Free The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes Page A

planes and angles of his face. Devastating to her lowered immune system—immunity to attraction to the opposite sex bolstered by her ambitions.
    She took an involuntary step backward and hugged her arms across her middle as though he carried something contagious. “I can’t help you, you know. I wish I could, but we midwives are bound by HIPAA laws just like any other medical professionals are.”
    “I understand that.” He reached behind him and rested one hand on the window frame of his SUV. “I was hoping Mrs. Tolliver might be able to get in touch with the patient and see if she would see me.”
    Ashley opened her mouth to ask what the reason was, but an enormous yawn took over. She clapped her hand to her lips and tried to hold her jaws rigid, a feat that made her eyes water. Sure she was going to melt with the heat of her mortification, she half turned away. “If you will please excuse me, it was a rough night for me.”
    “That makes two of us.” He settled into his vehicle and restarted the engine. “If you have a mind to look, the birth was thirty-two years ago. October first. The mother’s name was Brooks. Sheila Brooks.”
    Ashley snapped her head around, sending her braid swishing across her back. “What do you want with a Brooks?”
    His eyebrows, straight, dark, and thick without being caveman bushy, shot up his high forehead. “You know the Brookses?”
    “This is Brooks Ridge. Of course I know the Brookses. I know at least a hundred people by the name of Brooks—first and last.” And every one of them related to her somewhere on the family tree. “Though I can’t say I’ve ever encountered a Sheila Brooks.”
    “Then it’s just a matter of finding the right Brooks, isn’t it?” Flashing that stomach-dropping smile again, he nudged the SUV forward to come level with her and held out a business card. “My e-mail and cell numbers are on this. If you find out anything you can tell me, will you be so kind as to contact me? You, um, do have e-mail and cell service out here, don’t you?”
    “Why, yes sir, we do.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her tone. She might have even thickened her accent a tad. “And we even have running water and electricity.” She shoved the card into her pocket.
    She’d better get used to the DC snobbery and sense of superiority again if she wanted to return to attend medical school there—if she could get accepted to medical school there. The minute she opened her mouth, they would look at her askance until she proved herself capable of competing academically and socially.
    To give him credit, he ducked his head, his smile sheepish. “That was rude, wasn’t it?”
    “Just a little.” She relented. “But you have a name, why don’t you call her?”
    “I can’t find a listing anywhere, and when I tried to call back the number on my caller ID, I got some doctor’s answering service.”
    “Weird.” A wave of curiosity—and a few ripples of attraction washed through Ashley. “If I get a minute, I’ll see what I can find.” She faced him fully. “But may I ask why you are trying to find Sheila Brooks?”
    “You can ask.” He drummed his fingers—long, strong fingers—on his steering wheel and stared straight ahead out the window. “I have reason to believe she’s my mother and needs me to rescue my sister . . .” He took a deep, audible breath. “A mother and sister I didn’t even know I had.”
    “And your father’s name?” She posed the question slowly, hesitantly, already guessing the answer. More quickly she explained, “It might make finding information easier.”
    His face felt tight. “You’ll have to find my birth without that information. He apparently doesn’t exist.”
    H UNTER WATCHED A SHLEY Tolliver’s reaction to his announcement from the corner of his eye to see if it had any effect upon her demeanor—a bearing cooler than the mountain morning. He didn’t catch more than a swift motion, a raised eyebrow, a