Rescued By Marriage. Dianne Drake

orthodox of waiting rooms but, on the bright side, it didn’t require hundreds of dollars’ worth of magazine subscriptions for the adults and toys for the children.

      “You’re going to treat that baby in the back of your car?” Sam asked, stepping over to observe once Nola had joined her family.

      Sighing, Della said, “I have to treat her someplace, don’t I?”

      “You should have told them to take her to a hospital on the mainland until you’re set up to practice here. That’s what they’ve always done before.”

      Della kicked a piece of driftwood aside and laid Bianca down in the back of the SUV as Mayor Bruce Vargas pulled up in his truck and got out. “Except now that they have a doctor, they don’t have to.” She understood his concern, but he didn’t understand her urgency. This was the first step. It wasn’t a very big one, but it was a very necessary one. One patient at a time and she’d figure it out as she went. “These people know the condition of this place better than I do, and they’re willing to come here to be treated regardless of it, so I’ll find a way to treat them. It wouldn’t be nice of me to turn them away.” Especially since they had a heavy financial investment in her. “So I’ll do the best I can for now.”

      She glanced up at the house on the knoll. Somehow, she would have to figure it out. And soon. “So, I have a medical bag in the back seat. Would you mind handing it to me?”

      “You’re really going to do this?”

      “I’m really going to do this. Then afterwards I’m going to go have a look at the mayor’s shoulder, like he asked, and if I’m lucky, somebody else might come along later.”

      “Oh, they’ll come along all right. A doctor is a precious commodity, and they won’t let her go to waste.”

      * * *

      “She’s teething,” Della explained as she handed Bianca over to her mother. “Her gums are a little swollen and red, and her fever is elevated, but only a little. Nothing to worry about. Does she have diarrhea?” she asked.

      Nola nodded. “My other three never went through this when they teethed.”

      Meghan had gone through it, too, frightfully so. She had been fussy off and on, and for weeks Anthony had slept in a hotel, claiming the crying kept him awake and he needed to be fresh for his surgeries. It had been a valid point, but in retrospect Della wondered if he’d been having an affair even back then, and using that as an excuse to sleep with someone else. “Some children do, some don’t. Bianca is going to have a bit of a problem with it, I’m afraid.”

      “Does she need antibiotics?” Matt Brodsky asked.

      “She doesn’t appear to have an infection so, no. Antibiotics can be rough on young children, and taking them can start an immunity, which isn’t good.” Bianca wasn’t congested in either lung, her eyes were bright and responsive, her respirations and pulse normal. Her tummy didn’t hurt, her legs and arms moved normally. And the only time she whimpered was when Della ran a finger over her gums. In her opinion, the course of fewer medications was always the best when it could be managed. “Make sure you keep her off of dairy products for a week. Also, try to keep her quiet as much as you can keep a two-year-old quiet, and think about freezing some fruit juice and letting her suck on it. She’ll love the taste and the cold will feel pleasant against her gums. The fluid will help keep her fever down, too. Just make sure the sharp edges of the frozen cube are rounded off.”

      She was good. Sam had to admit she was very good at this, and she had quite a way with the child. A natural. More than that, she loved it. That was so plain on her face, the way her eyes lit up, the way she smiled. For those moments when she’d been examining the little girl, Della had had the look of a woman who wasn’t carrying the weight of so many troubles with her.

      “How much do we owe you, Doc?” Matt asked, pulling his wallet from his pocket.

      “One beach call?” She thought about it for a moment, then settled on an amount, quickly pocketing the bills when they were offered.

      “That wasn’t bad,” she said to Sam as the Brodskys drove off. “And, believe it or not, that’s the first time I’ve ever been paid for my services. Back in Miami, in the clinic, I received a weekly stipend. It’s kind of fun, earning something for myself.”

      Such a simple thing, Sam thought. A small amount of money and she was thrilled over it. What kind of life was she coming from? And what in the world was he going to do about helping her in this new life? Helping her without losing his job?

      Somehow, he couldn’t fit the two together.