wonders,” she said when she had finished
it all. “I am feeling more like myself
now.”
Phyllis smiled, and collected her
empty bowl. “You were just hungry, doll,”
she said. “Would you like seconds?”
Maralee’s stomach protested, but she
nodded. “Perhaps half a bowl.”
Phyllis and Jared exchanged looks of
relief. Jared patted Maralee’s hand and
she forced herself not to jerk away from
him and bury her hand beneath the table.
“You’re getting your appetite back,”
he said. “That is a good sign.”
She smiled weakly. “I truly am feeling
better.”
“Do you play chess?”
“I haven’t for many years.”
He chuckled. “You’ll make a fine
victim then,” he said. “Would you join me
in a game after dinner?”
Maralee’s solitary room beckoned.
“I’m not sure I’m up for it.”
“All right,” Jared said, sounding
disappointed. “It probably would be best
for you to rest.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll come into your room and read to
you for a while.”
“No,” she blurted. He glanced at her,
startled. “I—I mean, perhaps it would be
nice to play a game of chess,” she said
calmly, groaning internally. How was she
supposed to keep her concentration from
straying while playing chess? Was there
anything more boring than that game?
Maralee couldn’t think of anything.
“Don’t think I’ll take it easy on you,
just because you’re a girl,” he said, eyes
sparking with challenge.
“I thought you were a chivalrous man,”
she said, looking up at him demurely from
under her lowered lashes.
“I…uh…” He flushed and tugged at
the collar of his shirt with one finger.
Maralee
laughed,
dropping
her
ridiculous, simpering female routine. “I’m
only teasing you,” she said. “If I can’t win
by my own merit then what’s the point of
winning?”
He seemed to relax, if only marginally.
“I suppose.”
After the two of them finished their
second bowl of soup—Phyllis had
surprisingly seen fit to leave them to their
own devices after giving Jared a nod of
approval—they retired to the parlor for
their game of chess.
Maralee was admittedly dreadful at
the game. She used her queen mercilessly
until Jared captured the piece and she
found herself at a complete loss as to how
to proceed. Jared gave her hints as she
fingered each piece hopefully. He’d give a
b a r e l y discernable shake of his head
whenever she was about to do something
particularly disastrous. If her reasoning
was sound, he’d give her an encouraging
smile. She lost anyway, not at any fault of
Jared’s. He had tried to help her. She was
simply too reckless to be good at chess.
She wondered if Nash knew how to play.
It seemed like something he would take to
naturally. Assuming he didn’t analyze each
move for hours and put his opponent to
sleep. She smiled at the thought, and then
scowled for thinking about him amicably.
“That was a good game,” Jared said
and didn’t seem to notice Maralee’s smile
was too quick, too broad, and false.
“I was dreadful.”
“You should be more discrete with the
use of your queen.”
“She’s the best piece. She can move in
any direction and as far as she likes. The
king is weak with his one square moves.”
“Slow and steady,” Jared said.
He watched her, analyzing her as he
was prone to do. She supposed it was the
doctor in him, or perhaps his analytical
tendency made him a doctor.
“Slow and steady, watching and
waiting for just the right moment to make
his move,” he said.
Maralee decided he wasn’t talking
about chess at all. “And if the right
moment never comes?” she asked, meeting
his gentle blue eyes with her direct gaze.
“It always comes. Patience and
steadfastness are the king’s virtues.”
“Where haste and conquer are the
queen’s.”
“Only in your hands,” he said with a
grin. “Your queen is so busy trying to be
strong and dominant that she finds herself
without support and she falls.”
“She was doing pretty good there for a
while,” Maralee reminded him, touching
the chess piece of their discussion with
her fingers. She had captured half a dozen
of his pieces with her queen before he had
taken it.
He reached across the chessboard and
took her hand, the black queen trapped in
her loose fist. Maralee looked up,
surprised by his forwardness.
“If you need to cry, Maralee,” he said,
“you go right ahead and cry. I could hold
you again, like back at the clinic.”
At last, she understood. He wanted her
to lean on him for support, but she didn’t
need him. She didn’t need anyone,
except… Nash. No, she didn’t need him
either.
“I appreciate your concern, Dr.
Sabin,” she said, meeting his eyes steadily
so he would not mistake her words, “but
not every wound can be healed by the
touch of your hand or the compassion in
your heart.” He looked as if he wanted to
interrupt her. “I don’t need saving, not by
you or anyone. The moon will be full
soon. I’ll finish what I started here and
then I’ll move on. That’s what I do. I
move on. I go forward. I don’t look back.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he
said, his hand squeezing hers tightly so she
didn’t pull away. “You can stay here and
start a different kind of life.”
Maralee scoffed. “My destiny was
written before I was even born,” she said.
“I cannot do anything but continue down
its path, continue to fight until Wolves no
longer take innocent human lives. It’s in
my blood.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Jared said. “Your
destiny is what you make it.”
“Are you telling me you were not
destined to be a physician?”
He hesitated. “I choose to be a
physician because I was well suited to the
vocation, but I could have just as easily
been a diplomat like my father or an
attorney like my brother.”
“But
you
wouldn’t
have
been
satisfied.”
“I suppose not.”
“The only way to be satisfied with
life
is to follow the path destiny has chosen
for you.”
“You don’t really believe that, do
you?”
“Yes, I believe it. It’s true. I strayed
from my destined path for merely two
weeks and see what kind of heartache it
has brought me.” She clutched her shirt in
front of her chest, feeling the ache in her
chest must be visible to a medical
professional.
“And you found no joy when you
strayed from your so-called destiny?”
“Joy? Yes,” she admitted. “And love.
And passion. And life. More than I’d ever
known before.”
She drifted away, lost in memories.
“Don’t you want that back?” he asked.
Her gaze focused on his once again.
“It’s impossible.”
“Maybe…maybe you could find it
again,” he said. He turned her hand over
and took the black queen she was
gripping, replacing it with his white king.
“Give a chance to some other paths that
stray from the road of your destiny.”
She stared at the chess piece in her
hand for a long moment before setting it in
the middle of the chessboard. “Good
night, Jared. I hope you find the wounded,
little bird you’re searching for. I’m sure
she’ll be more than happy to lean on you.”
A pained expression crossed his
him, but it would be easier for both of
them if he realized she would never stray
from her destiny for him or anyone. She
stood up and walked slowly towards the
parlor door on her way to her room.
“Good night,” he murmured as she
passed him.
She left him in the parlor staring at the
black queen in his hand.
CHAPTER 25
There was no reason for Dr. Jared Sabin
to continue to visit the young woman
staying at the inn, but he came every day—
sometimes more than once—to check on
her. He brought his medical bag, but
hadn’t opened it for several days now. He
was taking things slowly, but he hadn’t
given up on her, because whether she
knew it or not, she did need someone to
lean on. He wanted to make sure he was
visible when she finally crumbled.
Jared climbed the treacherous steps to
the inn’s front door and let himself inside.
The snow had stopped the day before, but
a storm of ice pellets had struck in the
middle of the night. The entire town was
one slippery mess. The soft jingle of the
bell above the front door alerted the inn’s
proprietor. Mr. Gordon Smithy stuck his
head out of the small supply closet
beneath the stairs. The little hair on the
man’s head was gray and sticking out at
odd angles.
“Ah, Dr. Sabin, come to check on
Maralee again?” There was a knowing
grin plastered across the old fellow’s
face.
“How is she today?” Jared asked. He
removed his glasses and wiped them with
his handkerchief before putting them back
on.
“I don’t know. She’s been up in her
room all morning. She hasn’t come down
for breakfast.”
Jared knew it probably wasn’t
anything to worry about, but he couldn’t
stop his heart from thudding with dread.
“I’ll just go and check on her then,” he
said nonchalantly and started up the stairs
to her room. He knocked rapidly on
Maralee’s door.
“Maralee, it’s Jared. Are you all
right?”
She didn’t answer his summons. In
fact, he heard no indication she was even
in the room. He placed his ear to the door
and he heard a faint sniffling sound. He
tried knocking again.
“Maralee? Can I come in?”
“Please g-go away,” she called.
“I’m coming in.” He opened her door
and stepped into the dimly lit room.
It took him a moment to locate her. She
was sitting in the corner of the room on the
floor, her knees drawn up to her chest, her
face wet with tears. Her long black tresses
stood in stark contrast to her white
nightgown and pale face. Jared dropped
his medical bag and rushed to her side.
His heart panging with concern, he
touched her hair. She flinched away from
him.
“What is it? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, placed her hands
on his chest, and tried to push him away.
He refused to budge. Instead, he wrapped
his arms around her and held her
awkwardly while she struggled to regain
her freedom.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” He couldn’t
stand to see her cry. It was worse than
watching her stare off into space with that
lonely, regretful look on her lovely face.
“It’s nothing.” She covered her face
with her hands and gave into his gentle
embrace at last.
Holding her felt right. He wished she
would allow it more often. “It’s obviously
something or you wouldn’t be so upset.
You can tell me anything,” he whispered.
“As a friend, as your doctor.”
She shuddered, and then gasped, “I’m
not pregnant.”
He released her immediately and
stared down at her with his mouth hanging
open. She turned into the corner and
sobbed against the wood-paneled wall,
clinging to it for support. When he
touched her shoulder.
“You wanted…you wanted to be
pregnant?”
“No,” she whispered. “Yes. No! I
don’t know. I thought maybe I was
pregnant after you suggested it. I was
terrified and thrilled at the same time.”
She turned to look at him, her eyes and
nose red. Large tears were welling up in
her eyes and trailing down her cheeks. “I
know I should be grateful, but this morning
when I discovered I couldn’t be with
child, I felt as if my heart had shattered.”
Jared reached into his pocket and
pulled out his handkerchief. He dried her
eyes. She took the cloth from him and
blew her nose.
“You’re still young, Maralee. You
have plenty of time to have children.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have any
business being a mother.”
“That’s not true,” he said. “I’m sure
you’d make a wonderful wife.”
Eyes wide, she looked up at him. He
didn’t regret his slip.
“And mother,” he added.
“You’re too good to me, Jared,” she
said. “It makes it hard for me to keep
rejecting you.”
He smiled, though his heart was
&
nbsp; aching. “I can wait. I’ve always been a
patient man.”
She lowered her eyelids, shielding her
remarkable gray eyes from him. “Exact
opposites,” she murmured.
He knew she was thinking about him
again—the man who’d broken her heart.
The man whose children she wanted to
carry within her womb. Jared wondered
what the man was like. He wondered if
there was any way he could be more like
him so Maralee might be swayed in his
direction. Perhaps he was being too
patient with her. Perhaps he should be a
little bolder. Maybe his hesitance was the
only thing keeping them apart.
“Maralee?” he murmured and she
looked up at him in question.
His gaze drifted to her lips. What
would she do if he kissed her? His heart
thudded wildly at the thought.
“What is it, Jared?”
He leaned closer, his eyes still trained
on her soft lips, his blood pulsing through
his body thick and hot. He closed his eyes
and… drew away with a heavy sigh. I’m
such a coward, he thought. He wouldn’t
risk destroying her fragile trust, no matter
how much he wanted to taste her kiss.
“Are you feeling well, otherwise?” he
asked, climbing to his feet. He ran a hand
through his hair and turned to stare down
at his medical bag.
“You worry too much,” she said.
“Allow me to get dressed and I’ll join you
for breakfast.”
He glanced at her and she smiled. He
felt an odd sense of relief at seeing her
tears
had
vanished.
“That
sounds
wonderful. I let everyone think that I come
here to visit you, but I’m really after
Phyllis’s fabulous home-cooked meals.”
“Your secret is out.” She used the wall
for leverage as she climbed to her feet.
His eyes raked down her body, taking
in the swell of her breasts and the curve of
her hip beneath her nightgown. He stared
at her bare feet and trim ankles for a long
moment before he picked up his medical
bag and moved to leave. So lovely. So
lost. It was a combination he could not
resist.
“I’ll wait for you,” he said. Forever, if
that’s how long it takes.
“I’ll be right down.” She crossed the
room to the chest of drawers where she
began to remove clean clothing.
“Don’t take forever.”
CHAPTER 26
The sky was clear as Maralee glanced out
the
window—clear,