Книга - An Engagement For Two

An Engagement For Two
Marie Ferrarella


A recipe for love!Dr Mikki McKenna’s dedicated her life to her patients determined never to fall in love. But restaurateur Jeff Sabatino can’t get compassionate Mikki off his mind. He’d move mountains for minutes with her…







Recipe for love:

two reluctant souls and a dash of matchmaking!

Dr. Mikki McKenna’s dedicated her entire life to her patients. But when it comes to herself? The devoted doctor’s vowed never to repeat her parents’ mistakes, and that means never falling in love. But restaurateur Jeff Sabatino can’t get his mother’s compassionate internist off his mind. He’d move mountains just for minutes with Mikki. Have the Matchmaking Mamas once again cooked up a romance?


USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and seventy-five books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com (http://www.marieferrarella.com).


Also available by Marie Ferrarella

Christmastime Courtship

A Second Chance for the Single Dad

Meant to Be Mine

Twice a Hero, Always Her Man

Dr. Forget-Me-Not

Coming Home for Christmas

Her Red-Carpet Romance

Diamond in the Ruff

Dating for Two

Wish Upon a Matchmaker

Ten Years Later…

A Perfectly Imperfect Match

Visit millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more information


An Engagement for Two

Marie Ferrarella






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


ISBN: 978-1-474-07725-5

AN ENGAGEMENT FOR TWO

© 2018 Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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To

Charlie.

Bet You Never Thought

When You Sauntered

Into My Second Period

English Class That

First Day

That Half a Century Later,

We’d Still Be Together,

Did You?


Contents

Cover (#uf60d5fc4-cd30-5784-aeca-790a41fe2b88)

Back Cover Text (#ua990c2fc-b4ed-5c04-9c7b-b0b9c817e6da)

About the Author (#ubf140702-4d54-5b42-b2ea-49ba22b96726)

Booklist (#u82f46e51-1b3b-5f82-a5de-6f511fed126b)

Title Page (#ua288b57a-2af4-5181-8cab-371e4d2f53da)

Copyright (#u4662dd9a-05c6-5f69-b2da-4eafb966ca93)

Dedication (#u47bf18bb-85b0-5df7-9a8e-e8d7e02e8ac1)

Prologue (#u8c4a4be1-a8e8-51eb-8185-c543f57b90f8)

Chapter One (#u6c6b4767-a80f-5c65-b9d4-aa938c744f09)

Chapter Two (#u62353f95-68f5-55a7-86d8-5015ee953f2b)

Chapter Three (#ub4e361b1-984e-55bc-9a24-a4ffc5a294a5)

Chapter Four (#u3fe13364-2160-509f-9cec-03e173cb0db0)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)


Prologue (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

“Hi, Mom.”

Maizie Sommers stopped short as she entered the ground-floor office of the real estate business she had lovingly nurtured and guided into a thriving enterprise over the last decade and a half. She was just returning from helping a young couple find the home of their dreams, something that always gave her an immense amount of pleasure.

The very last person she expected to see in her office, sitting in front of her desk, was her daughter, Nikki. Nikki, a pediatric physician and her only child, was responsible for Maizie initially dipping her toe into the—at that point—very unfamiliar waters of matchmaking.

She and her lifelong best friends, Cecilia Parnell and Theresa Manetti, had done so well finding a match for Nikki that they were encouraged to continue in their endeavors and find perfect matches for Cilia’s daughter and Theresa’s children.

When that worked out, they decided to continue matchmaking as an occasional hobby.

The hobby caught fire, and while all three women went on to maintain the separate businesses they had built over the years, matchmaking became very near and dear to their hearts—as was their determination to remain quietly behind the scenes. They were in it for the satisfaction, not the recognition—and certainly not the money since there was never any charge.

Maizie and her friends were quite proud of the fact that the couples they had brought together over the years never knew they were being skillfully guided to come together.

But that certainly wasn’t the first thought that entered Maizie’s mind when she saw her daughter sitting there.

“Is something wrong with Lucas or one of the children?” Maizie asked, giving her daughter a quick kiss hello.

Concerned, she dropped into the chair behind her desk, scrutinizing her daughter’s face and looking for some sort of indication as to what had brought Nikki here in the middle of the day.

“What makes you think there’s something wrong with one of them?” Nikki asked.

“Well, let me see. You’re a highly regarded pediatrician whose hours are only slightly shorter than God’s. You’re a wife and the mother of three very energetic young children. That alone uses up every moment of your day and night, and I haven’t seen you since Ellie and Addie’s party,” Maizie reminded her, mentioning the twins’ fourth birthday last month. “My guess is that only an emergency of some sort would bring you here to see me in the middle of the day.”

Nikki sat up a little straighter in the chair, although she was unconsciously knotting her fingers together. “Well, you’re wrong.”

Maizie continued to watch her daughter’s hands. “Good.”

“It’s not an emergency,” Nikki emphasized.

“Happy to hear that.” Although, Maizie thought, something was definitely wrong. Those were not the hands of a carefree, untroubled person.

“Not exactly,” Nikki amended.

“Ah.” Now they were getting to it, Maizie thought. “And what is it, exactly?” she asked her daughter.

Just then her phone rang.

Nikki looked at the landline on her mother’s desk. “You want to get that?” she asked.

“No,” Maizie answered. She didn’t want her daughter using the call as an excuse to suddenly change her mind and leave. “That’s why God created answering machines.”

Nikki appeared guilty. “I feel bad, taking up your time like this.” She looked at the phone. The call had obviously gone to voice mail. “You worked really hard to get here.”

“One delayed call isn’t going to torpedo my business, Nikki. Besides, Susanna, my assistant, is due back from lunch soon. She can call whoever it is back. You are, and always have been, my first priority,” Maizie insisted. “I’ve expanded that to include Lucas and the children, but you are still in first place. Now, what’s this all about? And why are you about to twist off your fingers?” She nodded at her daughter’s hands.

Stilling her hands, Nikki sighed. “I don’t quite know how to say this, Mom.”

“One word at a time is usually the way to do it,” Maizie encouraged. “At this point in my life I’ve heard just about everything,” she added, “so just spit it out, my love.”

“I know—” Nikki began and then she paused, at a loss how to continue.

“You know what, dear?” Maizie asked, waiting.

Nikki took a breath, then blurted it out. “That you arranged to bring Lucas and me together.”

Maizie smiled. She was surprised that it had taken Nikki so long to come to this conclusion. “I see. Well, those were just the circumstances that arranged themselves, dear.”

“That you took advantage of,” Nikki said, knowing the way her mother operated.

Maizie tried to understand what her daughter was getting at. “You’re not telling me that, after all these years of marital bliss, you’re going to get upset with me for meddling in your life, are you?”

Untangling her fingers, Nikki gripped the chair’s armrests to keep her hands apart. “No, I’m not.”

“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up.” Maizie smiled at her. “Anything else?”

Nikki still hadn’t gotten to the reason she was here. “Yes, um...”

“Go ahead, dear,” Maizie urged patiently.

“I need you to meddle again, Mom.”

“You’re looking for another husband?” Maizie asked wryly.

Nikki’s eyes widened. For a moment, she didn’t realize that her mother was kidding. “No!”

“Good, because I really do like Lucas.” Still smiling, Maizie became serious. “Talk to me, Nikki,” she encouraged. “It never used to be this hard for us to talk. What’s on your mind?”

Nikki decided to choose a roundabout approach instead of being direct. “Do you remember my friend Michelle McKenna?”

“Mikki? Of course I remember her. Lovely girl. Not the best parents,” Maizie recalled, “but a lovely girl. She was over at the house a lot when you were younger and you two went to medical school together,” she said to prove that she really did remember the girl. “What about her?”

“I want you to do for her what you did for me,” Nikki said.

Ah, now it was all beginning to make sense, Maizie thought. “Does she know you’re asking me to...matchmake?” Maizie asked tactfully.

“Oh, no, no, and I don’t want her to know,” Nikki said with feeling. “She’d never agree to it.”

Maizie was well acquainted with that sort of reaction. “Why would you want me to do it, then?”

“Because she’s a wonderful person, Mom,” Nikki cried. “And she deserves to be happy. But I’m worried she’s going to wind up alone. She’s so afraid of making her mother’s mistakes, she won’t even think about going out with anyone.”

Maizie looked at her daughter thoughtfully. She was well aware of the other young woman’s situation. Mikki’s parents had fought constantly and then went through a vicious divorce when she was a preteen. Her mother went on to marry—and divorce—three more times. She had no idea how many times Mikki’s father had gone that route. The man had dropped out of sight, from what she gathered.

What she did know was that all this had taken a heavy toll on the young woman. She’d had Mikki stay over for sleepovers as often as she could to spare her daughter’s friend from witnessing the acrimony manifested by her parents.

“Will you do it, Mom? Will you work your magic for Mikki?” Nikki asked her.

Maizie was more than happy to help. “Yes, of course I will. On one condition, though,” she added, eyeing her daughter.

“What?” Nikki asked.

“You tell me how you found out that I had a hand in bringing you and Lucas together.”

Nikki laughed, relieved. “You mean other than the fact that I’m brilliant, like my mother?”

Maizie smiled. “Yes, other than that.”

“Jewel figured it out and told me,” Nikki answered. Jewel was Cilia’s daughter and she, like Theresa’s two offspring, was Nikki’s friend.

“I see.” She nodded, accepting the explanation at face value. “All right then, I’m going to need some current information about Mikki—it’s been a while since I’ve seen her,” Maizie told her daughter. And then she smiled. “Don’t worry, this’ll be painless, and Mikki will never know that you came to me—unless you want her to know,” she qualified.

“Heaven forbid,” Nikki cried. Then, in a more subdued voice, she asked, “Will you let me know who you pick out?”

Maizie smiled mysteriously. She knew it would be for the best if her daughter remained in the dark until the proper meeting was arranged and pulled off.

“Oh, darling, a magician never reveals her secrets,” Maizie told her daughter with a wink.


Chapter One (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

“There’s someone to see you, Mrs. Manetti.”

Melinda Jacobsen’s announcement as she peered into Theresa’s back office was accompanied by a giggle best suited to the teenager she’d been eight years ago when she had first come to work for Theresa’s catering company in an apprentice capacity.

Theresa jotted down a last-minute thought about a menu she was creating in her notebook and then looked up.

“Bring her in, Melinda,” Theresa told the young woman whom she’d eventually placed in charge of baked goods.

Hearing Melinda giggle again, Theresa wondered what had come over her. Melinda was usually very levelheaded.

“It’s a he.” This time the giggle came before the words, further arousing Theresa’s curiosity.

In less than ten seconds, her curiosity was laid to rest. Jeff Sabatino stepped around Melinda and entered the small, crowded office where she took her calls and created the menus that made her catering business such a prosperous success.

As if reading her mind, the young woman reluctantly left the room before Theresa could ask her to leave.

The tall, broad-shouldered man with thick, slightly unruly dark hair smiled at his former boss. “Hello, Mrs. Manetti. I hope you don’t mind my stopping by without calling first.”

Jeff had gotten his start with Theresa’s catering business before branching out and opening his own restaurant a handful of years ago. Theresa had been one of his first customers and was proud of his success. She had always thought of him as a protégé.

“Of course I don’t mind. And Jeff, you own your own restaurant, and I saw that you’ve been getting some really stunning reviews lately. I think you can call me Theresa now,” she told him warmly. Theresa gestured toward the two chairs that were facing her desk, the ones where clients usually sat when they came to engage her services. “Please, sit.”

“That’s all right,” Jeff told her. “I’m not staying long.”

“Looking to buy me out?” Theresa asked with a trace of amusement. She knew that wasn’t the case, but Jeff appeared way too serious for this to be strictly a social call. “Or are you here because you need help—because your restaurant is doing so well, you find that you just can’t keep up with the demand?”

“Neither,” Jeff answered, “although I’ll never forget the debt I owe you. I would have been nothing more than a short-order cook if it hadn’t been for what you taught me.”

Theresa thought back to when he’d first walked into her establishment, a very handsome, very nervous young man with a great deal of promise. The memory warmed her heart and made her smile.

“Ah, but you had the potential to do so much more than that, and you wanted to learn. Desire is something I can’t teach, Jeff. Everything else, I can.” She assessed him more closely as she stood. She saw worry in his light green eyes. “This isn’t a social call, is it, Jeff?”

“Not exactly,” Jeff confessed.

Theresa made her way behind him to the door of her office and closed it. She had a feeling her former protégé would prefer privacy.

Turning around to face him, she said, “I’m listening.”

Now that he was here, Jeff wasn’t sure how to start. He wasn’t in the habit of asking for favors, especially not from the woman he credited with giving him not only his start, but also the push to open his own restaurant—not to mention that she had also lent him the money to get started.

He’d paid off the latter, but in his heart, he would forever be in Theresa Manetti’s debt. Which made coming here, hat in hand, rather awkward for him.

But this wasn’t for him, Jeff reminded himself. It was for his mother. Thinking of that now, he pushed on. “I remember that you once said one of your close friends has a daughter who’s a doctor.”

“I might have mentioned it,” Theresa recalled. “And if I did, I was talking about Maizie. Her daughter, Nikki, is a doctor.” A slight note of confusion entered her voice. “But Nikki’s a pediatrician and I don’t imagine that you’re looking for a baby doctor—are you?” she asked suddenly, looking at him in surprise.

It had been a while since she’d been in contact with Jeff, and although she would have liked to think he would have gotten in touch to tell her if he was getting married, she really had no guarantee of that. After all, he was a very busy young man these days.

“No,” Jeff quickly answered. “But your friend’s daughter does interact with other doctors, doesn’t she?” he asked. “At the hospital, I mean.”

She wasn’t accustomed to seeing Jeff this unsure of himself, not since he’d first come to work for her. She tried to set him at ease.

“Nikki’s a very friendly young woman, so yes, I’m sure she does. What’s this all about, Jeff? Are you ill?” she asked, displaying a deeply ingrained mother’s sense of concern.

He suddenly realized how he had to be coming across. “Oh, no, not me—”

“Your wife, then?” she asked, watching his face to see if she’d guessed correctly.

“No, no wife. No time,” Jeff added, then told her, “You know I’d never get married without inviting you, Mrs. Man—Theresa,” he corrected before she could. “You’re like a second mother to me.” He sighed. “Which brings me to my first mother.”

“Your mother’s ill?” Theresa asked, recalling how supportive the woman had been of her son when he’d first opened his restaurant, Dinner for Two. “What’s wrong, Jeff?”

“That’s why I need the name of a good doctor—preferably one with a really good bedside manner about him—or her,” he added quickly. “Actually, I think my mother would prefer a her,” he told Theresa. “As for me, I’d just prefer a good doctor.”

“When was the last time your mother saw a doctor?” Theresa asked, curious.

He really didn’t have to stop to think. He knew. His mother avoided doctors as if they carried the plague in their pocket. “When she gave birth to my sister. Tina’s twenty-nine now,” he added.

That was really hard to believe. “You’re kidding,” Theresa said.

“No, I’m not,” he said honestly. “My mother doesn’t trust doctors. A doctor misdiagnosed my father’s condition until it was too late to save him.” It had happened twenty-five years ago. At the age of ten, he’d suddenly been the man of the family. “He died.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Theresa said with genuine sympathy. “But that doesn’t mean all doctors are like that.”

He blew out a breath, feeling very weary all of a sudden. “I know that, but my mother, well, it’s hard to win an argument with her. However, she’s getting weaker and I just might be able to bully her into it—if I can find a competent, sympathetic doctor to take my mother to.”

“Which is where I come in,” Theresa concluded.

Jeff nodded. “Could you put me in contact with your friend’s daughter? Or have your friend’s daughter recommend someone to you? I don’t care how it’s done,” he told her, feeling just a little desperate, as if he was fighting the clock.

He had no idea just how serious his mother’s condition was, but she’d been in pain recently. A lot of pain. “I just need it done. I’ll take my mother to see this doctor on your say-so. My mom’s only sixty-five, Theresa, and she has a lot of life left—as long as I can get her to see reason and get treatment for whatever it is that’s making her feel so weak and ill.”

Theresa smiled at him. She found his concern for his mother touching.

“You’re a good son, Jeff,” she told him affectionately.

Jeff shrugged away the compliment. He appreciated what Theresa was saying, but he really needed the name of that doctor. “She’s a good mother. I’d like her to live long enough to see her grandkids.”

Theresa’s ears perked up. “So there is something I should know about?”

Jeff laughed softly. “My sister, Tina, has got two kids and my brother’s wife is two months away from giving birth to their first baby.”

Since he’d opened the door, Theresa saw no reason not to slip in and satisfy her curiosity. “What about you, Jeff? Would you like to have children?”

It wasn’t something he thought about often. “First I’d have to find a wife who would be willing to put up with my crazy hours—”

Theresa’s antennae went up a little higher. “But if you did?” she pressed.

“Then yes, I guess I’d like to have kids,” he allowed. “But right now, I just want to find someone who can get my mom well.”

Theresa nodded. “I’m on it,” she told the young man she thought of as a son. “Consider it already taken care of, Jeff,” she added with a smile.

He paused to kiss her cheek before leaving. “You’re the best,” he told her.

“At what I do, yes,” Theresa replied softly. She doubted that her former protégé heard as he hurried from her office.

* * *

“You’ll never guess who came to see me today,” Maizie Sommers told her two best friends as they all gathered around the card table in her family room for their weekly game of poker.

“Considering all the traffic that your office sees, my guess would be just about anybody,” Cilia Parnell quipped.

“Try harder,” Maizie coaxed, displaying her customary patience. “Who’s the one person you’d never think would come to see me? I’ll give you a hint—it’s about our matchmaking hobby,” she told her friends, her eyes shifting from Theresa to Cilia and then back again as she waited for one of them to make a guess.

“Well, that narrows it down to half the immediate world,” Cilia quipped. And then she took a closer look at her friend. “You look like the cat that ate the proverbial canary. I suggest you tell us or we’ll be sitting here guessing all evening—and getting it wrong.”

“Besides, I have to ask you something—and I have news,” Theresa announced excitedly, “so get on with it, Maizie. You know I hate it when you just leave off the ending like that.”

Maizie shook her head, surrendering. “Oh, all right. You two do take the fun out of this, you know that, don’t you?” she said, feigning disappointment.

“The person’s name?” Cilia prodded her friend, waiting.

She thought she’d at least get them to play along once or twice. However, since they didn’t, Maizie told them, “Nikki.”

Theresa looked slightly confused. “Your daughter, Nikki?”

“I’ve only got one daughter,” Maizie pointed out, thinking it was needless to add her name in like that. “Yes. Nikki.”

“She came to you about matchmaking?” Cilia asked, astonished.

“Yes,” Maizie replied patiently.

It didn’t make any sense to Theresa. “Well, your granddaughters are too young, so Nikki didn’t come about them—” And then something else occurred to her. “How does she know that you’re into matchmaking?”

To the best of Theresa’s knowledge, none of their children knew anything about this side venture she and her two best friends were engaged in, despite the fact that they’d secretly arranged all four of their children’s marriages.

“Apparently, Jewel told her,” Maizie said, shifting her gaze toward Cilia.

Very little ruffled Cilia, but this clearly astonished her.

“My Jewel?” Cilia asked incredulously. This was the first she’d heard even a hint of this. Certainly Jewel had never said anything to her.

Maizie nodded. “Your Jewel,” she confirmed. “But the really astonishing thing about this is that Nikki wants me to ‘work my magic,’ as she put it, to arrange a match for her friend Mikki. The two of them were roommates all through college and then they graduated medical school together—”

“Wait, so this Mikki you’re talking about, she’s a doctor?” Theresa asked, wanting to be absolutely sure she was getting the story straight before she allowed her imagination to run off with her.

“That’s what usually happens when you graduate medical school,” Maizie replied, her voice somewhat strained.

A doctor.

That was all Theresa needed to hear. She clapped her hands together in a sudden, uncharacteristically overwhelming burst of joy.

“Perfect!”

Maizie glared at her friend oddly, wondering what had come over her. “I think so, too. But why did you just say that?”

To explain, Theresa felt she had to backtrack a little. “Do you two remember Jeff Sabatino? That very handsome boy who used to work for me and then went on to open up his own restaurant right here in Bedford?” She looked at Maizie and Cilia, searching for any signs of recognition.

“Oh, that’s right. Dinner for Two,” Maizie recalled. “I went there when it first opened. Wonderful food. You taught him well,” she told Theresa with a warm smile. And then she paused. “But why are you bringing him up?”

“Well, initially I wanted to ask if Nikki could recommend a good doctor for his mother. Seems Mrs. Sabatino refuses to go see one, and Jeff thinks she’s in failing health,” Theresa answered. “He asked me to ask you to ask Nikki—”

Cilia held up her hand, stopping her friend from continuing. “Cut to the bottom line, Theresa. None of us are as young as we used to be.”

Maizie gave her friend a look. “Some of us are younger than others, Cilia—but yes, Theresa, what is the bottom line?”

Theresa told them Jeff’s request. “Can you have Nikki recommend a good doctor—preferably female—with a good bedside manner?”

Maizie hadn’t come this far in life without the aid of well-honed intuition. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

Theresa loved it when things just all seemed to come together. They all did.

“Well, Jeff is extremely good-looking. He’s got chiseled features and liquid green eyes a woman could get lost in,” she told her friends. “I’m speaking as a grandmother, by the way,” she added in case her friends had any doubts about her interest in the young man, “and there’s no girlfriend in the picture. He said something to the effect that he’d like to have kids, but he’s too busy right now making a go of his restaurant—and taking care of his mother.”

Maizie needed no more. Her eyes lit up. “We could get two birds with one stone.”

“Exactly what I was just thinking when you started talking about Nikki’s friend,” Theresa said. And then a bubble-bursting thought suddenly occurred to her. “This friend, she’s not a specialist, is she?”

“From what I remember, Mikki is an internist who specializes in cardiology,” Maizie answered.

She smiled broadly at the two other women sitting at the card table. A single hand hadn’t been dealt yet, and quite possibly, one wouldn’t be, at least not tonight, Maizie thought. Tonight was for making plans and laying groundwork.

This was going to be good.

Maizie smiled broadly at her friends. “Ladies, I believe—in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous character, Sherlock Holmes—that the game is afoot.”

“I think the quote ran a little differently than that,” Cilia corrected.

Theresa waved her hand at the possible contradiction. “The exact wording doesn’t matter, Cilia. What does matter is that we just might have ourselves another match in the offing.”

“Details,” Maizie said aloud what they were all thinking. “Let’s review details.” She turned toward Theresa. “You tell us about your former protégé and then I’ll tell you about my daughter’s friend so that there are no surprises—other than pleasant ones, of course,” she added.

Theresa rubbed her hands together and smiled broadly at the two other women at the table. “I knew today was going to be a good day.”

“Put your cards away, Maizie,” Cilia said, noticing that the deck was still out. “Looks like we’ve got work to do.”


Chapter Two (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

“Oh, come on, Michelle. Come to the party with me. You work too hard, darling. Don’t be afraid of having a little fun.”

Mikki McKenna suppressed a deep sigh.

Served her right for answering her cell phone without looking at caller ID. But she’d just pulled into her parking spot in front of the medical building, and because of the hour, she had naturally assumed that it was someone in her office or the hospital calling.

Either that, or it was one of a handful of patients she’d entrusted with her private line in case of an emergency.

She hadn’t expected her mother to call. That came under the heading of an entirely different sort of emergency. Something just short of the apocalypse.

It had been several months since she’d heard from her mother. Thinking back, Mikki vaguely remembered that it had been right between her mother shedding Tim Wilson, husband number four, and going off on a cruise to some faraway island paradise, the name of which presently escaped her. Her mother always went off on a cruise after every divorce. Cruises were her mother’s primary hunting grounds for potential new husbands. She kept going on different cruises until she found someone to her satisfaction.

“I’m not afraid of having fun, Mother,” Mikki began, attempting to get her mother to see her side for a change even though, in her heart, it was a hopeless endeavor.

Veronica McKenna Sheridan Tolliver Wilson—her mother thought that having so many names made her seem like British royalty—immediately interjected, “Well, then come! This promises to be a really wonderful party, Michelle. Anderson throws absolutely the very best parties,” she said with enthusiasm.

Anderson. So that was the new candidate’s name. She wondered if the man had any idea what he was in for.

“I’m sure that he does, Mother,” Mikki said, humoring her. “But—”

Veronica was quick to shut her daughter down. She’d had years of practice.

“Michelle, please, you need to have a little fun before you suddenly find that you’re too old to enjoy yourself. Honestly, I don’t know how I wound up raising such a stick in the mud,” Veronica lamented dramatically.

Possibly because you didn’t raise me at all, Mother, Mikki thought.

Between her parents’ arguments and the almost-frenzied partying they both indulged in, singularly and together, she’d hardly ever seen her parents when they were still married.

She remembered being periodically dropped off to stay with various relatives as a child. As she got older, there were sleepovers at friends’ homes instead, especially her best friend, Nicole. Envious of the family unity she witnessed, Mikki had made sure she was the perfect houseguest, going the extra mile by cleaning up after herself as well as her friend and even preparing breakfast whenever possible.

It was her way of ensuring that she would be invited back.

By the time she was twelve, her parents had divorced, and they’d professed to want shared custody of her—which meant, in reality, that neither parent really wanted to be saddled with her upbringing. Each kept sending her to the other. Money was substituted for love. The only interest from either one of her parents came by way of the actual interest her trust fund accrued.

If it hadn’t been for her great-aunt Bethany, Mikki would have felt that she had no family at all. It was Great-Aunt Bethany who took an interest in her education and suggested that she consider attending medical school.

The latter had grown out of her having nursed an injured bird back to health after it had flown into the sliding glass patio door.

“You have a good heart and good instincts, Michelle. It would be a shame to let that go to waste,” Great-Aunt Bethany had told her that summer, literally dropping a number of medical school pamphlets in her lap.

And that had been the beginning of Mikki’s career in medicine. Her desire to help others, to make a difference, took root that summer. Very simply, it was the reason she had decided to become a doctor.

There had also been a small part of her—because for the most part, she had given up hoping to make any meaningful connection with her mother—that did hope her mother would be proud of her choice.

She supposed she should have known better.

“Well, if that’s what you want, I suppose you should go for it,” Veronica had said when she told her mother of her plans to go to medical school. “But personally, I can’t see why you’d want to go poking around people’s insides or whatever it is that you’ll be doing. It’s all so very icky, darling.” Mikki could still picture the look of revulsion on her mother’s face. “And you really don’t have to do that, you know. You don’t need to earn a living.”

She let her mother go on trying to talk her out of her choice until Veronica lost interest in the subject.

Her mother was always losing interest in subjects, this included the various men that she had married. It was always “the next one” who promised to be better. Until he wasn’t.

Watching her mother over the years, Mikki had become sure of one thing. That was not the kind of life she wanted.

“I’m only going to be in town for another day or two,” her mother was saying now. “I don’t know why you don’t want to take the opportunity to come out of your shell and see me.”

“Because I won’t be seeing you,” Mikki pointed out patiently. “Not personally, at least. You’ll be partying with an entire ballroom full of people.” Her mother was never happier than when she was the center of everyone’s attention. And if she wasn’t the center of attention, she did something to make that happen.

“And what do you want me to do, Michelle? Would you like me to sit by the fireplace like some old woman, mourning over things that didn’t happen?” Veronica asked testily.

“No, Mother,” Mikki replied. Because it was getting warm in her car, she put her key in the ignition and cracked open a window. She knew she could just as easily step outside, but she didn’t want anyone overhearing her conversation with her mother. “I want you to do whatever makes you happy. Just like I want to do whatever makes me happy.”

“But—”

She could hear her mother’s frustration vibrating in the single word. But she’d learned not to allow her mother to play her.

“Sorry, Mother. That’s my other line. I’ve got to go,” Mikki told her, terminating the call.

Mikki held the cell phone against her for a moment and sighed. For once, there was no other incoming call, but she couldn’t think of another way to get her mother to stop going on about the party at the Ambassador Hotel that she wanted her to attend. She had absolutely no use for those kind of vapid parties. Mingling with a roomful of strangers wearing overpriced clothes seemed like a colossal waste of precious time to her.

She supposed that the invitation could be her mother’s way of trying to connect with her after all this time, but she really doubted it. Most likely, her mother was just trying to assuage her guilty conscience, although that in itself was rather unusual. Guilt and Veronica McKenna Sheridan Tolliver Wilson did not coexist on the same plane.

Best guess was that Anderson Pierce, Veronica’s boy toy of the month, had probably expressed an interest in meeting her daughter. Mikki wouldn’t have agreed to go even if she wasn’t busy, which she was.

All the time.

She had a thriving internal medicine practice associated with Bedford Memorial and, if that wasn’t enough, she also volunteered on Saturdays at the free clinic.

She would sleep, she often said, when she was dead.

That would also be when she’d party, Mikki thought with a smile. When she was dead.

Her cell phone began to ring again. This time, she looked at caller ID before answering. The number on the screen was not familiar, but the name above it was.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to Maizie Sommers.

“Mrs. Sommers?” she asked uncertainly, still not sure this was the woman she was thinking of.

The second the woman spoke, all doubt vanished. No one could pack as much warmth into a simple sentence as her best friend’s mother could.

“Mikki, how wonderful to hear your voice again. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you—”

“And busy, I hear,” Maizie said, reading between the lines. “Nikki tells me that you’re extremely busy these days.”

“Well, yes, I am,” Mikki admitted, but she didn’t want to just brush the woman off because of that. She had some very affectionate memories associated with her best friend’s mother. She’d lost count the number of times she had slept over Nikki’s house—or the number of times she had wished that Nikki’s mother was her mother, as well. “But never too busy for you, Mrs. Sommers. What can I do for you?” she asked, certain that the woman had to be calling about something. It wasn’t like her to just call up for no reason.

“That’s very sweet of you, Mikki,” Maizie responded. “As a matter of fact, I did call you for a reason—”

Mikki was quick to tell the woman some necessary information. “I’m not in my office right now, but I know that my schedule is full for the next few days. However, I can see you either before office hours or after office hours, whichever would be more convenient for you, Mrs. Sommers.”

She heard Nikki’s mother chuckle softly. “You haven’t changed a bit. You were always such a very thoughtful young woman. This isn’t about me, dear. It’s about—a friend,” Maizie said, finally settling on a satisfactory wording for her request. “The poor dear hasn’t been well lately.”

Maizie paused for a moment to recall exactly what Theresa had told her. “She’s been experiencing sharp pains in her abdomen and a general feeling of being unwell—”

“And what does her doctor say about her symptoms?” Mikki asked. She didn’t like stepping on another doctor’s toes unless she thought that there might be malpractice at the bottom of the case.

“That’s just it, dear. She doesn’t have a doctor. Absolutely refuses to go see one,” Maizie added for good measure.

In this day and age, that didn’t make much sense to her. “Why?” Mikki asked.

“It’s a very sad story, really,” Maizie said. “Her husband was misdiagnosed many years ago, and the poor man died as a result.”

“And so now she doesn’t trust doctors,” Mikki concluded.

“No, not since that day,” Maizie confirmed. “She’s adamant about it.”

“I can see why she might feel that way, Mrs. Sommers. But I can’t exactly examine her against her will,” Mikki pointed out.

Maizie started talking a little faster as she tried to change Mikki’s mind about the matter. The way she saw it, there was a lot at stake here, more than just Jeff’s mother’s health.

“Her son is very worried about her,” she stressed, continuing to set the stage. “If I can get him to bring her in to your office, can you give her a thorough examination?” Maizie asked. “You always had such a wonderful, calming manner about you.”

Mikki laughed quietly. “I never examined you, Mrs. Sommers.”

“I meant in general,” Maizie said. “You know, I always thought you were the perfect friend for Nikki.”

That brought back memories. “I always thought it was the other way around, really.”

Mikki thought for a moment. Her cell was beeping, letting her know that this time there was another call coming in. However, she didn’t want to put Maizie on hold or risk disconnecting. She wanted to finalize things before ending the call.

She thought for a second, then asked, “Could either you or your friend’s son bring this lady to my office at eight tomorrow morning?”

“Eight?” Maizie repeated.

“I know it’s early,” Mikki allowed sympathetically. She was an early riser, but she knew a lot of people weren’t. “But it’s the only vacant time I have until the following day—”

“No, that’s fine, really,” Maizie assured her. “I was just making sure I heard you correctly.” She knew Jeff’s restaurant didn’t open until eleven so, technically, he was free at that time in the morning. And from what Theresa had told her about the young man, even if he wasn’t free, he would still make the appointment. “I’ll have to call and make sure that he can bring her,” she said, just so Mikki wouldn’t suspect anything. “Is it all right if I call you back?”

“Of course it’s all right,” Mikki responded. “By the way, my office is in the medical building across the street from Bedford Memorial.”

“I know,” Maizie replied. “Just like Nikki’s.”

“Right.” Mikki realized that of course Nikki’s mother would be aware of that. Only her own mother had no idea where she practiced and what hospital she was associated with, Mikki thought ruefully. “Except that Nikki’s office on the fifth floor. I’m on the third. Suite 310.”

Maizie had already done her homework, but to keep from arousing Mikki’s suspicions, she repeated, “Suite 310. Got it,” Maizie said. “I really appreciate this, Mikki. Or should I say Dr. McKenna?”

“For you I’ll always be Mikki,” Mikki told the older woman.

“Yes,” Maizie said warmly, “you will.” And with all her heart, she sincerely hoped that this match, like the others so far, would work out. Very few young women deserved to be happy as much as Mikki did. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Mikki.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Mrs. Sommers,” Mikki told her with genuine sincerity. “I’m a doctor. This is what I do.”

“You mean fit patients in at the last minute and come in to see them at hours that are way too early?” Maizie asked, amused. That wasn’t a doctor, Maizie thought. That was a saint.

“Perfect description of my life,” Mikki told her friend’s mother with a laugh.

Memories from bygone days when her daughter and Mikki were just starting out on their journey came flooding back to Maizie. She found herself growing nostalgic.

“We really need to get together at your earliest convenience, dear.”

“You’re not feeling well, either?” Mikki asked, concerned.

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Maizie said quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “I just meant that I would love seeing you again. It’s been a while, you know.”

“Yes,” Mikki agreed. “It has.” And unlike her conversation with her mother a short while ago, Mikki found herself really wanting to get together with the woman on the other end of the call.

“Please call me the first moment you find time in that busy life of yours,” Maizie encouraged.

“I’ll be sure to do that. In the meantime, see if your friend can come in tomorrow morning. If he can’t, call me back and I’ll see what other arrangements I can make.”

“I will,” Maizie promised. “You were always one of the good ones, Mikki,” she added.

“Funny, that was always what I thought about you, too,” Mikki said before terminating the call.

The next second, her cell phone beeped again. “Dr. McKenna,” she answered.

“I know who you are, dear.” She closed her eyes. It was her mother again. “Have you had time to come to your senses about attending the party yet?”

“My senses are fine, Mother. And the answer is still no. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a patient to see,” she added quickly. “So goodbye again, Mother. Have fun at your party.”

With that, she ended a call from her mother for a second time and hurried off to her office in order to officially begin her day.


Chapter Three (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

“I know you mean well, Jeffrey, but I don’t want to go to see any doctor,” Sophia Sabatino protested early the next morning.

The petite woman with salt-and-pepper hair was clearly in distress as she did her best to get her son to change his mind about “dragging” her off to some unknown doctor’s office.

Like his two siblings, Jeff loved his mother dearly, and he usually gave in to the diminutive martinet, but not this time. He had made up his mind. This was too important. His mother needed to see a doctor, and he was taking her to see one before it was too late.

“Sorry, Mom,” he told her. “I’m overriding you on this one.”

She looked at him in exasperation. “You’re taking advantage of the fact that I’m too weak to put up a good fight,” Sophia complained.

“Mom,” he said patiently, “try to understand. It’s because you’re feeling so weak that I’m taking you to the doctor.” Handing his mother her purse, he tried to get her ready to go with him.

Sophia defiantly dropped her purse to the floor. “I’m not going to see some quack and taking off all my clothes,” she declared. Lifting her small chin, she crossed her arms before her chest.

“This isn’t a quack—” Jeff began. This time, as he picked up the purse, he decided it was useless to return it to his mother. She’d only drop it again, so he slung the straps over his own shoulder.

“They’re all quacks,” Sophia informed him. “Your father, God rest his soul, thought all doctors walked on water, and look where it got him,” she pointed out. “Dead,” she declared when Jeff didn’t answer her.

With determination, Jeff took hold of his five-foot-one mother’s elbow and guided her out the front door. His goal was to get her to his car, which was parked in the driveway, as close to the front door as possible.

“They’re not all like that, Mother,” he said patiently. Bringing her to the passenger side, he held the door open for her. When she remained standing where she was, he very gently “helped” usher her into the seat. She remained sitting there like a statue, so he wound up having to strap her in before closing the passenger door.

Rounding the front of his car, he got in on the driver’s side as quickly as possible. Weak as she appeared to be, he wouldn’t put it past his mother to bolt from the car.

As he buckled up, then started the engine, his mother picked up the conversation as if there had been no long pause.

“Of course they’re all like that,” she insisted. “It’s all right, Jeffrey. Don’t trouble yourself about me. I’ve had a long, full life. I’m ready to go meet your father.”

“Well, you’re just going to have to postpone that meeting, Mom,” he told her firmly. “Tina, Robert and I aren’t ready for you to lie down and die just yet.”

“That is not your decision to make, Jeffrey,” Sophia sniffed.

“It’s not yours, either,” he countered. “Lying down and dying isn’t your style, Mom. You’ve still got years of nagging left to do.”

Sophia opened her mouth to protest his disrespectful attitude, but instead of words, she uttered a surprised gasp as a hot wave of pain washed right over her.

Torn between thinking his mother was resorting to even more theatrics and believing that she really was in acute pain, Jeff drove faster.

“Hang on, Mom,” he told her in the most calming voice he could summon. “It’s going to be all right. My old boss’s best friend’s daughter recommended this doctor,” he said, hoping that would give his mother some confidence.

Sophia’s breathing was labored, but she still managed to ask sarcastically, “Couldn’t find one on Doctors Are Us?”

It was more of a gasp than a question, and Jeff had to listen intently to make out what she was saying. He didn’t want her dismissing the doctor he was bringing her to before she even met her. “Mom, I’m serious. This is serious—”

“I know.” Pressing her hand against her abdomen, Sophia closed her eyes. “Which is why I just want to be left alone to die in peace, not have some wet-behind-the-ears would-be doctor try to earn back his entire medical school tuition by treating me and pretending he knows what he’d doing.”

“Mom—” Jeff’s voice grew sterner despite his concern about her condition “—you’re beginning to make no sense.” His mother grabbed his arm. Her long, thin fingers felt surprisingly strong as she clutched at him. “Mom?” Concerned, he spared her a glance as he made a right at the corner. The hospital and the adjacent medical building were just up ahead.

Jeff didn’t have to look closely to see the perspiration not just on his mother’s brow, but on the rest of her face, as well. She had to be reacting to the pain she was experiencing, because it wasn’t that warm a morning.

He’d waited way too long to strong-arm his mother. He just hoped it wasn’t too late.

“Hang in there, Mom, we’re almost there.” He did his best to sound encouraging.

Clutching the armrest on her right and her son’s arm on her left, Sophia waited for the pain either to pass or totally consume her. Her breathing was growing more labored.

“Do you think your father’ll recognize me? It’s been a long time and I’m not the young woman I was when we lost him,” she said hoarsely in between panting.

“He won’t have to recognize you, because you’re not dying, Mom.”

Parking in the closest spot available, which because of the hour was right up in front of the medical building, Jeff got out and quickly hurried over to the passenger side. Opening the door, he slowly eased his mother out and to her feet.

She looked rather unstable.

“Do you want me to carry you?” he offered.

“No.” Sophia pushed his hands away. “I’m going to walk into this charlatan’s office on my own two feet,” she announced with far more bravado than she was actually feeling.

He knew it was an act, but for once he encouraged it. “That’s my girl.”

She looked at him accusingly. “If you really cared about me, you would have let me stay home and—” Her eyes widened as a sudden new onslaught of pain seized her, causing her to clutch at her abdomen. “Oh, Jeff, it hurts. It really, really hurts,” she cried, all but sagging to her knees.

Jeff was torn between putting his mother back in the car and driving over to the hospital’s emergency entrance and taking her upstairs to see the doctor who was waiting for her. The doctor who Theresa Manetti had assured him would be able to calm his mother down and find out what was wrong with her.

Jeff quickly weighed the options. He knew his mother. She’d balk at the emergency room, but he had managed to half talk her into seeing this doctor.

He went with door number two.

“What...what...are you doing?” Sophia gasped as he closed his arms around her. “I’m too heavy...for...you,” she protested.

Jeff had lifted his mother up into his arms and proceeded to carry her into the medical building. “I’ve carried bags of rice heavier than you,” he informed her, heading over to the elevator bank.

Because it was so early, there was an elevator car standing on the ground floor with its doors wide-open. It was empty.

He walked right in.

“Can you press three, Mom?” he asked, taking nothing for granted.

He could see more perspiration forming on her brow. She had to be in pain, he thought.

“This...is...a waste of...time,” Sophia told him, trying hard not to gasp between each word. With visible effort as well as a show of reluctance, she weakly raised her hand and pressed the number three.

The doors barely closed before they opened again on the third floor.

Getting out, Jeff glanced at the signs on the wall, saw the arrow, then went right. Reading the numbers, he looked for suite 310.

Arriving in front of the door, he tried to angle the door latch with his elbow to push it down. When it didn’t give, he tried again.

When the latch still didn’t move, he used his elbow to bang on the door, hoping there was someone inside who would hear him and let them in.

* * *

Mikki had arrived at her office even earlier than she normally did. She’d let herself in through the back door because Angela, her receptionist, and the two nurses who worked for her, Virginia and Molly, weren’t due in until regular hours, which officially began at nine.

Just because she was doing a favor for Maizie Sommers didn’t mean that her staff had to be inconvenienced and come in earlier than usual, as well, Mikki thought. They worked hard enough as it was.

Mikki had just slipped on her white lab coat over a simple gray pencil skirt and blue-gray blouse when she heard a loud thud against the front office door.

Actually three thuds, she amended. Someone with a very heavy hand was either knocking on the door or trying to break it down.

Since she didn’t keep a weapon in the office, she slipped her cell phone into her lab coat pocket after first pressing nine and one. All she had to do was press one more digit and the police would be on their way, she thought confidently. Bedford had next to no crime to speak of, and the well-trained police force, from what she’d heard, were eager to exercise their muscles.

Hopefully they wouldn’t have to, she thought as she carefully approached her front office door.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

“Dr. McKenna?” a deep male voice asked. “I’m Jeff Sabatino. I’ve brought my mother in to see you.”

Relieved, Mikki quickly unlocked the main door—she hadn’t had a chance to entirely open up the office yet.

She was about to say as much when she saw that the man she was speaking to was carrying an older woman in his arms.

“What happened?” Mikki asked, immediately opening the door wider and stepping aside to allow him to walk in.

“My mother started complaining of this stabbing pain on our way over here, and then when she got out of the car, her legs suddenly seemed to give way and she collapsed.”

“I didn’t collapse,” Sophia protested indignantly. “I had a twinge of weakness. But I’m all right now,” his mother declared with determination. “My son exaggerates things. I just want to go home and get into bed.” She said the latter as if she was issuing an order to her son.

“Soon, Mrs. Sabatino,” Mikki promised. “But I’d like to examine you first, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind,” Sophia retorted stubbornly.

“She’s very grateful,” Jeff corrected. His mother still in his arms, he looked around the general area. “Do you have an exam room?” he asked, then mentally upbraided himself. He hadn’t meant to ask her that, he’d meant to ask where her exam room was.

Mikki smiled. “Actually, I do. I find they come in very handy in my line of work. Right this way,” she told Jeff, leading him to the back of the office.

There were three exam rooms located in the back, one right next to the other. She opened the door to the first room and gestured for him to bring his mother into it.

“If you just have her lie down on the exam table,” Mikki instructed, “I can get started.”

Jeff did as she asked, placing his mother gently on the paper-covered examination table. Mikki couldn’t help noticing that he had a very sensitive manner about him. It seemed almost in direct contradiction to the masculinity the tall, dark-haired man exuded.

“I’ve got her insurance cards and her driver’s license,” Jeff said, reaching for his mother’s purse in order to produce the items.

But Mikki shook her head. “Don’t worry about that right now. My receptionist isn’t in yet. She handles all that. Right now, I’m more interested in why your mother had to be carried in—other than the fact that she didn’t want to come to see me. Mrs. Sommers told me that you don’t have any confidence in doctors,” Mikki said, turning to her patient.

“I don’t trust them,” Sophia all but growled, keeping her hand firmly pressed against her lower right abdomen and grimacing.

“Mom!” Jeff admonished. He knew his mother had a take-charge attitude and she had no problem with making her opinion known, but he’d never seen her acting rude before, and it surprised him. It also wasn’t any way to behave toward a woman who had gone out of her way to come in early and see her before office hours.

Mikki raised her hand, silently asking him to hold his peace for a moment. She was interested in her patient’s response.

“Why not?” she asked the woman.

“Because a doctor killed my husband,” Sophia cried with a hitch in her voice.

“Killed him or didn’t save him in time?” Mikki asked diplomatically.

“What does it matter?” Sophia snapped. “He’s gone. My Antonio’s gone,” the woman lamented.

“It matters,” Mikki said gently. She began to slowly move her fingers along the perimeter of what seemed to be the painful region. “But right now, what matters more is what’s going on with you. What are you feeling, Mrs. Sabatino?”

“Like someone’s cutting up my insides with a burning-hot band saw.” Her statement was punctuated with another audible cry of pain as she clutched at her abdomen again, almost pulling herself into the fetal position.

“I’m going to press a little more on your abdomen, Mrs. Sabatino. I want you to tell me if it hurts,” Mikki requested.

“It hurts, it hurts,” Sophia cried immediately.

“Mom, she hasn’t touched you yet,” Jeff pointed out, then turned toward the woman examining his mother. “I’m really sorry, Doctor,” he began.

Mikki shook her head, wanting to put him at ease. “Don’t be. Your mother’s pain is very real,” she told him. “She’s obviously hurting without my touching her.” As she spoke, Mikki subtly placed her hand first near his mother and then very gently on the area where she thought the pain originated.

She was right.

“Argh!” Sophia cried, her eyes narrowing as she angrily looked at the doctor. “You’re hurting me!”

“I’m sorry,” Mikki apologized. “I just want to be sure what’s going on. How long have you had this pain?”

Sophia shrugged carelessly, avoiding her son’s eyes as she mumbled, “A few weeks, I guess.”

“Mom!” He’d only become aware of the problem in the last couple of days. “A few weeks? Why didn’t you call me?”

Still avoiding his eyes, Sophia sighed. “I didn’t want to bother you. You have that restaurant and everything. You’re always so busy,” she said just before her expression changed as she noticeably braced herself for another wave of pain.

Instead of reaching for a thermometer, Mikki opted to test her theory the old-fashioned way. She lightly placed her fingertips against the woman’s forehead, finding it quite warm.

“Okay,” Mikki murmured to herself. “I think that proves it.”

“What is it?” Jeff asked, looking at the doctor quizzically. “Can you tell what’s wrong with my mother?”

Mikki didn’t want to be premature, but she had a very strong suspicion about what was going on. “Well, I think that we’d better get your mother into the hospital,” she began.

“No, no hospital!” Sophia interrupted.

“Mom, let the doctor talk,” Jeff told her, trying to get his mother to calm down long enough to hear the diagnosis.

“I don’t care what she’s going to say, I’m not going to die in a hospital,” Sophia declared.

“No,” Mikki responded with confidence. “You’re not. But in order for you not to die, we need to get you there in time.”

“In time for what?” Sophia demanded. “To cut me up into pieces?”

“No, just one piece,” Mikki answered quite seriously.

“What is it, Doctor?” Jeff asked. His mother was clutching his hand and he wanted to do his best to calm her, but right now, he wasn’t feeling all that calm himself. “What’s wrong with my mother?”

“I need to run some tests,” Mikki prefaced.

“I got all that. I understand. Just tell me what you suspect is wrong,” Jeff said.

“Well,” Mikki began, “with any luck—”

“Luck? You call feeling like someone set your insides on fire lucky?” Sophia cried indignantly. “Take me home, Jeff!”

“Let her talk, Mom,” Jeff ordered, surprising his mother with his abrupt tone. He turned toward Mikki. “Doctor?”

“Best guess,” Mikki said, enunciating every word as she looked at the all but terrified woman on her examination table, “is that it looks as if your mother has appendicitis.”


Chapter Four (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

The pain had momentarily abated, and Sophia sniffed. “Some doctor. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” she told her son.

Jeff prided himself on his patience. He had a nearly infinite amount, both at work and when it came to dealing with his mother when she was being difficult. But his ample supply was just about used up this particular morning.

A warning note entered his voice. “Mother—”

Ignoring him, Sophia said, “I had my appendix removed when I was six,” just before she suddenly doubled up in pain again.

“Are you sure?” Mikki questioned. “Forgive me,” she quickly interjected, “but according to what you just said, you were six, and maybe you’re not remembering things quite clearly.”

“Of course I’m sure,” Sophia bit off, annoyed that this slip of a girl was doubting her. “My mother told me that’s what happened.” About to continue, she suddenly grew very pale as she grabbed her son’s hand. “I can’t take this anymore, Jeffrey. Put me out of my misery.”

Interceding, Mikki laid a gentling hand on the woman’s arm to get her attention. “I fully intend to, Mrs. Sabatino, but not the way you mean.” Mikki looked at Jeff. “I have to get her to the hospital and run some tests,” she explained. “I still think it’s appendicitis, but if it is something else, the CT scan and abdominal ultrasound should show us what we’re up against.”

Jeff looked at her, puzzled. “How can it be appendicitis if hers was removed?”

“She could be mistaken,” Mikki pointed out. “At six, it’s easy to misunderstand what’s happening. Checking to make sure the appendix was removed is a simple process.”

Sophia’s laugh was harsh. “She just wants to get me into the hospital and do all those expensive tests on me.”

He was aware that the doctor was doing him a favor, seeing his mother so quickly. She certainly didn’t deserve to be treated this way. “I’m sorry about this,” he apologized to Mikki.

Mikki’s smile wasn’t strained. Instead, it was understanding.

“It’s okay, really,” she told him. “I’m not offended. Your mother’s afraid. Who wouldn’t be?” she asked, giving Sophia an encouraging look. Sophia appeared to be totally oblivious to it. “Let me just leave a note for my receptionist and I’ll ride over to the hospital with you and your mother,” Mikki told him, picking up a pad and pen.

Jeff realized what a huge imposition this had to be for the doctor, especially since his mother wasn’t even one of her regular patients. He could see why Dr. McKenna had been recommended to him. She seemed to have an infinite amount of patience.

“I really appreciate this, Dr. McKenna,” he told her, then lowered his voice before adding, “My mother can be very difficult.”

Mikki thought it prudent not to comment on that as she quickly wrote a note to her receptionist. He could say anything he wanted to about Sophia, but after all, the woman was his mother. If she agreed with his assessment, in all likelihood he would become defensive and that would make further communication difficult.

Being vague about her new patient’s disposition was the best way to go.

“Let’s just try to get her better,” Mikki responded. “I’m going to call ahead so that we can get her into the radiology lab for those scans quickly.”

With that, Mikki turned away in order to make her call.

The pain abated again for a moment. Concerned that she was disrupting his life, Sophia looked up at her son. “Just leave me here, Jeffrey. You have to get to work,” she reminded him.

“Not for a few hours yet,” Jeff corrected, “and anyway, I have people to cover for me. Let’s just focus on finally getting to the bottom of this pain you’ve been having.”

A ragged sigh escaped Sophia’s lips. “Everyone dies, Jeffrey.”

His mother could never be accused of being happy-go-lucky, Jeff thought. Or an optimist. “But not today,” he told her firmly.

Sophia began to protest just as the woman she viewed as far too young to be a doctor, much less one who was exceptionally skillful, rejoined them.

“Everything’s set,” Mikki announced. “Let’s get your mother over to the hospital. We’ll use your car.”

He didn’t ask her why, but once they arrived in the hospital parking lot, the answer quickly became apparent. The doctor pointed out a space marked Physician Parking Only and told him to park there.

“My car’s a small two-door,” she explained, “and I wanted your mother to be comfortable.” Quickly getting out of his vehicle, she told Jeff, “Wait here. I’m going in to get a gurney for your mother.”

The moment the doctor walked in through the electronic doors labeled ER Entrance, Sophia grabbed her son’s arm again. “I don’t know about this, Jeffrey.”

“Well, I do, Mom. We’re here and we’re getting to the bottom of all this. You almost cut off my circulation the last time you grabbed my hand.”

“I won’t squeeze your hand again, I promise,” Sophia told him.

“That’s not the point, Mom,” Jeff said. “You’re in a great deal of pain, and we need to find out why before your condition gets any worse.”

“It’s just indigestion,” Sophia cried, trying not to writhe in pain. She was desperate to have him take her back home. She hadn’t been inside a hospital since she’d lost her husband, and just being outside one brought back terrible memories.

“Enough excuses, Mom. You’re having these tests and that’s that,” he told her firmly just as Mikki returned with a nurse and an orderly in tow. The latter two were pushing a gurney between them.

“Your chariot’s here, Mrs. Sabatino,” Mikki announced, smiling as she and the two hospital staff members approached Sophia.

Sheer panic entered Sophia’s eyes when she looked up at her son. “Jeffrey?”

He forced himself to ignore his mother’s pleading tone. “You’re going in for those tests, Mom, and I’m going to be right there with you,” he promised.

“Well, maybe during the ultrasound, but not during the CT scan,” Mikki told him. Seeing the panicked expression on his mother’s face, she added, “But I can come into the room with you.”

That did little to comfort Sophia. “But I don’t know you,” she protested.

“Well, we’ll use the time to get to know each other,” Mikki told her.

Sophia murmured something under her breath that neither the doctor nor Jeff could make out. Jeff expected to see Mikki become annoyed. After all, she was bending over backward for his mother, who was being far from her usual genial self.

But the doctor only smiled, saying something encouraging to her in response.

Theresa had been right, Jeff thought as he accompanied his mother and her new doctor into the emergency room. Dr. McKenna was an absolute treasure. She was going out of her way to humor his mother and she hadn’t lost her temper once. Most people did when his mother behaved this way. It wasn’t often, but it was grating when it happened. He dearly loved the woman, but he wasn’t blind to her faults.

Once inside the emergency room, his mother was taken to a curtained-off bed in order to prepare her for the CT scan, ultrasound and several other necessary tests. Jeff waited outside the curtained area as one of the nurses went in to help his mother change into a hospital gown.

“I’ll take good care of her,” Mikki said, coming up behind him.

Surprised—he’d assumed that the doctor had left for the time being—Jeff turned around to look at the petite dark blonde.

“What about your other patients?” he asked. He remembered that Theresa had told him the doctor had a full schedule today. That was why she’d asked him to bring his mother in so early.

“I take good care of them, too,” Mikki answered with a smile.

He had no doubt that she did. There was something exceptionally competent about the woman. “I hope they’re not all like my mother.”

She laughed, and he liked the way her blue eyes crinkled.

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” she told him. “A great many of my patients require a lot of hand-holding and reassuring.”

“How do you do it?” he marveled.

“One hand at a time” was her answer.

Just then the nurse stepped out from between the curtained-off section. “She’s all ready,” the nurse told Mikki.

The latter nodded in response. “Then let’s get the show on the road.”

“Before you get started, Doctor,” Jeff said, stopping her for a moment, “I just want to say thank you.”

Her smile was warm and genuine. “No problem,” Mikki said.

“But there will be,” he replied with a sigh.

Mikki merely laughed in response.

* * *

The tests went far more quickly than he’d thought they would. He and his mother had arrived at the hospital at eight thirty. By ten fifteen the doctor had returned to tell him that she had all the results and she’d been able to diagnose his mother’s condition.





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