A Doctor In Her Stocking

Well, she’d always been partial to black hair. And brown eyes. And craggy, blunt good looks. Which made her choice of husband odd, now that she thought more about it, because Sam Harmon had been a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, surfer-dude wannabe. Therefore, this man was nothing at all like Sam. And therefore, she told herself, she shouldn’t feel intimidated by him the way she had felt around Sam there toward the end.

And really, intimidated was the last thing she felt at the moment. As standoffish as the dark-haired man’s demeanor seemed to be, Mindy immediately sensed something within him—way deep down within him—that was almost…personable? Warm? Good-hearted? Kind? Oh, no, surely not, she corrected herself. Not with a frown like that. Not with a glare like that.

Still…

“He really is going to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” the blond man said, shaking off the odd sensation winding its way through Mindy’s soul. “Just watch. Reed?” he said further. “Tell our studio audience what Mindy here has won.”

She eyed the dark-haired man—the one called Reed—in confusion, then turned back to the blonde. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But you guys seem to have me at a loss. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She waited for the blond man to offer an explanation—or even the dark man, for that matter. She wasn’t particular, so long as she received some kind of explanation—and when none was forthcoming, she arched her eyebrows in silent query.

Finally taking the hint, the blond man dipped his head toward his companion. “My friend here,” he said, “is Dr. Reed Atchison, resident heart surgeon over at Seton General Hospital. I,” he added hastily, seeming genuinely surprised to realize that he had neglected to introduce himself as well, “am Dr. Seth Mahoney. And Reed and I have been having an interesting difference of opinion lately. You, my dear Miss…uh, Mindy.have just solved the dilemma for us.”

Mindy eyed him warily. “Um, thanks. I guess.”

“No, no, thank you,” he immediately—and very enthusiastically—replied. “This has been a most enlightening meal, and we haven’t even received our food yet.”

“We haven’t received our coffee yet, either,” the dark-haired man—Reed…Dr. Atchison—mumbled.

“Oh, I’ll go get Donna and remind her,” Mindy offered quickly, snatching the opportunity to excuse herself from what was promising to become a puzzling—if not outright bizarre—situation.

“Not yet,” the blonde—Seth…Dr. Mahoney…whoever—halted her.

She sighed fitfully. “I’m really sorry,” she said again, “but I don’t know what you guys are talking about, and I have a lot of work to do right now, so if you’ll just excuse me…”

The blond M.D. nodded. “I understand,” he said. Gosh, that made one of them, Mindy thought dryly. Before she could comment, however, he added, “We can continue our conversation after your shift has ended.”

Mindy shook her head. “Oh, I don’t think that would be—”

“It’s no problem,” the man assured her. Then he turned to his friend. “Right, Reed?”

Dr. Atchison grumbled something under his breath that she was fairly certain wasn’t an agreement.

“What was that?” Dr. Mahoney asked.

“I said, ‘Fine,’“ the other man snapped.

Funny, Mindy thought, but it sure hadn’t sounded as if he’d said, Fine.

“Um, really,” she continued hastily, “I don’t think I—”

“Of course you do,” Dr. Mahoney assured her.

Mindy decided not to dwell on that. “I’m probably going to be working late,” she said instead, “and you doubtless have other things to—”

“Not a thing in the world,” the blond doctor assured her. “In fact, we’ve been looking forward to a nice, leisurely meal, haven’t we, Reed?”

“Mmm.”

Dr. Mahoney smiled at Mindy winningly. “And there you have it.”

She opened her mouth to say something else that might excuse her from any further association with these two enigmatic—albeit very attractive and not a little intriguing—men, but Donna returned with their coffee, elbowing Mindy gently out of the way.

“You go sit,” the other waitress said. “Get off your feet for a little while. I’ll keep an eye on your tables. The dinner rush is about over, anyway. And you gotta take care of that little bun in your oven.”

Mindy felt herself color at the other waitress’s comment. She wrapped her sweater even more tightly around herself, crossing her arms over her lower abdomen as if she might protect the life growing there, even though there was really no threat to that life at all—not at the moment, anyway.

Because she was so small, and because this was her first time being pregnant, she still wasn’t showing that much, even though she was five months along. She had hoped the average observer wouldn’t notice her condition yet but she supposed she was kidding herself in that. Not that she hadn’t told her co-workers at Evie’s about it—hey, they deserved to know she’d be incapacitated for a few weeks come April, after all. But she didn’t want anyone else, especially total strangers, to know the particulars of her private life.

“Donna,” she muttered. “You don’t have to broadcast my…condition…to the whole world, you know.”

But Donna only shrugged as she dumped a handful of creamers onto the table. “It’s okay, Min,” she said. “These guys know all about it.”

Mindy closed her eyes and felt her cheeks flame brighter. “Donna…” she said again. Because these two men probably hadn’t noticed her condition before now. The reason they knew about her pregnancy was more than likely because someone—someone like, oh, say Donna—had told them about it. And seeing as how once you got Donna started, it was really hard to turn her off, Mindy could only imagine what else the other waitress had let slip.

“Oh, come on,” Donna said. “It’s no big deal, being knocked up and homeless. It happens to a lot of women.”

Mindy raised a hand to cup it over her eyes and closed them tight. “I was not knocked up,” she said. “Sam and I made a conscious decision to have a baby. Can I help it if he…” She sighed heavily, dropped her hand back to her side and strove for a bright smile that she was certain fell short. “Never mind. Just…try not to spread around the particulars, okay? Please?”

Donna shrugged again. “Sure thing, Min.” Then she turned to the two men seated at the booth. “Forget I said anything about Mindy’s…you know…situation, okay, gents? And please do point out to her that I never told you about what a big drunk her husband was, did I? Or how he slept around on her the whole time they were married? Or how, in my opinion, she’s better off without him anyway?”

“It’s true,” Dr. Mahoney agreed. “She never did tell us about that.”

Donna nodded, smugly, Mindy thought. “See? That was private, so I kept that part to myself.” She turned back to her two customers. “Your sandwiches should only take a few more minutes.”

And with that, Donna spun around and headed back toward the kitchen, leaving Mindy to fend for herself.

“Oooh…” she said, lifting her hand to her forehead again. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Here, sit down.”

She felt two strong hands cup her shoulders and softly urge her forward and was surprised, upon opening her eyes, to see that it was the dark-haired doctor who was doing the gentle cajoling. It seemed like a gesture that would have been more appropriate coming from the man who’d identified himself as Dr. Mahoney. Or perhaps not, she thought further as she let Dr. Atchison sit her down at his place in the booth. He remained standing, hooking his hands on his hips, but he glowered at his friend.

“Now look what you’ve done,” he said.

“What I’ve done?” the other doctor exclaimed. “I didn’t do anything. What are you talking about?”

“You’ve embarrassed her,” Dr. Atchison said. “How could you embarrass her like that?”

Dr. Mahoney gaped at him. “I didn’t do that. Donna did that.”

“But you’re the one who started this whole thing, so you’re responsible.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You should be ashamed of yourself. Taking advantage of a pregnant woman. Just where do you get off?”

“Reed, what the hell has gotten into you? I never—”