The Doctor's Choice (15 page)

If she had a fiancé back in Houston, he must be quite a guy to keep her attention, even from
such a long distance.

But when
Breck had kissed those soft irresistible lips of hers, they’d kissed him back. She couldn’t have kissed him with such passion if she was seriously involved with another man.

It’s not the man. It’s the place. She’s a city girl and she misses the hustle and bustle
of the big city.

“Breck?” His father had entered the room and come to stand by his side. “That’s a beautiful sunset, but I think there’s something else on your mind. What’s so interesting out there?”

Breck straightened his shoulders. “I’m trying to figure out how to help someone else appreciate this kind of beauty.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cami puttered around the house and went to bed early. The next morning she woke up and found she’d made one decision. It was
a good day to make the yellow go away.

She stripped the yellow satin bedspread off the bed in Aunt Silky’s room. She climbed on a chair to take down the yellow satin drapes
and discovered a window seat set in the bow of oriel windows. The room already looked fresher and younger.

She
shoved the furniture away from the walls. She unrolled the plastic drop cloths and spread them over the furniture and carpeting. When she was ready to begin she poured paint in the tray and rolled the first stroke on the largest wall.

The phone rang and startled her. She located it under the plastic.

“If you still want to talk to the Medical Examiner, he can see us this afternoon at two.”

“Hi Breck,” she said. His voice made her shiver in spite of her resolve. “Yes, I’d like to go.”

“I’ll pick you up at one.” He rang off without his usual good natured teasing.

Cami returned to her painting and had the first coat applied quickly. She spent the rest of the morning cutting in around the edges. Thankfully, the ceiling was white. She carefully avoided painting the tea rose pink on the wh
ite crown molding and woodwork.

She took the paint brush and roller to the kitchen sink to clean them up. The whole house smelled like latex paint.
She didn’t mind the odor. It smelled like a new beginning. It smelled like Cami Carmichael was carving a little space out of this big Victorian house, just for herself.

When Breck arr
ived she was dressed and ready.

“You’re painting?” At her nod, he added, “That’s not what a person does when they’re planning on
running off.”

“I know
,” she said softly. “Want to see?”

He smiled for the first time since their previous encounter. “Sure.”

She led the way upstairs and into Aunt Silky’s room.

“Pink?” He was grinning now.

“I’m a girl,” she said.

“Yeah, I noticed.” He walked around the room. “You didn’t move this furniture by yourself, did you?”

“I’m stronger than I look,” she said. “Do you like it?”

“Actually, I do,” he said. “I think it looks like you. But, you’re going to need a second coat.”

“Yeah, I can see the yellow showing through in some places.”

“I’ll help you when we get back.”

“I’ll take all the help I can get.”

They drove to
Amarillo and talked to Doctor Gerard, the Medical Examiner. He opened the file he’d made on Silky Carmichael.

“Your aunt was in remarkable shape for a woman her age. The wound to her head
confirmed that her death was not from natural causes. See this” He handed Cami a close up photograph of the wound to Silky’s head.

Cami took a deep breath and tried to control the tremor in her hand as she reached for the picture. The wound to Silky’s scalp had been cleaned up and showed the depressio
n to her scull in great detail.

“It’s smooth,” she said.

“Not a horse’s hoof,” the doctor said. “The impression is five-eights of an inch wide and exactly two inches long. Notice the regular borders and the slightly oval shape on this end.”

“What do you think it was, Doctor?” Breck leaned over her shoulder to view the photo.

“Keep in mind that we have access to a huge database. I had the shape of the wound compared to a whole arsenal of tools and weapons. The wound might match the shape of a tire iron but its smaller than most. There are other possibilities, but at this juncture that’s looking like the probable weapon.

“Why didn’t you come forward with this information sooner?”
she asked.

“It took some time to run the information. We had to submit it to the Dallas-Fort
Worth Medical Examiner’s computer system and let them run it.”

“Now what?”

“I’ll hand the information over to the Sheriff’s Office in Langston. It will be up to him to follow up with an investigation.”

She
frowned, recalling what she’d been told about the Sheriff being in Kincaid’s pocket. “I’d like a copy of all your findings.”

Doctor Gerard
gave her a blank look and then shifted his gaze to Breck.

“Do I need to sue you for these records? My attorney
, Mr. Ryan, can file the necessary papers.” Cami gestured to Breck as though he was on board with her.

Breck frowned and then gazed sternly at the Me
dical Examiner across his desk.

“Well, I ah, wouldn’t want these records to fall into the wrong hands.”

“I’m a doctor, Doctor.” Cami raised her brow.

“Yes, yes. I understand. I’ll have these records copied and send them to you.”

“I’ll wait for them,” she said.

While the doctor had the paperwork copied, Breck whispered, “Tough enough! Remind me not to cross you.”

“Don’t be silly. This wasn’t something to be put off and I don’t want any of these findings to be conveniently misplaced.”

“It sounds like you don’t trust Doctor Gerard.”

She looked at him. “No, I don’t trust too many people. You, maybe, but not many.”

He
nodded and smiled.

When Breck drove Cami home
, he parked and got out.

“Oh, no,” she said. “You really don’t have to help me paint.”

But he was rolling up his sleeves as he climbed the steps. “Yes, I do. I want you to feel like this is your house Your ranch.” He stood by the front door as she unlocked it.

“Thanks,” she said. “I do appreciate everything you’ve done to try and make me feel we
lcome here.”

“My pleasure
.” He hung his jacket and hat on the rack. “It was self serving on my part. I wouldn’t hate it if you decide to settle here.”

“I know, but don’t get your hopes up.” She led the way upstairs
where they spent the afternoon spreading another coat of tea rose paint on the walls.

“I think it looks beautiful
.” Cami felt satisfied with the room. She’d never painted any room before; never personalized any space. Her dorm rooms and apartment were bathed in basic white.

“You need new bedding,” he said. “And that chair has to go.”

“Too bad. It’s an antique.” She grimaced at the gold velvet upholstery.

“Why don’t we check the rest of the house for some things that might suit your new environment?”

Cami and Breck went from room to room upstairs and exchanged the heavy mahogany furniture for some pieces that were a bit smaller. Breck shoved the large armoire out in the hall and replaced it with a smaller cherry one.

“So you like the cherry wood better?” he asked.

“I think it looks good with this paint color. It doesn’t have so much visual weight.”

“Visual weight? Sounds like someone took an art class.”

“Guilty,” she said. “I’ve never made any changes before. Wherever I lived, I just accepted it and lived with the plainness of rented spaces. If I were going to stay, I would want the house to look…” She stopped.

“Like you?”

“Precisely! I loved Aunt Silky, but this house…”

“It looks like the home of an elderly woman.”

“Yes.” She smiled at him. He seemed to understand exactly how she felt, like she was being crushed under some heavy weight.

Breck put his hand on her shoulder, his fingers gently caressing her. “I
’ll help you with anything you want to do.”

She
laughed. “Really? Well, I was hoping to put up a trapeze in the barn.”

“If it’ll make you stay, I’ll put a trapeze in the barn.”

Cami sobered suddenly. “I’ll only stay if I’m so happy here I couldn’t stand to leave, if I can honestly turn my back on the fellowship without regrets.”

“I’ll work on that.”
He molten gaze set off a blaze in her heart. He pulled her forward and pressed his lips to hers.

She
felt herself sway under the spell of Breck’s tender kiss. “The attic,” she breathed. “There’s more furniture in the attic.” She took a breath to clear her head and led the way up the narrow back staircase.

Opening the attic door, Cami let out a little gasp. “I haven’t been up here since I was a child. “Look, this is my
doll, Rebecca.” She pointed to a doll with a painted china head, hands and feet.

“It looks like something my grandmother would have played with,” Breck said.

“Aunt Silky got it for me. She said she’d had one similar when she was a child.”

They found a wooden trunk with a bowed top. It was in good condition and the insides were intact but filled with memorabilia. Cami chose a cherry rocking chair and a round
moss-green ottoman. Breck dutifully carried them down the stairs to the now pink room.

“I should have insisted that you
empty out this trunk before I lugged it down here.”

“I’ll look through it when I have a little time.”

Breck moved the wrought iron bed in from the room Cami had been sleeping in and placed it so she could look out the windows to enjoy the view of the purple mountains in the distance. He put the trunk at the foot of the bed and set the television inside the armoire.

“How do you like your room?”

“Much better,” she said. “Thank you for everything. I could never have done it by myself.”

“Glad I could help.”

When Breck left, Cami returned to the pink room. It was the room she had wanted when she was a little girl. It looked like part of a doll house. The heavy satin draperies were gone and the bed was dressed in a hodge-podge of linen, but Cami felt happy. She set Rebecca in the middle of her bed and straightened her dress. The doll regarded her with a smug little smile on her painted face.

#

Breck hadn’t meant to kiss her, but when she’d told him she would only stay if she was so happy she couldn’t stand to leave, he’d been unable to resist. He knew that giving up the fellowship would be the big hurdle. She’d said, ‘without regrets’. He’d hate it if he won her heart and she always resented giving up her dreams.

And he’d held off
kissing her goodbye when he left, although he’d wanted to. She looked so happy in her pink room, like a little girl playing house.

He understood what his new role was to be. He would help her redecorate the big old Victorian house to suite the tastes of a woman not yet thirty. He didn’t care if she did the whole house over in pink or, for that matter if she painted the Ryan Ranch house pink. Whatever it took to satisfy her nesting instinct, as long as he was curled up in her pink nest with her. Surely she wouldn’t go to the trouble to paint and paper her aunt’s house and then go back to Houston?
Surely she wouldn’t leave him?

#

Cami always felt like she was driving a barge when she got behind the wheel of the Lincoln. It handled easily but its width and the area it took to turn a corner was a far cry from the used Jetta she’d purchased to run around Houston. Of course, the small corner of Houston she inhabited was restricted to the Medical Center, her nearby apartment and the area known as the University area where Clay had a small bungalow.

She steered the candy apple red vehicle into the town of Langston, passing the city limits sign. The population was listed as just over
eleven thousand. Where were they, she wondered? Perhaps the census takers had counted the cattle and coyotes.

She pulled into La Hacienda and checked on Milita who gave
her a good report on her father. She was introduced to Milita’s uncle Enrique who had taken over the major cooking tasks. Cami placed a take-out order for beef and cheese enchiladas with Spanish rice. She thought she’d treat the men tonight.

She
set her bag of food on the floorboard and made a slow circle of the main street. She wished she’d had a chance to look around Amarillo.

There was a small boutique with the name Mamie’s Antiques and Gifts painted in ornate letters.
The last thing she needed was any more antiques, but she was restless and wasn’t ready to go home.