Page 30 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls (Ivy Falls #3)

FORD

An Instinct To Protect

All the way back to Ivy Falls, Piper slept against my shoulder.

There was a sweet, contented set to her face that made my heart swell.

Just before her eyes flickered closed, we’d been discussing the validity of oatmeal raisin cookies.

I insisted they were delicious. She swore the only reason anyone ever bit into one was because they mistook it for chocolate chip.

It was a completely ridiculous argument and I loved every second of it.

Her breaths continued to be smooth, the gorgeous curves of her face relaxed.

I’d never meant for this to happen. To let myself get wrapped up in a relationship.

I had every intention of killing time in Ivy Falls, appeasing my parents with a few dinners and then racing back to Senegal as soon as possible.

Now that ache to run was replaced with a different feeling. A need to stay planted. To explore what my life would be like if I decided to remain in one place.

My thoughts went back to my last conversation with Gray.

Maybe I did leave him behind to take care of the mess that was our parents, but being in that world was like being lowered into a pot of boiling water, the heat and steam suffocating you until you could no longer breathe.

A silent scream the only emotion you could utter.

The highway continued to twist and turn. Piper’s contented sighs filled the quiet car. I’d watched her today. How she paid attention to the water, keeping track of the children while they splashed and played, making sure their parents were aware of them too.

It was the same way she focused on the kids at the theater.

She had an instinct to protect. To love.

It filled me with a sense of wonder and curiosity.

My mother had been there for Gray and me, but she’d never looked at us with intense devotion.

Like we were her entire world. I didn’t doubt her love, but she compartmentalized us.

Like we were one of the many things she was in charge of supervising, along with her duties to the local garden club, and her role as secretary for the club’s board of directors.

Piper snuggled deeper into my side as I drove past the old town sign. When I reached the street to our apartments, a group was standing outside. I put the car in park, tapped Piper’s shoulder and she woke with a start. Her gaze was unfocused until she noticed the group rushing toward the car.

Torran reached my door first. Her skin was the color of milk and I didn’t like the pained expression she wore.

‘Hey, doc. Why don’t you have your phone on?’ She blinked when she saw Piper.

‘It’s Sunday. I’m not on call,’ I said.

Piper undid her seatbelt. ‘What’s wrong, Torran?’

Beck was at her door and swinging it open. His chin went firm as he gave his sister a weighted stare. ‘Do you have your phone on silent?’

‘I don’t know. Why?’

He helped her out of the car and Torran and I met them on the sidewalk. Barb and Susan, Diego, as well as Miss Cheri and a few other townspeople, watched us with worried gazes.

‘Doc, Silvio’s in a panic. He’s called all over town looking for you,’ Torran said. ‘Old Mrs V fell. He managed to get her into a chair, but he says she doesn’t look good.’

‘Did he call nine-one-one?’

‘No,’ Beck chimed in. ‘Mrs Vanderpool insists she’ll only see you.’

‘Okay, can someone tell me where she lives?’

‘I’ll take you,’ Piper offered.

‘We’ll all go,’ Beck said, his stare narrowing on where my hand was clenched with his sister’s.

‘No. Let Ford go and check her out,’ Piper said firmly.

Barb and Susan started to object until I added, ‘It’s great that you care, but Mrs Vanderpool deserves her privacy.’

They solemnly nodded, traded more whispers of worry, before making their way back across the square.

‘How long ago did Silvio call?’ I asked Torran, who looked painfully tired.

‘About ten minutes.’

‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she huffed. ‘Just a little worried about Old Mrs V.’

‘I’m gonna grab my bag.’

I walked to the back of the car and Beck followed. He stayed quiet but the razor-sharp line of his jaw told me all I needed to know.

‘I like your sister.’

‘Yeah, I can tell that by the way you look at her.’ He scrubbed a hand over his mouth.

‘I’m not gonna be one of those dick older brothers that says something stupid like “You break her heart and I’ll break your face”,’ he grumbled.

‘I’ll just remind you of what I said the other night. She’s fragile.’

I swallowed back my protests about that description of her.

The woman standing three feet away was a warrior.

A force of nature. A goddamn goddess. But I understood why Beck saw her that way.

As Piper had explained it, since they’d lost their parents he’d become her protector.

He only wanted to keep her safe. Make sure she didn’t go back to the dark place she’d told me about.

‘She’s in good hands with me. I swear it on my medical license.’

He glanced at the black kit dangling from my fingertips. ‘And when you leave? She won’t be in good hands then.’

I wasn’t going to tell him about our agreement. It was a private deal between Piper and me. ‘We’re both adults who understand the situation.’

Torran walked toward us and I didn’t like the way she swayed unbalanced on her feet.

‘Babe, you okay?’ Beck asked.

‘Don’t worry about me.’ She leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘Right now we need to be thinking about Mrs Vanderpool.’ Her gaze narrowed, expecting me to get my ass in gear.

‘On my way.’

‘Piper, call me later,’ Beck said in that older-brother voice.

‘I will,’ she said, waving off his concern.

I slammed the tailgate shut and joined Piper on the sidewalk.

‘Should we drive?’ I asked.

‘No, it’ll take longer to maneuver around the streets than to walk.’

Like she wanted to make a point, she slid her hand into mine and tugged me down the street.

‘Your brother is…’

‘Burning a hole in your back with an acidic gaze. Ignore him. That’s what I do.’

He’d brought up a good point though. It would be easy for Piper and me to get lost in our time together.

We’d agreed to this arrangement, but neither of us wanted to get in too deep.

Hurt one another. The hard thing was the more time I spent with Piper, the more I needed to be near her.

How was that going to work when I’d be gone in October?

Knowing I couldn’t solve that issue now, I focused on Piper leading me down the street.

We passed expertly trimmed lawns and pastel-colored bungalows with screened-in porches.

We turned a corner and a large white house with a widow’s walk and a massive wraparound porch came into view.

A black wrought-iron fence circled the property.

‘Wow, that house is something.’

‘That’s where I grew up,’ she said casually.

‘It’s amazing.’

‘You can thank Manny and Torran for that. Apparently, it was a shithole when they started on it. The previous renters poured concrete down the drains. Stole the cabinets and appliances.’

‘Well, it’s beautiful now.’

‘They’re really good at what they do,’ she said proudly.

We hurried past more impressive homes until we reached the cul-de-sac at the end of another street called Maple Lane.

The house at the end was a canary-yellow two-story colonial with a wide driveway and what looked like a garage apartment in the back.

It was beautifully built and resembled something out of a TV sitcom.

I followed Piper up the wide white steps and she knocked on the door.

Silvio appeared right away and invited us in.

A small brown-and-black dog barked, turning in circles, as Silvio led us through the house.

The poor guy looked like he’d been through the wringer.

White tufts of hair sprouted out in every direction and his eyes were rimmed in red.

Piper reached down and scooped up the small dog. ‘It’s okay, Baby,’ she cooed.

‘Thanks for coming, doc. I keep telling Greta I need to call an ambulance but she’s as stubborn as a bulldog who refuses his walk.’

We found Greta sitting at a dark wood farm table in the kitchen. A pale pink tracksuit hung off her. The kitchen towel she was holding to her chin was soaked in blood.

‘Tell me you did not just compare me to a bulldog,’ she huffed.

All it took was one look at her to know she was hurting.

Silvio shrugged. ‘If the shoe fits, dear.’

Greta grumbled until she gave me the once-over. Her stare moved to Piper and her mouth twitched. ‘You two been off doing something fun? Sure smells like it.’

This woman. She was clearly uncomfortable, but still she had to comment on the way the briny scent of the lake wafted off us.

‘We’re not here to chat about our day,’ I said.

I sat next to her and she gave me a weak, ‘Hi, doc.’

‘If you wanted to see me again, you didn’t have to put on such a big show.’

The quicker I got her to relax, the better her blood pressure would be.

‘May I?’ I nodded to her chin. She relented and I examined the oozing gash. ‘Tell me what happened.’

Her gaze went to Piper hovering in the doorway. ‘Come in, sit down, and don’t look so terrified. I’m gonna be all right, sweet girl.’

Piper took the spot beside Greta. By the fear in her eyes she could see how frail her friend looked too.

‘It was dumb. Silvio was making tea in the kitchen. I was wearing socks and when I walked down the hall I slipped and caught my chin on the corner of the antique buffet.’

‘Have you been taking the blood thinner like you promised?’

‘Yes.’ She pointed to Silvio. ‘For a small man, he’s a really big nag.’

Silvio let out a humph and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Damn straight.’

With a hand at her wrist, I took her pulse.

Flashed a pen light over her eyes. I glanced at the wound again and reapplied pressure.

‘The medicine inhibits clotting, that’s why the bleeding won’t stop.

I can put in a few stitches here or you can go to the hospital.

Whatever makes you feel more comfortable. ’

‘I’m not going back to the hospital. They kept me for three damn days last time. Do you know how uncomfortable those beds are? And the food?’ She practically retched.

‘Sweetie, maybe that’s for the best,’ Silvio suggested.

‘No,’ she spat out. ‘Sew me up here, doc.’

Piper stayed quiet, her cheeks turning sunken and pale. ‘Tell me what’s happening,’ she pleaded. ‘Why are you on a blood thinner? How sick are you really, Mrs V?’

‘Greta,’ I said quietly. ‘I can’t say a word but you can.’

Her firm shoulders gave a little. ‘Honey, don’t get all worried. The blood thinner prevents strokes because my heart is out of rhythm.’

The panic in Piper’s beautiful amber eyes made my stomach knot. ‘What does that mean? Out of rhythm?’

‘I have something called atrial fibrillation. They call it AFib.’ Greta took a thick gulp. ‘Two chambers of my heart are out of rhythm. That day at the café, I fainted because less blood was going to my brain.’

The look Piper gave me was a punch to the gut. Like somehow my keeping the diagnosis from her was a betrayal.

Unable to look at her, I turned to Greta. ‘Have you had any episodes since?’

‘Well,’ she hedged.

‘She hasn’t fainted, but she has been a little weak.’

‘Are you eating? Drinking?’ I reached out and pinched a small bit of her forearm skin gently. It stayed tented up in place for a few seconds. ‘You’re dehydrated. I think you should come to the clinic and let me give you an IV. We’ll do the stitches there too.’

I waited for the protest, her stiff upper lip to take hold, but she blew out a shuddering breath and nodded.

With Silvio and Piper flanking her sides, they got her into Silvio’s car.

At the clinic, we found a vein quickly and got some fluids going. It took three stitches to close the gash on her chin. While Greta relaxed, I went out to the waiting area.

Piper sat slumped in an oversized chair, her cheeks wet. I sat down and she collapsed into me, weeping quietly into my shoulder.

‘All that blood. And she’s so pale. I can’t lose…’

‘It’s okay, Bird. She’s getting the right treatment, but it may take a while to work out the medicine and the care she needs.’

Her sobs continued and I held her tightly. I could have told her more about Mrs V’s condition. How Dr Engel at Vanderbilt was one of the best cardiologists in the country. But in this moment all she needed to know was that I was here and she wasn’t alone.