With Autumn's Return (Westward Winds Book #3): A Novel by Amanda Cabot Page A

wrong, but I know you’re not. Everyone warned me this would not be easy.”
    As Jason shifted on the seat, the scent of his soap teased Elizabeth’s nostrils.
    “If you knew it would be difficult, why did you decide to become a physician?”
    Elizabeth took a deep breath, almost as startled by the question as she had been by Jason’s invitation to drive her home. Unlike her classmates, who had scoffed as they demanded why she thought she had the ability to become a doctor, he had asked what had driven her to her decision. That was a far different question. No one outside her family knew the story, but Elizabeth found herself wanting to share her reasons with Jason.
    “It probably sounds silly, but it started when I found a wounded bird. One of our neighbors’ cats caught it and ripped the poor thing’s wing.” Though she kept her voice even, Elizabeth had never forgotten the anguish she’d felt that day, and even now, she could feel her heart contract as she remembered the bird’s distress. “I scared the cat away, but then I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t bear watching the bird try to flap its wing, even though it couldn’t fly.”
    “Did you heal it?”
    Elizabeth shook her head. “I tried, but all I accomplishedwas frightening it even more. It died in my hands.” And no matter how many tears she had shed or how many prayers she had lifted to heaven, nothing had brought the sparrow back to life.
    “How old were you?”
    Once again, Jason sounded as though he really cared. This was the first time a man had taken a genuine interest in her calling. Not even Ethan and Barrett, her brothers-in-law, had made more than polite inquiries about her classes.
    “I was seven.”
    “Ouch.” Starlight provided enough illumination for Elizabeth to see Jason’s wince. “Even a small hurt is magnified at that age.”
    It was odd. No one had ever said that, and yet it was true. She’d been young enough to grieve but not old enough to know that she’d done the best she could. “I had better luck as I grew older. I was ten when the local doctor showed me how to splint my dog’s broken leg. When he was able to walk without a limp, I knew that healing wounds was what I wanted to do with my life.” And here she was, fourteen years later, a diploma in her hand. “What about you? What made you decide to be an attorney?”
    “My father’s housekeeper.” They had reached the four-block expanse of City Park. Slowing the horse even more, Jason began to guide the carriage around the perimeter. At this time of night, there were no pedestrians, but a few coaches had entered the curving paths of the park itself. “Mrs. Moran was always ordering me around,” he said, his voice sharp with remembered anger. “If I protested or asked why, she’d say it was the law. Eventually I decided to find out what the law really said. Before I knew it, I was hooked.”
    How different Jason’s upbringing had been from hers. Though her parents had always been in control, Elizabeth could not recall them issuing orders without explaining why they were needed. Sensing that the housekeeper’s dictatorial ways still bothered him, Elizabeth sought a way to make Jason laugh. “Hooked?” she asked. “Like a trout?”
    “Exactly.”
    “So the law is a worm?”
    Jason’s chuckle became a full-fledged laugh. “I should have known you’d have a memorable retort. Is that what they taught you in medical school, how to make people laugh?”
    “Hardly.” There had been precious little laughter in her classes. “That’s from having two older sisters. They were always bigger than me, so I tried to outwit them.”
    “Did it work?”
    “Not very often,” Elizabeth admitted. “They were, after all, still older than me, so they had a lot of ways to outsmart me. I tried, though.”
    “I had no chance with Mrs. Moran. My father made it clear that when he wasn’t around, she was in charge, and she never let me forget it.”
    As the sliver