Judy Christenberry - Daddy On The Doorstep

Bess kept her telephone directory on a shelf below the phone and Andrea thumbed through it impatiently, searching for the number to the small hospital in the closest town. As she was dialing the number, concentrating on Bess’s safety with all her heart, she vaguely heard more noise, though it was hard to detect a difference over the roar of the storm.

“Hubbard Hospital,” a clipped voice answered and then spoke to someone else before Andrea could ask about Bess. “No, sir, you can’t go back there. You’re getting in the doctor’s way!”

“Please,” Andrea interrupted, “I need to find out about—”

“Hello? Hello? Is anyone here?”

Andrea stared at the phone receiver briefly before she realized this new voice wasn’t coming over the wire. It was coming from the front door.

And she recogized the voice. It belonged to her soon-to-be ex-husband, Nicholas Avery.

She hung up the phone and hurried to the front of the house, unable to believe her ears. Nick, the last she’d heard, had been missing after he’d gone to Africa on a business trip.

“Aunt Bess?” he called.

“Nick?” she questioned even as her eyes confirmed her earlier guess. “What are you doing here?”

Okay, she hadn’t sounded welcoming, but what did he expect? There was no need for him to frown at her like that.

“I think that’s my line, isn’t it, Andy? After all, Bess is my aunt.”

“But you were missing—”

“And now I’m found. Where’s Aunt Bess?” he snapped.

“At…at the hospital, I think.” His question had made her remember the important person in their little drama. “She left a note. Her neighbor took her to the hospital.”

“She’s hurt?” he asked, urgency in his voice.

“She called me earlier. Told me she was having chest pains and wouldn’t go to the doctor until I came.”

“A heart attack?” Nick asked with even more urgency. She’d never seen her husband lose his cool. Ex-husband, she corrected herself. Or soon to be. But he seemed close to the edge now. That was one thing they’d always had in common. They both loved Bess.

“I was calling the hospital when I heard you. I’ll call again.” This time she asked her question as soon as the operator answered.

“I’ll ring her room, but make your call brief. We’ve got a lot of emergencies and we need to keep the lines open.”

“Aunt Bess,” Andrea said in relief when a quavery voice answered.

“Is that you, Andy? Thank God. I was so worried. Where are you?”

Andrea didn’t get a chance to answer. Nick took the phone from her hand.

“Aunt Bess? It’s Nick. I’m home. Are you okay?”

Bess was his aunt, his mother’s sister, so she guessed Nick technically had the right to be the one to talk to her. And she knew Bess would be relieved. She’d called Andrea almost a week ago to tell her Nick had flown to Africa on business and then disappeared. The State Department had been unable to offer any information about his safety.

She’d talked to Bess each evening, the two of them sharing their fears. That’s why Nick’s appearance had been even more of a surprise than normal.

“Is she all right?” Andrea asked impatiently, watching his face.

Ignoring her question, he continued to talk to his aunt. “Yes, I will. Take care of yourself.”

He replaced the receiver without offering it to Andrea.

“I wanted to talk to her!” she exclaimed, frustration rising.

“The operator cut in and asked us to hang up. Aunt Bess is okay. The doctor thinks it was indigestion.”

“Indigestion?” she questioned faintly. Indigestion. She’d worried herself sick, driven through a major storm, and unexpectedly had to face Nick. All for indigestion.

And she’d do the same thing again. She wouldn’t take any chances with Bess’s health. “I’m glad,” she whispered.

Nick made no response, only stared at her. Chilled by the coldness in his eyes, she stepped around him and headed for the front door.

“Where are you going?”

“To the hospital.” She didn’t expect him to ask her to stay. He probably didn’t want to talk to her any more than she wanted to talk to him. However, he surprised her by catching her arm.

“No, you’re not.”

“What are you talking about?” she protested. “Of course I am. Let me go!”

“Andy! Listen to me. The bridge is out.”

“Nice try. I just crossed over that bridge.” And she dreaded the thought of doing so again.

“I flew in on the police helicoptor. We watched it wash away.”

The sincerity in his voice almost convinced her. But she couldn’t face the prospect of staying here alone with him. “I don’t believe you,” she insisted, and turned back toward the door.

He wouldn’t let her go. “Andy. Use your head for once. You can’t go!”

She wrenched her coat from his hold. “Use my head for once?” she repeated, glaring at him. Then she snapped her mouth shut and ran to the front door.

He called her name above the storm and she was sure he pursued her. Nick never gave in or admitted he’d been bested. But this time she would do things her way. Tumbling down the steps into the rain, she had to slow down or she’d lose her footing. Too bad she left the car so far from the porch. But she’d been in as big a hurry when she’d arrived, as she was now.

He caught her just as she rounded the front of the car. She turned to scream at him over the thunder and rain. Before she could say anything, however, he yanked her toward him and they both fell into the mud. Even as she raised up to ask him if he was crazy, a louder noise stunned her.

She looked up at a roof of sodden greenness. And a deep crease in the roof of her car. A nearby tree, its roots exposed by the washing away of the soil the past month, had been blown across her car.

Another foot and that crease would have been in her head. She’d have been dead. If Nick hadn’t stopped her, that tree would have fallen on her.

Stunned by that cataclysmic thought, Andrea turned to stare at him. He was rising to his feet, without letting go of her, his clothing covered in mud, rain streaming down him. For the first time, she realized she was in much the same condition.

“Andy, are you hurt?” he gently demanded as he slid his hands beneath her arms to lift her.

“No—no, I don’t think so.” Trembling seized her, but whether it was from the cold or the shock, she didn’t know.

“Come on, we’ve got to get inside and get warm and dry. Can you walk?”

He didn’t wait for her to answer. As efficient as always, he led her to the porch. “Take off your clothes.”

Had he lost his mind? She stared at him, wondering if she was having a nightmare.

“Andy,” he explained, his voice laden with exasperation, “you’re wet and muddy. There’s no point in dragging these clothes through the house. Take them off and go get in the shower.”

The thought of a hot shower was heavenly; stripping in front of Nick was not. Even if what he said made sense, she wasn’t prepared to make herself so vulnerable to him. “Turn around.”

“Andy, you’re being ridiculous!” he exploded.

She raised her chin and stared at him, but her rebellion was undermined by the shivering that seized her.

“Damn, you’re a stubborn woman!”

Before she could decide her next step, he abruptly spun around, turning his back to her.

It took her a second to realize he was complying with her request. Then she hurriedly started removing the wet, muddy clothes. As she reached her underwear, her shivering became almost uncontrollable.

“Haven’t you finished yet?” Nick demanded.

“Yes. I’m going in now.”

“Don’t use all the hot water,” he shouted after her.