Page 5 of Broken Dreams

“I'm falling,” her mother cried, waving her arm in panic.

“Don't worry I have you.” She spoke in a soothing tone and tightened her grip on her mother's tiny frame. Thankfully her mother was small boned and didn’t weigh very much. “You're doing great, Mom. A few more weeks and you'll be getting in and out of the tub on your own.”

“I'm not so sure about that.” Her mom dropped into the chair with a sigh. “Maybe you should put off leaving for another couple of months. You know, Andrea could help use your help with the kids once in a while with her husband away on his business trips.”

Amber bit back the automatic protest. She knew her mother wasn't trying to make her feel guilty. But the end result was a pretty impressive guilt trip, just the same. She managed a smile. “Here, let's get you dressed. We have a guest for dinner.”

“Really?” Her mother perked up, diverted by the prospect of company, as she had hoped. “Who?”

“Dr. Nick Tanner. He's a friend of Shane’s.” She wrapped her mother in a large bath towel. “Let's get you into the bedroom and you can tell me what you'd like to wear.”

“A friend of Shane’s?” Her mother used the walker to make her way from the bathroom into the bedroom. “Oh my.”

Oh my, was right. Her impression exactly, she thought with a wry grin. Men had not been high on her list of priorities after Shane's passing. Yet she wouldn't be a female if she hadn't noticed the extremely handsome Nick Tanner.

Not that she was interested in anything except hearing about his travels. Her pulse quickened at the thought. Beijing! How she'd longed to see the Forbidden City in the Ming Tombs that Shade had described in his letters. She could just imagine what it must have been like to travel through a country where you couldn't speak the language. For too long now, she lived vicariously through others.

Five more weeks and she'd start her traveling nurse assignment. She'd be happy to at least see the breadth of the United States, but she'd already begun to save money to travel overseas as well.

Her feet itched to shake off the Wisconsin dust once and for all. Not that she wouldn't return home for visits. Yet, as the youngest, she'd been forced to wait as one by one her siblings and of course, Shane, had taken off for adventures unknown.

Andrea had come back once since she decided to marry Stuart, and still Amber hadn't managed to find her way across state lines. First she'd needed enough nursing experience to qualify for a traveling nurse assignment. Then Shane’s death, followed by her mother's broken hip, had postponed her plans. She hadn’t minded helping out. But now, it seemed as if her family was determined she should never leave. As much as she loved them, they'd keep trying to run her life, refusing to believe she was capable of surviving on her own.

As far as she was concerned, she'd be just fine without them. She longed to get away. She could practically taste the spicy southern cuisine, feel the salty spray on her face as she stood on the sandy shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Her heart raced with anticipation. She could hardly wait.

Amber listened in awe as Nick described his and Shane’s trip to the Great Wall of China. She imagined how the winding wall must have looked, zig zagging like a snake through the green, hilly mountains. Suddenly, moving to Florida sounded far too tame.

Maybe she needed to reconsider her initial goal of seeing all fifty states. There would always be plenty of time to travel her homeland, but going overseas now, while she was young enough to explore the sights, sounded like a much better plan. Were there traveling nurse assignments available overseas? How different could the nurse’s responsibilities be? She thought about some of the European medical articles she'd read and inwardly grimaced. Even some routine medical phrases different, and she had to assume the duties were, too.

Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Thanks for dinner.” Nick’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “I very much enjoyed the home cooked meal.” Her sister, Andrea preened at his praise. “But I really need to get going.”

Amber could tell her father was disappointed, but he gave in gracefully. “Of course you do. How long will you be in town?”

“I'm not sure, probably only a few days.” Nick flashed an apologetic smile. “If I have time, I'll stop back before I leave.”

“If you do, Dad will just ply you with more questions about what it's like to live in Beijing,” Adam warned.

“We’d love to have you again, if you have time.” Her father seemed mollified by Nick's halfhearted promise.

“Did you park your car nearby?” Amber thought back to how she'd found him standing outside their home. She didn't remember seeing any strange cars parked on the road, but she could have missed it. “I'll walk you outside.”

Adam raised a brow. “I'll come with you.”

Oh please. Like she needed a chaperone for this? “I can handle it.” Her narrow glare told him to back off. Her brothers and their protective attitude had worn thin years ago. They always found fault with the guys she dated, except for Shane. And while Shane had kissed her prior to his trip overseas, he hadn't actually asked her out. Not for lack of trying on her part.

Her brothers routinely interfered with other aspects of her life as well. Even when she had gotten her own apartment, Alec, a cop with the Milwaukee Police Department had moved into the same building to keep an eye on her. He claimed the area had a high crime rate. Yeah, right. She’d learned he’d promised her parents he’d look after her. Honestly, she needed to gain independence from her family. Being forced to temporarily move in with her parents had not helped.

“I didn't drive here.” Nick's smile seemed strained. “The motel I’m staying at isn't far.”

Normally she would have agreed. It was a nice summer night for a walk after all. But she'd noticed the lines bracketing next mouth had grooved deeper as their dinner had worn on. She'd worked with enough patients experiencing pain that she recognized a man in agony when she saw him. She wondered if he'd brought any medications with him, or if he'd left them back at the motel.

He stood and swayed slightly before using one hand to force his knee into a locked position beneath him. Yep. Definitely left his meds at the hotel, she decided. Stubborn man, not to have said anything sooner.

“I'll walk you out,” she repeated, ignoring her brothers. For a second she thought Adam was going to follow, but he didn't. Thankfully Alec was working or for sure he would have. Alec saw violent crime everywhere he looked, making him twice as cautious at home. As she strode past the door, she lifted her parents’ car keys off the hook mounted on the wall.

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