so sorry, Richard.”
He shrugged. “I’m sorry she’s chosen to not be part of Ethan’s life, but I’m not sorry about the divorce. It was one of those mistakes that make themselves painfully clear minutes after it’s too late to be easily fixed.”
“That doesn’t make it hurt less, I would imagine,” she murmured softly.
“No, it doesn’t,” he answered, his voice short. He regretted saying anything at all about Ethan and especially mentioning his failed marriage that still stung.
He gripped his briefcase, desperate to escape this awkwardness, but her words stopped him before he could do anything but put his hand on the doorknob.
“Can I ask you something?”
He eased his hand away, flashing her a wry look. “You haven’t seemed to have any problem asking questions for the last two hours. You’re amazingly good at it.”
“That was different. Business. This is…not.”
For the first time since the meeting she seemed to reveal her nerves weren’t completely steel-coated. Wariness flickered in her eyes and she appeared to be gripping a file folder with inordinate force.
He ought to just push past her and get the hell out of there but he couldn’t quite bring himself to move.
Instead, he shrugged. “Go ahead.”
“I just wondered about this…hostility I’m sensing from you.”
Apparently he wasn’t as good at concealing his inner turmoil as he’d thought. “I’m sure you’re imagining things.”
“I don’t think so,” she answered, her voice pitched low. “I’m not an idiot, Richard.”
Abruptly, suddenly, he was furious with her, as angry as he’d ever been with anyone. She had no right to come back, dredging up all these feelings he had buried long ago. The rejection, the hurt, the loss.
He had thrown his heart at her feet eight years ago. The hell of it was, he couldn’t even say she had stomped on it. That might have been easier to handle, if she had shown any kind of malice.
But he supposed that would have been too much bother for her and would have required her to care a little. Instead, she had politely walked around it on her way out the door.
And then she dared to stand here now and ask him why he wasn’t thrilled to see her!
This wasn’t personal, he reminded himself. Or if some part of him couldn’t help making it so, he shouldn’t let everything between them become about their shared past. He couldn’t afford it, not in his temporary role as hospital counsel.
“Why would I be hostile?” he said instead. “You’re only the point man—or woman, I guess—for a company trying to destroy this hospital and this community.”
She blinked a little at his frontal assault, but it only took her seconds to recover. “Not true. I would have thought as an attorney you could look at this with a little more objectivity than…” Her voice trailed off.
“Than who? Your family?”
She sighed. “Yes. They won’t listen to reason. Peter and David think I’ve betrayed the family name and Ella…well, Ella’s not speaking to me at all.”
He didn’t expect the sympathy that suddenly tugged at him, fast on the heels of his own anger. Her family had always been important to her. Sometimes he thought she placed too much importance on their opinions. She had always seemed painfully aware that she was adopted and struggled hard to find a place for herself among the medicine-mad Wilders.
As a single child himself, he could only imagine what she must be feeling now—alienated by her siblings and bearing the brunt of their anger over her role in the NHC takeover attempt.
On the other hand, he instinctively sided with her siblings in this situation, not Anna.
He pushed away the wholly inappropriate urge to offer her comfort. “How did you expect them to react, Anna? This hospital is in their blood. Your family is basically the heart of Walnut River General. Everyone here knows that. And the soul, the essence, of this place is the sense of community—neighbors reaching out to help neighbors. That’s what has made this hospital such an integral component to the quality of life in Walnut River. No one likes to go to the hospital, but the ordeal is made a little easier here when you know you’ll be treated with respect and dignity, often by someone who has known you all your life.”
She blinked with surprise. “Times change,” she answered. “The health-care industry is changing. Independent community hospitals just don’t have the competitive edge anymore.”
“Nor should they. It’s not about making money. It’s about helping people heal.”
“Exactly! And if Northeastern HealthCare can help them heal in a more efficient, cost-effective way and provide better access to cutting-edge procedures not currently available in this market, don’t you think that will be better for everyone in the long run?”
“Will it?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Walnut River would be part of a powerful consortium of health-care providers. With that backing, the hospital can afford to bring in state-of-the-art equipment and the newest procedures. NHC is already talking about building a cancer treatment center so patients don’t have to drive twenty miles away for radiation treatment! And they’re talking about an entire renovation of the labor and delivery unit and an after-hours Instacare facility for parents who work during the day to bring their children to see a doctor….”
Her voice trailed off and color brushed her cheeks like the first hint of autumn on the maple trees along the river. “I didn’t mean to ramble on. I’m afraid I get a little… passionate sometimes.”
She obviously believed the NHC takeover would truly be best for the hospital. Richard had to admire her passion, even if he disagreed with it.
“You certainly are free to believe what you want,” he said. “And I’ll do the same.”
After a moment, she nodded. “Fair enough. But that doesn’t really answer my question.”
“What question would that be?”
She opened her mouth to answer but before she could, the boardroom door opened and Tina Tremaine, J.D.’s receptionist, stepped through.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I thought everyone was gone.”
“We’re just on our way out,” Richard answered.
“You don’t have to rush. Take your time. I only needed to make sure things were straightened up in here for a meeting J.D. has first thing in the morning.”
She smiled at Richard but he was surprised to see her smile disappear completely by the time she turned to Anna.
Anna didn’t seem to miss the sudden disdain in the other woman’s eyes. Her shoulders straightened and her chin tilted up slightly but she said nothing.
“We’re just leaving,”
