Doctor to the Rescue

Ian touched his cell phone. “Shupe.”

“Ian, this is your neighbor,” said an older woman. “I want to make you aware your little’n wandered over here again.”

Ian’s face snapped up, his expression full of worry. “Tia’s there?”

“Yes. I’m guessing your babysitter got too busy texting again to realize Tia was gone. Again.”

Ian’s jaw rippled. “I’ll be there right away, Miss Ellie.”

“I’d watch her for you, but I’ve got chemo today.”

“No, no, Ell. You need to keep your appointment.” His voice, tender upon first hearing Ell’s voice, softened more.

Suddenly realizing Bri had heard the entire conversation, Ian masked his features and stepped out.

His child care wasn’t working out and he was considering a leave from EPTC, which opened mere months ago. His absence would strain staff and halt expansion projects. She knew about those from small-town breakfast chatter at Sully’s, a local mom-and-pop eatery.

Also, Mitch, EPTC’s founder, requested prayers at Eagle Point Lake Pavilion’s “PRAYZ” gathering Tuesday, a weekly event Lauren and Kate had invited Bri to attend. Bri had learned there of Ian’s struggles with Tia, whose mom had abandoned her. Bri had her own wounds from when her father had left them destitute. Like her neurotic inability to accept help.

Would Ian be angry if he knew people prayed for him? Eric had gone ballistic upon discovering she confided in praying pals about their faltering relationship. She’d been foolish to let him bully her into staying together. Never again would she let a man intimidate and manipulate her with angry words and arctic moods.

Ian exited an office across the hall and reentered her room. He grabbed his lab coat off a wall hook, brusque motions depicting the strain of a struggling single dad who hadn’t gotten enough sleep in the two weeks Tia had been living with him. He stormed for the door, then doubled back.

He snatched a parent how-to book off her chair, evidence he’d been here before. Her gaze sought his. Face stony, he crammed the book under his arm. Why hide it? No one blamed him for wanting to be a better dad. He left in a stiff, halfhearted daze.

Fifteen minutes later, the sound of a little girl crying pierced Bri’s heart. “I don’t wanna come here! I want my mom!”

Ian passed by with a tiny flailing person clad in a purple tutu. His face and bulky arms were severely strained, and the child was crying like a banshee. “I want my mo-o-om!”

But your mom doesn’t want you.

Bri knew that from town chatter, too—that Ian fiercely shielded Tia from her mom’s rejection.

“I don’t want you! I don’t know you!” Tia screamed at Ian.

“I know, Tia. I’m sorry,” Ian said, his voice raw but gentle. “But I know and love you. Things will end up all right. I promise.”

Bri hoped Ian believed his own words. But while his voice was calm and confident, his eyes were desperate.

Thankfully, Tia couldn’t see. Her face was red, and her cries gradually softened to hiccuppy whimpers.

Ian walked the floor with Tia swaddled in the strength of his arms. He swayed her, feet bouncing in gentle rhythmic daddy-dance Bri hoped Tia would recognize as his way of infusing security and comfort. Bri’s heart squeezed.

How could she complain about her own problems when fragile Tia was in such harrowing turmoil? Bri’s heart broke for the little girl.

Lord, mend this broken family. Help Tia trust her daddy. Help her daddy trust You. Prove to them You Are.

The next time Ian passed, Tia rested a chafed and soppy cheek against his broad shoulder. Ian’s tenderness melted Bri.

Wow. He wasn’t the icy-hearted guy she thought she knew. Bri strained to see past shadows muting her view. Emotion glimmered in his eyes. He didn’t look as though he had strength left to care who saw it, either. Though Ian’s brooding insolence reminded Bri of Disney’s Beast, she’d help them for Tia’s sake.

Kate entered with Bri’s bone surgeon, who examined her, wrote discharge orders and left. Kate handed Bri a gift bag.

“Clean clothes!” Bri’s heart swelled at the gesture. Kate helped her dress around the cast. “Um, is Ian still here?”

“I’ll send him in.” As Kate stepped out, she smirked.

Ian walked in, looking worn and weary, moments later. “Kate’s watching Tia so you can speak with me. What’s up?”

Bri’s nerves coiled like a Slinky. “About that barter. We’re still on, right?”

Ian smiled like a sunrise. “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. Bring Tia tomorrow morning, in fact.”

His gaze tacked across her casted arm. “Not sure that’s—”

“My surgeon said I could still train for the fundraising marathon. If I can run a 5K race, I can chase a kindergarten-bound kid.”

“‘Chase’ is right.” His face sharpened. Eyes narrowed. “How did you know her age and that she’s starting school next year?”

“Uhm, I—” she stammered. “It’s a small town. People talk, Ian.”

His mouth thinned. “Apparently.”

“So, about that barter...”

“You’ll let me help renovate the lodge, no resistance?”

“None. You save my cabins from foreclosure. I solve your child-care problem.” She reached out her hand. “Deal?”

He hesitated, then shook guardedly, nodding to her cast. “Deal. So long as you don’t overdo it and undo the repairs we did.”

“We?”

He scrubbed his neck. “Yeah. I, uh, scrubbed in for your surgery.”

“Why? It’s not like my injuries were life threatening.”

His silence unnerved her, and negated her statement.

“Thanks, Ian. That was nice of y—”

“It’s my job,” he responded too quickly. She opted not to inform him he wasn’t convincing. She stuffed her feet into her shoes and realized she couldn’t tie them one handed.

He knelt and did it for her without her having to ask.

Bri bristled and cringed. She hated to be the one needing help.

“Thanks. By the way, the really caring guy I glimpsed on the asphalt yesterday? Then today in the hall hoisting a princess in poufy purple? I hope he sticks around awhile.”

Chapter Two

Ian hoped this wasn’t a mistake.

He was who he was, and that was that. Appeasing Bri wasn’t a priority. Yet, here he was, trekking to her house with Tia.

Coyotes howled in the dusky morning distance. Not distant enough for his liking. He put himself between the woodlands and Tia as they crossed a forest-flanked parking lot between the ritzy state-of-the-art trauma center and Bri’s humble log home. Another feral round of howls sounded. He reached for Tia.

She jerked away, pink tutu fanning her jeans. “I don’t want to hold your hand and I don’t wanna go to her icky tree house.”

Ian stopped. Eyed Bri’s place. Icky? Hardly. Tree house? He smiled. Tia had obviously never seen a log home before. It did look pioneerish under the effect of a purple twilight.

“Tia, I have to be in surgery with my patient in twenty minutes.” He gritted his teeth and ignored the guilt.

A newborn winter breeze rustled Tia’s curly brown hair and caused it to fall over her amber-eyed scowl. As they passed the luminous main lodge and approached Bri’s cabin, Tia got busy in bribe mode. “Please-don’t-make-me-go!” came out as one word. Her face brightened. “I’ll even clean my room.”

Ian dipped his head to hide the snicker. Truth be told, her offer tempted, since this morning her room had turned into a disaster. How could one small person make that big a mess? “Tell you what, we’ll get Sully’s sherbet after work.”

“I don’t like ice cream. And I don’t like you!” She shoved him away, looking like a fugitive pondering flight. He pinched the hem of the new coat he’d bought her in case she made good on the getaway brewing in her eyes. Bri must’ve heard the sidewalk scuffle, because she peeled her window curtain back.

Ian knelt in front of Tia, who glared at him. “Clearly, you’re not happy about having to come here. But I need your cooperation. Please, mind Miss Bri, and be careful of her arm.”

Bri stepped onto a rambling redwood deck that shone with a new coat of cherry lacquer she must’ve applied. Ian stood.

Tia went ballistic, eyes darting around the tree-dotted yard as though seeking escape. Panic filled him that she might actually pull it off. His eyes veered to the deep lake. Images of last night’s river drowning victims flooded Ian’s imagination. He bent down, embarrassed he didn’t know this yet about his own daughter. “Tia, how well do you swim?”

“I don’t know. I never tried it.” She eyed the sparkly sapphire lake, looking very much as though she wanted to, though. Fear like Ian had never known noosed his neck.

Bri knelt. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave my sight,” she reassured as though seeing the stark fear swirling inside him. Ian had never known fire-red, dragon-breathing fear. Not even in combat.

This was his daughter. His joy. His life.

If something were to happen to her...

Ian swept her up in his arms and hugged tight despite her wriggling and making gagging noises. A kiss planted on her forehead, he carried her inside Bri’s cabin and set her down at the farthest end from the lake and all its dangers. “I’ll be back at two. Sooner if I can. Later if traumas pour in.”

Ian felt hope as Tia darted behind his legs, away from Bri. He knelt at eye level, bracing Tia’s arms. “Listen, Miss Bri is your new babysitter. She’s fun. You’ll like her.”

She scowled at him, then Bri. “I’ll hate her.”

“Not acceptable, Tia.” Beyond that, he didn’t know what to say. Make her apologize? He could crawl under a rock. As a dad, he was an epic failure. He studied Tia, hoping for a lightning bolt of wisdom.

Bri knelt in front of Tia. “You mean to tell me you’d hate a babysitter who loves to fairy hunt?”

Tia’s eyes widened. Anger fled. Flabbergasted, Ian blinked. What just happened here?

“Fairy hunt?” Tia sucked in a heap of air. “For real?” She looked at Ian for confirmation.

“Sure,” he answered Tia. “Bri’s a renowned fairy hunter.”

Suspicion narrowed Tia’s eyes. She stepped over to Bri. Aimed a finger at her nose. “Prove it.”

When Bri rose, extending her arm, Tia reached for her hand.

And just like that, Bri won his daughter’s fragile trust.

A little jealous, Ian bid them goodbye with his daughter’s demand ringing through his head and heart.

Prove it.

Those two words were the summation of his life right now, Ian thought as he strode a familiar path to the trauma center.

He desperately needed to win Tia’s trust. Needed to prove he wasn’t the world’s biggest failure as a husband and a dad. Prove to a bank that Bri’s lodge was worth saving. Prove to financial backers that his trauma center expansion projects were worth their time and dime. And lastly, he needed to know, and needed Tia to know, that life would get better. That she’d be okay.

Especially since the ink had dried on unpreventable papers. Ones on which Tia’s mom had too easily signed her away. Anger consumed him that Ava chose a sleazy boyfriend over a child. Now at EPTC’s side entrance for employees, he jerked open the heavy steel door, stormy gray like his mood. He stalked down the halls, not caring that staff had to scramble out of his way.

He wanted to get these surgeries over with and end this too-long and terrible day. Get back to his daughter and try to earn the trust that would take all her pain away.

The second Ian stepped into the operating room, he became all about the medicine. His focus fastened fully on the patient. A patient who deserved a better bedside manner than Ian had displayed walking in here.

A teen girl with the same color hair as his daughter’s.

He needed to apologize to his staff and resist making excuses for his bad behavior. Sure, he’d been up all night tending a never-ending stream of traumas. Hard ones. The kind he couldn’t save. But so had they. Friday nights were like that.

At the operating table, he faced Mitch. “We need to come up with some positive activities for teens around here, bro. Alcohol-infested parties sent way too many of ’em in here last night.” And two of them to their graves prematurely.

Mitch nodded and began to work on the teen whose face had fractured on impact from projectile wine-cooler bottles last night. Two unbelted passengers had been ejected and pulled massive amounts of water into their lungs when the car skidded into a riverbank.

Ian fought worrying over Tia and her curiosity, and Bri’s cabin sitting so close to the lake. Ian trusted Bri. He focused on damping down his fear while enabling his patient to breathe. “She owes her life to her seat belt. It’s good she was buckled, but she shouldn’t have had access to alcohol at age sixteen.”

Mitch nodded. “Agreed.”

A series of mechanical beeps, shooshes and stainless-steel-on-steel chinks invaded the sterile suite along with silent concentration as the surgery got under way.

After their successful operation, Ian found Mitch charting at a mahogany desk in the plaid-decor doctors’ lounge. “Did you hear what I said earlier about creating alternatives for teens?”

Mitch scratched notes on a post-op report and sighed. “I’ll stick it on the list.” Remorse flickered in his eyes. “I hate being so time strapped.” He was getting married in a few months. While Ian was happy for Mitch, attending his wedding was going to be difficult. Especially in light of a divorce Ian had desperately tried to prevent.

Plus, they were under a ton of pressure to get a second trauma crew selected and trained so the current crew wasn’t so stretched with long hours and lack of sleep. Like last night.

Poor Tia. He’d had to drag her here. Tia! Ian slammed his watch up. Ten past two. He stood abruptly. “Hey, Mitch, catch you later. Gotta go. I promised Tia I’d try and be back by two.” He sprinted across EPTC’s lot, past Landis Lodge to Bri’s cabin, hoping her quirky bird clock hadn’t squawked, alerting Tia to his lateness.

Bri met his approach at the deck, finger to her lips. He tripped with a tremendous clatter over a gnome in her yard. Despite winter’s chilly onset, heat blasted his neck.

After seeing if he was okay, Bri bit back a grin and stood. “Try to be quiet. She’s napping.”

“Wow. You got her to nap?” He stepped into her cabin to mouthwatering scents of Italian herbs, roasted tomatoes and cheesy pasta. The open-room layout afforded a great view of her forest-critter themed kitchen and stove. His stomach growled, reminding him he’d been too occupied to eat.

“We hunted fairies all morning.” She motioned him to have a seat and set a tall glass of tea in front of him.

He sipped, loving the memories it evoked of dinners with family. A scenario Bri probably hadn’t experienced in years. His heart clenched, wondering if it would always be just him and Tia.

He’d missed family get-togethers while at war. He needed to carve out time to take Tia to visit his mom. She’d like Bri. Ian ripped his gaze from whatever culinary goodness bubbled in that pan, and the ridiculous notion that Bri would ever meet his mom.

Bri watched him. Too carefully. “Would you and Tia like to have dinner with me?”

He rubbed the condensation on his glass. “I guess we could.” His stomach rumbled intense gratitude. “What time?”

“How does five sound?”

“Great, actually. That’ll give me a couple hours to wrangle the cabin that bucked you off its roof.” He smirked and reached for a washed cherry tomato she’d put in a bowl. The second he popped it in his mouth, his tongue cheered. “I’m kinda hungry.”

“I kinda noticed.” Bri grinned. “We’ll see you at five.”

Ian jogged past the trauma lot to Lakeview Road, where his yard sat two houses away from EPTC. He loaded work stuff in his truck and drove to Bri’s, not wanting Tia to have to trek home in the dark. Once there, he attacked cabin renovations with fervor.

A little over two hours later, his cell rang. “Hey, Bri.”

“Hi. Wanted to let you know dinner’s almost ready. Also, Tia’s still sleeping. She’s not feverish, so I don’t think she’s ill. But I wasn’t sure how long you wanted her to nap. Any longer and she’s liable not to sleep well tonight.”

If he got called in again, Tia wouldn’t sleep well, anyway. “Go ahead and let her sleep. I’ll grab a shower and be over.”

Her hesitation jabbed him. He needed more regular hours, but that couldn’t happen until they got a second trauma crew trained. Ian sprinted home, showered and walked back to Bri’s. The second she let him in, his taste buds watered in anticipation. “It smells amazing.”

So did she, as she leaned close to him to refresh his glass. “Vanilla?”

Her eyes rose. “No, just plain old tea.”

“I meant your perfume. It’s nice. So is the tea.” He inhaled the iced tea in two gulps. “Iced, even in winter?” he added since she shifted uncomfortably under his compliment. Best to keep things casual. Not personal.

“It’s Southern Illinois. People sit in hot tubs and drink sweet iced tea all year round, even on cool nights.”

“I can believe that.” He stretched his back and arms.

Her gaze skittered over him, then quickly away, eyes like a feather across his skin. She pulled out burgundy-cushioned bar stools at the kitchen counter dividing a warm-umber dining room from the canary-yellow kitchen. Her color choices were like the varying levels of her personality: shy but strong, bright and stark, each wall painted a different vivid, modern color.

Unlike his walls, which were a mix of muted, neutral, dark and subdued, which matched his personality right now.

For a brief second, Ian wished Bri knew the humorous, lighthearted, fun-loving guy he used to be. Then his marriage had imploded. Life would never be the same and he’d likely never be that guy again. Her words drifted back: That guy? I hope he sticks around. For the first time in a long time, Ian did, too.

But workload, stress and the pain of divorce didn’t promise to let up anytime soon, so it was doubtful.

Bri motioned him to a stool, then sat on one herself.

He eased onto the end stool, leaving two comfortably between them. He enjoyed the break on his feet. He’d been on them nearly twenty-six hours now. “Find any fairies today?”

She chuckled, lowering her gaze. Her lashes brushed the high slope of her cheek. “No, but the troll you tripped so gracefully over has been assigned by Tia to scout the yard for them.”

“I see. I’m not surprised Tia napped, actually. I had to drag her out of bed twice to bring her to the trauma center.”

She shifted thoughtfully. “How come? Did you get called in on a case or something?” She swiped a bead of tea off her lip.

He averted his gaze. “Yeah. Twice.” He should reassure her Tia hadn’t been unattended. Passed around amid nurses, yes. Left alone for one minute, no. “Staff took turns watching her.”

She adjusted her arm sling. “That won’t work long-term.”

Ian nodded, feeling fortunate to have Bri babysitting. She cared. “At least Tia’s not being shuffled around during the daytime, thanks to you.” Still, no wonder Tia’s moodiness had escalated this morning. She hadn’t had proper sleep. Bri was right. It couldn’t last. He was her only parent now. “I need to establish a routine and propagate proper sleep.”

A smile touched Bri’s lips.

“At least that’s what that bossy parenting book said.”

That made her laugh. He was glad. More than he should be.

He forced the smile back down. “I’d like to tell the book’s know-it-all author his ridiculous creative parenting ideas are easier said than done for time-strapped single parents in survival mode.”

She rubbed her arm above the cast. “What creative ideas?”

“Silly stuff, like making Christmas trees with stacked star cookies and caterpillars out of cupcakes and—”

She jerked. Eyes darted to the counter behind him. He turned, peering at the artistic culinary creations, including none other than a caterpillar cupcake.

He looked at Bri. Face down, she rubbed her arm again. Two things greatly concerned him. One, she seemed fearful he’d ridicule her for the cutesy cupcakes she and Tia had created. Second, she couldn’t seem to leave her arm alone.

“You keeping up with your pain meds, Bri?”

Her eyes veered even farther away. Yet the stubbornness befell her that Caleb had warned him about. “As much as possible. I don’t want to risk falling asleep with Tia here.”

“Aw, Bri. I considered that. You need—”

Her head shook. “No. I’m tough. I can take a little pain.”

She might have convinced him had the hollowness not haunted her eyes. She rose swiftly and went to work at the stove.

Ian followed, grabbing salad ingredients. “You okay?”

She shrugged. “I’m worried about Caleb. He hasn’t called.”

Ian froze, knife midslice in a cucumber. Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard from Caleb, either. Not since the day of Bri’s surgery. “I’ll call him. Find out what’s going on.”

Bri added carrots to the lettuce Ian tossed. “No, let me. I’m afraid if you call him, you’ll tell him about my injury.”

* * *

Bri grew alarmed when Ian tensed. “He doesn’t know, right?”

Tia must’ve woke because she shuffled in the next room. “Yes! I’m sure of it, Boom. They got hillbilly fairies in this here forest. And it’s not only haunted with fairy-eating trolls, it’s naked. All the PJs blew to the ground, Boom.”

Ian and Bri turned. Tia walked circles, play phone to her bed-head ear. Naked? The fairies or the forest? Bri wondered.

“How odd,” Ian said, watching Tia wear tracks on the wood parquet floor Bri had installed last week. At least she’d gotten her cabin renovated before falling, thus had a decent place to live.

“What’s odd? Boom? He’s Tia’s imaginary friend.”

He scowled. “She’s my daughter. I am well acquainted with Boom, the infamous scapegoat for Tia’s messy room. I meant odd in the sense that I pace like that when I’m on my cell phone.”

Bri felt like laughing at the fact that Ian didn’t seem the least bit alarmed by Tia’s talk of ill-attired fairies, fallen PJs or cannibalistic trolls. Yet at the same time, Bri’s ire rose at being scolded over explaining who Boom was.

She drew a deep breath to calm down. “I noticed her pacing. And you never answered my question about Caleb.”

His eyes flicked to her with annoyance before returning to rest on Tia. The look of wounded nostalgia entering his eyes caused Bri to stop pressing the Caleb issue. For now.

Ian might be standing here now but his mind was a world away. He watched Tia with a mix of regret and awe as she paced like he did. “I wonder what else she acquired from me,” he said, confirming Bri’s hunch.

“She definitely acquired your beastly moods and appetite.”

Before Ian could utter a retort, Bri stepped out of his line of fire. “Tia, wash your hands. Dinner’s ready.” Bri went to pull garlic bread from the oven.

Ian blocked her. “Let me.” He eyed her casted arm. “You could get burned.” His gaze bore down on her, squelching any protest. Burned? Felt as if she already was.

He neared to help set the table. “You need to trust me.”

She whirled. “About my arm? Or Caleb?”

A muscle clicked in his jaw. “Both.”

“I’m sorry, Ian. I hate not knowing if he’ll be okay and I hate being in the humbling position of needing help.” Bri clenched her teeth against urges to confront more about Caleb.

Both men being tight-lipped could mean Caleb was about to embark on a mission of danger she’d be better off oblivious to. “FYI, Tia also acquired your rude penchant toward ignoring, hedging and projecting in order to protect your secrets.”

Tia “hung up” her play phone and skipped into the kitchen, unaware of her dad’s gaping mouth. Well, what did he expect? He’d been harsh with his words and truth, too.

They sat at the big, rustic wood table that had been Mom’s. Despite the tension, dinner started out light and fun and lively but ended subdued with Ian growing more withdrawn and sullen. So much so, Bri jumped when her wall screeched like a pterodactyl.