Page 63 of A Soldier's Return

Chapter Eleven

Eli’s words turned out to be prophetic. By the time they finished at the Darbys’ house, Wendell had called them to report three more people had phoned him looking for emergency medical care. They all had mild cuts and bruises, except for one man who sustained minor burns trying to start a malfunctioning generator. Eli patched him up as best he could but ordered him to the hospital as soon as he could make it there.

They made house calls at first, but as they started to receive reports that the roads were slowly being cleared throughout the morning, he and Melissa were finally able to retreat to the clinic, sending out word to the real dispatchers and the paramedics that they would stay open to take some of the more mild emergencies where a trip to the hospital wasn’t necessarily warranted.

She loved seeing Eli in action during a crisis. Over the last three weeks during routine office visits, she had observed that he was truly a wonderful doctor, one who spent as much time as each patient needed, dispensing advice and compassion.

Observing him during an emergency situation was something completely different. He was focused, concise, with an uncanny ability to take care of whatever situation walked through the door with skill and care.

No wonder he was so passionate about his military career. Eli was a man who truly thrived under pressure.

She couldn’t expect someone with a gift like that to be content as a family physician in a small practice.

The realization depressed her, though she was not sure why. Maybe she had been holding out some slim hope that Eli might be able to find a place to belong here on the beautiful Oregon Coast where he had been raised, exactly asshehad over the last seven months.

Around noon, she closed the outside doors after their last patient, a tearful eight-year-old girl who had stepped on a nail while helping her family clean up debris. When the family drove away, no cars were left in the parking lot. She locked the doors and turned the Open sign to Closed.

At last report, the dispatchers assured them all the roads were clear now along the coast and people in need could make it to the emergency room or the urgent-care clinics in Seaside or Astoria, if necessary.

“Good work,” Eli said when she walked back. “You’ve been amazing today. An army medic trained in battlefield emergency care couldn’t have done better.”

His admiring words and expression left her flustered and not sure how to respond. “You were the one doing all the care. I’ve only been providing support.”

“That’s completely not true and you know it. Every time I needed something, you were right there with it before I had to ask, and you are amazing at calming down every panicked mother or crying child.”

“We make a good team.” For another week, anyway. The thought made her chest ache.

“Do you have any idea of how necessary you are to my father’s practice? Why do you think I’ve tried so hard to...” He bit off his words, leaving her intensely curious about what he intended to say.

“Why you’ve tried so hard to what?” She had to ask.

His smile appeared forced. “Uh, make sure you know exactly how much you’re appreciated.”

She had a feeling that wasn’t what he’d almost said at all, but he didn’t appear inclined to add anything more.

“I was going to say the same to you,” she said. “It’s not every day you deliver a baby, sew thirty-six stitches in five different patients and give eight tetanus shots, all before noon.”

He smiled. “All in all, a good morning. I’m glad we could help.”

“If you hadn’t been here, I’m not sure what people in Cannon Beach would have done.”

“My dad is not the only doctor in town. Someone else would have stepped up.”

Wendell might not be the only doctor, but he was one of the most beloved.

Eli was well on his way to matching his father’s popularity. Everyone in town loved Eli, after he had been here only three weeks to fill in for his father.

Especially her.

She pushed the thought aside. Not now. She couldn’t think about her impending heartache. He was leaving in a week, and somehow she was going to have to figure out how to go on without that slow, gorgeous smile in her life.

She had to say at least a little of what was on her mind. It seemed vitally important that she let him know what she had been thinking all morning as she watched him work.

“You’re an amazing doctor, Eli. You make a great family physician in the proud tradition of your father, but today, working together in an emergency situation with you, showed me you’re doing exactly what you need to be doing for the army. You obviously thrive in stressful situations. You care passionately about what you’re doing and you’re good at it—exactly the sort of person who can make a much-needed difference in the world.”

He looked touched, his eyes warm, and he opened his mouth to answer, but his cell phone rang before he could say anything. He gave the phone a frustrated look that shifted to one of concern when he saw the caller ID.

“I need to get that. Looks like it’s the Seaside hospital, probably the attending physician at the women’s center, calling about Julia and Miri.”

---