Going to the Chapel (11 page)

“
You’ve eaten
already?”

Caroline looked as startled
as he felt at her own question. “I...ah...I’ll eat at home. I
wanted to get this to you before it got cold and—”

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t think. You probably want to eat with Shane.”

“
Right.” Chase nodded. He
hated to lie, but it was necessary, and besides he hadn’t actually
lied. “I’d better get going.” He backed up another step.

“
Thank Henri for me,”
Caroline called after him.

“
Sure thing.” Chase turned
his back and bounded down the steps. He would not look back no
matter how badly he wanted to.

“
Good night,
Chase.”

He froze, one hand on his
Jeep door. He had to look back. Had to see her one more time. She
stood in the doorway, the hall light silhouetting her just the way
it had hundreds of times before when he’d kissed her goodnight and
left her on her grandmother’s porch.

He swallowed back the
yearning. “Good night, Caroline.”

He left. He had to. If he’d
stayed one more second, he’d have run back to her and begged her to
forget all about Tristan Rodgers.

Chapter Six

Caroline woke up with a new
attitude Tuesday morning. She was determined to do right by her
grandmother’s house. She would make sure a new owner, someone who
would cherish and take care of the home, moved in and brought
happiness to these walls once more. She’d cleaned downstairs all
day the day before and all morning that very morning. Now she was
ready to take a break from cleaning and paint the kitchen. Once the
kitchen was done she could take care of the upstairs.

After lunch she decided to
drive into town and pick out the lemon yellow paint that would
brighten the kitchen and enhance the ivy decorating scheme. Chase
had insisted that she keep his old truck while she was here. Though
she could have done without being reminded of him in anyway, she
was thankful for the transportation.

She smiled as she parked in
front of the old hardware store. The place hadn’t changed a bit.
The storefront window was still decorated with an antique tricycle
and ice cream maker. The white lettering on the glass had long
since yellowed, but still proclaimed “Henson’s Hardware” plainly
enough. Stepping through the double wooden doors and onto the
ancient oak flooring gave Caroline an overwhelming sense of deja
vu. But it was the commingled smells that evoked the most memories.
The scent of oil, gardening products, and linseed oil filled her
nostrils as she headed for the center of the shop and the counter
that stood there.

“
Why, Caroline Gregory!
Will wonders never cease?” A gray-haired, ample-hipped Mrs. Henson
rushed around the counter and hugged Caroline fiercely.

“
It’s nice to see you
again, Mrs. Henson,” Caroline said, her voice muffled against the
older woman’s broad shoulder.

“
I’d heard you were back in
town.” Mrs. Henson drew back, holding Caroline by the upper arms
and surveying her with a discriminating eye. “If you ain’t about
the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Caroline blushed. She
looked a sight at the moment. Dusty and sweaty. “Thank
you.”

“
Where’s that good-looking
sheriff?” Mrs. Henson winked. “Time was when you saw one of you,
you saw the other. I knew it would be just a matter of time before
the two of you came to your senses and did a little fence
mending.”

Caroline produced a patient
smile. “I’m only going to be here for a few days. Mr. Reems wants
to show the house and I’m whipping it into shape.” She hoped her
excuse sounded more convincing than it felt.

Mrs. Henson’s weathered
brow furrowed. “Well, it’s about time that old place got itself a
new owner. You wouldn’t need it anyway. Why, the Garrett place is
one of the finest in the county.”

Caroline winced inwardly.
How could she get the message across that she wasn’t here to
reconcile with Chase?

“
That child needs a mother
something fierce.” Mrs. Henson shook her gray head. “Henrietta does
the best she can, but she can’t be a real mother to the boy, not
like he needs anyway. It’s a pure shame how that little hussy went
off and left that little fella.”

Caroline stiffened. She did
not want to hear this. “I just—”

Mrs. Henson made a tsking
sound. “Never did see what Chase, or Slade, for that matter, saw in
that no account Tiffany. She tweren’t nothing but
trouble.”

Caroline blinked,
surprised. “Slade?”

A heavy sigh blew past the
woman’s lips. “Poor boy. He was running with her when he died. Such
a shame. It just don’t seem right that a fine young man like that
from such an upstanding family could get mixed up with
drugs.”

Caroline and Slade had been
best friends all through school. It had been Slade who’d told Chase
how much in love Caroline was with him. She’d been furious with
Slade. But he’d only done it, so he said, because he knew that
Chase felt the same way about her. The rest was history. Caroline
had gotten so caught up in medical school that she hadn’t realized
how bad things had gotten with Slade until he was dead. No one, not
even Chase, according to Henri, had seen it coming.

“
The whole town’s talking
about you,” Mrs. Henson said, dragging Caroline from her disturbing
musings. “We haven’t been able to lure a doctor here since old Doc
Bishop died.”

That announcement startled
Caroline all over again. “Doc Bishop died?”

“
About six months ago,”
Mrs. Henson affirmed gravely. “We have to go clear into the city
for a doctor. Folks are tickled pink that you’re taking over Doc’s
clinic.”

“
What?” How on earth had
they gotten that idea? “Who told you—?”

“
Never you mind.” She
released her stout hold on Caroline. “Ain’t nothing around here
kept secret for long.”

Caroline felt trapped like
a rat in a maze of her own making. “But I—”

Mrs. Henson whopped her
soundly on the back. “Now, what can I do for you this
afternoon?”

Caroline left the hardware
store thirty minutes later feeling confused and frustrated, and
completely bewildered. At least she had her paint. She hefted the
buckets into the back of the truck and tossed in the sack
containing the roller, cover, pan and trim brushes.

She scanned the sidewalks
and shops that made up Main Street in Lucy’s Branch. Was everyone
around here under the impression that she was back to stay? Were
they in such dire need of a doctor that they would fabricate such a
tale in hopes that it would come true? Her gaze sought out and
found Doc Bishop’s clinic. Once a lovely old home, the clinic was
adorned with fretwork and decorative trim. Doc Bishop had kept the
place in mint condition. His shingle stood hung on the porch. How
sad that he was gone now.

Maybe she’d just take a
quick look at the place. Peek in the windows. Sit a spell on the
porch swing. Caroline was halfway there before she realized she’d
taken a step. Another wave of warm and familiar memories flooded
her as she settled into the ancient wooden swing. She could almost
hear Doc Bishop’s gravelly voice as he told her stories to keep her
occupied while he sutured her up close and personal encounter with
a rusty nail. She still had the tiny scar on her left
thigh.

Caroline smiled. He always
made the necessary visits easier. As gruff as he appeared, he’d
been a big teddy bear. All the kids had loved him.

A car skidded to a stop in
front of the clinic drawing Caroline’s attention to the
street.

“
Dr. Gregory, thank God
you’re here.” A woman, mid-fifties raced up the sidewalk, a
screaming toddler in her arms.

Caroline stood
instinctively. “What happened?”

The woman bounded up the
steps and across the porch. “He broke a glass and cut himself. It’s
bled something awful.” She turned where Caroline could see the arm
wrapped in a kitchen dishtowel. Blood stained the towel. “I was
afraid I’d have to drive all the way to the city with him bleeding
like that.”

The boy needed immediate
attention, but how was she supposed to get into the clinic. It was
surely locked. “I’m sorry,” Caroline began, “I don’t have the keys
to the clinic.”

The woman’s eyes widened in
fear. “What am I going to do?” The child wailed in punctuation of
her words.

Caroline had to do
something. She couldn’t just let him go unattended. The closest
medical facility was thirty miles away. “Give me a minute.” She
tried the front door, it was locked. “I’ll go around to the
back.”

Just as she’d feared, the
back door was locked too.

After looking around for
something handy, Caroline decided on a small clay flowerpot. She
smashed a pane of glass in the door and reached inside to unlock
it. Five minutes later she had the child on an examination table
and was preparing to clean and suture his wound.

While his grandmother held
him still, the child screamed at the top of his lungs. Caroline
tried her level best to tune out his wailing, but she couldn’t. And
she hated for him to feel such fear.

“
Do you like stories,
Kenny?” she asked over his sobs. He didn’t answer. The grandmother
attempted a smile for both their sakes. “Well, let me tell you one
that someone very special once told me. Once upon a
time...”

By the time Caroline got to
the part about the wolf chasing the grandmother around her cottage
the little boy was listening intently. The grandmother looked as
relieved as Caroline felt.

When she had his wound
bandaged and had scrounged up a lollipop from the drawer Doc Bishop
had always kept them in, Caroline gave Kenny a pat on the head and
told him what a brave boy he’d been.

“
I can’t thank you enough,
Dr. Gregory.” The woman, Mrs. Cooper, Caroline had learned, scooped
Kenny up into her arms. “How much do I owe you?”

Caroline smiled. “It’s on
the house.”

After Mrs. Cooper and Kenny
left, Caroline cleaned up the broken glass, then drifted through
the clinic, just remembering. She had cleaned up the exam room
she’d used and decided she’d better walk over to the hardware and
have a piece of glass cut. Maybe Mrs. Henson could get in touch
with Mr. Hadley and have him hurry over to install it in the door.
Caroline didn’t want to leave the clinic vulnerable.

“
Breaking and entering is
against the law.”

Caroline whirled around at
the sound of Chase’s deep voice. He stood in the doorway watching
her. The look of desire in his eyes burned wherever his gaze
touched her. It wasn’t fair for him to let her see what he was
feeling. She blinked to conceal her own wanton thoughts.

“
It was an emergency.” She
turned out the light in the exam room and waited for him to move
out of her way. She wondered for two long beats if he intended to
at all.

He stepped aside, allowing
her to pass. “Mrs. Cooper told me what you did. It’s a worthy
enough cause that I’ll overlook the broken pane of
glass.”

“
Anyone else would have
done the same. I’ll replace the broken glass.” Ignoring him, she
paused at the desk to jot down the patient’s name and the treatment
she’d administered. The next doctor would need a proper
record.

“
It’s right, seeing you
here like this, Caroline.”

She looked up just in time
to watch him move deliberately toward her. “Don’t,” she
warned.

He stopped right beside
her, those deep blue Garrett eyes staring down into hers. “This is
where you’re supposed to be. The whole town wanted you here. I—” He
snapped his mouth shut before he said the rest.

“
You haven’t been going
around telling people that I’m here to stay, have you?” she
accused. Surely he wouldn’t do that. What would he hope to
accomplish? And what did it matter what he’d once wanted? It was
over now.

He shook his head. “They
just assume since you’re back that you’re here to stay. They’ve
seen you at your grandmother’s house. They think you want to be
here. They need you. They’ve always wanted you back
here.”

Caroline summoned all her
defenses. She would not fall victim to his numerous charms. The way
he looked at her...the way he smelled...the way just being this
close to him made her feel. He was everything she’d ever wanted.
And
he
had broken
her heart. He had ruined their lives. First by insisting that she
go straight from medical school to being the doctor in Lucy’s
Branch. He was unmovable on the issue. He would not even hear of
spending a little time away before they became Mr. and Mrs. Lucy’s
Branch.

Caroline had wanted more.
To see the world...to be free for just a little while. Then Slade
had died and she’d had to come back. She wanted desperately to make
up with Chase. They’d been on the outs for almost two months.
Slade’s death had only reinforced his stand on staying put. At the
same time, it had reaffirmed what Caroline already felt. Life was
short. She wanted to have just a little bit of time for the two of
them to share alone. She’d left after the funeral, angry and
frustrated. Three weeks later, when she realized that she loved
Chase too much to give him up for anything, she came back to town
to find out he’d just left on his honeymoon...with another
woman.