

"There's probably a proverb in the Bible somewhere about people who meddle," Helen said worriedly as the four of them sat around a table at the Tulips Saloon. "We may all go to Hades for our part in this."
They hadn't seen or heard anything of Luke since his return. That was not a good sign, Helen thought, but worse was that they hadn't seen Pepper or the boys. Neither had Duke or Zach graced the saloon with their presence.
"It does seem that we would have heard something from someone," Pansy said, and Hiram and Bug nodded. "Remember when we promised ourselves a long time ago, before Zach and Jessie got married, that sometimes we overhelped and made things worse? So we quit the busybody business?"
"Yes," Hiram said, "but then we sort of got roped back into it by Zach. He seemed needier than his brother somehow."
"Fibbers," Helen said impatiently. "We couldn't bear to be left out. And now we may have meddled one time, too many. Someone get the Bible and see if we're going to hell for it."
Pansy giggled. "Too late now. I say we get out a cookbook, instead."
Hiram and Bug sat up with enthusiasm. "You girls bake and us boys'll play cards and lick the bowls."
"How can I pass up that deal?" Helen said. "It's better than waiting to hear something when we probably won't." She pulled out her special recipe box. "I've got a humdinger to try on you two unworthy guinea pigs. Red velvet cake like you've never tasted."
"Mmm," Hiram said. "You just go ahead and bake off those nerves you're having. Bug and me'll be happy to try your experiments."
Pansy sniffed. "Useless."
The door swung open with more force than usual, and Toby and Josh dashed in, followed by a more sedate Pepper.
"Now, boys," Helen began, in her most grandmotherly voice, "we try to handle that door with care. It was handmade for us specially. We don't throw it open like regular saloon doors." She hugged the boys to her.
"Yes, Ms. Helen," they said, awkwardly trying to squirm out of her embrace.
Pepper gave everyone in the room a kiss. "Good news," she said. "I hired four girls for my office."
"Local?" Pansy asked.
Pepper sat down. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of hiring anybody from outside of Tulips."
"Oh." Helen nodded. "We thought maybe you'd want professionals."
"Well, they'll be professional with some training." Pepper motioned for her boys to sit beside her. "A secretary-receptionist, a nurse's aide, an insurance clerk and an office manager."
"Wow," Pansy said, "you had this all thought out, Pepper."
She nodded. "For a long time." She gazed at her boys fondly. "I always knew we were coming home, one day."
For a moment, the room went silent. "Snag a cookie from the kitchen, boys," Pepper told her sons, laying a couple of dollars on the table.
Helen shook her head. "Put those away, Doctor," she said. "The boys aren't going to eat much. There's a table back there, kids, where you can eat and have some milk, too."
Pepper laughed. "Growing twins eat plenty. You'll be sorry you introduced them to your refrigerator."
The door swung open again, this time bringing Luke. Pepper's insides went tight, and she hoped Toby and Josh would stay in the kitchen, out of sight. She wasn't ready for her secret to be out, not just yet, not while she was still getting her footing in Tulips. No one had asked her who the boys' father was, and she appreciated people respecting her privacy.
Luke looked over the group and then at her, his face tired. "I came by for a refresher sugar binge."
"I'll get you some snacks," Helen said, hopping to her feet. "You stay right there and put your boots up. I see you're wearing boots now instead of flipflops."
Pepper hid a smile at the teasing on Helen's part, and relief that the woman wasn't going to send Luke to the kitchen, too, as she had her sons. As nice as Luke had looked yesterday in his casual beach pants and shirt, he appeared rough-and-ready in blue jeans, boots and a dark denim shirt. But looks are not enough. Being a father is about more than looking rugged and manly.
"How's the clinic, Pepper?" Luke asked.
"Fine. I've hired some staff." She declined to say more. In fact, it was terribly difficult to even glance at him, though she tried to in order to not seem rude. Her stomach rumbled with nerves. Toby and Josh could roll out of that kitchen any second with their customary burst of energetic enthusiasm, and she was afraid of what might happen.
Decisions needed to be made. A plan of action was desperately required, with as much structure and order as she'd put into arranging her return to Tulips. Drat Luke for snarling the smooth ribbon of her life.
He caught her gaze and she glanced nervously away. "Still don't like me?" he asked softly.
She stared at him straight on. "It's not something I think about. I don't have plans to like or dislike you."
Nodding, he got to his feet, taking the napkinful of cookies Helen gave him when she returned. He left a five dollar bill on the table, waved goodbye to Hiram, Bug and Pansy, and departed.
"Gosh," Pansy said, "he certainly can't take teasing these days."
"Was someone teasing him?" Helen asked.
"You were," she retorted, "and Pepper, too."
"He always was a wee bit sensitive," Helen said, and Pepper tried to remember if that was true.
She jumped when the saloon door opened and Luke said, "Pepper? Can I talk to you a minute?" He closed the door.
Reluctantly, she rose. "If the boys look for me...tell them I'll be right back," she hedged, and Pansy and Helen nodded.
She walked outside.
"I swung by the clinic."
Surprised, she said, "I'm not quite open for business yet."
His gaze touched her hair, making her feel self-conscious. But everything about him made her feel a little jittery, his mere presence seeming to electrify nerves in her body she'd forgotten about.
"I hope you won't mind an official visit. A curb-side consult, Doctor."
She shook her head. "Certainly not." It would not be good if something was wrong with Luke. There were young boys to consider, who hadn't yet met their father....
"My dad," Luke began, and Pepper breathed again, realizing how silly she'd been. "He hasn't been taking care of himself."
"I see." She nodded. "And you'd like me to stop by and see him."
"It's a lot to ask," Luke said, but she cut him off by putting a hand on his wrist. Somewhere inside her a spark flew, so she jerked her hand away and told herself to stick with nods and handshakes.
"I'd be happy to do it," she said simply, slipping a professional mask in place.
"It's probably nothing," Luke murmured.
"Most likely, but then a visit can't hurt." Her gaze went to the curb, where a shiny black truck was parked. "Nice vehicle."
Luke sighed. "It's Dad's. Apparently, he bought it last year, but doesn't use it. He contents himself with bumping around the fields in his tractor."
Pepper smiled. "Lucky you."
She wondered why he frowned at her.
"Luck has not a damn thing to do with it," he said, then tipped his hat to her. "We're at your convenience."
Perhaps he was sensitive, as Helen and Pansy claimed, and she'd missed that over the years due to her googly eyed, mushy admiration for him. "After dinner?"
He nodded and got in the truck, driving away.
"All right, Mr. Sensitive," she murmured, going back inside the saloon. The gang looked at her expectantly, too expectantly, and Pepper had a warning flash of intuition.
"Oh, no," she muttered. Pieces fell into place with sudden clarity. Her breath caught painfully. "You know, don't you?"
Every single one of them blinked at her innocently, their little mouths closed. Helen's glasses caught light from the overhead chandeliers and sconces; Pansy's spectacles flashed as she adjusted them with a quivering hand. Hiram's thin frame was too straight, and Bug's round faced looked too cherubic for a man who enjoyed an occasional bender on the back forty.
Pepper sighed. "It's none of your collective business," she said sternly, and they shook their heads to agree. "No well-meaning encroaching on my private life and no plans for matchmaking or anything else that remotely involves me."
"We wouldn't dream of it," Helen said, speaking for the group. "We have no idea what you're so upset about, Pepper, dear."
She shook her head. "I think you do. I'm positive you do. But as long as we understand that there are some secrets that must be kept private, like cisterns buried deep on family land---"
"Oh, we do," Pansy said. "Consider us the most bottomless well known to Tulips."
"I wish I thought that well could be bottomless, but you simply must not..." She hesitated, not wanting to admit what they already knew. "There is a time and place for everything."
"Everything to its season," Bug said. "A good farmer knows this."
"Then let's keep our seasons to ourselves," Pepper said, more sharply than she meant to. When Helen got up to hug her, it made her burst into tears.
"We love you, honey," the woman said. "We'd never do anything to hurt one of our most dear daughters. We stand by whatever decision you make for you and your boys."
Pansy came to hug her, too. "All you have to do is tell us what you need from us, and we're there."
Pepper's tears flowed freely, after all the years of keeping her secret. They came too quick for her to stop, so Mr. Parsons flopped a clean, pressed handkerchief into her hand. She used it gratefully.
"I don't want to tell him," she murmured, and felt better for admitting it. Not heroic, not brave, just better.
"Well, we're behind you, whatever you decide to do," Bug said, "so rest easy on that score."
Pepper pulled away, gathering herself together to face her boys. What were the consequences of her decisions? She worried as the twins strode into the room, wearing grins and powdered sugar on their faces.
"Excellent cookies, Ms. Pansy, Ms. Helen," Toby said, and his brother nodded.
"You'll have to bake more," Josh said. "We're going to be great customers."
Pepper smiled and wiped the last traces of mist from her eyes. "You boys are going to have upset stomachs."
"It's all right," Toby said. "We have a doctor in our house." Josh nodded.
She smiled at their pride in her and hoped they'd always feel that---especially when they found out that even doctors made errors in judgment.
AFTER DINNER THAT EVENING Pepper took the boys over to the Triple F. Duke was hanging around doing some yard work, which the boys scrambled to help him with.
"I needed an extra set of hands or two," he said, handing the boys his tools. Then he looked at his sister. "To what do I owe this good fortune of visiting nephews?"
Pepper swallowed. "I need to make a house call."
"Ah." He nodded, glancing at the boys. "One that doesn't include young fellows."
She pleaded with her eyes for him not to say any more. Duke sighed and took her by the arm, leading her a few feet away from Toby and Josh.
"Pepper, it's never been my way to butt into your private life, but eventually, you're going to have to tell the boys' father. You can't hide these two, forever."
"I know." She looked up at her brother. "I just want the boys to absorb the shock of the move and being uprooted from their friends and Aunt Jerry before I say, 'Oh, and conveniently, here is your father, whom I haven't talked much about over the years.'"
Duke nodded. "You've got a level head. You'll know when the moment is as right as it's ever going to be. But I will say that it's going to be hard no matter what, so look out for the best time."
Pepper began walking to her van. "I've got to go see his father. He says he's not doing as well as he'd like."
"And there's that to consider," Duke called, "not that you don't already know it."
"I do know." She got in the van, feeling the weight of her secrecy, and drove the five miles to the McGarrett homestead.
It was more dilapidated than she'd remembered, but then again, Duke and Zach kept the Triple F in mint condition. Hardly fair to compare, when there was no one to help Mr. McGarrett. Pepper got out of the van, and Luke walked out of the house to meet her, sending her blood pressure higher.
She really didn't see how she could ever tell him. They were miles apart in lifestyle. Those moonlit teenage nights might never have existed.
"Thanks for coming by, Doc," Luke said.
She nodded. "Where's the patient?"
He jerked his head toward the house. "Inside. He doesn't get out much."
She unlocked her gaze from Luke's dark one and went inside. "Mr. McGarrett?"
"Who the hell is it?" he called back. "Luke, someone's at the door. Tell 'em we ain't buying whatever they're selling."
She walked into the living room, which smelled like mothballs and boxed macaroni and cheese. "Hello, Mr. McGarrett. It's Pepper Forrester."
He squinted at his son. "You didn't tell me you had a lady friend."
"I...no, Dad, Pepper's our town doctor."
His father bristled. "Well, if she's come to see me, I don't need a doctor." He turned back to the uncomfortably loud television.
Luke reached to turn down the TV. "Dad, I want Pepper to take a quick look at you."
His dad wheeled his head to stare at him. "No."
"All right." Pepper looked at Luke. "Bye, Mr. McGarrett. It was good to see you again." She left the room, with Luke following.
"Aren't you going to examine him?"
"No." She halted in the foyer so she could explain her position to him. "He is the patient. As such, he has the right to accept or refuse care. You wouldn't want me to violate his understanding of his rights, and therefore make him feel more helpless than he already does, which I suspect is a big part of his problem."
Luke frowned at her. "You don't think he needs some type of medical care?"
"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that his emotional needs are important, too." She met Luke's gaze evenly. "People don't respond well to being pushed."
"Well. I'm sorry I wasted your time in coming out," he said awkwardly.
"It wasn't wasted at all. It's important to build a relationship of trust with a patient."
Luke nodded. "You're pretty smart with people, aren't you?"
"I like to think my ratio of success in relating to people is getting better. I think that's a hallmark of a great physician."
He walked alongside her as she headed to her van. "Pepper, I'm sorry for all the times I was mean to you."
She stopped to look up at him. "What are you talking about?"
He appeared to choose his words carefully. "I'm sure you know I went out with you on a dare."
Her breath froze tight in her chest. "I wasn't aware of that, no."
"Oh. Well, the past is in the past now, I hope," Luke said, running a thumb under her chin casually before jamming his hand in his jeans. "I hope you can forgive me for any time I might have hurt your feelings."
He was talking about their lovemaking, she realized, feeling a soft blush working its way over her skin. "I think it's best not to delve into memories that don't serve any purpose. How does that sound to you?"
He smiled gratefully. "It sounds like a smart physician coming up with the perfect diagnosis."
She opened her van door. "I'll be back tomorrow night to visit your father, until he decides he trusts me enough to at least let me listen to his heart and take a blood pressure reading."
"Ah, yes." Luke reached to touch the stethoscope she'd neatly concealed under her blouse. "I didn't see that before. You are a sneaky lass."
She moved away from his hand, which was perilously close to her breasts. "Years of treating patients has taught me that there are some ways to proceed that are more effective than others."
He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, then apparently opted for honesty. "It's probably odd to say this, but I wish I knew the best way to proceed with you."
She stared at him, surprised. "The existing relationship we have seems to work just fine."
"Okay." He nodded with some resignation. "That sounds pretty much like a 'no, thank you.' Trust me, I'm very good at heeding those."
"What exactly do you think I'm refusing?"
He shrugged. "Me. You. Something more than friendship."
"But why?" She looked into his eyes. "Because you're scared of being alone with your father and feel you need a friend? Because you're bored of being in Tulips, already? We're too old for those types of temporary fixes in our lives."
"No," he said softly, "I think it's just plain old attraction." He bent his head, sweeping one light, almost affectionate kiss against her lips, then turned away and strode toward the house without another look back.


