“I’m sure his family was proud.”

They strolled down the road and turned left onto a friendly looking, tree-lined street. Sherry noticed a huge old white house with a wide porch and dark green shutters and guessed it must be the clinic.

“Doc Lindsey’s going to be mighty glad to meet you,” the mayor was saying as he held open the gate of the white picket fence. “He’s been waiting a good long while for this. Yes, indeed. A good long while.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting him, too,” Sherry said politely. And it was true. She’d spent the past two years going to school part-time in order to train for this job. She was excited about beginning her new responsibilities. But not quite yet. She did want to visit Norah first.

She preceded the mayor up the porch steps to the screen door. He opened it for her, and led her inside, past a middle-aged receptionist who called out a cordial greeting.

“Doc’s in, isn’t he?” Dan asked over his shoulder without stopping to hear the reply.

Apparently, whether or not Doc was with a patient was of no concern to Pepper’s duly elected mayor. Clasping her by the elbow, he knocked loudly on a polished oak door and let himself in.

An older white-haired man was sitting in a comfortable-looking office chair, his feet propped on the corner of a scarred desk. His mouth was wide open; his head had fallen back. A strangled sound came from his throat, and it took Sherry a moment to realize he was snoring.

“Doc,” Dan said loudly. “I brought someone for you to meet.” When the old man didn’t respond, Dan said it again, only louder.

“I think we should let him sleep,” Sherry whispered.

“Nonsense. He’ll be madder’n blazes if he misses meeting you.”

Whereas the shouting hadn’t interrupted Don Lindsey’s nap, Sherry’s soft voice did. He dropped his feet and straightened, blinking at Sherry as if she were an apparition.

“Who in tarnation are you?”

“Sherry Waterman,” she said. “Mayor Bowie wanted us to meet.”

“What ails you?”

“I’m in perfect health.”

“She’s that gal we hired from Or-ee-gon.”

“Why in heaven’s name didn’t you say so?” Doc Lindsey boomed, vaulting to his feet with the energy of a man twenty years younger. “About time you got here.”

“I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding….” Sherry began, but neither man was listening. Doc slapped the mayor on the back, reached behind the door for his fishing pole and announced he’d be back at the end of the week.

He paused on his way out of the office. “Ellie Johnson’s baby is due anytime now, but you won’t have any problem with that. More’n likely I’ll be back long before she goes into labor. She was two weeks late with her first one.”

“Don’t you worry,” the mayor said, following Doc out the door. “I heard Sherry tell Donna Jo she’s a midwife, too.”

Doc shook hands with the mayor and chortled happily. “You outdid yourself this time, Danny-boy. See you in a week.”