Love on the Mend

Last week, I took my kids to the local ice cream parlor since we had a BOGO coupon that was about to expire. (Can’t let free ice cream go unclaimed.) I decided not to get my own, but just to snitch bites from everyone else’s. Mama tax. LOL. Anyway, my middle child loves eating with the little sample spoons, so he always asks for a free sample before he decides on a flavor. This time they happened to have a new chocolate flavor that was extra rich. Chocolate Truffle. He wasn’t sure if he would like it better than the flavor he usually got, so he tried a taste. It was scrumptious! He immediately decided to get that flavor, and I must admit that my spoon wandered over to his dish more frequently than the others. It was fabulous!

I thought I’d offer you the same courtesy – a free sample to help you decide whether or not you will like my latest novella, Love on the Mend.

In this scene, Dr. Jacob Sadler (on his way back to hometown he ran away from 17 years before) stumbles across a young woman who is trying to rescue a boy who has fallen through the rotted floorboards of an abandoned church. When Jacob offers to help, Mollie insists that he man the rope and pull her up after she drops down into the cellar in order to get to the boy below. However, Jacob takes one look at the boy’s leg and knows that lifting and jostling the lad would be the worst thing for him. So he ignores Mollie’s demand to lower the rope and takes measures into his own hands.

From Love on the Mend:

“Boneheaded stranger,” Mollie grumbled under her breath when the man’s face finally disappeared from above her.

Not that I’m complaining, she mentally amended. I appreciate that you sent help, Lord. Truly. It just would have been nice if the fella weren’t so all-fired sure he knew best. Adam ain’t got the time to waste.

Mollie sighed and turned her attention back to her charge. Poor kid. He was only ten, too young to know the risks of playing in an old building. She was nearly twice that age. Full grown. Responsible. So why hadn’t she made the church off limits during their game of hide and seek? She’d known the place was run down. Should have guessed it’d been dangerous, too. But she hadn’t. All he’d done was drop down from the rafters after she’d discovered his hiding place. The floor had completely given way. She could still hear the crack of the wood ringing in her ears . . . and the crack of Adam’s leg before his scream drowned out all other sound.

She’d nearly panicked before she found that length of rope in the storage closet. She’d tied all her hopes on that rope and now that stubborn, know-it-all man wouldn’t even toss the end down.

“I’m going to get you out of here, Adam.” She smoothed the hair off his forehead, alarmed by how clammy his skin had become. “You’ll be all right. I promise.”

Please let him be all right.

Adam moaned, but made no effort to speak. Was he losing consciousness? Mollie’s heart thumped against her ribs. He had to be all right. He and Uncle Curtis were the closest thing she had to family. She’d never forgive herself if—

Bang!

Mollie jumped. What on earth? Had that been a gunshot? She swiveled to look behind her.

Something crashed. Then a shaft of light penetrated the darkness and illuminated the outline of a man climbing down the cellar stairs.

Her jaw slackened. The boneheaded fella had actually done it. He must’ve shot the lock clean off the chain.

He marched straight up to her and dropped a coil beside her hip. “Here’s your rope.” It hit the dirt with a thud. She expected a smirk or a gleam of gloating in his eyes, but he didn’t even look at her. His attention zeroed in on Adam instead. “I’ll need wood for a splint. All this is rotted,” he said, scowling at the debris scattered around them. “See what loose boards you can pilfer from upstairs. No nails.”

Well, of course, no nails. She wasn’t an idiot. Mollie pushed to her feet, a scowl scrunching her forehead. Just because he succeeded in breaking down the cellar door didn’t mean he could come in and start taking over. Adam was her responsibility, and she wasn’t about to let some stranger mess with his leg. She’d seen what could happen when a bone wasn’t properly set. On the streets in Galveston where she’d grown up, many of the beggars had been crippled by similar injuries that had healed poorly. She wouldn’t risk the same thing happening to Adam.

Fisting her fingers in her skirt, she planted herself in front of the stranger. “We should wait for the doctor to tend his leg.”

The man glared at her. “Lady, I am the doctor.” He raised his hand and jiggled a black bag. A doctor’s bag.

Criminy! The Lord had not only sent her a man who could help get them out of the cellar, but he’d sent her a doctor. An honest-to-goodness doctor. One who wasn’t ancient like Dr. Bradshaw but young and strong and . . . downright handsome. She glanced away before he caught her staring. Really, a man’s eyes should not be that blue. Especially not when his hair was so dark. And here she’d been complaining.

“Hurry and fetch those boards,” he repeated as he hunkered down next to Adam, her looks obviously not distracting him in the slightest. “I’ll need your help setting the leg after I examine him.”

At least he didn’t expect her to stand around and wring her hands. That would save her from having to disabuse him of the notion later. After giving a quick nod to let him know she’d heard, Mollie turned and jogged toward the exit.

• So what about you? Are you a try-it-before-you-buy-it type of person?
• Ever discovered a new ice cream flavor or favorite treat after trying a free sample?