A Mummy For His Daughter
Home.
Evelyn cursed under her breath. She had to stop thinking about this place as her home. This was not her home. It hadn’t been for some time.
Still, it was hard not to think of those days. And all the time that had been taken away from her.
And whose fault was that?
“Who are you?” a harsh voice demanded.
Evelyn spun round and was taken aback by the sight of the most handsome man she’d ever seen. She felt a bit stunned, and all she could do was stare at him in awe. He was tall, broad-shouldered. He wore a flannel shirt stretched a little tight over his strong, muscular upper arms. His dark hair was close-cropped and his skin was a warm, deep tawny brown. He had a neatly kept beard. But it was his eyes, a green-gray-blue, which were really stunning. Clear, bright—and focused on her.
They held her rooted to the spot.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” he growled.
“Are you Dr. Pearson?” she asked, finally finding her voice.
His eyes narrowed. “No. He’s gone back to Juneau.”
“What?” Evelyn frowned. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
* * *
Derek had been in the back. He had been waiting for the new doctor to arrive, annoyed that Dr. Pearson had left for Juneau early and saddled him with the new OB/GYN when he had a full caseload as general practitioner to handle.
He hadn’t left for a bigger city even though he could have.
His mother had begged him to return to Chicago when Vivian died. She’d even offered to retire from her catering business to help him raise his daughter, but he couldn’t leave Alaska.
He might have been born in Chicago but, like his parents—one of whom came from Haiti and one from the Ukraine—he needed to forge his own path. Put down his own roots. And Wolf’s Harbor had been the place to do that.
He loved it here. Loved the people. Loved his life.
Even though as a widower it was slightly lonely.
Whose fault is that?
It had been his choice to be alone after his wife had died from a uterine rupture when their daughter was born. His life was his practice and his daughter.
Still, he was annoyed that he had to deal with these rotating doctors. Doctors who came in and left him with more work in the end. Doctors who saw the patients of Wolf’s Harbor as an inconvenience. He was tired of the extra burden, but he’d gladly bear it for his patients.
Dr. Pearson had left him high and dry by leaving before the new OB/GYN showed up, and Mo was still getting over a bug she’d picked up, so he had to relieve the sitter. He would be glad when school started again. He had no time to deal with another rotation doctor and Dr. Pearson had just dumped this one in his lap.
So like Dr. Pearson. So like all these doctors who came through the town, never staying longer than they had too. Never willing to help him out or put in a good word to get a hospital built in town. These big city doctors were all selfish—if it wouldn’t further their career they didn’t lend a hand.
Okay, you’re sounding like a curmudgeon now.
He stuck it out all year in this isolated community, while these specialists fluttered in and out, never staying long enough to get to know the people. There was no real trust between these doctors and the patients. It was a dangerous thing.
He tried not to think about how the lack of a specialist during one of these rotations had cost him everything. How his late wife had hemorrhaged and bled out before they could get her on an air ambulance to Sitka. And the fact that it had happened during a storm that had grounded all the planes had made it so much worse. There had been nothing he could do. But if there had been a hospital here in Wolf’s Harbor maybe she would have had a fighting chance.
He focused on this fiery, auburn-haired woman, who thought it was okay just to waltz into his closed office. He’d been taken back by the beautiful, tall, polished woman who was now standing in his exam room. So like Dr. Pearson to have his girlfriends and paramours just show up unannounced.
Although he was a bit jealous that this one was one of Dr. Pearson’s girlfriends...
He’d seen many of them go through this clinic when Dr. Pearson had been here on rotation, but this one—this one actually made him jealous of Dr. Pearson.
It had been a long time since he’d been attracted to someone. If he didn’t have Mo, or the practice to run—if he was the same man he had been before he’d come to Wolf’s Harbor—he would pursue a woman just like this.
You’re lonely. Face it.
“Pearson has gone back to Juneau,” Derek said again, and moved from the doorway to encourage her to leave. “Sorry for your trouble. I can call you a cab...”
“I’m the new OB/GYN. I’m Dr. Saunders.”
Derek frowned. “What? I thought that this was Dr. Merritt’s rotation?”
“Dr. Merritt just went on an extended honeymoon,” Dr. Saunders said. “I’m covering her practice.”
“What?” Derek asked, scowling. So now Dr. Merritt had just got a replacement without consulting him? Not that Dr. Merritt had to consult him, but it would have been considerate of her to do so.
At least she sent someone else.
Although he knew nothing about this Dr. Saunders. “Well, that’s unacceptable. Just because we’re a small town, it doesn’t mean we’ll take anyone.”
She crossed her arms. “Why is it unacceptable?”
“I know nothing about you.”
“So?” she replied firmly. “You need an OB/GYN and there are appointments tomorrow.”
“How do you know there are appointments tomorrow? You obviously don’t know Dr. Pearson, because you thought I was him.”
“First, I know there are appointments here tomorrow because Joe Yazzie Jr. and his wife are expected for prenatal. I introduced myself to them when I landed from Sitka. And second I assumed you were a doctor—was I mistaken?”
The nerve of her.
Of course he was pleased that she’d already made a connection with one of his patients. She had one up on every other doctor who’d waltzed through here.
But why were redheads always like this? Every one he’d ever encountered in Chicago had been like this. And of course he was a complete sucker for them.
You can’t have her.
He had to keep reminding himself of that fact. He wanted nothing to do with someone who would leave after her rotation was done. He wanted nothing to do with anyone ever again.
Not since Vivian had died.
He was not going to go through anything like that again. Besides, he had Mo to think of, and his practice, his patients. That was what was important.
“I am a doctor,” he said tersely. “I’m the general practitioner of Wolf’s Harbor.”
“Are you on rotation too?” she asked.
“No,” he snapped. “Unlike you and Dr. Pearson, I am here all the time. Wolf’s Harbor is my home. I actually care about my patients and their medical care enough to stay.”
Her eyes narrowed and a strange expression crossed her face, but only briefly.
“If you truly cared about your patients then you wouldn’t object to me being here. I’m here to stay.”
His eyes widened. He was surprised. “Stay? As in permanently?”
She blushed. “Well...no.”
Of course not. He knew better than to get his hopes up.
Who was this woman?
“I’m just as capable as Dr. Merritt,” she said, breaking the tension.
“Are you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I at least know Dr. Merritt. I know nothing about you. Not even your first name.”
She smiled tightly. “Dr. Evelyn Saunders. I just completed my fellowship in fetal surgery at Richler Medicine in Seattle. I’m one of the few people in this country who can perform delicate fetal surgeries. I’m also a board-certified obstetrical and gynecological fellow, and a pediatric fellow specializing in premature infants. I completed that fellowship and practiced for three years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. You can check my credentials, but they speak for themselves. I am more experienced than Dr. Merritt and I will be an asset to your patients.”
Damn. She was right.
And he was completely impressed by her résumé and where she’d studied. She had every right to be confident to the point of obnoxiousness.
She was a triple threat and he’d be an absolute idiot to turn her away—but he couldn’t help but wonder why someone with so much experience didn’t have a thriving practice of her own.
Who cares? She can help your patients even if it’s only for a short time.
He couldn’t help but wonder if someone like her had been here that horrific night five years ago Vivian would still be here and he wouldn’t be alone. Mo would have her mother. He’d still have that piece of his heart and soul that had been torn away the night he’d lost Vivian. The night Mo had lost her mother. His patients needed her.
“Fine.” He sighed and he ran a hand over his head. “I’ll show you to the apartment and get you a clinic key, then give you all the information you need to start tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dr...?” she asked, extending a hand.
“Dr. Taylor. Dr. Derek Taylor.” He ignored her hand, afraid to touch her and still not wanting her to feel too welcome. “Come on, I’ll show you to your place.”
His mother would totally be slapping him upside the head if she could see how he was being such a jerk to this woman, but he couldn’t get attached. Dr. Saunders would be gone in three months and he had no interest in getting attached to someone who wasn’t going to stick it out for the long run.
It was so much easier on his heart this way. Better for Mo too. He didn’t want her to get hurt. He’d promised Vivian he’d protect Mo. So he planned to treat Evelyn like every other physician who passed through Wolf’s Harbor on rotation. Even if she was easy on the eye and had a spirited personality—the kind which always drew him in when it came to members of the opposite sex...
He was a professional above all else. His patients came first. And even though he knew nothing about her—even though training a new doctor about the ins and outs of Wolf’s Harbor Medical would be an extra burden on him—he’d gladly do it.
Unlike all the other doctors who came and went, he was here for the long haul.
CHAPTER TWO
HE’S A BIT cool and stand-offish.
Evelyn waited outside with her rolling suitcase as Dr. Taylor—Derek—locked up the clinic. It was beginning to drizzle and it was dusk, but since it was summer it would stay light pretty late.
She glanced at her watch and remembered she hadn’t switched it over to Alaska daylight time.
Derek whistled. “That’s some fancy watch you have there!”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks, because she’d caught the undertone of his sarcasm. Yeah it was flashy and out of place here, but he didn’t have to point it out. “It was my grandmother’s. She left it to me when she passed.”
His expression softened. “Sorry.”
“She had a good life. She was ninety-nine when I lost her to cancer. I miss her—she was the only family I had.”
No, she wasn’t, a little whisper said in her mind, but she ignored it. She knew now that Uncle Yazzie was still around, but Léelk’w probably wasn’t. Still, she’d been gone for twenty years and had had no contact with any of them. It was apparent that they hadn’t thought of her. Joe Jr. hadn’t even blinked an eye when she’d told him her last name.
So she had no family left. Not really.
“I understand,” he muttered, but then shook his head as if he felt bad about what he’d said. “Look, let’s get out of this drizzle before it turns to full-out rain.”
“That’s fine with me. Is the apartment far?”
“Nope.” Derek shoved his hands in his hoodie and headed up an alleyway behind the clinic.
Evelyn rolled her eyes and followed him. It wasn’t really an alleyway after all, but a steep slope up to a set of wooden stairs that were at the back of the clinic.
“This is the place,” Derek said. “There’s no connection to the clinic on the inside, however.”
“Great—well, at least it’s summer.” Evelyn would hate to climb those open wooden steps to the second floor in the winter. She wouldn’t be here then.
A shudder ran down her spine as she thought of those cold Alaska nights. How the sun had set early, the northern lights had shone and there had been hot chocolate by the fire with her father in the cabin.
He had read to her for hours, until her eyes were so heavy that he’d had to carry her to bed and tuck her in while the snowstorms had raged outside her window.
She’d been safe in her father’s arms.
“Come on, then,” Derek said, interrupting her thoughts as he jogged up the steps, not even offering to take her suitcase for her.
Evelyn cursed under her breath and lugged the case up, bumping it with each step. So much for her new luggage.
At the top Derek was waiting, and he was smirking. She wanted to wipe it off his face.
“You okay there?” he asked, a hint of humor in his voice.
“Perfectly,” Evelyn said through gritted teeth.
Derek opened the door and stepped inside. She dragged her suitcase in. The apartment was a mess.
Derek was annoyed. “Yeah, sorry about this. I forgot. Dr. Pearson is a bit of a slob.”
“It’s fine,” Evelyn said. She could clean it up, no problem. She was definitely not a fan of Dr. Pearson, though. First the jerk had left without waiting for her, leaving her to the mercy of Dr. Derek Taylor, and now this.
Derek handed her a key ring. “The clinic key is this large one and the other is the apartment.”
“Is there a car that’s available for me while I’m here?”
“Unless you drove one in from the ferry terminal that connects to Juneau then, no, but everything is in walking distance.”
Great.
She’d been hoping a car would be available because she wanted to see if her father’s place was still standing. She was wondering if it had changed. From going through what had been left to her after her grandmother had died, she knew that the property had been sold shortly after she’d left Wolf’s Harbor.
Grandma hadn’t want any part of Wolf’s Harbor. She hadn’t wanted any reminders of her son’s worst mistake.
“Your father could’ve been a great surgeon, but he left for Alaska and took up with your mother and I never saw him again. He could’ve been great, Evelyn, but he threw it all away for a woman who was not part of the world he was brought up in.”
Evelyn shook her grandmother’s voice from her head.
Her father might not have become the kind of surgical god her grandmother always envisioned, but he’d been a respected general practitioner in Wolf’s Harbor. People had looked up to him. He’d saved lives and her grandmother had never got to see it.
Now she, Evelyn, would finish what he’d started and lay the memories of her father to rest. Maybe then she could move on.
“I flew in from Sitka,” she said as she pocketed the keys. “So if I want to order in a pizza I just say the back of the clinic?”
“Yeah—they’ll know,” Derek said. “The clinic opens at nine.”
“And how do I access patients’ records? Is there a computer password?”
“No password—and you can access the patients’ records by opening the filing cabinet. Your schedule is on the receptionist’s calendar.”
There was that smug sense of humor again. As if he was trying to shock her with the fact that they still had hard copies of their records.
“Okay. Well, I’ll be there earlier than nine to get myself acquainted with everything.”
Derek reached out, grabbing the arm with the fancy watch, and stared at its face. “Not if you don’t set your alarm to Alaska Daylight Savings, you won’t.”
Just that simple touch caused a shiver of anticipation to run down her spine. He was annoying, but there was something about him which drew her in.
He was dangerous.
She had no interest in any relationship. Every relationship she’d been in had ended with her being dumped because she could never commit—because she was never there and was too focused on her career. Or so those men had believed. She’d actually pushed them away because she knew she didn’t deserve what she secretly wanted.
A family of her own.
She shook him off. “I’m well aware of the time-change.”
He smirked and raised an eyebrow, then moved past her through the open door. “Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow—bright and early. Good night, Dr. Saunders.”
Evelyn shut the door after him and was glad to be rid of him. For now.
She’d see him tomorrow, but after a good night’s rest she knew that she would be better suited to dealing with him.
She could handle guys like Derek. Guys who were arrogant and used to being the lone wolf. They saw every new arrival as a threat.
Nathan had been nothing like Derek. When she’d first met him he’d been nice and almost too accommodating. Still, look where that had got her. It had got her nowhere. She’d spent two years of her life with Nathan and he’d left her.
You really gave him nothing, though. Remember?
She locked the door and scrubbed a hand over her face, staring at the apartment and feeling completely exhausted and hungry.
There was a clock that was showing Alaska time, so she quickly set her watch even as her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t had much to eat since leaving Sitka. While she’d been dragging her bag up the stairs she’d noticed a pub across the road, and it had looked like the kind of bar that might serve a quick meal. She was starving. She didn’t feel like waiting for pizza. She felt antsy, trapped in this messy apartment. It would be better for her to get out of there and grab a breath of fresh air.
She grabbed her purse and her keys. First she’d eat and then she’d tackle this mess—even though she was still running on East Coast time and needed to sleep.
The drizzle had dissipated and a damp mist hung in the air. Outside it was quiet, with only a couple of trucks slowly puttering through down town. She knew that it was at least three hours to the nearest ferry terminal, and then four hours to Juneau. Wolf’s Harbor was remote, and surrounded by the dense, mountainous forests of the Inside Passage.
She remembered when her father had used to drive her to the far side of the island, to the ferry terminal, so she could watch the large ferry bringing people to the island and sometimes a cruise ship on its way to Skagway. And sometimes she’d see the orcas.
For the most part Wolf’s Harbor relied on logging and fishing, and it was only fishing vessels or large logging trucks that would go by.
A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of her father’s death. How he’d been hit by that runaway logging truck that had been going too fast through town. And how a ring had been in his pocket.
“Evelyn, your mother has been gone a long time now. Jocelyn isn’t going to replace her. She makes me happy. Be good. I won’t be long at Jocelyn’s.”
That had been the last time she’d seen her father alive. The last words he’d said.
Don’t think about it.
She dashed across the road and straight into the pub.
As soon as she took a step inside the murmur of hushed talking stopped and people stared at her. There’d never been a lot of visitors when she was a kid.
“Hi,” she said, waving uneasily. “I’m the new doctor in town.”
There was another few seconds of stares, which felt like an eternity, but then most people returned to their food, their conversations or their drinks.
Except one.
Derek.
He was positively glowering at her from the far side of the bar. And he was next to the only empty seat in the place.
Great.
Maybe it would be better to wait for pizza? But of course now that she’d made her entrance and he was staring at her she couldn’t really back down.
So she pretended to ignore him and sat down, picking up one of the vinyl-covered menus and pretending to study it, ignoring the sensation of his staring at her.
“I thought you would be cleaning,” Derek said gruffly.
She glanced at him. “Usually a gentleman would introduce himself or offer to buy a woman a drink before trying to strike up a conversation with her.”
Derek snickered, staring ahead at the bar. She could see his reflection in the mirror.
“I’m no gentleman. And you know who I am.”
“Do I?” she muttered.
He got up and just stood there, saying nothing until she turned and looked at him.
“What?” she asked.
“Hi, I’m Derek Taylor. Can I buy you a drink?”
“Not interested.” And she turned back to her menu, trying not to smile.
“Oh, for the love of...”
“Sit down.” She chuckled. “I don’t need a drink.”
Derek sat down, setting his mug of beer back on the bar. “I’m surprised to see you out and about.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“Because usually the specialists who come into town to do their rotation don’t bother with the locals. They order in, keep to themselves—it’s somewhat of a burden.”
“Well, the cleaning of that apartment is ‘somewhat of a burden.’”
She set down the menu. She was hungry, but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to eat at this moment. Her stomach was twisting and turning from being back here. And as she glanced around the dim bar she had faint memories of this place.
Her father and Uncle Yazzie playing pool here, and her mother singing up on that stage. Her last gig before she’d got sick with the cancer that had killed her. And as she studied the room further she remembered the booth that was reserved for live entertainment. It had seemed so much bigger when she’d been curled up in it, eating ice cream.
“Daddy, what’re you doing?” Evelyn asked, seeing her father with another woman.
Her dad stood up, shocked. “Evie, what’re you doing here?”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I saw your truck outside. I was running an errand for Léelk’w. Who is that woman?”
“This is Jocelyn. She’s my girlfriend.”
Jocelyn smiled and waved. She was pretty, blonde and young—and not her mother.
“No!” Evelyn screamed. “No!”
And she turned and ran out of the bar.
Her father yelled for her to come back.
“Hey, you okay?” Derek asked, interrupting her memory.
“Yeah,” she said, and ran her hand through her hair in the nervous twitch she’d always had. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You totally zoned out,” Derek said. “Tired?”
“A bit.”
“Where did you say you were from?” he asked, trying to draw her into conversation.
“Boston, but I’ve been in Sitka a couple of days.”
“Still, the change is a bit jarring if you’re not used to it.”
“I’m used to it,” she whispered. “It’s just been a long time.”
Derek cocked an eyebrow. “Pardon?”
The door opened and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She slowly turned around in her seat, because instinctively she knew what to expect and she wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
She wasn’t ready to face a ghost from her past.
Taking a deep breath, she stood and looked up at the man who had been her family. A man she’d never thought she’d see again because her grandmother had cut off all ties to Evelyn’s life here in Alaska.
The man her father had thought of as a brother, because he had estranged himself from his WASP mother back in Boston, “throwing his life away” to live in the wilderness.
It had been Uncle Yazzie who had introduced her parents. Her mother’s loveable, goofball little brother. A man who had represented everything her grandmother had hated about her son’s life and his wife in Alaska.
Tears stung her eyes as she stared into the dark eyes of Joe Yazzie Sr. She could still see him standing on the Tarmac of the airport all those years ago when she’d been forced to move to Boston.
“I had to see with my own eyes,” Yazzie whispered. “I thought my son was bluffing me.”
Her stomach twisted into a knot as she wondered if he would turn his back on her. She wanted to run. She was afraid of his rejection in person, because his silence had hurt her as a child.