Beneath a Southern Sky - By Deborah Raney Page 0,25

then, but Bristol just sprang up around them, and before they knew it, they lived in town!” she chuckled.

An oak staircase, which opened onto a large L-shaped living area, split the upstairs hall. Daria could picture a small dining table at the head of the stairs just outside the kitchenette. The pantry had recently been painted, judging by the acrid smell that permeated the room when she opened the door.

Two adjoining rooms at the back—divided by heavy oak pocket doors—would be perfect for her bedroom and Natalie’s nursery. And between the kitchen and bedrooms was a small bath that still had an old claw-foot bathtub and freestanding basin.

“We really intended to replace the tub when we remodeled,” the landlady apologized, “but we would have had to take out the wall to get that monster out of here, so we just left it be.”

Daria loved the quaint coziness of the apartment—and the fact that it was just a few blocks from Dr. Hunter’s veterinary clinic. She would still have to make the trip to the farm and back with Natalie each day, but at least she would be able to come home for lunch.

“I’ll take it,” Daria told the elderly woman when they had circled back to the living room.

“Oh, that’s just dandy, honey. We were hoping to get somebody nice and quiet in the place.”

Daria laughed nervously. “You might not think we’re so quiet when Natalie starts screaming at three o’clock in the morning.”

“Ach,” Dorothy Janek waved the thought away as though it were a pesky fly. “The sound of a baby crying isn’t noise! It’ll be music to our ears. Besides, she’ll be sleeping through the night before you know it. You just enjoy every minute with this little one. She’ll be off to college in the wink of an eye.” She reached out and squeezed the baby’s toes affectionately.

Before Daria left, she wrote the Janeks a check for the first month’s rent plus the small deposit they required. Though the expense depleted the small savings account she had from Nate’s insurance, she drove back to her parents’ farm with a deep sense of accomplishment and excitement.

“We’re going to make it just fine, Nate,” she whispered into the silence of the car. “Oh, thank you, Lord, for providing this apartment. It’s perfect, just perfect. Thank you, Father, for taking care of us.”

She prayed easily during the rest of the drive back to the farm, giving thanks and making her needs known to her heavenly Father. If only it would be so simple to break the news to her earthly father.

Daria’s first day on the job was scarcely an hour old when she realized that it was going to be as frenzied as any she’d ever spent in the wilds of Colombia. She had just finished a quick tour of the clinic and was sitting at the desk in the reception room trying to figure out the computer, when a pickup truck raced into the parking lot, kicking up gravel. Through the window, she watched as a man in coveralls jumped out of the passenger seat and ran into the clinic.

“Where’s Dr. Hunter?” he demanded, his voice on the edge of panic. “My dogs got hit on the highway. I got ‘em out here in the truck. They’re hurt pretty bad.”

“I’ll get Dr. Hunter right away,” she said with more confidence than she felt. She started toward the back, but the veterinarian had apparently overheard the ruckus and was already on his way down the hall. He raced past her, motioning for her to follow him outside.

She went, feeling useless standing beside Dr. Hunter while he assessed the dogs’ injuries right there in the parking lot.

“This here’s Bess,” the man told the doctor, rubbing the head of a small English setter.

“Hey, Bess,” Dr. Hunter spoke soothing words to the dog, as though she were human. He inspected two deep gashes on her hindquarters and said, “We need to get these cuts sutured right away. This gash on her flank is awfully deep.” He rubbed the dog behind the ears, then turned his attention to the larger dog, a male setter that was whining pathetically.

“Feels like we’ve got a broken bone in this front leg,” he said, palpating the leg carefully. “But it’ll have to wait until we get Bess sutured. I don’t want her to lose any more blood.”

Now he turned to Daria. “Travis is out on a call, and Jennifer won’t be in until after school. Carla doesn’t work