The Runaway Nurse

“Qualified?”

“Eminently. She was my third-grade teacher. Retired now. I’ve put her in charge, temporarily, with the option of staying on to head the program, if she’s as good as I think she’ll be.”

A new job, a place where Alyssa would be safe … Just like that, her life had changed yet again. But it was a good change. This time. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself all the way home.

Jess Corbett plopped down in the chair across the desk from Rick. “You look like you just opened a whole bunch of Christmas presents,” he said, smiling. “All of them good.”

“In a way, I did,” Rick said. “Summer’s finally consented to being head nurse in Pediatrics.”

“Well. I’ll be damned. It only took you, what? Three months? Julie said she wasn’t sure Summer would ever do it, but I figured if you wanted her bad enough, you’d figure out a way to get her. So, what did it take?” Jess stretched out his long legs and leaned back in the chair, cupping his hands behind his head. “And is this going to be a long story? Because I’ve got to go see a patient on my way out, go home and have breakfast with my lovely wife, then teach a class on CPR.”

Rick was beginning to like Jess. Not completely there yet, but working on it and trying hard to get over that last hurdle of trust. They had history, most of it pretty bad. Jess and his older brother, Rafe, had been the bullies, and he their favorite victim, when they were kids. Kids’ stuff, most of it, but pretty hurtful at times, since his mother’s livelihood had depended on their father employing her. Which meant he himself had had to sit back and take it. And they had known how to dish it out, Rafe physically, Jess verbally, all of it owing to the abuse they’d suffered at the hands of their father. When he’d been a kid, Rick hadn’t known the whole psychological profile of how abuses often begat abuses. All he’d known had been that Rafe and Jess had come at him whenever they’d had a chance, and he’d hated them for it.

Well, it was all in the past now. They were adults. Rafe and Jess had apologized many times over. More than that, their earnestness came through in their actions toward Rick. They owned the hospital, but had turned it over to him to run the medical aspects of it. More than that, he had equal weight in all the decisions. They treated him fairly. “Not so long as it is complicated. And it only took me two months, not three.”

Jess chuckled. “Isn’t that always the way when a beautiful woman’s involved? I mean, look what happened to me when I got involved with my beautiful woman. All the things I swore I’d never do … well, I’m doing them. And I’m very happy with my life since I met Julie. So tell me, what’s your beautiful lady got you caught up in?”

Rick shook his head, conjuring up a quick flash of Summer when she’d flounced out his door. And flouncing it had been. Or maybe he’d wanted her to flounce, fantasized her flouncing. Whatever … “Well, she’s not mine, not going to be mine. Did that once, and my ex was beautiful, but I’m not going to let my head be turned like that again with anybody else. My marriage woes aside, though, this particular beautiful woman wanted a little extra incentive to come and work here.”

Jess arched amused eyebrows. “Let me guess. A day-care center for hospital staff? Julie’s mentioned that to me a time or two and, so you’ll know, she’s pretty well lined up with Summer on this one. She wants a day-care program, too, for when we get started on the family situation.”

“So you knew this was going to happen?”

“You want Summer. We all want Summer. And Summer’s all about her little girl. According to Julie, she has the worst separation anxiety she’s ever seen. It’s so bad she nearly has panic attacks when Alyssa is out of her sight. Plus, she’s got a pretty short list of people she trusts to watch Alyssa when she’s working. So, yes, I figured it was going to happen sooner or later. You know, give a little, get a lot.”

“But it’s a good move for the entire staff, too,” Rick explained. “Not just Summer, and not just for Summer. As we expand our services, we’ll be bringing in more people to work. To get the best-qualified people we can, we’ve got to offer them the perks that other hospitals our size don’t. Salary and nice facilities aside, it has to be about the human touch … our day-care program, for starters. Then other quality-of-life issues. And before you tell me this is something I should have discussed with you and Rafe …”

Jess thrust out his hand to stop him. “Your decision, Rick. If you think we need it, then we’ll do it. You don’t need our permission to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’. OK? And for what it’s worth, I’m with you on it. Rafe will be too, although he’s probably too tied up with Edie right now to care about much of anything going on around here. He’s taking these last days of pregnancy much harder than his wife is. But he’ll be behind you when he’s not so distracted, because he’ll understand the benefits of this, too.”

You don’t need our permission … That was the part of his job he was still getting used to, the part where he had all the authority. The Rafe and Jess Corbett he’d spent half his growing-up years fighting and hating trusted him implicitly with their hospital. They’d even mentioned bringing him on as a full partner at some point, an idea he couldn’t quite wrap his psyche around because sometimes it still felt like he was treading on eggshells, waiting for them to resort to their old selves. They were the ones who were past all that, though. Which made his trust issues entirely his problem as there were still days when he woke up wondering if this would be the day they pulled the rug out from under him.

“Well, I’m glad you’re good with this because Summer’s going to start tomorrow, and our new day-care programs starts tomorrow, too. Anita Johnson will head it up to begin with and with any luck maybe permanently. Remember her?”

Jess arched his eyebrows. “I’m impressed. She was probably one of the best school teachers I ever knew. But I thought she was retired.”

“Retired, and bored. So I thought who better than to take care of the kids of the kids she taught?”

“You cover all the angles, don’t you?” Jess asked, chuckling.

“As many as I have to.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re moving forward. Aunt Grace put her trust in the right man when she hired you.” He stood. “Anyway, like I said, I’ve got to teach a class in two hours, and I’ve got a lot to do before that.” Jess was a part-time trauma surgeon as well as paramedic trainer and second in charge of the Lilly Lake Volunteer Fire Department, walking the line between the two careers. One of those rare individuals who could do it all.

“How’s the program coming?” Rick asked, referring to the paramedic training that was actually a hospital and fire department cross-over program.

“Got three people in it right now. Give us a few months and I think we’re going to have a good team in place and an even better training program going into our next round. I’ve got about a dozen people interested in taking the upcoming class. A few of them coming in from other towns.”

Times were changing in Lilly Lake, Rick thought as Jess headed out. Suddenly, he was excited. The times really were changing, and he was cautiously optimistic. And smiling. Although that smile had more to do with Summer than anything else.

“Oh, my,” Summer said, placing a pillow behind Edie Corbett’s back. “I think you’ve doubled in size since I saw you … when was it? Day before yesterday?”

“Not doubled. Tripled. At least, that’s what it feels like.” She sank back into the pillows on the couch and very gingerly lifted her feet. “You know I’ve been pregnant for two and a half years, don’t you?”

Laughing, Summer sat down in the chair across from her. “My last month carrying Alyssa was miserable. Everything was swollen, including my fingernails. And it felt like there were forty-eight days that month, thirty-six hours in each and every day.”

“Well, if nothing happens in the next couple of days, they’re going to induce labor.”

“But everything’s OK, isn’t it?” Summer asked.

Edie nodded, grimaced, then smiled. “Everything but my mood. I’m being grumpy. That’s why Rafe took the girls down to the stables. He told me I could use some alone time. Loosely translated to mean he needed to get out of the house and Molly needed a break from my last few days of jitters.”

“Is Alyssa going to ride?” Summer asked, growing concerned with the idea.

“Rafe promised to put her up on a pony. Molly wanted to give her a tandem saddle and the three of them go up to Hideaway Bluff, but Rafe’s pretty cautious when it comes to putting the kids on the horses. So right now they’re out in the smaller paddock, going round in circles, and Alyssa’s riding with Rafe until he thinks she’s safe to do tandem.”

Gracie House, and the whole estate, was one of the few places she actually felt safe. And knowing that Alyssa was with Rafe didn’t bother her as much as it might have at one time because Gracie House was home. Even though she didn’t live in it now, the safety she’d felt when she had still seeped in. It was always good to come back. Although, in reality, she still lived on the property, not even half a mile away. “Well, since she’s having a good time and I don’t want to take that away from her, I suppose I could come back for her later on. Or maybe Rafe could drop her by the house when they’ve finished.”

“Or, you could relax and have tea with me. And I’ll promise not to be too grumpy while we wait.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather take a nap? You’re about to give up any hope of sleeping for the next few months.”

“Except I’ve got Rafe. Half the sleep deprivation is going to be his, since this is his endeavor, too.” She patted her belly. Grimaced yet again, this time reaching around to massage the small of her back.

“You’re lucky. I spent my first few months learning to sleep anywhere, any time I could.” Because she hadn’t had a husband who would help. In fact, the couple of times when she’d asked for it, he’d either stormed out, which had been preferable, or he’d—

“You did it alone?” Edie cut in, interrupting Summer’s thoughts.

Summer nodded. Didn’t volunteer any more information.

“I guess I didn’t know that. For some reason, I thought you were still married when Alyssa was born.”

“In name,” she said, wishing the topic had never come up. She didn’t talk about it. Not to anyone. Not ever. Oh, Grace had known how bad her marriage had been, but that was different. And while she trusted Edie, silence on the topic of her marriage was still the best thing. Battered wives didn’t make for great conversation. In fact, the topic had a way of stopping the conversation cold. “Look, I’m going to go make us that pot of tea. Think happy baby thoughts or take a nap … I’ll be back in a minute.” With that, she practically jumped off the chair and sprinted to the kitchen, only too glad to get away from the subject.

Slumping against the fridge for support, with the one and only purpose of steadying her nerves, Summer shut her eyes, drew in a deep breath … New direction. New life. That’s what she had to keep telling herself.

“You OK, Summer?” Myra Murdock, the Corbett housekeeper, asked.

“Fighting off a headache,” Summer lied, pushing herself away from the fridge. “Um … what kind of tea does Edie prefer?”

“These days it’s green because it’s a little lower in caffeine. One cup a day is all she gets, though.” Myra pointed to a tin on the counter top. “She likes it with cream. Oh, and help yourself to anything you want. There’s a tea caddy in the pantry … the Ceylon is my favorite.”

“Ceylon,” Summer repeated, as her pulse finally settled down to a normal rhythm.

“Could I ask you for a favor, Summer?” Myra continued. “Since you’re going to be staying for tea, would you mind looking after Edie while I run to the post office to mail a package to my granddaughter? Her birthday’s next week. I was going to wait until Rafe came back to the house, but if I hurry, the package may still go out today.”

“Go,” Summer said. “And don’t rush. As often as you’ve watched Alyssa for me, it’s the least I can do.”

Tea made, Summer carried it back to the living room, where Edie was trying to readjust her back pillow. “Can’t get comfortable,” she said, clearly agitated. “No matter which way I turn it, I still get back spasms …”