Sweet Destiny

Stretching her body like a cat, she rolled her head from side to side. “How long will it take to get to your home town?”

Selena smiled, scrunching up her nose. “It’ll be long enough for you to take another power nap.”

Mia massaged the back of her neck. “I don’t think I’ll ever catch up when it comes to sleep.”

“Treating patients in Mingo County will be a lot different than seeing those in a big city. I’m not saying you won’t have your share of patients with health problems, but it will mostly be sick kids and their mothers. Most men don’t put much stock in seeing a doctor unless it’s absolutely necessary. Speaking of men, I’d better turn on my cell phone and see if my dad called. He said he would come to pick us up.”

Mia liked her cousin’s wife. Although she found Selena friendly, Selena also possessed a certain shyness that Mia found endearing. And, she knew Selena had to be quite special if Xavier had been willing to give up bachelorhood. Mia had lost count of the number of women who’d asked her to introduce them to the one-time career military officer. But she usually told them he was involved with another woman, to avoid any hurt feelings. Most of her med school classmates were looking for husbands, and what they hadn’t known about Xavier was that he wasn’t the marrying kind—until now.

The aircraft had come to a complete stop and the seat-belt light was extinguished. Xavier unsnapped his seat belt and moved toward the seat facing Mia’s. He smiled. “Feeling better?”

She returned his smile. “Like a new woman.” Mia felt better than she had in days. The flight was just long enough for her to get a little shut-eye.

Xavier patted her head as he’d done when they were younger. “You’ll get to sleep in late, because Selena’s folks usually stay up late on New Year’s Eve and then sit down to celebrate later in the afternoon with a traditional Southern dinner.”

“Daddy isn’t going to pick us up,” Selena said, listening to her father’s voice-mail message.

Xavier looked at his wife. With her youthful appearance she looked like she was still in high school. “Let’s hope we can rent a car.”

Selena shook her head. “Kenyon’s coming to pick us up.” She stared at Mia, remembering Kenyon’s remark at her wedding reception. He thought Mia was pretty, but he also thought that she was stuck-up. And she was looking forward to seeing the sheriff of Jonesburg’s reaction when he was formally introduced to Dr. Mia Eaton, the town’s new doctor.

Mia waited with the others in the biting cold January night, while their luggage was unloaded from the plane’s cargo compartment and left on the tarmac for passengers to retrieve. She smiled. There was no moving sidewalk, no elevator, no escalator or monorail to the baggage claim area. It was de-board the plane and pick up your bags. Xavier grasped the handle to Mia’s luggage, while shouldering his own. Minutes later they walked into a warm terminal. There were at least a dozen people waiting for arriving passengers, hugging and kissing their loved ones, greeting one another for the New Year.

Kenyon Chandler saw his cousin, her husband and a woman he was sure he’d never see again. It had been a little more than a month, but he’d remembered everything about her as if it had been minutes before. Taking long, smooth strides, he closed the distance between himself and the trio.

He noticed the difference in Mia Eaton immediately. She’d cut her hair, the style accentuating her incredibly beautiful face. He felt the full force of her gaze, meeting and fusing with his. The recognition was barely perceptible, but she’d lifted her chin, staring at him along the length of her delicate nose. He was unsure whether she was staring at him with aloofness or icy disdain.

Reluctantly, he pulled his eyes away from the tall woman in a pair of jeans that hugged her hips and long legs like a second skin, and he smiled at Selena. “Happy New Year, cuz.” Bending his head, he kissed her cheek.

Looping her arms around Kenyon’s neck, Selena pressed a kiss to his smooth jaw. “Same to you. What’s up with my dad?”

“He had a little too much holiday libation,” Kenyon whispered in her ear. Reaching up, he eased her arms from around his neck and extended a hand to Xavier. “Welcome back.”

Xavier shook his hand, slapping Kenyon’s shoulder. “Thank you. I don’t know if you were ever formally introduced to my cousin at the wedding.” Turning slightly, he reached for Mia’s free hand, pulling her to his side. “Mia, this is Kenyon Chandler. Kenyon, Mia Eaton. She’s going to be Jonesburg’s new doctor.”

The expression on Kenyon’s face spoke volumes. As sheriff of Jonesburg he hadn’t been informed by the mayor or any of the trustees that they were getting a new doctor. Recovering quickly, he offered Mia his hand. “Even though we’re in Kentucky, I’d like to be the first one to extend a warm welcome to Jonesburg, West Virginia.”

Mia stared at the large hand as if it were a venomous reptile. Seconds later her hand disappeared into his warm grasp. She detected calluses on the palm, which told her Kenyon was no stranger to hard work. She felt as if she were lost in a fog when she stared into a pair of large, deep-set dark gray eyes ringed by long, thick black lashes. His eyes were a startling contrast to his dark brown coloring.

“Thank you so much.” Mia’s smile and voice was filled with sincerity.

Kenyon reached for her luggage and Selena’s carry-on. “I’m parked outside.” Turning on his heels, he led the way out of the terminal to the parking lot. Pressing a button on a remote device he started up a dark blue SUV with West Virginia license plates. A placard in the windshield identified him as Mingo County law enforcement. He opened the passenger-side door. “Mia, you can ride up front with me. That way you can tell me why you decided to practice medicine in Appalachia instead of in the big city.”

Mia went completely still. Had she heard him right? Was there a hint of derisiveness in Kenyon’s voice? She squared her shoulders. Her eyes moved slowly over the features under the wide-brim, Western-style black hat. Despite her annoyance she had to admit he was drop-dead gorgeous. When he leaned forward and lowered his impressive height, he still eclipsed Mia, who was five-ten, by another four or five inches.

“Does it really matter why I’m here? Shouldn’t it be more about addressing the medical needs of the people in this region?”

“It’s just that I need to know a little something about the folks who hang out in my town.”

“Hang out! What makes you think I’m here to hang—”

“We’ll talk later,” Kenyon interrupted. “It’s cold and late, and the weather folks are predicting snow. So let’s go before the roads get too slippery.”

Mia clenched her teeth to stop the verbal tirade poised on the tip of her tongue. Kenyon was right. It was late, and the night air was biting and raw. There was also a fog in the air that hinted of precipitation. She let the obnoxious man cup her elbow as she hoisted herself onto the front seat of the SUV. She stared out the windshield as the door closed with a solid thud. The heat flowing through the vehicle’s vents wrapped around her like a blanket, pulling her into a cocoon of warmth and relaxation. Her mother had been disappointed in her decision to leave Dallas, and Kenyon Chandler was suspicious because she’d chosen to practice medicine in Appalachia.

Mia understood her mother’s attitude, but what she couldn’t fathom was Kenyon’s skepticism. Maybe it didn’t matter to him that someone had to drive twenty miles one way for a procedure that could have been done in a doctor’s office, saving the patient time and money. He’d mentioned his town, and she wondered if he was oblivious to the medical needs of its residents. It wasn’t as if they lived in a large urban area, or even a suburb where there was easy access to hospitals and medical clinics. She’d researched the demographics of Jonesburg, and the per capita income for the town was depressing. She’d grown up with girls who spent more money on clothes, makeup and perfume in a year than the median income for Jonesburg’s house holds.

Nothing her mother or Kenyon had said could dampen her enthusiasm for practicing medicine alongside a doctor with nearly forty years of experience. She’d come to West Virginia to work with Dr. Lyman and eventually take over his practice once he retired.

Chapter 2

Mia didn’t fall asleep, preferring instead to stare out the side window at the surrounding landscape. Xavier and Selena had fallen asleep in the rear seat within minutes of getting into the Yukon SUV.

Kenyon had tuned the vehicle’s radio to a station that featured blues music as sad as it was haunting. Music her mother said was played in juke joints throughout the South—music law-abiding and churchgoing folks would never listen to.

A slight smile softened her mouth when a husky-throated woman, accompanied by a harmonica and guitar, sang about loving her no-account, cheating lover. And no matter how many women he’d fooled with, she loved him because he was the only man who made her feel like a real live woman, according to the lyrics.

“She’s a fool,” Mia mumbled between clenched teeth.

“Is she a fool for loving her man, or a fool for putting up with his cheating?”

She turned and stared at Kenyon. He’d removed his hat and she was able to see all of his face. Dark, short-cropped hair hugged his well-shaped head like a cap. It was the first thing he’d said in more than forty minutes, and she chided herself for voicing her thoughts aloud.

“Both. There’s no reason why a woman should have to put up with a cheating man.”

“Why do you think they do?”

The seconds ticked before she said, “Low self-esteem. I believe women who put up with cheating men love the men more than they love themselves, and for me that’s a no-no.”

Kenyon drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping rhythm with the music flowing through the sound system. That single statement told him all he wanted or needed to know about Mia. If or when it came to a relationship, she would be unforgiving.

“You like blues?” Kenyon had asked yet another question, deftly changing the topic.

“Some.”

“Which do you prefer?”

Her eyebrows lifted. “I thought they were all the same.”

Kenyon took his eyes off the narrow unlit road for a second, his gaze caressing Mia’s face as she stared directly at him. “There’s Delta blues, Chicago and Detroit blues.”

“I like B. B. King.”

“Good Mississippi bluesman.”

“What about Eric Clapton?”

Kenyon smiled, and attractive lines fanned out around his luminous eyes. “Another fine bluesman, albeit from across the pond.”