Chapter 3
Sydney decided she should’ve gone back to the office instead of trying to sleep. Sex with Declan should’ve left her boneless and floating on endorphins. Instead, she tossed and turned for hours until getting up and scrubbing her kitchen until it was surgery room clean.
As a person in the medical community, she knew some of the fears she had were irrational, but that didn’t make them any easier to get over.
In spite of a very strong coffee, she was still feeling a little blurry at the first visit of the day.
Nora Yemen’s little cabin sat at the end of a gravel lane, a good twenty minute drive from Heart Falls. The woman was in her late seventies and doing fairly well on her own, but in the three years that Sydney had been casually coming out to provide healthcare, she’d spotted the changes.
It was easier to deal with the issues of aging by planning ahead. Convincing people of that fact was an uphill battle.
She picked up the basket of fruit from the passenger seat, dropped out of the truck, and headed for the door with her chin held high. A visit like this was why she did what she did.
The Skye brothers weren’t the only ones who were trying to make a difference in peoples’ worlds.
The door opened before she could knock.
Nora offered a small smile then shuffled backward, gesturing her in. “Saw you coming up the drive so I added a little water to the teapot. Do you have time to stay?”
“Of course. I brought you something as well. Just some fresh fruit that made more sense to buy in bulk, and there’s no way I’ll eat it all before it goes bad.” Sydney lay the basket on the counter then settled in at the neat-as-a-pin table as ordered.
Nora rolled her eyes for a moment, but she didn’t turn the gift down. Just went to work, making up a plate of cookies and cups of tea. Which gave Sydney time to observe her motions and conclude the woman was still safe in her own home, but the time was coming when that wouldn’t be true.
Like most of their visits, this one began without a lot of words. Sydney nibbled on a cookie, sipped tea, and breathed in the quiet. Nora watched Sydney like a hawk.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Nora finally informed her. “About how the wise plan ahead to enjoy all the seasons of life.”
“I said something that poetic?” Sydney shook her head. “I’m sorry, you must be confusing me with someone from daytime TV.”
Nora laughed. “Okay, fine. You didn’t say it that way, but that’s how I started to think about it. You’re right. It’s always smarter to make a move when it’s your choice than when it’s forced on you. I called the senior lodge in town, and they’ll have room for me sometime in the next month or two.”
Sydney deliberately let her jaw fall open. “Get out.”
This time Nora glared. “Young lady, sarcasm does not become you.”
“No, this isn’t sarcasm. This is outright shock that someone is taking my good advice and, in fact, speeding ahead faster than average.” Sydney raised her glass to the woman. “But then, I always knew you were above average.”
Pleased, her cheeks flushing slightly, Nora waved her fingers. “My children were equally shocked when I called them this morning to let them know the news. But that’s the good thing about having always been a stubborn old woman. I’m doing what I want regardless of what they think.”
Good to know that the family was in the loop. Support at a time like this was invaluable. “It’s a big transition. If you need help along the way, let me know.”
“We’ll take it as it comes,” Nora assured her.
The next hour was spent in a companionable conversation as Nora brought out a deck of cards. Sydney drank tea, played the game, and thought how sometimes things did work out the way she’d hoped they would.
She helped put the fruit away in the fridge and took the basket back, accepting Nora’s firm handshake before heading out the door.
Outside the house, Sydney paused. Two vehicles screeched to a stop beside her truck, plumes of dust swirling into the air. Unfamiliar faces peered out the windows, scowls firmly in place. Doors slammed, and two women and a man in their late forties rushed toward the cabin.
They didn’t look like any religious proselytizing drop-ins that Sydney had ever seen. She stood her ground and waited with a smile in place.
At her back, the door creaked open. “Are you still there, Dr. Jeremiah?”
“Doctor? This is the woman who demanded that you move?” The shorter of the two women, heavyset with a tangle of brown and grey curls, marched up to Sydney and glared in disgust. “How dare you interfere in things that are none of your business?”
Sydney straightened to her full height even as she took a step back to make sure she had ample room to duck if necessary. “And you are?”
“This is our mother,” the other woman declared. She shook her head, and her brown bob swayed, her thin fingers clutching the strap of her oversized purse. “What are you doing here?” She glanced over her shoulder at the slender man behind them. “Adam, she’s trespassing. Can we get her arrested?”
“She’s not trespassing, Cara,” Nora said firmly. “She’s my guest, so you can all stop your—”
“Mother, get back in the house. Cara, Cindy. Go inside with her.” Adam stepped around his sister, shoving her toward the front door so he could loom menacingly over Sydney. “I’ll deal with this.”
“There’s nothing to deal with,” Nora insisted, pushing off her daughters’ grasp. “I’m sorry, Sydney. I had no idea they’d be like this.”
Sydney held her hands in the air as if showing she was unarmed.
She slowly eased closer to Nora, just in case.
She’d seen abuse masked as family concern before.
The tone. The expressions. “I’m not sure what brought on all the aggression, but I need to tell you that right now, with the way you’re behaving, I’m not comfortable leaving you alone with your mother. ”
“How dare you?” Cindy snarled.
Cara tugged on Nora’s arm. “Mom. Get into the house and away from this scammer right now.”
Gravel sprayed in the driveway, but other than hoping it wasn’t another child coming to join in the fray, Sydney didn’t have a second to look.
Instead, she slipped her body between Nora and her daughter, facing the older woman straight on. “This is your decision. Do you want me to leave you with them? Do you feel safe?”
“Is this the kind of nonsense you have been feeding her? Our mother, not feel safe around us? How ridiculous.” Adam roared loudly enough the metallic ring of a truck door slamming shut was a faint sound.
What she did hear was a gasp of pain as Cara tightened her grip on her mother’s arm and tugged.
“No,” Nora insisted, jerking away.
Sydney moved. She wrapped her fingers around Cara’s wrist and squeezed.
Cara shrieked, her fingers flew opened, and Sydney pulled Nora free.
The older woman shuffled for a second, wavering on her feet, and Sydney fought to catch her.
Beside them, Cara flailed her arms as she stepped backward.
Shouting, shoving. Boots on gravel. It all mixed together as Sydney focused on making sure Nora landed safely.
“Let her go.” Adam’s deep voice drilled into Sydney’s ears.
Pain exploded behind her eyes as her head jerked back, her braid yanked like a rope.
White noise roared in her ears. Sydney twisted, raising her hands to defend herself, and another sharper flash of pain bloomed in her left eye.
A second later, her butt hit the porch and she kept going, rolling toward safety.
“Don’t even think about moving.”
Sydney stopped in mid-roll. She was hands and knees on the middle of the wide staircase and utterly in shock at the familiar voice.
She looked up. “Declan?”
Relief shot through her at the sight of him with storm-clouds in his eyes and a face made of granite. He held Adam immobile, twisting the man’s arm behind his back.
Fear widened Adam’s eyes, and his sisters finally stood motionless.
No, check that. Cara had frozen in place, but Cindy had her phone out and held in front of her like a shield. Recording a video, Sydney assumed.
Screw them all. Now that she had Declan to watch her back, Sydney hurried to Nora, who sat on the porch with her arms wrapped around herself. “You okay? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine. Maybe some bruises.” She glared at her son. “I’m outraged at your behaviour. What on earth were you thinking?”
“She’s trying to commit elder fraud,” Adam insisted.
“I’m recording everything,” Cindy said. “Cara, call the police.”
“Don’t bother the police,” Nora snapped, getting to her feet with Sydney’s help. “Oh, wait. Unless you want us to call the police for you, Dr. Jeremiah. If you’d like to press charges after my son and daughters deliberately assaulted you.”
“What?” Cara demanded.
The other two shouted over each other.
“She’s tricking you, Mom.”
“Wait until I get my hands on you—”
The threat from Adam died off instantly as Declan growled his disapproval.
How had this gotten so tangled?
After making sure that Nora was solid on her own two feet, Sydney stepped back slowly. “We don’t need the police, but we should get to the bottom of this. I’m willing to stay and talk if you can all be reasonable.”
“You talk about reasonable when I’m being restrained by a thug. Let me go, you monster,” Adam demanded, wiggling against Declan’s hold.
“I’m working really hard to stay polite,” Declan said softly.
“The only reason you and I aren’t taking this somewhere else to have a detailed conversation on our own is because Dr. Jeremiah just offered to speak with you.
So it’s your choice. Stand down and step away so we can discuss this like rational adults, or I’ll call the police. ”
“You’re the one threatening our brother.” Cindy raised her phone higher. “I have proof.”
Declan stared at her. “Go ahead. Post it on social media. See how long you last before they rip you to shreds, Karen.”
The woman looked confused for a moment, but when Adam relaxed his stance and Declan let him go, she finally put down the phone.