Doctored (14 page)

“Is it wetter over there?” one of the relief workers asked.

“No wetter than camp, and it’s drying out fast,” she answered as they continued walking.  Once out of earshot she turned to Maddie again.  “Think about it,” she repeated.

“I will,” the redhead promised.

They returned to their tent.  Not another word was spoken, but both had a lot on their minds.  Each changed clothes and got ready for bed.  Each took a lot longer than she should have to fall asleep despite their fatigue.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Lenny is gone,” the whispers abounded.

One of the camp cars was missing, and so was the chief’s daughter, Emmanulla.  When it was discovered that Lenny and her things were gone as well, people put two and two together.

Doctor Wilson had no choice but to send out inquiries.  He didn’t want to, but with Burton watching him and conspiring behind his back, he had to.  He took the time to write to the people who had supported Burton in the past, explaining the doctor’s paranoia, and his own position regarding the Doctor Cooper situation.  He didn’t reveal what he knew about the brilliant young specialist, but he made it clear that she had been highly vetted and recommended by Doctors Without Borders and it was no one’s business but theirs about their personnel.  He was not happy with the Lenny situation.  They were now without a teacher.  Worse, the chief was angry about his daughter’s defection.  This was incontrovertible proof of their liaison.  He couldn’t deny it any longer.  He was embarrassed and had lost face.

The car that Lenny had stolen was eventually found in Lamish.  One of Lakesh’s contacts had found it for him, stripped and gutted.  However, a letter addressed to Doctor Wilson and left at the hotel, told how she had left it at the hotel for him to reclaim.  It must have been stolen from there.  Wilson had his own opinions of Lakesh and his friends and didn’t doubt that the car had been taken from the hotel.  Lenny had tried to make good on a bad situation and simply left.  Taking the chief’s daughter had been only logical on her part.  The aftermath was nothing she could have foreseen.

“You think that dyke sold the parts for money to finance her flight?” Harlan was overheard saying with relish to one of the relief workers.  He was very busy these days, teaching the locals to use the equipment that he farmed with.  A new tractor had been donated and between that and the other equipment, they were plowing fields on the plains for food.  He only had another month to teach them in Mamadu before he rotated out and another farmer came to replace him.

Deanna overheard the ignorant redneck and wanted to defend her friend Lenny, but knew it would be a mistake.  Her own burgeoning relationship with Maddie was too new and too raw to allow something like rumors to destroy it.

They were taking their time.  They were ‘dating’ such as it were…taking walks along the now normal river that had subsided considerably from its flood stage.  They looked at the fields that Harlan and the tribe members were plowing and planting, discussing it in great depth, and enjoying spending time together.  And the kisses…they spent plenty of time exploring those.  Deanna could sense the frustration in Maddie that they weren’t taking it further, faster.  She didn’t want this to be a quick romance.  She wanted more.  It was a natural progression to her that someone she had so much in common with might be her soulmate.  They were both in the medical field.  They both enjoyed helping people.  They both wanted to see more of the world.  It was obvious they were meant for each other…at least to Deanna.

“Why are you
here
?”

Deanna looked at Maddie from where they were sitting in chairs, looking up at the stars.  They were alone around the fire, having outlasted the others.  They were all tired from a full day in the clinic.  Lakesh had come back that day from Lamish with a Rover full of supplies and Doctor Wilson was pissed because half of them were ‘missing.’ They had to make do with what they had left.  They had been sitting around the fire discussing the current lack of supplies and the possibility that Lakesh had been robbing them blind.  “Here?” she asked as her foot snaked out and gently rubbed along the back of Maddie’s leg.

Maddie was enjoying the buildup.  She was so curious about what came next that Deanna distracted her admirably.  Knowing that she wanted sex so badly with this woman wasn’t easy.  She’d felt conflicted for days, and frustrated.  Her mind couldn’t stop thinking it all over, analyzing how she felt, and why.  She tried to focus.  “I meant
here
, in Africa.  You’ve spoken about the Amazon and South America before.  Why did you leave?”

Deanna turned from looking at Maddie to looking into the fire as she contemplated how to answer.  “It was time to move on,” she said musingly as she shrugged.  “I felt I was needed elsewhere.”

“Africa’s a vast continent.  Doctors Without Borders works all over.  How’d you end up
here
?”

Deanna looked up from the fire, blinked a few times to clear the glare of the fire from her eyes, and answered.  “I let them choose.  I’m at their disposal, but it was nice to feel needed again.”

“Again?” she probed, sensing a story.

The doctor swallowed, deciding what she could share and what she shouldn’t share.  She’d not been this close to a woman in so long.  She had to roll the dice and see if this relationship was going to go anywhere.  “I’d outlived my usefulness in the Amazon, at least in that section.”

“You?  I can’t imagine your skills wouldn’t be in demand...” she objected.

“It wasn’t my skills that had been used up,” she sounded bitter.

“Then what?” she asked softly, sensing it hurt.

Deanna was looking down at the dirt so as not to have any more night blindness from the fire’s glow.  Glancing up, she sighed and began to share.  “I loved it there,” she answered nostalgically.  “Everything about it was fascinating, even the animals and the bugs,” she smiled wryly.  “You can’t imagine how much is hidden in the jungle.  Turn over a leaf and you stumble upon a new discovery.  They know more in that jungle than we have learned in four thousand years.”

Maddie watched as Deanna enthused about the place she had lived.  She’d seen this enthusiasm before when she talked about South America.

“I was so young and naïve when I went there.  I thought I’d find something to cure the ills of the modern world.”

“And did you?”

Deanna smiled at her potential lover.  She shook her head.  “There is so much to be learned there.  So much that we are too blind to see.  The people who have lived there all their lives have it as common knowledge.  We Westerners are stupid.”

“You are
not
stupid,” she pointed out.

The doctor shook her head.  “No, I’m not stupid, but I
was
young, immature.”

“What happened?”

“I was fortunate.  The tribe we were studying with had a witch doctor.”

“Like Hamishish?”

Deanna nodded.  “And yet, not like her,” she grinned wryly.  “It’s different with each culture.”

“No wonder you made friends with her so quickly.”

She nodded again.  “Yes, that friendship with the shaman proved to be an invaluable tool.”  She glanced at the fire and for a second her eyes were drawn to the flames again before she blinked and looked away.  “She taught me so much.”

“Did you speak her language?”

“No, but pantomime and time cured that as she seemed fascinated with a
female
doctor.  All the researchers who had come before were men.  White men.  She had never seen a white female doctor before.  She took me under her wing and began to teach me.  Really teach me.”

“That must have been fascinating,” Maddie commented knowing how much Deanna loved to be challenged and learn new things.

She nodded and then looked sad.

“What happened?”

Deanna looked up at her, trying to see her eyes through the darkness.  In the flickering light of the fire she didn’t see condemnation, merely curiosity.  “I fell in love.”

“With the shaman?”

Deanna shook her head.  “No, that would have been acceptable.  Two medical mystics coming together.  It wasn’t with her and that almost insulted her.  What really pissed her off though, was that I fell in love with her daughter.”

“How old was her daughter?” she asked, intrigued, wondering at this faceless person and how she had fallen for this brilliant young doctor.

“Eighteen summers,” she answered and leaned down to pick up a stick to throw on the fire. 

“How old were you?”

She leaned back and looked again at Maddie.  “I was twenty.”

“How long did it last?”

“One year,” she said bitterly.

“Were you discovered?”

“Oh yeah....”  She grimaced ruefully.  “We were discovered, exposed, and eviscerated before the entire tribe.”

“Do they not accept,” her voice lowered to a whisper, “
homosexuality
?”

Deanna nearly laughed aloud at the tone, as though it were a forbidden subject.  Given that they were contemplating entering into a relationship themselves, it was hilarious.  “Many tribes accept that there are people within their society that like the same sex,” she responded almost prudishly to Maddie’s question.  “No, it wasn’t that,” she continued.  “It was the fact that she was married,” she almost stopped telling her tale at Maddie’s gasp, “to the chief’s son,” she finished.

“You dated a
married
woman?” she asked, shocked at the thought.

“Well, I didn’t
know
she was married until much later,” she defended herself.  “It’s not like the language barrier and different cultures didn’t enter into the equation.”

“So, what happened?” she asked, curious despite herself.

Deanna looked sad for a moment.  “I was upset when I found out that she was married.  It was a tribal thing and when they found out about us,” she almost shuddered at the embarrassment, “I was asked to leave.”

“Why would you ever consider going back there?”

“Because it’s a magical part of the world and it’s a huge continent.  I don’t have to go back to the same place I was,” she explained.  “There is so much more to learn.”

“That’s why you came to Africa?”

“It’s even bigger here.  I can learn anywhere.”

“What have you learned here?”

Deanna went on about what Hamishish had taught her.  When they went to the other villages, despite the language barrier, she was shown things that helped her do her job.  Using modern medicines, she could help the locals.  Learning local medicines and techniques, she was accepted easier.  It was part of why she was drawn to Hamishish.  She knew a lot of Western people wouldn’t accept the woman, equating her to a whore, but she really was knowledgeable and who she chose to share her body with, was her choice.

“Is that why you and Lenny hit it off so quickly?”

Deanna was brought back to the present.  She nodded.  “That and my gaydar went off.”

“Your what?”  She had never heard the term before.

“My gaydar.  It’s when you can sense that someone else is gay too,” she explained.

“Do you have to become gay to feel it?” she asked, worried.

The blonde chuckled and shook her head.  “No, it’s more like knowing if someone likes you or if someone has certain mannerisms.  Sometimes you are right when you guess that they are gay, you can be equally wrong.”

“Have you ever been wrong?”  She was curious again.

Smiling she answered, “Occasionally.”

“What about me?  Would you have guessed I was gay?”

“You aren’t, are you?” she pointed out.

“Not for lack of trying,” she admitted ruefully.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Hey, I’m going into Lamish for supplies on my next days off.  I’m going to stay overnight.”  Doctor Cooper informed Doctor Wilson.

“Oh good, maybe we’ll get what we ordered in full for a change,” he said with a remorseful grin.

“Why don’t you get rid of Lakesh if you think he’s stealing so much?”

“Because I don’t have any proof, and who else is going to drive?”

“I’m sure there are a half a dozen of the relief workers who would be glad to, given a chance.  You have to start asking,” she pointed out.

He sighed gustily.  “I have a letter I’d like you to post, if you would.”

“Sure, why didn’t you send it with the regular mail?”  Lakesh took their mail in at least once a week for them.

“I have, but I’m not certain it hasn’t been subverted,” he confided.  They exchanged a look.

Nodding, she agreed, and they spoke of a few supplies she could pick up for him as well as the clinic.

“Do you mind if I ask Maddie to go along?” she tried to sound innocent as she asked.

He shook his head.  “No, I don’t mind.  Does she want to go?”

“No idea.  I thought I’d ask you if she could have the same days off before I asked her if she wanted to go along.  That’s such a long and dry, dusty drive.”