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Authors: Pamela Browning
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effect was perfect for her. It annoyed her that Maura was so self-effacing about her natural beauty.
"Maura, you must learn to accept compliments," she said. When Maura looked flustered, Kathleen went on more gently. "That suit looks much better on you than it ever did on me. And you do need clothes now. When can we go shopping?" Kathleen, with her love of fashion, was forever trying to organize a shopping trip.
Maura smiled and shook her head. "I hate shopping, and besides, the only clothes I'll need for what I'm going to be doing is a good supply of clean smocks and a few pair of yoga pants for when I'm teaching pregnant women their exercises. Give up on me, Kath. I'm not going to stay here with you and Scott on Teoway Island, even though you're a most accommodating host and hostess."
Kathleen's eyebrows flew up in alarm. "You're not? Where are you going?"
"Don't look so horrified. It's important to me to live among the people with whom I'm working."
"Maura—" Kathleen was clearly about to protest.
"Don't Maura me." Maura kissed her sister swiftly on the cheek. "And don't expect me back any time soon. I have no idea how long this project of scoping out possible homes for my birth center will take."
"I was about to ask you to go with me to a luncheon and my garden club meeting," said Kathleen, impatient with Maura's cheerful unwillingness to become a part of normal Teoway Island society.
"Such frivolity is not my idea of an afternoon of fun," chided Maura, sweeping her midwife's bag off the chair where she'd tossed it last night. She blew Kathleen a kiss. "See you later," she said, breezing out of the room.
"Good luck," Kathleen called bemusedly after her sister. Frivolity! She couldn't wait to repeat this conversation to Scott. The activities Maura considered frivolous were considered normal everyday pastimes for Teoway Island women. Scott would consider Maura's reluctance to get involved as just another attempt by his nonconformist sister-in-law to forsake worldly glory. Which, Kathleen thought, was all very well and good. But certainly this was an unrealistic attitude in the real world to which Maura had returned.
As Maura stepped outside into the morning air, its softness freshened by a wispy salt-scented wind, she had no such thoughts on her mind. The most important thing this morning was to first figure out the situation with her car.
The key hung from the minivan's ignition. Maura checked the space above the visor in case Xan had left a note or a bill, but there was nothing. As a matter of habit, she opened her midwife's bag for a routine check of the contents.
And it wasn't her midwife's bag.
It was a medical bag, all right. Black on the outside, stethoscope on the inside. And other objects, too, but they weren't her objects. This was a doctor's bag.
Stunned, she looked at the outside of the bag. It could have passed for her own. She recalled last night, with Xan fumbling with the saddlebag in the dark and pulling out her bag. He had put her bag in his saddlebag at the Bodkins' place, she remembered it clearly. It was when she had seen the twin moons in his eyes.
This medical bag must have been in his saddlebag then; in his right-hand saddlebag. He had put hers in the left.
He had given her the wrong bag. And that meant that he must have hers! She rummaged through the bag. Yes, here was his card, Alexander Copeland, M.D. Xan would be needing the bag, and she should see that he got it.
She drove first to the Shuffletown business district and bought a length of plywood to slide beneath Annie Bodkin's sagging mattress. Then she stopped at the grocery store. When she pulled her minivan up in front of the old shack, Cindy came dancing outside to escort her inside.
"Little Maurice is just fine," Annie assured her. Annie was sitting up in bed looking pert and pleased.
Quickly Maura checked the baby, and then she checked Annie. Annie was recovering, and the baby was alert and energetic.
Maura and Cindy
"Maura, you must learn to accept compliments," she said. When Maura looked flustered, Kathleen went on more gently. "That suit looks much better on you than it ever did on me. And you do need clothes now. When can we go shopping?" Kathleen, with her love of fashion, was forever trying to organize a shopping trip.
Maura smiled and shook her head. "I hate shopping, and besides, the only clothes I'll need for what I'm going to be doing is a good supply of clean smocks and a few pair of yoga pants for when I'm teaching pregnant women their exercises. Give up on me, Kath. I'm not going to stay here with you and Scott on Teoway Island, even though you're a most accommodating host and hostess."
Kathleen's eyebrows flew up in alarm. "You're not? Where are you going?"
"Don't look so horrified. It's important to me to live among the people with whom I'm working."
"Maura—" Kathleen was clearly about to protest.
"Don't Maura me." Maura kissed her sister swiftly on the cheek. "And don't expect me back any time soon. I have no idea how long this project of scoping out possible homes for my birth center will take."
"I was about to ask you to go with me to a luncheon and my garden club meeting," said Kathleen, impatient with Maura's cheerful unwillingness to become a part of normal Teoway Island society.
"Such frivolity is not my idea of an afternoon of fun," chided Maura, sweeping her midwife's bag off the chair where she'd tossed it last night. She blew Kathleen a kiss. "See you later," she said, breezing out of the room.
"Good luck," Kathleen called bemusedly after her sister. Frivolity! She couldn't wait to repeat this conversation to Scott. The activities Maura considered frivolous were considered normal everyday pastimes for Teoway Island women. Scott would consider Maura's reluctance to get involved as just another attempt by his nonconformist sister-in-law to forsake worldly glory. Which, Kathleen thought, was all very well and good. But certainly this was an unrealistic attitude in the real world to which Maura had returned.
As Maura stepped outside into the morning air, its softness freshened by a wispy salt-scented wind, she had no such thoughts on her mind. The most important thing this morning was to first figure out the situation with her car.
The key hung from the minivan's ignition. Maura checked the space above the visor in case Xan had left a note or a bill, but there was nothing. As a matter of habit, she opened her midwife's bag for a routine check of the contents.
And it wasn't her midwife's bag.
It was a medical bag, all right. Black on the outside, stethoscope on the inside. And other objects, too, but they weren't her objects. This was a doctor's bag.
Stunned, she looked at the outside of the bag. It could have passed for her own. She recalled last night, with Xan fumbling with the saddlebag in the dark and pulling out her bag. He had put her bag in his saddlebag at the Bodkins' place, she remembered it clearly. It was when she had seen the twin moons in his eyes.
This medical bag must have been in his saddlebag then; in his right-hand saddlebag. He had put hers in the left.
He had given her the wrong bag. And that meant that he must have hers! She rummaged through the bag. Yes, here was his card, Alexander Copeland, M.D. Xan would be needing the bag, and she should see that he got it.
She drove first to the Shuffletown business district and bought a length of plywood to slide beneath Annie Bodkin's sagging mattress. Then she stopped at the grocery store. When she pulled her minivan up in front of the old shack, Cindy came dancing outside to escort her inside.
"Little Maurice is just fine," Annie assured her. Annie was sitting up in bed looking pert and pleased.
Quickly Maura checked the baby, and then she checked Annie. Annie was recovering, and the baby was alert and energetic.
Maura and Cindy
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