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“Have you even met her?”
“Mrs. Reilly? No. But then I don’t meet most of my patients before I start nursing them.”
“What about your work back home? Don’t you want to go back?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Lexi tried to joke.
“Not at all! But I don’t want you to be limiting your options by staying here, getting caught in a small town you might come to regret.”
“I think what I would regret is not offering my assistance when it’s obvious I could be of help.”
Her mother sighed. “Have you prayed about this?”
She just looked at her mum.
“I take it you have.”
“Of course I have. Mum, what would you do in my situation? Aren’t we called to love our neighbor as ourselves? I really feel this is what God wants me to do. And who knows? They might say no. Then all the gossips can be none the wiser and you can be happy.”
“It’s not like that,” her mother protested.
Lexi shot another disbelieving look at her mother.
“Okay, perhaps it is.”
Lexi gave her a wry smile. “Can I borrow the keys?”
“For what?”
“The car.”
“You’re not going to drive there, are you?”
“I can’t call them. I don’t know Ellie’s phone number.” Focusing on Ellie might be better than focusing on Ellie’s brother.
Her mother sighed again. “Are you sure about this?”
“As sure as when I first realized I wanted to nurse.”
Her mother studied her a long moment, then finally nodded. “But this won’t be forever, will it?”
“I don’t know, Mum. But it needs to be now. That much I do know.”
“Very well. The car keys are in the kitchen on the rack next to the spices. I won’t need it for the next few hours, especially now your father will be back tonight.”
Lexi wrapped her mother in a hug. “Thanks, Mum. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Hmm. Maybe you should stop in town and see if your new phone is ready yet.”
“Good idea.”
An hour later, she was driving past the white-fenced Darcy land, her heart hammering. This was so not her usual modus operandi. But still the stubborn thought persisted. She needed to be there. She needed to be therenow.
She’d only stopped long enough to pack an overnight bag with essentials—just in case the Reillys said yes—and pick up her new phone. And she may have been a little distracted by the bright pink casing—the man had explained they were all out of rose gold—but she wasn’t someone addicted to technology, and appearances, apart from her scar, weren’t too important to her.
The fence line changed to something more weather-beaten, and the bumps and holes in the road seemed to increase. The Reilly’s stone wall entrance drew into view, and she slowed her mum’s Toyota, aware she needed to concentrate to make the turn. She might’ve learned to drive in America, but after years of driving on the left side of the road in Australia, every so often she forgot which side she should be on.
Two minutes later she parked under the pines, hoping no pinecones would drop and leave a dent on Mum’s car. That was not the way to gain her mother’s support.
