nearly to the door when he called out one last time.
“Did you ever wonder if maybe it was a subconscious desire, Emma? You know . . . you were panting after Angela’s husband, and the only way to be sure to get him for yourself was if Angela was dead. Now she is, and you have him.”
I whirled around to face him from across the room. “That’s a lie, and you know it. I loved Angela. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done . . .” A clear memory of her face, a recollection of her infectious laughter, brought tears to my eyes. “And Noah and I aren’t together. We’re friends. We haven’t done anything wrong. We’ve offered comfort to each other over the last year. His heart is broken, missing the only woman he’ll ever love. And I was trying to get over you, because I’d been idiotic enough to fall in love with you, you asshole son of a bitch!”
With those parting words, I ran from his office, fleeing to the relative safety of my own tiny workspace until I could settle down enough to work again.
Not for the first time since Christmas, I wished Deacon Girard had never come back to Harper Springs.
9
Deacon
“These board meetings are boring as hell, aren’t they?”
The woman who was sitting in the chair alongside mine had been shifting subtly toward me for the past twenty minutes. I’d been trying to ignore it—and her—but now she was upping the ante by whispering in my ear.
I didn’t care to engage in a muttered conversation like we were in junior high, so I only offered her a quick, tight smile and leaned back in my chair, hoping she’d take the hint. The treasurer was giving her report, and I did my best to focus on the numbers.
Board meetings were not my favorite part of practicing medicine, but they were a necessary evil—or at least they had been since I’d approached the board about building an oncology wing at St. Agnes almost five years ago. I’d had to convince the board that the wing was needed and possible. I’d had to show that I could spearhead the effort to fund its building and its continuation. Tonight, though, I wasn’t sure why I’d been invited—a fancy way of saying compelled—to attend.
“Finally, we have one last bit of new business from me.” The treasurer picked up a piece of paper and waved it. “We received a very generous donation this month from Noah Spencer. For those of you who don’t know him, well, you must not have been watching football this season!” She tittered, and there were some chuckles around the table. “Anyway, sadly, Noah’s wife passed away here at St. Agnes . . . I guess it’s been almost sixteen months ago. I guess before her death, she and her husband had discussed endowing part of the oncology wing, and he wanted to go ahead with it now.” The treasurer met my eye. “Deacon, this donation has been earmarked for the building of another transplant suite as well as . . .” She frowned over the handwritten note in her fingers. “Um, a soundproof music therapy room, to include an audio system and a song subscription service.”
I was sure my face had gone red. I had a gut feeling that the timing of this donation and what it was specified for wasn’t a coincidence. I’d stupidly lashed out at Emma ten days ago, insinuating that the natural methods she’d advocated to help Angela Spencer had been ineffective and useless. Clearly, Noah didn’t agree with me, and his donation was making a pointed statement on the matter.
I cleared my throat. “That’s very generous. I’ll be sure to reach out to Noah and thank him.”
“Good idea,” the board president approved. “Of course, the board will also extend our thanks. And let’s see about a plaque to go up when the two new rooms are finished. We should probably have some sort of ceremony, too. A cocktail party, maybe.”
“It would be great PR for the hospital,” agreed the secretary. “Deacon, once you have the construction of those additions set up, please keep us informed on the progress so we can plan accordingly.”
I nodded, gritting my teeth. “Will do.”
The board approved the treasurer’s report before moving on to new business. There were a few bits of housekeeping, and I began to wonder if maybe I’d only been invited because of Noah’s donation. And then the president cleared her throat.
“Deacon, we asked you