The Doctor's Undoing (16 page)

Carolyn harrumphed loudly. “Don't you guys see we have a guest? Get up and introduce yourself, Mick. You, too, T.L.”

Dutifully, the other men lowered the footrests of their recliners and rose to their feet, though Haley noticed the older man looked reluctant to tear his eyes from the football game.

“Everyone, this is Ron's girlfriend, Haley Wright. Don't expect Ron to introduce you to her. Haley, this is my husband, T.L., our son, Mick, our daughter, Debra and her boyfriend, Luis Rodriguz—”

“Ramirez,” Deb corrected with a sigh.

Her mother ignored her. “And Deb's sons, Kenny and Bryce, are back there playing with their trucks.”

“It's nice to meet everyone,” Haley assured them with a smile. “Please sit back down, I don't want to keep you from your game.”

Nodding in approval, Ron's father immediately took his seat again.

“I brought some gifts to put under the tree, Mom,” Ron said, hefting the bulging bag.

She nodded. “Put them under, then. We'll open gifts after lunch, since Deb won't be coming back for Christmas Day.”

The broad hint of accusation in the comment made her daughter sigh again.

Having arranged the gifts beneath the tree, Ron came back around to shake Luis's hand. “Nice to meet you, Luis. I didn't realize Deb was seeing anyone.”

“That's why I wanted to come this weekend.” Deb flashed her left hand, revealing a sparkle of diamond. “Luis and I are getting married. Sometime next summer, probably. I've already told everyone else.”

“Yeah? Welcome to the family, Luis.” Ron shook his hand again, then turned to brush a kiss across his sister's cheek. “I hope you'll be very happy together, Deb.”

“Now that everyone's finally here, we can go ahead and eat before the food gets cold,” Carolyn announced from the doorway. “T.L., turn off that TV and come to the dining room. You're saying the blessing.”

“Why don't you say the blessing this time?” T.L. argued, though he climbed to his feet again.

“Don't start with me,” his wife told him with a shake of her finger. “This is as close as a family Christmas as we're going to get this year, since Deb's determined to spend the holiday in Florida. Least you can do is say the blessing.”

“Looks like we're going to eat now,” Ron murmured to Haley, placing a hand at her back to escort her to the dining room.

Giving him a “behave yourself” look, she followed the crowd.

During the noisy, rather chaotic meal, she saw some of the issues Ron had warned her about. Carolyn was a chronic complainer, seemingly incapable of being completely satisfied with anything. Her rather taciturn husband, a thicker, more weathered version of Ron, made a habit of tuning her out except to occasionally complain back at her. Deb, a thinner, more finely honed clone of her mother, had a chip on her shoulder that Haley could almost see, as if daring anyone to offend her—which seemed to happen on a fairly regular basis.

Mick, an odd mixture of both his parents, sported a thinning ponytail and several prominent tattoos. He seemed to be an observer, sitting back and watching everyone else while he ate, his thoughts hard to read. Occasionally he made a wry observation or told an amusing anecdote about his life on the road.

Ron had implied that Mick had a temper. That wouldn't surprise Haley. She suspected he'd have to in the rough-and-tumble life he seemed to favor. She sensed a lot of tension between Mick and his parents. Had he chosen a life on the road to get away from that tension, or was it caused by the path he'd taken? Maybe a little of both.

There was love here, she reflected, eating the excellent, country-style food and watching Ron's family try so hard to interact with each other. But it was masked in habitual bickering and criticism, clouded by the haze of beer and smothered beneath years of hurt. No one mentioned the missing member of the family, but even Haley felt his absence, and she'd never met Tommy.

Most of the initial conversation centered around Deb's engagement, Carolyn's trials in her job as a middle-school secretary and the stories Mick told about his life on the road. Ron participated, as she tried to do when it seemed appropriate, but she noted that there were few questions about his life. Maybe because the others just didn't know what to ask about medical school?

They certainly didn't hold back on their criticism of him. He didn't call enough, didn't visit enough. His dad wanted to know why he'd bought the particular vehicle he was driving.

“Because I needed a new one and I got a good deal on that one from a friend's brother,” Ron replied.

“Should have asked me first. I'd have told you that model's nothing but trouble.”

“I haven't had any trouble with it so far.”

“You will. And don't expect me to keep it running for you. I don't work on those. More trouble than they're worth.”

“Don't worry, I won't ask.”

The predicted storm hit while they were having dessert. Rain hammered the roof and slammed against the windows while thunder and lightning made the children whimper. Deb comforted her little one. Her mother plied the older one with cake and pie to distract him from the weather. Deb criticized her mother for giving the child too many sweets, to which Carolyn retorted that she knew all about raising children, thank you very much.

T.L. and Mick began to quarrel about some arcane sports statistic, causing Ron to sigh and mutter beneath his breath. “Great. Here we go.”

“I'm going to clean up this mess and then we'll open our presents,” Carolyn announced, standing to gather the dirty dishes. “You all go into the living room and entertain the babies until I get done in here.”

Haley sprang to her feet. “Let me help you.”

Carolyn gave her a look that might have held a touch of approval for making the offer, though she shook her head. “I don't like anyone else messing around in my kitchen. No one knows where everything goes, and I end up searching for stuff for days. But thanks for offering, hon.”

“She's serious, you know,” Deb said with a wry shrug for Haley. “She doesn't let anyone mess around in her kitchen. And then she'll spend the rest of the day complaining about how much work she has to do around here.”

Frowning, Carolyn pointed a serving spoon at her daughter. “Watch your mouth.”

“I'm thirty years old, Mom. Don't talk to me like I'm still a teenager.”

“You treat your mama with respect when you're in this house,” her father ordered over his shoulder from the doorway. “Don't matter how old you are.”

“Just let it go, Deb,” Mick said somewhat wearily when his sister looked prepared to continue the argument. “They're always going to say stuff like that.”

Deb rounded on her older brother. “Don't you tell me what to do, either!”

“Deb, why don't you and I show Luis and Haley Mom's prized African violets?” Ron suggested quickly. “Dad and Mick can watch the boys for a minute.”

She nodded slowly. “All right. Bryce, honey, go with Uncle Mick. You can play with your trucks again and then we'll open presents when I come back in, okay?”

Still nervous of the booming thunder, Bryce was lulled only by the promise of presents. He allowed himself to be herded into the other room with his brother, uncle and grandfather.

The African violets were displayed on shelves built into a large greenroom off the back of the house. Haley imagined the room would be filled with sunshine on pretty days, bringing a reminder of summer inside even on cold winter days.

“This is a lovely room,” she said, touching a fingertip carefully to a velvety purple petal. “The flowers are beautiful.”

“My mother's pride and joy,” Deb said, turning a lavender plant an inch in its stand to better display the blooms. “She's been raising them since before Ron was born.”

Watching the storm sweeping across the yard beyond the greenroom glass, Haley commented, “This room is wonderful. I'm sure she loves sitting out here with her flowers.”

She motioned toward a little wicker table and two matching chairs arranged next to the far wall.

“Dad built it for her for their twentieth anniversary, almost twenty years ago,” Ron commented. “He spent several months working on it. She's always complained that it should have been larger, and she wishes it had a little more southern exposure and she wishes he'd put in a few more electrical outlets, but she really does enjoy the room, for the most part.”

“As much as Mom enjoys anything,” Deb agreed with a heavy sigh.

“I'm sure she loves it,” Haley repeated.

She suspected Carolyn had obsessive-compulsive tendencies. The very tidy house, the perfectly arranged violets, the fact that no one except her worked in her kitchen—all pointed to control issues she'd have difficulty reining in without treatment. Those same tendencies would make her very trying to live with, especially for people who didn't understand the underlying neuroses.

And there she went falling into psych-think again, she thought with a slight shake of her head.

“You weren't kidding about your mother, were you?” Luis asked Deb, throwing a cautious glance in the direction of the open doorway.

Deb laughed shortly. “No. I wasn't kidding. Why do you think I moved to Florida?”

She patted her fiancé's arm. “I'm so glad now I did make that move.”

Luis smiled down at her, and Haley thought they made a nice-looking couple. They seemed very much in love. She hoped this marriage would make Deb happier than her first one had. Haley had watched Luis with the boys during lunch, and he seemed quite fond of them. Perhaps Deb had found what she'd been searching for in him.

She wondered if Mick would ever acquire whatever he was looking for during his restless travels. She was glad Ron had found medicine, which gave him a purpose in his life, a goal to work toward, the validation he hadn't heard much from his family.

There were other reasons she was happy Ron had entered medical school, she admitted to herself. She understood exactly what Deb meant when she'd said she was pleased her
path had led her to Luis. Haley couldn't imagine never having known Ron. No matter how much heartache he might cause her in the long run.

Deb shared a faint smile with her brother. “I guess they're getting a taste of what it's going to be like to be a part of this family, huh, Ron? Luis hasn't taken to his heels yet. Maybe Haley won't, either.”

“Oh, I—” Haley swallowed her instinctive, almost panicky assertion that Deb was misinterpreting her relationship with Ron. This wasn't the time to get into those details. She settled for a somewhat sickly-looking smile, instead.

“All right, y'all get in here and let's open presents,” Carolyn called from inside. “These boys are getting antsy.”

“We're coming, Mom, jeez.” Rolling her eyes, Deb caught Luis's hand in hers and led him toward the door, still muttering about her mother's impatience.

Haley glanced at Ron when she turned to follow them. He was looking at her with a frown that made her steps fumble just a bit. He did not look particularly happy with her.

“Um—?”

He smoothed his expression immediately. “We'd better hurry before Mom really gets impatient.”

While thunder continued to boom outside, he ushered her into the other room before she could say anything else.

 

“We're under a tornado watch,” Ron's dad announced when everyone entered the living room. He nodded toward the television screen, where a colorful map covered the lower part of the screen, the counties under severe weather watches highlighted in red and blue. “Until ten o'clock tonight.”

“A watch, not a warning?” Deb confirmed, casting a quick eye at her children.

“Yeah. Just a watch.”

Having lived in Arkansas all his life, Ron didn't get too perturbed over a watch situation. The family would leave the
TV on—which they usually did, anyway—and keep an eye on those colored boxes, but it was hardly time to head for the hallway.

A hard gust of wind buffeted the house. Bryce whimpered.

“Let's open presents, Brycie,” his grandmother said, taking him into her lap.

“Good thing the leaves are off the trees.” Ron's dad nodded toward the windows as he spoke to whomever was listening. “That wind would be knocking some limbs off.”

Their mother talked Mick into distributing gifts, because that had been his job for years and she was nothing if not consistent in her nagging. Mick sighed heavily, but didn't bother arguing. He passed out the presents with a notable lack of ceremony, simply lobbing packages in the general direction of the recipients named on the tags. Their mom fussed at him for his carelessness, but she'd have criticized, anyway, so Ron didn't blame him for not paying any attention to her.

Showing a resemblance to her mother she would have furiously denied, Deb shook her head when she looked up from a few of the gifts she and her sons had already opened. “Knitted scarves, Mom? What are we supposed to do with these in Florida?”

Ron frowned and looked quickly at his mother, hoping Deb's careless comment hadn't hurt her feelings. But Carolyn merely shrugged and said gruffly, “I've got to have something to do around here in the evenings and on the weekends while your father's out messing with those cars fourteen hours a day. It's not like I've got anyone to talk to. Besides, I know there's an occasional cool night in Florida. They're always talking on the news about having to save the oranges from the occasional frost.”

Shrugging in what might have been an acknowledgment of the point, Deb looked more pleased with the frilly red nightgown she opened next. The kids seemed happy with
the toys their grandparents had given them, their handmade scarves dumped carelessly into a corner beneath a pile of torn wrapping paper.

Haley looked surprised when Mick tossed a tidily wrapped box into her lap. She looked at Ron, who sat beside her on the couch. He shook his head. “Not from me.”