Chapter Seven – Suzie

Between the two of them, they had made dinner. Suzie had found some ground beef in his freezer and Kit had unearthed a jar of sauce and a packet of spaghetti noodles. This, coupled with some half-stale bread, which Suzie had masterfully turned into garlic bread, with the help of butter and a couple of cloves of garlic which were dried up, but just about usable, made a satisfying dinner.

“Now I see why fate has sent you to me,” Kit acknowledged, sitting back in his chair, looking sated.

“You think I’m here just to feed you?” Suzie asked.

“Oh no, I think there is much more than that to our relationship,” Kit said, a glint of humor in his eyes.

“You know, I don’t think I want to know,” Suzie said. “Not yet.”

“I was not going to use a double entendre,” Kit answered, offended.

“Really?” Suzie asked, getting up from the small kitchen table where they had eaten their meal, while Storm slept peacefully in the next room.

“Nope.” He shook his head. “I was going to say you’ve been sent to save me from myself.”

“In what way?” Suzie began to clear the table, and Kit helped. Her body was attuned to his every movement. She didn’t want to admit it, but sleeping in the same bed as him tonight was going to be a challenge. She wanted to touch him, to run her fingers down the front of his shirt, and then slowly unbutton it to reveal his hard, toned body beneath.

“The hospital fills many hours. My patients have always been important to me. But when I am at home, and I’m too tired to read, I have to resort to watching shows on the TV that probably lower my IQ.”

Suzie giggled. “How do you know I don’t like those kind of shows?”

“Then I suppose we slip together into mental mush.” He shrugged and began to fill the sink up with hot soapy water. “It’s not so bad if we join hands and go down together.”

“How romantic,” Suzie exclaimed.

“What do you like?” Kit asked. “We know nothing about each other.”

“We know some things.”

“Cooking, gardening, and kids,” Kit reeled off his short list.

“Hmm. What else?” Suzie asked. “I’ll be honest, I’m like you, work fills up most of my day. When I’m not in the office, I’m at home doing paperwork. If not paperwork, then I am thinking about child placements, and checking whether my team is handling their caseload. I have seen what happens when social workers get burdened by their job.”

“It’s a great responsibility, being left to ensure a child gets the helps it needs.” Kit placed a plate on the drainer.

“More so for you,” Suzie said. “You must handle life and death cases.”

“I do.” Kit hesitated. “Sometimes life is so fragile and so unfair.”

“But you do your job anyway.” Suzie reached for the plate and dried it with the dishcloth.

“Yes, I do.” Kit hesitated. “When I was a kid, my younger brother, Neil, got sick. I remember we spent weeks going back and forth to the hospital in Bear Bluff. At the time it seemed never-ending. But the nurses and the doctors were great, and we all got through it.”

“And that’s why you became a doctor?” Suzie asked.

“Yes.” He put a goofy grin on his perfect face. She loved the way he laughed at himself. “Sounds lame, I know. But there was this moment, when, after three weeks of no one knowing what was wrong with Neil, his doctor, Dr. Carmichael, was waiting for us. We all walked in, expecting the worst, but then Dr. Carmichael broke the news that they had identified the illness. Neil had a very serious virus strain, which had caused a bacterial infection that was resistant to most antibiotics. My mom just broke down and cried when the doctor said they had now prescribed an antibiotic that would kill off the infection. I knew in that moment I wanted to be like Dr. Carmichael.”

“Did Neil make a full recovery?” Suzie asked.

“Yes.” Kit returned to the dishes. “He works in the local fire department here in Bear Creek.”

“Does all your family live locally?” Suzie picked up the next plate, dried it and set it on the counter.

“They do. We have deep roots here.” Kit turned to look at her over his shoulder. “I hope our family will grow up here too.”

“I have no argument at all about that. I grew up with no roots. And I don’t want that for my kids.” Suzie smiled sadly. How would her mom feel about Suzie leaving? But she had to leave home at some point. Yet her mom depended on her. They had been everything to each other since Suzie was born.

“Your turn, why did you become a social worker?” Kit asked. “That must be another career where you get a calling.”

“Like you, I wanted to make things better for kids. To make sure they are protected and supported.” Suzie turned her back on Kit. This wasn’t the time; she didn’t want to bare her soul to him, not now. A small mewling sound from the sitting room announced Storm’s need for attention. “I’ll finish up here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to her?” Kit asked.

“No. You are going to be the one who fosters her, not me. Anyway, she might need changing and if we want the diaper to stay on through the night, it might be best if you change her. You being an expert and all.”

“You can do the next one,” Kit promised.

Suzie grinned. “I can’t wait.”

However, secretly, she was beginning to like the idea of being Storm’s mommy. Her biological clock had been ticking away for some time; she’d simply tried to ignore it. When she’d told Kit she was hesitant to have children in case she ended up as an abandoned single mother, she wasn’t making it up.

Suzie had been raised by her single mom. She couldn’t complain: her mom did everything she could to make sure Suzie was happy and loved, despite her own low self-esteem. Their situation was compounded by the lack of any family support. What she had yet to tell Kit, was that Suzie’s choice of career was due to her own mom’s experiences as a single mom who had fought hard to keep her child when no one thought she could cope alone.

Her mom’s struggles had cemented an idea in Suzie’s mind. She would carve a career out in Social Services, one where she would do whatever she could to keep families together.

Listening to baby Storm’s small cries, she silently promised that if there was any way she could reunite her with her mommy, she would. No matter what it took, no matter how far they had to search. Her training came tumbling back to her. Suzie reminded herself that sometimes people had their own reasons for not wanting to be found. And she had to respect that.

But it wouldn’t stop her from trying.

Suzie finished the dishes and went back to the sitting room. Kit wasn’t there. Neither was Storm. Following the sounds of a male voice singing softly, she found them in what she assumed was Kit’s bedroom. Storm was lying on the bed, her feet and hands waving in the air, while Kit was rummaging through some baby clothes.

“A clean romper suit,” Kit announced proudly, holding it up. “The one she is wearing is from the hospital.”

“As soon as the snow clears, I’ll go and buy her some clothes.” Suzie sat down on the bed and held Storm’s tiny hand. The baby stopped moving and turned her head to stare at Suzie. “You need a pretty dress, don’t you?”

“I have enough clothes,” Kit said as he gently eased Storm into her clean onesie.

“Oh, I didn’t mean…” She looked bashfully away. “I just wanted her to have something that was hers.”

“You know what she could really do with?” Kit asked.

“No?” Suzie shook her head, her hair covering her face.

“A cuddly toy, all of her own. Something that no matter where she is, or where she goes, it will be there with her to comfort her.”

Tears pricked Suzie’s eyes, and she wiped them away. This was stupid and scary: she was getting too attached to Storm. Much too attached. “I can do that.”

“Want to talk about it?” Kit asked, his hand warm on her back, as he moved it in a soothing circle.

“I hate to think of Storm, or any child not having a home. It breaks my heart.” She wiped her tears away. “Totally unprofessional of me. I know how things work and I know we don’t live in a perfect world.”

“She’s lucky to have you watching over her,” Kit said.

“Is she?” Suzie sighed.

“Yes, she is. And her mommy is lucky too. If anyone is going to reunite them, it’s us,” Kit promised. “Which reminds me, I have to go and fetch the laptop. I’ll leave it next to the bed so if the alarm goes off, I’ll hear it.”

Suzie looked around the room. “Do you have something I can wear to bed?”

Kit didn’t hesitate or make any suggestions about not needing any clothes; he simply opened a closet and took out a fleece shirt. “Here, it’s warm. Why don’t you change while I warm a bottle for Storm, and get the laptop? The bathroom is across the hallway.”

“What about Storm?” Suzie asked.

“She’s safe enough on the bed.” He quickly dressed the baby in her clean clothes. “At this age, all they do is wriggle. It’s when they turn over and start crawling that things get interesting.”

A wave of maternal love swept over Suzie. “Raising a child must be the most incredible thing ever. To see a child go from a helpless newborn to an independent young person must be so rewarding.”

“I’ve only ever caught snapshots,” Kit admitted. “When we embark on this adventure, it’s going to be unique for us both.”

Suzie stood staring at Kit, their eyes locked and a connection formed between them, unspoken, unbreakable. This bond was real: she could feel it, like a warmth in the pit of her stomach that spread out until her body was on fire.

Only when Kit turned and left the room could she breathe once more. Taking the warm shirt he had given her, Suzie went to the bathroom and undressed, knowing that the woman who had put on her smart skirt suit this morning no longer existed.

The woman who gazed back at her from the bathroom mirror was softer, more alive, and if not in love, then definitely in lust with Dr. Kit Malvern.