After getting next to no sleep, waking up to a ridiculously cold shower and finding the button closet—she should never have opened that door—she’d come to the clinic hoping to lose herself in work.

What she’d found was apparently a full-on revolt.

“Miss Armintage said she’d managed to make it forty-seven years without a woman touching her vagina and she intended to make it forty-seven more. She said it’s not natural.”

Lila shook her head. “A gynecological exam from a female isn’t natural? But a male doctor putting her in stirrups and shoving a speculum up to her cervix is?”

Mabel shrugged. “Her words, not mine.”

The door to the clinic opened and a woman walked in, her baby in a sling.

“Hey there, Mabel.” She smiled as she reached the front desk and turned to Lila. “I’m here to see Doc. Hi, I’m Hallie Rayburn. We haven’t met yet. Are you taking over for Mabel? I hadn’t heard Mabel was retiring. Oh, she’s the best. You’ll have big shoes to fill.”

It was becoming brutally obvious that Doc Hamet hadn’t mentioned her at all to his patients. Her patients. “I’m sorry. Doc Hamet is moving into more of an advisory role here at the clinic. I’m taking over. Mabel will stay on in her capacity assisting with the running of the clinic and helping me with patients.”

Hallie’s eyes widened and she shook her head like she couldn’t quite believe the words she’d heard. “Seriously? But Doc’s been here for years. He delivered me. I thought he would deliver all my kids.”

“Contrary to popular belief, the man’s not immortal. He’s getting on up there. He needed a younger person to take over his practice, so I’ll be delivering all the babies. Is this Gracie? I saw from her records that she had a little jaundice when she was born. Let’s see how that light therapy worked. Come on in the back.” She’d spent the morning going over files and making sure she was ready for her appointments. It was a total about-face from her previous job, where she put out fires all day. Literally, sometimes. Now she was the one who would prevent the fires from happening at all.

Hallie took a step back, holding her baby close as though someone was going to snatch her. “I need to think about this. I don’t know anything about you. Is Doc here? Can I talk to him?”

“No. He went fishing.” He hadn’t mentioned that to her, either. He’d simply handed her the keys, laughed maniacally, to her mind, and driven away. He’d promised to sign every report he needed to with the state—provided she filled them all out for him. She had the number for a GP two parishes over who would oversee her if she needed help.