records, wouldn’t be that lucky. He’d be lucky to live. Only a decade or so older than Luke’s little girl, and this boy had put his life on the line for his country.
Luke had to steel himself against the tide of dismay washing over him as he snapped out orders and made his first incision. An hour later, it was over. The kid was dead. He’d lost too much blood and they hadn’t been able to seal off all the bleeders fast enough.
“Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, Doc,” Kenny said.
“Yeah, I know,” Luke responded. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.”
On days like this it was hard to remember that he’d come here to save lives. It was hard, in fact, to remember why he’d left his home, his family, his life for this. If he thought about the devastation waiting for some family back home, if he thought about any of it, he wouldn’t be able to function. All he could do was head back to his quarters and try to snatch a couple of hours of sleep before the next transport came in.
* * *
“Luke!”
The sound of Grandma Jenny’s voice snapped him back to the present.
“Luke, are you okay? You’re pale as a ghost. Sit down for a minute and I’ll get you something to drink.”
“I’m fine,” he said, then realized he was standing over a chicken with a knife in his hand. “I’ll just finish cutting this chicken up for you.”
“I can do that,” she said, nudging him aside. “Sit.”
Suddenly too exhausted to argue, he sat.
“You want to tell me where you went just then?” she asked.
“Not really.”
“Something tells me you ought to be talking to somebody about it. Bottling up the things that upset you isn’t good.”
“No, it’s not,” Luke agreed. But he’d talked this particular subject to death while he was in rehab and it hadn’t made the memories fade. If anything, they were clearer and more deeply embedded in his mind than ever.
“So, talk. You said you’re a surgeon. Where?”
“In Atlanta. At least, that’s where my practice is.”
“You have a family there?”
He got to his feet. “No offense, Grandma Jenny, but I can’t talk about any of this right now. I’m going for a walk, if you don’t mind.”
She gave him a hard look. “You’re not going to keel over the second you walk out the door, are you?”
He managed a faint smile. “I hope not.”
“Then go.” She shook a finger under his nose. “But don’t think I won’t still have the same questions tomorrow or the day after.”
“I never doubted it,” he said. “Right now, though, I need some fresh air.”
“You’ll be back for dinner, though, right?”
“I’ll be back,” he assured her.
He felt her concerned gaze on him as he left. There was something sweet about that. He couldn’t recall the last time anyone had cared about his comings and goings. His ex-wife had stopped caring months ago, by his calculations. His kids, well, right now they were mostly confused. Very soon, when he felt more centered and sure of himself, he needed to fix that. They needed to know that he still loved them, that he was going to be there for them. To do that, though, to make that commitment, he had to figure out who the hell he was now...or who he wanted to be.
“So, have yourself a damn pity party, why don’t you?” he muttered in disgust as he walked the few blocks into downtown, taking note of the many changes that had taken place since he’d left. Storefronts had been spruced up. There was more variety in the merchandise for sale. The tourists walking the streets tended to be families, rather than fishermen traveling solo. And a whole lot of people were riding around in golf carts, despite the fact that the nearest golf course was over on the mainland.
By the time he’d reached the small grocery store on the island, which was thankfully unchanged, he was in pain, but his mood had improved. He bought a half gallon of rocky road ice cream, which he vaguely recalled had once been Hannah’s favorite. Or was it Abby’s? At any rate, they’d eaten a lot of it way back when. Maybe it would be just the thing to put everyone in a good frame of mind tonight.
Then, again, that was asking a lot of a bowl of ice cream, no matter how big and decadent it was. Of course, at the pace he was walking these days, there was a good chance it would be soup by the time he got it back to the inn.
* * *
Kelsey took one look at the plate piled high with fried chicken and the huge bowl of creamy yellow mac and cheese and went running for the nearest bathroom. Morning sickness, which was a misnomer if ever she’d heard one, basically sucked. She hated heaving her guts out several times a day.
The doctor she’d seen assured her it would pass soon, but she wasn’t counting on it. She had a feeling this baby was going to punish her from now through eternity for not wanting it. If it wasn’t morning sickness, it would be something else...colic, or teething accompanied by cries of pain or, down the road, a teenage rebellion of monumental proportions. She figured she’d deserve every miserable minute.
Though she could hear the low murmur of voices from the kitchen while she was in the bathroom, the second she crossed the threshold, silence fell. Obviously they’d been talking about her. She hoped her mother hadn’t filled her great-grandmother in on the news of her pregnancy yet. Grandma Jenny was going to have a lot to say about it and Kelsey didn’t want to hear any of it. She’d made a mistake. She knew it. She was going to deal with it. What more was there to say?
Even her mom had known there was little to be said on the subject, because she’d been silent and withdrawn all the way from the airport to Seaview. Despite the careful silence, Kelsey had felt her judgmental stare every few minutes throughout the ride.
Now, as she glanced from her mom to Grandma Jenny, she caught a glimpse of someone else in the room who hadn’t been there a minute ago. She turned to get a good look at the man hovering near the sink. He seemed intense. Dark and good-looking, but definitely intense.
“Kelsey, this is Luke Stevens,” her mother said. “He’s staying here right now. We were friends when we were kids.”
Kelsey studied him curiously. All her visits to Seaview had been rushed and she’d rarely ever met anyone who’d known her mom years ago. As far as she knew, no one ever stuck around the island if they could get away. To hear her mom tell it, only losers stayed behind, but this guy didn’t look like a loser.
“Nice to meet you,” Luke said. “Seems as if you all have a lot to catch up on, so I’ll just fix myself a plate and head up to my room.”
“No,” Kelsey said, as did both her mother and Grandma Jenny.
“Besides, you went out and brought home all that ice cream,” Grandma Jenny added. “You need to sit right here and eat it with us.”
Luke
