âWe need a volunteer from our own medical staff to head up the clinic. Iâm sure Dr. Landsdowne would be willing to volunteer.â
Silence, dead silence. Jake stared at the chief of staff, appalled. Jake had every reason in the world to say no, but he had no choice.
He straightened, trying to assume an expression of enthusiasm. âOf course Iâd be happy to take this on. Assuming Ms. Flanagan is willing to work with me, naturally.â
Terry might be infuriated at being given a supervisor, but she had no more choice than he did. âYes.â
Jake glanced at Terry, his gaze colliding with hers. She flushed, but she didnât look away. Her mouth set in a stubborn line that told him he was in for a fight.
He didnât mind a fight, but one thing he was sure of: Terry Flanagan and her clinic couldnât be allowed to throw his career off course. No matter what he had to do to stop her.
has written almost everything, including Sunday school curriculum, travel articles and magazine stories in twenty years of writing, but she feels sheâs found her home in the stories she writes for the Love Inspired line.
Marta lives in rural Pennsylvania, but she and her husband spend part of each year at their second home in South Carolina. When sheâs not writing, sheâs probably visiting her children and her beautiful grandchildren, traveling or relaxing with a good book.
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Terry Flanagan flashed a penlight in the young boyâs eyes and then smiled reassuringly at the teenage sister who was riding with them in the rig on the trip to the hospital.
âYou can hit the siren,â she called through the narrow doorway to her partner. Jeff Erhart was driving the unit this run. They had an unspoken agreement that sheâd administer care when the patient was a small child. With three young kids of his own, Jeff found a hurt child tough to face.
The sisterâs dark gaze focused on Terry. âWhy did you tell him to start the siren? Is Juan worse? Tell me!â
âHeâs going to be fine, Manuela.â Sheâd agreed to take the sister in the unit because she was the only family member who spoke English. âYou have to stay calm, remember?â Naturally it was scary for Manuela to see her little brother immobilized on a backboard, an IV running into his arm.
The girl swallowed hard, nodding. With her dark hair pulled back in braids and her skin innocent of makeup, Manuela didnât look the sixteen years she claimed to be. Possibly she was sixteen only because that was the minimum age for migrant farmworkers to be in the fields. The fertile farmlands and orchards that surrounded the small city of Suffolk in southern Pennsylvania were a magnet for busloads of migrant farmworkers, most from Mexico, who visited the area for weeks at a time. They rarely intersected with the local community except in an emergency, like this one.
âJuan will need stitches, yes?â Manuela clasped her little brotherâs hand.
âYes, he will.â Terry lifted the gauze pad slightly. The bleeding had slowed, but the edges of the cut gaped.
The child looked up at her with such simple trust that her stomach clenched. Lord, I havenât forgotten anything, have I? Be with this child, and guide my hands and my decisions.
She ticked over the steps of care as the unit hit the busy streets of Suffolk and slowed. Sheâd been over them already, but somehow she couldnât help doing it again. And again.
She knew why. It had been two years, but she still heard that accusing voice at moments like this, telling her that she was incompetent, that sheâ
No. She wouldnât go there. Sheâd turn the self-doubt over to God, as sheâd done so many times before, and sheâd close the door on that cold voice. The wail of the siren, the well-equipped emergency unit, the trim khaki pants and navy shirt with the word Paramedic emblazoned on the backâall those things assured her of who she was.
She smiled at the girl again, seeing the strain in her young face. âHow did your brother get hurt? Can you tell me that?â
âHe shouldnât have been there.â The words burst out. âHeâs too little toââ
The childâs fingers closed over hers, as if he understood what she was saying. A look flashed between brother and sister, too quickly for Terry to be sure what it meant. A warning? Perhaps.