Father By Choice. M.J. Rodgers
said. “When I went to bawl him out about the leaf blower incident sending you to the E.R. this afternoon, I found him loading sacks of organic fertilizer into his pickup.”
“He was stealing them?”
Dorothy nodded. “First story he gave me was that he was moving the sacks to the other side of the Gardens so they’d be in place when he fertilized next week. But when I pointed to some of your new rose hybrids in between the sacks of fertilizer in his pickup, he had no convenient lie ready for why they were there.”
Emily shook her head. “I’ve been wondering why so many of our supplies seemed to be missing lately.”
“His father has opened a small nursery on the outskirts of town,” Dorothy said. “No doubt Lester’s been taking the supplies from the Botanical Gardens over to him. I told him he had a choice. Either quit or I’d see to it that you fired him.”
“That must have been hard for you, Dot.”
“I never should have suggested you hire him in the first place. I love my cousin but her kid is a loser. I swear he got all of his father’s genes and not one of hers. When Lester was thirteen, I caught him stealing from her purse so he could buy marijuana from another kid pushing it at school. Supposedly, he got himself clean. But clean or not, ten years later and he’s still a thief.”
“I’m sorry about forgetting the key, Emily,” Holly said. “But I don’t think Lester will come back. I watched closely to make sure that he didn’t try to put anything that wasn’t his into his pickup. Josh was right beside me, scowling at him the whole time he was getting his stuff together. And when he started to drive away, Josh yelled at him not to come back.”
“Well, good for our Josh,” Dorothy said. “He seems to be working out okay despite his grandfather’s claim that the boy’s clueless.”
“Josh is a very good assistant,” Emily said. “He simply needs a little time to find his direction in life.”
“Speaking of time,” Holly said, “Josh asked me to remind you to meet with the crane guy today.”
“I have. The sundial has been prepped and readied for tomorrow.”
“Do you need my help on anything?” Dorothy asked.
“Thanks, but I took care of the other last-minute details before coming over. Gardens, dignitaries and media are all in line. We are good to go, Mission Control.”
Dorothy smiled as she set a plate of sliced roast beef on the kitchen table. Emily put the mixed-salad bowl between the beef and a basket of steaming baked potatoes. The fact that her friend still insisted on eating in the kitchen when Emily joined them always made her feel like one of the Mission family.
“Smartest thing I ever did was to convince my fellow board members to put you in charge of the Founders Day Celebration. It’s going to be a smashing success, Em.”
“Okay, what are all you smashing women smashing now?” Ted Mission asked with a grin as he came rustling in the back door, keys and briefcase jangling by his side.
Dorothy immediately stopped what she was doing and went to greet her husband.
Ted and Dorothy Mission had been married more than twenty-five years, were past fifty and packed a dozen extra pounds of good living around their middles. But the embrace and kiss they shared were as hot as young lovers’.
“They’re at it again,” Holly said, shaking her head, but wearing a smile.
Emily watched her friends as she always did—with undisguised envy. Dorothy and Ted had it all—rewarding careers, a long-term love match and a brainy daughter headed for Harvard in the fall.
Once Emily had dreamed of having it all. Now she knew that fulfilling work and a precious baby to love would be enough.
For men might come and go. But a child was forever.
ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Alec Giroux was going over charts when Brad walked by his office on his way out. He waved Brad over.
“You certainly had your share of crazies today,” Alec said as he gestured to the stack of charts in front of him. “Nice save on that chest wound.”
“We were lucky we didn’t lose anyone,” Brad said as he folded his arms and rested his leg against the desk.
Alec leaned back in his chair, the expression on his face conveying the fact that he knew luck had nothing to do with it. “You’re going to ace those board exams next month.”
Brad appreciated the vote of confidence. From the moment he’d begun his residency in emergency medicine at Courage Bay Hospital four years before, Alec had been far more friend and supporter than supervisor.
“You going to take Guy up on his offer of a permanent position here when the exams are over?” Alec asked.
Brad wanted to. In his first month on the job he’d learned more from Alec and his brother, Guy, their chief of emergency medicine, than he’d learned in all his years at medical school. They were the best.
But the money at the community hospital was not. He hadn’t paid off all of his eight years of staggering school loans.
“I’m giving it some thought,” he said, honestly.
Alec nodded. As a single father, he probably knew how difficult it could be to catch up on bills and make ends meet.
“I was reviewing Emily Barrett’s chart,” he said. “Surprised to see it among the bunch of wackos we had walking the halls today.”
Even hearing her name was enough to get Brad to un-cross his arms and plant both feet firmly beneath him. “You know Emily Barrett?”
“My sister, Natalie, says she’s a regular in the pediatric and geriatric wards upstairs.”
Yeah, Brad figured knowing someone at this hospital was how Emily had really learned that personal stuff about him.
“Emily brings flowers and potted plants to the patients who don’t get visitors,” Alec continued. “Nice lady.”
“Certifiable kook,” Brad said beneath his breath.
“I pulled her hospital records,” Alec went on, not having heard the comment. “I was hoping they might shed some light on her prolonged unconsciousness today, but no clues there. You were right to suggest more tests. Shame she refused them. All we can do is trust that she’ll follow up with her obstetrician.”
Brad took a step forward. “She didn’t tell me she’d been admitted to this hospital.”
“Outpatient in the OB-GYN clinic for her artificial insemination eight weeks ago,” Alec explained as he handed over the record. “Dr. Jill Crispin does all of her inseminations and deliveries here.”
Brad started, not sure he’d heard right. “Are you telling me Jill Crispin from the Crispin Fertility Clinic is Emily Barrett’s doctor?”
“You know Dr. Crispin?”
“I’ve heard of her,” Brad said as he quickly read through the hospital record of Emily Barrett that he held in his hands. This had to be a coincidence. The transactions were absolutely confidential. No way either party could learn about the other.
Except as his eyes fixed on Emily Barrett’s maiden name, he suddenly saw that there was one way.
“Brad, is there something wrong? Brad?”
CHAPTER TWO
“WHY DID YOU DO IT?” Brad demanded, working hard to control the anger that seethed beneath his surface calm.
Ed Corbin looked his friend squarely in the eye, took a sip of his beer and swallowed hard. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“You damn well did have a choice.”
Brad’s