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baby at the end of her pregnancy.”

      “Wish you could make guarantees,” Maggie said on a sigh, as Alain slipped an arm around her shoulder. “Or promises.”

      “Wish I could, too. But the one thing I can guarantee is that you did a good job, catching it quickly and responding the way you needed to. A lot of women think all that pregnancy puffiness is just part of the course. Mellette got lucky.”

      “That’s what nurses are supposed to do.”

      “You’re a nurse? I guess I’m not surprised because of the way you responded, but I didn’t know that. I’d heard you were in law school.”

      “I am, but I’m a nurse first.”

      “Busy lady. But a very astute one. Your training shows.”

      “Thank you,” she said. “I come from a long line of medical people. I think it comes naturally when your name is Doucet.”

      “Doucet, as in …?”

      She nodded, enjoying the feel of his strong arm. It was steady, something to give her comfort. “Yes, that Doucet family. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we’re known far and wide. Or should I say my parents are.” She smiled. “The rest of us just try to maintain the family reputation as best we can.”

      Alain chuckled. “Well, you maintained it today. Did it proud. So I wonder if that gumbo is still simmering, because I could sure go for a bowl of it right about now.”

      “I’ll bet it is,” Maggie said halfheartedly.

      “You want to go to the hospital, don’t you?”

      She nodded.

      “Then here’s the plan. Gumbo first, and that will give the doctors enough time to get your sister looked at and under treatment. Besides, she’s not going to be allowed any visitors for a while—just her husband, and I’m sure your mother. So you might as well wait a little while here with me, then I’ll drive you in to the hospital.”

      “You’d do that?”

      “It’s not out of the way. My … house is just a few blocks from New Hope, which is where I’m assuming she’ll be going, so it’s no big deal.”

      “Then I say let’s go have some gumbo.”

      “So here’s the thing,” Maggie said to Alain over gumbo. “I’ve been giving this some thought. We need a doctor here. I’m here part time, and my sisters manage to squeeze in some hours, along with my dad when we need him. Mellette and Justin are the driving force, though, and that’s over with for a while now. So I need someone who, first, is licensed here, which you are, according to the internet, and also who can guarantee me something near full-time hours for a little while, as Justin’s going to be staying home more to watch over Mellette. With both of them gone, that leaves the clinic closed a good bit of the time, and since you’re not working as a doctor right now …”

      “I’m not working as a doctor, period. Hence the hammer in my hand.” She’d been reading about his past and he wasn’t sure if he liked that or not. It was all still so … touchy with him.

      “But I read up on you. You’re an obstetrician and a war hero. You ran a military hospital in Afghanistan so I’m sure you’re up to some work here, in this clinic.”

      “Ran a hospital, past tense. And if you read up on me, you’ll know why.”

      “You were involved in a lawsuit and I’m sorry about that. Sincerely sorry it happened to you. But if every doctor who got sued stepped away from medicine, there wouldn’t be any doctors left.”

      He cringed. “It wasn’t that simple. But that’s the bottom line, yes. I did get sued, and the hospital stepped back from me because the people suing me are, shall we say, prominent. They make big donations to the hospital. I did what I believed was right, which left a perfect bikini body with a scar, and the hospital walked away from me. Took a step back, threw collective hands into the air and told me I was on my own.”

      “Which is enough to make you bitter, and I understand that. And like I said, I’m sorry about that,” Maggie said in earnestness. “It’s never easy, getting sued. I saw how it devastated my parents the few times they were sued. But they were lucky that the hospital stood behind them and they came out victorious. I take it you’re not doing so well in your lawsuit?”

      “To say the least,” he repeated. “And it’s not just the lawsuit itself. It’s all the other things on the periphery that get to you.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “You can’t get it off your mind. You go over everything you did, wondering if you missed something or left out something that was crucial. You wonder what you could have done differently that might have changed the outcome. But, damn, in the end it was just a scar. She has a perfect baby boy to show for it.”

      “Well, your insurance company should figure it out. They don’t pay out on bad or false claims.”

      “That’s the other part. I took two years off and went to serve in the military before the lawsuit was filed and the hospital revoked my insurance in that time and fired me while I was laid up in rehab, trying to figure out whether or not I’d ever walk again. So I’m hanging out there on my own in this. Welcome home, Captain Lalonde”

      Maggie’s eyes widened. “I did read about your injury, and I’m sorry.”

      “Old news,” he said. “I recovered. But while I was focused on that, the hospital did me in. And the thing is …”

      “There’s no loyalty,” Maggie said. “It was owed you, and they took it away. But after that long?”

      “Statute of limitations in Illinois is generous. The thing is, I talked to the woman who’s suing me—”

      “Your attorney let you do that?” Maggie interrupted.

      “I don’t have an attorney. Can’t afford one.”

      “And the hospital where you worked really, truly isn’t backing you up at all?”

      “They claim my insurance coverage ended when I went into the military and became a military doctor, therefore they’re under no obligation to cover me in a suit that was filed after I left the military. I mean, there was almost a three-year lapse in there.”

      “Seriously?” Maggie said indignantly. “That’s what they’re trying to pull?”

      He shrugged. “I got some pro bono advice, which was basically to try to reach a settlement. But the settlement they want is higher than I can afford. I damaged a model’s perfect body with a scar and they want a bite out of me.”

      “But the baby was healthy.”

      “It was in fetal distress. Her own doctor wasn’t responding to the calls. They came in, I got assigned and knew there was no way she was going to push that baby out in time, maybe not at all because her pelvis was so small, so I did what I had to do. And now, with the lawsuit hanging over my head, no one back in Chicago will hire me because along with the lawsuit they went after my reputation, so here I am working as a carpenter, probably not inclined to ever go back into medicine, anyway. Bottom line is I appreciate the offer you gave me, but I come with built-in liabilities.”

      “Maybe you do, but are you contented to stay a carpenter? After all your years of education and experience, are you ready to simply throw in the towel and keep that hammer handy?”

      “I’ve had a couple of friends who were knocked to their knees by malpractice suits. It was ugly. And while the insurance usually pays up one way or another, there’s no way to fix a damaged reputation. For me, that’s as important as anything in this whole mess.”

      “And it’s a stigma for life, if you don’t have the right people representing you. My parents have both been unjustly sued—my mother on behalf of the hospital more times

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