Judith Bowen - The Doctor's Daughter

Maybe she’d stop having nightmares about Johnny Gagnon and whether he’d ever find her or find out about Robert. Johnny Gagnon was in jail, after all, where he belonged.

Virginia hesitated when she reached the sidewalk outside the law office. It was the middle of the week, and many Glory merchants clung to the old-fashioned custom of half days on Wednesday. The streets were quiet. Virginia breathed deeply. She swore she could smell the ripening fields of grain and alfalfa outside of town blowing along Main Street. She could smell the pungent blossoms of the town’s caragana hedges, for sure. Caraganas, lilacs and peonies. Rhubarb and crabapple trees. The harshest northern winter didn’t kill the stubborn roots of those prairie faithfuls.

She glanced at her watch. Robert had been with her mother for about two hours now. Doris could probably handle another hour or so with this grandchild she’d seen for only a few days a year. They’d visited her parents every Christmas since Robert was born. She heard a distant church bell and remembered what Horsfall had said about a christening. Why didn’t she wander over to the church? Maybe she’d see Lucas. She’d feel a lot better getting that first meeting over with. Now that she had the job, the worst of her worries was behind her. Next would be finding a place to stay and getting settled. Her parents had offered—grudgingly, she thought—to let her and Robert stay with them in the big brick house at the top of Buffalo Hill. Her pride did not allow her to accept.

She’d stood on her own two feet for quite a few years now. She’d given up law school and completed an office-management course before Robert was born. She’d worked and supported them both ever since, and was determined to continue as she’d begun. She’d never asked for favors and wasn’t about to start now.

People—including her parents—could take her and Robert as they found them or not at all. She had never pretended to be a widow or divorced, and no one had had the nerve, so far, to ask any questions. Perhaps in Glory someone would. Small towns were small towns. No one knew that better than she did.

Still, their hometown would be the last place Johnny would ever think to look for her. If, indeed, he wanted to look for her.

Virginia approached St. Augustine’s, conscious that although several people on the street had noticed her, no one had tried to talk to her. She wasn’t sure anyone would recognize her after all these years. She still had the red hair she’d been famous for, but she’d grown up. Slender now, not scrawny. Red hair neatly tucked up, not flying wild. Crisp skirt and jacket, not scruffy jeans and a T-shirt. Of such were most people’s memories made, or so she believed.

The christening was over and the large crowd had moved next door to the church hall, where the women’s league always served tea and cakes after funerals and weddings and, obviously, christenings. Virginia stepped up to the door, smiling at several people she knew. She couldn’t tell whether they remembered her, but they smiled back.

The hall was noisy with talk and laughter. The big multipaned windows on each side spilled bright sunlight into the room. Virginia saw the postmistress, Myrna Schultz, who was a town fixture, and said hello, then walked farther into the room, confident that within very short order the entire population would know about her, Robert and her new job.

Holding center stage were a much-older-than-she-remembered Joe Gallant with a slim, brown-haired woman who must be his wife, a teacup and saucer in her hand. Honor Gallant chatted animatedly with an older woman Virginia didn’t recognize. Several ladies stooped over the baby, who was decked out in white lace and satin and gazing quietly up at the world from a fancy bassinet. A gray-haired man leaning heavily on a cane stood proudly beside the bassinet, a rather spectral-looking man in a bowler hat at his elbow, solicitously holding a tray with two cups and saucers and a small plate of cakes.

Virginia fought a sudden ache. How differently she’d welcomed Robert into the world. She’d taken a bus to Regina a week before her due date and stayed with a friend, whom she’d sworn to silence, so that her baby would be born in Saskatchewan and wouldn’t even be traceable in Alberta records. Now she realized she’d probably gone somewhat overboard in her desperate fear that the man who’d raped her might find out about Robert and make life more difficult than it already was.

Suddenly she spotted Lucas Yellowfly and caught her breath. He was even handsomer than she’d remembered, and he’d been handsome as a teenager, when all the other boys had been just gangly and awkward. His shoulders were broad, the man fulfilling the rangy promise of the boy, and he looked terrific in a suit she’d have sworn was handmade, it fit him so beautifully. His hair was still black as coal, and he was tall—he’d been tall at eighteen.

He smiled as he bent slightly toward a dark-haired woman Virginia vaguely recognized. No, she couldn’t put a name to the face. Lucas’s smile was warm. Was this the lady in his life? Although she hadn’t thought of that possibility, Virginia felt some relief. Of course Lucas Yellowfly would have a woman in his life, whether he was married or not. He was too attractive not to be in some kind of relationship.

That would make working with him a little easier. Not that she herself was particularly attracted to him, not anymore. What she’d felt for him all those years ago had been nothing more than a teenage crush. She’d been involved with Johnny Gagnon. Lucas had just been a lucky, last-minute date for her prom and a chance—again—to thumb her nose at the town.

Lucas saw her then, and Virginia knew that the seeds of the attraction that had once existed hadn’t gone away. How awkward, when they’d be working together. His eyes caught hers and she felt almost as if he’d reached across the crowded room and touched her, put his warm, strong hands on her shoulders, run the side of his thumb along her cheekbone... kissed her softly. She took a swift breath. What foolishness!

She forced herself to smile and walked into the room. Lucas moved toward her, his eyes never leaving her face. The woman he’d been speaking with accompanied him. Virginia swallowed hard.

“Virginia!” He took her hand in both of his and smiled in return. His eyes were tender and gentle and welcoming. She felt a prickle of emotion, which she pushed back firmly. She took a deep breath. She finally felt secure, wanted, as though she’d made the right decision in coming back to Glory. That was a great part of Lucas Yellowfly’s charm, as she remembered it. He gave the impression that the person he was speaking to was the only person in the world. It had a great effect on women.

“Hello, Lucas.”

He kept hold of her hand and turned to the woman beside him. “Donna, this is Virginia Lake, the woman I’ve been telling you about. I believe she’s coming to work for Pete and me in the firm. Is that correct, Virginia? Virginia, this is Donna Beaton, an old friend. She runs a gift shop in town.”

Virginia, Virgina... It was as though he couldn’t stop himself from saying her name.

An old friend. “How do you do, Donna?” Virginia said formally, and shook the other woman’s hand. “Yes—” she glanced at Lucas “—I’ll be starting in the office the first week of school, I believe.”

“Welcome to Glory,” Donna said. “I hope you’ll enjoy living here. Well, Lucas, I think I’ll head back to the store now.” She smiled apologetically at Virginia. “I catch up on my bookkeeping on Wednesdays.”

“Virginia,” Lucas repeated, gazing deeply into her eyes. He took her arm, and nodded as the other woman moved away with a small wave, then leaned toward her. “Listen, do you want to get out of here?”

“Sure,” Virginia said, quickly looking around. “Maybe I’d better say hello to the parents of the baby first?”

“Do you know Joe and his wife?”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“Well, then, why don’t we leave? You can meet them another time.”

Lucas adroitly maneuvered her out of the crowded hall, smiling and saying a few words to people as they left. Then they were back in the bright sunshine, standing on the painted wooden steps that led up to the hall.

“You bring a car?”

“No,” Virginia replied, very conscious of Lucas’s hand still on her elbow. “I walked over from your office. I left my son with Mother.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Lucas said. “What’s his name?”

“Robert.”

“Starting grade one?”

“Kindergarten. He’s just five.”

The unspoken question hung between them: Who is his father? Virginia bit her lip.

“I walked, too,” Lucas said easily as they reached the sidewalk. He let go of her elbow, for which she was grateful, and adjusted his stride to hers, hands in his pockets. “So, what are your plans, Virginia? I suppose you’ll be staying with your folks for a while?”

“A few days. I’m going to look for a place to rent while I’m here—”

“While you’re here?” he interrupted, one eyebrow raised.

“Sorry.” She felt herself flush slightly. “That didn’t sound right, did it? I’m planning to stay. When I find a place to rent, I’ll go back to Stettler and pack up our stuff.”

“Stettler. That’s where you’ve been living?”

“Yes.” She could be as clever at not giving out information as he could be at soliciting it. She wanted to smile.

“It can be tough renting in Glory. Most people own, and there’s not much in the way of apartments in a small place like this.”

“I’m hoping Mother and Dad will know of something.”

By this time they were at the far side of the square. Virginia noticed a delicatessen-café—Molly McClung’s—that hadn’t been there when she’d lived in town. Lucas gestured toward it. “Coffee?”

She hesitated, but only for a second. Lucas was not only going to be her boss now, one of them, but he was well connected here. He was also her friend, or he had been, years and years ago. She needed a friend in Glory.

“They’ve got great carrot cake,” he teased, one hand on the door, the other reaching for her elbow again.

“Sounds good.”

The interior was dim and cool and bursting with good scents. Homemade soup, fresh-baked goods, spices, peppermint tea, fresh-squeezed orange juice....

They sat in a booth next to the window. A plump woman came from behind the counter to take their orders, then Lucas turned back to Virginia with a devilish grin. She waited, trying hard not to smile herself.

“You aren’t going to believe this, Virginia Lake, but I think I’ve got just the answer for you.”

She toyed with her spoon. “What do you mean?”

“An apartment. I’m moving out of my place and as far as I know, Mrs. Vandenbroek hasn’t rented it yet.”

“You’re moving out?” She added cream to her coffee, which had just arrived, and stirred it.

“Yes. You remember my sister, Theresa?”

“No.” Virginia shook her head and took a sip of the coffee. It was delicious. Her eyes met Lucas’s over her cup.

“Well, she’s a few years older than I am.” Lucas pulled his coffee toward him. “Anyway, she’s got an eight-year-old daughter, Tammy—she’s in grade three this year. Theresa’s shipping her out to live with me for a couple of months, so I’ve bought a house. It’s bigger and closer to the school.”

“Bought a house?”

“It was high time. I’d been thinking about it for a while.”

Virginia frowned. “Why is she sending her daughter to you?”