An Engagement For Two

Chapter Two

“Oh, come on, Michelle. Come to the party with me. You work too hard, darling. Don’t be afraid of having a little fun.”

Mikki McKenna suppressed a deep sigh.

Served her right for answering her cell phone without looking at caller ID. But she’d just pulled into her parking spot in front of the medical building, and because of the hour, she had naturally assumed that it was someone in her office or the hospital calling.

Either that, or it was one of a handful of patients she’d entrusted with her private line in case of an emergency.

She hadn’t expected her mother to call. That came under the heading of an entirely different sort of emergency. Something just short of the apocalypse.

It had been several months since she’d heard from her mother. Thinking back, Mikki vaguely remembered that it had been right between her mother shedding Tim Wilson, husband number four, and going off on a cruise to some faraway island paradise, the name of which presently escaped her. Her mother always went off on a cruise after every divorce. Cruises were her mother’s primary hunting grounds for potential new husbands. She kept going on different cruises until she found someone to her satisfaction.

“I’m not afraid of having fun, Mother,” Mikki began, attempting to get her mother to see her side for a change even though, in her heart, it was a hopeless endeavor.

Veronica McKenna Sheridan Tolliver Wilson—her mother thought that having so many names made her seem like British royalty—immediately interjected, “Well, then come! This promises to be a really wonderful party, Michelle. Anderson throws absolutely the very best parties,” she said with enthusiasm.

Anderson. So that was the new candidate’s name. She wondered if the man had any idea what he was in for.

“I’m sure that he does, Mother,” Mikki said, humoring her. “But—”

Veronica was quick to shut her daughter down. She’d had years of practice.

“Michelle, please, you need to have a little fun before you suddenly find that you’re too old to enjoy yourself. Honestly, I don’t know how I wound up raising such a stick in the mud,” Veronica lamented dramatically.

Possibly because you didn’t raise me at all, Mother, Mikki thought.

Between her parents’ arguments and the almost-frenzied partying they both indulged in, singularly and together, she’d hardly ever seen her parents when they were still married.

She remembered being periodically dropped off to stay with various relatives as a child. As she got older, there were sleepovers at friends’ homes instead, especially her best friend, Nicole. Envious of the family unity she witnessed, Mikki had made sure she was the perfect houseguest, going the extra mile by cleaning up after herself as well as her friend and even preparing breakfast whenever possible.

It was her way of ensuring that she would be invited back.

By the time she was twelve, her parents had divorced, and they’d professed to want shared custody of her—which meant, in reality, that neither parent really wanted to be saddled with her upbringing. Each kept sending her to the other. Money was substituted for love. The only interest from either one of her parents came by way of the actual interest her trust fund accrued.

If it hadn’t been for her great-aunt Bethany, Mikki would have felt that she had no family at all. It was Great-Aunt Bethany who took an interest in her education and suggested that she consider attending medical school.

The latter had grown out of her having nursed an injured bird back to health after it had flown into the sliding glass patio door.

“You have a good heart and good instincts, Michelle. It would be a shame to let that go to waste,” Great-Aunt Bethany had told her that summer, literally dropping a number of medical school pamphlets in her lap.

And that had been the beginning of Mikki’s career in medicine. Her desire to help others, to make a difference, took root that summer. Very simply, it was the reason she had decided to become a doctor.

There had also been a small part of her—because for the most part, she had given up hoping to make any meaningful connection with her mother—that did hope her mother would be proud of her choice.

She supposed she should have known better.

“Well, if that’s what you want, I suppose you should go for it,” Veronica had said when she told her mother of her plans to go to medical school. “But personally, I can’t see why you’d want to go poking around people’s insides or whatever it is that you’ll be doing. It’s all so very icky, darling.” Mikki could still picture the look of revulsion on her mother’s face. “And you really don’t have to do that, you know. You don’t need to earn a living.”

She let her mother go on trying to talk her out of her choice until Veronica lost interest in the subject.

Her mother was always losing interest in subjects, this included the various men that she had married. It was always “the next one” who promised to be better. Until he wasn’t.

Watching her mother over the years, Mikki had become sure of one thing. That was not the kind of life she wanted.

“I’m only going to be in town for another day or two,” her mother was saying now. “I don’t know why you don’t want to take the opportunity to come out of your shell and see me.”

“Because I won’t be seeing you,” Mikki pointed out patiently. “Not personally, at least. You’ll be partying with an entire ballroom full of people.” Her mother was never happier than when she was the center of everyone’s attention. And if she wasn’t the center of attention, she did something to make that happen.

“And what do you want me to do, Michelle? Would you like me to sit by the fireplace like some old woman, mourning over things that didn’t happen?” Veronica asked testily.

“No, Mother,” Mikki replied. Because it was getting warm in her car, she put her key in the ignition and cracked open a window. She knew she could just as easily step outside, but she didn’t want anyone overhearing her conversation with her mother. “I want you to do whatever makes you happy. Just like I want to do whatever makes me happy.”

“But—”

She could hear her mother’s frustration vibrating in the single word. But she’d learned not to allow her mother to play her.

“Sorry, Mother. That’s my other line. I’ve got to go,” Mikki told her, terminating the call.

Mikki held the cell phone against her for a moment and sighed. For once, there was no other incoming call, but she couldn’t think of another way to get her mother to stop going on about the party at the Ambassador Hotel that she wanted her to attend. She had absolutely no use for those kind of vapid parties. Mingling with a roomful of strangers wearing overpriced clothes seemed like a colossal waste of precious time to her.

She supposed that the invitation could be her mother’s way of trying to connect with her after all this time, but she really doubted it. Most likely, her mother was just trying to assuage her guilty conscience, although that in itself was rather unusual. Guilt and Veronica McKenna Sheridan Tolliver Wilson did not coexist on the same plane.

Best guess was that Anderson Pierce, Veronica’s boy toy of the month, had probably expressed an interest in meeting her daughter. Mikki wouldn’t have agreed to go even if she wasn’t busy, which she was.

All the time.

She had a thriving internal medicine practice associated with Bedford Memorial and, if that wasn’t enough, she also volunteered on Saturdays at the free clinic.

She would sleep, she often said, when she was dead.

That would also be when she’d party, Mikki thought with a smile. When she was dead.

Her cell phone began to ring again. This time, she looked at caller ID before answering. The number on the screen was not familiar, but the name above it was.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to Maizie Sommers.

“Mrs. Sommers?” she asked uncertainly, still not sure this was the woman she was thinking of.

The second the woman spoke, all doubt vanished. No one could pack as much warmth into a simple sentence as her best friend’s mother could.

“Mikki, how wonderful to hear your voice again. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you—”

“And busy, I hear,” Maizie said, reading between the lines. “Nikki tells me that you’re extremely busy these days.”

“Well, yes, I am,” Mikki admitted, but she didn’t want to just brush the woman off because of that. She had some very affectionate memories associated with her best friend’s mother. She’d lost count the number of times she had slept over Nikki’s house—or the number of times she had wished that Nikki’s mother was her mother, as well. “But never too busy for you, Mrs. Sommers. What can I do for you?” she asked, certain that the woman had to be calling about something. It wasn’t like her to just call up for no reason.

“That’s very sweet of you, Mikki,” Maizie responded. “As a matter of fact, I did call you for a reason—”

Mikki was quick to tell the woman some necessary information. “I’m not in my office right now, but I know that my schedule is full for the next few days. However, I can see you either before office hours or after office hours, whichever would be more convenient for you, Mrs. Sommers.”

She heard Nikki’s mother chuckle softly. “You haven’t changed a bit. You were always such a very thoughtful young woman. This isn’t about me, dear. It’s about—a friend,” Maizie said, finally settling on a satisfactory wording for her request. “The poor dear hasn’t been well lately.”

Maizie paused for a moment to recall exactly what Theresa had told her. “She’s been experiencing sharp pains in her abdomen and a general feeling of being unwell—”

“And what does her doctor say about her symptoms?” Mikki asked. She didn’t like stepping on another doctor’s toes unless she thought that there might be malpractice at the bottom of the case.

“That’s just it, dear. She doesn’t have a doctor. Absolutely refuses to go see one,” Maizie added for good measure.

In this day and age, that didn’t make much sense to her. “Why?” Mikki asked.

“It’s a very sad story, really,” Maizie said. “Her husband was misdiagnosed many years ago, and the poor man died as a result.”

“And so now she doesn’t trust doctors,” Mikki concluded.

“No, not since that day,” Maizie confirmed. “She’s adamant about it.”

“I can see why she might feel that way, Mrs. Sommers. But I can’t exactly examine her against her will,” Mikki pointed out.

Maizie started talking a little faster as she tried to change Mikki’s mind about the matter. The way she saw it, there was a lot at stake here, more than just Jeff’s mother’s health.

“Her son is very worried about her,” she stressed, continuing to set the stage. “If I can get him to bring her in to your office, can you give her a thorough examination?” Maizie asked. “You always had such a wonderful, calming manner about you.”

Mikki laughed quietly. “I never examined you, Mrs. Sommers.”

“I meant in general,” Maizie said. “You know, I always thought you were the perfect friend for Nikki.”

That brought back memories. “I always thought it was the other way around, really.”

Mikki thought for a moment. Her cell was beeping, letting her know that this time there was another call coming in. However, she didn’t want to put Maizie on hold or risk disconnecting. She wanted to finalize things before ending the call.

She thought for a second, then asked, “Could either you or your friend’s son bring this lady to my office at eight tomorrow morning?”

“Eight?” Maizie repeated.

“I know it’s early,” Mikki allowed sympathetically. She was an early riser, but she knew a lot of people weren’t. “But it’s the only vacant time I have until the following day—”

“No, that’s fine, really,” Maizie assured her. “I was just making sure I heard you correctly.” She knew Jeff’s restaurant didn’t open until eleven so, technically, he was free at that time in the morning. And from what Theresa had told her about the young man, even if he wasn’t free, he would still make the appointment. “I’ll have to call and make sure that he can bring her,” she said, just so Mikki wouldn’t suspect anything. “Is it all right if I call you back?”

“Of course it’s all right,” Mikki responded. “By the way, my office is in the medical building across the street from Bedford Memorial.”

“I know,” Maizie replied. “Just like Nikki’s.”

“Right.” Mikki realized that of course Nikki’s mother would be aware of that. Only her own mother had no idea where she practiced and what hospital she was associated with, Mikki thought ruefully. “Except that Nikki’s office on the fifth floor. I’m on the third. Suite 310.”

Maizie had already done her homework, but to keep from arousing Mikki’s suspicions, she repeated, “Suite 310. Got it,” Maizie said. “I really appreciate this, Mikki. Or should I say Dr. McKenna?”

“For you I’ll always be Mikki,” Mikki told the older woman.

“Yes,” Maizie said warmly, “you will.” And with all her heart, she sincerely hoped that this match, like the others so far, would work out. Very few young women deserved to be happy as much as Mikki did. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Mikki.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Mrs. Sommers,” Mikki told her with genuine sincerity. “I’m a doctor. This is what I do.”

“You mean fit patients in at the last minute and come in to see them at hours that are way too early?” Maizie asked, amused. That wasn’t a doctor, Maizie thought. That was a saint.

“Perfect description of my life,” Mikki told her friend’s mother with a laugh.

Memories from bygone days when her daughter and Mikki were just starting out on their journey came flooding back to Maizie. She found herself growing nostalgic.

“We really need to get together at your earliest convenience, dear.”

“You’re not feeling well, either?” Mikki asked, concerned.

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Maizie said quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “I just meant that I would love seeing you again. It’s been a while, you know.”

“Yes,” Mikki agreed. “It has.” And unlike her conversation with her mother a short while ago, Mikki found herself really wanting to get together with the woman on the other end of the call.

“Please call me the first moment you find time in that busy life of yours,” Maizie encouraged.

“I’ll be sure to do that. In the meantime, see if your friend can come in tomorrow morning. If he can’t, call me back and I’ll see what other arrangements I can make.”

“I will,” Maizie promised. “You were always one of the good ones, Mikki,” she added.

“Funny, that was always what I thought about you, too,” Mikki said before terminating the call.

The next second, her cell phone beeped again. “Dr. McKenna,” she answered.

“I know who you are, dear.” She closed her eyes. It was her mother again. “Have you had time to come to your senses about attending the party yet?”

“My senses are fine, Mother. And the answer is still no. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a patient to see,” she added quickly. “So goodbye again, Mother. Have fun at your party.”

With that, she ended a call from her mother for a second time and hurried off to her office in order to officially begin her day.

Chapter Three

“I know you mean well, Jeffrey, but I don’t want to go to see any doctor,” Sophia Sabatino protested early the next morning.

The petite woman with salt-and-pepper hair was clearly in distress as she did her best to get her son to change his mind about “dragging” her off to some unknown doctor’s office.

Like his two siblings, Jeff loved his mother dearly, and he usually gave in to the diminutive martinet, but not this time. He had made up his mind. This was too important. His mother needed to see a doctor, and he was taking her to see one before it was too late.

“Sorry, Mom,” he told her. “I’m overriding you on this one.”

She looked at him in exasperation. “You’re taking advantage of the fact that I’m too weak to put up a good fight,” Sophia complained.

“Mom,” he said patiently, “try to understand. It’s because you’re feeling so weak that I’m taking you to the doctor.” Handing his mother her purse, he tried to get her ready to go with him.

Sophia defiantly dropped her purse to the floor. “I’m not going to see some quack and taking off all my clothes,” she declared. Lifting her small chin, she crossed her arms before her chest.

“This isn’t a quack—” Jeff began. This time, as he picked up the purse, he decided it was useless to return it to his mother. She’d only drop it again, so he slung the straps over his own shoulder.

“They’re all quacks,” Sophia informed him. “Your father, God rest his soul, thought all doctors walked on water, and look where it got him,” she pointed out. “Dead,” she declared when Jeff didn’t answer her.

With determination, Jeff took hold of his five-foot-one mother’s elbow and guided her out the front door. His goal was to get her to his car, which was parked in the driveway, as close to the front door as possible.

“They’re not all like that, Mother,” he said patiently. Bringing her to the passenger side, he held the door open for her. When she remained standing where she was, he very gently “helped” usher her into the seat. She remained sitting there like a statue, so he wound up having to strap her in before closing the passenger door.

Rounding the front of his car, he got in on the driver’s side as quickly as possible. Weak as she appeared to be, he wouldn’t put it past his mother to bolt from the car.

As he buckled up, then started the engine, his mother picked up the conversation as if there had been no long pause.

“Of course they’re all like that,” she insisted. “It’s all right, Jeffrey. Don’t trouble yourself about me. I’ve had a long, full life. I’m ready to go meet your father.”

“Well, you’re just going to have to postpone that meeting, Mom,” he told her firmly. “Tina, Robert and I aren’t ready for you to lie down and die just yet.”

“That is not your decision to make, Jeffrey,” Sophia sniffed.

“It’s not yours, either,” he countered. “Lying down and dying isn’t your style, Mom. You’ve still got years of nagging left to do.”

Sophia opened her mouth to protest his disrespectful attitude, but instead of words, she uttered a surprised gasp as a hot wave of pain washed right over her.

Torn between thinking his mother was resorting to even more theatrics and believing that she really was in acute pain, Jeff drove faster.

“Hang on, Mom,” he told her in the most calming voice he could summon. “It’s going to be all right. My old boss’s best friend’s daughter recommended this doctor,” he said, hoping that would give his mother some confidence.

Sophia’s breathing was labored, but she still managed to ask sarcastically, “Couldn’t find one on Doctors Are Us?”

It was more of a gasp than a question, and Jeff had to listen intently to make out what she was saying. He didn’t want her dismissing the doctor he was bringing her to before she even met her. “Mom, I’m serious. This is serious—”

“I know.” Pressing her hand against her abdomen, Sophia closed her eyes. “Which is why I just want to be left alone to die in peace, not have some wet-behind-the-ears would-be doctor try to earn back his entire medical school tuition by treating me and pretending he knows what he’d doing.”

“Mom—” Jeff’s voice grew sterner despite his concern about her condition “—you’re beginning to make no sense.” His mother grabbed his arm. Her long, thin fingers felt surprisingly strong as she clutched at him. “Mom?” Concerned, he spared her a glance as he made a right at the corner. The hospital and the adjacent medical building were just up ahead.

Jeff didn’t have to look closely to see the perspiration not just on his mother’s brow, but on the rest of her face, as well. She had to be reacting to the pain she was experiencing, because it wasn’t that warm a morning.

He’d waited way too long to strong-arm his mother. He just hoped it wasn’t too late.

“Hang in there, Mom, we’re almost there.” He did his best to sound encouraging.

Clutching the armrest on her right and her son’s arm on her left, Sophia waited for the pain either to pass or totally consume her. Her breathing was growing more labored.

“Do you think your father’ll recognize me? It’s been a long time and I’m not the young woman I was when we lost him,” she said hoarsely in between panting.

“He won’t have to recognize you, because you’re not dying, Mom.”

Parking in the closest spot available, which because of the hour was right up in front of the medical building, Jeff got out and quickly hurried over to the passenger side. Opening the door, he slowly eased his mother out and to her feet.

She looked rather unstable.

“Do you want me to carry you?” he offered.

“No.” Sophia pushed his hands away. “I’m going to walk into this charlatan’s office on my own two feet,” she announced with far more bravado than she was actually feeling.

He knew it was an act, but for once he encouraged it. “That’s my girl.”

She looked at him accusingly. “If you really cared about me, you would have let me stay home and—” Her eyes widened as a sudden new onslaught of pain seized her, causing her to clutch at her abdomen. “Oh, Jeff, it hurts. It really, really hurts,” she cried, all but sagging to her knees.

Jeff was torn between putting his mother back in the car and driving over to the hospital’s emergency entrance and taking her upstairs to see the doctor who was waiting for her. The doctor who Theresa Manetti had assured him would be able to calm his mother down and find out what was wrong with her.

Jeff quickly weighed the options. He knew his mother. She’d balk at the emergency room, but he had managed to half talk her into seeing this doctor.

He went with door number two.

“What...what...are you doing?” Sophia gasped as he closed his arms around her. “I’m too heavy...for...you,” she protested.

Jeff had lifted his mother up into his arms and proceeded to carry her into the medical building. “I’ve carried bags of rice heavier than you,” he informed her, heading over to the elevator bank.

Because it was so early, there was an elevator car standing on the ground floor with its doors wide-open. It was empty.

He walked right in.

“Can you press three, Mom?” he asked, taking nothing for granted.

He could see more perspiration forming on her brow. She had to be in pain, he thought.

“This...is...a waste of...time,” Sophia told him, trying hard not to gasp between each word. With visible effort as well as a show of reluctance, she weakly raised her hand and pressed the number three.

The doors barely closed before they opened again on the third floor.

Getting out, Jeff glanced at the signs on the wall, saw the arrow, then went right. Reading the numbers, he looked for suite 310.

Arriving in front of the door, he tried to angle the door latch with his elbow to push it down. When it didn’t give, he tried again.

When the latch still didn’t move, he used his elbow to bang on the door, hoping there was someone inside who would hear him and let them in.

* * *

Mikki had arrived at her office even earlier than she normally did. She’d let herself in through the back door because Angela, her receptionist, and the two nurses who worked for her, Virginia and Molly, weren’t due in until regular hours, which officially began at nine.

Just because she was doing a favor for Maizie Sommers didn’t mean that her staff had to be inconvenienced and come in earlier than usual, as well, Mikki thought. They worked hard enough as it was.

Mikki had just slipped on her white lab coat over a simple gray pencil skirt and blue-gray blouse when she heard a loud thud against the front office door.

Actually three thuds, she amended. Someone with a very heavy hand was either knocking on the door or trying to break it down.

Since she didn’t keep a weapon in the office, she slipped her cell phone into her lab coat pocket after first pressing nine and one. All she had to do was press one more digit and the police would be on their way, she thought confidently. Bedford had next to no crime to speak of, and the well-trained police force, from what she’d heard, were eager to exercise their muscles.

Hopefully they wouldn’t have to, she thought as she carefully approached her front office door.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

“Dr. McKenna?” a deep male voice asked. “I’m Jeff Sabatino. I’ve brought my mother in to see you.”

Relieved, Mikki quickly unlocked the main door—she hadn’t had a chance to entirely open up the office yet.

She was about to say as much when she saw that the man she was speaking to was carrying an older woman in his arms.

“What happened?” Mikki asked, immediately opening the door wider and stepping aside to allow him to walk in.

“My mother started complaining of this stabbing pain on our way over here, and then when she got out of the car, her legs suddenly seemed to give way and she collapsed.”

“I didn’t collapse,” Sophia protested indignantly. “I had a twinge of weakness. But I’m all right now,” his mother declared with determination. “My son exaggerates things. I just want to go home and get into bed.” She said the latter as if she was issuing an order to her son.

“Soon, Mrs. Sabatino,” Mikki promised. “But I’d like to examine you first, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind,” Sophia retorted stubbornly.

“She’s very grateful,” Jeff corrected. His mother still in his arms, he looked around the general area. “Do you have an exam room?” he asked, then mentally upbraided himself. He hadn’t meant to ask her that, he’d meant to ask where her exam room was.

Mikki smiled. “Actually, I do. I find they come in very handy in my line of work. Right this way,” she told Jeff, leading him to the back of the office.

There were three exam rooms located in the back, one right next to the other. She opened the door to the first room and gestured for him to bring his mother into it.

“If you just have her lie down on the exam table,” Mikki instructed, “I can get started.”

Jeff did as she asked, placing his mother gently on the paper-covered examination table. Mikki couldn’t help noticing that he had a very sensitive manner about him. It seemed almost in direct contradiction to the masculinity the tall, dark-haired man exuded.

“I’ve got her insurance cards and her driver’s license,” Jeff said, reaching for his mother’s purse in order to produce the items.

But Mikki shook her head. “Don’t worry about that right now. My receptionist isn’t in yet. She handles all that. Right now, I’m more interested in why your mother had to be carried in—other than the fact that she didn’t want to come to see me. Mrs. Sommers told me that you don’t have any confidence in doctors,” Mikki said, turning to her patient.

“I don’t trust them,” Sophia all but growled, keeping her hand firmly pressed against her lower right abdomen and grimacing.

“Mom!” Jeff admonished. He knew his mother had a take-charge attitude and she had no problem with making her opinion known, but he’d never seen her acting rude before, and it surprised him. It also wasn’t any way to behave toward a woman who had gone out of her way to come in early and see her before office hours.

Mikki raised her hand, silently asking him to hold his peace for a moment. She was interested in her patient’s response.

“Why not?” she asked the woman.

“Because a doctor killed my husband,” Sophia cried with a hitch in her voice.

“Killed him or didn’t save him in time?” Mikki asked diplomatically.

“What does it matter?” Sophia snapped. “He’s gone. My Antonio’s gone,” the woman lamented.

“It matters,” Mikki said gently. She began to slowly move her fingers along the perimeter of what seemed to be the painful region. “But right now, what matters more is what’s going on with you. What are you feeling, Mrs. Sabatino?”

“Like someone’s cutting up my insides with a burning-hot band saw.” Her statement was punctuated with another audible cry of pain as she clutched at her abdomen again, almost pulling herself into the fetal position.

“I’m going to press a little more on your abdomen, Mrs. Sabatino. I want you to tell me if it hurts,” Mikki requested.

“It hurts, it hurts,” Sophia cried immediately.

“Mom, she hasn’t touched you yet,” Jeff pointed out, then turned toward the woman examining his mother. “I’m really sorry, Doctor,” he began.

Mikki shook her head, wanting to put him at ease. “Don’t be. Your mother’s pain is very real,” she told him. “She’s obviously hurting without my touching her.” As she spoke, Mikki subtly placed her hand first near his mother and then very gently on the area where she thought the pain originated.

She was right.

“Argh!” Sophia cried, her eyes narrowing as she angrily looked at the doctor. “You’re hurting me!”

“I’m sorry,” Mikki apologized. “I just want to be sure what’s going on. How long have you had this pain?”

Sophia shrugged carelessly, avoiding her son’s eyes as she mumbled, “A few weeks, I guess.”

“Mom!” He’d only become aware of the problem in the last couple of days. “A few weeks? Why didn’t you call me?”

Still avoiding his eyes, Sophia sighed. “I didn’t want to bother you. You have that restaurant and everything. You’re always so busy,” she said just before her expression changed as she noticeably braced herself for another wave of pain.

Instead of reaching for a thermometer, Mikki opted to test her theory the old-fashioned way. She lightly placed her fingertips against the woman’s forehead, finding it quite warm.