Hearts to God (The Hearts to God Series) by Traci Tyne Hilton

Author:Traci Tyne Hilton [Hilton, Traci Tyne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-28T06:00:00+00:00

Sarah and Zeke stood on the front porch facing each other as though they were arguing. Madeline slipped her hand from Doc’s, hoping they hadn’t seen.

Sarah spotted the wagon and ran down the steps.

Zeke followed her in no hurry. When he came to the cart, he offered Madeline help down.

His hands were strong and fatherly, another sensation Madeline was unfamiliar with, but recognized in some deep, eternal part of her soul.

“Thank you,” she whispered, though she was sorry she had missed her last chance to touch Doc and imagine what might have been.

Sarah jerked Madeline away. “Where have you been?” Her voice was contained but sharp at the edges. A vein stood out on her forehead.

“I brought my stock to the Doctor’s workshop.” Madeline held her breath.

“By yourself?” Sarah’s voice rose.

“Grandfather was there as well, Ma’am.” Doc Lee offered Sarah his hand.

“Your Grandfather?” Sarah spit the word out with disgust.

“Take your sister inside, Sarah.” Zeke’s voice was firm, but his face was open and his aspect clear. “Doc and I will chat out here.”

Madeline looked over her shoulder as she followed Sarah into the house. Zeke clasped Doc’s hand in a brotherly handshake.

Sarah yanked a chair from the table, the legs screeching on the wood floor. She pushed Madeline down into it. ”Who do you think will marry you if word of this gets out?”

Madeline folded her hands over the package of tea that Doc had prepared for her, the memory of his hand wrapped around hers warming her cheeks. “I won’t marry. I don’t plan on it at all.”

“Of course you don’t.” Sarah slapped a bowl full of green beans down on the table. “I shudder to think of what you were planning.”

Madeline sat up straighter. The implication was clear. “I only planned on selling my stock so that I can move on and establish my own place.”

“Where?” Sarah snapped a bean and then threw it into a second bowl.

“Somewhere else. A place where I can live in peace and make medicine.” She tilted her chin up, hoping she would not shake and betray her overworked emotions.

“Back to the Shakers, then?” Sarah snapped another bean.

Madeline dropped her gaze. “I can’t return there. Not while they preach a false savior.” Her words were so quiet that the snapping beans rang like gunshots.

“Then you’ll have to marry because women can’t be doctors. Not now, not ever.”

Madeline reached for a bean and stared at it.

“And don’t get any ideas about marrying that half-breed.”

Madeline snapped her bean and pulled out the long spine. “If I were to marry, I couldn’t think of anyone better than Doc Lee. In fact, did I need a husband, he would be the first and only man I would consider.” Heat rose up from somewhere inside her and rolled over her whole body as she spoke. The hope that he could be her husband, that she wouldn’t have to face life alone, made her ache in her very core. She pressed her hand to her heart and caught her breath.

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