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  “That works great for me.” Her smile melted. “About that house. What do you need me to do?”

  Jake knew she was talking about Candy Crane’s house, but she seemed embarrassed to bring it up. “No worries. I’ll make a few phone calls and within a week, or maybe two, it’ll be clean as a whistle. You can hand in your resignation now, and be free of that obligation.”

  Sharon looked confused for a moment before her gaze cleared. “Oh…okay.”

  Jake didn’t question her strange reaction. She was a very private person and he could respect that. He just hoped, over time, she would loosen up and open up a little. And if he could ever convince her he was worthy of more than employment, he hoped she’d open up a lot.

  He reached beneath the table and adjusted himself, glad the restaurant was nice enough to have tablecloths that covered his movements. He didn’t want Sharon or anyone else to see that where she was concerned, Little Jake was being a complete pest.

  “Is there a doctor in the house?”

  The yell, coming from across the room, had Jake on his feet immediately. He sprinted past tables and patrons rising to their feet to the location where several people surrounded a middle-aged gentleman laying prone on the floor. “I’m a doctor. Please step back, folks, and give him some room. Someone call nine-one-one.” He knelt down and felt for a pulse, then immediately began CPR. The man was unresponsive, but he continued to concentrate on saving the life for the next eight minutes until the emergency services arrived to take over.

  He turned back to tell Sharon he’d be going to the hospital and would send her home in a cab, but she was nowhere in sight. Frowning, he turned back to the patient and followed the crew to the waiting ambulance. He took another moment to look around, but Sharon had disappeared. Tomorrow would have to be early enough to ask her what was up. Right now he knew his mind and energies had to focus on the man being loaded for the short trip into town.

  Three hours later, after getting Ben Ingvall stabilized, meeting some of the hospital’s evening emergency room staff, and reassuring Mr. Ingvall’s family that he was doing as well as could be expected, Jake stepped from the hospital into the mild evening air.

  Though he was tired, his thoughts turned to Sharon and the reaction she’d had to the emergency. He had to say he was disappointed she simply disappeared without a word. He understood her hesitancy to get involved, but not her need to leave. Her desire to help that Crane woman had made him think she had a lot of heart. Maybe he was wrong about her. After all, Little Jake didn’t have a brain, though he did seem to have a will of his own. Even now, just the thought of her had him stirring.

  Chapter Ten

  Sharon bit her bottom lip as she stood outside the door of the cute little lake house Old Doc Parker had converted into a clinic years before her birth. The newly painted building with its well-tended lawns looked as fresh, she was sure, as the day he’d had it built all those years ago.

  She was nervous. After all, she had abandoned Jake the evening before like a ninny, without a word of explanation, and now she had to face him. She knew he’d want to know what had happened to her last night, and she’d spent the better part of the night trying to figure out what to tell him. The problem was that she wasn’t a good liar. Unfortunately, she absolutely could not tell him the truth.

  The man on the floor had been someone she’d known from her past. He was older now, but he’d once been one of her mother’s customers. One of the ones who had thought to make time with her as well, if her mother would have been willing to make extra money for selling her daughter’s virginity.

  Her mother’s fury over having to lose Mr. Smith (though they all knew that wasn’t his real name) as a customer had been brutal. She’d beaten Sharon so badly that day that Sharon had missed almost an entire week of school under the pretense of having tripped down their stairs and injured herself severely. Of course there were no stairs in the singlewide trailer they’d lived in at the time, but it was a story she’d been forced to tell Old Doc, so she could get a note to take to school.

  Doc Parker hadn’t been fooled, but his gentle questioning had been met with a fear so ingrained he hadn’t broken through the wall she’d built to protect herself and her undeserving mother. He’d finally given up when she kept telling him it was just an accident, but she knew he knew something was really wrong. Her life had been so painfully embarrassing and filled with pain, she had to wonder again just what she was doing back in the town where all her misery had begun.

  Ms. Addie.

  If it weren’t for Ms. Addie, she wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be meeting with Ms. Addie’s lawyer this afternoon to finally get the deed and the keys to the cabin. If it weren’t for Ms. Addie, she would be desperately looking for a place for her son and herself to live because there was no way she could have paid for an apartment and bills on the remaining minimum wage job left to her once she’d lost the other one. If it weren’t for Ms. Addie…she’d still be Sissy. That poor lost child who was never taught right from wrong, until Ms. Addie taught her another way from what she’d always known.

  Sharon took a moment to pay silent homage to the woman to whom she would be forever grateful. Not just because of the gift of the present, but because of all the gifts of the past. And not even the material things. The greatest gift Ms. Addie had ever given her was unconditional love. But it was also because of Ms. Addie that she was now back in Legend and facing a reality she’d long ago buried.

  Her son had an extended family who wouldn’t want him here any more than they would want her. She was honest with Kyle when telling him she had no idea if his father even knew about him. She also had no idea how Kyle’s father would feel finding out she and his son were back in Legend.

  Her biggest concern right now, however, was facing Jake. She was so embarrassed by her cowardly behavior of the night before, but more, she was infuriated her mother had put her in a position, once again, to have to hide her shame behind a lie. That, as much as anything, would force her to seek a life somewhere other than Legend.

  Sharon took a deep breath and tested the doorknob, not surprised, but still disappointed to find it unlocked.

  The front foyer was empty and still somewhat dark since the overhead lights hadn’t yet been turned on. She passed through the waiting room and opened the door to the back, a door that had, before now, been off limits until Mrs. Huff, or the doctor himself, had invited her back to the examination rooms.

  A shiver skittered down her spine. She’d always hated going to the doctor because her mother had insisted on going as well, which meant everyone in the waiting room whispered about them, and equally bad, Candy would have to go back to the examination room with her.

  For any other girl in Legend that would have been not only normal, it would have been desirable. But not for her. Every time she’d had a need for medical care, the doctor would spend as much time trying to convince Candy to alter her lifestyle and stop exposing Sharon to things little girls should never experience as he did treating his patient. He’d even once threatened to call Family Services if she didn’t clean up her act.

  Of course Sharon wasn’t supposed to have heard their conversations, but the thin wall separating the doctor’s office and the exam room had allowed her to hear her mother’s screaming, cursing responses. All she’d had to do was put two and two together. It hadn’t been hard. What had been hard was walking by Old Doc and pretending she hadn’t heard how rude her mother had been to him. Her shame was never-ending when it came to her mother’s antics.

  “So you came in after all.”

  Sharon stopped cold as her cheeks heated. Even telling herself she was prepared to face him this morning hadn’t prepared her after all. It was frightening, but she feared the blood in her veins wasn’t that different than her mothers. The young doctor was too adorable to ignore totally. It was time to admit it, if only to herself, the man was one fine piece of work. Tall, dark, and handsome, definitely, but it went well beyond that
.

  His deep blue eyes with their dark straight lashes held compassion, laughter, and a hint of sass. His wide masculine lips, which usually smiled, hovered on a frown but didn’t quite accomplish it. His untrimmed, slightly shaggy sun lightened hair was probably very blond when he’d been a kid, but was now a sandy blond/brown that accentuated a healthy light tan that proved his love of the outdoors. It was easy to see he stayed healthy, though his body was more that of an amateur athlete than a body builder.

  Sharon took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about last night.”

  Mock surprise flashed in those eyes. “Really? Which part? The slightly romantic ambiance of the restaurant? The delicious meal? The stimulating conversation? Or was it that you didn’t get a little peck at the end of the evening because my attention had shifted?”

  When she realized her lips had parted in surprise, she snapped them closed. “Excuse me?”

  Jake shrugged. “Just curious what it is you were apologizing for.”

  Heat fueled by aggravation replaced any embarrassment she might have felt. “I am apologizing because I had an emergency and you were too tied up for me to tell you. I had to leave and felt you were too busy to bother.” On some level everything she said was completely true, but he didn’t need to know on what level.

  It was his turn to look surprised. “Oh. I see. So what was the emergency?”

  Sharon lifted her chin. “It was personal.”

  One side of his lips lifted. “So it isn’t any of my business.”

  Sharon tilted her head. “No, actually it isn’t.” She looked past him as the reception phone rang. “Should I get that? Or am I already fired?”

  Looking slightly offended, he stepped back to allow her to pass him. “I wasn’t going to fire you.”

  She walked by him, and smiled in spite of her irritation. He was cute, looking all hurt and ruffled because she’d thought he’d fire her. She hid her amusement and lifted the receiver. After a brief conversation with a Mr. Jackman, searching for the appointment book she couldn’t find, and making a note of the appointment on a sticky note, she replaced the receiver and looked around the small reception area again, and then looked up at Jake who was still hovering in the doorway. “So, where is the appointment book?”

  Looking slightly guilty, he turned, went across the narrow hall to his own office, and then returned with the spiral bound appointment book. He handed it to her. “Sorry. Mrs. Huff and I went over today’s schedule this morning before she left.”

  Sharon took it and quickly jotted Mr. Jackman in at ten o’clock, noting he had another appointment at the same time. “You have a double booking at ten,” she said, looking up to find Jake still there.

  “Not a problem. Mr. Jackman is just coming to get a new prescription for his erectile dysfunction problem. It won’t take but a few minutes.”

  Heat flared across her cheeks. “Are you supposed to tell me this? Isn’t there something about patient confidentiality?”

  Jake settled against the door. “While you work for me, you will be privy to pretty much everything I am about, since there will be times I’ll need you to assist, as well as every time I have to do anything with the female anatomy. We have some legal and governmental paperwork to do to set you up, but the most important thing is you never discuss anything you hear or see here at the office with anyone. Ever.”

  Sharon felt her cheeks heat, but she nodded and lied. “Not a problem.”

  A slight grin lifted his lips and Sharon was certain he was not only aware of, but also enjoying, her discomfort.

  “This office doesn’t have a large enough patient load on a daily basis to warrant hiring a nursing staff. Grandpa always had Mrs. Huff act as his nurse and receptionist. Since you don’t have her experience, I’ll take care of shots, but I’ll pretty much need to teach you everything else you’ll do.” He grinned. “Mrs. Huff offered to stay on for a week to teach you, but I didn’t think it was necessary. I only deal with sickness, physicals, and general family medicine here. Anything serious will be handled at the hospital and I’ll have the nursing staff at my disposal there. Think you can handle it?”

  As her excitement built, Sharon tried not to take too deep a breath before she nodded again. “Sure. But I do have some knowledge, well, I did….

  “It’s been years ago now, but I was just short of completing a medical assistant degree at a community college in Memphis.”

  Surprise lit his eyes and he grinned. “Wonderful! But why didn’t you complete it? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  Sharon shrugged, wishing she’d just kept her mouth shut. As excited as she was to get to do what she’d always wanted, she wasn’t about to tell him her lying, cheating, ex-husband forced her to quit school. That he’d promised she could go back once his education was finished. “I had too many other responsibilities at the time. I just couldn’t make it work.”

  Jake nodded, though his eyes held questions. Thankfully he was too polite to voice them.

  “Okay. Well, I’ve got a pap coming in shortly. Sixteen-year-old girl, first time. Her mother says she’s having female problems, although I think she believes the girl is pregnant but isn’t saying so until she knows for sure. I recommended sending the young lady to a woman doctor for her own comfort, but the mother insisted if a male doctor was good enough for her all these years, it was good enough for her daughter. The way she said it makes me think she’s angry at the daughter. I’ll need you to help make them both as comfortable as possible through the process, although we’re more concerned about the patient rather than the mother. If she is pregnant, there can be no judgments. We need to encourage her to continue with prenatal care, and if it comes to it, I’ll give the mother a good talking-to about the need for her to make this as stress-free for the girl as possible. But once they leave here, it’s out of our hands. Do you have any problems with that?”

  Sharon almost confessed she was once a pregnant teen with an angry mother but stopped as the little bell that had always heralded someone entering Old Doc Parker’s foyer rang. She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she was literally being saved by the bell from sharing too much of herself. She didn’t know what had compelled her to even think of sharing except the young doctor’s insistence there was to be no judgment had hit a note with her. She had been judged so harshly by so many. Only Old Doc and Ms. Addie had been kind; everyone else, including her own mother, had either turned a blind eye and pretended like her growing belly was the result of overeating, or looked at her with disapproval and disdain.

  “Come on back and I’ll show you how to set everything up once you sign her in.”

  Sharon made her way to the desk that was now hers and smiled at the girl and her mother. Annalee Ashford attempted to respond, but her fear-filled gaze darted beyond Sharon to look down the short hall before her response to Sharon’s greeting was overridden by her mother’s. Jeannie Ashford stepped forward with agitated movements that had her daughter scampering to the side. Anger boiled, causing Sharon’s chest to rise and fall more markedly than normal. She knew all too well how horrible it was to face not only a mother’s wrath but also the humiliation of displaying herself to a stranger during the examination.

  She did as she was instructed and offered both mother and daughter smiles and asked them to fill out the medical history paperwork before hurrying to the back where Jake was waiting for her in the first of the two exam rooms. She watched and listened as he pulled a folded paper jacket and sheet from a drawer beneath the examination table and then went to the sink area and pulled out a wrapped tray that held all the necessary equipment for the exam. She slid him a glance, hoping she could hold her own as she played his nurse.

  Sharon bit her bottom lip, torn between confessing she would be uncomfortable participating in the process and accepting it was the job she’d signed on for. The alternative was to quit immediately and go back and clean her mother’s house. But the horrifying thought of having to clean that disease-ridden hole wasn
’t really the issue. The truth was she wanted to help that girl. No matter if she was pregnant or not, the child was scared to death.

  “I’ve got this.”

  Jake stopped in the middle of telling her the process, tilted his head slightly as a grin appeared, and nodded. “Good. Please bring our patient on back.”

  Sharon flashed him a smile and hurried to the front of the doctor’s office that was also the doctor’s home. Although Sharon hadn’t ever been on the second floor, she remembered Old Doc talking about how nice it was not to have to travel even a mile to go to work in the cold of winter as his bones were getting old. She smiled at Annalee. “Come on back.” When her mother rose also, Sharon held up her hand. “I’ll call you back when we’re ready for you?”

  The look of shocked outrage registered before Sharon turned and led the daughter to the back. When she turned to close the door, Annalee was smiling at her.

  “Thank you.”

  Sharon grinned. “You’re welcome. Come on over here and sit down and let me get your vitals.” As she clamped the small, digitized clip on Annalee’s finger, she looked the girl over. Strawberry blond curls fit her freckled face. The green eyes were arresting, the heart-shaped face flawless.

  “I need to ask you a series of questions that you need to answer honestly. The first is what are you here for?”

  Annalee sighed. “My mom thinks I’m pregnant, but I’m not. My periods have stopped. But I haven’t had sex, so it isn’t that. I told her that, and she made me take three home pregnancy tests that came back negative, but she still doesn’t believe me.”

  Sharon nodded. “Okay, you need to tell Doc Parker that.” She wrote down the child’s heart rate on the new chart and placed the plastic covered thermometer probe in Annalee’s mouth, beneath her tongue. When it beeped, she removed it, trashed the plastic wrap, and recorded her normal temperature, too. As she was wrapping the blood pressure device around Annalee’s arm, she remembered Jake hadn’t gotten that far before she’d told him she had it, so she gave it a shot anyway, having had her blood pressure taken so many times over the years. To her delight, it was automated and gave her a digital read-out she could record with confidence.