For the Sake of Warwick Mountain (Harlequin Heartwarming) (14 page)

What had happened between her and Matt already seemed unreal. The incredible joy and satisfaction of expressing their love for each other, and the total unexpectedness of his proposal, had caught her completely by surprise.

If they both hadn’t been so deeply affected by Lucy’s accident, none of the above would have happened, she assured herself. They had allowed their heightened emotions to cloud their judgment, carry them away.

It had taken the trespasser’s appearance in the woods to ground them both in reality again.

By the time she’d had her shower and dressed, Becca had convinced herself that Matt’s proposal had been a total aberration, an experience that should be treated as if it had never happened.

But how could she purge last night from her mind when her heart cried out in anguish at the impossibility of saying yes?

You’ve faced tougher challenges before,
Granny’s voice assured her.
You’re a Warwick. You can do anything you set your mind to.

It wasn’t her mind that worried her, Becca grumbled. It was her heart. She’d lost it irretrievably to the handsome doctor.

Then marry him and go to California.

Even if she could bear to leave Warwick Mountain, Becca thought, how could she be sure that Matt had been serious, that proposals of marriage weren’t just part of the line that Dr. Wonderful spun for all his conquests?

Do you really believe he wasn’t sincere?

No, Becca thought, but did she trust in his sincerity because he’d spoken the truth or because she wanted so desperately to believe he’d meant the words? She didn’t want to think she’d allowed herself to be duped.

Again.

And agonizing over it wouldn’t accomplish anything except driving her crazy. Granny had always said the best solution for dealing with whatever worried you was keeping busy, so Becca decided to bake a coffee cake for Emily’s breakfast. While it baked, she called the hospital to check on Lucy’s overnight progress.

By the time Emily appeared in the kitchen for breakfast, the hot-from-the-oven coffee cake with drizzled icing, along with a vase of fresh flowers just picked from the garden, adorned the table.

“Is it somebody’s birthday?” Emily asked.

Becca shook her head. “I just thought you’d like something different this morning.”

“Where’s Dr. Matt?”

“What?” Becca viewed her daughter with alarm. She had checked on Emily after Matt left, and she’d appeared to have slept through the stranger’s capture and Billy Thornburg’s carting him away.

“I thought I heard Dr. Matt last night,” Emily said.

Becca decided not to tell Emily about the ginseng thief. She didn’t want her frightened. “Matt dropped by to tell us that Lucy’s going to be all right.”

Emily’s whoop of delight rang through the kitchen. “She didn’t die?”

“I called the hospital this morning, and she’s doing fine. She’ll be coming home in a few days.”

Emily slid into her chair and accepted the filled plate her mother handed her. “Dr. Matt saved her. I knew he would.”

“Yes, he did.”

“Dr. Matt can do anything.”

He’d done some pretty amazing things last night. Becca pushed the memory of Matt’s proposal from her mind. “Eat your breakfast. Aunt Delilah and Uncle Jake will be here to pick you up soon.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Blairsville to take Lydia home now that she’s better.”

Yesterday, convinced that Lucy Ledbetter had died, Becca had asked Delilah to take Emily with them, knowing the community would be mourning and preparing for a funeral. She’d wanted to spare Emily from as much as possible.

Today, however, with Lucy recuperating, Becca wished she hadn’t arranged for Emily’s trip. Now she wouldn’t have her daughter’s company to distract her from thoughts of last night.

“Dr. Matt fixed Lydia, too, didn’t he?” Emily asked.

“Yes, he cured her back problems.”

Emily drank her milk, then wiped her face with her napkin. “He can do anything. I hope he fixes Jimmy and Lizzie.”

Becca opened her mouth, planning to explain that Matt wasn’t omnipotent, but the ringing of the phone interrupted her.

“Becca,” Matt’s voice said in a strangely muted tone when she answered, “you have to come down here right now.”

She thought immediately of Lucy. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m swamped,” he continued in the same whispering voice, “and I’m desperate for help.”

“Swamped?”

“Patients. They’re lined up at the door and the phone’s been ringing off the hook since seven-thirty. I need someone to organize appointments and answer the calls.”

“Mama,” Emily called, “Aunt Delilah and Uncle Jake are here.”

Becca spoke into the phone. “I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”

Minutes later, with Emily waving from the back seat of the car as Uncle Jake drove away, Becca headed for her own vehicle.

What a mess she’d landed herself in.

How could she possibly
not
think about last night if she was spending the day with Matt? She could only hope the press of patients, their prejudice against Matt apparently set aside by his rescue of Lucy, would provide a buffer to protect her from her rebellious heart.

* * *

J
ULY
WAS
DRAWING
to an end, and with it, Matt’s time on Warwick Mountain. He shoved the last article of clothing into his backpack and scanned the room that he’d called home the last several weeks. Not that he’d had much time to spend in it.

Ever since the Fourth of July picnic, he’d worked long hours, finally able to accomplish what he’d come here to do. Looking back, he still found the dramatic turnaround in attitude toward him hard to believe.

As satisfying as the work he’d completed, however, had been having Becca close by. Since the day patients began arriving, she’d filled in as his receptionist. They hadn’t spent any real time together, but just seeing her smile when he entered the waiting room, and hearing her voice as she answered the phone, had seemed so right, as if she should always be within arm’s reach.

But not any longer. Today was his last on Warwick Mountain.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for all of us.” As if conjured up by his thoughts, Becca stood in the doorway.

“Sure you won’t change your mind and come to Asheville with me?” he asked.

She shook her head. “You’ll be busy with the surgeries, and I’d only be in the way at the hospital.”

“Jimmy and Lizzie could use your support. They’re both crazy about you.”
And so am I.

“Their parents will be with them. I’ll visit when they come home after their operations.”

Was her refusal an effort to spend less time with him, an effort to make a clean break?

He crossed the room toward her, but she held her ground, her arms folded across her chest. “Becca—”

“I know what you’re going to ask, Matt. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Then say yes this time. Marry me.”

Sadness filled her eyes. “We promised not to go there. To pretend you never asked.”

“I can’t. And I don’t believe you can either. Do you love me, Becca?”

“Don’t do this, Matt.”

“Just answer my question.”

Her gaze met his, unflinching. “Yes.”

“Then this isn’t over. I’ll be coming back for you.”

Before she could protest, he drew her into his arms, kissed her with a fierceness that sent his senses reeling, then let her go.

Without another word or a backward glance, he left the building, climbed into the Land Rover and drove away.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Nine months later

S
PRING
HAD
COME
to Warwick Mountain.

Apple trees blossomed on the hillsides, bright yellow sprays of forsythia swayed in the breeze, and the creeks ran high with snowmelt from the mountaintops.

Becca stood in the doorway of the schoolhouse and watched her students disperse for the day. Emily walked between Lucy and Lizzie, the three girls chattering and giggling, their high, excited voices thrown back to her on the wind.

Matt had worked a miracle with Lizzie. At the Asheville hospital after he’d left Warwick Mountain, he’d repaired her cleft lip and palate so that even the most astute observer couldn’t tell that the defect had ever existed. And he’d arranged and paid for a speech therapist to retrain Lizzie to form her consonant sounds, utilizing her newly formed hard palate. Her speech wasn’t perfect yet, but good enough that she’d lost her shyness about talking to the other children. Now she was a normal, happy little girl.

And Jimmy Dickens, although he’d require more operations before his scars were less evident, had gained confidence from the improvement in his appearance—and the fact that he received weekly letters from Dr. Matt, the hero who’d saved Lucy Ledbetter’s life.

Jimmy and Lizzie were the most obvious examples of Matt’s successes, but the mountain was filled with others. When Matt had risked his life for Lucy, the community had embraced him as one of their own. Lloyd Pennington swore he felt twenty years younger since Matt had provided him with free medication for his rheumatoid arthritis, and the Habersham sisters took great pride in telling everyone that Dr. Tyler had pronounced them “fit as fiddles.”

Becca leaned against the doorjamb. Matt had cured everyone but her. He’d left her with a hole in her heart she could never fill. Almost ten months ago, he’d promised he’d come back for her, but she hadn’t heard a word.

Not a phone call. Not even a letter.

“You look so down in the mouth, honey. Did somebody die?”

Delilah stood in front of her. Becca had been so lost in thought, she hadn’t seen or heard her aunt trudge up the hill to the school.

Becca shook her head and forced a smile. “What brings you here?”

“Do I need a reason to visit my favorite niece?”

“Reason? No. More like an ulterior motive.”

Delilah pretended to look insulted. “Guess you’re not interested in the latest news, then?”

Becca really wasn’t. In fact, she hadn’t had much interest in anything since Matt had gone away. As much as she’d tried to convince herself he’d been no more than a summer romance, his leaving had taken the sunshine from her life. For Delilah’s sake, however, Becca tried to look interested.

“What kind of news?”

“The Jamison farm is sold.”

Becca nodded, unimpressed. Old Mr. Jamison had died in the nursing home last August. He had no surviving family, so the sale of his estate came as no surprise.

“Mountain Outreach Corporation bought it,” Delilah said.

“Never heard of them.”

“That’s just the thing.” Her aunt’s eyes glimmered with curiosity. “Nobody else has either. And not only that, bulldozers have already started clearing the south pasture, getting ready for some kind of construction. Bigger than just a house.”

“If it’s an industry, it’ll mean new jobs,” Becca said. “New jobs will keep more of our young people from moving away.”

“And bring traffic, pollution and who knows what else,” Delilah said with a grumble. “We need a committee to look into this.”

“Count me out,” Becca said.

Delilah cocked her head and studied her. “You still pining away for that good-looking doctor?”

“I’m exhausted from dealing with a roomful of overactive children all day.”

“You ever hear from him?”

“Susie Ledbetter will probably help with your committee,” Becca said, ignoring her aunt’s question. “After all, her land’s closest to the old Jamison property.”

“Let him go, child,” Delilah said, refusing to let her off the hook. “He’s back in California where he belongs. He did us all a heap of good while he was here, but I doubt we’ll ever see him again.”

“Thanks for bringing the news, Aunt ’lilah. I’ll tell Susie you want to talk to her.”

Delilah gave her a hug, pecked her on the cheek and stalked back down the hill, apparently ready to do battle with the mysterious Mountain Outreach Corporation. Becca, glad to escape her aunt’s astute scrutiny, returned to her classroom.

After erasing the blackboards, straightening rows of desks and watering the pot of tulips blooming on the windowsill, she was stuffing the night’s paperwork into her briefcase to carry home, when a noise sounded at the front door.

A tall man stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the late-afternoon sun, his face in shadows.

Becca felt a tremor of uneasiness. She was alone, miles from anyone, with a man she didn’t know, one who definitely wasn’t related to any of her students.

“May I help you?” she asked.

“You don’t recognize me?”

She recognized his voice instantly—and the disappointment in it, even before he stepped into the light where she could view his face. He looked even more handsome than she’d remembered, but leaner, with a difference she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Matt!”

For a moment, she feared she would faint from surprise. Taking a deep breath, she eased herself into the chair behind her desk.

“What are you doing here?” She was pleased that her voice carried none of the turmoil tumbling inside her.

His brown eyes burrowed into hers, held her fast, and her breath caught in her throat. “I told you I’d come back for you.”

Anger flashed through her at his words. Nothing had changed. She wasn’t going to California. All his presence accomplished was to reopen a wound that had never really healed. “We’ve been through all that. We’re at the same impasse. Always will be.”

He walked toward her, rounded the desk and sat with his hip propped on the edge. “Always is a long time.”

She refused to be dragged into this emotional quagmire. “Have you seen Lizzie? And Jimmy? They’re doing wonderfully.”

“I plan to visit both of them. And everyone else I treated last year.”

“Early vacation?” she asked.

“Dwight and I have closed our practice.”

His announcement hit her as if a wall had fallen in on her. “You’ve given up medicine?”

He leaned toward her, took her hands that were clasped in a white-knuckled grip atop her desk. “I’ve decided to practice real medicine, thanks to you.”

“I don’t understand.” She was drowning, her head swimming, overcome at the proximity of him, the warmth of his hands, the love shining in his eyes.

“Years ago, I decided to study medicine because I watched my mother die a slow, agonizing death, unable to afford the proper care that might have saved her. Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of my purpose. I let money and fame and excitement derail me. But last summer, working with people who really needed my care, I rediscovered what I’d known at the beginning. I want to be a healer.”

Becca frowned. “That’s why you gave up your practice?”

“So Dwight and I can open a new one.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “We bought the Jamison property.”

“
You’re
Mountain Outreach Corporation?” She couldn’t tell whether his startling news or his closeness was causing her dizziness, her sense of unreality.

“We’re building a hospital. We plan to fly in children from all over the country—all over the world—who need reconstructive surgery. We’ll provide the service at no cost. And our hospital will also contain the emergency clinic you’ve always wanted.”

He was building her clinic.

Granny’s clinic.

Her legs sagged, and she would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. “But that will cost a fortune.”

“Dwight and I have file drawers full of names of grateful clients with more money than they know what to do with. We’ve formed a foundation. It’s already funded. All we’re waiting for is the completion of the building.”

The meaning of his words suddenly hit her. “You’ll be living here?”

“For the rest of my life.”

“But you never called, never wrote. I thought you’d—”

“Forgotten you?” His palms caressed her cheeks. “Not a chance. I wanted to make certain everything was in place before I told you. Things just took longer than I’d hoped.”

She still couldn’t believe what was happening, that Matt was really here, really staying. “How could you leave California?”

“Oh, Becca, loving you, how could I not? Will you marry me now?”

“If you don’t mind living in an old log mountain house.”

“I’d live in a cave if I could be with you.”

He kissed her then, lifting her off her feet.

You’ll do, young man,
Granny’s voice sounded in Becca’s mind.
You’ll do just fine.

Matt pulled back suddenly and stared at her wide-eyed. “Did you hear someone?”

“A ghost,” Becca said with a grin, her heart overflowing with happiness. “A very friendly ghost. But don’t pay any attention to her. Just kiss me again.”

She didn’t have to ask twice.

* * * * *