Tell her.You just told yourself there’d be no more evasions, no more secrets.You need to tell her parents about the elopement.If you don’t, you’re going to lose her.
Nica pulled back slightly, studying his face.“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
He opened his mouth but before he could answer, his phone rang.They both looked at it, sitting beside his cold cup of coffee.
Rafe Boudreau’s name flashed on the screen.
“Your brother,” Gabe said, picking up the phone.“Probably about poker night.”
But even as he answered, he knew better.The sheriff calling at 6a.m.wasn’t about their weekly poker game.
“Gabe.”Rafe’s voice was grim.“We’ve got a situation at your clinic.Break-in overnight.Place is torn apart.”
“Was anything taken?Did you check the drug cabinet?”Gabe asked, his mind racing.
“First thing we checked.It’s hard to tell yet, but it doesn’t look like it’s been breached.But somebody spray painted on your office wall: ‘Ask Dr.Summers about Melissa Carpenter’.”He heard Rafe sigh.“I’m at the station, but I should be back at the clinic by the time you get there.”
Nica was watching him, concern darkening her eyes.Gabe made his decision.
“Can you wait at the station?I can be there in twenty minutes,” he said to Rafe, then ended the call.
“What’s wrong?”Nica asked.
He took her hands in his.“I need to go.Clinic emergency.Somebody broke in and trashed the place.I’m going to meet Rafe there.I’ll be back soon.”
She frowned, clearly unconvinced.“Gabe—”
“Everything will be fine.”He kissed her forehead.“I promise.”
But as he drove through town, Gabe knew he needed help.The caller knew about Nica, about their marriage.Knew where they lived, where he worked.This wasn’t just about tormenting him anymore—it had escalated into a viable threat to everything and everyone he cared about.
He turned his truck toward the sheriff’s station.Rafe was more than Shiloh Springs’ sheriff.He was Nica’s oldest brother, and the last person Gabe wanted to confess to about marrying Nica in secret.Well, except for Ms.Patti.He’d rather sit in a bathtub filled with rattlesnakes than disappoint Nica’s momma.
But if protecting her meant facing Rafe’s wrath, so be it.
The station was quiet this early, just a deputy at the front desk who nodded Gabe through to Rafe’s office.The sheriff was hunched over his desk, his dark hair—so different from Nica’s blonde waves—falling over his forehead.He looked up when Gabe entered, surprise registering on his face.
“Thought you were meeting me at the clinic.”
“We need to talk first.”Gabe closed the door.“Privately.”
Rafe leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing.“Something you want to tell me, Doc?”
“Several things.”Gabe took a deep breath.“First, someone’s been calling me, threatening me.Making accusations about something from my past.”
“About the Melissa Carpenter thing on your wall?”
There was something in Rafe’s voice that had the little hairs on the back of Gabe’s neck standing at attention.Gabe’s head snapped up.“How much do you know about that?”
“Did a background check before you moved to town.”Rafe’s expression was unreadable.“Standard procedure for new doctors setting up practice here.At least it is now.You’re the first new doctor since Doc Jennings, and he’s been here since the biblical flood.I admit, I might have dug a little deeper than a routine check.Besides, I’ve got a couple of brothers who know a thing or two about background checks too.”
“Then you know I was cleared.”
“I know the official findings.Also know there’s usually more to stories like that than ever make the paperwork.”
Gabe fought back his irritation.“There was.A disgruntled colleague illegally drugged me before I performed a surgery.Patient died on the table.I almost lost everything.Decided I needed to make a fresh start and ended up in Shiloh Springs.”
“And now someone’s bringing it back up?”
