25. Chapter 25 #2
“Oh, I have privileges there,” he said, shrugging.
“There are times I need to send my patients there if we can’t treat them here.
To be truthful, I never planned on coming back here.
I grew up with the notion that once I went to school and got my degree, I’d never step foot on the reservation again.
Then one summer when I was here visiting my family, there was a three-car pileup up on the highway.
And there was only one elderly doctor on staff at the clinic.
Dr. Running Wolf had been the doctor who had delivered me, and he was old then.
It was going to take an hour to get any kind of help from Billings out here and we didn’t have an hour.
Leslie asked if I could help out. Dr. Running Wolf was only one man—he couldn’t take care of them all.
I needed to do emergency surgery on one and another was in cardiac arrest. It was a nightmare.
If I hadn’t been there, two people would have died that day. ”
Isla could see Kech reliving that night. He looked the way she felt when she thought about Jim Watkins and Mitch being shot.
Kech continued, “After an unexpected all-night shift, Dr. Running Wolf and I were sitting exactly where we’re sitting right now.
Totally exhausted, I asked him how he did it day after day.
And he said to me, ‘Because there’s no one else.
’ He was eighty at the time, long past retirement.
He said that no one wanted to work in a small clinic that catered to the less fortunate.
They wanted to live in the big cities and make the big bucks.
I was one of those doctors. My dream was to make it big.
Buy the big fancy house, have the newest car parked in the driveway, and never have to see the place where I grew up ever again.
Things changed for me that day. After my surgical residency, I came back here and worked alongside Dr. Running Wolf until he finally retired at the age of eighty-eight.
He passed away last year and I miss him every day.
I’ll never be rich, and I’ll never have the fancy new car, but I can go to sleep at night knowing I gave it my all.
That these people I’ve grown to care about will get the best possible care I can give them. So here I am.”
Isla could feel her eyes tearing up in admiration. “I think I’ve come to the right place,” she said. “Kech, it will be a pleasure to work alongside you.”
He smiled. “Siobhan, the pleasure’s all mine.”
Isla’s life fell into a routine the next couple of weeks.
She would work at the clinic and go home and enjoy her little cottage.
She’d sit in the room that would one day be a nursery and dream of all the good things that were going to come into her life.
Her medical records had just been sent. The Marshals’ office had gone through them with a fine-tooth comb and changed everything that needed to be changed. Isla Pierce no longer existed.
She made her appointment for the following week with Kech. They really never talked about their personal lives—work was always too crazy—but they got along fine. She looked up to him. Everyone did.
By her calculations, she was almost three months into her pregnancy.
Besides being tired and the morning sickness, she couldn’t complain.
She knew she should have made the appointment weeks ago, but she needed her medical records.
So, now there were no excuses. She needed to be under a doctor’s care for herself and the baby.
After work on Friday, she stopped in to visit her folks.
It was about time she told her parents about their grandchild.
She would have to tell them about her relationship with Mitch.
It wasn’t going to be easy, but it needed to be done.
Her clothes were already getting tight. The rubber-band-through-the-buttonhole trick would only work so long.
She stopped and picked up barbeque takeout before she drove to their housing development. She balanced the takeout bag on one hip and rang their doorbell.
“Just a minute, I’m coming,” her father bellowed.
“Dad, it’s just me,” Isla called. “Take your time.”
The door opened and she was enveloped in the arms of the man she had called Dad for the last twenty-three years. “Hey, I brought barbeque from the place you like so much. Where’s Mom?”
“She’s down in the rec room playing cards with the ladies. I’m so glad we moved here. I was getting tired of doing the same old thing day in and day out.”
“I’m glad you like it here. When’s Mom due back?”
“She should be here soon,” he said. “Sit down—can I get you something to drink?”
“Just water. I’ll put this stuff in dishes and turn the stove on warm. It’ll keep until she gets back. We can set the table while we wait.”
Her mom came in like a whirlwind ten minutes later. “Hello dear, how’s work? My, something smells good.”
“Work’s great, Mom,” Isla said. She hugged her.
She’d never take that hug for granted ever again.
“I love my jobs. Both places are just wonderful. I’d like you to spend the weekend with me soon.
You haven’t seen the cottage yet. It’s adorable.
I can pick you up on Friday and bring you back Tuesday. ”
“That would be wonderful, dear. Now, what’s up? I can tell you have something to tell us.”
Isla felt nervous butterflies in her belly. Then her face broke into a smile. “Mom, it’s good news. You and Dad are going to be grandparents.”
Her mom put her hands to her mouth. “What? Grandparents! How? When? Oh my, start at the beginning and tell us everything.”
She looked over at them both from across the table. They couldn’t be smiling any bigger. One thing that she could say about her folks was that nothing floored them. They never thought that they would have children and then she came into their life, and now a grandchild.
“I fell in love with one of the FBI agents assigned to me in the beginning of this whole mess. I won’t tell you his name, but I will tell you that we were in love and when we had to part it was the hardest thing we ever had to do.
I’ll always love him. He made me see that this was the only way to keep me safe when all I wanted to do was stay with him no matter what happened to me.
I didn’t think I would get pregnant. He doesn’t know about this—he’ll never know. ”
“Oh, dear,” said her mom. “But what if you just—”
“Mom, I don’t exist anymore—he’d never be able to find me.
And I won’t put him or you in danger anymore.
God gave me the gift of his child. If I can’t have him to love, then at least I have his baby.
I hope that you can be happy for me. Out of this whole mess, it’s the one thing that he’s given me they can’t take away. ”
Isla’s mom clasped a hand over hers. “Oh honey, we couldn’t be happier. But won’t it be hard for you? Who’s going to watch the baby when you’re at work? Babies are hard work, and you’ll be doing it all on your own.”
“I’m not the first woman to be a single mother. I know it’ll be hard, but I’ll be okay. I can hire a nanny to watch the baby while I’m at work. When the time comes, Leslie can help me choose the right person.”
“If we can help in any way, you know we’ll always be here for you,” Dad said with a smile. “I’m going to be a grandpa!”
Isla giggled at his enthusiasm. “Dad, I can just see you spoiling this little one. He or she will probably have their own fishing pole before they can even walk.”
“Darn right they will!”
They spent the rest of the evening talking and making plans for their new arrival.
The ride home was long. She got tired easily now.
She knew that tired was going to be the new normal for the next twenty years.
After pulling into her driveway, she sat and contemplated her new life.
She just wished Mitch were here to share it.