Hearts Unfold (35 page)

“Have you heard
from him, a thank you or anything?”

“No, not from
him.
 
Just a letter from his manager,
right after it happened.
 
I'm sure I
won't hear from him.
 
He doesn't know
anything about me.
 
I'm just glad to know
he's recovered.”
 
For a moment Emily
seemed to be remembering.
 
“Now if we're
going to make that movie, we'd better hurry.
 
And I want the biggest popcorn they have.
 
I'm starving!”

Later that
night, Emily checked in at the restaurant.
 
Saturday was buffet night, but she was hungry and not much in the mood
to be alone.
 
She found Joey in the
kitchen, supervising the trays of pasta and pizza as the wait staff kept up the
flow to the big buffet in the dining room.
 
At the sight of her, his face became suddenly redder than usual.

“Emily, you
don't have to work tonight.
 
You should
just get some rest.”

She was staring
into the vast refrigerator.
 
Taking a
carrot, she went to the sink.
 
“I'm fine,
Joey.
 
I swear, I think you Salvatores
are telepathic.
 
Don't tell me your
mother made a special trip down here to warn you I might fall to pieces on the
job tonight?”
 
As she washed her carrot,
she looked over her shoulder and grinned.

“She's out
there, hostessing.
 
She didn't say that
exactly, just that we should treat you with a little extra TLC.”
 
He was busily twisting dough, laying out a
pan of bread sticks.
 
“Just sit.
 
I'll fix you whatever you want to eat.”

Climbing on a
bar stool, she leaned an elbow on the steel counter, munching the end of the
carrot.
 
“Okay, I want a huge antipasto
and half of those bread sticks when they're done.”

Joey grinned,
slamming the oven door.
 
“That's what I
like, a girl with a healthy appetite.
 
So
are you okay?
 
Lil said you had some kind
of meltdown.
 
Something about that violin
player she met last Christmas.”
 
He began
to pull things from the refrigerator, working with his usual meticulous ease.

“I'm fine.
 
You don't need to worry.
 
I was just surprised to learn Lil had met
him.
 
See, I met him the next day.”

“Mom said you
saved his life.”

Emily rolled
her eyes.
 
“You guys don't waste time, do
you?
 
I didn't really save his life.
 
I just got him out of the storm.
 
And that's enough talk about that.
 
Were you at the party that night?”

“Yeah, I saw
him, if it's the same guy Lil was talking to.
 
I didn't think he was anything too special.
 
Looked like some rich kid, fancy clothes,
long hair.
 
Not even very tall.”

In spite of
herself, Emily grinned.
 
Joey was
sensitive about his own lack of height, and she had always felt uncomfortably
tall in his presence.
 
“I see.
 
Well, I'm sure we won't be seeing him
again.
 
It was just an amazing thing that
both of us met him.
 
Small world, I
guess.”

“There you go,
madam.
 
Your bread will be out of the
oven in just a minute.”
 
He set the
platter in front of her, dribbling oil and vinegar over the whole with a
skillful sweep of his hands.
 
“You know,
Emily, there are lots of guys out there who'd give their right arms for a girl
like you.
 
You'll see, you'll forget all
about this violin player when a real man comes along.”

“But that's
just it, Joey.
 
I don't need a man, real
or not.
 
I have my life all mapped
out.
 
My farm, my house and me.
 
As soon as I'm through training, I'll be all
set.
 
Why can't everyone understand that
I'm happy by myself?
 
And why can't they
stop worrying about me?”
 
She stuffed a big
forkful in her mouth.

“Because you're
so special to us, Em.
 
We need to fuss
over you.
 
At least some of us do.”
 
He set a basket of bread sticks next to her
plate.
 
“It's all we
can
do for
you.”
 
The look in his eyes, which were
level with hers as he stood beside her stool, said much more.

“Thanks,
Joey.
 
You're the best god-brother a girl
could have.”

He flinched.
 
“At least no other guy'll ever have that
title.
 
But seriously, if you ever need
anything, I'm your man.
 
And I'd be happy
to trade in that title if you decide you might like to try a short, very
talented Italian chef.
 
At least you'd
never go hungry.”
 
Picking up a bread
stick, he bit off one end.

“I'll
remember.
 
Now what's on the dessert menu
tonight?”

Chapter Thirty

For the better
part of her nurse's training, Emily was busy and content.
 
She had found nursing to be an easy fit once
she got past the inevitable grief of losing her first patient.
 
She discovered she especially enjoyed working
in the emergency room, where every second mattered and she had to rely on her
instincts as well as her knowledge.
 
During the months she spent at the University hospital, studying and
training, she made friends with nurses and doctors who encouraged her to join
the ER staff full time after graduation.
 
It was tempting; she loved the hard work and being part of a team.

But she never
lost sight of the need to find work closer to the farm; a job that would allow
her to schedule her time so that eventually she could restart the garden and
work around the growing season.
 
She was
single-minded in her determination to make the farm pay for itself and to prove
that she could make a successful reality of her dream.

Emily spent
hours calculating what it would take to support herself and run the
garden.
 
She read books on truck farming
the way other people read novels, investigated new methods of irrigation and
fertilization, studied seed catalogs as if they were textbooks.
 
When she could get home for a few days, she
visited with her neighbors, talking with other farmers to get advice on
reviving the fallow land.
 
She was glad
to have their practical counsel and gratified to know they respected her enough
to offer their help when she was ready to begin.

The months
spent preparing for her future gave her a stronger sense of herself.
 
She was confident in her decisions, content
with the life she felt she had been destined for.
 
She believed she had grown into the kind of
strong, giving person her parents had always encouraged her to be.
 
Though her emotions still sometimes caught
her off guard, she hoped she had learned to control the tendency to run too
quickly from high to low.
 
And she was
satisfied that she no longer harbored such romantic ideas regarding her brief
encounter with Stani Moss.
 
Jack and
Angela had been right in saying she needed time to get over the emotional
ordeal of his rescue.
 
Now she could look
back at their meeting with appreciation for the chance to help someone in need,
just as she looked at her contact with the patients under her care.
 
She had finally learned to give the best
possible care without giving away something of herself as well.

As Emily looked
around the restaurant the night of her graduation, she was amazed to see so
many faces from home.
 
They had turned
out to see her get her cap and pin, and now gathered at the party Angela had
tried to surprise her with.
 
Jack and the
McConnells, including James, along with at least a dozen others, had driven the
two hours to join in her celebration.
 
She had to acknowledge that she was far from the orphan she had once
considered herself.
 
Rather, she was part
of a sizable family, the members of which seemed intent upon outdoing one
another in taking pride in her accomplishments.
 
Though she thought of her parents, hoping somehow they knew what she had
managed to do so far without them, she recognized that she had no reason to
feel alone.

However, she
cautioned herself against feeling too satisfied too soon.
 
So far, she had only laid the groundwork that
would bring her closer to realizing her dream.
 
The next year would tell if she would be able to bring the farm back to
life, if she had what it took to work the hours and wait for the rewards.
 
And while at the moment she was content with
the idea of living alone, when she was there on the farm, with no one to
encourage her or work beside her, would she have the dedication to stick with
it?

If she failed,
she told herself, it would not be through hesitation.
 
She was about to jump head-long into the
dream she had conceived that Christmas two and a half years ago.
 
Now the real test lay just around the corner,
in the furrowed fields behind the house.
 
She had prayed for guidance, found friends who could help her, and
dedicated herself to preparing for this moment.
 
Whatever challenges lay in her path, she tried to tell herself that she
welcomed them, would face them with all the skill and strength she had; but in
her heart, she knew she had set herself on a path that would require all her
faith and courage as well, just to make a start.

The first enemy
proved to be the weather.
 
Emily had
planted a small plot, just enough to test some of the new varieties and keep
her own table in produce for the season.
 
The rain had been abundant in the early spring, but by the time she set
her little plants, the earth was hard and dry.
 
She hauled countless buckets of water, set up sprinklers on long green
hoses from the pump, and still came home to wilted vines and drooping
plants.
 
For the summer, she had accepted
a part-time position in the small hospital that sat on the line between three
counties, some twenty miles away.
 
She rose
early, watered, rushed to work and returned to find the sun had scorched her
garden.

To add to her
disappointing start, the water pump, which had been nursed along for the past
two years, finally gave up under the strain.
 
For the first time, she was forced to draw money from her trust fund in
order to purchase a new one.
 
While Mr.
Harris at the bank assured her it was a small percentage of her principal, none
the less, she worried.
 
She called
Harriet Wilson at the special-duty agency where she was to begin work in the
fall.
 
If there was an assignment for her
sooner, she would take it.

The job had
been an unexpected blessing.
 
From a
fellow nursing student, she'd learned of the small agency and submitted an
application, never dreaming she'd be considered just out of training.
 
The agency provided nurses for assignments to
hospital and nursing home patients who wanted and could afford round-the-clock
private staff.
 
The scheduling was
flexible and would be perfect for her needs.

When she was
called for an interview, she was careful to make it clear that she would be
available whenever needed.
 
At the same
time, she explained that she had responsibilities at home, particularly between
the months of April and September.
 
At
the conclusion of the interview the agency director asked her pointedly what
sort of responsibilities she had at her age.

“I have a
farm,” she explained.
 
She could see the
interested sparkle in the woman's eyes, so she went on to explain that she had
chosen to go into nursing for a somewhat unusual reason.
 
She hoped it would make it possible for her
to follow in her father's footsteps, raising produce to sell locally in the
valley.
 
She planned to work to support
herself and the farm, at least in the beginning.

“Miss Haynes, I
find that commendable, if not downright remarkable.
 
Why don't I stipulate in your contract that
you have the option of turning down any assignment offered during those months,
and we won't hold it against you?
 
That
is as long as you promise to share the odd melon or eggplant with me.”
 
Harriet's eyes twinkled and for a moment
Emily thought she might be making fun of her.
 
She was at a loss for a response, but the older woman went on.
 
“I'm offering you the position, Emily, if you
want to come to work for me.
 
Any young
woman enterprising enough to do what you're doing should make just the kind of
nurse we need.
 
These patients will
demand nothing less than your total dedication and given what you've told me
about yourself, I'm confident you'll be able to give it.”