Neal McKay put the last suture in the jagged cut on his
patient’s calf. He stripped off his gloves and stepped back from the table. He
glanced at the clock. Nearly three PM. He should have been home an hour ago,
but the day hadn’t gone as planned. As the only doctor in town, this was the
norm.
As
usual, his day off had been filled with emergencies. A fractured tibia, a case
of congestive heart failure, an acute allergy attack and now this.
They
-- his wards -- should be at the house. He groaned and felt no more prepared
for parenthood than he’d been the day he’d learned about his foster sister’s
death -- a week after her funeral. Even if he’d known, he wouldn’t have been
able to leave his patients to attend the service.
He
groaned. The thought of being responsible for the twins’ care brought waves of
insecurity. None of his experiences in the past had prepared him for this day.
“Do
you want to do the dressing?”
Neal
looked at the red-haired nurse. “He’s all yours.”
“Thanks,
buddy. I owe you one.” Jack Gardner glared.
“If
you’re talking about the patch job, just doing my thing.” Jack’s reaction made
Neal chuckle. In college, they’d spent hours one-upping each other. He missed
the days when they’d been like brothers.
Jack
raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem you need solved?”
“You
might say that.”
“I’m
not sure I’m qualified.”
“I
don’t know about that.” Neal watched Patty Sue Crawford’s gaze center on his
friend. He grinned. Maybe today was the turning point. Since his arrival in
Prairie ten months before, she’d pursued him like a wrangler after a runaway
steer.
“Can
I go back to the ranch?’ Jack asked.
Neal
frowned. “Only if you promise to avoid horses and cattle until the stitches are
out.”
“How
long?”
“A
week.”
“I
can do that.”
Neal
doubted the truth of the statement. Since Jack’s return to the ranch last
month, he seemed bent on proving he was Cowboy of the Year.
“I’d
rather admit you for the night. Give you some intravenous antibiotics and
injections for pain. Once the local wears off, you’re going to know you’ve been
hurt.”
Jack
slid to the edge of the table. “No hospital. What if I stay at my
grandmother’s?”
“Might
work, especially after I tell Miss Hattie to tie you to the bed. Your injury is
nothing to take lightly.”
Jack
laughed. “Grandmother will see that I obey orders. She should have been a
general. You coming to the barbecue Saturday?”
“I
wouldn’t miss it,” Patty Sue said.
Jack
looked away. “Honey, your presence is a given. I meant Doc here.”
Neal
shrugged. “I’ll see how things go. My wards arrive today. I’ll probably be too
busy learning how to be a daddy.”
“I
can’t imagine you with a pair of doggies.”
Neither
could Neal, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “I don’t have a choice.”
“Guess
not. I kind of envy you. You’ve achieved fatherhood without the M word.” Jack
chuckled. “Bring the doggies with you. The ladies will love them.” He shook his
head. “Never thought you’d be saddled with kids. They’ll make big changes in
your life.”
Patty
Sue opened a dressing kit. “I think Neal -- Dr. McKay will be a wonderful
father.”
How
did she manage to make a deliberate slip of the tongue seem natural? “Thank you, Ms. Crawford. See that Jack has a
copy of the discharge instructions and make an appointment for Friday.” He
waved to Jack. “I’ll call the prescriptions to the pharmacy and have them
delivered to Miss Hattie’s.”
“See
you and the doggies Saturday,” Jack called. “I’m sure Grandmother expects to
see you there.”
Neal
nodded. He’d be at the barbecue with the twins or Miss Hattie would come for
him. The town’s matriarch was used to having her way.
He
strode down the hall to his office. Parties at the Gardner mansion were events to be
experienced, but he wasn’t sure he could handle an evening of listening to the
benefits of life in Prairie.
He
had to go -- home. But there were things he had to complete before he left. He
welcomed the delay in facing this new responsibility and sat at his desk to
phone the drugstore and write a note on Jack’s chart.
Home
-- the twins -- his legacy. He groaned. Jack was right.
Two
babies would force changes in his lifestyle that he wasn’t ready to make. He
wasn’t even sure where to begin.
Instead
of heading home, he reached for a stack of letters he’d received in response to
his queries about another temporary position. The time to move had come. A year
was long enough to stay in one place.
But
he had a family now. His choice of where to head next had to include them. How could he make a home for the twins? He’d been raised as a foster child in a
series of placements. A football scholarship had allowed him to escape the last
foster home where he’d endured three years of being treated as an outsider. He
slammed up barriers against the memories of those days.
Those
memories brought no answers to his current dilemma. His lifestyle didn’t lend
itself to an instant family. The longest he’d stayed in one place had been the
four years in college and the same amount in medical school. Every time he
considered staying in one place, his anxiety level peaked.
He
shoved the letters in a drawer and left the office. He’d do his best for
Sherri’s babies but he couldn’t promise them a stable life and a real family. With
this thought firmly in place, he left the clinic and jogged down the street
toward his rented house to face his foster sister’s attempt to turn him into a
family man.
