Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Stepping off the plane, Addaline Walker was glad to be home! Spending the last two years in the jungles of Guatemala was one of the best experiences of her life. The high mountain region did not have access to many of the modern conveniences she had grown up taking for granted. The first time she saw a hole in the floor where a commode should be, she almost died of embarrassment. Her guide figured out quickly she did not take advantage of the facilities, what little there were, when he was forced to stop an hour later so she could find someplace in the rain forest to attend to her business. She knew the shock on her face was evident as he told her in broken English to be careful of the snakes.

Over the next few months, Addie had forged a bond and friendship with not only the locals, but also her colleagues who became a family to her. It wasn’t easy, at first the villagers living in the remote mountain region did not trust a woman doctor, it had taken them years to trust the male doctors and now they were asked to respect a woman. It was difficult for some of the elders to accept her and always looked to the male doctors for confirmation.

It took the illness of a small boy to gain their acceptance. Addie didn’t leave his side for three days. When he finally came to, everyone in the area knew she would do anything to save her patients and they finally trusted her.

Addie would miss them most of all. She considered extending her contract and staying an additional year, but after Sam left she really needed to put the past behind her and move on.

Hitting it off with Dr. Sam Forester was not the easiest thing to do. He was tall, handsome and the cockiest man she’d ever met. They worked closely together and for that first year, they argued more than anything. Sometimes it seemed like he was arguing just to argue. It could be over the specific needs of a patient, the way she made the coffee, her driving (which he continued to harass her about until he returned stateside). It was finally the fight about how she always pulled her hair back that she realized that he might have feelings for her. But, now those feelings were gone. Heart broken, he left her humiliated and confused. His final act of betrayal came the night before he left when she walked into a storage unit expecting to finally come to terms with their relationship and finding him in the arms of someone else. Unfortunately, that someone happened to be a nurse who had no feelings for him at all.

She slowly turned and walked out that night, never saying a word to anyone. Not even Sam the next day as she drove him to the airport four hours away. When he kissed her goodbye a part of her heart broke, he was still after only one thing. Now, six months later, he was in Seattle setting up his practice, and she was back in Atlanta about to join her father in his already established pediatrics practice. Sam had not contacted her once in those six months. Good riddance, she thought to herself.

Stepping off the escalators that brought her from customs, Addie knew she was home. People jostled around her fighting to be the first to see their loved ones. Pushing and bumping seemed like a contact sport for some. But she didn’t mind, it had been too long since she had seen her parents and nothing, not even the smelly heavyset man she sat next to for six hours on a plane could stop her now. Dragging behind her the luggage her parents had bought for her two years ago, a little less pastel yellow and a little more dirt smeared and tattered she followed the crowd to the hugs and tears section of the airport. She could now see the invisible line where passengers became the long lost family members drawn into their families embrace.

The soldiers that were now coming home were greeted with loud applause from people they had never met. Thanking them for their service. This made Addie smile.