Vivid (3 page)

Smiling, Vivid approached him and held out
her hand, "I'm Dr. V. Lancaster. Pleased to meet you." Up close, his
chiseled good looks were even more devastating.

He did not take her offered hand. Instead
he smiled down politely, and said, "I'm looking for a real doctor, miss,
not someone to play doctor with."

He strode off then, again calling for Dr.
V. Lancaster.

Vivid stood there, stunned. "Play
doctor with," indeed! On any other day, Vivid would have pointed out the
error of his ways; however, she was far too tired from her transcontinental
trip to chase him all over the depot trying to convince him of her identity.
So, taking a cue from her mother, Francesca, who always exuded calm in a
situation like this, Vivid decided to take a seat on the bench near her
belongings and relax. He'd be back.

Nate glanced around the nearly deserted
depot and wondered if the damned doctor had confused the arrival date. Nate's
Aunt Abigail had done all the corresponding with the physician. She hadn't
accompanied him this morning because she'd gone to Kalamazoo to sit with a sick
friend, but she'd specifically said that the doctor would be on today's early
train. So far no one had answered his call except the fashionably dressed young
woman who'd sidled up to him earlier. He'd seen her get off the train, and her
beauty had drawn every male eye on the platform. When she introduced herself,
he hadn't put much stock in her words because he'd seen her waving goodbye to a
group of men just before the train pulled off. No decent woman would put on
such a display.

He could see her now seated on the depot's
lone bench across the way. Beside her were enough stacked valises, trunks, and
crates to outfit a small Egyptian expedition. Nate wondered whom she'd really
come to meet in Niles. He'd always been partial to the darker roses of the
race, and she was indeed a beauty: clear, chocolate skin, gleaming black hair
coiled below a pert little feather-tipped green hat, jet-brown eyes. If she was
a fancy girl, she dressed far more grandly than any he'd ever met. Her
emerald-green traveling suit with its snow-white blouse appeared to be of good
quality and very expensive. The fit of the buttoned-front jacket emphasized the
swell of her small bosom and the trimness of her figure. She glanced up as if
sensing his perusal, held his gaze a moment, then coolly looked away. Hell hath
no fury like a woman scorned, Nate thought with amusement before turning his
attention back to discovering the whereabouts of the missing Dr. Lancaster. He
decided to go over and ask Kate Pierce if she could shed some light on the
mystery. Kate oftentimes knew more than the depot's agent about the comings and
goings on the platform.

Vivid watched Grayson walk over and begin
talking to Kate. When the water woman turned and pointed to where Vivid sat,
Vivid quickly looked away lest he catch her watching him. Secure in the
knowledge that he'd be begging her pardon very soon, Vivid resumed her
contemplation of the landscape.

To her surprise, he came over and sat down
on the end of the bench. He didn't speak, just sat silent, arms crossed. Vivid
sat silent also, noting his long legs sprawled out before him and the dirty
scuffed boots on his feet. Since she was still simmering from his earlier
"play doctor with" remark, she waited for him to open the conversation.
She didn't have to wait long.

"Name's Nate Grayson," he stated
in a low voice. "Kate says you told her you were a doctor, too. She
believes you."

"She struck me as being an
intelligent woman," Vivid replied in the same neutral voice, her attention
still focused straight ahead. "I am who I say I am."

He turned, briefly met her eyes with his
startling gray ones, then looked away. "You don't look like any sawbones
I've ever seen."

"We female physicians are still
fairly rare," she admitted.

Vivid opened her mouth to ask after his
aunt but closed it when he stated evenly, "I'd feel a whole lot better if
you were really an actress my aunt hired to impersonate Dr. Lancaster."

Vivid kept her vision forward and her
voice low. "An actress?''

"An actress."

"Why would my being an actress make
you feel better?"

"Because then I'd simply pay you to
leave and my life would continue on an even keel."

Vivid wondered if he were deranged, but
decided Kate would have mentioned that little fact. "Why would your aunt
hire an actress?"

"To bedevil me."

"To bedevil you?" Vivid echoed.

"It's her calling."

Vivid answered, "I see,"
although she really didn't. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am
not an actress."

His eyes journeyed slowly over the
features of her face. "Pity."

Vivid looked down at her gloved hands.
"Mr. Grayson, I assumed I would be met by your aunt today."

When she glanced up again, he had returned
his attention to the countryside.

"She's in Kalamazoo," he
replied, seemingly distracted.

"Kalamazoo?" Vivid repeated
slowly, wrapping her tongue around the unfamiliar word.

"It's a city north of here. Kalamazoo
is the Indian word for the river. It means, 'where the water boils in the pot.'
"

"And does the water boil?"

"No," he offered. Then added,
"A logical conclusion to draw, though.''

She was grateful he hadn't made an issue
of her ignorance. "So when will she be returning?"

"She said this evening." Then he
added in a lighter tone, "You know, until I came here today, I couldn't
figure out why she'd been so antsy all week, or why I knew nothing about this
sick friend until I caught my aunt sneaking out of the house, with her bags
packed, very early in the morning. She claimed she forgot to mention the
friend, but I know Aunt Gail to have the memory of a griot."

A very confused Vivid asked, "And all
this means?"

"It means there is probably no sick
friend. In fact, I'd be willing to bet Aunt Gail never even left town. She knew
you were coming today but made herself conveniently absent."

"Why?"

"So she wouldn't have to face the music."
He paused a moment to survey her features once again. "Though I must
admit, you are her best maneuver to date."

Vivid had had enough of this
back-and-forth. She'd just completed an exhausting journey; surely it wouldn't
be rude of her to demand he get on with it. "Mr. Grayson, I have gone
along with this cryptic game quite willingly up until now, but I'm beginning to
lose patience. Please explain to me what this is all about."

Still maintaining his arms-crossed
position, he said, "I came to the depot today expecting to meet a
man."

"What man?"

"Dr. V. Lancaster."

Vivid shrugged. "Well, everyone makes
mistakes now and again, Mr. Grayson. As I said, female physicians are still
rare."

"You're missing my meaning. You're
supposed
to be a man."

For a moment Vivid didn't understand, then
warning bells went off in her head. She turned to him and stared, forcing
herself to remain calm and keep her voice even as she asked, "You believe
I should be a man?"

"Frankly, yes. Doctoring's a man's
job."

"I see. Well, I certainly wish
someone had explained that to me before I finished my training. I would have
taken the money spent on my education and used it to become an
actress
!"

Silence.

Vivid took a deep calming breath. At least
he was honest, she told herself, but Vivid had fought this battle so many times
over the past year and a half, she'd grown quite weary of hearing the frank
opinions of honest men. "Mr. Grayson, when your aunt hired me, she said
nothing about my having to alter my gender."

To her surprise, he chuckled softly.
"You do have a way with words."

"Honed by years of debating men who
speak their minds, Mr. Grayson."

“Touché, mademoiselle.''

Vivid could still feel him observing her
when he said, “I wonder how Aunt Gail figured to get past me on this."

More cryptic speech. "Mr. Grayson,
believe me, I haven't any idea what you are talking about. Your aunt and I have
been corresponding for the past seven or eight months. She made no mention of
my gender being a problem to anyone."

"Well, she should have," he pointed
out as he looked back out over the trees.

Vivid wondered why her gender suddenly
mattered. If her memory served her correctly, Nate Grayson had affixed his
signature to the contract she'd received from his aunt. Why would he now
pretend no knowledge of what the V in V. Lancaster represented? "Mr.
Grayson, what is your role in the community?"

"My grandfather settled the Grove.
Like him, I own the land, the general store, and the bank. I'm the sheriff and
also the mayor."

"That's quite a bit of responsibility."

"Sometimes."

"Given that, I fail to see why this
issue is even being debated now. You must have been aware of my gender when you
signed my contract."

He turned as if startled. "What
contract?"

Vivid sighed. She very calmly reached into
her reticule and withdrew the packet of papers she'd wrapped in oilskin for
protection and handed them to him.

A highly skeptical Nate unwrapped the
documents and slowly perused the wording. The papers were a contract between
one Dr. Viveca Lancaster and the Black community of Grayson Grove, Michigan.
The agreement hired the doctor for one calendar year, subject to renewal, and
bore the signature of one Abigail Grayson and one Nathaniel Grayson! Nate
studied the signature. He determined immediately that it was his signature, but
he didn't understand how Aunt Gail had managed to obtain it without his
awareness.

Nate handed the papers back and the
doctor, rigidly sitting there, took them from his hand, rewrapped them, and
placed the packet back into her handbag.

"So," Vivid said, "I
suppose now you'll claim your signature's been forged?”

"No, I just don't remember signing
it."

"Ah, amnesia—an exotic form
indigenous only to Michigan, no doubt."

Nate could only shake his head and chuckle
softly. The last thing he needed in life was another overly educated female to
add to the Grove's population. Aunt Gail and her troops were more than the town
could handle already.

"Let me be frank," Nate said.
"When I agreed to offer the position, I assumed Aunt Gail had hired a
man."

Vivid's face mirrored her confusion.
"When
you
agreed to offer the position? I assumed your aunt had the
authority—" She looked over at him and began to get a very bad
feeling. "Mr. Grayson, surely you are not telling me that I have traveled
all the way from San Francisco to take a position that is not in reality mine
because I happen to be a woman."

"Possibly."

"I hope you are jesting with
me," she said softly. Vivid searched his face for some hint of humor, but
found none. The implications were so staggering that for the first time in her
life she almost fainted dead away. She took a deep steadying breath in an
effort to regain her composure. She'd been so elated at this chance to
practice. Now she found herself precariously close to the same situation that had
forced her to come all these many miles in the first place. After completion of
her studies at the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, she'd written
letters until her hands ached, but could find no physician willing to take her
on, not even as an apprentice. She'd queried doctors and institutions all over
the country, but most hadn't even bothered to reply. Receiving a positive offer
from Abigail Grayson had been an answer to her prayers. Did this man know how
many miles she'd traveled, or the expenses she and her parents had
incurred? "I really must speak with your aunt," Vivid stated,
still shaken by the startling turn of events. "When will she be
returning?"

"Later this evening, but it's I
who'll have the final say in this matter."

Vivid's dark eyes locked with his. She
wondered if he really planned on denying her the position for such an unfair
reason. "You said 'possibly' the position isn't mine. Can I assume there's
also the possibility that it can be?"

He shrugged his wide shoulders. "I'm
all but convinced your gender makes you unsuitable, but I may be wrong."

"Mr. Grayson, your community needs a
physician. My gender shouldn't matter."

"If it hadn't mattered, my aunt would
have mentioned it early on. She knew what she was about, believe me."

"She knew you were prejudiced against
women doctors," Vivid said.

Nate smiled. She'd asked the barbed
question so innocently, he hadn't even felt the sting of the shiv until it slid
between his ribs. "Let's just say she knew you weren't the type of
physician I had in mind."

"You had a man in mind, since
doctoring is a man's profession."

"I had in mind someone less
beautiful."