t intend to actually marry the woman. Be smart. Have a fling, wait for the newness to wear off, and then get the hell out.”
“Tucker, for once would you just butt out? It’s my life. What I choose to do with it is my business.”
“Not when you’re about to flush your future down the john. Laura is sweet. I’ll be the first person to admit that. And there’s no denying that she’s pretty. But, for God’s sake, Isaiah, use your head. She’s also a brain-damaged misfit who can’t pronounce three-syllable words or dole out dog food without messing up.”
“She didn’t mess up with the dog food.”
“Would you listen to yourself?” Tucker asked more calmly. “I don’t have it in for Laura. You know that. I like her very much. But she isn’t the woman for you.”
“Excuse me, but isn’t that for me to decide?”
Laura pressed a hand to her waist, feeling as if she might be sick.
“Everything may seem hunky-dory now,” Tucker retorted, “but if you marry the lady, the day will come when you’ll regret that you ever met her. She can’t stimulate you intellectually, Isaiah. And she sure as hell isn’t capable of being your helpmate at the clinic.”
Isaiah tried to interject something, but Tucker cut him off. “Would you just hear me out?”
Isaiah muttered a sentence, but Laura didn’t catch what he said. She had no problem hearing Tucker.
“If you marry her and are dumb enough to have kids,” he rushed on, “who’ll help them with their reading and math? You, that’s who. Laura can’t even write a damned grocery list. You’ll be bringing in all the bacon and cooking it as well.”
“Laura is a wonderful cook.”
“Damn it, you know that isn’t what I mean. Married to someone like her, you’ll constantly have to compensate for all her failings.”
“We’ll iron out the wrinkles,” Isaiah said.
“Wrinkles? Isaiah, you’ve got a brilliant future as a vet. With the right woman at your side, the sky’s the limit. Laura isn’t that woman. When the attraction wears off, what will you talk to her about? You sure as hell won’t be able to have an intellectual conversation with her. When there are public functions you have to attend, what’re you going to do, dress her up like a pretty little doll and tell her to smile and keep her mouth shut all evening?”
Laura winced.
“It’s not like I’m climbing a corporate ladder,” Isa
iah countered.
“Yeah, you say that, and for right now it’s true enough. But what if you decide later to enter the research field or want to teach? You want to get a taste of vicious politics, brother? Just visit any university or research center in the country. A beautiful, intelligent, accomplished, and entertaining wife will be a huge asset, and trust me, Laura will never cut the mustard.”
Laura felt as if her heart were breaking. Oh, God. As a child she’d sung, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Not true. Words could inflict wounds that ran deeper than the flesh. The worst part was, she could refute nothing of what Tucker said. She was a brain-damaged misfit, a woman who’d been doomed to scrub toilets and walk dogs for a living until she met Isaiah.
And the rest was true as well. Isaiah did have a brilliant future ahead of him, and he needed a smart, charming wife who could complement him and help him accomplish all his goals. Laura remembered the night that he’d talked with her about the Chesapeake with autoimmune disease, and how respectfully he’d spoken of his colleague who had devoted his career to research. Isaiah hadn’t told her that he wanted to follow in that colleague’s footsteps, but in retrospect, when she remembered the look in his eyes, she knew the longing had been there. She’d just failed to see it, maybe because she hadn’t wanted to.
Fearful that Isaiah or Tucker would turn and see her in the dining area, Laura retreated to her room and quietly closed the door. Dry eyed, she sank onto the edge of the bed and stared blankly at the floor. Before her accident she could have been the wife Isaiah needed. But, in all honesty, she knew she wasn’t capable of that now. She loved him, yes, and she wished with all her heart that she had more to offer him. But she didn’t.
Isaiah would marry her. Laura knew that. He was a kind, caring, and wonderful man, and in his heart he believed they could make a marriage work. But at what cost to him? She didn’t want to be an anchor that held him back from pursuing his dreams.
Sometimes a woman had to love a man enough to walk away.
Isaiah refused to let Tucker piss him off. He knew his brother meant well. The way Tucker saw it, Isaiah would be making a disastrous mistake if he married Laura. Out of love, he was trying to make Isaiah see that.
“Okay,” Isaiah said evenly, “I’ve let you have your say. Now will you let me have mine?”
Tucker waved his hand and leaned his hips against the counter. “Sure.”
Isaiah positioned himself across from his brother, his hips resting against the work island. “I love Laura Townsend.”
“That’s your dick talking.”
“Would you just shut up and listen? All my life everybody’s harped at me to stop and smell the goddamned roses. ‘Don’t take life so seriously, Isaiah.’ ‘Get your nose out of that book, Isaiah.’ ‘There’s more to life than work, Isaiah.’ ‘You need to find yourself a wife, Isaiah.’ Yadda, yadda, yadda. Only me and my dick never ran into a woman we both wanted to stay with.”
Tucker tugged on his ear. “Okay, I hear you.”
“No, you don’t hear me. You’ve never been in love. I may as well be talking Greek.” He swung his hand toward the living room. “That girl in there has changed my whole life. The sex is great. I don’t deny it. But I only discovered that just recently, and as wonderful as the physical aspects are, that isn’t what I love about her. It was never about that.”
“What is it about then?”
“It’s about watching the snowflakes come down, damn it! It’s about sitting by the fire at night to read a novel to her instead of poring over a medical tome. It’s about having someone who listens to me. You say Laura and I can’t have an intellectual conversation? Wrong. Her intelligence hasn’t been affected by the aphasia. She’s probably smarter than you are. And it goes without saying that her education is equal to yours. I don’t give a shit if she talks to me using two-syllable words. It’s what she’s got to say that counts.”
Tucker nodded, his brow furrowing in a thoughtful frown.
“It’s about me getting a puppy of my own, and having him greet me at the door each night as if I single-handedly hung the moon. It’s about laughing until my sides hurt. It’s about having a life, Tucker—a life apart from my work that really matters to me and makes me feel complete. It’s about having someone here who makes coming home seem worthwhile. When that girl in there smiles, I feel like the sun just came out on a cloudy day.”
Tucker wandered over to the table and sank onto a chair. “Shit.”
“That’s right. Shit. I thought you were coming over here to help me make sense of the mess at the clinic. Instead you start in about my life choices. Well, hello? Like yours are so great? You’re only three minutes older than me. I think I know my own mind.” Isaiah gestured toward the living room. “If she heard you—if you’ve made her cry—I’ll take every single tear she sheds out of your goddamned hide.”
“I’m sorry,” Tucker said gruffly. “I had no idea you loved her so much—or that she made you so happy.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Maybe she’s exactly what you need in a wife, after all.”
“Amen.” Isaiah gave his brother a burning look. “Now, unless you want your future sister-in-law to serve time in the joint, you’d better put your mind to other concerns. Laura was with me last night—in my bed, in my arms. I slept, yes, but I know she never left my side. Someone at that clinic is trying to frame her. We need to find out who the hell it is and how the hell they did it.”
An hour and a half later Isaiah sat hunched over a list at the kitchen table. Possibilities. He and Tucker had racked their brains, trying to come up with suspects, anyone at the clinic who might want to get rid of Laura, for whatever reason. So far James was their most likely candidate. But Isaiah’s gut told him to look elsewhere. According to Laura, the kid was harmless. He needed to trust her instincts.
Isaiah was going over the list of employees again when the doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting any-one. He wondered if Tucker had come back. As he strode into the living room, Laura emerged from her bedroom. He’d thought she was asleep, so it was with no small surprise that he saw she was wearing her parka.
“Going somewhere?” he asked with a laugh.
“Yes,” she said hollowly. “That’s Gram. I called her to come get me.”
It was then that Isaiah noticed her satchel set just outside the bedroom door. His stomach took a dive. Her eyes. Never had he seen such pain. Tucker. Isaiah knew then that Laura had overheard their conversation.
“Laura, don’t pay any mind to my brother. He said his piece. I set him straight. It’s all settled now.”
Avoiding his gaze, she moved past him to answer the door. Etta stood on the porch. She looked beautiful for a woman her age, smartly turned out in a brown suede jacket over a camel pantsuit, her silver hair swept into a pile of curls atop her head. She flashed Isaiah a sad look, and then she smiled at her granddaughter.
“Hello, honey,” she said as she gave Laura a hug. “I got here as fast as I could.”
Isaiah advanced on the women. “Etta, this is all a big misunderstanding.” He gave Laura a meaningful look. “We just need to talk it out—like two mature adults.”
Laura didn’t take the bait. In fact, Isaiah got the awful feeling that she didn’t even hear him. “Just let me get my things, Gram. I’ll only be a minute.”
True to her word, Laura returned seconds later with her purse strap over one shoulder, a bundle of clothes under one arm, and the satchel in her other hand. Before stepping out onto the porch with her grandmother, she turned to Isaiah.
“I phoned Trish. She says she’ll come get the puppies. In about two weeks they’ll be ready to go, and they don’t have to be fed as often now. She can use the money that they’ll bring in.”
Isaiah’s mouth had gone as dry as dirt. She honestly meant to leave him. “What about Frown Face?”
Hapless bounded up onto the porch, giving a happy bark. Laura didn’t even look at the pup. “Things have
changed. I can’t keep Frown Face after all. I’m sure Trish will find him a good home.”
“Laura.” Isaiah followed her out onto the porch. He gave Etta a pleading look that sent the older woman hurrying down the steps to her car, which she’d left still running in the circular drive. “Please don’t do this, Laura. I love you.”
She shrugged and attempted to smile. “It’ll wear off.”
“No, damn it, it won’t wear off. Tucker is an idiot. Don’t let what he said ruin things for us.”
A shimmer of brightness in her eyes told Isaiah that she was battling tears. He wanted to grab her up into his arms, but he had an awful feeling that she would fight him if he tried. If his father had taught him anything, it was never to use his strength against a woman. The only resolution to this problem was for them to sit down and talk.
“It never would have worked,” she said shakily. “I’m glad it’s ending this way. We can still be friends. Neither of us is angry. It’s a good time for me to go.”
“And I’m supposed to just let you? I don’t think so.”
“It’s my choice.” She blinked away the sheen of tears and met his gaze with a directness that told him she meant it with all her heart. “Don’t call. Don’t come around. It’s over.”
“And I don’t have any say in it?”
“No.”
She turned and hurried down the steps. As a teenager Isaiah had gotten his heart broken a few times. Back then he’d thought it was the end of his life. Now he realized he hadn’t understood what real pain was.
Tears sprang to his eyes. That made him furious. He would never go crawling after a woman. If she was willing to throw everything away over some misguided comments made by his brother, he’d be damned if he’d beg her to stay.
“Fine, then!” he yelled. “You want to go? Go! Just don’t kid yourself, sweetheart. I won’t be sitting here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for you to get your head on straight! You’re not the only woman on earth.”
My Sunshine Page 31
