An Honest Kiss

Chapter 8

Rachel finished washing her hands and face. It had been a long and very busy day, they had managed to visit three villages, the last of which had a very small clinic run by two nurses. The five of them were staying the night with the nurses, and Rachel couldn't wait to go to sleep. What she needed most was sleep.

She looked at her tired eyes in the tiny cracked mirror and sighed at what she saw. Her face was pale and her eyes were bloodshot with deep circles under them. After her morning bout of tears she had quickly formed a headache that had stayed with her through the whole day.

She turned and moved towards one of the cots in the corner, wanting nothing more than to lie down and be alone.

"Are you all right Rachel? You look exhausted." Tina, a young redheaded nurse asked.

"Sure, just a busy day catching up with me."

"Well don't get to comfortable, it's time to eat. I know for a fact that they have cooked a chicken for your dinner this evening and to not eat would be rude."

Tina looked at herself in the small cracked mirror above the table in the room. "So how was it spending an entire day with Jack and Dr. Lancaster?"

"Exhausting, they worked me almost to death as you can tell."

"I must say it was nice to have someone fluent in French besides Jack. When Dr. Lancaster comes we spend most of our time as a translator instead of as a nurse. It was nice to not have to focus on both things this time. "

Rachel pushed herself off the cot. "I was glad I was able to help."

Tina led the way to the courtyard of the compound where they lived. There was a table with a lantern sitting in the middle and two long benches on either side of the table.

"Dinner by candlelight, how romantic." Paul whispered in her ear as they all sat at the table.

Rachel found herself sitting between Paul and Diana with Tina on the other side of Paul and across from her was Jack who was flanked by Dr. Lancaster and the other local nurse Lilly.

The photographer had only joined them for a few hours that day since he had brought his own vehicle and was staying at small hotel in the nearest town. Tomorrow they would be joining him.

Rachel still had a pounding headache so she stayed quiet for most of the meal listening to everyone discuss the day's patients. She couldn't help but muse that their dinner conversation would not be welcomed at many of the tables she had eaten at growing up. It was amazing what you could get used too.

"Do you find something about our conversation amusing Nurse Edwards?" Dr. Lancaster asked leaning forward as if she was totally interested in her thoughts.

"I was just thinking how impolite our conversation is for the dinner table, but that none of us seem to mind." She was thinking of Ava as she looked up and met Jack's eyes and Jack seemed to follow her train of thought as he smiled.

"Well let's change the subject then. Why don't we go around the table and all tell each other about ourselves. I'll start." Dr. Lancaster took a sip of her warm beer before launching into what was obviously a well-rehearsed spiel about why she became a doctor which included coming from a family of doctors ending up with her very long and detailed educational history. It was all said to make others feel as if they were lesser mortals.

"What about you Jack?" Tina asked when she had finished and no one made a comment.

"I'm afraid I'm not nearly as well educated as Nancy. Maybe that's why I hang out with her hoping some of it will rub off on me." He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.