“Oh! What a pleasure to meet you, Emma! I hope you were able to save the placenta for Rachel. It’s very good for nourishing a tree and will help to displace Levi’s impact on the environment…”
Emma nodded in agreement whenever Rachel did, following her lead for the next five minutes. Nell finally signed off when Henry and Mel returned empty handed except for what looked like an old part to an abandoned vehicle. Mel said he was certain that it was an alien anal probe. Emma thought he was quite a character. Nell extended the invitation for Rachel and her family to come to Bliss for a visit, and Mel even offered to scan little Levi for alien DNA when they came.
After the computer screen went blank, Emma voiced the question that had been burning in her mind since she’d gotten her first look at Mel. “Was that what I think it was, sticking out from under Mel’s hat?”
Rachel nodded, biting her lip. “Aluminum foil. Yes. It blocks the alien rays. If I could live anywhere else besides Divine, Texas, it would have to be Bliss, Colorado. They have the best nudist colony in the world. Not that anyone is ever going to see Eli nude but me. Nell said they have more recorded sightings of Sasquatch there than anywhere else in North America.”
Eli returned just then and, thinking that they needed some time alone, Emma asked, “Are you hungry, Rachel?”
“I’m starving.” She also looked really tired.
“Get some rest. I’ll arrange for a light lunch, and then you can eat supper when it comes in a little while.”
“Thank you, Emma,” Rachel said with true affection brimming in her eyes. Eli echoed her words, and Emma nodded happily and left the room.
An hour later, after eating a very late lunch, Emma was at the clinic, sorting through a stack of mail when she heard a tap at her office door.
She looked up and smiled at Maya Warner, who stood there in her cute red-and-white Santa’s elf hat and peppermint-candy-striped scrubs. “Doctor Guthrie, two patients are waiting for you in Exam Room Three. They asked to be seen together because they’re presenting the same symptoms.” Maya put her hand to her mouth, and Emma thought she detected a snicker in Maya’s tone, which was unlike her.
“What are the symptoms?”
“Chest pains and lower abdominal aches, but they didn’t look like they were in pain to me,” she added as she walked with Emma down the hall. “It’s a little after five and I’m headed home, if that’s all right with you. The guys want to go Christmas shopping tonight.”
“Your guys want to go Christmas shopping? How did you manage that?”
“They want to shop for Rachel and Eli’s new baby. The goofballs want to buy him a little motorized Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, the kind built for toddlers.”
Emma laughed. “Eli will love that! Yeah, you can head out if this is the last one. Is Felicia still at the front?”
“Yes, I’ll have her lock up behind me. Sorry about this. They showed up right before we locked the front and…looked desperate.”
There was no file left in the box outside the exam room door and Maya said, “Oh, I must have left it in the room on the counter. I think it’s a pretty simple case.”
Emma hated entering a room without looking at the patient’s paperwork first but wanted to get home to Duke and Gage so didn’t belabor the point. They’d told her earlier in the day they had a surprise for her, and she was anxious to find out what it was.
Duke and Gage had been seen by their doctors recently, and Emma had seen no reason to continue using the condoms when they were monogamous with each other. They were just waiting on final test results. Maybe that was the good news they had for her, so they could finally throw caution to the wind.
“That’s fine, Maya. Have fun tonight.” She tapped on the door then stepped into the room. The door closed behind her, and a sexy voice whispered in her ear from behind, “Surprise, doctor.” Duke. His voice had that smooth, velvety quality to it when he whispered, and it never failed to shoot a delicious thrill up her spine.
Another voice closed in behind her on the other side and said, “Doctor, I have an ache. I hope you can fix it.” Gage’s West Texas drawl made a happy shudder ripple down her spine.
“What in the world are you two doing here?” Gentle hands slid her doctor’s coat from her shoulders and removed her stethoscope from around her neck.
“We couldn’t wait to share our surprise with you.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve made travel arrangements. While your clinic is closed over the New Year’s holiday we’re going to see the Aurora Borealis.”