Charlotte Douglas - Almost Heaven

“If it’s bad news, I’d rather hear it in the morning,” Nana had always insisted. “And if it’s urgent, the police will come to the house and wake me.”

Bad news?

MJ’s heart raced. Had Nana, sticking to her own philosophy, decided to spare MJ the unhappy details until daylight?

Lacking her grandmother’s stoicism, MJ dialed her parents’ home. She wanted to hear their voices to assure herself that Jim and Cat Stratton were all right. After four rings, her mother’s voice mail kicked in. MJ tried three times with the same results.

At each unanswered call, her panic grew. With trembling fingers, she punched in the number of her father’s veterinary clinic. Again she reached only voice mail with a message to call Dr. Grant Nathan, her father’s partner, in case of an emergency.

Desperate to discover what crisis had precipitated her grandmother’s cryptic message, MJ tried Information.

“What city?” the computerized voice asked.

“Pleasant Valley, South Carolina.”

“What listing?”

“The Pleasant Valley Police Department.”

The artificial voice rattled off a number. MJ scribbled it hastily, then punched it in.

“Police Department,” a familiar female voice answered. “Officer Sawyer speaking.”

“Brynn! Thank God, I’m actually talking to a live person,” MJ said.

“Merrilee? Are you in town?” her old high school friend asked.

MJ pictured Brynn, short red curls, intense, dark blue eyes, her slender but curvy figure doing things for a police uniform no male body ever could. Guys in Pleasant Valley had been known to break speed limits just for an encounter with the beautiful Officer Sawyer. Not that it ever did them any good. Brynn was married to her job.

“I’m in New York,” MJ explained. “I had a message from Nana about a family emergency, but she didn’t say what it is. I’m frantic and can’t reach anyone. Do you know if my folks are okay?”

A dead silence on the other end of the line intensified MJ’s fears. “Brynn? Are you still there?”

“Your folks are fine, as far as I’m aware,” Brynn answered in a tone that indicated she knew more than she was telling. “I saw your dad and grandmother earlier tonight before I came to work.”

“And my mom?”

“She’s taking classes at the university in Asheville. Sometimes she stays over if she’s working late in the library.”

MJ wasn’t surprised that Brynn knew her mother’s schedule. In the small town of Pleasant Valley, everyone knew everybody else’s business, one of the many reasons MJ had moved away immediately after her graduation from college.

A chilling thought struck her. “What if there’s been an accident?”

“I would have heard about a traffic accident through our dispatcher,” Brynn assured her. “Look, if it makes you feel better, I can call the local hospitals and check to see if either of your parents or your grandmother has been admitted.”

“Would you?” MJ remembered what six years in the big city had caused her to forget. Brynn had always bent over backward to help people. Her willingness to be of assistance was one of many factors that made her a good cop. And a terrific friend.

“Give me your number,” Brynn said, “and I’ll call you back as soon as I’ve checked.”

MJ rattled off her number, thanked her old friend and hung up. Sleep was impossible now, so she might as well pack. She’d have to leave for the airport soon anyway.

With cold dread weighting her heart, she tossed clothes into her suitcase. She was zipping the lid when the phone rang.

“It’s Brynn,” her friend said when MJ answered. “I checked the local hospitals. No admissions for any of your folks.”

“Thanks, Brynn. I owe you.”

MJ replaced the receiver in its cradle. Brynn’s news gave her little reassurance. If a member of MJ’s family had suffered an illness or injury serious enough to require a trauma unit, they’d have been transported to the Greenville hospital. Or her mother could be hospitalized in Asheville.

MJ tugged on the clothes she’d removed earlier and called a cab. Anxiety overrode her anger toward Nana for leaving such a cryptic message. In just a few hours MJ would be in Pleasant Valley again. For the first time since she had left after college, she was actually looking forward to returning to the boring, sleepy little town, if only to settle her fears.

EXHAUSTION temporarily overcame her foreboding. The flight attendant’s voice, announcing their imminent arrival in Greenville, awoke MJ. With consciousness, her anxiety returned in a rush.

As soon as the plane taxied to a stop, MJ grabbed her camera bag from the overhead compartment and headed for the exit. Within minutes she was striding across the concourse toward the baggage carousels.

Suddenly strong hands grasped her shoulders from behind and swung her around.

“Merrilee June. Long time, no see.” The rich, deep voice initiated a cascade of memories, all pleasurable; ones she’d worked hard to forget.

She glanced up at Grant Nathan, who’d intercepted her. If bad luck came in bundles, here was walking proof. For six years she’d managed to avoid him, had worked hard to push him from her mind. Now she tried to stop the corresponding flutter of her heart. She might as well have attempted to stop its beating.

If anything, the vet was even more attractive than she’d remembered, exuding enough self-confidence and masculinity to make any woman’s heart stutter. She’d forgotten how tall he was, well over six feet, and his practice as a country vet, tramping through fields, lifting small animals and maneuvering cows and horses for treatment, had given him a physique few personal trainers could replicate. In spite of her efforts not to, she remembered too well how many times she’d nestled her head against those broad shoulders and how comforting the embrace of his strong arms had been.

Six years had added a maturity that sat well on the strong planes of his tanned face. Tiny lines from laughter and squinting in the bright sun framed bourbon-brown eyes flecked with gold. A few premature strands of gray, threaded through his thick honey-colored hair at the temples, were the only visible signs of his thirty-four years. His dimpled grin displayed the same boyish charm and reminded MJ too well of the many times those lips had kissed hers.

She shoved aside the memories, whose pull had been both the driving force and the toughest part of her decision to leave Pleasant Valley for good. “What are you doing here, Grant? Taking a trip?”

He held her by the shoulders with strong but gentle hands, and his gaze searched her face, as if in assessment. “I’m on an errand of mercy. Your grandmother sent me to pick you up.”

MJ wiggled from his grasp before she succumbed to the desire to snuggle against him, as she had so often in the old days. Those times were gone forever. “You’ve wasted a trip. I’m renting a car.”

“Mrs. McDonough said there’s no need. And she doesn’t want you driving while you’re agitated.”

MJ’s temper soared. “I’d be a lot less agitated if I knew what the hell is going on.” Already worried sick about her folks, she resented having to struggle with old feelings for Grant Nathan, too. “Besides, I’ll need a car of my own, so you might as well leave.”

Grant shook his head. “You grandmother said you can use hers. She doesn’t drive much these days.”

MJ’s breath caught in her throat. “Nana’s all right?”

“Feisty as ever,” Grant said with a grin.

“Then what’s the family emergency she called me about?” Her anger flared again, and a sneaking suspicion kicked in. “This isn’t just a ploy to lure me home, is it?”

MJ wouldn’t put it past Nana to play at matchmaking, but surely even her persistent grandmother recognized that what MJ had shared with Grant was long over.