Radclyffe - Love On Call

She closed her eyes and let her mind go blank, an old habit that allowed her to be ready for anything at an instant’s notice, but kept her from thinking when there was nothing to be done about anything. Not the next mission, the next emergency, the next death on her watch.

A foot nudged her leg. “Yo, sleeping beauty. You done with your beauty rest?”

Glenn cracked an eye and grinned up at Flann. “I only need a couple minutes, but I let you sleep most of the night.”

“You doing all right?” Flann asked with unaccustomed seriousness.

Glenn flushed, wondering how much showed in her face. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know anymore.”

“Mari?”

“Yeah.” Glenn couldn’t deny her.

Flann’s grin widened, part sympathy, part amusement. “Believe me, I’ve been there, and I’m still there. But take it from me, it gets a lot worse before it gets better.”

Glenn shoved herself to her feet. “Thanks, I knew I could always count on you.”

*

“You know what, my mama ought to be taking the biscuits out of the oven right about now,” Flann said when they wheeled the boy into the recovery room and left him to the nurses. “Let’s head that way.”

Glenn nodded. She should be tired, with almost no sleep for two nights running, but the last thing she wanted was to face the empty bed she’d last shared with Mari. “What about Abby—should we go get her and Blake?”

Flann shook her head. “Abby’s been working nights all week, and the two of them aren’t early risers anyhow. I’ll bring them home something from the farm.”

“How is it, adjusting, you know, to a family?”

Flann shrugged as they walked out into the dawn. “Weird, but it feels like it’s always been this way, or at least it always should’ve been this way and I was just too dumb to know it. Abby and Blake are as much a part of me as the rest of my family. I can’t imagine life without them.”

A twinge stabbed at the soft spot behind Glenn’s breastbone. An attachment like that, a need like that, was more dangerous than anything she’d ever experienced or wanted to think about. She wasn’t cut out for family attachments, hadn’t been raised to it the way Flann and the rest of the Rivers sisters were. She was born a loner and had learned to be alone, and maybe she should stop fighting the natural order of things.

“Suits you.”

Flann grinned, and they rode in easy silence the short distance to the homestead. Flann parked under the portico and they walked around the back to the porch and through the kitchen door. Ida turned from where she had been removing a tray of biscuits from the oven and looked them over.

“You two look like you’ve been up all night. Coffee is hot.”

“Morning, Mama,” Flann said, kissing Ida’s cheek and reaching around her for one of the strips of bacon draining on a paper-towel-covered platter.

Ida gave Flann a light slap on the shoulder. “You can take one because I know you’ve been working hard, but just one.” She smiled over at Glenn. “You too.”

Glenn shook her head. “I’m good till breakfast.”

“Won’t be long. Edward and Margie should be down shortly.” She looked a little wistful for a second. “Breakfasts are a lot quieter these days than they used to be.”

“Don’t you worry,” Flann said gently. “Before too long, you’ll have grandkids spending the night, and you’ll wish for a little peace and quiet.”

Ida patted Flann’s cheek. “Well, I’ve already got two, now don’t I, and one big enough to be coming around on his own. You make sure Blake knows he can stop by whenever he wants.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” Flann said, her voice unusually husky.

Ida raised an eyebrow in Glenn’s direction. “You’ve been scarce lately. Working too hard, I imagine.”

“No more than usual.” Glenn settled with a cup of coffee at her usual place at the table. That might not be strictly truthful, but trying to give Mari the distance she apparently wanted had cut down on some of the time she spent in the ER. The hours they’d spent wrapped up in each other probably weren’t going to change that. When Mari had left the day before, neither of them had suggested plans to get together again. Glenn sighed. When she looked up from her coffee, Ida and Flann were regarding her curiously. She straightened, hoping to look nonchalant. “Just getting used to the new routine down in the ER.”

“I imagine you miss keeping this one in line.” Ida pointed a spatula affectionately in Flann’s direction.

Flann laughed. “Oh yeah, like I need supervision.” She paused, shot Glenn a look. “Although Glenn might need a wingman these days, seeing how she’s starting to make a little more time with the ladies.”

“I imagine that’s Glenn’s business and none of yours,” Ida said soundly and pointed Flann toward a chair. “Sit. Your father’s on his way down.”

Glenn didn’t hear anything for a few seconds and then picked out the steady fall of footsteps approaching down the hall. She couldn’t imagine being that tuned in to another person, not until she thought about waking next to Mari, feeling the weight of Mari’s head on her shoulder, the featherlight touch of Mari’s fingertips resting gently on her abdomen, their heartbeats slowly beating in time. Oh yes, she could imagine it with equal parts wonder and fear. What would happen if that fragile, essential connection broke?

“Eggs?” Ida’s voice shattered her reverie.

“Oh, sure. Anything,” Glenn said.

Edward and Margie sat at the table and the room filled with conversation. Like the rest of the Rivers family Margie was a morning person, and despite it being only six thirty on a Sunday morning, she eagerly questioned Flann and Glenn about the case they’d done the night before.

When Edward got up to leave for hospital rounds, Flann said, “Can I take a care package home for Abby and Blake?”

“Already put one together,” Ida said. “Bacon and egg sandwiches. Two each.”

“That might be enough for Blake,” Flann said, grinning. “He seems to be in the midst of a growth spurt.”

“You ought to take it before it gets cold,” Ida said.

“Let me help you clean up.”

Glenn stood and began to gather the plates. “I’ll take care of that, you go ahead.”

“Sure?” Flann asked.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Flann clapped her on the shoulder and grabbed the bag Ida had prepared. “Thanks. I’ll run by the hospital later this morning and check on our postop.”

“I’ll do that.” Glenn shrugged. “I’ve got nothing else going on today.”

Flann hesitated. “How will you get home?”

“I’ll take her,” Margie chimed in.

Flann laughed. “Any excuse to drive, huh?”

Margie grinned and Glenn caught a glimpse of the beauty she was going to be in another year or two. Her face was already leaner than a few months ago, her cheekbones strong and arched, her wide blue eyes deep set and the color of the sky on a hot summer day.

“Thanks.” Flann kissed her mother, ruffled Margie’s hair, and headed out the back door.

In a few minutes, the table was cleared and Ida was sitting on the back porch drinking her coffee and perusing the Sunday paper. Glenn kissed her cheek, said good-bye, and followed Margie down the drive to where the old pickup was pulled up beside the barn. She climbed in as Margie got behind the wheel.

Margie didn’t turn on the engine right away, but swiveled on the seat and glanced at Glenn. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Glenn rolled down her window and the breeze off the pasture blew through. A creek ran behind the barn on its way down to the river, dividing two of the larger fields, and the scent of corn and fresh-cut hay lofted in.