“To be honest, I wondered what made you different. But ten minutes with you and I can understand it. You’re exactly the type of woman Sam needs.”

Marjorie’s look must have revealed her disbelief.

“A doctor needs a woman in his life who has a strong and independent nature. So many other people are constantly making demands on his time and his energy that sometimes there’s not much left for anyone else. Above anything else, Sam needs a respite from the demands of work. For men like Sam and Bernie, death is the enemy, and they’ll fight for a life with little or no thought to the physical or emotional cost to themselves.”

Marjorie nibbled on her lower lip. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.” Betty had far more insight into Sam and Bernie’s needs than she’d considered. All she herself knew was that she loved Sam Bretton and that she would consider herself the most fortunate woman in the world to be his wife.

“I know Bernie so well that I recognize the signs now. He doesn’t need to say a word,” Betty went on. “There’s a look about him, a tiredness in his eyes and in the way he walks. All of those things tell me the kind of day he’s had. He’ll snap at me every now and again, but I forgive him because I know that he’s probably had to tell someone’s son or daughter that their mother won’t be coming home from the hospital, or he’s had to tell someone that their test results show they have cancer.”

The thought of having to give someone such bad news tightened a knot of compassion in Marjorie’s stomach.

“The last thing Bernie needs when he gets home is a list of demands from me. I wouldn’t do that to him, and you wouldn’t do that to Sam. He knows that, just the way I did as soon as we met.”

A cool sip of her drink helped alleviate the tightness in Marjorie’s throat. “I’m not the right woman for him. I don’t deserve him.”

Betty settled back in her chair and grinned. “He said almost exactly those same words to Bernie about you.”

Marjorie blinked back her surprise and lowered her gaze. Her heart was filled with such misery that it was impossible to hold it all inside. She felt as though she would burst into tears in another minute.

“In fact, Bernie got so sick of hearing about you that he threatened to cancel their poker night if Sam didn’t bring you around and introduce you.”

“He must have taken him seriously, because we made a trip to the hospital Friday night.”