Chapter 1
Nicholas Darling hefted a head of iceberg lettuce in the palm of his right hand, then plopped it unceremoniously into his shopping basket. Next came tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, baby carrots. By the time he left the produce aisle of the grocery store the bottom of his cart was loaded with vegetables and looked as colorful as the Christmas decorations hanging in the grocery store.
“Jingle Bell Rock” blaring over the loudspeaker did nothing to smooth out his bunched brows. With a resigned sigh he stared at the jumble and wished his younger brother, Ronald, had wanted to eat out instead of staying in. Small towns like Jubilee, Texas, might not have much to offer in the way of restaurants, but at least Nicholas wouldn’t have had to struggle with preparing a huge meal. Ronald ate like a bear right out of hibernation.
“Stop frowning, Nick,” Ronald said, dropping several red and golden apples in a plastic bag into the cart. “How hard can this be?”
Nicholas lifted a dark brow and stared at his brother. Twenty-four years old, self-assured, and unflappable. “Then you can cook.”
Ronald grinned and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’m your guest.”
“An uninvited guest,” Nicholas reminded him.
Ronald didn’t appear the least disturbed by the comment. “You know you’re glad to see me. Especially since you won’t be home for Thanksgiving next week. Let’s go check out the meat department.” Whistling, he strolled off.
A reluctant smile tugged the corner of Nicholas’s beautifully shaped mouth. Ronald had been sure of himself since he started talking. In this case he was right. Nicholas was glad to see him. This would be the first Thanksgiving he wouldn’t spend with his family. He’d been delighted when Ronald called and said his business meeting had wrapped up earlier than anticipated and he was driving from Austin, an hour away, to spend the night with him.
Nicholas hadn’t seen his brother or their parents since he’d left Philadelphia four months ago to take a position as administrator of Memorial Hospital in Jubilee. His employer at his old job had given Nicholas a going-away party only after their considerable efforts failed to get Nicholas to stay.
Nicholas thrived on challenges, and the Middleton General Hospital in Philadelphia ran beautifully after being under his direction for four years. He planned the same thing for Memorial Hospital here in Jubilee. In a year the red ink would have turned to black.
From twenty feet away Ronald held up a package of red meat in one hand and one of fish in the other. Twisted strands of silver and gold garland hung from the counter behind him. “Which?”
Considering Nicholas’s plan to eat the rest of his leftover lasagna tonight, both looked appealing. The problem was, he realized, he burned water. He was working his way through a family-sized frozen lasagna dinner because of it. Ronald cooked worse. Their mother had refused to let any of the men in her family near her spotless kitchen.
In Philadelphia it had not been unusual for them to go by their parents’ house to eat dinner. Both lived nearby. And if the brothers didn’t have time to sit down, their mother would put it in microwavable dishes. What Nicholas wouldn’t give for some of her cooking right now.
“Toss them both in and we’ll decide later.”
The meat plopped on top of the vegetables. “D.J. loves to cook.”
Nicholas sighed and refrained from glancing at his watch. Ronald didn’t appear capable of going over ten minutes without mentioning his latest girlfriend. “Unfortunately, she isn’t here.”
Ronald’s long-suffering sigh matched his brother’s. “Don’t remind me. If she hadn’t been out of town on a business trip, I would have flown home tonight.”
“It’s nice to know how I rank,” Nicholas said dryly, picking up a pound of sausage for breakfast, then a pound of bacon for good measure.
Unrepentant, Ronald grinned. “She adores me and has certain other appeals you can’t match.”
“So you keep repeating.”
“Nick, she’s gorgeous. I think I’m in love this time.”
“Uh-huh,” Nicholas replied, giving his brother’s statement all the attention he thought it deserved. Ronald fell in and out of love regularly. For someone who worked with concrete data—Ronald was a systems analyst—he was as fanciful as they came. Nicholas was more pragmatic and less emotional.
Old-fashioned, lasting love like their parents had was rare these days. Nicholas didn’t even plan on trying to look. Too many of his friends and associates were divorced or going through a divorce, and it was seldom amicable. As a kid he might have wished for a wife and family, but no more. He had better things to do with his time. Stopping the cart in the dairy aisle, draped this time with red and blue garland, he placed a gallon of milk in the small basket near the handle.
“Mom and Dad like her.”
“Uh-huh.” Nothing unusual there. His parents liked all the young women Ronald brought over. They were fun-loving, energetic, and intelligent, just like Ronald. Nicholas picked up a can of country-style biscuits and sighed. He’d burned the last biscuits he’d tried to bake. He hadn’t heard the timer in the shower. His hand flexed on the can. His mother’s biscuits were light and fluffy. He could almost smell them, taste them.
“I’m going over to D.J.’s house tomorrow night for dinner. We’re having veal.”
The vision burst. Nicholas’s breakfast had been toast and stale coffee. Lunch was a dry tuna sandwich from one of the vending machines in the hospital. He’d had back-to-back meetings or inspections and hadn’t had time to go to the cafeteria. Veal. His mouth watered. “Too bad she’s not here to cook for us. I wish she was your wife.”
“Don’t worry, young man; you’ll be married soon.”
Nicholas jerked around at the soft-spoken Southern voice and saw an elderly black woman smiling serenely up at him. Small and fragile, she barely came to the middle of his chest. “I beg your pardon?”
Reaching over, she patted his arm with her small white-gloved hand as if to reassure him. “I said you’ll be married soon. Your wish has been granted.”
Having worked in hospitals for the past twelve years, since he was twenty-one, Nicholas remained calm. Unfortunately, the elderly often suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s. He looked around to see if there might be someone with her and only saw two other women nearby. Both looked vaguely familiar, probably people from the hospital. They were openly watching the interaction, but neither moved toward him and the woman. His attention switched back to the woman, who appeared to be patiently waiting for something.
She wore a yellow straw hat with a little bouquet of flowers on the brim. The dress she wore had flowers on it, too. Her arm was hooked through an empty blue plastic shopping basket. Unobtrusively he tried to see if she was wearing a hearing aid, but he couldn’t detect one. He shot a glance at the watchful women and said, “Thank you.” There was no reason to embarrass the elderly woman by telling her she’d made a mistake.
“You’re welcome. You’ll be engaged by Christmas.” Smiling at him again, she walked away, disappearing down the next aisle.
Laughing, Ronald slapped Nicholas on the back. “You don’t even have to ask. I’ll be happy to be your best man.”
Nick lifted a heavy brow. “Very funny. Let’s go to the bakery and get a chess pie for dessert.”
Still chuckling, Ronald fell into step beside Nicholas. Neither noticed the excited chatter of Nicholas’s coworkers as they hurried to check out.
Nicholas pushed open the double glass doors of Memorial Hospital at a quarter to nine the next morning. He felt as if he could conquer the world. After the overcooked steak and undercooked fish last night, he and Ronald had decided against trying to prepare another meal. Instead they’d gotten up early and gone out to breakfast and stuffed themselves. Afterward Ronald had left in his rental car for the airport in Austin. His last comment had been a teasing remark that he was going to start looking for a tuxedo because he wanted to look good as Nicholas’s best man.
“Hello, Mr. Darling.”
“Morning, Mr. Darling.”
“Good morning,” Nicholas returned to the two smiling nurses who had greeted him, then hastened his steps to catch the elevator.
“Morning, Mr. Darling,” an attractive woman in a stylish red suit said as he got on. “You didn’t have to rush. I would have held the door for you.”
“Thank you,” Nicholas said, stepping aside to make room for three other passengers, all women.
“I don’t think we’ve had a chance to meet,” another woman in a white uniform said, extending her hand. “My name is Gwen Stradford. I’m the charge nurse on the west wing of the med-surg floor from seven till three.”
No sooner had the woman finished speaking than all the other women on the elevator introduced themselves. Puzzled, Nicholas shook their hands, almost glad when the door opened on the second floor and he could get out. Wishes for a good day followed him down the hall, but he also heard the distinct sounds of giggles. Shaking his head, he kept walking.
“Morning, Mr. Darling.”
“Good morning,” Nicholas replied to a tall woman in green scrubs who looked at him as if he were the last piece of birthday cake and she intended to have it. His pace quickened. He didn’t relax completely until he open...
