“I guess I’m a romantic after all. I need to go see my patient now.” Nathan stood up and charged out of the room, leaving William chuckling to himself.

  Chapter 3

  Elizabeth was surprised at how familiar everything at the hospital felt as she and her sister made their way toward their mother’s room. It was like she had only been there yesterday. Once, it had been a second home to her, but now it was a place full of sadness.

  When they got to the room, her breath caught in her throat. Her vibrant mother looked so frail, lying there in the bed.

  “Momma,” Elizabeth whispered as she walked toward the bed. Despite her years in the medical field, seeing her own mother in such a condition made her blood run cold. She sat on the bed beside her and embraced her in a gentle hug.

  “Are you all right? Sweetie, you look so tired. Have you eaten? I can get you something from the cafeteria,” Diane fussed, trying to sit up in the bed to look stronger for her children.

  “I’m fine, mom. I promise. How are you?”

  “Much better. I really don’t see why they’re keeping me here.” Diane waved her hand dismissively. Elizabeth’s mother was used to taking care of others and being in the opposite role made her feel uncomfortable.

  “You know why.” Elizabeth did her best to look calm, smiling sadly and caressing her mother’s arm.

  “But I haven’t had a bad reaction to my latest round of treatments. I’m all right and I want to go home. I need to cook my baby a welcome home dinner.” Diane took Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it.

  “Momma, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m here to take care of you.”

  “That’s a mother’s job. You’re the daughter. I don’t want you to worry about me. Kate’s been fretting over me too. You girls need to relax and let me do the worrying.”

  “Mom, you know Liz is here to help take care of you so you can go home,” Kate intervened.

  “Don’t talk to me like a child, Katherine.”

  “Sorry, mom. I’m just worried,” Kate admitted, sitting on the bed beside Elizabeth.

  “I know, honey, but it will all be fine.” With a peaceful countenance, Diane recited the verse, “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually.”

  Diane had been given her share of suffering in life but her faith in God had never faltered. She had struggled with infertility for many years and when she finally had her daughters, she lost her beloved husband. John died of a heart attack when the girls were only five and one year old. Diane never remarried and, ever since, she had done everything she could to protect her girls.

  “I don’t want my babies to worry. You know that I’m in good hands here.”

  “So they’re all treating you well?” Elizabeth looked around the room, pleased with the space. They had done a number of upgrades to the facility since she left eight years ago. While the place had the same feeling it had when she had worked there, it was clear that they kept the patient care cutting edge.

  “Of course. They all remember you. They all love you here.” Diane beamed with pride.

  “Well, I’m glad they’re fussing over you.” Elizabeth braced herself for what she knew was coming next.

  “They all are, especially Nathan,” Diane said, gauging her daughter’s face for a reaction.

  “That’s good.” Elizabeth forced a tight smile.

  “He visits me every day.”

  “He’s very dedicated to his patients. He always has been.”

  “He’s a good boy.” Diane nodded, a smile playing on her lips. Clearly, she still took pride in the young man who had spent so much time in her home.

  “Yup... a real good boy,” Kate mumbled, her anger poorly veiled.

  Elizabeth turned to her sister and put her hand on her shoulder.

  “Kate, this is not about the past. It’s about him treating mom’s cancer and he’s doing that. I’ve let go of the past and you need to do it too. Otherwise this is going to be even more painful for everyone.” She needed her mother to focus on her own healing, not her daughter’s past with her doctor.

  “You really forgive him, don’t you, Liz?”

  “I forgave him a long time ago.” Elizabeth looked away, trying to clamp down on the feelings rising inside her at the thought of seeing Nathan again.

  “That’s my girl.” Diane patted Elizabeth’s hand knowingly as she spoke.

  They all sat in silence for a few moments before there was a knock at the door.

  “How are we do-”, Nathan started the question in his husky baritone as he walked into the room. He froze when he saw Elizabeth sitting on her mother’s bed and his deep, dark eyes locked on her face.

  Elizabeth felt her heart start to hammer in her chest. Seeing him there, in the place where they had shared so much of their relationship made it feel like no time had passed at all. His lean, tall figure moved with effortless grace and he looked irresistibly elegant in his white doctor’s coat.

  “Elizabeth…” he muttered, unable to come up with anything else to say.

  “Nathan, it’s good to see you.” She forced herself to greet him with a smile. He was a good man. The pain that he had caused her didn’t change that.

  “Good to see you too. You look great.” He fumbled over his words.

  “Thanks. I guess 47 hours of travel does wonders for the skin.” She giggled. She was doing all that she could to seem unaffected by his presence.

  “It must,” he said, returning her smile with the same awkwardness that she felt.

  “Thanks for everything you’re doing for mom.” After what had happened between them, Elizabeth could never have imagined they would meet again under these circumstances, but she wanted him to know just how grateful she was for his help.

  “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for your mom. I probably wouldn’t even be a doctor if she hadn’t made sure I ate and slept during med school.” He chuckled as he remembered Diane putting plate after plate of food in front of him and telling him he was too skinny.

  “You worried too much. You didn’t take care of yourself.” Diane smiled at her handsome doctor.

  “Unfortunately, not much has changed, except I don’t have you scolding me for it every day like you used to.”

  “Whose fault is that?” Kate mumbled under her breath.

  “Kate,” Diane snapped at her daughter.

  “Baby Bird’s not wrong,” Nathan said.

  “Don’t you ever call me that. That’s for family and you aren’t.” Kate’s voice was full of anger and pain.

  “We aren’t here to talk about the past. It’s over and it doesn’t matter. We need to focus on mom,” Elizabeth reminded them, trying to escape the awkwardness of the moment.

  “That we will. I’m glad to see you again. It’s good to have you here, you know, for your mom.” Nathan was clearly as eager to push past that awkwardness as she was.

  “I’m glad to have my girl home, especially after the danger she’s put herself in over the last few years.” Diane sighed with a pained expression.

  “Danger?” Nathan stared at Elizabeth as he waited for someone to explain what that meant. The thought of her in danger made it hard for him to breathe.

  “Just the normal hazards of the job. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Normal hazards? You were held at knifepoint six months ago,” Kate added, clearly as worried about her sister’s dangerous job as their mother was.

  “Knifepoint?” Nathan didn’t even try to hide the way the very thought gutted him.

  “Just some local thugs trying to steal morphine from the clinic I was working in.”

  “Oh, my goodness.” Nathan shook his head, frowning.

  “I delayed them until security forces got there.”

  “You stopped them?” he asked, shocked.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. It’s a situation they train us for.”

  “Not a big deal? They cut you!” her mother cried.

  “Cut you?” Nathan repeated.

  “Just a scratch. It barely scarred.” Elizabeth unbuttoned the collar of her shirt and pulled it aside to show the raw scar forming on her neck. “They were just punk kids trying to make a buck. They had no idea who they were messing with.” She chuckled.

  “That’s not funny,” Nathan said, unable to take his eyes from the scar. During his sleepless nights, he often wondered where Elizabeth might be and what she might be doing. Trying to imagine what her new life was like, he was more focused on worrying about the possibility of her falling in love with another man than about the risks she was exposed to. His chest felt weighted at the thought that her life had actually been in danger.

  “In the work we do, you learn that you either laugh about situations like that or cry about them. I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to let things like that break me. There are enough tears in the world.”

  Everyone in the room was on edge from the conversation. So on edge, in fact, that they didn’t see William creep through the door.

  “Lizzie!” he cried as soon as he saw her.

  “Bill, I’ve missed you.” She leapt off the bed and threw her arms around him.

  Nathan couldn’t deny the pangs of jealousy that he felt as Elizabeth greeted William with such joy.

  “When your sister told me you were coming today, I couldn’t believe it,” William teased, hugging her.

  “She was just telling us how she was held at knifepoint,” Nathan interrupted their exchange.

  “Oh, I know! How did the wound heal?” William reached out to get a better look at it.

  “Just a little scar.” Elizabeth waved a hand in dismissal.

  “After what it looked like when it was fresh I thought it would leave a nastier scar. Maybe it won’t be too bad in a few years,” William said thoughtfully.

  “You saw it?” Nathan knew that William was still in touch with his ex-fiancé and her sister but, he had never realized that their communication was so fluent. He had always been torn between the urge to learn about Elizabeth’s new life and the pain that talking about her caused him.

  “We Skype,” Elizabeth said as if it were nothing.

  “You Skype?”

  “Of course. You have to stay in touch with friends.” William smiled at Elizabeth, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

  “You’ve never mentioned it.”

  “Bringing Elizabeth up always puts you in a foul mood.” William made no effort to hide his words from the woman in question.

  “That’s not true.” Nathan looked at Elizabeth as he bit his lip.

  “I’m sure it isn’t. Aren’t you engaged? Congratulations,” Elizabeth said, eager to change the subject, although she already knew that he had broken off his engagement with Simone. William briefly mentioned it when they Skyped six months ago, but she forced herself to show indifference to the news.

  “Not anymore,” Nathan replied, without going into more detail.

  “I’m sorry.” Elizabeth kept his gaze, thinking of how it had felt when their own engagement had ended.

  “It was for the best.”

  “I hope that’s true for both of you.”

  “I’m sure it is.” Nathan rubbed his hand over his sharp jawline, eyes shifting downward.

  Elizabeth turned her head to her mother. “Mom, I’m suddenly so tired. Maybe I should head to the house and get some sleep.”

  “Of course, sweetie. I’m so happy you’re back home.”

  “Mom, will you be okay for an hour or so while I get Elizabeth home?” Kate looked anxious to leave her mother alone.

  “There’s no need for that. My shift just ended. I’ll drop her off at the house,” William said eagerly.

  “Are you sure it’s not a bother, William?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Never. I’ve missed you. It’ll give us time to catch up.” William grinned at her in a way that made Nathan’s fists clench at his sides.

  “Thank you. I’ve missed you too.” She took William’s arm when he offered it. They had been friends since college and it felt good to be with him again. He had always been able to cheer her up. “Bye, Ma. I’ll be back first thing tomorrow.”

  “Get some rest and get some food,” her mother ordered, looking more relaxed than she had in days.

  “I’m fine.” Elizabeth winked.

  “I’ll make sure she eats, Diane. I’m starving myself. We can grab a bite on the way home.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Elizabeth said.

  “I want to. Haven’t you missed good old American hamburgers while you’ve been off delivering babies in the jungle and stitching up bullet wounds in the dessert?” William teased.

  “You’re ridiculous.” She chuckled.

  “That settles it, a burger and a milkshake too,” William vowed as if it were the most serious of promises.

  “Take care of my girl,” Diane called after them.

  “Bye, Elizabeth,” Nathan whispered.

  “Bye, Nathan,” she said, eager to put some space between them.

  As she walked out of the room with William, she didn’t look back. Had she, she would have seen a pained look of regret in Nathan’s eyes as he watched her walk away from him again.

  Chapter 4

  As he left Diane’s hospital room, Nathan’s mind was in turmoil. He knew, of course, that seeing Elizabeth again was going to be emotional, no matter what he had told William. She was, and always had been, his perfect woman. She was so beautiful and so full of love. He had not expected her to fall into his arms upon seeing him, but his heart ached at the space between them. Perhaps it was because he had not been around her since breaking their engagement. He had no experience being near her when she wasn’t in love with him. Still, it was like muscle memory. His arms ached to hold her close, especially when he saw the pain in her eyes as she took in the severity of her mother’s condition.

  Seeing her interact with William had not helped. She was as open with William as she was closed with him. Elizabeth’s genuine enthusiasm to see him and the physical contact she allowed his friend made Nathan’s blood boil. He was not a jealous man. He prided himself on being unshakeable. Still, seeing them walk off together had felt like a punch in the stomach.

  What he needed was a few quiet moments in his office to regroup. After all, this was just old pain rising to the surface. Elizabeth was a reminder of everything he didn’t have. A bit of silence would give him perspective. Unfortunately, when he opened his office door a stunning blonde was leaning on his desk waiting for him.

  “Darling, there you are. I was wondering what was taking you so long,” Simone said as though she had every right to let herself into his office.

  “Simone, you’re looking well,” he replied, trying to hide his frustration. Simone was not a bad woman. She was everything he had thought he wanted. That was why he had dated her for so long, going so far as to propose marriage to her.

  They had met several years before when Simone’s law firm was doing some work for the hospital. She was stunningly beautiful and intelligent. The woman was just as career-driven as him. She had never questioned when he put his career before her and he had never questioned when she did the same. Nathan had told himself that it was just because they supported each other’s ambitions. It wasn’t until she had accepted his marriage proposal and he had attempted to picture their life together that he realized his mistake. He thought of their children, raised in a home devoid of love and caring, and it had struck his heart cold. For a few months, he had tried to convince himself it was just cold feet, but finally he realized he had no choice but to end their relationship.

  “That’s the only greeting I get,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close as though nothing had changed between them. It had become her habit in the months since their break-up to do just that.

  “I’m not sure what else you want me to say,” he commented stiffly, pulling away from her.

  “You could start by telling me how much you’ve been missing me.”

  “Simone,” he said, his tone a warning.

  “Come on, baby. You know that we belong together. We both know that. Let’s not play games like this.”

  “You always say that we belong together, but you never talk about how much we love each other.” Nathan was staring out the window and trying to remember the feeling of being truly in love with someone. It was Elizabeth’s face he saw as he imagined the feeling.

  “Because we aren’t lovesick teenagers. We’re adults who know what truly matters in life. We want the same things, success and power. By the way, everybody thinks we look great together,” Simone replied matter-of-factly.

  “That isn’t love.”

  “We don’t need love to have a happy life together.”

  For a long time, he had convinced himself that he didn’t need a love like he had with Elizabeth. He had told himself that what he needed was a woman who understood that his career came first. That way, he could have a relationship and still be the best in his field. Looking back, he couldn’t believe he had ever been so foolish.

  “I need love,” he said plainly, unable to deny it any longer. He wanted that for Simone too. She was a good woman and she deserved the same happiness he wanted for himself.

  “It wasn’t words of love you used to propose to me,” she pointed out.

  “No, if I recall, I told you I’d give you a good, stable life.”

  “And that’s what I want.”

  “I want more.”

  “I didn’t make you propose to me,” she said, her aggravation apparent.

  “No, I know that. I thought it was what I wanted. Our relationship was good. Some days it was really good. I thought it was enough, but I knew when we started to plan our future that it wasn’t.”

  “Our future will be good.” Simone’s tone was so determined that it was hard to deny her.

  But Nathan knew what he wanted. Still, he couldn’t imagine ever finding a woman that he could love in the way that he had once loved Elizabeth.

  “We both deserve more than good. We deserve magic.”

 

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