THE NEWS OF the commission’s findings in the racing scandal was in the newspaper that Friday morning, and Delano was reminded, once again, that he should be booking his flight back to Trinidad.
His father was doing well. The doctor had assured Delano that in a week or so Milo would be cleared to resume working, although he was advised to slow down somewhat.
“You’re not getting any younger, Milo,” Dr. Fleetwood had said. “And I think this infarction was a shot across your bow. A warning you’d be wise to heed.”
There’d been some grumbling from Dad, but resignation too.
In fact, Delano thought his father was looking forward to turning more of the clinic matters over to Mellie.
“I don’t think I’m ready to retire fully,” he’d said, when Delano was driving him back to the house after his appointment. “These past weeks have been too quiet for me. But it was also nice not to be rushing around and worrying about everything.”
“Mellie kept everything running smoothly the whole time. Once you decide what you want to do, I’m sure she’ll be willing to discuss it with you.”
His father had only grunted in reply, and Delano hadn’t pushed for anything more.
Their relationship had definitely improved over the time he’d been back in St. Eustace, and Delano didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. Taking Mellie’s advice to start from where they were, and look to the future rather than the past, had proven to be the right course.
They hadn’t spoken much about his mother, but it was a start. Delano knew he would never get over his guilt, and his father might never fully recover from his son’s part in his wife’s death, but they could make the most of the time they had left.
Perhaps that was why each time he thought of booking his ticket, Delano found something else to occupy his time, or an excuse for waiting?
Yet, even as he thought it, he knew he was lying to himself.
It was Mellie keeping him on St. Eustace.
But he was set on returning to Trinidad, and his life there. The haunting recollections had faded, but he knew it was just temporary. The weight of his responsibility never left him, had only abated in the face of the passionate relationship he had with Mellie.
The clinic was busy, and they’d already agreed that he would finish up the last of the clients that evening, while Mellie prepped for the spay and neuter clinic the following day. At about two thirty, she came into the examination room, as soon as the patient he’d been with left.
“Okay,” she said, looking down at the list in her hand. “I think I have everything, and whatever is forgotten I can take with us tomorrow. I’m heading out to Grand Harbor with this load.”
“What time will you be back?”
She shrugged. “Not before about five. Probably a little later. We could have dinner, if you’re free.”
“Sounds good. Drive safely.”
The exam room door was open, so he didn’t try to kiss her goodbye. Although everyone at the clinic probably knew they were sleeping together, they did their best not to flaunt it.
But as he watched her bustle out, he wished he’d had the chance.
Soon those sweet salutes would be a thing of the past.
It hurt to think that, and he was honest enough to know it was because he’d fallen for Mellie. Not far enough to overcome his antipathy toward the island of his birth and all the painful memories that resided here, but enough that the thought of leaving her was a wrench.
He wouldn’t express his feelings to her, especially not after hearing all she’d been through. She had good reason not to trust when she’d been so horribly treated. To confess he was more than halfway in love with her, but wouldn’t do anything concrete about it, would sound a likely story.
He’d considered asking her if she’d consent to a long-distance affair, with one or the other of them traveling back and forth, but knew that made no sense. Mellie’s life was full. Between the clinic and the shelter, she had no time for flying to Trinidad to see him, and once his father retired, or semiretired, she’d be even busier.
It wouldn’t be possible for him to fly back regularly either. Races were run at the track twice a week, and he worked three or four days at the vet clinic where he was employed. When could they ever coordinate with schedules like that?
No.
A clean break was what would suit them both.
Besides, Mellie had given no indication of wanting him to stay, or to extend their affair. He liked to think they could sustain the friendship that had grown between them, but there was no room for any further development of their relationship.
A depressing thought, but the truth nonetheless.
There was one patient left to be seen for the day, and Delano was prepping the exam room when the door flew open and Leila, the vet tech, rushed in, holding a pet carrier.
“Wounded cat,” she said. “The owner says dogs got at it.”
A teenage boy came in behind her, the fear and distress on his face unmistakable.
“He’s an indoor/outdoor cat, but he usually stays in our yard,” he babbled, as Delano and Leila put on their gloves. “I don’t know why he went down the road and into the neighbor’s yard.”
Looking into the carrier, Delano could see one of the cat’s eyes was swollen shut, and blood matted the fur around its neck and flank. The animal looked to be in shock, and hissed as soon as it saw Delano’s face through the door.
“Get the bite-proof gloves,” he said over his shoulder to Leila. Then he sent the young man a questioning glance. “What’s your cat’s name?”
“Hero,” he replied, his voice cracking a little on the word.
“And yours?”
“Marcus.”
“Okay, Marcus.” Delano kept his voice calm and reassuring. “We’re going to take the top off the carrier, and make sure he doesn’t try to run away, but I can see he’s in a lot of pain, so Hero will probably fight us. If you’re up for it, will you stay and try to calm him down by speaking to him? If he hears a familiar voice, it might help.”
“Sure,” the teen said, trying to sound confident, but his voice wavered.
Hero was traumatized and, from his attempts to bite and scratch, just wanted to be left alone, but they were able to get him out of the carrier and subdued on the table long enough to be sedated. Once he was asleep, Delano examined him, while Leila began cleaning him up, looking for any missed puncture marks or wounds as she went.
“Hero has a number of bite marks,” Delano told Marcus, “but they’re not from dogs. If it had been dogs that had attacked him, the bites would be bigger, and deeper.” And the cat probably wouldn’t have survived, but he didn’t add that part. “It looks as though he was fighting with another cat. How old is he?”
“Umm...” Marcus seemed to be doing sums in his head before he said, “Just about a year old, I think.”
And still intact. That would explain a lot. He’d probably strayed into an older tom’s domain, on the trail of a female, and gotten into a fight.
“He’s reached sexual maturity,” Delano explained. “And that means he’s going to start going after females. The only way to stop that from happening is to get him neutered.”
“I thought about doing that, but it’s real expensive, and my mam won’t pay for it.”
Delano was stitching up the worst of Hero’s cuts, and Marcus was gently stroking one of the now-still paws. It was clear that the youngster really cared for his cat, and was worried.
“Dr. Mellie, who also works here, runs spay and neuter clinics,” he told the young man. “They do it at low or no cost. Unfortunately, the next one is tomorrow, and Hero is too hurt to have surgery right now. But if you keep checking, I’m sure there’ll be another one soon.”
“I think I heard Dr. Mellie say they’re planning one in three or four weeks, right here,” Leila added. “Hopefully Hero will be well enough then, but you’ll have to bring him and let Dr. Mellie look at him to make sure.”
Delano felt a pang, like loss, at the thought that by then he’d be long gone. He still hadn’t made a decision on when he was leaving, but he knew it would have to be soon. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be for him to leave.
They patched Hero up, and Delano told Marcus he’d like to keep the cat in the hospital for a couple of days.
“Unless you think you’ll be able to put the medicine in his eye yourself?”
The teen looked doubtful. “I don’t know if he’ll let me. He scratched me up good when I was putting him in the carrier, and he’s usually good about that.”
So it was arranged that Hero would stay at the clinic over the weekend, and Marcus left to go home and treat his own wounds.
“Did the last client stay?” Delano asked Leila when she came back into the room from putting Hero in a cage down in the hospital.
“She did. Her dog’s just here for boosters, worming and a wellness check.”
“Thank goodness,” Delano said with a chuckle. It was almost five o’clock, and the appointment had been for four. “When you send her in, you can go on home. It doesn’t make sense for both of us to be late.”
“Thanks, Doc.” Leila grinned as she sanitized the examination table. “No word of a lie, but I’m starving.”
He was just finishing his notes when he heard the door behind him open, and a voice he hadn’t heard in over twenty years said quietly, “Delano?”
He froze, his brain seizing for an instant. An icy wave rushed through his body, and when he turned to face the woman behind him, it was with the stiff, jerky movements of a much older man.
“Mrs. Gopaul?”
She smiled, but Delano didn’t think it got all the way to her eyes.
“It’s good to see you, Del,” said his friend Everard’s mother. “It’s been a very long time.”
Mellie left Grand Harbor to head back to Port Michael, her head full of lists and plans for the following day. At some point in the future, what she really wanted was to buy a mobile veterinarian clinic, or make one, if necessary. An old RV would work, and that way she could go into the nooks and crannies of the island, instead of having to find a clinic where the spay and neuter events could take place.
So many plans and ideas, and seemingly not enough time or money to bring them to fruition!
Yet, the thoughts of animal care and husbandry that usually took up the majority of her mind slipped away before the first mile of her journey was behind her, replaced by a more troublesome matter.
Delano.
A rueful smile touched her lips as she considered that not very long ago all she’d wanted was for him to be gone, back to Trinidad, and out of her hair. Now, she actually dreaded his leaving.
It was a quandary, and she’d been avoiding giving it too much thought. But there was something about Delano that had opened her heart in a way no one else ever had.
Looking back on her relationship with Kyle, she could see where—emotionally struggling as she’d been then—she’d made herself an easy mark. After a lifetime of walking on eggshells and trying to navigate her mother’s moods and whims, all he’d had to do was pretend to offer calm, stability and love, and she’d fallen into his arms.
She’d had no set boundaries, no barometer to gauge whether what she was experiencing was real or false. It had taken time and effort to examine herself, and build those parameters. And even her reaction to Delano’s attempt to help the shelter showed there were still sore places in her psyche she needed to work on.
Not, she thought, because of Delano, but for her own sake. Because if the affair with Delano had taught her anything, it was that she still craved closeness and companionship. That life with him was far better than it had been before, or would be after he left.
Even now, having gone that far in her thinking, she couldn’t bring herself to go the final step. To consider her true feelings for him—give them a name—would be too painful, in light of his imminent departure.
But she was just kidding herself. She’d realized how into him she was when she opened up to him about her mother, and Kyle. Not even Amity knew the full story, because Mellie couldn’t bring herself to tell it. She’d gotten past the anger, but the shame lingered. Convincing herself she was a different, better, stronger person who didn’t need to look back or tell anyone else what a fool she’d been had been easy.
She was about ten minutes out from Port Michael when her cell rang. It was Dr. Milo, so she answered it using the car’s hands-free capability.
“Dr. Milo, how are you?”
“Mellie, have you seen Delano?”
Her heart stopped. She’d worked with the older man for years, and had never heard him sound anything but calm and cool. But now, although he was obviously trying to sound normal, there was tension in his voice.
“Not since about two thirty,” she replied, trying to match his casual tone, although her heart rate was through the roof. “What’s wrong?”
She heard Miss Eddie in the background, but couldn’t make out what she was saying. Then Dr. Milo said, “It’s probably nothing but I’ve been trying to reach him, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“I’m just outside Port Michael,” Mellie said, forcing herself not to break the speed limit. Not by too much, anyway. “I’ll check at the clinic, and let you know if he’s there.”
“Thank you, my dear. I... I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Did something happen to make you think otherwise?” It wasn’t like Dr. Milo to fuss or go off half-cocked.
“No. No. Please don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine,” he repeated, but Mellie didn’t believe him.
Skirting the edge of town saved her a few minutes and instead of going home, she went straight to the clinic. The relief she felt on seeing Delano’s car still in the parking lot was immediate and immense.
After she’d parked, she rushed into the clinic, about to call his name when she heard the murmur of his voice from the office. Either he had someone with him, or was on the phone, so Mellie walked the few steps to the office, a sudden feeling of déjà vu making her pause at the door.
He wasn’t hunting in the cupboard, as he had been the first night she saw him, but now, like then, he had his back to her.
“Yes,” he said into the phone. “Nothing sooner? Okay, I’ll take that.”
Not wanting him to feel as though she were eavesdropping, Mellie stepped silently back out of the office and went down into the hospital area, turning on the lights as she went. There was a cat she didn’t recognize, looking dazed and battered, one big golden eye blinking at her through the cage. Taking out the chart stuck in the holder, she read Delano’s notes, and had just finished when she heard his footsteps in the corridor. They paused, and for a moment she thought he would leave without saying anything to her, but then she heard him striding toward where she was.
Clearly, Dr. Milo’s behavior had rubbed off on her, making her paranoid. Of course, he wouldn’t just take off once he realized she was there.
But then he stepped into the doorway and her heart sank, her expression freezing before the smile she was planning to send him could blossom.
He was pale, his complexion muddy, and although he was smiling it didn’t reach his eyes, which looked at her with what seemed like blank indifference.
“I’m glad you’re back,” he said, and the distance she felt between them widened at the sound of his casual tone. “I wanted to tell you I’m leaving on Tuesday.”
She couldn’t answer, couldn’t even ask him what was going on. Everything inside her was churning: brain, stomach, heart. Rendering her mute and unable even to move. Finally, after what felt like an age, she found her voice.
“What’s happened?”
“Nothing,” he said, but she heard the lie, even as he smiled again. “I need to get back to work. Dad’s doing better. Aunt Eddie has everything under control. It’s time.”
“Okay.” Inside she was screaming at herself to ask, What about me? Us? But the words stayed stuck in her head.
“I’ll see you in the morning out in Grand Harbor. I’ll get there for eight.”
Mellie gathered herself then, pushing the hurt and shock down deep, drawing on every ounce of pride she could muster to nod, as if everything was normal.
Not falling down around her ears.
“Thanks,” she replied, happy to have been able to keep her voice level. “See you then.”
And when Delano walked away, she fought the urge to call him back, or run after him, even though it was what she most desperately wanted to do.