“Dr. Harper, this is Gwen.” She adjusted Craig’s cell phone to her ear, searching for better reception. She started walking away from the clinic.
“Gwen, is everything all right?” Dr. Harper’s usually calm voice wavered slightly with concern.
“Yes. Fine,” she answered, feeling the need to reassure him, not wanting to give him any reason to regret putting her in charge. She sat down on the stone bench near the kitchen where the reception came in clearer. “We’re setting up. We’ll open the doors soon. We had people lined up before the sun even rose this morning.”
“Good. I wish I could be there with you.”
Gwen heard the longing in his tone. Dr. Harper had dedicated so much to this organization. “Your leg will be healed in plenty of time for the next trip.”
“True enough. This has actually been a blessing for Sally and I. It’s forced us both to slow down and enjoy being together. We’ve even decided to take a cruise as soon as I’m up and about again.”
Gwen smiled into the phone, happy for them but also because the potential for more responsibility loomed ever nearer. Though she couldn’t stop the twinge of envy that shot through her at the thought of having someone to share her life with as she grew older. That dream had been shattered along with her innocence years ago. Pushing her dark musings aside, she kept her tone light. “That’s wonderful, Dr. Harper. You and Sally haven’t had a vacation in years.”
“No, we haven’t. How’s Derek faring?”
“Well, I want to talk about Derek.” While she’d like to fill him in on how irritating and confusing she found his son, she kept her tone even. “Why didn’t you tell me that he was here to run a race?”
There was a moment of silence before Dr. Harper sighed. “I should have at the airport, but there wasn’t time. The race was the carrot I dangled to get Derek to agree to go on this trip.”
“You mean he’d said no to the trip until you brought up the race?” Okay, any good thought she’d had about Derek just fizzled out. How could he be any more self-absorbed?
“No, no. I didn’t think he’d agree unless he had another reason for going. I really want him to see the value of what we do.”
Self absorbed and unmotivated to be here except for his own agenda. Great. The burden of her promise brought tension to her shoulders. “I need the details of the race. When, where and how he plans to get there.”
“You’ll have to ask him about that.”
She dropped her head back and took a deep breath. Slowly exhaling, she tried to release her mounting frustration. She hated being unprepared. “I’ll ask Derek when he gets back.”
“Back?”
“He went for a run.”
“Alone? You let him go off in the bush alone?” His voice rose with anxiety.
“Of course not,” she said between her clenched teeth. His reaction was a natural fatherly one, but it still stung to hear the censure in his voice.
“Good, good. I knew I could count on you.”
She rolled her eyes at the relief in his tone. Babysitting his son was not in her job description. This promise she’d made to her boss was proving more difficult to keep with each passing day.
“I’ll check in with you in a couple of days,” she said before hanging up and going back to work.
She walked down the line of people crowding the front door of the clinic, looking to make sure there were no life-threatening cases that should be seen immediately.
She’d situated a young villager named Mary at a table taking stats on those waiting to be seen. Then a patient would be directed to Gwen for diagnosis before being sent to see one of the doctors.
As much as she longed to be the one giving the care, Dr. Harper had made it clear from the beginning that her job was very important.
And having Moses and Ethan, who worked to keep the medical supplies fully stocked, was crucial, as well. Gwen took her place and gave Mary the go-ahead to start sending in patients.
Time slipped by and the heat rose in the cement-block clinic. Gwen wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She gazed around at the work and realized how much personal gratification she gained from helping others.
In this small part of the world she was making a difference and being given the opportunity to tell others about Jesus and His saving grace just as Claire had done for her when she’d needed it the most.
A young mother carrying an infant in a sling tied at her slim shoulders sat down beside Gwen.
“When was the last time you took water?” Gwen had asked the question more than a dozen times in the last hour.
The woman—she had said her name was Tamara—thought for a moment. “Four days.”
Gwen’s insides clenched. She pinched some of the skin on the woman’s arm with her thumb and index finger. The skin felt papery and stayed squeezed together after Gwen released her hold.
Dehydration.
Just like many of the others. Most of the villagers had been without water for days now. It didn’t make sense. There was a well outside of town and a river coming off Lake Victoria that ran all the way to Rwanda not far away.
She directed the woman over to Craig, who would give her a shot of vitamin B and a bottle of water. She was thankful they’d arranged to have the bottled water, only they’d soon run out and have to drive to Kampala for more. But even that was a temporary solution.
She’d have to ask Moses and Ethan about the lack of water as soon as she could. Unfortunately, without Dr. Harper or even his son, they were shorthanded. She really needed Derek’s help.
Where was he?
Gwen glanced at her watch. Forty minutes. Ha! They’d been gone over an hour now.
Her heart sped up and she forced herself to calm down. She tried not to think about the reasons that could keep the two runners from returning, but the image of some wild animal or some gun-toting rebel kept creeping into her mind. If they weren’t back by noon, then she’d panic.
She focused on the people filling the clinic. Besides the villagers with dehydration, there were plenty of other illnesses to keep everyone hopping. She sent an elderly man with an infected cut over to Ned and a child with flulike symptoms to Joyce.
She counted at least three feverish patients she suspected had malaria and sent them over to Craig for medicine.
Frustration battered a steady beat in her head. The AIDS epidemic in Africa received so much coverage while malaria was rarely given any notice. The most disheartening part lay in the fact that the malaria disease was becoming resistant to traditional medicines.
Movement near the clinic doorway drew her attention. Derek stepped in, looking refreshed in long cargo shorts and a clean T-shirt, his hair still damp from a recent shower and his face cleanly shaven.
“It’s about time,” Gwen practically shouted as she stood. Heads turned and people stared, but she didn’t care.
Derek raised a brow. “Miss me, did you?”
Gritting her teeth, she marched toward him and growled, “Hardly.”
She would not tell him how distracted she’d been all morning waiting for him to return, worrying that he’d be eaten by a lion or kidnapped by some militant forces. She never should have allowed him to go off, even with Tito along. She motioned for Moses to replace her at the table.
Pulling Derek by the arm, she led him back outside. “We need to talk.”
He flashed a grin. “That sounds ominous.”
Once they were far enough away from the clinic that they wouldn’t be overheard, she stopped and planted her hand on her hips. “You’re here for a race.”
“Ah.” He raised his chin slightly and his eyes took on a knowing gleam. “That’s what has you all wound up.”
“Why didn’t you mention that you were only coming to run?”
“I tried to tell you earlier.”
“And how long has this trip been planned?” She hated feeling as if she’d been misled, or at the very least, left out of the loop. Not being prepared made her nerves twitchy.
“Why should you know about that?” he said with a dismissive shrug as if she didn’t matter.
His words assaulted her with the sting of a slap to the face. She was responsible for his safety. For the success of the mission. For keeping a promise to his father that she wished she’d never made.
But what really sent her pulse shooting up was the taunting voice inside the dark memories of her soul, You could die and nobody’d care.
A flush of anger curled her hand into a fist. She struck out, her fist connecting with Derek’s upper arm hard enough to make her knuckles scream with pain.
“Owww!” He covered the spot indignantly.
Instantly, mortification and shame rushed through her consciousness. She’d reacted in an old way. A way she’d tried so hard to control. She hadn’t been prepared for his words to hurt or to stir up the past.
She watched the surprise and then the flash of anger light Derek’s eyes. She stood her ground, accepting the consequences of her action, fully expecting him to retaliate.
He rubbed at his shoulder. “What was that for?”
She waited a heartbeat. Cataloging her confusion as to why he didn’t hit her back, she charged ahead. “We are shorthanded without your father. And I’d at least expected you to want to learn what we were doing here even if you aren’t medically trained. You’re just deadweight to us now.”
A shadow of annoyance crossed his face as he took a step forward. She lifted her chin. She would not back down.
“You are overreacting. I am here to learn. And I will. But I’m also here to win a race.” He leaned closer, his eyes glittering. “Deal with it.”
Breathing in sharply the minty tang of his breath, she stared into his face, noting the strong line of his smooth shaven jaw, his straight aristocratic nose and the little lines bracketing his clear green eyes. Her heart thumped in her chest, but there was no fear.
Something else, something foreign pulsed through her, something that scared her more than the thought of a physical blow.
Redirecting her thoughts, she asked, “When and where is the race? And how do you plan to get there?”
He straightened, his jaw clenched. “I don’t need you to micromanage me.”
She raised a brow, realizing she’d struck a nerve. Interesting. “I need to know what to expect. Like it or not, I’m the leader of this trip.”
His mouth curved at the corners in such a way that her heart did a little hiccup in her chest.
“I’ll make sure you have all the pertinent details,” he said. “Now, how can I help today?”
Wary of his charm, she contemplated her next move. She checked her watch. Almost noon. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Walking toward the kitchens with Derek striding along beside her, Gwen tried to come to terms with the fact that she’d punched Derek. She hadn’t done anything like that in years. Regret for her childish behavior settled heavy on her shoulders.
“Derek, I’m sorry about before. For hitting you.”
She wasn’t sure what reaction she expected from her apology, but his silence made her feel small. The weight of his stare pressed down on her.
“Thank you for apologizing,” he finally said. “I just want to know one thing.”
“Okay. What?”
“How did you learn to pack such a wallop?” He flashed a grin. “You sure do have a mean right hook.”
There were some stories best left untold. She shrugged. “Survival of the fittest and all that.”
“Right. Like you ever had to fight to survive.”
She slanted him a sharp glance. For a split second she thought about dispelling whatever assumptions he’d made about her life. Because she seemed well-adjusted and stable didn’t mean her childhood had been.
But Derek wouldn’t understand. How could he? He had loving parents and had grown up living the American dream. He’d never had to struggle for anything.
Nor had he ever felt the deep, lonely pain of having no one who loved you.
Telling him would serve no purpose.
Besides, she had no intention of having her past bandied about or worse yet getting back to his father. She didn’t want to take the chance that Derek or his dad would judge her for her past.
Only one person knew the full truth of her life. Her friend and older sister, by choice if not by blood, Claire. Claire had understood, had experienced some of the same horrors and had helped Gwen to come to terms with that part of her life as a runaway.
So she kept her thoughts to herself. She waved at several children and accepted their hugs, giving the love she had in her to these little souls. She loved the children the most. She watched with interest the way Derek crouched to look one boy in the eye as the child showed him a car he’d made from recycled aluminum and other materials that were probably collected from garbage piles.
Derek’s encouraging words to the boy won him points with Gwen. Maybe he wasn’t as totally self-absorbed as she thought.
They arrived at the kitchen building. Smoke continued to seep through the cracks in the brick and the spicy scent of curry wafted past. Gwen’s stomach rumbled.
“Hmm. That smells tasty,” Derek said as he peeked inside the open doorway.
Gwen walked inside. Several women were busy preparing the afternoon meal. Gwen waved at the woman cooking over the huge pot hanging above the open flames.
“Miss Gwen, it’s so good to see you,” one woman said as she came to hug Gwen. She wore a beautiful long tie-dyed shift with fringe around the neckline, while the hemline was adorned with an array of colorful beads. She wore her dark hair pulled back into a tight twist and her smooth brown skin glowed in the firelight.
“Hello, Mya. It’s wonderful to see you, too.” Keeping an arm around Mya’s shoulder, Gwen said, “Mya, this is Derek Harper, Dr. Harper’s son.”
“Welcome.” Mya reached out and took Derek’s hand. “We are sad your father was unable to come.”
Derek smiled warmly. “I know he was sad he couldn’t come, too.”
“This is Mya,” Gwen said. “She is part of Family in Crisis. Mya graduated from the university and comes to help us every year. We’d be lost without her dedication and wonderful cooking.”
Mya laughed, a deep throaty sound. “You are too kind, Miss Gwen.”
“I was hoping you’d take Derek under your wing for a bit.”
Mya’s brown eyes widened with surprise.
“Derek is here to learn all the different aspects of the clinic’s mission and duties. I think starting here would be beneficial for him,” Gwen explained to Mya. Then she turned her gaze to Derek, prepared to see anger or disbelief in his expression. Surely even he would guess that his seeing the kitchen wasn’t a necessity right away. She could have waited and had him help when Ned or Craig came to help out.
Instead, amusement danced in his green gaze. She blinked as confusion scattered her train of thought. “Uh, Derek…”
One side of his mouth quirked upward. “Yes?”
Giving herself a mental shake, she said, “Each team member takes a turn helping in the kitchen. We feed not only ourselves but the whole village when we are here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “So Mya, how can I help?”
Gwen stepped back as Mya began to explain the process of feeding an entire village of people. Gwen watched the intense way Derek listened and asked questions.
Pleasure swelled in her chest. He really was interested in what they were doing.
That was good. Really good.
Showing him the importance of the work would be that much easier.
And keeping a professional attitude toward him that much harder.
Even at dusk the air was warm as the sun set low in the sky, filling the world with incredible hues of red, orange and gold. Derek sought the protection of a yellow-barked tree with palmlike branches that dappled the ground with fingered slivers of shade. He opened his PDA to type in his thoughts and observations.
Part of his father’s expectation was that upon returning, Derek would submit a report on the mission.
Using the small keypad he noted his initial reaction to the clinic and to the villagers, citing the warmth with which the team had been welcomed, the organized way the team worked and how easily the members of Families in Crisis assimilated with the team.
He was impressed by the smooth way the women of the village, along with Family in Crisis, managed the kitchen and the feeding of the villagers, and the handling of the clinic by the Hands of Healing team.
From Derek’s limited perspective, it was obvious all involved were committed to the work and to each other.
Especially Gwen.
She worked with tireless energy and always had a smile for those around her. It was amazing to watch the way she would comfort, encourage and support both those who crossed her path in the clinic but also those she encountered outside the clinic.
Everyone, that is, but him.
For some reason, ever since London…okay, before really, she’d been wary, suspicious and stand-offish. But in London she seemed to have softened a bit. Not that he wanted her to be all cuddly. He found having a female not gushing over him or looking at him as though he was a tasty dessert—the way Joyce did—refreshing.
He’d already decided he wasn’t looking to hook up with Gwen. So why did her reversion to her earlier attitude toward him now rub the wrong way?
“Hey, Harper!”
Derek looked toward the clinic doorway where Ned had stepped out. “Yeah?”
“Gwen.” He pointed inside. “Come help.” He disappeared back inside.
Derek shook his head. The man really needed to take a class or something to learn to communicate better. But he did get the gist of the message across. Time to join the team.
Derek saved his notes and headed toward the clinic building just as Tito came walking from the village. He was dressed for a run. Derek immediately stopped moving as his blood surged with the need to move.
“You coming or going?” he asked Tito.
Tito grinned. “Going. You wish to join to me?”
“Oh, yeah,” Derek said. “Give me five minutes?”
At Tito’s nod, Derek hustled to the clinic. A strong astringent scent filled the air. He paused as he watched the cleaning process. Moses mopped the floor. Craig wiped down the tables. Joyce and Mya were tidying the baskets holding the supplies. Gwen stood on a chair and wiped at the lights overhead.
“About time,” she said without glancing toward him. “We’re almost done already.”
He gritted his teeth. “Good. Then you won’t have a problem with me going for a run.”
She pivoted, her gaze sharp, the motion causing the chair to wobble. She teetered for a second, her eyes went wide and her hands flailed, hitting the bare bulb and sending it swinging as the chair tipped.
Derek vaulted forward and caught her around the waist. She felt so fragile and vulnerable in his grip. Her hands landed on his shoulders, burning their imprint into his skin, and her amber gaze locked with his. He found himself fascinated with the gold-and-brown specks in her eyes.
A myraid of emotions flashed in her gaze; confusion, pleasure, wariness. And then, of all things, panic.
She shuddered and pushed against him. He set her down and she stepped back, putting distance between them.
“Thanks,” she murmured, dropping her gaze away from him. “Is Tito going with you?”
Confused by her sudden shift in attitude, he ran a hand through his hair. “Yes. He’s outside waiting.”
“Fine. Go. We’re done here.”
Aware of the others watching them, he nodded and headed to his room to change clothes. Minutes later he and Tito were hitting the trail hard. His body settled into a steady rhythm which freed up his mind to think.
He replayed those few moments in the clinic. One second Gwen was ready to act the offended task-master, and then she was sending him on his way.
He didn’t understand her. And he assured himself he didn’t want to…but that flash of panic wouldn’t leave him. What was that about? Had she thought he’d hurt her? Had someone hurt her in the past?
Every latent protective instinct stirred, throwing off his stride. He forced himself back on pace and under control. He’d never done the hero thing and he certainly wasn’t about to start now.
He refocused on the run and pushed Gwen from his thoughts.
Too bad it didn’t work.