Stranger in the Moonlight (Edilean 7)

Heather had heard about Dr. Reede’s work around the world, but she wasn’t going to be put off by that excuse. “If he thinks that small town illnesses are beneath him, why doesn’t he leave?”

Yet again the women exchanged looks, then Alice spoke. “He tried to get other doctors to take over the practice for him.”

“But doctors today want lots of money,” Betsy said. “And they don’t want to live in a tiny town and have to care for locals who talk too much, and tourists who get too many mosquito bites.”

“Although he did enjoy that rescue last month,” Alice said. “He had to climb down the side of a cliff.”

“Great!” Heather said. “If everyone jumped off the side of a mountain would that make him happy?”

For a moment Alice and Betsy seemed to consider the idea. They too were worn out by Dr. Reede’s never-ending bad temper. In fact, though she’d never admit it, it was the real reason Alice was taking early retirement.

Heather dropped down onto a chair by the photocopy machine. “Doesn’t he have a personal life? A girlfriend? He’s a good-looking man. At least I think he would be if he weren’t always frowning. Has he ever smiled in his entire life?”

“Dr. Reede used to smile a lot,” Betsy said. “When he was a child he loved to come to the office to visit his uncle Tristan. He was a very sweet little boy who always knew he wanted to be a doctor. But then . . .”

“What happened?” Heather asked.

“Laura dumped him for the Baptist preacher,” Alice answered.

“Where?”

“Where what?” Betsy asked.

“Where did this Laura find a preacher so dynamic that she left a hottie like Dr. Reede?” Heather asked.

“A hottie, is he?” Alice asked. “Even though he never smiles?”

“If I just saw him I’d think he was gorgeous. But he opens his mouth and I can’t stand him. So what about this Laura? Where’d she go to find a man?”

“Nowhere. She lives here in Edilean. Her parents moved here in the 1970s.”

“Wait a minute!” Heather said. “You don’t mean Laura Billings, do you? The wife of the Baptist preacher here in Edilean?”

“The very one,” Alice said.

“But she’s . . .”

“She’s what?” Betsy asked.

“Drab,” Heather said. “She looks like she was always somebody’s mother. I can’t imagine her being the Great Love of anyone.”

“But she was. She and Reede were inseparable from seventh or eighth grade and all through college. Then he went away to medical school and she took up with the new pastor.” Betsy lowered her voice. “The rumor is that Dr. Reede was so depressed that he tried to kill himself, but he was rescued by Dr. Tris’s wife. This was before they were married and she was still a teenager.”

“Wow!” Heather said. “Drama in a small town. Are you saying that Dr. Reede has been sulking ever since Mrs. Billings ran off with another man?”

“More or less,” Betsy said. “Although he’d never admit it. For years he was a world hero.”

“Everyone falls back on that,” Heather said. “Africa, Afghanistan, and countries I’ve never even heard of, but that doesn’t excuse him now.”

“If you ask me,” Alice said, “that boy was trying to go so fast that he’d outrun his past.”

“And now he’s stuck back here in Edilean,” Betsy said with a sigh.

“And he lets everyone know that he doesn’t want to be here,” Heather added.

“Actually . . .” Betsy said, “he does a lot of good, only he doesn’t let people see it.”

“I know he does,” Heather said. “He’s a good doctor. He’s efficient anyway.”