Hot Blooded

to the kitchen, where she found
Mamma Louisa kneading bread dough.
    Without even looking up, the older woman said, "Hello,
chère
. I
suppose you're lookin' for me?"
    "Yes."
    "He know you're talkin' to me?"
    There was no point in asking who she meant. Jenny was well aware by now that
Mamma Louisa knew the identity of the loup-garou. "No. He says there's no point
in talking to you, that you've already refused to help him."
    Her head came up, eyebrows raised. "He said that?"
    She nodded.
    "Hmmph. Arrogant, know-it-all doctor, anyway." She made a fist and punched
the dough.
    "You mean you didn't refuse?"
    "I told him the truth. I can't remove the curse. Only one who can is the one
who put it on him in the first place. An' my great-grandma Celeste is long dead
by now."
    "Then there's no hope for him?"
    She draped a dishtowel over the ceramic bowl of bread dough and set it near a
window where the sun beamed through. Then she grabbed another towel to wipe the
dough and flour from her hands. "Always there is hope,
chère
. Your
doctor, he stomp away from me when I tell him I can't remove the curse. He
didn't ask what I
could
do. I figure he don't want my help—maybe don't
deserve it."
    Jenny felt hope spark in her heart. "Then there is something you can do?"
    "Don't know. Not until I try. Not gonna try until he apologize, and ask me
proper."
    "That's certainly reasonable."
    "Stubborn man don't seem to think so." She shrugged. "Even so, I don't know
if I can help him."
    "But you'll try?"
    "He apologize, I try. It's all I can do."
    "It's enough," Jenny said. "It has to be."
    Â 
    JENNY tried phoning Samuel three times, only to be told he was busy with
patients and unable to come to the phone. She finally drove to his office, but
one look at the packed waiting room was enough to deter that effort. It was
crowded with sniffling kids and wheezing elders and everything in between. She
was about to leave, when Samuel came out, spotted her and waved her closer.
    She wove her way through the waiting patients and wondered why it gave her
such a thrill to see him again. "I can see you're busy," she said. "I don't want
to interrupt."
    "I can take a minute." He smiled at her. "I knew you were here—felt you.
That's why I came out." Then he turned to the receptionist. "Sally, get Mrs.
Finny set up in room one and tell her I'll be in shortly." Taking Jenny's arm,
he led her into a hallway, all the way to the end, and then into a small room
where the desk was almost an afterthought to the comfy overstuffed chairs, table
and coffeemaker.
    She went in before him, but didn't sit, turning to face him instead. As soon
as he'd closed the door behind him, she said, "I deleted all my files. I'm not
going to pursue this. Not on a research level, at least."
    He frowned and studied her face. He looked a little bit wary. "But you
are
going to pursue it."
    "Not if you say no. But Samuel, I think I can help you. I spoke to Mamma
Louisa, and she—"
    "Mamma Louisa won't help me. I already told you that."
    She shook her head. "You asked her to cure you, not help you. And she told
you she couldn't, not that she wouldn't. There's a big difference between what
she said and what you heard."
    His frown deepened. "Did she tell you something different?"
    "Yes. She said that only Celeste could remove the curse, but that she might
be able to do something to help you."
    "Help me in what way?"
    "She didn't say. She's not even sure she can, but she's willing to try." She
shrugged. "
If
you will apologize for losing your temper with her, and
ask her nicely."
    He looked angry for a moment. Jenny put a hand on his shoulder. "Samuel,
she's not the one who put this curse on your family. You can't blame her for
that any more than she can blame you for what your great-grandfather did to
Alana DuVal."
    His face eased slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And I did stomp off in a
huff when she said she couldn't help me. Haven't spoken to her since." He
grimaced. "That was two years ago."
    "It's time to let that go. Make amends, if nothing more."
    "All right." He sighed. "Jenny, I've been thinking… about what I said before,
about not wanting a cure." He turned away from her, pushing a hand through his
hair. "I want to keep seeing you. I want—I want you in my life. Somehow. And if
giving this thing up is what it takes to make that happen, I'll do it."
    She smiled a little. "You'd do that for me?"
    He