Susan Mallery - Only Yours

The girl opened her eyes. “Oh, you brought Cece.”

“I thought she might make you feel better,” her mother said.

Kalinda managed a shaky smile. “Thanks, Mom. She does.”

Montana set Cece on the bed. The tiny poodle walked carefully across the blankets to Kalinda’s side. She stared at her for a few seconds, then licked the girl’s fingers. Kalinda managed a weak laugh. “She likes me.”

“Of course she does,” Montana told her, feeling a bit of emotion herself.

Cece curled up beside Kalinda. The girl petted her gently, her eyes closing.

“This is nice,” she whispered.

Fay motioned for Montana to follow her into the hall. “Can you stay for a bit? I was thinking she might relax enough to sleep.”

“Of course. I’ll sit right here.” Montana looked at her. “Why don’t you take a break? Get something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry, but I would love to take a shower.” She glanced back toward the room. “I hate to be away from her.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Montana pulled a book out of her purse and held it up. “I promise.”

“The nurse has my cell number if anything happens.” Fay still hesitated. “I wish it had been me instead of her. Everything about this is so hard. The pain, the healing, all the surgeries. She misses her friends but they’re too far away to visit. Plus, I’m not sure her friends would want to see her while she looks like this.”

Montana remembered her mother telling her about Reese’s desire to visit children in the hospital.

“Do you think she’d like a visitor closer to her age?” she asked. “My nephew is ten. I could bring him by for a few minutes.”

Fay looked more worried than pleased. “Could he handle it? I wouldn’t want him saying anything that might hurt her feelings, or acting shocked.”

“I’d talk to him first. We could go online and do some reading about what she’s going through, so he knows what’s going on. Reese is a pretty good kid. Plus, Kalinda’s hands aren’t burned very much, so maybe they could play a game or something.”

Some of the worry faded. “I would like her to see someone other than me and the staff,” Fay admitted. “We’d have to make sure it was a good day. So far there haven’t been very many of those.”

“You think about it,” Montana told her. “In the meantime, I’ll talk to Reese and his dad. If Reese is game, we’ll do the research so he’s prepared.”

Fay nodded. Tears filled her eyes. “We’re not from around here. We only came to Fool’s Gold because Dr. Bradley’s here. He’s the best. And everyone in town has been so welcoming. It’s very unexpected.”

Montana impulsively hugged her. Fay hung on for several seconds, as if she needed the support.

“If you need anything, just let me know,” Montana told her. “Whatever it is, I can probably figure out how to get it.”

“Right now a shower is plenty.”

Fay collected a change of clothes from the small suitcase she had stored in her daughter’s room and went down the hall. Montana slipped back into Kalinda’s room. The girl was asleep, her hand tucked protectively around the little dog. Cece’s head rested on the child’s palm.

“You do good work,” Montana whispered.

Cece’s tail wagged, but otherwise she didn’t stir. Montana settled in the chair and opened her book, but instead of reading, she found herself offering a prayer for the child who hurt so much and the others in the world who were just like her.

MONTANA SAT ACROSS from her friend. Pia looked beyond pregnant—she was swollen. While her face, arms and legs were still their usual size, her belly was more extended than Montana had thought was possible, and her poor ankles were the size of balloons.

“Are you really okay?” Montana asked, trying not to wince as she stared at her friend.

“However bad it looks, it feels worse,” Pia said with a sigh, as she shifted to get comfortable in the oversize chair. “Don’t elephants stay pregnant for a couple of years? How do they do it without going crazy? I’m so ready for these babies to come. Twins are supposed to be early, but are mine? Of course not.”

She rested her hand on her belly. “I’m bloated and gross and whiny. Raoul is going to leave me.”

Montana smiled. “He adores you.”

“He adores me, not the freak I’ve become. I swear, if I had any medical training, I’d take the babies out myself.”

“I don’t think I could watch that,” Montana admitted. “What does the doctor say?”

“To be patient. That every day the twins stay in me is better for them. I used to like Dr. Galloway, but I’m starting to think she’s part of a conspiracy. By the time these babies are ready to be born, they’ll be eligible for college.”

Montana was torn between sympathy and amusement. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Listening is nice. So thank you for that.” She shifted slightly in the chair, then groaned. “The thing is, I don’t know if it’s going to get any better when the babies are born. What if they hate me?”

Pia had been worrying about that for a while now, Montana thought. Pia had never considered herself overly maternal. Despite that, when her friend Crystal had died and left frozen embryos in Pia’s care, she’d taken the extraordinary step of having them implanted.

“Your babies are going to love you,” Montana said firmly. “You know they are.”

“Only because they won’t know any better. I’ll be the only mother in their life. What choice will they have? Can you bring by one of the mean service dogs?”

Montana frowned at the non sequitur. “We don’t have any mean service dogs. By definition of their job, they pretty much get along with everyone.”

Pia whimpered. “I thought if I could make a difficult dog like me, I would have a better chance with my babies.”

Montana rose and crossed to her friend. She bent over and hugged her. “You’re making yourself insane.”

“It’s the hormones. Okay, a little of it is me, but it’s mostly not my fault.”

Montana straightened and returned to her seat. “Try to relax. You’re going to be a great mom. You agreed to have someone else’s babies. That’s how much love you have to give.”

Pia sniffed. “I’ll try to remember that.” She drew in a breath. “Let’s talk about something else. How’s the world? I haven’t been out in it for a couple of weeks. I’m either here or at the doctor. Is there still a sky and trees?”

Montana laughed. “Yes to both. The planet orbits the sun and the days progress.”

“Good to know. You’re doing well?”

“Yes. I’ve started the summer reading program at the library. The dogs and I make the usual rounds at the nursing home and assisted living places.” She hesitated, wondering if Pia could help with one of her more pressing problems. “There’s a new doctor in town. Simon Bradley. He’s a gifted plastic surgeon who mostly works on children. His specialty is burn victims. He goes to a place for two or three months to help, then moves on. Mayor Marsha came to see me and wants me to convince Simon to stay in Fool’s Gold.”

“You’ve got to love our mayor.” Pia leaned her head back against the chair. “Do you know if he likes sports? Baseball, golf, that sort of thing?”

“No, but aren’t all doctors into golfing?”

“I think so. Let me talk to Raoul. Maybe he and Josh and Ethan could take Simon golfing. Or at least out for a drink. Guy bonding and all that. What does he like to do?”

Montana remembered Simon’s intense, toe-curling kisses but didn’t think that was what Pia meant. “He doesn’t talk about much other than work. Kent and Reese were in a car accident about a week ago and—”

Pia nearly came out of her chair, a trick considering how pregnant she was. “What? I didn’t know about this. Are they okay? What happened?”

Montana was on her feet again, hurrying to her friend’s side. “Sorry. I thought you knew. They’re both fine. You have to relax.” Raoul would kill her if Pia went into labor because she’d gotten upset.

“I’m fine. When did this happen?”

“Right before the Fourth. Kent wasn’t hurt, but Reese got a few cuts on his face. Simon worked on him and he’s not going to have much in the way of scarring. Mom invited him over for a belated Fourth of July dinner. Even she couldn’t get much information out of him.”

“What do you think of him?”

Montana considered the question. “He’s very solitary. Fierce when it comes to his work and his patients, but otherwise, he’s quiet. He doesn’t talk about himself. If my mother couldn’t get him to talk, then even a professional CIA operative would have trouble extracting information.”

Pia laughed. “That’s true. Denise isn’t obvious about it, but she usually ends up with whatever information she wants.”

“He’s not a traditional loner,” Montana said. “I think of those people as choosing to be by themselves. They prefer their own company. With Simon, I wonder if it’s coming from the outside. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s like it’s imposed on him.” She paused. “He has scars on his face and neck. From a burn. From one side, he’s beyond gorgeous, but from the other…”

“He’s a monster?”

Montana half smiled. “It’s not that bad, but I keep thinking something could be done about the scars. Does he keep them like that to have physical proof for his patients that he knows what they’re going through? Or am I being naive and assuming something that isn’t true? But what happened to him? He’s never said and I don’t know how to ask.”

She paused, only to find Pia staring at her.

“What?”

“Wow.” Pia grinned. “You’ve fallen for him.”

Heat exploded on her cheek and she ducked her head. “Don’t say that. I think he’s interesting. It’s nothing more than that.”

“It’s a whole lot more than that.”

It was the kisses, she thought. How was she supposed to ignore them?

“Even if he was my type, I’m sure not his.” So far she’d managed to avoid being anyone’s type.

“Why? From what you’ve described, you might be exactly what someone like him needs. But I won’t embarrass you by talking about it anymore. Let me think about different ways to convince the good doctor to stay in town. Does he have any family?”

Montana stared at her blankly. “Family?”

“You know. Kids. I’m assuming there isn’t a wife.”

“Not that I know of,” Montana told her, even as the W word bounced in her head. A wife? He’d never said and she’d never thought to ask. “He’s never mentioned anything.” He’d more than hinted he was alone. But still. A wife?

It was a question that needed an answer very, very soon.

SIMON WAS IN HIS OFFICE when he heard the page. He called down to the nurses’ station.

“Montana Hendrix would like to see you, if you have a second.”

The anticipation was instant. A tightening in his body, a rush of heat. He quietly cleared his throat before speaking. “Please send her here,” he said, then hung up the phone and stood.

His office was on the small side, with a desk, a couple of chairs and a mostly empty bookcase. He wasn’t on staff, so he didn’t deal with a lot of paperwork beyond his patient charts. The hospital had provided a computer and printer. He didn’t need much more.

Now, as he looked around at the stark room, he wished it were some color other than plain white, with a picture on the wall or a plant in the corner. Something to make it seem less institutional.

He told himself he was being an idiot. Whatever Montana wanted to talk about, it had nothing to do with his office. No doubt she wanted to discuss bringing a pony into the hospital, or perhaps juggling monkeys. Whatever it was, he would listen. Hearing her discuss a tax audit would be appealing. He liked the sound of her voice, the way she moved her hands when she talked. He liked the flashes of emotion in her brown eyes and the way she always seemed on the verge of smiling.

She was alive in every sense of the word. Alive and vibrant, and she saw a world filled with possibilities. No one had hurt her, not in a way that had left her broken. He found himself wanting to stand between her and reality, to make sure that didn’t change.

He crossed to the door and held it open. A few seconds later Montana turned the corner. She’d replaced her customary summer dresses with jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. Both hugged the shape of her body, showing off curves and making it more difficult than usual for him to maintain any semblance of control.

Her long blond hair hung down her back in a cascade of waves, making him want to tangle his fingers in the silky smoothness. Her smile both pleased and taunted him. He wanted to know the feel of every inch of her. He wanted to know her because in the knowing he believed he would find solace.