Page 97 of The Cajun Doctor

Samantha’s life was here in Louisiana. All her family and friends were here. Whereas Daniel, until recently, had been living like a hermit, and he still wasn’t settled. Maybe he would end up here at Bayou Rose Plantation, or somewhere else in the South, or maybe he would end up in Timbuktu. He was coming to the realization that it didn’t matter where he lived, it was the people who made it home. Surprise, surprise. The rest of the world knew this, he’d just been slow to catch on. At first, he just went where Aaron did, but individuals here on the bayou were beginning to wear his defenses down.

And people weren’t far off base when they referred to him as a grouch or Mister Moody. He had only recently begun to shake the depression that overwhelmed him.

A wuss, that’s what he felt like. A big, fat pussy! Real men didn’t obsess over the stones life threw in their path (i.e. a few kids dying of cancer, or rather, a lot of kids dying of cancer). Real men didn’t hide out in a bayou fishing camp. Real men didn’t get depressed.

What a load of bullshit, he told himself. Depression was a malady, same as any physical illness. As a doctor he should know better. As a dumb man, not so much.

For now, all he could offer Samantha was good sex, and plenty of it, with a dash of caring thrown in. Maybe that would be enough.

He finally fell asleep, and when he awakened, she was gone. Checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was only seven a.m. He’d slept like the dead for five straight hours, which was something he hadn’t done in years. Too bad he couldn’t write a prescription for that on his trusty Rx pad. “300 mg good sex.” But then, someone would find out about it. He could see it now. He’d make the tabloid headlines for sure. Doctor self-medicating with sex! Then the bayou grapevine, aka Tante Lulu, would hear the news. She’d have him buried in St. Jude statues.

Once downstairs, he saw that the animals had been fed and watered, probably exercised, too, by the contented look of them all. He assumed that Samantha had also checked on Max and the new kittens, as well.

Emily immediately attached herself to him, rubbing against his pant leg. When she followed him to the back staircase leading to the kitchen, she oinked a few times, indicating that she didn’t do stairs well. So, he picked up the pig and carried her down to the kitchen and set her on her short legs. She immediately waddled over to the table where she could beg for scraps.

Samantha was preparing scrambled eggs and toast for Angus and Lily Beth, who were already dressed for the day. Angus in clean cutoff jeans and a T-shirt that looked familiar. Yep, it was a Juneau “Beat Cancer” marathon shirt he’d gotten a few years back. And Lily Beth, looking better than she had since he’d met her, wore a blue Hawaiian print, tent-like sundress, what Aunt Mel used to call a muumuu. He had no idea where she’d come up with the thing since he hadn’t seen her with a suitcase or anything last night. Maybe it was something Samantha owned, for the odd occasion when she was feeling bloated or something. Lily Beth’s hair was pulled off her face into a single braid. Her skin carried that characteristic pregnancy glow, and her eyes were clear and sharp. The edema seemed to have disappeared. A day of rest had done wonders for her.

Samantha was looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, too, if he did say so himself. She wore tight black cropped jeans and a short-sleeved, white tailored blouse. It was the first thing he’d seen on her that didn’t look like it came off a designer rack.

He caught her gaze and winked at her.

She blushed.

Man, oh, man! Women were so predictable. They could rake a man’s coals, screw him upside down and sideways, then be embarrassed at a mere wink. He loved it!

“I’m making a grocery list,” she said, putting a plate of eggs and toast in front of him when he sat down. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here, but we’re short on everything.”

Daniel felt a foreboding at her mention of the duration of their stay. Was she already looking forward to the end of their “affair,” if you could call it that? “We’ll know more after Luc and the feds arrive. But, yeah, I can go to the grocery store later. I imagine you guys will be here for at least a few more days, unless the authorities insist you go into safe houses.”

“I doan care what they say. I am not goin’ inta a safe house. They’d probably put me in some godawful place lak Chic-ag-o,” Lily Beth said in her Southern accent, which, frankly, made her sound rather dumb, not at all like the doctoral physics candidate she was. She must have guessed his thoughts because she added, “And someone needs to get the mail from mah office at the university. Mah teaching schedule fer the fall should be there by now. If I doan show up soon with lesson plans and evidence of research fer mah thesis, they’ll cancel mah assistantship, permanently. And I gotta buy textbooks fer two courses I’m takin’.”

Daniel and Samantha exchanged glances. Had Lily Beth decided to give up her baby so she could continue her education, or did she have some plan that allowed her to do both?

“I could probably sneak in and out at night when there aren’t many students around,” Angus offered.

“No!” Daniel and Samantha said at the same time.

Aaron strolled in then, clearly just coming in from a night spent who-knows-where. He looked longingly at the food, and Samantha began to whip up more eggs and put bread in the toaster.

For a moment, Aaron stood in place, a frown furrowing his forehead as he studied Daniel, then Samantha. Then he grinned. “Hallelujah! The boy has fallen off the celibacy wagon!”

“Aaron,” Daniel cautioned his brother. He and Aaron could sense certain things about each other that might not be apparent to others. Aaron knew what his twin had been doing all night, might have even shared some of the sensations. Too bad Daniel couldn’t use the same twin detecting talent to find out what Aaron was doing every night.

Instead of teasing, Aaron addressed Samantha, “You better not hurt my brother, or you’ll have me to answer to.”

“Aaron!” Daniel said, louder this time.

And Samantha seemed puzzled. “How could I possibly hurt Daniel?”

“I’m just sayin’.” Aaron smiled from ear to ear at Daniel before plopping down onto the bench next to Angus, and saying, “Great tats! I hear you’re a computer genius. Can you help me get a virus off my laptop?”

“Sure,” Angus said.

“You were probably watching too much porn,” Daniel sniped.

“Could be,” Aaron said agreeably, refusing to be baited. Daniel should take pointers from that lesson.

Aaron said he had to get ready for work, even as he wolfed down his eggs and toast.