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Chapter 91: History
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 92: Dinner at the farm
DEACON"Gram, that was the best fried chicken you've ever made. I don't know how you manage to top yourself week after week." My grandmother shot me a skeptical glance as I passed by her, clearing the table after dinner. At the sink, Pop snickered. "The both of you are full of blarney." Gram eased back her chair slightly and folded her arms over her chest. "One of you is worse than the other.""It was all that early training I gave you." Pop elbowed me in the ribs when I set down a pile of plates. "You make me proud, Deacon." "And the two of you give me a headache," Gram grumbled. "These are the days when I wish I had a granddaughter who might take my side on occasion. Or at least I wish there was another woman in the family who would commiserate with me." She leveled a particularly pointed stare my way.I chose to ignore the reference to Emma. Conversations about my ex-girlfriend who was also a close friend to my grandparents never ended well. Nor did I necessarily want to th
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 93: Surprise or set-up?
DEACONGram was right; her directions to Emma's cabin were so accurate that I didn't have a problem finding it. I aimed my truck down the newly graded gravel drive, coasting along until I came to a stop in front of a cabin. For a moment, I stayed put behind the wheel, just gazing out the windshield at the place. It was a surreal experience, seeing the plans that Emma had shared with me now fully realized. Since I hadn't been around to see the process-the preparing of the land, the building of the house-it was almost as though she'd spoken her dream into being. The cabin itself was made of split-logs. It sat pretty high on the ground, giving her a decent-sized crawlspace beneath the floors. I wondered if she had gotten the root cellar she'd talked about once upon a time. Colorful plants and flowers decorated the front of the house, below the generous porch. A single rocking chair graced the porch itself, and I smiled a bit, imagining Emma sitting there at the end of a long day. T
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 94: Unlikely advice
DEACON"Because Noah might get mad?" I was fishing now, trying to get her to say something that would give me a clue about their status. Why the hell I cared was a nuance I didn't care to examine just now. "Because it's pointless." She jumped to her feet and began stalking the length of the room. "Why does it matter to you how long it's been since I saw Noah or if I'm going to be with him this weekend? It's none of your damned business, Deacon." "Sorry." I wasn't, not one little bit, and it probably showed in my tone. "I was only . . ." What? Curious? Nosy? Desperate to know if they were on the verge of breaking up so that maybe I'd have another shot with the woman I couldn't forget? "Uh, making small talk." "Yeah, well, I'm not much into that." Emma sat down again, wrapping her arms around herself. She drew in a deep breath. "If you must know, Noah and I . . . we're kind of on a break. After everything with the press . . . and there were some other tensions between us-""The p
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 95: Back to the grind
EMMA"Have I told you how happy I am that you're back at work?" Darcy, one of our two nurse practitioners on the oncology wing at St. Agnes, smiled at me as we both sat behind the desk at the nurses' station. "We did okay while you were on vacation, but it just felt like something important was missing. You make the oncology floor a little nicer place to be."I grinned back at her. "Awww, Darcy, that's so sweet of you to say. And I'm sure that you really mean it, and you're not sweet-talking me into covering hours while you're on your honeymoon.""Hey, I don't have to sweet-talk anyone for that. I'm using my accrued time off for that, and I have zero regrets. How you all decide to work out the coverage is up to y'all." She paused before adding, "Now, it's entirely that it's the pregnancy hormones getting me all soft and mushy about having you back, but I can't be held responsible for that. This is what happens when you're making up for lost time with a super sexy football player." S
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 96: Book Club
EMMA"I guess I don't need to ask how your vacation was, doc. You look rested." George Brewer rested his head against his pillow, gazing at me. "Everyone around here missed you, though. The place isn't the same without you." "So I've been given to understand." I winked at my patient. "My vacation was wonderful, thanks, George. The bigger question is . . . did you bring me a new picture of that sweet baby boy of yours?" "Of course." George beamed and picked up his phone. "Shelly took a photo of him last night, right after they video chatted me at bedtime." He extended the phone toward me. "Tell me that isn't the cutest child you've ever seen."Tilting my head, I examined the picture on the screen. "Oh, George, he really is. And he looks more like his daddy every single day." "Awww, I don't think so. The kid's lucky enough to have his mama's eyes and her smile." George took the phone back and gazed at his son. "Sure am blessed, though, aren't I? I got the best wife in the world a
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 97: News
EMMA"Thanks for throwing me under the bus." I pinched her arm. "Hey, did you really want to sit there and listen to that boring discussion?" she shot back. "Because I know I didn't." She opened the fridge and pulled out a huge bowl. "And I did need to come and get this. Nico made it for tonight because he is a sweetie and wanted my friends to enjoy some seriously delicious food." "He's so wonderful." I gave her another hug, this time squeezing extra tight. "I'm so glad for you both, Jen. No one knows more than me how much heartache went ahead of this happily ever after." "Right?" She leaned a hip against the counter and nibbled on a chip. "Which is why I hope you're also going to be understanding of my next news-which I wanted you to hear first."A trickle of foreboding ran down my spine. "Okay. That sounds ominous. What's up?" She sucked in a deep breath. "This proposal wasn't as out of the blue as I made it seem. Nico and I have been talking about it for a while-about gett
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 98: Music therapy
DEACON"Emma? Do you have a minute?" I stuck my head into our naturopath's small office. She was sitting at her desk, frowning at her desktop computer. "Ummm . . ." She blinked at me as though disoriented. "Deacon. Did you need something?" I smiled. "Sorry. You look like you're in the middle of a project. I'll come back.""No!" She almost cried out the word, and I paused, stepping into the room. "I mean, you don't have to go. I was just reading reports of a new study on metastatic breast cancer and the use of phytochemicals." "Ah." I nodded. "Mrs. Dulinkski?" "Yeah." Emma pushed back from her desk and let out a long sigh. "I don't know why I bother, because when she sees me coming, she gets this look on her face . . . like I'm going to wrestle her to the ground and make her meditate or something. The first thing she always says to me is that she doesn't hold with all that spiritual crap." She rolled her eyes. "I could help her, Deacon. I really could. At the very least, I cou
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 99: Goodbye, part 1
EMMA"Emma, I know I said this the other night when we had dinner together, but it bears repeating. I'm thrilled that you had a wonderful vacation, but we missed seeing your face around the farm." Anna beamed at me from her seat on the steps of her front porch, where she was watching me cavort with the baby goats . . . who weren't so much babies anymore."I can't believe how much they grew in just over two weeks." I caught one little girl and scooped her into my arms, nuzzling her soft head. "Thanks for covering my part of the care while I was on vacation. I thought about asking Jenny to do it, but I figured she might be more trouble than she was help." Anna chuckled. "She's not exactly farm-friendly, that one. Sweet girl, salt of the earth, but she doesn't know one end of a pitchfork from the other." "You're not wrong." I sniffed. "Did Deacon tell you that she and Nico are moving up north?""He did." Anna's voice gentled. "That's going to be hard on you, isn't it?"I nodded. "
Last Updated : 2022-11-24
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 193: As long as we both shall live
NOAHNoahIt was a beautiful day for a wedding. We gathered at mid-morning under the covenant oak on Jimmy and Anna Girard's farm. Alison and I had decided that since Emma and Deacon's wedding had been the start of our love story, we should say our vows under the canopied branches of that same steadfast tree. We hadn't wanted anything grand or involved, but it was important to us that the special people in our lives were present. So when Alison and I joined hands and made our vows, among those surrounding us were Emma and Deacon, Darcy and Jackson, Jenny and Nico, Mira Hoskins, and all of the people who worked with Alison in her practice. Maggie Corning, the midwife, and Brooke Slater, Alison's therapist, were there, too. My family had flown down en mass from Wisconsin and other key points around the country. My mother couldn't stop smiling, and my dad looked proud. Even my brothers and sisters and their families were behaving themselves. And then of course, there was the Tam
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 192: Happily Ever After part 3
ALISONA human being can accomplish almost any task while sobbing her eyes out. I'd known this from experience in my past life, but after Noah left that afternoon, I went about proving it all over again.I cried as I wiped the table and counters. I wept as I took out a frozen macaroni and cheese to eat for dinner. I sobbed as I climbed the steps and listened at the baby's door-she was still asleep in the crib. I sniffled as I switched a load of newborn clothes from the washer to the dryer.He was gone, and I was alone. Again. Naturally.The hell of it was that even as he'd pleaded his case to me, even as he'd told me that he loved me, I'd known he was telling the truth. I believed him. But I couldn't trust what he thought he felt, not when people changed their minds about being in love all the damn time. People claimed to love a friend or a child or a lover, and then they changed their minds. It happened. I knew it first-hand. I'd experienced it over and over again before I was t
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 191: Break
NOAH"Where's the baby?" Alison walked into the kitchen, her face etched with fatigue. We'd had a long and trying few days as Evangeline had apparently been going through a growth spurt: she nursed almost constantly and was difficult to console the rest of the time. She'd fought sleep, and she'd cried piteously no matter what we'd tried to do. The pediatrician had assured us that this was normal and we'd get through it, but privately, I thought he was a heartless imbecile who clearly didn't understand that our daughter was advanced and needed more attention than the typical newborn. But finally, today we'd caught a break. Alison had gone upstairs to take a shower-her first in three days-and somehow, I'd managed to get the baby to sleep without the benefit of a boob. More than that, I'd actually laid her in the crib without waking her up. I was pretty satisfied with myself, all in all. I was also crossing my fingers that she'd stay asleep long enough that her mother and I could d
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 190: Parenthood
NOAHParenthood was amazing, fulfilling, beautiful, awesome . . . and exhausting. The first few weeks of baby Evangeline's life at home were a blur, a constant, never-ending whirlwind of feeding, and changing, and washing, and catching whatever small bites of sleep we could whenever she slept. People came to visit and brought gifts and food, and I was pathetically grateful for that, because I didn't have the energy to cook, and both Alison and I were tired of takeout. The one factor that made everything survivable was the baby herself. God, I hadn't known how much I was going to love this ten-pounds of tiny, perfect human. I'd never anticipated that staring at her sleep for an hour was better than four quarters of football. Or that catching what might have been a smile could make me feel as though I'd just witnessed greatness. What was some missing sleep compared with noting how well my two-week-old daughter could lift up her head?Even so, as much as I was ga-ga over my baby gir
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 189: New life
ALISON"Congratulations, mama! You're at six. I think it's time to break your water and get things really going." It sounded like a great idea to me, but I saw Noah's lips go white. "Are you okay?" I asked, rubbing my fingers over the back of his hand. "You look a little green." He swallowed, his throat convulsing. "This is the only part I'm a little, uh, squeamish about. I watched that birth online, and breaking the water looked-intense." Maggie chuckled. "Stay up there by Alison and keep your eyes on her face. We don't need papa hitting the floor and suing the hospital." Noah did as he was told, watching me intently as if waiting for me to show some sign of distress. "Does it hurt?" he asked quietly. "The water part, I mean." I shook my head. "It feels a little weird, but not-oooooh!" I gasped as I felt the gush hit my inner thighs. "Okay, then. Eyes here, Noah. Come on. We're in this together." After that, it felt as though everything got a lot more serious. The con
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 188: Giving in
ALISON Spoiler alert: having sex with Noah did not start my labor.But it sure was worth the effort. Two days after that monumental night-and after we'd given it the good old college try several more times-we went to Maggie's office. I was in a rotten mood-being a million years pregnant can do that to a person-and poor Noah looked a little haggard. He'd been sleeping with me in my bed (we both clung to the excuse that if I went into labor, I'd want him closer than across the hall), which meant that he woke up whenever I had to climb out of that bed to pee. He thought I'd been exaggerating about how often I had to go. He was quickly disabused of that notion. After a quick exam, Maggie made some notes on her tablet and then turned to the both of us. "So listen," she began. "Do you want to have this baby?" I stared at her as though she'd lost her mind. "What the hell do you think I've been trying to do for over three weeks now, Maggie?" I bellowed. "Of course, I want to have th
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 187: Finally, at last
NOAHNow I got it. The night we'd first had sex-the night after Emma and Deacon's wedding-we'd challenged each other to come up with the sexiest, most outrageous names for cocktails. Alison was playing the game again."Ohhhhh." I grinned. "I still don't believe that last one is legit.""It totally is. The bartender confirmed it." With a smile that was deceptively seductive for an extremely pregnant woman, she reached down to grasp the bottom of her oversized T-shirt-which was not so oversized just now-and lifted it over her head. I helped just to make sure she didn't topple over in the process. It was the first time I'd really seen her without a shirt in many months. My first few impressions were awe at the size of her swollen middle. I knew she was huge, but damn. The skin was stretched as tight as a drum, and her belly button looked like a cork just about to give way. And her boobs-they were incredible. Within the utilitarian maternity bra, they were still the sexiest breasts
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 186: Things you shouldn't ask
NOAH"What's the world record for the longest pregnancy ever?" I glanced up at Alison from the book I was reading. We were both lying on her bed while a movie that neither of us was very invested in played on the TV. The couch downstairs had become too uncomfortable for her over the past week or so, so we'd begun hanging out here in her room. It was strictly for comfort, though; we stayed on top of the covers, with Alison on one side while I stuck to the other. It was a king-sized bed with plenty of room for us. But while we hadn't hesitated to cuddle and kiss on the sofa, something about being on the bed made us more cautious. I didn't know why, exactly; Alison was so tired of being pregnant that she wasn't up for much of anything other than television lately. She'd stopped going into the office after her due date since she'd already arranged with Dr. Johanson to cover her hours. So we were both at home now all the time . . . just waiting.She really was huge. While the ultraso
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 185: Trust love
ALISON"Read me that last part again?" Noah and I were sitting in the nursery, surrounded by boxes, gift bags, and about a million pieces of a pine crib. He had spent the last two weeks focusing on the nursery. He'd painted the room a lovely pale yellow color, insisting that I stay with Emma and Deacon at the cabin for the two nights after he'd completed the first and second coats so that I didn't have to inhale the paint fumes. Together, we had selected the crib and the dressing table. Noah's mother had sent us the cradle that all of her children had slept in, and that was already set up in my bedroom.Now, with my due date less than ten days away, we were finally tackling the project of building all of the furniture that hadn't come pre-assembled. I squinted at the paper in my hand, trying to decipher the words."I'm pretty sure that this was translated directly from Swedish by someone who didn't speak English," I commented. "It doesn't seem to make sense.""Does it say at wh
