White Wedding for a Southern Belle (16 page)

The emergency crew came past them with Jorge on a gurney.

“I've got to go.” He gave her a quick kiss and followed Jorge into the back of the ambulance.

Bull joined her. “Come on. I'll get you to the hospital and call your parents.”

Ashley slowly walked to the car with Bull. Kiefer had said nothing about seeing her again. Had anything really changed between them?

* * *

It had been three days and still Kiefer hadn't called. Ashley had begun to worry that he wouldn't.

Her parents had picked her up from the hospital. Her arm had been put in a sling again. Not because of her gunshot injury but because her shoulder had been hurt from being hyperextended when she and Kiefer had been tied together.

Bull had explained on the way to the hospital that 911 had received the call, but before they could pinpoint the location, the battery had gone dead. All they'd had was a vicinity. When they had been called to a break-in at a pharmacy, they'd suspected it was related but they'd still had a large area to cover. They'd started searching the area. That was when they'd found her. On the way to the hospital the call came through that Marko and his driver had been picked up.

By the time her mother and father had made it to the hospital they had been typical worried parents. This time Ashley had found it comforting. She'd appreciated the pampering, even though Kiefer hadn't been there to offer some as well.

The second day she was at her parents' she went for a walk along her old block. It was warm outside but not hot and steamy yet. It was summertime and children were playing in their yards.

She stopped and looked at the house next door. The one Ron had lived in years before. After what he'd done, his parents had moved away, no longer able to face their shame. The new neighbors had painted the place, but it still held the stigma of being where Ron had lived. How could anyone have known? Was there ever a way of knowing what people were capable of? Not really. Mostly she had to just believe in the goodness of mankind. That trust was something she'd had a hard time giving. Kiefer had more than earned it. Proved himself worthy.

Still, she had misjudged Marko. No, that wasn't true. She just hadn't wanted to see it. He had given her all the signs.

Ashley continued along the street, lifting her face so that the sun warmed it. It had been a while since she had really looked at the area. Little had changed yet somehow it seemed different. She went on another couple of blocks and turned right. There was her father's small grocery store. Entering, she saw her father behind the counter.

“Hey, sweetheart. It's nice to see you.”

“Hi.”

“How about a drink?” He walked toward an old soda machine.

“That would be great.” She accepted the bottle from him.

“I'm not busy this morning, so come have a seat and stay a minute.” He indicated a stool nearby.

Ashley took it and her father the other.

“How're you feeling?”

“Better. Much better. In fact, I think I'll be going home tomorrow.” She took a sip of her soda.

“It's been nice having you but I know you have your own life.”

Ashley nodded.

“I'm sorry about what happened to you. I never would've thought Marko would do such a thing.” A dark look came over his face. “But then, I've made that mistake before. I know you had a hard time with how overprotective I was when you were a kid. It was only because I loved you.”

Had her father felt the same way she had when Marko had pointed the gun at Kiefer? Or when she'd had to leave him behind, knowing Marko could return at any moment? Had that been the same alarm that had consumed Kiefer when she'd been shot?

She'd experienced that type of fear. “I understand that now, Dad.”

“I hope so.”

There had been no compromise with her father but Kiefer had offered one. Instead of accepting it, she'd all but slapped him in the face. She'd thrown away what could have been.

A customer entered. Her father kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, honey. It can make us act in strange ways.”

“Yes, it can.”

A few minutes later Ashley put the drink bottle down and left. She didn't return the way she had come but instead walked toward where Lizzy had lived. The house was still there but her family had moved away as well. Ashley stood looking at the house. In her mind she could see Lizzy running down the steps to meet her. Or jumping as she played hopscotch on the sidewalk where Ashley stood.

It was time to let go. Lizzy and what had happened to her had shaped her own past, but now it was time to find a future of her own making. Ignoring the pain in her arm, she reached up behind her neck and unlatched the necklace. It slipped into the other hand and she dropped it into her pocket. Kiefer was right. She needed to think about what she wanted and needed. And that was him. He was her future. If she could convince him to give her another chance.

* * *

Kiefer had wanted to go straight to Ashley's parents' house the second he left the hospital. He had called but she had been asleep. Her mother had assured him she was doing fine. Knowing she needed rest after their ordeal, he had decided to wait. He had things he had to get straight in his mind, in his life, before he went to Ashley and begged her to consider giving him another chance.

What he had learned was that life was unpredictable and could be cut short. Finding someone special was rare and worth fighting for. He hadn't been able to handle everything by himself during their situation with Marko, but with Ashley beside him they had made a great team. It was impossible to stop bad things from happening to her but he could be there to support her when they did. He'd not been able to protect his mother because he'd been a child. She didn't blame him and he shouldn't blame himself.

Ashley had told him more than once that he needed to face what had happened to his mother. He couldn't confront that man but he could face the man that had threatened Ashley.

The next day Kiefer sat on a metal jail chair in a cubicle, looking at Marko. After some fast talking on Kiefer's part, he had convinced Bull to arrange the meeting.

Kiefer picked up the phone on the wall. After a moment of hesitation Marko did the same.

Marko jerked his chin at Kiefer. “What do you want?”

“To tell you that your buddy Jorge is going to live. He'll spend some time in the hospital but he'll make it.”

Marko shrugged from where he slumped in the chair. “Okay. So you could have sent a message. Why did you show up here?”

“Because I needed to face you. For you to see me on this side of the glass and know you are on that side. To tell you that you'll never again hold any power over me or Ashley. I'll be there to testify against you and when I'm done you'll be forgotten by me forever.”

Marko bared his teeth. “You think I care.”

“It doesn't matter to me. What does matter to me is Ashley. If you so much as say her name, I'll use everything in my power to see that you never see the light of day again.” Kiefer pushed his chair back and stood. “Now, you have a good day.”

Kiefer walked out into the sunlight. The day had just become brighter.

He rolled his shoulders and headed toward his car. As for Brittney and Josh, it was time to move beyond what they had done as well. They had been controlling his happiness and he wasn't going to give them that power anymore. They'd been allowed too much importance in his life for too long. He was tired of having others feel sorry for him and he was disgusted by how long he'd felt sorry for himself. He'd found something good in his life, and he was going to hang on for dear life.

Ashley would never betray him. She was loyal to a fault. To her community, her family and her friends. She would be the same to him as well. There wasn't a selfish bone in her body. She believed in commitment. Had proved that by her devotion to the people in her life. Ashley was the type of person he wanted beside him forever.

She had not only given him his self-esteem back but she'd given him a home. Not the sterile life that looked like his apartment but something comfortable like her place. He'd become part of Southriver in the short amount of time he'd worked at the clinic. People were no longer people who came and went. They were business owners, grandmothers, young families—friends. He'd had no idea he'd needed that until he'd had it and had been about to lose it. He needed Southriver as much as it needed him.

Now it was time to convince Ashley that they belonged together. That was going to require a grandiose gesture. He had just such a thing in mind.

CHAPTER TEN

A
SHLEY
 
GLANCED
 
AT
 
the crowd filling the city council meeting room. There were more people than usual attending. She spoke to another alderman, hoping to garner some support for the clinic. She was afraid she was going to have a fight on her hands.

Her and Kiefer's ordeal had made the news. She'd done numerous interviews. To her surprise she'd even seen one with Kiefer. She had fully anticipated him to dodge such a thing, but he'd given a good solid sound bite, glossing over what had happened to them and turning the focus on the efforts being made in the Southriver area and what he did at the clinic. He'd made an impressive spokesman.

Others on the council had also been interviewed. They had made it clear in one way or another that they weren't in support of the clinic or the methods being used to make improvements in Southriver.

Outside of seeing Kiefer on TV, she'd not seen him in ages. It hurt terribly. The clinic had been closed when she'd returned to her place. She had been told that Kiefer had been given some time off. He deserved that. She had also been informed that at this time there was no one to replace him. Ashley couldn't bring herself to ask any more questions. Whatever she had hoped for with the clinic and Kiefer was gone.

He'd not even called. Okay, that wasn't true. He had spoken to her mother, but that wasn't the same as him talking to her. All she could try to do now was accept what he wanted and that wasn't her.

All the media publicity had shone a light on Southriver, but it had been a negative one for the most part. That was a portion of what the council meeting was about tonight. The mayor and a couple of the aldermen wanted to rescind the funding. Their argument was that the city couldn't afford to take a chance that what had happened to Kiefer wouldn't happen to another doctor. The liability was too great.

As painful as it was for the clinic to close, losing Kiefer hurt far worse. It was a constant ache that didn't ease. More than once she'd been in her kitchen and had stopped what she'd been doing to look at the door to the stairs, thinking she'd heard his footsteps. It would take a long time for her to push memories of him out of her home and even longer for them to dim in her heart.

She couldn't think about that now. She had a council meeting to survive. A clinic and a neighborhood to protect.

“Okay, folks. Everybody find a seat. It's time for the meeting to begin,” the city council chairman said, hitting the gavel on a block of wood.

A tingle went down her spine. She turned and looked out over the room. Kiefer had just entered. His gaze met hers and held. For Ashley all the activity in the room faded away. Her heart went into a wild pit-a-pat rhythm and her entire body hummed with awareness. Everything in her zeroed in on Kiefer.

“Alderman Marsh, if you'll take your seat we'll get started.”

Ashley blinked. Warmth filled her face. Kiefer grinned. Her hand trembled as she pulled her chair out from under the table. When she looked up again Kiefer was no longer visible. Had he left? Searching, she found him sitting in a seat a couple of rows from the back.

What was he doing here?

The meeting was being called to order. Her focus was divided between what was being said and Kiefer. Normally she was a highly attentive woman where her work as alderman was concerned, but this evening all her focus was on the man who hadn't taken his eyes off her.

“Ms. Marsh, in light of what happened recently, we feel it's too risky to ask a doctor to work at the clinic,” Alderman Richards, one of the council members, said.

That statement jerked her out of her Kiefer-induced trance. Alderman Henderson had been the most vocal about not supporting the clinic in the beginning. Now he was bringing others over to his side. She wasn't surprised he would be the one who would take advantage of the Marko incident to make his point.

“We can't let one problem close down the clinic. The people of Southriver should have the care they deserve,” Ashley responded.

“Yes, but we can't expect the hospital to put their doctors in harm's way by working there,” another alderman said.

She looked across the table at the woman. “You do know I live in Southriver? Was raised there.”

“Where you live is your choice. The city council asking the hospital to send a doctor there is ours. We don't want to put ourselves out there for a civil suit if he or she is hurt doing so,” Alderman Richards said, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses back up his nose.

Ashley had heard all the political rhetoric before. “The people of Southriver deserve to keep the clinic. They were supporting it, using it and, more importantly, benefiting from it. More than once Dr. Bradford...” she looked at Kiefer “...identified medical problems that would have been left undiagnosed if the person hadn't come to the clinic. The patients would have never gone to the hospital until it was too late. He's even taken care of my mother when she had a severe burn. The clinic is making a difference. Will make a difference if we continue to support it. Close it and it will be the first step toward telling the people of Southriver they aren't worth the trouble. They're part of this city just as the rest of the districts are and deserve to be treated that way.”

“Thank you for that impassioned statement, but the problem still remains that the clinic was a scene of a kidnapping and the doctor was taken at gunpoint. We can't have that happen again or anything else criminal. The hospital isn't going to put their employees into that type of danger.”

Kiefer stood. His gaze met hers before he looked at Alderman Richards. “I'm that doctor who was kidnapped. Dr. Kiefer Bradford. And I disagree with you. The hospital is going to continue to support the clinic. I am going to continue as director and hope to encourage an additional doctor to join me. I believe in Southriver and what Ms. Marsh is trying to do for the community. I ask that the council continue their support. But even if you don't, I'll still be practicing in Southriver. And the city council won't be able to take credit for the work being done there.”

Ashley stared at Kiefer in amazement. She felt as though she had been picked up, whirled around and set down again. Kiefer was going to stay on at the clinic.

As elated as she was over him staying, she didn't know how she was going to survive seeing him every day and knowing there could never be more than friendship between them. Somehow she would have to come to terms with that.

The city council chairman said, “I don't see how we can disagree with that offer. If Dr. Bradford wants to continue to run the clinic after what happened to him, then I don't see how we can refuse to support it. The clinic is working to make Savannah a better place. A better place to live and visit. What's good for Southriver would be good for Savannah.”

How like Alderman Henderson to posture to the positive. He was up for reelection at the end of the year. More than once he'd swung to whatever side had best suited him. Thankfully this time it was hers.

“I call for a vote,” Ashley said.

It passed unanimously and Ashley only half listened to what was discussed during the rest of the meeting. All she could think about was speaking to Kiefer. Trying to understand what he was doing. As soon as the meeting was over she headed directly to him.

She wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him but she settled for smiling. “Thank you so much for what you're doing for the clinic.”

“I'm not doing it just for the clinic. Can we go somewhere to talk?”

He could take her anywhere. “I'd like that. Let me get my purse. I'll be right back.”

“I'm not going anywhere.” He'd made the statement sound as if it had a deeper meaning.

As they walked out of the building Kiefer put his hand on the small of her back. A shiver went down her spine. She'd missed his touch. Any touch from him. They made their way to the parking deck.

“Did you mean what you said in there?” Ashley asked.

“Every word of it.” There was no sound of wavering in his voice.

“Good. Southriver appreciates it.”

Kiefer glanced at her. “I didn't do it for Southriver. Well, maybe some of it, but mostly it's for you.”

“Me?”

Was that disappointment in his eyes that she might not believe him? “Yes, you.”

Her pulse picked up speed. Did she dare hope? “Where have you been? I thought I'd never see you again.”

“Around. I had a few things I needed to get straight in my head, then some things that I needed to do,” he said almost too casually.

“I understand.”

He chuckled. “I don't think you do. But I hope you will. Why don't you follow me?”

“Where?”

“Just trust me, why don't you?”

“Okay.”

Sometime later Kiefer pulled through the gate of the old mill they had looked at during the block party and parked in front of the doors. What were they doing here? He waited for her to join him.

“Why're we at the old mill?”

“For that view.”

“How did you get permission to go in?”

He directed her inside and then toward the industrial elevator. “Didn't have to. I own the place.”

“How? Why?”

He grinned then pulled the door open to the elevator shaft and pushed up the wire door to the elevator car. “You're sure full of questions. But since you asked, I sold my apartment downtown. And bought this so I would have a place to live.”

“You did what?”

He closed the doors, pushed a button and they started moving up. “It was time to give up my passion for living in the past and concentrate on the future. Since I was going to be working in Southriver, it made sense to live close by. It would be easier for being on call. I've kind of become attached to the community anyway.”

“That does make sense.”

“How like you to understand the practicality of decisions.” The elevator stopped, he opened the doors and they stepped off. “Come this way.”

They were in an enormous open space with windows along the entire wall facing the river. The orange and pink of the evening sun streamed through them. Lines were drawn out on the floor and work was already being done to build walls.

Kiefer took her hand and steered her toward a staircase at the far end of the space.

She pulled at her hand. “I want to look around.”

“Later. We'll miss the sunset if we don't hurry.”

Together they climbed the metal stairs. At the top they stood on a landing and Kiefer pushed a door open and let her go out ahead of him. They were on the roof.

“It's wonderful.” From here Ashley could see where the river ran into the ocean. Birds swarmed then flew off above the marshland. The wind made the saw grass wave gently back and forth. It was amazing. Made more so by Kiefer being there with her.

Not far away were the chairs, footstools and table that had been sitting on Kiefer's balcony. A candle in a glass jar sat in the middle of the table.

“The only things I kept. Come sit.” He took her elbow.

They both settled into their chairs.

“This is wonderful. I know you'll enjoy living here,” Ashley said, as she watched the colors of the setting sun change over the water. Over the next few minutes they sat in silence as night crept in on them. Unable to stand it any longer, Ashley had to ask. “Why did you decide to continue your work at the clinic? And live here?”

Kiefer said quietly, “Because this has become my home. When you have a gun pointed at you it doesn't take long for you to realize what is important. You said very clearly and pointedly that I needed to move on and make some changes. This is my first step toward doing that.”

“I'm glad for you. You deserve happiness.”

“How're you doing post-Marko?”

“It was hard for me to accept that he would do something like that. I've learned a few things about myself too. You were right—I need to be more careful. I fought so hard against my parents but I understand them better now. I do think I've been working to relieve my guilt where Lizzy was concerned. I don't think I can ever give up being a crusader, as you call it, for the children in this community or trying to improve it, but I do realize that I need some balance in my life. I'm working on it.”

“I'm sure you will. I have complete confidence in you. And don't give up being a crusader. The world needs more of your kind.”

“Thank you. That was nice of you to say.”

“Seems like we both have learned and accepted a few things in the last few weeks.”

Ashley smiled. “What's the saying? ‘You're never too old to learn something new'? You know this really is a magnificent view.”

“You could enjoy it every day. There's plenty of room here.”

“Does the second floor have the same view as this?” She glanced at him. What was he asking?

“As far as I know. But I was thinking more of you having the upper floor.”

Hope soared in her. “But that should be yours.”

“It isn't like you to be so dense. I want you to live with me. Actually, that isn't correct.” Kiefer put his hand into his pocket and pulled something out then slid out of the chair to bend on one knee. He held out a ring. “I want you to marry me.”

Ashley held her breath. She couldn't believe this was happening. Hadn't dared to hope for the possibility.

“Ashley Marsh, I love you. Will you be my wife and share all the sunsets with me for the rest of our lives?”

She just looked at him, speechless. Was this a dream?

A flicker of doubt went through Kiefer's eyes. This big, confident, intelligent man was unsure.

“What did you say?”

He shifted. “I asked you to marry me.”

“No, before that.”

He looked confused. “That I love you?”