Page 45 of Fourth Heartwarmers Trilogy
Suddenly, Mia’s expression turned from haughty to pleading. The doctor appeared, his mask hanging over his chest, and his face lined with tiredness from performing the long operation. Jack’s mood lightened after two words and the doc’s wry grin.
“She’s fine.”
“Thank God!” Mia sagged against Mark and let her hands cover her face.
Doc looked at Jack. “Before she let us give her the anesthetic, she made me promise that I would remind you of your deal, Jack.”
He laughed, part relief and part astonishment in the old gal’s tenacity. “She solidified the deal in case she didn’t make it.”
“Yep. Though she pretended to be strong, at the very last minute she grabbed my hand and gave me her eagle eye. You know the one that you better take seriously, or she’d deal with you?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m very familiar with that look.”
“Then you know what I was up against.” Doc turned and faced Mia. “She had a message for you too, young lady.”
Mia grinned; relief etched on her features. “I’m scared to ask.”
“She wanted you to follow your heart. Her words…”
Mia appeared flummoxed. “Why would she say that?”
“Probably because Angie stayed true to one love all her life. After I lost my wife, Mary, and tried to move in on her, she let me down easy. Said that only one man held her heart, and when he died, she buried it with him.” Doc coughed, his face reddening. “I stepped down, and we remained good friends. A shame because that woman had it in her to make any man she loved feel like a giant.”
Jack could see Doc starting to move away from them, uncomfortable with the discussion. To give the guy a break, he spoke up. “She blackmailed me into making a promise I didn’t want to give. Any chance if I back out, she’ll take a turn for the worse?”
Laughing, Doc shook his head. “Oh no, you don’t. She’d come after me with a shotgun if she knew I gave you permission to renege. Besides, I agree with her. You’d make a wonderful mayor.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Mia swore she’d heard wrong. Watching Jack’s expression, expecting to see a laughing rebuttal, shock rode her from what she did see. His disgruntled glare as the doctor walked away couldn’t be mistaken.
She had to ask, “Jack, you’re running for mayor of Maricopa?” In no way possible could she see him as a typical politician. Of course, he could be a non-typical one, an anomaly. But that would mean pitting himself against a wave of pre-set rules and conditions, the comfortable old-boys school and most likely a lot of corruption if the rumors and the complaints from Angie were anything to go by. Often, their recent phone calls ended by Angie ranting that their city was screwed. “Seriously?”
Nodding, his hand gently patting Maisie’s back as she lay with her head nestled in his shoulder, he shrugged. “The conniving old diva caught me at a weak moment.”
“Bull! She blackmailed you into doing something she wanted, and you let her. What was the deal?”
“To let the doc operate today.”
“Oh, my God, the cheeky brat! How could you refuse?”
“I know. What could I do? Doc said she lived on borrowed time without that pacemaker.”
Mia’s heart swelled with affection for the big man who looked like a little kid that just got played. “What about the renos for the house?”
“Oh, I’ll still be taking on that job personally, it’s the multitude of other work I’ll have to farm out to the boys.” He grinned when Maisie hugged him harder as if she’d picked up on his frustration. “My biggest worry is that I have no idea what’s ahead of me as a representative or the first step to getting started. There must be legal documents to fill out, heck I don’t know. Guess it’s a trip to city hall sometime today.”
Mark piped up and shocked them both. “I’ve run a campaign before in my old city of Seattle. You need help, I’m your man.” They both saw Mia start to object until Mark added, “in my off hours, of course.”
The nurse approached with instructions on the shortest route to the recovery area, and the four of them headed in that direction. A few minutes with Angie was all Mia and Jack had before they were pushed out the door and told to return later.
The busy nurse stated in no uncertain terms, “You can visit after she comes out of the ICU and has time to rest. Call first.”
Jack excused himself to head to the office with a promise he’d be at the house later in the morning. Before he could walk away, Maisie piped up, “Will you swim with me, Jack? Mia said I need a babysitter with me at the pool.”
“She did, did she? Good thing. It’s never good to swim alone. Okay, it’s a date. Probably just for a short time, princess. I’m—”
“Sweetie, Jack will be very busy today. Mark and I will take you for a swim after lunch if you promise to play nice while we unpack the garage and set up the workroom this morning.” Miathought to save him, and he almost took the out. His day was chockablock full.
