Doctor Right

“We found him up on Chilkoot Pass. Fool kid shouldn’t have been up there alone. He said some tourists gave him a ride out of town to the base. They should be shot for leaving a kid like that there by himself. Don’t know what he was doing. He must have slipped on some rocks or something. We wouldn’t have found him if we hadn’t been out looking for that Lawson fellow—the one who’s been missing.”

Alex nodded. He’d been on the search team that had come upon Tucker Lawson’s crashed plane. They’d found some blood and his business card with a stake driven through it, but there was no one around. Searchers, under the direction of the sheriff, had been looking for the man, or his remains, since then. Surely the boy hadn’t been up there looking for Lawson, though. Timmy groaned.

“Easy now,” Alex said as the boy started to move. “Let me check you out first.”

“He’s got a lump on his head,” one of the men said.

“I see that,” Alex said as he ran his fingers over the rest of the boy’s scalp, then he turned to Maryann. “Flash—”

“Here.”

“Thanks.” She’d given him the flashlight before he’d even gotten the word out. Things like this were why he’d promised to write her a letter of recommendation and leave it for the next pediatrician that came here. She was an excellent nurse. She didn’t insist on being personal with him, either. His last nurse had wanted him to—well, he wasn’t sure what she had wanted. She’d resigned when he refused to have dinner with her one night after work.

Timmy opened one eye and stared.

“Don’t worry about focusing,” the doctor murmured to the boy before remembering to use simpler words. “Don’t worry about what you see. It might be fuzzy.”

“I see an angel choir,” Timmy said in quiet awe.

Alex choked back his chuckle as he looked over his shoulder. Children were so honest about their feelings. He saw that Maryann was doing the impossible and getting the fancy women to exit the room. All those women with their dyed blonde hair and sparkling gold might look like a band of angels because of the sun shining on their jewelry as they tiptoed past the gurney, especially when Maryann wore her white uniform to usher them out. No wonder Timmy saw angels.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s Nurse Jenner and some friends of hers.”

“They’re not my friends,” Maryann protested from the door as the men who’d carried Timmy down the mountain followed the last of the fancy women out of the clinic. Alex realized with a jolt that he was teasing Maryann. He’d never done that with any of his other nurses. He believed in professionalism in the clinic. But he liked the way her cheeks pinked up and her brown eyes sparked with indignation. She had dark, fringed bangs, and her hair shone as it floated around her head in the breeze from the open door.

“Is she an angel?” the boy asked.

“Some days,” Alex said. Then he forgot himself enough to grin at Maryann. He decided it would be okay to relax with her; he’d be gone before long, so what could it hurt?

Maryann tried to give him a stern look, but the blush on her face spoiled the effect. She shut the open door, but her hair still floated around her face.

“Does that mean I’m dead?” Timmy asked with some anticipation.

Alex looked down at the boy and smiled. “Not today you’re not.”

“Oh,” Timmy said, and with that, he closed his eyes.

Alex looked up at Maryann again, but she was one step ahead of him. She held out an ice pack she’d brought from the back room along with the gurney. He pressed that against Timmy’s face. “The cold will wake him up.”

“I’ll call his parents,” Maryann said.

“No.” Timmy opened his eyes in alarm. “You can’t call them.”

“You know we have to,” Alex said gently as he finished running his hands over the boy’s legs. “You took quite a fall. Does your leg hurt?”

Timmy winced and nodded. “They’ll kill me for sure.”

“I’ll tell them you’re a brave soldier,” Maryann said as she walked over to the phone.

Alex imagined she would say those very words to them, too. No one could accuse her of not caring about everyone who stumbled across her path. She was generous to a fault and that was the only reason he could think of for her to have sat in the diner last night talking with her cousin about matching him up with someone. Not that either one of the women had shown an over-abundance of caring when Maryann had called him The Ice Man. Wait until that nickname made the rounds of Treasure Creek. He wasn’t the kind of person who talked about himself to everyone he met, but he’d helped enough children in this town to have some friends among the parents. He’d been warned about last night’s conversation by two sources already.

He watched Maryann as she held the phone to her ear and talked to Timmy’s parents. He couldn’t hear the words she was saying, but he could hear the soft tones of her voice.

He supposed the matchmaking had been inevitable. Maryann was the kind of woman who’d bring home stray cats. He knew that when he hired her, but he’d had no other choice. Women like her just couldn’t accept that some men—like some animals—were better off alone. She must have sensed the sadness in him and decided marriage was the solution.

He’d meant to tell her today that he was fine with the single life, but he hadn’t quite figured out the right words. Usually, he’d just blurt it out. He didn’t know why he was hesitating. As near as he could figure, he didn’t want to make her feel bad for caring that he was alone. Also, it bothered him that she thought of him as an ice man, and part of him wanted to prove her wrong.

He must be going soft from living in Treasure Creek. People around here wanted to be connected. They weren’t content with just loving their neighbor, they wanted to know where the guy was going for Sunday dinner, and if he needed help defrosting anything. Maybe it was some primitive emotional throwback to the freezing winters of old when people relied on their tribes for a safe existence. People needed other people then. And at least in this small town, that feeling seemed to still hold true.

He hadn’t thought much about that until one day when people came from miles around for a simple funeral. Even if people didn’t know the old man who’d died, they knew someone who knew someone who knew him. So they mourned the loss of those connections. The tribe had been lessened.

And then every year there was a Christmas pageant at the church that attracted the whole community. Even though he hadn’t been going to church, he’d always been drawn to the pageant.

He wasn’t used to a place like this. He envied the people here their connections, but he didn’t belong.

He should head south for Los Angeles as soon as he could. He’d been saving his money for years so he could open a clinic there. No one would be inviting him to any Christmas pageant down in L.A.

Not that he had time to think about that now, when it looked like Timmy had a fractured bone in his leg as well as the bump on his head. What had the boy been doing out on the pass, anyway?

Maryann hung up the phone and turned back to them. Alex could see why Timmy had been confused enough to think she was some celestial being. Her pink cheeks made her glow. She looked sweet. He had a hard time believing she had talked so openly about his personal life in front of everyone. If she knew anything about the tour guides of Treasure Creek, she’d know they would be making jokes at his expense from now until he left here. In fact, they’d be making jokes about it long after he was gone.

But seeing her in front of him, he couldn’t convince himself she’d meant any harm. Maybe the gossips had it wrong and it had been her cousin who had said those things about him. That thought made him feel better, although he didn’t dare ask himself why he cared which woman had spoken what.

Chapter Two

Maryann put another cool cloth on Timmy’s head. His breathing was still ragged, and Alex had given him a shot to help with the pain in his leg. Alex planned to put a splint on the injured limb as soon as the boy’s parents came, so he’d gone into the back room to pick out what he needed from the supply cabinet. Ordinarily, Maryann would have done that, but Timmy had asked her to stay with him and Alex had nodded his agreement.

“You’ve got to pray for me,” Timmy whispered to Maryann as soon as Alex left the room. He was still lying on the gurney and she had pulled a sheet over his legs. “Times are dire.”

“Dire?” She was surprised he even knew the word at his age.

But he nodded. “Bad. Real bad.”

“You know I’m not really an angel, don’t you?” She reached under the gurney to find another pillow. “I can pray for you, but I have no special powers.”

Timmy nodded. “It’s just for when my parents come in. Look like you’re praying for me. And do you have a Bible? They never yell when there’s a Bible around.”

She stopped, the pillow still in her hands, to look at the boy. “Your parents don’t hit you, do they?”

She’d only seen the Fields in passing. They must be Christians, if Timmy wanted a Bible. On the other hand, she knew some people took the Bible and twisted what it had to say. She had no idea why Timmy would be so intent on reminding his parents of their faith, unless he was afraid of them.

“They yell a lot,” Timmy admitted. “And my mom cries some.”

“But do they hit you?”

Timmy shook his head. “You’re still going to pray though, aren’t you?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Maryann set the pillow on the end of the gurney where Timmy’s legs didn’t reach. Then she walked over to the drawer where she kept her belongings. She carried a small Bible with her. She’d been going to the church here with her cousin, and re-connecting with her childhood faith. It had been a long time since she had regularly read a Bible like she was doing nowadays. Her turbulent adolescence, as she played referee to her parents’ arguments and subsequent new loves, had caused her to drift far away from God, like it was His fault in some way that she had to endure it. She was glad to be back. Her restored belief centered her; she should have never stopped going to church and praying. Even those bad years would have been better.

She held the white Bible up for Timmy to see. “You can borrow this if you want to read something.”

“Put it in my hands like I’m dead.” Timmy crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.

“I most certainly will not.” Maryann walked back to the gurney with the book in her hand. “Your parents are worried enough as it is.” Then she thought a moment. “Besides, it’s a girl’s Bible. You’d look too sweet in your casket if you were holding it. You could as well be holding a bouquet of lilies.”

“Oh.” Timmy opened his eyes and frowned at the Bible. “I don’t want to hold no girl’s Bible.”

“I didn’t think so,” Maryann said as she laid the Bible beside him. “But it won’t hurt to have it close, just in case. Like you’re alive and reading it. You might try a psalm.”

“Maybe you could put a ninja sticker on it.” Timmy cautiously took hold of the Bible. “Then it’d be okay for boys.” Maryann smiled.

She heard more footsteps on the porch and turned to the door. “I bet that’s your parents.”

Maryann walked over to greet the Fields as they opened the door and stepped inside.

“Where is he?” Mrs. Fields asked breathlessly, even as her eyes came to rest on the gurney. She was a slight woman with a harried expression on her face, and she was wearing a stained sweatshirt. Maryann remembered that there were a couple of children younger than Timmy in the family. They were all due for shots and Alex had them on the list for her to call.

“What kind of a fool thing were you doing, boy?” Mr. Fields asked as he followed his wife into the room. He was overweight and puffing hard, but he zeroed in on Timmy right away. “You know better than taking off like that.”

Maryann saw Timmy’s face crumple in misery.

She stepped back to the gurney. “I was just going to say a prayer for Timmy. Would you both join me?”

“Oh.” Mrs. Fields looked up in surprise.

“I—” Mr. Fields started to say something, then stopped.

Maryann walked closer to Timmy and winked at him. She had a moment’s hesitation. It had been a long time since she’d prayed in public and she wasn’t sure if it was the right thing for her to do now since it was all for show. Of course, it was for Timmy’s benefit and God loved children, so it would likely be all right with Him. She bowed her head and started.

“God of all the beings on earth and in heaven,” she began. She thought Timmy would like that since he seemed preoccupied with death and angels. “Timmy here is hurting, and we ask that you make him comfortable. He feels bad for what he did and he asks You to help him do better next time. Amen.”

“Amen,” the Fields both muttered.

When Maryann opened her eyes, she saw that Timmy had been right. His parents did look subdued. They moved over to their son and each gave him a pat on his head before moving back and looking at Maryann, as though waiting for further direction. She nodded approvingly at them, and smoothed the sheets on the gurney. She heard them walk away from the gurney and stop by the door.

They had started talking to each other, thinking she couldn’t hear them. If everything else hadn’t been so quiet, they would have been right, she admitted to herself.

“You were supposed to be watching him,” Mr. Fields hissed at his wife.

“Me? You should have been watching him,” Mrs. Fields said, her voice low and tense. “It’s not like you’re working anymore. You should at least help with the kids.”

“It’s not my fault I can’t find work. These are hard times and you know it. Besides, you’re his mother. Don’t lay it all on me.”

Maryann looked down at Timmy. He could hear his parents, too, and embarrassment covered his face. She remembered what it felt like when her parents were arguing. If someone outside her family heard them, she’d wanted to disappear.

“The doctor will be here in a minute,” Maryann said in her most professional voice. Maybe the couple wouldn’t know she had heard them. If she was calm enough, she might even fool Timmy. “In fact, I think I hear him now.”

The voices all stopped. And then, as if on cue, Alex walked into the room.

Something inside her applauded. He might be an ice man, but she could count on him to show up when she needed him.

“Doctor,” Mrs. Fields said, looking up and giving him a tight smile, “how is he?”

“Your son will be fine. He’s running a slight fever. Keep him inside and warm. Let me know if he develops a cough or the fever goes higher. But the immediate thing is that he fractured a bone in his right leg. I’m setting up a splint for it now. I just want your signature before I treat him.”

“Can it wait?” Mr. Fields asked with a forced smile on his face. “Don’t bones sometimes heal by themselves?”

“Wait?” Alex looked taken aback. “I’m afraid not in this case.”

Mrs. Fields stepped closer. “How much will it be, doctor?” She kept shifting the handle on her purse from one side to the other. “I get paid next week, but—”

“We’ll pay our bill somehow,” Mr. Fields finished for her. His face was red with embarrassment. “We might need to wait until our Permanent Fund checks come. I lost my job. It was the one that carried our health insurance, but we’ll get you paid somehow—” He looked at Alex. “You’ve been here long enough to know about the Permanent Fund checks? They’re the ones we get from the state for all the oil that’s pumped out of Alaska? Those checks are good as gold.”

“Ah.” Alex cleared his throat. “Sure, I know about the checks. Don’t worry, though. I don’t have the figures added up, but I could use some new shelves in the waiting room. If you’re interested, we could trade services.” He looked at Mr. Fields. “I hear you’re a good carpenter.”

“I’ve nailed a few boards together in my time,” Mr. Fields said proudly. “Your shelves are as good as done. I can come back later today to measure everything.”

Alex nodded. “Good. I have some lumber in the back we can use.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Fields muttered.

Maryann watched the whole scene with satisfaction. She knew she was right that the children of Treasure Creek needed this doctor. She only had to look at the sudden hero worship in Timmy’s eyes to know that. Alex didn’t make anyone look small, and that won him the respect of his young patients.

“We’ll just take Timmy in the back and get him set up,” Alex said as he motioned for Maryann to follow him. He looked at Mrs. Fields. “I’ll need to cut the leg off his jeans, but I’ll do it as carefully as I can, so you can sew them back together later.”

The woman nodded. “Thanks. He doesn’t have enough pairs as it is.”

“Say, Doc,” Mr. Fields said from beside the door. “If the shelves aren’t enough, my wife here can introduce you to some of the local women. You know, it’d be like one of those matchmaking services they have in the big cities.”

“What?” Alex turned to look at the man.

“I heard you were looking,” Mr. Fields said as he reached for the doorknob. “We could help you out. Nothing fancy, but the wife here knows everyone. She’ll fix you up.”

Maryann felt the breath leave her body. She had a bad feeling about this.

“Hush about that.” Mrs. Fields turned to her husband. “How can you be thinking about that when our son lies there in pain?”

Then the woman turned to the doctor. “Should we go back in the room with you when you work on Timmy’s leg?”

Maryann risked glancing at Alex. His face looked frozen.

“I’m fine.” Timmy spoke up from where he lay.

Maryann noticed the boy had a strong grip on that small Bible of hers. She wished she was the one holding it, though.

“Maybe you and Dad could wait here,” Timmy added. It looked as if there was a ragged piece of old paper peeking out from the pages of the Bible. Timmy must have put it there. “In this room.”

“Well, I guess.” Mrs. Fields muttered, as if she didn’t know what to do.

“I could wait with you if you’d like,” Maryann offered. The doctor didn’t really need her for the splint. Besides, she’d give anything not to have to face him right now. She could tell he knew all about the conversation she and her cousin had had about him. “We have a few magazines on the table by the chairs.”

She saw Timmy’s parents sit down in two chairs and noted they left an empty one between them. She figured that was where Timmy usually sat. No wonder the boy was torn apart by their arguing; he’d grown up right in the middle of things. Just as she had.

“Nurse Jenner. You’re with me,” Alex said before she even moved.

“Yes,” she said as she gave the chairs one last look and walked toward the gurney.

“Here, I can do that.” Alex reached the gurney first and put his hands on it.

“But I usually push the patients. That’s my job.”

“We’re a team,” Alex said, wheeling the gurney back to the examining room.

Well, Maryann thought, what was that supposed to mean? If she didn’t know better, she’d think The Ice Man was melting. But that was unlikely. Perhaps he was planning to fire her. Not that she could blame him if he did. She hadn’t intended for the whole town to be talking about Alex’s love life. When would she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?

“It was a mistake,” Maryann muttered, as she followed Alex down the hall. “That conversation with my cousin.”

Alex finished pushing the gurney into the room and Maryann turned on the lights.

“We can talk about that later, Nurse Jenner,” he said.

Maryann nodded as she stepped closer to the gurney and bent slightly to adjust a corner of the sheet. At least Alex wouldn’t fire her as long as there was a patient around to hear him do it.

Timmy gave a weak snicker.

“What?” She glanced over at the boy. His face was still pale, but his eyes were mischievous.

“You still look like an angel,” he said, and chuckled a little louder.

Maryann straightened up and glanced at the mirror by the sink. Her hair was just as windblown as it had been after she’d stepped outside to give Johnny Short that lime lollipop. Why did her hair always have to look so wild? It was puffed up in a circle around her head. No wonder Alex hadn’t shown any interest in the women up here. He probably liked women with their hair smoothly drawn back in elegant styles, like the models wore in those glossy magazines. Ever since last night, she’d wondered what kind of a woman he would marry. She hadn’t meant to accept her cousin’s challenge, but she’d been thinking about it ever since.

She eyed Alex as he stood beside the gurney. Whoever he married would need to fit into the world of a prosperous doctor in Los Angeles. Those fancy women were probably right about the expensive cars he would drive. Cooperative hair would be important. He’d want a young trophy wife to ride in his red BMW convertible. Or maybe it would be a top of the line Lexus.

“You might want an angel by your side for the next few minutes,” Alex muttered to the boy, as he removed the sheet that had covered his leg. “I’ll have to cut off part of your jeans before we can set your leg.” Timmy nodded.

“It’ll do my best to be careful, but it’s bound to hurt some.” Alex smoothed down the sheet beside the boy.

“Okay,” Timmy said, as he gripped the Bible.

“I can take that for you,” Alex said, as he held out his hand for the book.

Maryann noticed the boy was reluctant to give it up. “We can put it on the shelf by the doctor’s desk,” she said. “You’ll be able to see it.”

Timmy shook his head.

Alex looked over at her. “It’s okay. He can keep it.”

It was time for them to get to work.

Alex was focused on getting the plaster splint on Timmy’s leg quickly. At times like these, he liked working with an efficient nurse like Maryann. Even though he could sense she was nervous, she anticipated what instruments he’d need and she had them ready for him. More importantly, she kept up a steady stream of soft conversation with the patient, so he didn’t need to think of words to say to distract the patient. For some reason, she was talking about cars today.

He’d given a local anesthetic to Timmy to dull most of the pain in his leg, and the boy was groggy, but Timmy still laughed at Maryann’s chatter.

“There. We’re done,” Alex said, as he finished the splint.

“I think our patient will need a minute to recover,” Maryann said.

He looked up at Timmy’s face and saw he was almost asleep. The book had slipped from his hands and was lying on the gurney beside him.

Alex picked up the Bible. “I’ll move this to the shelf so it won’t fall off the gurney.”

“Careful with it,” Maryann said.

Alex nodded as he walked over to the bookcase. “Timmy sure is attached to it. Although I suppose that’s true for lots of children.”

“It’s natural for children to believe in God,” Maryann said, with a nod.

Alex grunted as he laid the Bible down on an empty shelf. “Maybe, but it passes soon enough.”

Maryann looked over at him curiously. “Why do you say that?”

“The minute we’re born people start having problems. Sooner or later, everyone comes up with a problem God can’t solve for them. And it’s usually sooner.”

“Oh.” Maryann looked at him and then blinked.

“I’m not the only one who has been disappointed in God,” he added, softly. The sympathy in her brown eyes grew and he found the words escaping him. “And, at that, I’m better off than—” He broke off, but he didn’t stop. “Well, I’m better off than my brother.”

Alex held his breath. He never talked about God or his brother. He must be more bothered than he’d thought about Maryann calling him The Ice Man. Why did women judge a man by how easily he spilled his emotions, anyway? Or maybe it had nothing to do with her. Maybe it was the confidence Timmy had in his face when he held onto that Bible. It made Alex remember the way he used to feel a long time ago. Back then, he’d embraced God in the same way he loved his pet frog and the stack of comics under his bed. It was all part of a carefree childhood.