Free Vivid by Beverly Jenkins

thinking how exciting it must be to live that
way."
    "Go on," Nate said.
    "Well, a few days after the constable
incident I slipped away from my father at the wharf and went off in search of
the children. I found them living in an old shack not far from the market and I
asked if I could join. They were suspicious of course, but I gave the leader
the gold crucifix I had around my neck and I was allowed in. Of course, I was
caught the first time I tried to cut a purse, and what made matters even worse,
the pocket I'd tried to pick belonged to the sexton at my church. He marched me
right over to my father, who had been frantically searching the wharf for
me."
    "What did your father do?"
    "After he kissed me for being alive,
he listened to the sexton's story and took me home."
    "And?"
    "And gave me over to my mother. He
told me later he was too angry to punish me the way he thought I deserved, and
he didn't want to injure me."
    "In other words he wanted to whip the
tar out of you?"
    "Exactly. So my mother did it
instead. I'd done some dangerous and stupid things in my short life until then,
but that was the topper. My mother lectured me for weeks afterward on
responsibility and perceptions and being an example for the race. But it was my
father's disappointment that hurt me more than anything else, and I never did
anything even remotely similar again."
    “Do your people call you Viveca?''
    "No, they call me Vivid."
    "Why?"
    "Viveca was hard for my sisters to
pronounce when we were all small. Closest my sister Jess could come was Vivid.
My father says Vivid also defines my personality. My mother prefers Viveca,
however." Vivid looked over at Nate Grayson and wondered if maybe she'd
said too much. He could certainly use the information she'd just volunteered
against her even though he had promised her the job on a trial basis. Her
mother often faulted her for being so open about personal matters. As she'd
gotten older Vivid had curbed the practice to some extent, but it was a habit
she still found hard to break completely.
    "Anything else I should know?"
    "Whether you believe it or not, I'm
accustomed to hard work.
    He appeared skeptical. "And what do
you consider hard work?"
    "I've put up fences, cleared
brush."
    "Cleared brush?"
    Vivid nodded. "Yes, my abuela —"
    "Abuela?"
    "My grandmother has a large ranch
down by the Mexican border. My sisters and I would visit her in the summers
sometimes. We'd help her and her vaqueros clear brush, repair fences. We even
helped at round up one year, and each of us took a turn at branding
cattle."
    "You've branded cattle?"
    "Only once. The vaqueros swore to me
the cattle didn't feel the brand, but after I smelled the burned hide and saw
the terror in the poor animal's eyes, I didn't believe them and I never did it
again."
    Nate found her tales so amazing he didn't
know whether to believe them or not. Women branding cattle, and what in the
hell was a vaquero? If all she said was true, he realized he was only
beginning to understand just how vivid this woman truly was. However, he was
still convinced she would not stay.
    "Mr. Grayson, I admit I am not
conventional by anyone's definition, but if you judge me on the kind of medicine
I practice, the rest shouldn't matter. And who knows, we may even become
friends."
    "Anything is possible."
    "Yes, it is."
    He stood then and pushed the chair under
the desk. "I should be getting back."
    "I thank you for affording me the
opportunity to stay, especially when you don't believe in my ability."
    Nate looked into her eyes. There was no
guile in this female. She laid her cards right on the table. "You always
this straightforward?"
    "A good physician goes to the heart
of the matter," she replied. "And I've learned men respect frankness,
even when they don't respect me as a physician or a woman."
    "Touché," he said.
    "You misunderstood me. I wasn't being
catty, Mr. Grayson, simply truthful."
    Nate had to admit there was more to the
doctor than he first