Their Forever Family: Her Family for Keeps / A Father for Poppy / His Little Christmas Miracle. Abigail Gordon

on. I’m sure he’s been waiting on us since dawn.”

      “He’s an early riser, then?”

      Duncan snorted. “Late to bed, gets up early, I don’t know how he does it at his age.”

      After a quick knock on the bedroom door, Duncan pressed down on the handle and pushed the door wide.

      “About damned time you two came to see me. I could be dead a week before you’d know.” His booming voice thundered through the room.

      Duncan grinned. “I see you’ve survived your night and are back to your usual charming self.”

      Rebel hid a smile and bit her lips together. It was good to see the man’s coloring had improved, the oxygen was nowhere in sight, and he was dressed and ready for the day.

      “Charming?” He offered a crooked smile and a foxy gleam in his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called charming in my life.”

      “You can be sure of that!” Lupe said from the bathroom. “He’s never even pretended to be charming as long as I’ve known him. Maybe my English word is not right, but cantankerous sounds good.”

      At that, Duncan laughed out loud and met Rebel’s gaze. There was something in that moment, a shared intimacy that tugged at Rebel’s heart. Then it occurred to her. She was building memories with Duncan. Her heart thumped and her breath hitched. Looking into his eyes, with the laugh lines fanning outward, she knew she was falling for him much harder than she’d ever expected.

      Then, in seconds, the moment was gone as he turned to Rafael.

      “Let’s have a look at you.” Duncan opened the medical kit beside the bed and extracted the stethoscope, listened to his heart and lungs and gave a sharp nod. “All that fluid you had in your lungs is gone.”

      “It damned well better be. I spent half the night in the toilet.” He glared at Rebel, but she only raised her brows.

      “Yes?”

      “No thanks to you.” He held his hard stare at her.

      “I didn’t do anything.” The stare was returned with equal intensity. She could handle herself again this morning, and he wasn’t going to shake her up like he had yesterday.

      “You gave me that medicine.” He glared harder, but she was nonplussed.

      Rebel snorted and nodded at Duncan. “He told me to!”

      Rafael snorted right back. “And you do everything he tells you to?”

      “Not hardly. But it was the right thing to do at the time.” She raised her chin, holding his gaze, and her confidence strengthened.

      Rafael held a hand out to her, and she crossed the room to take it. “Thank you, my dear. I appreciate your help.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’ve made an old man feel good again.” He gave a sigh. “And I do apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was uncalled for, and I hope you accept my deepest regrets. Maybe, if you come back, we can have a better time.”

      Her gaze sought Duncan, and he stood there, his mouth hanging slightly open. A piercing wail from the bathroom drew their immediate attention. Lupe stood, holding her apron over her face, sobbing into her hands.

      “Lupe, what’s wrong?” Rebel released Rafael’s hand to comfort the woman.

      “Why didn’t you tell me he’s going to die?” She covered her face again and sobbed her heart out.

      “No, he’s not. Why would you say that?” In desperation, Rebel looked at Duncan for help.

       CHAPTER TEN

      “HE’S NOT DYING.” Blandly, Duncan confirmed her statement.

      “But…he’s being…nice, he apologized, he never does that!”

      Rebel gave an eye-roll and then looked at Rafael. “You really should be nicer.”

      “Why? She’d cry more then.” He glared at Lupe, but softened it with a little smile and held out his hand to her. “Come here, woman. I’m fine.”

      “Oh, please, everyone. It’s just fine. He’s fine, and I’m starving.” Duncan took Rebel’s hand and led her to the door. “Come out so no one thinks you’re dying, okay?”

      Rafael just grinned. The old goat.

      “He’s such a pain sometimes.” Duncan shook his head but his touch on her was gentle as he took her to the table. They made their way along the line, filling their plates, and Duncan introduced her to entirely too many people. Their names would never stick in her brain, she was certain of it.

      After lingering over the meal and sharing coffee with the family out on the portál, Lupe approached Duncan and Rebel.

      “The clinic is set up.”

      “Clinic, what clinic?” Rebel had no idea what they were talking about.

      “When I come for a visit, I run a health clinic for a few hours. These folks are the poorest of the poor, most of them come from Old Mexico and have never had regular health or dental care. They have issues stemming from lifelong malnutrition and chronic illnesses. We hope we can help them out and the children that are born here will be better cared for right from the start.”

      “I didn’t know any of this.” She frowned. New Mexico was not a developing country, but what he was describing certainly sounded like it. “Most people I come into contact with in the ER have health insurance.”

      “These folks don’t.” He shrugged and looked away, but she could tell he cared deeply about these people who worked on his family ranch. “Some of these folks have worked here their entire lives. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural biases have kept them this way. Slowly, we’re helping change their outlook. The kids are blossoming.” He tried to hide it, but a burst of pride pulled his shoulders back. “We even have a daycare and an elementary school on the ranch.”

      “That’s amazing.” She leaned I closer to him. “I’m so proud of what you are doing here.” Truly she was. She’d never met a man like Duncan.

      “I wish we could do more, but there aren’t enough resources and it’s a seasonal business.”

      “Well, what can we do today?” Doing things for others had always helped keep her focus off her family tragedy and doing good works never went out of style.

      “Let’s go see what the troops have set up.” Duncan took her hand in his firm grip and led her out to the staging area.

      “During chili season we use this open-air shed to roast the chili and get it ready for locals. There’s nothing fresher than produce just picked and roasted within a few hours. Today I have a clinic in it.”

      “So, what kinds of health issues do you see with your workers?” Though she’d worked in the ER for years, farming accidents weren’t something she’d had a lot of experience with.

      “A lot of things are farming related, like cuts and other injuries sustained from using heavy machinery. Other things are minor, like tetanus shots, or colds and flu.” He shrugged. “The usual stuff.”

      “You do good work, here, Duncan.” Indeed. He was not just some pretty face playing around at being a doctor. He had a heart dedicated to service to others that was very appealing to her.

      “I’d like to do more of it, but at the moment there’s just not enough of me to go around.” That brought some pain to him. This was a group of people who could use his skills, not the people who held fund-raisers and had never set foot in a barrio.

      They stepped around the large machine shed to a line of