A Doctor's Vow

“I said I’ll get to it when I can and I will.” He swallowed his harsh tone and focused on his manners. She was his guest and he hadn’t offered her anything. His mother would be appalled. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Iced tea? If it’s not too much trouble.”

Kent went inside and reached for the fridge door. To his shock, Jaclyn followed him and was now looking around the kitchen. He wished he hadn’t offered her a drink. Or anything else. He didn’t want her here, seeing the starkness of his kitchen and realizing that it mirrored his life. He didn’t want her leaving behind the scent of her fancy perfume. Mostly he didn’t want her seeing how pathetic he was.

He held out a brimming glass.

“Thanks. Do you have any lemon?” She accompanied the request with the sweetest smile.

Kent hacked off a wedge of lemon and held it out.

“Oh.” She took it daintily between her fingertips—perfectly manicured fingertips with pale pink polish. “Um, thank you.” She moved to stand in front of the sink, pinched the lemon into her glass and stirred it with a finger. “Lovely.” She held the piece of lemon between two fingers, searching for a place to discard it.

Kent handed her a sheet of paper towel.

“Thanks.” She wrapped the towel around the lemon wedge and set it on the counter before she took another sip. “It feels cool out tonight.”

Meaning he could hardly lead her outside to the patio again. He motioned to one of the kitchen chairs. Jaclyn sank onto it with graceful elegance. Kent couldn’t help noticing her expensive jeans, her tailored blouse, and her three pieces of jewelry—two small gold hoops in her ears and a thin gold chair around her neck—that made her look like a princess slumming it.

“Are you still holding that night at the church against me, Kent?”

“What?” He jerked to awareness, embarrassed that he’d been caught staring at her. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”

“You act as if you’re mad at me.” Her smile grew wistful. “I never came back to Hope for any of the reunions and I haven’t seen you since the night of high school graduation, so I’m guessing your attitude has to be about the night I wrecked the church. I’ll apologize again if it means you’ll forgive me for letting you take the blame for that night, even for a little while.”

Forgive her? He was the one who needed forgiveness. But what he’d done was unforgiveable.

“Am I forgiven?” Her smile faltered.

“Nothing to forgive,” Kent told her, his voice hoarse. “You were hurting. Your sister had just died. You were angry that God hadn’t healed her the way you expected and you lashed out. I understood.”

“You always did.” Jaclyn’s voice softened to a whisper. “Of all the people in Hope, you were the only one who did. But I shouldn’t have let you take the fall, even for the few days it took to get my act together. I’m sorry.”

“I’m glad I could help.” High-school Jaclyn had drawn his sympathy, but this woman disarmed him. His throat was dry. He took a sip of his tea but it didn’t seem to help. Nor did it stop the rush of awareness that she was the first woman to come into Lisa’s kitchen since—

“You helped me more than you ever knew. I won’t forget that.” After an introspective silence her expression changed, her voice lightened. “I don’t suppose we could go into town and look at your dad’s building tonight? Don’t answer. I can see ‘no’ written all over your face. How about tomorrow morning? Say, seven-thirty?”

“Do you ever give up?” he asked in exasperation.

Jaclyn stilled. “Not when it comes to my dreams.”

“This clinic is your dream?” Kent knew it was from the expression on her face. He also knew he wanted to help her achieve it. “I’ll ask a friend of mine to check out my dad’s old office as soon as he can. But be warned it will probably need a painting, at the very least. The company that opened the new silver mine on the other side of Hope was in there last and they weren’t gentle.”

“Your dad’s retired now, I suppose? He and your mom were such a loving couple. I remember she once told my mom the ranch was your dad’s weekend toy but he intended to make it a full-time job after retirement.” She tilted her head to one side, studying the fancy kitchen. “Your mom must love this. Everything here looks brand-new.”

“It is. My wife had it redone several years ago. My parents died in a car accident, Jaclyn. That’s why I came back to Hope.” Kent clamped his lips together.

“Oh, no!” She shook her head sadly. “Losing your parents must have been hard.”

“Yes, it was.”

After a long silence, she asked, “Is your wife here? I’d like to meet her. There aren’t a lot of the kids from our class in Hope anymore. Since my parents sold our ranch right after I finished high school, I’ve kind of lost touch.”

Kent stiffened. But he had to tell her. She’d hear it from someone in town anyway. Better that he laid out the bare truth. Maybe when she knew, she’d stay away and let him get back to his solitary life.

“My wife was Lisa Steffens.”

“I remember Lisa—”

“She’s dead,” he blurted out.

“Oh, Kent. I’m so truly sorry.”

“She died in a fire. A fire I set.” Kent wished he could have avoided rehashing the past.

Jaclyn blinked. She studied him for several moments before she said, “You didn’t do it deliberately. I know you and you couldn’t have done that.”

“You don’t know me anymore, Jaclyn.”

“I don’t think you’ve become a murderer, Kent.” She held his gaze. “Do you mind telling me what happened?”

Jaclyn’s presence in his house made the place come alive as it hadn’t in a very long time. She brought color to the cold stainless steel, life to the gray tones that only reminded him of death and guilt. From somewhere deep inside a rush of yearning gripped Kent, a yearning to share his life with someone who would talk, listen and laugh with him. If only he could enjoy Jaclyn’s company and the hope that was so much a part of her aura—just for a little while.

“Not tonight.” He drew back, regrouped.

Once Kent had dreamed of happiness, a family, a future on this ranch. He’d failed Lisa and he’d never have that now. But he had to go on; he couldn’t get sidetracked by his crazy attraction to Jaclyn LaForge, no matter how strong. He admired her courage in returning to Hope, in sticking to her promise to her sister, but he desperately needed to resume his carefully structured world because that was the only way he could survive the guilt.

It wasn’t his job to get Jaclyn a new clinic. He didn’t want to get involved. He didn’t want concerns about whether her foot would heal properly or get infected. And he sure didn’t want his heart thudding every time he saw her.

Every instinct Kent possessed screamed Run!

“I’ll meet you at the building tomorrow morning at eight,” he heard himself say.

Chapter Two

“This is a beautiful building. The windows give amazing light.”

“Say it, Jaclyn. There’s a lot of work needed here.” Kent leaned against a doorframe, probably running a repair tab in his mind. Then his gaze rested on her.

Jaclyn frowned. Maybe he was waiting for her to say she didn’t want to rent his father’s building.

“Correction—more than a lot of work.” Kent kept staring at her.

“Perhaps once all the borders are removed?” Jaclyn trailed her finger across a wall.

“My mom went a little over the top with the borders,” Kent admitted. “She loved the themes and colors of southwest decorating.”

His wife definitely hadn’t. Jaclyn wondered why Lisa had chosen the gray color scheme for her kitchen. High-tech certainly, but it seemed clinical, with nothing to soften the harsh materials or unwelcoming, austere colors. Her curiosity about Lisa’s death had been tweaked by Kent’s admission that he set the fire. Jaclyn knew there was no way he’d have deliberately hurt her. Kent had been in love with Lisa since seventh grade.

While Kent became all business, talking about support beams and studs, her attention got sidetracked as her eyes took in an unforgettable picture. The handsome vet probably couldn’t care less what he looked like, but he was without a doubt what Jaclyn’s friend Shay would say was hunk material.

A moment later Kent’s dark blue gaze met hers and one eyebrow arched.

She’d missed something. Heat burned her cheeks. “Sorry?”

“I said it’s going to be a while before you can move in here.”

“A while meaning what, exactly?” She hadn’t been staring. Well, not intentionally.

Liar.

“Are you okay?” Kent tilted his head to study her. “You look kind of funny.”

“I’m fine.” Jaclyn cleared her throat. Business. Concentrate on business. “You’re telling me there’s work that has to be done here, which I know. How long will that take?”

“I can’t tell you that.” Kent frowned. “Since the mine opened last spring, a lot of locals have gone to work there. The place offers good wages, decent benefits and steady work which means there aren’t a lot of qualified trades available in Hope anymore.”

“But? I can hear a ‘but’ in there.” She smiled and waited.

“I’ll start on the demolition. I can do most of that myself and some of the actual renovation. There are a couple of guys I can probably persuade to do other work but it is going to take time.” He looked like he was waiting for her to say “never mind.”

But Jaclyn wouldn’t say that—getting this clinic operational again was her duty. The clinic had been her dream since the day after she’d buried her twin sister. They both should have graduated from high school but Jessica’s diagnosis had come too late, because of the shortage of doctors in Hope. The traveling doctors that visited each week didn’t catch the leukemia early enough. That wouldn’t happen to another child—not if Jaclyn could help it.

She had already checked the other buildings in town. This place was the best of the lot, but Kent was right. It needed a major overhaul.

“I have just over three months until I have to open. Can you do it?”

He frowned, his deep blue eyes impassive. Only the twitch at the corner of his mouth told her he’d rather be somewhere else. “I believe I can.”

Relief swamped her, stealing her restraint. She threw her arms around him and hugged.

“Thank you, Kent. Thank you so much.”

He froze, his whole body going stiff. After a moment he lifted one hand and awkwardly patted her shoulder before easing away. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

“I can see it finished.” She twirled around, her imagination taking flight. “Reception will be here, of course. I don’t remember what your dad had in this corner before, but I’ll get a child’s table-and-chair set for coloring. And we can put—”

“That was Arvid’s corner.”

“Arvid?” She stared at Kent as old memories surfaced. “Your dad’s parrot!” She grinned. “That’s an idea.”

“You’d put a parrot in a doctor’s office?” His nose wrinkled. “Isn’t that against health regulations or something?”

“Not as long as the cage is kept clean and the animal isn’t dangerous. It’s actually a great idea. I wonder where I’d find a parrot around here.”

“At the ranch. I’ve got Arvid out there, hanging in the sunroom for now. He stays there during winter, but soon I’ll have to bring him into the main house so he doesn’t get overheated.” Kent made a face. “He’s never really adapted to the ranch. He doesn’t like my dog. Or me,” he admitted.

“You’re sure it wouldn’t be too much for him? Would the kids overwhelm him?”

Kent laughed. She hadn’t heard that jubilant sound in years but the pure pleasure filling his face captivated her. In the moment, he looked carefree, happy.

“Overwhelm him?” His eyes twinkled. “You must not remember Arvid very well. The only thing that ever overwhelmed that bird was my mother’s broom.”

She giggled, sharing his mirth. But a moment later Kent’s eyes met hers and his smile melted away. In a flash his glowering expression was back.

“You’re certain you can get this place ready for me to use in time?” Jaclyn wished she could make his smile appear again. But she reminded herself that she didn’t have the time for personal relationships with grumpy vets, not even the ones who made her heart skip a beat.

“I’m not certain but I think so. I spoke to a couple of tradesmen this morning.”

“This morning?” And I thought I got up early. “And?” she asked.

“They’ll stop by later today to take a look. Then I’ll have a better idea.” He rubbed a hand against his freshly shaven chin. “You understand I can’t guarantee anything. At the moment there are just too many unknowns. All I can say is that I’ll do my best.”

“I understand. Your best is good enough for me.”

“I’m not sure you do understand.” He tipped her chin so she had to look at him. “Listen to me, Jaclyn. I have my practice and the ranch. I’m the fire chief, the mayor and I sit on several local boards. Right now Hope is a town divided over allowing the mine to open. Some folks saw potential, of course. But a lot thought the mine would bring problems. Which it has. And it’s cost us some of the small town security we’ve always enjoyed. That’s just a few of the reasons which caused a big split and left a lot of people hurting. I’m trying to help heal that rift.”

“You’re saying you will have to juggle a lot and that the clinic isn’t necessarily first on the list.” She nodded. “I get that and I accept it. I have to. I don’t have another option. I have a lot invested in getting this clinic going and I’m willing to do whatever it takes.” She caught his skeptical glance at her hands and smiled. “Just because I haven’t lived on a ranch for a while doesn’t mean I don’t know how to work hard.”

“Okay then. I’ll do the best I can.” Kent nodded once.

“And I’ll help however I can. Just ask.” Her beeper interrupted. Jaclyn glanced at it. “I have to go.”

“What will you do for offices in the meantime?” Kent asked.

“The hospital gave me a room to use for consulting, for now. Not that I need much. People here don’t seem willing to trust me.” She tried to swallow the bitterness.

“Folks in Hope take a while to embrace outsiders.” He blinked, obviously only then remembering that she wasn’t exactly an outsider. “I had my own struggle after Doc McGregor died. It took forever for people to let me treat their cattle.”

“And you weren’t even guilty of almost burning down the local church.” She grimaced. “Nobody’s going to stop seeing me as that stupid kid. Maybe it was dumb of me to think I could come back here.”

“No, it wasn’t. People here will get to know you. Some will remember you were just a kid who lost your sister. Besides, you and your parents repaired the damage. Not that it matters anyway. The church is in bad condition now.”

“Maybe I could find a way to restore it,” she murmured. “Maybe that would make them forget.”

“It’s a nice thought.” His tanned brow furrowed. “But it’s not just your past. Your family only lived here for a few years, Jaclyn—your parents left when you did and neither they nor you ever came back. I’m not trying to hurt you, but to folks in Hope, you are an outsider.”

“But I’m trying to help them!”

“I know.” Kent nodded. “But while you’ve been away things have changed. Because of the mine, people here are more suspicious than ever before.”

“Is that even possible?” she quipped.

“Oh, yeah.” He didn’t smile. “I told you the town had split over the mine, but I didn’t tell you that the split was caused by outsiders who set friends and neighbors against each other, using scare tactics, among other things. Everyone’s suspicious of everyone right now. But folks will come around. We need your clinic, Jaclyn.”

We need your clinic? She liked the sound of that.

“Don’t give up on your dream, okay?”

“No chance of that—I owe it to Jessica.” The beeper sounded again. “Thanks, Kent.” Jaclyn waggled her fingers as she strode toward her car.

After she had treated the baby who’d ingested his brother’s marble, she sat and enjoyed her first cup of coffee of the day, recalling the note of earnestness in Kent’s voice when he’d told her not to give up.

Remembering the forlorn look on his face last night when she’d visited his ranch, she wanted to repeat it back to him.

But now she wondered, what were Kent’s dreams?

* * *

Dr. Jaclyn LaForge possessed remarkable powers of persuasion.

As he watched her drive away, Kent couldn’t quite quash his smile. He walked through his dad’s building a second time, remembering her insistence that she would help with renovations. As if those manicured hands would know how to grip a hammer.

His smile faded as he noted issues he’d missed. He should have been in here before this.

He should have done a lot of things.

Like not notice how Jaclyn’s smile made her eyes as glossy as black walnut fudge. Like escape that hug she’d laid on him. Like ignore the way she’d lured him into helping her reach that goal of hers. The hurt in her eyes when she revealed that she’d been rebuffed by the locals had nearly done him in.

Kent drew on his memories of the LaForge twins. Jessica had always been the serious twin, Jaclyn the prankster. But after her sister’s death, Jaclyn had bottled up her pain and anger until she’d finally exploded on graduation night. He’d understood why. Jaclyn had put so much faith in believing God would heal her sister. She couldn’t reconcile Jessica’s death with that faith. That’s why she’d torn up the newly planted flower beds at the church. It was the reason she’d spray painted the walls and made a mess that had scandalized the entire town. Jaclyn had needed answers that night and she hadn’t been able to find any that satisfied.

He knew how that felt. He’d asked why so many times. He still didn’t have the answer he craved. He wondered if Jaclyn had ever found hers.

Uncomfortable with the direction of his thoughts, Kent reconsidered Jaclyn. She was still stunningly beautiful, but she’d lost the easy, confident joy in life that had once been so much a part of her. Jaclyn now seemed hunted, as if she had to prove something. He recalled her words.

I owe it to Jessica.

Kent knew all about obligations, and about failing them. Boy, did he know. He veered away from the familiar rush of guilt and recalled instead the closeness between the sisters. He, like others in their youth group, had attended many prayer services for Jessica in the small adobe church. But Jessica had died in spite of Jaclyn’s insistence that if they just asked heaven enough times, God would respond.

Clearly the obligation to her sister still drove Jaclyn.

Brimming with questions that had no answers, Kent continued his inspection of the building. He pressed the wall in several places where water leaks had soaked through the plaster and left huge spots of dark brown. Each time he pushed, hunks of soggy plaster crumbled and tumbled to the floor. It would all have to be removed.

His former tenants had complained about something in the bathroom. Too busy with Lisa’s depression, the failing ranch and his own pathetic practice to tend to the matter himself, Kent had hired a plumber. He now saw that the work was substandard. The bathroom would need to be gutted.

There were other issues, too. The roof, for one. Some of the clay tiles had cracked and broken away. Summer rains in Hope were aptly named monsoons. This past summer, the water had managed to find a way in, ruining large portions of the ceiling.

Kent made four phone calls. Then he took off his jacket, rolled up his shirtsleeves and got to work hauling refuse out to the newly arrived Dumpster he’d ordered. He’d been working about two hours before a phone call sent him back to his clinic at the ranch to treat a family pet. One thing after another popped up until it was evening. He wanted nothing more than to sprawl out in his recliner and relax, but he’d promised Jaclyn that building and her deadline would roll around too soon.

After a quick meal, Kent filled a thermos with coffee, grabbed an orange and headed back into town. At sunset his high school chum Zac Enders stopped in.

“Out for the usual run, huh, Professor?” Kent used the old nickname deliberately because it bugged Zac. He tossed yet another shovel full of plaster into a bin.

“Yeah. What’s going on here?” Zac grabbed a push broom and slid a new pile of rubbish onto Kent’s shovel. “You sell the place?”

“I wish.” Kent dumped the load, stood the shovel and leaned on its handle. “You didn’t hear about Jaclyn’s clinic burning?”

“Actually I did. I was out of town for a two-day conference but someone at the office filled me in.” Zac had become the superintendent of Hope’s school district the previous fall. “Shame.”

“Yeah, it is.” Kent waved a hand. “She wants to use this place. She’s got to be up and running within three months.” He gave his buddy the short version.

“This time you’ve really bitten off a big piece, cowboy.” Zac smirked when Kent’s head shot up at the old moniker. “Aren’t high school nicknames fun?”

“Yeah,” Kent said with a droll look. “Real fun.”

“This place is a disaster.” Zac glanced around, his eyes giving away his concern. “I hope you believe in miracles.”

Kent didn’t believe in miracles. Miracles would have saved his wife from the depression that took hold of her spirit and never let go. Miracles would have made him a better husband, would have helped him know how to help her. Miracles would have saved Lisa from getting caught between a wildfire and the backfire he’d set to stop it.

“I didn’t make Jaclyn any promises,” he told Zac. “I’ll do my best here and hopefully it will be enough. But I don’t know what I can do about Jaclyn’s other problems.” He shook his head at Zac’s puzzled look. “Apparently, the good people of Hope are reluctant to go to Jaclyn for medical help.”

“Ah. The vandalism is coming back to bite her. But you can change that, Kent.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Zac shot back. “Everybody in Hope thinks you’re God’s gift.”

Kent snorted. “Hardly.” God’s failure, maybe.

“It’s true. They look to you for leadership and they do whatever you say. All you have to do is put out a good word about her clinic and Jaclyn will have more patients than she can handle. I should know. That’s how I got my job.”

“Not true. You got your job because you were the best candidate.”

“And because you put in a word with the board chairman.” Zac smiled. “I heard.”

“I only said it would be nice to have someone with a PhD running things.” Kent avoided his knowing look.

“So? You can do the same for Jaclyn.” Zac paused, frowned. “Can’t you?”

“I’ve already tried. But she’s big city now, Zac.” Kent stared at the shovel he held. “Designer everything. You know how that goes down in Hope.”

“I do know. Everyone still feels conned by the city jerks that came here, promised the moon and have yet to deliver. But so what?” His friend studied him for several moments then barked a laugh. “Surely you can’t imagine Jaclyn will leave? Don’t you remember high school at all, cowboy?”

“Which part of high school?” Kent remembered some parts too well. Like how he was going to marry Lisa and live happily ever after.

“Dude! The Brat Pack, remember?” Zac nudged him with an elbow. “Jaclyn, Jessica, Brianna and Shay? Their dream?”

“I had forgotten that.” Kent recalled the closeness of the four, the way Shay and Brianna had rallied around Jaclyn while her sister suffered. He vaguely remembered the friends discussing some future project they’d all be part of.

“They were going to build a clinic. Then Jessica died. The others decided to make the clinic as a kind of monument to her. They were each going to have a specialty. Jaclyn, the pediatrician who made sure no child ever had the lack of care her sister did, Brianna wanted to practice child psychology and Shay was going to be a physiotherapist.” Zac slapped his shoulder. “You’ve got to put in a good word for Jaclyn, man. She’s spent a long time nursing that dream.”