Rescued By Marriage. Dianne Drake

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СКАЧАТЬ In a way, it seemed almost untouched. She and Meghan could be happy here…at least for five years. That thought put a smile on her face as she followed Sam into yet another turn. After a short distance they passed through something that looked like junk or maybe metal statuary lining the road. She twisted to look, and almost collided with Sam’s SUV, which came to a stop on a knoll just past all the litter. Or was it art?

      Turning her attention back to what was beyond her windshield, Della saw a house, but it wasn’t hers. It couldn’t be. This one was a dilapidated old Victorian one-story, with peeling white paint and gingerbread decoration dangling off the eaves in some places and completely missing in others. It was weathered and old. A lovely lady in her day, but her day was long gone. The beach beyond her was stunning, though, with its white sand and billowing grasses.

      “Why are we stopping?” she called to Sam, who was already out of his car, leaning causally against it. Something in the pit of her stomach already told her she knew the answer, but she needed to hear it said. It’s another of your mistakes, Della. The biggest one of all.

      “We’re stopping because this is the end of the road,” he called back.

      Another bitter reality hit home. Sticking her head out the window, Della inhaled, filling her lungs with the fresh salt air. It was different from the salt air in Miami—cleaner, maybe. No smell of civilization mixed in with it, and it was a pleasant surprise because it reminded her of trips to the beach with Meghan.

      “You’ve changed your mind and decided to stay in a bed and breakfast?” he asked, when she didn’t get out of the SUV immediately.

      “No. I’m staying in my house.” Such as it was. Now she understood why Drs Beaumont and Weatherby had pulled out of here so quickly. And the house had had so many more years since then to become even more rundown. If she hadn’t already cried all her tears over missing Meghan, she would have cried a few right here over this mess.

      “You’ve never been here, have you?” Sam asked stepping up to her car and leaning through the window.

      What was she supposed to tell him? That she was the biggest idiot in the world, the one who would spend the next five years in this hovel? And how was she supposed to practice medicine here? “I’m not put off by hard work,” she said, hoping that sounded sufficiently in control.

      “I thought it was a little odd that someone had actually bought this place with the intent of setting up practice here again. But, then, some people are handy. They like to take on projects. Although, since I didn’t see a carpenter’s belt among your possessions, I’m guessing you don’t.”

      “Maybe I simply like my solitude.”

      “Then it’s a good thing, because you’re going to get plenty of it out here. So, which do you want to see first? Your house or your clinic?”

      “You don’t have to show me anything,” she said, trying to sound confident, even though she knew she sounded more defeated than anything. This was all she had now and there was no way she could turn it into something that would win her custody of her daughter. From the plain pumpkin into the beautiful Cinderella coach…she didn’t have the magical wand she needed for the transformation. Sighing, Della shut her eyes to hold in the tears. “I’m fine,” she said. “Thank you for leading me out here. You don’t have to stay.”

      “The bed and breakfast where I’ve booked a room has one empty down the hall from me. I’m sure Mrs Hawkins would be glad to have you move in there until…until you can spruce this place up, if that’s what you decide to do with it.”

      “Spruce it up?” Della laughed bitterly. Now she had to spruce up her house like she was trying to spruce up her life. Damn Anthony Riordan for getting her into this.

      * * *

      Sam couldn’t believe it! She hadn’t known. She truly hadn’t known the condition of this place. So what would possess someone to buy this medical practice and everything that went with it sight unseen? Frankly, she didn’t seem like the type. In fact, she seemed quite the opposite—down to earth, steady, sensible. Of course, looks were deceiving, weren’t they? He glanced down at his empty ring finger, empty a year now. There wasn’t even the faint trace of a wedding ring left any more. “Look, Della, we’ve got to do something here. Without prying into why you did it, I do know you bought this practice without ever having been here, and I’m guessing that it was never your intention to take this on as a fixer-upper. Is that much true?”

      She nodded, but didn’t speak.

      “Maybe whoever you bought it from will refund your money?” Which would have been a pity because he was already looking forward to spending a little time with her.

      She shook her head, but still didn’t speak.

      “Or perhaps you could take the financial loss and walk away before you invest any more.”

      Again she shook her head, and again she didn’t speak.

      “You put in everything you had into this venture, didn’t you?”

      This time she nodded.

      “Maybe it’s a case of fraud. It was misrepresented by the agent who sold it to you and that’s legal ground to get your money back.”

      “No,” she whispered. “Not misrepresented.”

      Sam sighed. He knew desperation when he saw it, and he was seeing it. More than that, he knew what it would drive a person to do. It hadn’t been so long ago he’d been desperate, too. Which was why he felt so compelled to help her through this, even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to get that involved. In a couple weeks’ time he’d have to deliver yet another blow—he’d have to write the report that would state something to the effect that this place was not suitable for a medical practice. As it existed at this very moment, it was not, and he doubted that Della had the means, let alone the wherewithal, to accomplish the resurrection it would need. Which meant Della would be issued a cease and desist order from the state health commission.

      Thinking about doing such a thing to her, even though he didn’t know her, was already giving him a dull headache. Whatever that first blow was—the one that had brought her here looking so sad—it was devastating her, and taking a second blow on top of whatever the first had been seemed inevitable. Regrettable, but inevitable. He didn’t even want to think about the expression on her face if that became the case.

      “Why all the junk along the road?” she asked.

      “Not junk. Sculpture. I understand it was an artists’ colony years ago. Actually, Dr Bonn, who built this place, was an artist and he opened it up for people to come stay and create. That’s why the medical facility is this far away from the village. It’s an idyllic situation for an artist, not the town doctor.”

      “And I’m not an artist.” She sighed wistfully. “So do you think the sheer isolation of it drove the subsequent doctors away?”

      “I’m sure that had something to do with it. I think it has a certain appeal for someone who’s newly graduated from medical school and looking for a start. But if you haven’t lived an isolated kind of life before, it’s probably pretty tough.”

      “So Dr Bonn, the artist…what happened to him?”

      Sam looked up at a seagull flying overhead. It was heading to the water to find its next meal. СКАЧАТЬ