Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “Well done, Sheriff,” she congratulated him with a faint smile. “Now, if you could just find a way to lock him in a cell and keep him from terrorizing the villagers, that’d be lovely,” Maggie added dryly, her eyes still glittering with anger when she glared at Ice.

  Zeke almost felt sorry for his elder brother. Older by a barely a year, he knew that his sibling was trying to look out for him, but he had all the tact of a half-naked whore in church. His sibling did look chastened, though, and for once he wasn’t eyeing Maggie with the disdain he usually did. Instead, his brother looked both perplexed and intrigued, and Zeke knew it wouldn’t be long before the man realized that he’d finally met his match in Margaret Winstead.

  “Maggie, my brother isn’t always the smoothest talker, but he does care about Honor, too. Deeply,” Zeke added with a look around the room at Honor’s family.

  “We know that, Zeke,” Patience declared with a sigh before she reached out to squeeze Ice’s shoulder. “Emotions are running high for everybody, and both Ice and Diego had their britches nearly scared off of them.”

  “She was so still,” Ice murmured, his eyes dropping to stare at the tiled floor. Finally looking up at his brother, Ice swallowed. “She’s yours, Zeke. Everybody knows that. But by being yours, that makes her part of mine, too. Today, for a few minutes, I wasn’t sure if she was gonna make it. Whether she did this to herself or not, she does need help,” he insisted, slowly looking around at each face in the room. “I don’t say that to be an asshole. I say it because I don’t want to lose her,” he explained as his eyes came to rest on Maggie’s face.

  “Then perhaps you should try saying that, Ice, and maybe the rest of us will stop fantasizing about stringing you up on the tallest tree we can find and watching your body swing.”

  Opening his mouth to intercede before Ice’s attitude could cause even more trouble, Zeke froze as the double metal doors opened and Cain Turner and Mack Daniels hurried toward the gathered family, followed closely by a third vaguely familiar man wearing a white coat. Not giving either man time to speak, Zeke immediately turned toward them and demanded, “Tell me she’s going to be okay.”

  Cain nodded as Mack lips pressed together in a tight line, and the man trailing behind them scoffed audibly.

  “I’d say Ms. McKinnon is a far cry from okay, Dr. Turner,” the white-headed man denied wryly, offering Cain a sidelong look. “In fact, as I stated before, I strongly question her mental competence at the moment and still maintain that she should be detained and involuntarily committed.”

  “And we told you to stick it up your ass,” Dr. Mackenzie Daniels stated sarcastically before Zeke could explode. “Obviously, you weren’t listening to anything we said either because we already told you that you aren’t Ms. McKinnon’s doctor.”

  “I’m the psychiatrist on staff and since Ms. McKinnon has no physician of record…”

  “Enough,” Zeke roared, slicing a hand through the air as his frantic gaze settled on Cain. “I wanna hear from Dr. Turner and Dr. Daniels right now on Honor’s condition,” he ordered, sparing the older doctor a scathing look.

  Unmoved, the psychiatrist shook his head. “And who, exactly, are you to the patient? None of Ms. McKinnon’s files indicate a spouse, Sheriff Monroe” he said, obviously connecting the badge on Zeke’s belt with the man that now stood in front of him. Zeke looked toward Mack and Cain for validation, but it was Orla that cleared the matter up for the shrink while Zeke’s eyes flashed dangerously.

  Moving to Zeke’s side, Orla huffed out an irritated breath. “He’s my niece’s medical proxy right along with me, Sawbones. I’m her aunt, and I should warn you that the McKinnon family doesn’t like it when doctors we don’t know start throwing around words like involuntary commitment.” Peering closer at the doctor, Orla gasped in outrage. “Wait a minute! We do know him, Zeke. This is the man that tried to have Honor committed when she was just a child,” she accused, pointing at the distinguished-looking man. “I can’t remember his name, but this is the one,” she continued, her eyes growing stormier the longer she looked at him.

  “That’s a good memory you have for an elderly woman, Mrs. McKinnon.”

  “Being old don’t make you stupid,” Orla retorted, her eyes narrowing at the physician’s condescending tone.

  “Yes, well, as you’ve said, we’ve met prior to this event. My name is Dr. Brantley, and I am familiar with Honor’s case.”

  “You were her doctor for five seconds eight years ago before we had you thrown off her medical team. That doesn’t make you familiar with jack shit,” Zeke growled protectively, glaring at the physician. He remembered this idiot in front of him just fine now. Arrogant and convinced his was God’s gift to medicine, Brantley had tried to take Honor from them once before by fighting to have her involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. They’d been fortunate that he had failed in his efforts. Sadly, it appeared this leopard hadn’t changed his spots and still seemed determined to have her put away like some escaped mental patient. Like hell, Zeke would allow that to happen. He’d shoot the bastard first. Honor might need help; that was true enough, but it wouldn’t come from this windbag.

  “On the contrary, perhaps, if you’d all listened to my concerns for the patient all those years ago and acted accordingly, this wouldn’t have happened today,” Brantley pointed out grimly, his fingers tightening on the file in his hand.

  “For the record, Dr. Brantley, we’re still not exactly sure what did happen today,” Cain disagreed sharply, his jaw clenching as Honor’s sisters gasped in outrage.

  Flipping open the file in his hand, Dr. Brantley’s head bent as he began to flick through the pages. “Well, let’s see what the lab says was found in her blood, shall we? Ah yes, here it is… high levels of Seconal were found in her blood stream.”

  “What the hell is Seconal?” Patience questioned sharply. “The bottle that Aunt Orla pulled out of her hand was for Fioracet that was prescribed for her headaches!”

  “That’s why we’re not sure what happened today,” Cain clarified evenly with a hard look at the psychiatrist.

  Shaking his head, Dr. Brantley smirked. “I’d offer that it’s only too clear what happened since there was no evidence of the medication Dr. Turner prescribed in Ms. McKinnon’s blood stream. I’d posit that Honor somehow got her hands on a fatal dose of Seconal and tried to end her life.”

  “And where the hell do you theorize that she scored these illicit drugs?” Abel asked angrily, crossing his arms over his chest as the McKinnon sisters fumed. “And be aware, I’m now speaking as Honor McKinnon’s attorney and any remarks that you make now might be repeated in a more judicial setting, Doctor,” Abel added, the threat in his deep voice clear and menacing.

  “I have no clue where the patient got the drugs. I DO know that a fatal amount was found in the bloodstream. I’d say the evidence that Miss McKinnon is unstable should be overwhelming.”

  “Yeah, well, you’d be wrong, Doc,” Zeke seethed. “Especially since someone already attempted to kill Honor once this year.” Looking at Cain and Mack, he asked sharply, “Have the rest of the pills in the bottle been checked?”

  Mack nodded. “They have. It appears that all of them were Seconal, Zeke. My guess? Somebody replaced the pills in Honor’s bottle with something a whole lot more dangerous than a migraine medication. Unfortunately, the pills look similar enough that she wouldn’t have known the difference just by glancing at them. She very probably would have thought she was just taking her normal medication. That’s my supposition, at any rate,” he informed the sheriff while throwing a disgusted look at the psychiatrist.

  “It’s mine as well,” Cain agreed, barely containing a snarl at the psychiatrist. “Dr. Brantley, however, is head of the psychiatric department, and he’s convinced that…”

  “… that Miss McKinnon is a threat to herself. I’d like to file a court order and have her involuntarily remanded into my custody for treatment.”

  �
�No.” Orla and Zeke’s flat denial was both unanimous and unwavering. “We won’t consent to it,” Zeke added firmly, his big body going stiff at the very idea of handing another man control of Honor’s future. Fuck that.

  “I don’t need your consent – just a judge’s signature,” Dr. Brantley shared indignantly. “Your badge hardly imbues you with enough clout to make that kind of informed, expert decision.”

  “Maybe not, but between myself and the McKinnon family, we’re friends with every single judge in this town. You’ll never get that order past the initial stages.”

  “Besides, this point is a dead issue anyway,” Maggie said haughtily as she leaned back in her chair, her trim legs crossed, “Honor already has a perfectly good psychiatrist with impeccable credentials.”

  “How do you know that?” Ice questioned doubtfully.

  “Because I care enough about myself now to only use the very best professionals available. I referred Honor to her myself just the other day,” Maggie informed him succinctly, shooting him a damning look.

  “What? There’s absolutely no record of that in her files,” Dr. Brantley sputtered, fanning through the pages of his file.

  “I’d imagine that’s because she’s a new patient. Mack knows her,” she said with a wink at Dr. Daniels. “If I’m not mistaken, he’s probably already given her a call,” Maggie continued smoothly, offering Mack an encouraging nod.

  “I have,” Mack Daniels confirmed as Zeke watch the other man lie seamlessly. “While you were evaluating Honor, I did, indeed, make that phone call.”

  “You never said…” Dr. Brantley blustered, obviously unhappy that someone had gone around his authority.

  “You never asked,” Mack returned, his voice cutting through the other man’s sanctimonious self-importance. “She should be here any minute now,” he informed the doctor with a bland smile before exchanging a look with Maggie.

  Zeke looked between Mack and Maggie, well aware that Honor had no such doctor. He wasn’t quite sure what the pair was up to but it was clear that it was to try and help his girl. He kept his mouth shut as he thought about how much Honor abhorred the very idea of being forced to talk about her feelings. She’d made it clear on more than one occasion that she’d prefer to be tortured. Of course, desperate times called for desperate measures and if his woman needed a shrink to get out of Dr. Brantley’s clutches, he’d deliver her to whoever Maggie and Mack had chosen with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.

  “May I ask who this so-called psychiatric physician is?” Dr. Brantley asked in a tone that was more order than request.

  “It’s my sister. Dr. Aubrey Daniels. She’s board certified and everything, Brantley, so you shouldn’t have any complaints there. In fact, her qualifications would rival yours, I suspect.”

  “Actually, my resume would win against his by a landslide, but then, Dr. Brantley already knows that my accomplishments rival his, Mack, since he offered a full throated protest against the hospital director for hiring me,” a composed feminine voice said from the doorway of the waiting room.

  Mack frowned as he turned his head toward Dr. Brantley. “So, you’re the asshat that’s been giving my baby sister such a hard time in her department, huh? That figures. A douche like you wouldn’t be able to handle a woman on staff being smarter than you, would he? A word to the not-so-wise, though,” he said, lowering his voice as he leaned toward the older man, “I wouldn’t screw with her too much. She’s from the big city, man. The kind with paved streets and Starbucks on every corner. She’s accustomed to eating dicks like you for dinner – especially when her patients are on the line.”

  From the corner of his eye, Zeke saw Aubrey’s lips twitch, and his shoulders relaxed slightly when the woman took another step toward their group. The new doctor might come in a pint-size package, but she was still Mack’s sister. And everybody in town knew that both Daniels’ doctors took no shit from anyone when it came to the well-being of their patients. If this woman had agreed to help Honor for Mack and Maggie’s benefit, then Honor would be in capable hands. Meeting Aubrey Daniels’ steady gaze when she focused it on him, Zeke heard the younger woman ask, “You and Mrs. Orla McKinnon are my patient’s medical proxies, correct, Sheriff?”

  “Yes,” Zeke replied quickly, bobbing his head. “We are.”

  “Wonderful. Do either of you desire the additional medical opinion of Dr. Brantley?” she questioned tersely, shifting her eyes between Orla and Zeke.

  “No,” each of them said in perfect unison.

  “Fabulous,” Aubrey returned, her smile becoming coolly confident as she turned to address the older psychiatrist. “As you’ve heard, your opinion has not been solicited by my patient’s next of kin. Ms. McKinnon possesses both a qualified physician and two rational proxies to make her decisions in the highly unlikely event that she can’t do it for herself. Your presence is no longer needed nor required, Dr. Brantley. Please allow them their privacy so that we may confer over Ms. McKinnon’s case and take your threats of an involuntary commitment with you. That won’t be happening here today or any day as long as I sit at the helm of my patient’s care plan. Commitment is an absolute last resort in my eyes and the eyes of most any practicing doctor in the area. Unless, there’s some ulterior motive that you’d like to share with all of us? Is there, Dr. Brantley, something else we should all know?”

  “W-well, no… there isn’t, but if the patient is suicidal…”

  “As you well know, given Ms. McKinnon’s history, we can’t automatically deem her as a suicidal risk. It’s a matter of public record that someone has tried to kill her in the past. If I know that after a few months in this town, I’m sure as a longtime resident of Paradise, you are aware of these facts as well, Dr. Brantley. Until she’s awake, conscious, and cognizant of her surroundings, and I can talk to her, NO medical professional can make that kind of judgment call. Last I heard, my patient is still mostly sedated due to the substances found in her system. Is that correct, Dr. Turner? Dr. Daniels?” she asked with a look toward Cain and Mack.

  “It is. When we walked out here, she was starting to come around, but…” Cain began.

  “What?” Zeke exploded as a wave of anger flooded him. “She’s alone back there? She’s coming out of a drug-induced fog and she’s by herself? Get the hell out of my way, Cain. I want to see her!” he roared as he started toward Cain.

  Cain threw his hands up. “Zeke, you know I’d never leave her alone. Calm down,” he urged the sheriff soothingly.

  “Millie is back there holding her hand, Zeke,” Dr. Daniels informed Zeke in a low voice. “You know my wife will gut punch anybody that even looks like they’ll upset Honor, including you. Take a beat and get a grip, man.”

  Hearing that Mack’s wife was at Honor’s side helped, but it certainly didn’t fix the issue, Zeke thought as he fought off another wave of irritation. He wanted to see the woman he loved, damn it. “I wanna see her, Cain.” Zeke repeated, his voice somewhat softer this time.

  “We all do,” Harmony added from somewhere behind Zeke’s shoulder.

  Holding up her hands before the McKinnon family could begin to riot, Aubrey shook her head. “Whether she attempted to commit suicide or not, the very worst thing any of you could do to Honor right now is overwhelm her. She’s going to be confused and disoriented when she wakes up. We need to all have a mind to that,” she added with a sidelong look at Dr. Brantley.

  “Well,” the older man said grumpily. “I can see I’m no longer needed here,” he admitted unhappily.

  “You most certainly are NOT!” Miss Orla hissed, her eyes shooting daggers at the interfering doctor. “My niece has a nice, qualified doctor that this family can trust, and I, for one, would be a lot more comfortable if you’d get gone already so that we can all gab freely with ‘er!”

  “Leave now before I call one of my deputies to escort you out,” Zeke growled, barely holding onto what was left of his patience.

  Leveling the newest Dr. D
aniels a nasty look, Dr. Brantley stormed off, disappearing back through the set of metal double doors. Waiting until those doors clanged behind him, Aubrey turned to face Honor McKinnon’s family. “Well, not that our unwelcome guest has departed, we need to actually make Honor my patient legally because I just lied through my teeth to Brantley. As you all probably know, I’ve never spoken to Honor outside the confines of her café. She’s a lovely woman, but I know very little about her other than what Mack’s shared. He gave me the abbreviated version of her history though so I think I’ve gotten the gist of things. Thanks for playing along,” she said with a grateful smile at Honor’s Aunt Orla.

  “We’re just thankful you showed up, child,” Aunt Orla said in a kindly voice. “And we’re real appreciative that you took a notion to help our Honor.”

  Aubrey offered the elderly woman a gracious smile as she showed them a standard-looking form. “If you and Zeke could just initial and sign the bottom of these forms, Honor will be a formal patient of mine and I can see about getting you back there to see her. And while I can promise that nobody will be committing her, I will need to speak with her myself. Hospital guidelines are clear on cases such as hers. Psychiatric evaluation is standard, and honestly, we need to know if Honor intentionally tried to harm herself.”

  “We understand, Doc,” Zeke returned as he hastily scribbled his name beneath Miss Orla’s shaky signature. “First, though…”

  “Excuse me?” a woman called as the metal doors to the bowels of the hospital slid open again. “Nurse Daniels sent me out here to ask if there’s a Zeke present. Miss McKinnon is calling for him. Nurse Daniels thought the patient might relax a bit if he was in the room with her. Miss McKinnon’s real groggy, but we’re making out his name plain as day.”

  Turning beseeching eyes toward Aubrey, Zeke’s hands balled into fists as he fought the urge to storm the emergency room.