her hands together, as the overhead fixture refracted the brilliant blue-and-white prisms of light that bounced off the diamonds on her left hand. “Yes, I am really all right. Can we please do this so I can sit down?”
Denise smiled at her attendants. “Okay ladies. Let’s do this.”
The four women picked up the beautiful bouquets that lined the padded bench at the foot of the queen-size bed in Denise’s childhood bedroom.
Mia sat at the bridal table, nodding and smiling as the hands on the wristwatch of the man sitting on her right inched closer to one in the morning. Although she didn’t get to see her Pennsylvania relatives as much as she’d liked, she’d always managed to stay abreast of family news, since Denise, Chandra or Belinda would occasionally email her with the latest gossip.
She was more than a bit shocked to learn that Trey Chambers Jr. was really Garrett Fennell’s half brother. The last she’d heard was that Rhett and Trey had had a falling out over Denise, but that was before Rhett was aware that he and Trey had the same father.
Trey Chambers cast a sidelong glance at the woman with the close-cropped, curly black hair who’d been his partner in the wedding party. She was stunning—tall and slender, with curves in all the right places. Trey saw Mia as more the high-fashion model type than a doctor. Her large dark, wide-set eyes didn’t look at him, but through him. It was as if she could see through the slick veneer he’d affected over the years to get women into bed. It’d worked on most women, but not with Mia Eaton. And he’d certainly tried and failed several times to get her number.
His gaze lingered on her delicate profile, with lips so tempting that he was forced to look away. “Are you certain you don’t want me to get you something to drink?” he asked in a quiet tone.
Mia forced a smile. “I’m very certain,” she said. Rising from the table, she pushed back her chair. “Please excuse me.” She had to leave to change out of the gown and into clothes suitable for traveling.
After the reception, Mia, Xavier and his wife, Selena, were planning to fly to Kentucky and then travel on to Matewan, West Virginia, where the newlyweds would spend a week with her family before returning to South Carolina. Xavier had reserved a car that would take her and his wife to a regional airport for a nonstop flight to Pikesville, Kentucky. Mia planned to stay overnight with the Yates’, then drive eighteen miles south to Jonesburg to meet the local physician, Dr. Millard Lyman, and settle into her new place. She’d packed enough to last a week, hoping the rest of her luggage filled with clothes and other items she would need to set up her apartment would arrive in West Virginia as planned.
Before leaving the reception, Mia nodded to her father as he spun her mother around the ballroom dance floor. Her relationship with her mother, Leticia, had become somewhat strained, since her mother refused to accept the fact that she wanted to become a country doctor instead of setting up her own practice in Dallas.
Twenty minutes after retreating to Denise’s bedroom, Mia walked out with a leather tote containing her ticket and a carry-on bag. Dressed in jeans, Doc Martens, an Irish-knit pullover sweater and ski jacket, she left the house through a rear entrance.
The driver sitting behind the wheel of a town car got out and opened the rear door upon her approach. He touched the shiny bill of his cap before he took her bags. “Mr. and Mrs. Eaton are on their way.”
Mia nodded, ducking her head as she got into the limo. She was dog-tired—exhausted. After working a double shift, her flight had arrived in Philadelphia just hours before the wedding rehearsal, followed by the rehearsal dinner at a popular restaurant.
The next morning was spent at a full-service beauty salon and spa. A facial, massage, waxing, manicure and pedicure, followed by a midday snack and then hair and makeup, had left her more out of sorts than relaxed. Much to her mother’s chagrin, she’d opted to have her hair styled in a low-maintenance pixie cut. The shortened strands would save valuable time because she wouldn’t have to set and blow-dry her hair.
Settling back on the leather seat, she closed her eyes. Mia stirred when she felt Selena and Xavier join her in the rear of the limousine, but she didn’t open her eyes. She was wide awake, however, by the time they arrived at the regional airport and went through security. Almost as soon as she fastened her seat belt, she fell asleep again before takeoff.
“We’re here.”
Mia’s eyelids fluttered as she tried to get her bearings. They were on the ground, and the small aircraft was taxiing to the gate at the small terminal. She smiled at Selena Yates-Eaton, owner of Sweet Persuasions, a Charleston, South Carolina pastry shop. The pastry chef had made the most beautiful wedding cake for her sister-in-law. The detailed flowers on the cake matched those in Denise’s wedding bouquet.
Stretching her body like a cat, she rolled her head from side to side. “How long will it take to get to your home town?”
Selena smiled, scrunching up her nose. “It’ll be long enough for you to take another power nap.”
Mia massaged the back of her neck. “I don’t think I’ll ever catch up when it comes to sleep.”
“Treating patients in Mingo County will be a lot different than seeing those in a big city. I’m not saying you won’t have your share of patients with health problems, but it will mostly be sick kids and their mothers. Most men don’t put much stock in seeing a doctor unless it’s absolutely necessary. Speaking of men, I’d better turn on my cell phone and see if my dad called. He said he would come to pick us up.”
Mia liked her cousin’s wife. Although she found Selena friendly, Selena also possessed a certain shyness that Mia found endearing. And, she knew Selena had to be quite special if Xavier had been willing to give up bachelorhood. Mia had lost count of the number of women who’d asked her to introduce them to the one-time career military officer. But she usually told them he was involved with another woman, to avoid any hurt feelings. Most of her med school classmates were looking for husbands, and what they hadn’t known about Xavier was that he wasn’t the marrying kind—until now.
The aircraft had come to a complete stop and the seat-belt light was extinguished. Xavier unsnapped his seat belt and moved toward the seat facing Mia’s. He smiled. “Feeling better?”
She returned his smile. “Like a new woman.” Mia felt better than she had in days. The flight was just long enough for her to get a little shut-eye.
Xavier patted her head as he’d done when they were younger. “You’ll get to sleep in late, because Selena’s folks usually stay up late on New Year’s Eve and then sit down to celebrate later in the afternoon with a traditional Southern dinner.”
“Daddy isn’t going to pick us up,” Selena said, listening to her father’s voice-mail message.
Xavier looked at his wife. With her youthful appearance she looked like she was still in high school. “Let’s hope we can rent a car.”
Selena shook her head. “Kenyon’s coming to pick us up.” She stared at Mia, remembering Kenyon’s remark at her wedding reception. He thought Mia was pretty, but he also thought that she was stuck-up. And she was looking forward to seeing the sheriff of Jonesburg’s reaction when he was formally introduced to Dr. Mia Eaton, the town’s new doctor.
Mia waited with the others in the biting cold January night, while their luggage was unloaded from the plane’s cargo compartment and left on the tarmac for passengers to retrieve. She smiled. There was no moving sidewalk, no elevator, no escalator
