Page 19 of The Doctor's Promise
“Pretty sure there was some family stuff going on. Dang, I don’t know, family politics? Anyhoo, I ran into him the other day, and he said he’d love to meet you. To thank you for taking care of Thomasina.”
Noemi looked away from Kit’s gaze. “He doesn’t need to do that.”
“Noe.” Kit glared at her. “Stop that.”
Noemi half-laughed. Kit knew her so well. “Sorry. Bring him by for coffee when it’s convenient.”
“Good,” Kit stole a French fry from her plate. “Because he’ll be here this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?”
“Come on now, no time like the present and all of that.” Kit grinned at her, then seeing her expression, his smile faded. “Noe, it’s no big deal. He just wants to say hi.”
“Fine.”
Kit nudged her. “Hate me?”
“With the fury of a thousand suns.” But she couldn’t stop grinning as he poked her side. “Bully.”
“Wimp.”
Drew Ballentine wasnothing like Noemi expected. Dressed expensively in a dark grey suit, he was shorter than she expected—but then he was with the gigantic Kit when she first saw him. Ballentine was still taller than her and had a friendly smile on his face as Kit introduced them. He shook Noemi’s hand with both of his.
“I cannot begin to tell you how grateful we all were to you, Dr. Castor. You went above and beyond for our Thomasina. I hope you are completely recovered from your injuries?”
“I am, thank you.”
He was so different from Tomi’s no-nonsense down-to-earth personality. She soon discovered he was a minister of a small congregation outside of Modesto, California, and she guessed his smooth, practiced routine was part of that persona.
Noemi couldn’t make out whether he was genuine or not. She barely remembered Thomasina mentioning her stepbrother and didn’t feel comfortable asking Drew questions about his relationship with his stepsister.
He was handsome in a bland way and obviously, he thought he was charming enough. Noemi felt bad about judging him—and realized she was doing so because she couldn’t work out why she hadn’t met him before.
He appeared genuine and was interested in the clinic which bore his stepsister’s name.
Noemi couldn’t resist. “I’m surprised you haven’t visited before?” Kit shot her a look, but Noemi smoothed her expression out with a friendly smile. No agenda here, buddy.
Drew smiled. “I can see you have questions, Dr. Castor. To be frank… there is a rift in our family, one that I have been working to heal for the past few years. I will always regret not working harder before our dear Thomasina died.”
Ah. So that was it. Noemi politely showed him around the clinic, and he made all the right noises of approval.
“My almost-brother-in-law has certainly been generous, not that I’d expect anything else.” Drew murmured.
“You know Rafa… Mr. Genova well?”
“Not as well as I would like,” Drew inclined his head with a rueful smile. “And I would love to get to know my nephew. I’ve tried to reach out, but I think, perhaps for him, the wound is still too raw. He loved Thomasina with all his heart, don’t you think, Dr. Castor?”
“Yes, he did.” Noemi’s throat closed. Was there an insinuation in his words?
No, don’t be paranoid. He couldn’t possibly know about you and Rafa…
“Thomasina was an easy person to love,” Noemi said firmly. “An inspiration. The world is a worse place for her not being in it.”
Drew Ballantine’s face softened, and for the first time, she could see real emotion in his eyes. “Thank you for saying that, Dr. Castor. Bless you.”
She smiled tentatively at him. “Will you be in Seattle for long, sir?”
“It’s Drew, and yes, I hope for a little while anyway. I hope to see Bepi before I leave, at the very least. Perhaps I can persuade you to join me for coffee one day?”
