The Doctor Returns. Stella MacLean

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СКАЧАТЬ she might be. Something about her was so familiar.... Her gaze was so intent. Had he met her before? He’d met so many people in the two weeks since he’d moved back, faces he couldn’t always put a name to. But he hadn’t been back for years, and so many of the people were only vaguely recognizable. “Forgive me, you look really familiar....”

      The tentative smile faded from her lips and her expression changed. An emotion he couldn’t identify flickered on her face and then disappeared. She turned her back to him, her attention focused on the patient chart.

      “Daddy!” Morgan cried out, her voice fearful. “Daddy, what happened? Where am I?”

      Forgetting the woman standing across the stretcher from him, he gathered his daughter in his arms. “You’re in the hospital, sweetie. How do you feel?”

      * * *

      SHERRI LAWSON STEADIED her hands on the edge of the surgical cart, overwhelmed by the hurt tightening her chest, forcing her to turn her back on the man holding his daughter in his arms. She couldn’t believe it. Neill hadn’t shown even a flicker of recognition. Did he really not recognize her? Had twelve years changed her that much?

      It was true that he’d been out of her life for all those years, but surely he couldn’t forget her so easily. She touched her highlighted hair as the heat of embarrassment climbed her cheeks. Granted, she’d lost over thirty pounds, had eye surgery to correct her vision and wore makeup now. She’d even gotten her teeth whitened and managed to find a hairdresser who did a beautiful job of coloring and layering her hair. But still...

      Relax and stop jumping to conclusions.

      She took a deep, calming breath. He might not have recognized her because of his concern for his daughter. She’d seen the haunted look in his eyes when he’d first come into the emergency room. Was she being unreasonable to think he should have recognized her?

      Or was she just making excuses for him the way she did during those long, dreary months after he’d gone off to medical school in Boston, leaving her to fend for herself?

      And if she were to speak up, how could she explain who she was to the man who’d once been the love of her life—without being totally humiliated? And if he apologized for not recognizing her, would anything change other than the red blotches on her cheeks?

      A long-buried ache rose through her chest at the mortifying truth. Of all the responses she’d imagined from him, this was not one of them.

      But what had she expected? Had she harbored the notion that he might one day see her again, rush into her arms and tell her how much he’d missed her? Plead for her forgiveness and offer to marry her?

      He’d married a doctor from his medical class and had a child with her. That was how much he’d missed her! Meanwhile, she was acting like a lovesick schoolgirl, an angry lovesick schoolgirl.

      One part of her wanted to jump into his arms—the other part wanted to punch his lights out. And then there was the part of her that wanted Neill Brandon the teenager she remembered so well....

      When she had learned that Neill was returning to Eden Harbor to take over his uncle’s medical practice, she’d decided to avoid any contact with him if possible. She’d accepted that she’d probably run into him at some point between his arrival and her departure—when she left for her new job in Portsmouth. Yet, she could hardly have imagined that their first encounter would be such a disaster.

      It was just her rotten luck that because of a nursing shortage in Emergency, she’d taken this extra shift today. Now all she could do was wait for this embarrassing scene to end.

      The sooner she got Morgan Brandon moved to her inpatient room, the better. This was one scene she didn’t intend to repeat. Ignoring the man and his daughter, she contacted Admitting to learn that Dr. Fennell had made arrangements and the room was ready. “Dr. Brandon, if you like, I’ll take Morgan to her room while you complete the paperwork in Admitting.”

      “Thanks so much.” He moved around the stretcher, his arm brushing hers, sending tiny shock waves reverberating over her skin. She stepped away from him.

      “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

      “You didn’t,” she said, fighting to control the sudden awareness snapping through her.

      How could she still feel anything for Neill? Hadn’t those lonely months and years accomplished anything? Those desperate weeks when she’d had to face the fact that Neill Brandon wasn’t coming home had exposed her to a kind of fear she’d never experienced before.

      Forcing back the memories, she studied the drip chamber on the intravenous as if her life depended on it—anything to keep her eyes from his. Yet she couldn’t block out his words, spoken so gently to his daughter, words filled with love. Hearing them, she remembered another child.

      A child who had lived only fifty-two hours.

      Unable to bear it any longer, she made another quick note and closed the chart. “I’m going to transfer your daughter now.”

      “Morgan, you’re going to be okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said.

      His voice drew her like a moth to a flame to the man who had once held her heart. Not fair. Totally not fair.

      She felt the urge to touch him, to be in contact with him, his skin on hers. Nothing had changed. Years after he’d dumped her, he’d returned to her life and the fantasies were beginning all over again.

      What is the matter with me?

      Is this what having no man in your life did to you?

      Not if I can help it. Time to take back control.

      And she knew just where to start. Her grip on the stretcher was strong and uncompromising as she unlocked the brakes, tucked Morgan’s chart under the corner of the mattress and moved toward the door.

      Hitting the door pad, she waited impatiently for it to swing open, and then strode out into the corridor, pushing the stretcher ahead of her.

      Look on the bright side. At least the dreaded first contact with him is over.

      She turned the corner and headed toward the elevator. And wasn’t it just as well that he hadn’t recognized her? No need for awkward “how have you been?” chatter. No going back over the past twelve years and dredging up old memories that still held the power to inflict pain. But most of all, no empty excuses required.

      She was free to go ahead with her plans, confident in the belief that the worst was over. She could look forward to her job in Portsmouth and her new life.

      CHAPTER TWO

      AS SHERRI APPROACHED the outpatient clinic nurses’ station the next morning, her mind was made up: from now on she’d refuse any shifts outside the clinics she normally worked. Now all she had to do was finish her shift in the outpatient clinic and then she was off for a couple of days.

      She was going to Portsmouth to look for a place to live and to meet with the members of the nursing department she’d be working with in her new job. During the interview a few weeks ago, she’d discovered that she and the nursing coordinator shared the same approach to risk management, a key function in modern hospitals. СКАЧАТЬ