by Candace Shaw
*****
An hour later, Armand rested his head against the elevator wall as he thought about his situation with Raven. While he understood her side, he didn’t care. He loved her and would find a way for them to be together. When the elevator door opened, he made a beeline for Raven’s apartment.
“Dr. Phillips,” a female voice called out just as he raised his fist to knock.
He turned to see Stacy, one of the receptionists, coming toward him. He wasn’t in the mood for a conversation with her. He needed to talk to Raven.
“Yes, Stacy?”
“Dr. Arrington isn’t here. I just checked her out about thirty minutes ago,” she explained with a shrug.
His heart muscles tightened, but he kept his composure and remained professional. “Checked out?”
“Yes. She changed her flight to a red-eye. She said she could just sleep on the plane. I think Dr. Arrington was homesick. She looked so sad,” Stacy stated in a sincere tone. “So Kay took her to the airport.”
He nodded, trying not to hit the wall. “Good. Good. Thank you, Stacy.”
Fifteen minutes later, Armand was on the road speeding to the airport. He couldn’t believe she’d actually changed her flight to avoid saying goodbye to him.
When he arrived, his eyes scanned the check-in area. She couldn’t have gotten further than that, not the way he was driving like a mad man. When his eyes spotted her, she must’ve sensed his gaze. She turned in his direction, and her expression resembled a deer in the headlights. He immediately moved the few feet to approach her in the check-in line before she went through customs. He’d made it just in time.
“Really? You were just going to leave without saying goodbye?”
“I was trying to,” she said sarcastically, “but here you are.”
“Just so you know, this isn’t over.” He tenderly cupped her face. “I’m coming for you. So be ready.” Kissing her deeply, he showed no mercy so that she would understand he meant what he’d said. He wasn’t letting her go.
A few people around them in line cheered and whistled.
“Armand … I—”
“We will see each other again. I’ll make sure of that.” He kissed her forehead and stepped back since she was next in line. After she checked in, she turned to look at him with sadness etched on her face. Finally, she walked toward the security point and disappeared with his heart.
Chapter Eleven
Raven scanned through decorations for Yasmine’s upcoming baby shower. The parents-to-be had opted not to know the sex of the baby. However, Raven knew because she saw it on the screen at the five-month check up. They were decorating the nursery in yellow and green, and Yasmine wanted the baby shower to have the same colors as well. If she knew the sex of the baby, Raven was sure that Yasmine would decorate the nursery in all different shades of pink.
“So what do you think about the shower games that I selected?” Raven asked Bria and Shelbi. The sisters were relaxing at Raven’s home in the living room, eating appetizers and drinking wine.
Bria wrinkled her brow. “I like them all except the change the diaper one. Do we really have to use candy bars?”
Shelbi laughed. “Mmmm … .no, let’s not actually place anything in the diapers.”
“Well what fun is it going to be if they’re just dry diapers? Babies don’t have dry diapers. You should know, Bria.”
“Exactly. I really do know and it’s not cute at all, which is why when his father is home, he has diaper duty.”
“You should’ve brought the little munchkin with you tonight so I could pinch his chubby cheeks,” Shelbi said, popping one of the mini empanadas Raven made into her mouth. “Girl, these things are so good. Glad you’re back.”
Raven had been home for a little over a month, and for the most part settled into her usual routine. Armand had called several times for the first month, but she ignored all of his phone calls, and was glad when they eventually ceased. While she loved and missed him, she truly hoped that he would find someone to settle down with and give him a family. He would make a wonderful husband and be an outstanding father to his children. Unfortunately, it just couldn’t be her.
“I’m glad to be home, too. I missed you all so much.”
“Well, I still think it was terrific of you to step up to the plate and help Cannon on such short notice,” Bria stated. “We’re glad you’re home, even though you seem different.”
“Different?” Raven asked with a smirk. “I haven’t changed.”
Shelbi sarcastically laughed. “Oh, we know, but …” she stated, cocking her head to the side. She wore the same puzzled expression that Cannon had when they Skyped while Raven was in Argentina. “You just have a glow about you.”
Bria nodded. “I’ve noticed the same thing.”
Shelbi stood and jumped up and down. “Oh my goodness! You did what I suggested, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” Oh no.
Shelbi stood over Raven, who was sitting on the floor and slowly sipping her wine. “You know what I’m talking about. Before you left I told you to have a fling with an Argentine hunk.”
“Mmmmm … oh really?” Bria asked. “You do look like you’ve had some between the sheets. You’re less uptight.”
Between sheets, on the floor, in the exam room, on a sequoia tree. Oh yes, I’ve gotten plenty.
“Come on, now. I was busy all day at the medical facility. It’s not like working at the practice. You live where you work, so if there’s an emergency you ride the elevator downstairs and you’re there. I rarely left except to eat empanadas at the bakery across the street, or go to the orphanage.”
“Oh. So you kept it local. He was in Ghilaua? Was he the owner of the bakery you were frequenting? Is that why you can make these so well?” Bria asked, pointing to the plate of empanadas. “He gave you his recipe along with other things …”
Shelbi sat down next to Raven. “Mmmm hmmm. Big sister is blushing.”
“I’m not blushing” Raven ran her hands through her hair. “I didn’t do anything with anyone. I’m just … in a new place. After Howard died, I was miserable.” She glanced at the picture of him in his police uniform on the fireplace mantle. “However, going away for a few months and doing something out of my ordinary routine did wonders for me.”
Shelbi smacked her lips and grabbed her glass of wine. “Okay … we’ll let you slide this time. We just want you to be happy, big sis,” she said sincerely.
“You two are wonderful and crazy. It’s good to be home.” Sahara jumped onto her owner’s lap, and Raven gave the dog an affectionate rub before she scurried away.
Bria joined them on the floor. “Just out of curiosity. Would you tell us if you had a fling with an Argentine hunk?”
Raven giggled and downed the rest of her wine. “Nope.”
*****
“Are you sure, Maria?” Armand asked as he sat on the phone in his office late one afternoon.
“Yes. I’m not saying I’m going through with it, but the couple only wants Isabella and one other girl. You know I would never separate Isabella from Israel. However, they see children coming and going all of the time because of it, and I would hate for the twins to still be here years from now. They’ve been with me for almost three years already.”
“Well, what did they say about Israel?” Armand wanted to throw something across the room. He glanced at his tablet and decided that wasn’t a great idea.
She let out a frustrated groan. “I’ve already told you. They said they’d think about it, but if they didn’t adopt him they would make sure the children would still be able to see each other whenever they wanted.”
“I guess that’s all day long then. They’re twins. They don’t like being separated, and you know Israel feels protective over his sister.”
“I’m well aware of that, Dr. Phillips. As of now, they’re only filling out their application for Tia. I told them I’d have to think about Isabella, which is why I called
you.”
He sighed. This day was going downhill with every phone call. “Thank you. Let me look into something, and I’ll call you within the next few days. Please, don’t do anything drastic, Maria.”
“I won’t.”
Contemplating, Armand tapped his fingers on his desk. He was supposed to let the Doctors Unlimited board know his decision about helping with the new facility in Chile. If he accepted the job, he’d begin working there next month. However, he no longer wanted the position. He wanted something else … or rather, someone else.
The wheels in his head had already been spinning but now they were out of control.
Armand glanced at the clock and thought about the time difference in Memphis. Cannon had called him earlier about the Chile facility, and other proposals they’d been discussing over the past few weeks. Picking up his phone, he called his boss.
*****
“Aww … look at the cute little booties,” Yasmine said, holding up five pairs of booties for the ladies to see. They were at Yasmine and Cannon’s home for the surprise baby shower luncheon. Cannon thought it would be a good idea to have it there, that way when he returned home from his round of golf with Sean and their father, he could simply carry the gifts upstairs to the nursery. It would save him the trouble of having to load his car, and then bring everything into the home.
Raven pushed over a heavy box, along with Yasmine’s best friend, Sherika Williams-Winters, who’d flown in from Madrid, Spain as a surprise. She’d moved there with her husband, Douglas, after their wedding last summer.
“Okay, here’s the last gift,” Raven said. “It’s from me.”
“Oh my!” Yasmine’s face lit up with recognition. “This is a huge box, ladies. I wonder what it could be.” She winked at Raven and proceeded to rip the Winnie the Pooh wrapping paper off to expose the playpen she’d wanted. “This is perfect! Thank you, sis.”
“You’re very welcome. I saw you eyeballing it the other day when we were at Babies R Us. I was surprised you didn’t add it to your registry.” She had some other gifts for her, but because it was things for a little girl, Raven was going to give them to Yasmine once she brought the baby home from the hospital.
Yasmine stood with her huge six month baby bump garnering all of the attention underneath a flowing lavender dress. “Ladies, thank you so much for all of these wonderful gifts. I want to give a special thank you to my sister-in-laws, Bria, Shelbi, and Raven, for throwing me this wonderful surprise shower. Since I’m an only child, I feel truly blessed to have gained sisters when I married Cannon. Love you ladies more than you know. I’m especially happy that my best friend, Sherika, who has been my sister since fifth grade, has flown to the States for this special day.”
“Girl, of course,” Sherika replied, rubbing Yasmine’s belly. “Where else would I be?”
A numbing pain shot through Raven’s stomach at the gesture. While she definitely no longer wanted to carry a child, she still longed to be a mother. Adopting apparently was out of the question, even though at one point she did consider the possibility of doing an overseas adoption, especially when she was at Maria’s orphanage. The idea had bounced back and forth in her head for a while, and she had begun some research on the Internet about adopting babies in Brazil and Chile. However, the idea of having to take care of a newborn and decorating a nursery at this point in her life made her a little queasy.
After Yasmine and Cannon’s mothers made their speeches, all of the invited guests retreated to the dining room to partake of the food that had been catered by Justin’s restaurant.
Raven had just finished making her plate when her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She really hoped it wasn’t the hospital; she was on call for the weekend, and had a few patients who were due any day now. She glanced at the caller ID, and in a way hoped it was Armand. She longed to hear his voice in her ear saying her name in the sexy, breezy way he always did, as if it was the most important word in the world to him. It had been a month since he’d last called without her answering. While she was glad he’d moved on, she missed him and what they had very much. Alas, it was not him calling. It was Cannon.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, heading toward the nearest room from the dining room, which was his office. She opened and shut the door quickly, sliding on to the leather couch and setting the plate on the coffee table. It reminded her of the first time she ate dinner at Armand’s apartment. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
“I wanted to see how everything was going?”
“It’s going well. Yasmine received some really nice presents for the baby.”
“Good. We just finished playing golf and hanging out at the clubhouse with Dr. Braxton. Trying to gauge when the shindig will be over with.”
“We just started eating lunch, but we’ve played most of the games and opened the gifts. Um … maybe another hour or two.”
“All right. One more question. You know Mom pretty much only works one or two days a week now that she loves babysitting Rasheed Jr. for Bria, and we’ve gone back and forth about hiring a primary care physician. We really need to, Raven.”
“I know. Are you thinking about Garrett Braxton?” He was definitely a likely candidate. Having graduated from medical school with Sean, he was a good friend of the Arrington family. Garrett had his own small practice with another primary care doctor, but there had been talks of a possible merger with Arrington Family Specialists.
“Yes, he’s on the short list of possible candidates. He has Sean’s vote, since that’s his best friend, and I have some other people in mind.”
“You just wanted to put that bug in my ear, right?”
“Of course, baby sister.”
“Cannon, for the millionth time, you’re only older by two minutes. In fact, I think it’s only one minute and thirty something seconds. I’m sure you have the birth certificate somewhere in this office.”
“You’re in my office?”
“I’m leaving in a sec, but I agree we should hire someone soon. Mom and Dad’s retirement celebration is in May. I have a feeling after that they aren’t coming back to work any days of the week, especially with your bundle of joy coming in June. You know they’re excited about having more grandchildren.”
“Children are a blessing.” He paused, and when he spoke, there was a slight hesitation in his voice. “Rave?”
“What?” His words kept playing in her head, and her heart ached at the thought of never knowing.
“Are you still looking at adoption options?” While no one in the family, except for their mother, knew about Raven’s miscarriage and subsequent early menopause, the siblings were aware of her trying to adopt at one point. However, Raven suspected that Cannon knew something.
“I’m contemplating some things, but let’s worry about the practice right now.”
“I can worry about the practice for both of us. You just do what you need to do. I owe you big time. Oh, speaking of which—”
“Wait, I have another call,” she said, glancing at her cell phone’s caller ID. “Drat. It’s the hospital. Baby time. Gotta go.”
“We’ll talk later.”
After hanging up with the hospital attendant, Raven exited Cannon’s office and stopped by the kitchen. The catering staff was there, and she asked if they could wrap her food to go.
“Where are you going?” Dr. Darla Chase-Arrington, the matriarch of the Arrington family, asked. She was seated at the kitchen table with Yasmine’s mother, Emma Dubose.
“Hospital. Mrs. Nixon’s baby boy is coming. I just need to change into my scrubs and head on out.”
“I hate that you have to leave,” Darla said. “I love having all of my girls with me.”
Raven bent down and kissed her mother’s flawless cocoa cheek. At age sixty-five, Dr. Darla, as her patients called her, was Raven’s other twin. They had the same brown curls—except Darla’s was now laced with gray that she didn’t want to dye—and the same pleasant smile. Cannon was the spi
tting image of their father, as well as the same personality traits.
“I know you do, Mom, but I’ll try to come back. Or, I can stop by your home later in between deliveries. St. Francis Hospital isn’t too far from Germantown.”
“That would be wonderful. Then you can see how well my orchids are growing and some other projects I’m working on.” Since semi-retirement, Darla had begun taking gardening classes at the local botanical garden. It had always been a hobby of hers, but now she had more time.
“That sounds like a plan. See you later.” Raven kissed Yasmine’s mother on the cheek. “Great seeing you again.”
Two hours later, Raven sat in the hospital break room, finally eating her lunch from the shower. She had delivered Mrs. Nixon’s baby, but was sticking around and waiting for another patient whose water had broken with contractions every five minutes. She laughed silently and bit into a chicken salad croissant sandwich. How did she think she was going to attempt to adopt again when she was never home to raise the child in the first place? Sometimes, she had to call one of her siblings to feed and let Sahara out. Even if she was able to adopt a baby from a foreign country, she would definitely need a full-time nanny, but she was willing to cut back on her hours as well. She could always take less on-call shifts, but as of now she did so because she preferred to deliver her own patient’s babies. She had friends who were Ob-Gyns with children, but they had husbands, or at least the father was in the picture to help out. She didn’t even have that.
Raven cringed as her cell phone rang. It was baby time again.
*****
“Oh wow, Mom. These are beautiful.” Raven and her mother were in the greenhouse of the Arrington estate where Darla had begun repotting some plants, as well as growing seedlings from different flowers to plant in her garden in the spring.
“I’m learning so much from my classes,” Darla said, gently pressing the soil around a lily that she’d transferred from the nursery container. “I’m really enjoying the orchid one. You remember the young lady that helped me do all of the gardens last year? It was before we had the first cook out of the year.”
