A Doctor's Confession

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Alain liked the way they interacted. He’d never had brothers and sisters. In fact, his parents had been very old when he’d been born—one of those menopausal miracles that happened to a couple who’d been barren for twenty-five years and had adjusted their lives accordingly.

While he loved his folks dearly, there’d never been any youth in his life. With a mother who had been near fifty when he was born, and a dad in his mid-fifties, he’d been raised in an older world than most of his friends, and as a consequence he’d always seemed too old and stodgy. There’d been no youthful pranks, not even when he’d been in college. No frat parties. No wild and crazy dates. Just seriousness, studying and responsibility.

Yet when he saw the way Maggie interacted with her sister, it caused him to realize what he’d missed out on. And made him feel a little envious. Stirred something up in him. “She told me what a bad girl you were when you were young.”

“Maybe just a little bit. But I wasn’t in it alone. There was always another sister joining in, then blaming it all on me.”

“Who, me?” Mellette asked, laughing and holding her belly to stop it from jiggling.

“You, Sabine, Delphine, Ghislaine, Lisette or Acadia.”

Alain shook his head. “It’s hard to imagine your mother having seven of you and still running one of the best medical centers in the South.”

“We’re strong women,” Maggie said. “Had parents to support that in us.”

“Strong, as in overachievers?” he asked.

“Call it what you want,” Maggie went on. “But that’s who we are. My mother was raised in an era where women were just on the brink of coming into their own, only in her family, because they were of a certain social status …”

“And from a very traditional Southern family,” Mellette added.

“That, too,” Maggie agreed. “Anyway, what was expected from her was to be just like her mother, who was … I guess the best way to describe our grandmother is a social butterfly. That’s the way she was raised, and it was the world in which she raised our mother. For my grandmother, who is involved in more charitable work than anyone I’ve ever seen, it works. Her life exists for her causes, and she works hard at them, but she also finds time to sit down to tea with various friends every day of the week.

“But for my mother … that social hour of tea was wasted when there were things to do. She was hard-driven, I guess you could call her. So instead of following in the family tradition, she started one of her own. And we all seem to be following her example in one way or another.” She smiled, then added, “As overachievers.”

“So what about your family, Alain?”

“Teachers. My mother taught high school math and my father taught college chemistry. They’re both retired now, living in a condo on a Costa Rican beach.”

“No brothers or sisters?” Maggie asked.

“Just me. A late-in-life kid who surprised the hell out of my parents when I popped into their lives.”

“Sounds like an interesting story,” Mellette said.

“More like typical. We were just an ordinary family. No prestige. No bells and whistles.”

“But close?” Maggie asked.

“More so now than when I was younger. But I’ve grown up. It happens to most of us sooner or later.”

“And what do they think about you not practicing medicine any longer?” Maggie asked.

“Actually, they don’t know I’ve given up the stethoscope for a hammer. They think I’m in Louisiana practicing medicine, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the way I want to leave it.”

Maggie gave him a questioning look. “Because they’re older?”

“Because they made a lot of sacrifices for me when I went to medical school, and I sure as hell don’t want them knowing they wasted their money.”

“It wasn’t wasted,” Mellette said, as Justin stepped out on the porch. “Look what you did for me. That, in and of itself, says a lot about your ability. Now all you need to do is let my sister get to work on your case and get you back where you belong on a full-time basis, rather than squeezing it in while you’re letting your drywall spackle dry.”

“My wife’s opinionated,” Justin said, taking Mellette by the arm and leading her down the stairs. “And on that note I’m going to wish you both a good afternoon and escort her home. The waiting room is cleared, and barring any emergencies or walk-ins, you’re free for the rest of the day. Although I wouldn’t count on it, because I heard that Ivy Comfort may be having a bout of rheumatism.” He smiled. “As they say, heard it through the grapevine, which is alive and well in these parts.”

Alain’s expression turned to panic. “I don’t treat rheumatism.”

“But I do,” Maggie said. “And it’s me she’ll want to be seeing for some special tea and maybe a liniment we make that’s—”

Alain held up his hand to stop her. “I’m going to trust that you know what you’re doing, and leave it at that. If Miss Comfort would like any medical treatment, I’ll be glad to see what I can do. Maybe prescribe a mild anti-inflammatory drug or—”

“She won’t take your prescription,” Maggie warned as Justin and Mellette walked away. “It’s been a real challenge here to prescribe traditional medicine. Most of the people are willing to tolerate it, since it’s all they can get without leaving the area. But we have a few holdouts who absolutely refuse to give in to modern ways, and Ivy Comfort just happens to be one of them. So Eula gave her some herbs that seemed to help, then Mellette took over after Eula died, and now that end of the practice is being passed along to me. Along with any regular nursing duties that come up.”

“Your family’s gotten so involved here. I wouldn’t have thought that, given your mother’s status, you’d have been inclined to.”

Maggie shrugged. “Initially, it was because my sister came to help out Justin’s grandmother, who was an herbal practitioner. The people here trusted her for over half a century, and when she died the position of herbal practitioner sort of fell to Mellette because the people here trusted her, too. They didn’t trust Justin, who wanted to practice nothing but traditional medicine, and a lot of them still haven’t come round to his way of thinking. But I suppose because Eula trusted Mellette, and I’m her sister, that’s why they trust me.”

“Then what’s that say about me? I’m just an interloping medical doctor who’s not going to put forth any kind of effort to prescribe herbs.”

“What it says is that you’ll have a tough time. There will be some who accept you unconditionally because you’re a doctor, and some who’ll accept you marginally because they trust Mellette, Justin and me. Then there will be those, like Ivy Comfort, who won’t even acknowledge you.” She smiled. “Ever.”

“Even if I prescribe an anti-inflammatory for her that does more for her than her herbs?”

“Even if you prescribe an anti-inflammatory for her that cures her rheumatism. That’s just the way she is. The way a lot of people here are, and you’ll have to accept it. As in not taking it personally when Ivy walks in that door and instructs you to fix her a cup of coffee.”

Alain laughed. “Actually, I make a pretty mean cup of coffee, so Miss Ivy and I might just hit it off.”

“Don’t count on it,” Maggie warned, smiling. She liked this man. Liked his seriousness, liked the way he fixed on his task. And, Lord knew, she’d watched a good bit of that these past few days.

“So what you’re telling me is that in order to get along in these parts, I’d be better off sticking to my carpentry work?”

“Probably.”

He smiled, and arched wicked, sexy eyebrows. “Then I guess that’s what I’d better get back to. If you need me …” He raised fingers to his mouth and faked a whistle.

“Trust me, I will.” With a fair amount of pleasure, actually. “Oh, and, Alain, I’ll know more from my law firm tomorrow on whether or not they’re going to take on your case. The partners are going to have a meeting on it first thing in the morning.”

“Any indication, one way or another?”

She shook her head. “Although I can say that they usually go with my recommendations. In fact, the only thing they ever fully reject is my suggestion for the office Christmas party. I like glitz and glitter and all the trimmings, and they like to keep it … sedate.”

“You don’t like sedate?”

“For a holiday, it’s boring. And why be boring when you can be over-the-top?”

“An over-the-top overachiever.” He gave her a slight bow as he stepped off the front porch. “I bow to your abilities.”

“And I accept that bow,” she said, laughing. Yes, she really liked this man. Now all she had to do was get him out of the mess he was in. Which meant, if the partners took him on as a client, no mixing of business and pleasure. Too bad, as she had an idea the pleasure part could have been way over-the-top, as well.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_211b1751-910e-5ce5-b337-8d0c28bfe3d5)

SHE HELD OUT her hand for him to see a grouping of the tiniest marks. They hurted her, she told him. “My ouchie.” In reality the wound was from the common stinging nettle, a very uncomfortable plant with which to make contact. But it was nothing that required medical attention, which made Alain wonder why she was here.

“And you came to me all by yourself?” he asked, quite touched by the girl. Her big brown eyes were sad, and huge fat tears welled up in them.

“‘Cause you’re the doctor. Aunt Gertrude told me to come over here, that you could fix it for me.”

He was flattered and angry at the same time. Lilly, as she called herself, couldn’t have been more than six, maybe not even that old, and a child that age had no business wandering around the bayou all by herself. “Well, your Aunt Gertrude was right about that. I can.” A nice stream of hot water usually did the trick, or a generous coating of calamine lotion.

“Dandelion works,” Maggie offered as she entered the exam room, carrying a glass of juice for the child.

Alain shook his head. “Nothing herbal …”

“Just saying,” she quipped as she handed Lilly the apple juice.

He nodded as he led Lilly over to the sink and held her hand under the water while she was distracted, drinking her juice. “So no one’s with her?” he asked, trying to sound matter-of-fact.

“Not a soul. Miss Lilly Anna Montrose was a big girl today and came all the way here from Grandmaison by herself.”

Grandmaison, a good two-mile walk. Now he was downright mad, angry enough to spit nails at someone. “Well, then, I’d say Miss Lilly was one brave little girl today. That was a mighty long walk for her to take all by herself.”

“People around here are independent,” Maggie said, but not in defense of Lilly’s aunt, who’d sent her off alone. “They start that independence young in some cases.”

“Too young,” he said, looking at the hand where the nettles had stung the child.

“Can’t say that I disagree. I was as surprised as you when she showed up here a little while ago. Oh, and she also brought payment.” Maggie held it up. It was a quarter.

“Is that your money?” Alain asked the girl.

She nodded. “I’ve been saving up. Aunt Gertrude told me I had to use it to pay for my ‘pointment. Is it enough? ‘Cause I have two more at home.”

“As it turns out, that’s exactly what I charge for fixing a nettle sting.”

She handed the empty glass back to Maggie. “Thank you,” she said. “That was very good.”

“Would you like some more?” Maggie asked.

The little girl nodded shyly. “All we ever get to drink is water. Sometimes tea, if we can afford it.”

“Look, Lilly, I need to go get some special medicine to put on your hand. Would you mind sitting up on the table until I come back?”

“Okay,” she said, then smiled. “It doesn’t hurt so much now. Maybe it was the apple juice.”

“Then I think we should give you some apple juice to take home with you, in case it starts hurting later on. Do we have enough to send some with Miss Lilly?” he asked Maggie.

“Full supply of it, Doctor,” she said, stepping back as Alain lifted the child up onto the exam table.

“We’ll be right back,” he said to Lilly, then followed Maggie into the hall. “She’s malnourished, unkempt, I doubt she’s ever seen a dentist or a doctor and God only knows what kind of parasites or other bugs she’s infested with. And a two-mile walk?”

“I need to figure out what to do about her,” Maggie said. “Because if her aunt’s house is like what I’m expecting …”

“Then we can’t put that child back in there. Do you know her aunt, by any chance?”

Maggie shook her head. “But I know a child social services worker and I think I’ll give her a call before we decide what we need to do about Lilly.”

“What I need to do is not send her back into a home where an adult would allow her to come here by herself.”

“Don’t jump the gun, Alain. We haven’t even seen that house, and we sure don’t know the circumstances …”

“Yeah, well, I can only guess!” he snapped. “I saw those conditions in Afghanistan, where children were robbed of their youth, like Lilly is. So much poverty, so many health problems …” His eyes went distant for a moment. “Landmine victims … just children. You can’t even begin to imagine …”

Maggie laid a comforting hand on his arm. “No, I can’t,” she said softly. “And I’m sorry you had to see such atrocities.”

“Seeing them is one thing, but living them is another.” Said in bitter despair. “And not being able to do anything to fix it.”

“I can’t say that I even have a clue what you’re talking about. My life, for the most part, has been pretty sheltered. Never any hardships, never any threats.”

“Then you were lucky. Because a lot of the world out there is ugly. Like I think Lilly’s world is probably ugly, too. Look, she needs a bath, Maggie. And a good head scrubbing as I’m pretty sure she’s got lice. Could you do that for me and give her a good going over to see what else we can find?”

“And clean clothes,” Maggie said, knowing there were no little-girl clothes at Eula’s House. “I’ll call my dad and see if he can bring something out for her. Shoes, too. I’m betting there are still some things left over from one of our childhoods stashed away in the attic.”

“He’d do that?”

“My dad is a real softie when it comes to little girls. He always threatened to trade a few of us in on boys, but I think he liked sitting at the head of an all-female kingdom, being adored by his flock.”

She truly liked Alain’s sympathies. More than that, she was surprised how easily they were jostled to the surface. He seemed more like a man who held everything in, yet the instant Lilly had walked into the clinic and held out her tiny, grimy hand, he’d melted. And not just a little. “I have money,” she’d proclaimed. But she’d had more than that. In that very instant she’d had Alain’s heart. And a very tender heart it was indeed.

“So what’s the prognosis?” Alain asked an hour later.

“Lice, like you thought. I did the treatment, and cut her hair a little to get rid of some of the mats. And she’s about ten pounds under her ideal weight, a little on the small side for a child her age. She has very bad skin, lots of bruises and cuts. Missing some baby teeth. No education, no attempt to teach her to read. But she’s very bright. And she loved her bath. I found an old bottle of bubble bath left over from Eula, and I think this child would have stayed in the water and played all day long if we’d let her.”

“Any health concerns?”

“Nothing significant that I could find. Heart and lungs sounded good, eyes are clear, ears turned out fine after I cleaned them. She does have a few open sores, probably infected bug bites. No real signs of physical abuse. More like extreme neglect. All in all, I think she’s a healthy child, but I would like her to be seen by a pediatrician at some point for a complete exam.”

He sighed heavily. “So what do we do in the meantime?”

“I’ve talked to my friend from Child Services and she’s going to come investigate, but that may take a couple of days. If we think the child is in imminent danger we can surrender her to the authorities and they’ll put her into the children’s home until the case can be investigated.”