Page 49 of Isla by Any Other Name

“He is,” said Leslie. “He’s my nephew, actually. He was one of the few who came back after school. Usually once our young people leave the reservation, they don’t come back. It’s sad, but understandable. There’s nothing to keep them here.”

“Leslie, is Dr. Bear taking new patients? I need a GP now that I’ve relocated.”

“He doesn’t turn anyone away. I can guarantee you he’s a good doctor.”

“Great, I’ll have to make an appointment with him soon. I’ve sent for my medical records. They just haven’t arrived yet.” Isla knew that her old medical records were still being changed over to have her new name and background on them.

“Well, when they do, let me know and I’ll set you up with an appointment.”

“Thanks, Leslie,” Isla said. “I really appreciate it.”

She put her hand on her belly. They were doing this together.

Kech showed Isla around the facility and let her shadow him while he saw his patients. She was here to make life easier for him. He was easy to work with, quick to smile, and kept his patients at ease.

At noon, Kech invited her to join him in the small cafeteria available for staff and visitors. He grabbed a lunch bag from the refrigerator and sat down. Isla grabbed some Club crackers from her purse—all she could stomach these days.

“So Siobhan, what made you decide to come here? Montana, of all places. Leslie tells me you’re originally from Florida, sunshine in a bottle. You do know that we can get snow in June here and again in August, right?”

Isla laughed. If only he knew the circumstances that landed her here. She made up a story. “I’ve always wanted to live in Montana. Ever since I was a little girl, all I’ve ever dreamed about were these wide-open spaces. When the opportunity arose, I jumped at it. My folks wanted a change as well, so we pulled up roots and headed to Montana.”

“You brought your folks with you?” Kech asked. He pulled out a meaty-looking sandwich from a paper bag.

Isla nodded. “They have an apartment in Billings. They already have more friends than I can count!” She realized that she was telling the truth about that. Her parents were thriving. The move was good for them. She added, “They were getting stagnant in Florida, never left the house, all their friends were gone. And the house was just too much, so here we are. I’m working two days a week in Billings at St. Vincent’s, so I’ll see them often. I have a cottage I’m renting here in Hardin. It’s perfect. Life is good. I’m excited for the change.” This was her story now. She could tell it over and over, pretending it belonged to her. She took a bite of a cracker.

Kech said, “Family is the most important thing.”

“What about you?” Isla asked. “I’m surprised you’re not working in a big hospital up in Billings. Why here?”

“Oh, I have privileges there,” he said, shrugging. “There are times I need to send my patients there if we can’t treat them here. To be truthful, I never planned on coming back here. I grew up with the notion that once I went to school and got my degree, I’d never step foot on the reservation again. Then one summer when I was here visiting my family, there was a three-car pileup up on the highway. And there was only one elderly doctor on staff at the clinic. Dr. Running Wolf had been the doctor who had delivered me, and he was old then. It was going to take an hour to get any kind of help from Billings out here and we didn’t have an hour. Leslie asked if I could help out. Dr. Running Wolf was only one man—he couldn’t take care of them all. I needed to do emergency surgery on one and another was in cardiac arrest. It was a nightmare. If I hadn’t been there, two people would have died that day.”

Isla could see Kech reliving that night. He looked the way she felt when she thought about Jim Watkins and Mitch being shot.

Kech continued, “After an unexpected all-night shift, Dr. Running Wolf and I were sitting exactly where we’re sitting right now. Totally exhausted, I asked him how he did it day after day. And he said to me, ‘Because there’s no one else.’ He was eighty at the time, long past retirement. He said that no one wanted to work in a small clinic that catered to the less fortunate. They wanted to live in the big cities and make the big bucks. I was one of those doctors. My dream was to make it big. Buy the big fancy house, have the newest car parked in the driveway, and never have to see the place where I grew up ever again. Things changed for me that day. After my surgical residency, I came back here and worked alongside Dr. Running Wolf until he finally retired at the age of eighty-eight. He passed away last year and I miss him every day. I’ll never be rich, and I’ll never have the fancy new car, but I can go to sleep at night knowing I gave it my all. That these people I’ve grown to care about will get the best possible care I can give them. So here I am.”

Isla could feel her eyes tearing up in admiration. “I think I’ve come to the right place,” she said. “Kech, it will be a pleasure to work alongside you.”

He smiled. “Siobhan, the pleasure’s all mine.”

Isla’s life fell into a routine the next couple of weeks. She would work at the clinic and go home and enjoy her little cottage. She’d sit in the room that would one day be a nursery and dream of all the good things that were going to come into her life. Her medical records had just been sent. The Marshals’ office had gone through them with a fine-tooth comb and changed everything that needed to be changed. Isla Pierce no longer existed.

She made her appointment for the following week with Kech. They really never talked about their personal lives—work was always too crazy—but they got along fine. She looked up to him. Everyone did.

By her calculations, she was almost three months into her pregnancy. Besides being tired and the morning sickness, she couldn’t complain. She knew she should have made the appointment weeks ago, but she needed her medical records. So, now there were no excuses. She needed to be under a doctor’s care for herself and the baby.

After work on Friday, she stopped in to visit her folks. It was about time she told her parents about their grandchild. She would have to tell them about her relationship with Mitch. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it needed to be done. Her clothes were already getting tight. The rubber-band-through-the-buttonhole trick would only work so long.

She stopped and picked up barbeque takeout before she drove to their housing development. She balanced the takeout bag on one hip and rang their doorbell.

“Just a minute, I’m coming,” her father bellowed.

“Dad, it’s just me,” Isla called. “Take your time.”

The door opened and she was enveloped in the arms of the man she had called Dad for the last twenty-three years. “Hey, I brought barbeque from the place you like so much. Where’s Mom?”

“She’s down in the rec room playing cards with the ladies. I’m so glad we moved here. I was getting tired of doing the same old thing day in and day out.”

“I’m glad you like it here. When’s Mom due back?”