Career Girl in the Country / The Doctor's Reason to Stay (30 page)

“Aren’t we all?” she whispered, as she opened the first can and dumped it into a pot. And for the first time her optimism didn’t outweigh her fears. It’s what she wanted, of course, but now that she was so close to having it all, she was also so close to losing it all. But that was her fear to overcome, wasn’t it? The one fear she’d never been able to get rid of.

A loud slam at the front door startled her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see another large man step inside. One she vaguely recognized, but wasn’t sure about.

“Where’s Rafe?” he asked.

It had to be Jess. Same voice. Same eyes. “He’s in the back room, looking for flashlights.”

“And you’re … Edie? I think I’ve seen you around.” “I’m Edie.”

He studied her for a moment then smiled. “I always wondered what you’d look like.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The woman who could bewitch my brother. Wasn’t ever sure it would happen, but I always wondered what she’d look like if someone did. Welcome to the family, such as it is, Edie.”

“That’s a little premature,” she said.

Jess grinned. “I doubt it, but we’ll see.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Rafe boomed from the doorway to the back room before Edie had a chance to respond to Jess.

“I came as fast as I could. Caught a helicopter up when I heard what was going on.”

“Who called you?” Rafe asked.

“Wasn’t you, big brother. It was Rick. Should have been you, but we’ll take that up later on. In the meantime, are you up to some night riding?”

“Nothing could stop me, but, Jess, Rick’s out there, getting ready to ride, too. He’s been solid in this … in everything.”

“I can deal with Rick.” Jess stepped over to Edie and pulled her into his arms. But briefly. Then he stepped away. “My brother is certainly one lucky son of a …” He cracked a grin at Rafe. “Give me ten to get ready then we’re out of here. But just for a couple of hours, if we want to be fresh for morning. And, Edie, if you could open up another can of soup, I’d appreciate it.”

She watched the three men eat, and it struck her that they were all very similar. She couldn’t explain how, but later, as they mounted up in the dark and she
watched them disappear into the night shadows, she knew, for the first time, that they would find Molly. So much power, she thought. Rafe, Rick, Jess … so much power. When she settled down by the fire to wait, that was the thought she clung to.

“You’ve been to Hideaway Bluff?” Jess asked, as they headed down the west trail.

“Took a good look around a while ago,” Rafe replied. “I took Molly up there the other night. It’s where I think she finally came to terms with Grace’s death, and I thought sure that’s where I’d find Molly.”

“Maybe she’s still trying to find her way out there,” Rick suggested. “We give Molly a lot of credit for being an amazing child, but she’s only five so maybe that’s where she’s still trying to get to and she just hasn’t made it there yet.”

“Then we should go back there,” Rafe said.

“Rick’s right,” Jess said. “In the city, when we do a search and rescue for a child, we always go to the obvious places first, then keep going back to them. Children are predictable. They want to go to someplace they know, someplace they feel safe … like you and I did when we were kids, Rafe. I’m betting that Molly is trying to get to Hideaway Bluff.”

“Not in the dark,” he gasped, thinking of how dangerous it could be. “She wouldn’t …”

“She would,” Rick assured him. “Christopher finds his refuge in the food pantry at home. It’s large enough that he doesn’t feel closed in and small enough that he feels safe.” He chuckled. “That, plus he knows where I hide the cookies. But, seriously, Jess is right. Kids need that familiarity. If Molly feels a special connection to
this place you call Hideaway Bluff, then the chances are she’s still trying to get there.”

The three of them rode silently back in the direction of the bluff, relying mainly on the moonlit night and stars to guide them, and with every pounding hoofbeat along the trail Rafe thought about his life, the way it had changed, the way it would change. It scared him, but he was ready to face the fear. But everything still boiled down to some basic questions. Could he live in Lilly Lake again, because it might come down to that? Could he really sit on the front porch of Gracie House, look across the street, and not see his old man there or feel his old man haunting him, trying to get under his skin?

The only answer he could find in himself was Edie. She believed, and because of that, he wanted to believe. No, he wasn’t there yet, and it might take him a long time to get to where he believed on his own. But for now, maybe leaning on Edie’s belief would be enough. It had to be, because he didn’t want to lose her.

Of course, there was another consideration in all this. If he couldn’t make it here, could Molly survive Boston? Could Edie? Because they were the most important parts of him now, the two essential parts of his equation. The truth was, he was already thinking of the three of them in terms of a family, which was putting the cart well before the horse because his work in progress really did need a hell of a lot of work. So, borrowing from Edie’s optimism, they’d just take it one day at a time, the three of them, and figure it out from there.

“Molly’s pony!” Rick called from off to the side,
closer to the tree line, interrupting Rafe’s thoughts. “It’s tied up over here.”

Rafe and Jess immediately brought their horses around and stopped short of where Lucky was tied, rather loosely, to a sprawling mulberry bush. “Molly!” Rafe shouted into the night.

He listened, but heard only the sound of crickets.

“So she’s on foot,” Jess said. “Which means a couple of us need to be on foot, too.” He slid off his horse at the same time Rick did. “I think, Rafe, that you should go on up to the bluff again while Rick and I cover this area down here. I don’t think Molly’s hurt, but she may be getting scared or a little woozy from dehydration, and she might not respond to us when we call so we’re going to have to take it slowly. Look under all the bushes, behind all the logs and trees. But I think that if she did make it to the bluff, you need to ride hard to get up there, because she’s got no business in a place like that, all alone, in the middle of the night.”

“We used to do it,” Rafe reminded him.

“But we had each other. That’s the difference, big brother. We had each other.”

And they still did, he was only now coming to realize. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve given you a hard time about becoming a firefighter. When this is over, Jess, we need to—”

“I know,” Jess interrupted. “And we will.”

“I’m glad you’re here, little brother. I needed you.” He glanced over at Rick. “And him, too. He’s a good guy, Jess. We need to do something about him and the hospital. Make him a partner, at the very least.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too. You couldn’t have kept me
away. And about Rick, we’ll work it out. Now, get the hell out of here, OK?”

That was exactly what Rafe did. He rode hard through the darkness for the next half-mile, until he came to the trail leading up to the bluff. “Molly!” he yelled, then listened. Nothing. So he dismounted. Taking a horse up there at this time of the night was crazy. By foot was the only sane way, even if it was going to take an eternity. “Molly!” he called again, as he began his ascent.

Every few feet he called again, facing disappointment and a rising level of fear each time when there was no response. Then finally, when he was in sight of the shelf where he and Jess had spent so many nights, he called out one more time, pretty sure by now that this was futile. “Molly, if you can hear me, sweetheart, please say something.” It was a cry of desperation. “Please, Molly …” A plea ripped from his heart. “You’re not in trouble. I want to make sure you’re safe. So if you can hear me …”

“Rafey.” the tiny voice cried out in the night.

When he heard her voice, Rafe shut his eyes, said a silent prayer of thanks, and brushed the tears from his eyes. “Come to Daddy, sweetheart. Come to Daddy.”

“She’s sleeping peacefully,” Edie whispered, tiptoeing from Molly’s bedroom. “Exhausted, and glad to be home.”

Rafe was sitting on the hall floor outside Molly’s room, his back to the wall. He’d allowed Edie to bathe and dress Molly for bed, but he’d refused to go any further than that. “She said she wanted to talk to Aunt Grace.”

“Because we were fighting, Rafe. She heard us, and it scared her because she knew we were fighting about her.” Edie slipped down to the floor next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “We did that to her, Rafe. We scared her.”

“I remember when my dad used to get so mean, and I couldn’t get away, so I’d hide under the bed and hope he’d go away. Molly wasn’t hiding under the bed but it’s the same thing, and I know what it’s like to be that scared.” He took hold of her hand. “I’m going to stay here, Edie.”

“In Lilly Lake?”

“In Gracie House. It’s not about me any more. I mean, I’m not over all that mess in my past, but I’m moving forward. More than that, I
want
to move forward, and that’s because of you.”

“Because of Molly,” she corrected.

“I would have never let Molly in if it hadn’t been for you. And I never meant to hurt you, Edie. All the things I’ve said, all the arguments … I’m sorry.”

“But I’m not,” she said. “Because look what you’ve got. In the end, that’s what got you to where you are now.”

“You mean with Molly?”

“Of course I mean with Molly. I’ve always seen it in you, Rafe. Grace knew it was there, too.”

“But you love her as much as I do. I always saw
that
in you.”

“Loving someone … it’s a gift, Rafe. There are so many people out there who are never lucky enough to find it, so when you do have a chance at it, you’ve got to grab hold and hang on. That’s all I wanted you to do. Grab on to Molly and hang on until you found
your way. I never thought I’d be part of that because I didn’t trust myself enough to think I could. Even now I wonder if I’m everything you and Molly need …” “Everything, and more.”

“So that’s the part of me that’s
my
work in progress,” she said.

“Something I’m going to love working on.” “It’s funny, hearing you say that word.” “Love?” he asked. “Love,” she murmured.

“I think it fits pretty well. But I’m going to need practice.”

“I think it fits beautifully, and practice all you want.”

He stood, then took hold of her hand and pulled her up off the floor. As they walked together through the house, to check the door locks and turn off the lights, they stopped for a moment at the entry to the den to look at the portrait of Aunt Grace. As always, her watchful eye was on them, but tonight her portrait had taken on a glow that made it seem as if she was smiling. She was, Rafe knew. She absolutely was.

As they headed, hand in hand, up the stairs, Rafe scooped Edie into his arms. “I know what I’d like to start practicing, if you’re interested.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“I
T IS
beautiful,” Edie whispered, gazing out at the eternity of stars sprawled against the blackest sky. “Like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“And full of possibilities,” Molly added.

It was a perfect night up on the bluff, and the view stretched for ever, the way he always remembered it doing. It was the first time he’d been here with his family … his wife, his daughter. But it wouldn’t be the last. “I think she always knew,” Rafe said. “Aunt Grace. I think she always knew this was the way it would turn out for us. You, me, Molly … together as a family.”

“Do you really think she chose me for you?” Edie asked, as she toasted a marshmallow over the fire Rafe had built. Rafe was refusing the marshmallows but munching away on chocolate-chip cookies. The best he’d ever had, he’d claimed. Even better than his aunt’s, he’d told her. But Edie knew, as well as Grace had known, it was just the same old recipe off the back of the chocolate-chip bag. Love had been, and would always be, the ingredient that made them special.

“I’d be surprised if she didn’t. That’s the way she was.”

“And she
would
have let me ride solo,” Molly tossed in, still trying to get her way on the issue.

“You
had
your big adventure, young lady,” Edie said. “We know you can ride solo, and you know the deal. You can do it only when one of us is there to supervise you. Your daddy or me. Or your Uncle Jess or Dr. Rick, or Johnny when he has the time. No one else.”

In the years to come they were going to have their hands full with Molly because she was a strong-willed little girl. Full of life, full of adventure, ready to grab life in a big way. She was like Grace in many ways. Aunt Grace’s daughter in every sense of the word. And their daughter too, for which he and Edie said their prayers of thanks every day of their lives.

“Can I have a kitten? And a puppy?”

Rafe slipped his hand into Edie’s, and smiled at her. “How about a new horse? We’re going out tomorrow to pick up a white stallion, and I have an idea he’s going to need lots of attention to make him healthy again. Would that be OK with you? Having a new horse instead?”

“Can I name him Possibility?” Molly asked, looking out into the distance. “Then he’ll remind me of where Aunt Grace is.”

“I think that would be a very good name for him, honey,” Rafe said, sighing the sigh of a contented man.

“A very good name,” Edie agreed, handing her daughter the toasted marshmallow. Then she whispered to Rafe, “But we’re not letting her name her little sister.”

He placed his hand on Edie’s belly. It was still their
secret, but not for long. “Mary Grace,” he whispered back. “For your mother and Aunt Grace.”

“Mary Grace,” she repeated.

Tonight Mary Parker and Grace Corbett were very happy. Edie felt it, and he felt it too, because he was where he belonged. Rafe Corbett had finally come home. And he’d never, ever leave again. “Mary Grace,” he whispered, pulling Edie into his arms.

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

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First published in Great Britain 2011
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Fiona Lowe 2011
© Dianne Despain 2011

ISBN: 978-1-408-92491-4