by Lund, S. E.
"Call Michael and ask for your job back," I said and squeezed his hand. "We haven't even gone on safari together yet. We haven't slept out under the stars like I wanted us to."
"He may hate me," Drake said, humor in his voice. "He called in a locum tenens to help take on my caseload, and he was going to teach my classes himself."
"Then, I'm sure he'll be glad to hear you're staying."
Drake squeezed me again, his face in the crook of my neck, his breath warm on my skin.
"What will I tell him?'
I laughed, and took in a deep breath. "Tell him you were temporarily insane but that you recovered your senses."
Drake sighed. "I guess I'll have to go in and stop the wrecking crew. Luckily, they haven't even started dismantling the kitchen."
"They'll all hate me," I said, not looking forward to having to face any of the residents.
"Nonsense," Drake said, smiling. "They'll be happy I'm staying. Besides, what the hell do we care what anyone thinks? It's what we think that matters."
"Will Michael give you your job back?"
Drake kissed my cheek. "The locum will want to keep a caseload so he'll get his salary, but I'm sure Michael will be glad that I'll take the classes back. I'll help Michael out where he needs me. It'll be fine. We'll stay and with the locum in place, I won't be nearly as busy."
We sat with our arms around each other and enjoyed the connection. After a few moments, Drake took out his cell and called Michael. He put the phone on speaker and had a smile on his face.
"Hey, boss," he said, humor in his voice. "Is there any chance you can rip up my letter of resignation?"
"What?" Michael said, his voice sounding shocked. "What happened? Why?"
"Kate came back and surprised me and she wants us to stay. So," Drake said, smiling at me, a finger touching my bottom lip. "Can I have my job back?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course you can!" Michael said, relief evident in his voice. "I was dreading having to take over your classes. The students would be so disappointed to have an old geezer like me for their instructor instead of you. But Wangai will want to keep the locum. You won't have any OR time unless you want to help me out. I'm sure we can find plenty for you to do."
They spoke for a while about logistics and when they were finished, Drake took my hand and pull me to the house.
“Wait here,” he said. I stood on the front step and waited, wondering what he was going to do. In a moment, he appeared with Sam and closed the door behind him.
He came to my side and slipped his arm around my waist.
“Sam, Kate told me what you said to her. I want you to understand that Kate is perfect for me. I’m in love with her and she is with me. We’re getting married. We’re very happy.”
Sam stood there, her face getting redder and redder by the second.
She turned back to the door without a word and went inside. Drake turned to me and shrugged.
“She had to hear it.”
Then Sam came back outside, her bag in her hand and stomped down the sidewalk to her car.
When she drove off, Drake turned to me and exhaled heavily. "I can relax," he said, grinning. "Now that there's no fear you two will get into a catfight, although I must confess there's a little part of me that would have enjoyed it."
I laughed and slipped my arms around his waist.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Drake said, nuzzling my neck. “I hope once you’re wearing my ring that people will stop trying to meddle in our lives.”
“Me took.” I kissed him. “Thank you for confronting her. I don’t want any more uncomfortable moments like that. I don’t think I could survive another one.”
He smiled and led me inside to make the announcement that we were staying. The remaining students whooped out loud when they heard, then clapped, obviously happy that Drake was staying.
"I'll order pizza," he said to them. "Do they even make pizza in Nairobi?"
The students laughed and what had started as an afternoon to help Drake pack up our home's contents turned into a party of sorts, to unpack the contents again and celebrate Drake's change in plans. The students didn't even seem to mind, especially once Drake brought out the beer from the fridge.
After the students left, Drake and I were alone in the middle of the living room, breaking down the boxes the moving company had provided. The beer and pizza had been consumed, and all that was left was a bottle of Anisovaya that Drake had special ordered from a liquor store in Nairobi. I sat on the couch beside him, nestled against his body, and we toasted each other before shooting back the vodka, the sweet taste of anise so familiar and bringing back so many good memories.
"I had an interesting experience when I got back to the city," Drake said, his voice sounding conspiratorial. "I happened upon Claire and Sam having lunch together. Claire was Den Mother to the residents at the hospital, but I didn’t realize she and Sam were especially close. One of the OR nurses and I got to talking about office politics. Seems Claire and Sam became pretty good friends when Sam was here before. Apparently, Claire wanted Sam and me to get together and wasn't happy when we broke up. In fact, Claire said something to Sam even before she got back from the safari. Sam seemed to think you and I would break up."
"I knew it," I said, a shock going through me. "I mean, I didn't know it, but I felt something was off with Claire."
Drake nodded. "She called me and left a message on voicemail wondering if I had received her text about you and Sefton. I texted her back saying that I had, that I had spoken with you and cleared everything up. It was all a misunderstanding. She never responded."
"Do you suppose Sam told Claire about your lifestyle?"
"If they know, neither Michael nor Claire said anything." Drake shrugged. He said nothing for a long time, staring off into space. His jaw was clenched and a muscle in it flexed.
I kissed his jaw. "She wanted you to be with Sam instead of me."
Drake exhaled. "Too bad for her then," Drake said and turned to face me. "I'm glad you're not in medicine. It would drive me crazy to come home to more of the same. Neurosurgery is intense and I need to escape. I escape into you."
He kissed me, his hands on either side of my face.
When he pulled back, he wrapped his arms more tightly around me.
"I haven't found my passion yet," I said, remembering how Sefton had made me doubt my art.
"Not painting?"
I shrugged. "I have to rethink what I'm doing."
He caught my eye, frowning. "Don’t let Sefton undermine your confidence. Both your teachers asked you to be in the Master Class. That's a huge compliment. Obviously, you have talent."
"Talent isn't enough. You have to have a voice."
"Kate, forget all that mumbo jumbo Sefton said. All that really matters is that you love what you do. You looked so happy that day I saw you in the studio after a long day painting. I think you have found your passion. You have to let yourself enjoy it and don't let what others think affect you. You can't ever really know what other people are thinking. You can only know yourself and how you feel. That's what matters."
We sat in silence for a long time, enjoying the silence but I couldn't escape the notion that what other people thought about you did matter. My gut tight at the thought that people – especially Claire and Michael – might know about our lifestyle. It shouldn't matter, but people could be so small and judgmental.
"How will Claire knowing about us affect your relationship with her and Michael?"
Drake took in a deep breath. "I'll wait and see if she does or says anything else. But maybe from now on, turn down her requests to go out or do anything."
"But what about going on safari? She said she and Michael would arrange something for the four of us. Should we refuse to go with them?"
Drake shook his head. "I don't want my friendship with Michael to be strained, so I'd be willing to go on safari with them, but don't get too friendly with her, in case she really is that manipula
tive."
I nodded. In truth, I didn't really want to spend time with her, especially if she knew about Drake and was gossiping to anyone about us.
But it did all finally make sense to me – Claire so willing to dole out motherly advice to me about my relationship with Drake, warning me to get my own life, keep busy, always talking about how often Drake would be away. She even seemed to push me together with Sefton…
"She was trying to break us up," I said finally. Looking back over everything, it was as clear to me. Claire wanted Drake to be with Sam – a fellow surgeon, not some grad-student artist wannabe. "She always said these things that made me feel insecure about our relationship. I took it as friendly advice from someone with experience, but now that I think of it, I think she was laying a foundation of doubt in me."
"I still can't believe it," Drake said, his voice sounding hurt. "I hope Michael wasn’t part of this. I don’t believe he'd go along with it, but still… to be so unaware of what your spouse is doing."
"You said he's very busy."
He shrugged. "I'm glad you're here," he said and pulled me onto his lap. "We were each thinking the same thing, not wanting to be separated any longer."
"We were," I said and smiled, my throat choking a bit. I nestled my face in the crook of his neck, warmth for him flooding through my body. Then I pulled back. "What were you and my father talking about before you left?" I said, looking into his eyes. "I asked him but he wouldn't tell me. He told me to ask you."
Drake smiled, his expression thoughtful. "I told him," he said, speaking slowly as if he were trying to compose his response. "I told him to make sure and get better because he was like the father I wished I'd had and I didn't want to lose him, too."
A surge of emotion filled me. "What did he say?"
"He said that I was like a second son to him. He admired my father, loved him like a brother. He saw a lot of Liam in me and was so glad that you and I fell in love but that Liam's one regret was that he failed to put my mother first in his life instead of his career. He said I shouldn't make the same mistake. He was right. That's why I decided to come back to Manhattan. I didn't want to make the same mistake my father did."
I squeezed him more tightly, for I could hear the emotion in his voice.
"I can’t believe you would have really left Nairobi. I'm glad I came back when I did. I'd feel terrible if you quit because of me."
"I'd only leave because of you, Kate. I realized that I can't stand to be apart from you. I don’t have to be, and I don’t want to be. I want to be like Elaine and your father. Not one night apart by choice. Do you understand?"
"I understand," I repeated and then our mouths met in a kiss, our lips pressed together, and the kiss became more intense until neither of us could keep our hands off each other.
Then Drake pushed me down on the couch, my hands beside my head, his fingers lacing with mine.
"I love you," he said, his eyes holding mine, his expression so intense. "Never leave me again."
I couldn't respond, my throat choked and my eyes filled with tears. The fact that Drake was willing to give everything up to return to Manhattan to be with me so I could stay and care for my father, that he'd even consider doing so, finally registered in my mind. All the concern and worry I'd felt since coming to Nairobi, about Sam, whether I was good enough for Drake, and whether we'd be able to work things out, faded into nothingness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next two weeks passed quickly as I tried to get back into my routine, filling my days away from Drake alternating between working at home in my studio, shopping in the local market, and taking my art class with Talia Abasi.
Drake also had to adjust to his new schedule. He didn’t work as much as he had previously, for his slate had been taken over by the locum tenens. Instead of his own slate, he took over part of Michael's so Michael could get his backlog of cases down to more manageable levels. Drake still taught his classes and was away several nights a week, but was home more often.
For his part, Sefton kept his distance, and I was glad. He made no move to talk to me and avoided even commenting on my artwork for the next two weeks.
When Friday's class came around, Talia announced that this would be the last time the painting studio class would join us, and I heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Even though Sefton hadn’t pestered me since the incident in the elevator, it was still tense when he was in the classroom, as I wondered if and when he'd decide to say or do something to provoke me.
After the first break, I went to the washroom and was completely surprised when he was waiting outside the door to our classroom. I frowned and tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm.
"Stop," he said. "I want to apologize for what happened."
"Apology accepted," I said, wanting to get this over with so I could escape any further interaction with him. I tried to pull my arm away but he kept hold.
"No, wait," he said and stepped in front of me, preventing me from entering the class. "I want to say something."
I stopped and exhaled. He let go of my arm and stood there, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"I'm not a psycho, or anything, Kate. You have to understand that beautiful women artists who are also submissives are pretty rare."
"You already said that to me." I tried to pass him, but he stepped once more in front of me. "It makes no difference whether you're a psycho or not. There's nothing between us. Nothing more needs to be said."
"I'm trying to explain."
I stopped and looked at him, exasperated at his determination.
"Claire told me that there was trouble between you and your man. I wanted to see if I could be there in case things didn’t work out with him."
"Claire said what?"
"She said you were having problems and that you weren't certain that you’d marry him. She didn’t go into details, but that she thought you were unhappy, because your fiancé worked so much and you felt neglected. That you'd already broken up once."
"That's a lie," I said, even though I had felt neglected at times. " There are no problems between us. We're very happy. We just became engaged—"
"She said that the relationship was shaky. I wanted you to know I'd be there in case things didn’t work out. I was trying to lay a foundation between us so you wouldn’t just run back to America if you two broke up."
"When did she say this to you? At that first exhibition?"
He nodded. "Of course, when I saw you there, and realized who you were, I asked Claire about you since you came with her. She told me about you and your doctor. She made me think your relationship was soon to break up so…"
I fumed, my fists clenching. That bitch…
"She was lying," I said, barely able to keep my voice under control, I was so mad. "She didn’t want me to be with Drake. She wanted Drake to be with another doctor who was once his student, so she was probably hoping you'd flirt with me."
"Oh. Well, once I thought your relationship was on the rocks, I was determined to be there to catch you when you fell. Obviously, I didn't do a very good job reading you."
"Obviously."
"Tell me this," he said, stepping closer. When I stepped back, he sighed. "If you'd been here on your own, with no boyfriend or fiancé, would you have been interested in me? If you knew I was in the lifestyle?"
I glanced away. "I can’t say," I said, not wanting to answer. "Right now, I'm so happy with Drake that other men don't even exist. I don’t think of men that way."
He sighed. "Well, don't say I never tried. And don't forget about me, just in case things don't work out with Drake. I think I'd be good for you."
"Excuse me," I said, and finally, he let me pass. I went back to the classroom and sat down at my easel, picking up my pencils to prepare for the first long study of our model. My hands shook from the realization that Claire had been manipulating things behind the scenes, both with Sefton and Sam. She was so conniving…
I felt so bad for Drake �
�� to know that his boss's wife was trying to break us up – that she knew about our lifestyle. It must be a big source of worry. Did Michael know? Did he feel the same as Claire?
Neither of them had said anything to Drake. I always felt such warmth from Michael when we were together, I couldn't believe for a moment he was part of Claire's schemes to get Drake with Sam.
I was glad things were resolved with Sam and Sefton, but still, there was a lingering sense of darkness inside of me that someone would interfere so much in our lives. Before we left Manhattan, Dawn had been intent on breaking us up, hurting Drake. Now, we'd run into Claire, who way overstepped her bounds with us.
As much as I wanted to remain in Africa and try to enjoy myself, Claire would always be this black mark on our time there.
When Drake arrived home that evening, just after eight and we sat down to eat our meal, I brought up what Sefton had said to me.
Drake frowned when I recounted what Claire had said to Sefton about our relationship being on the rocks.
"What?" Drake said and paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. He put his fork down and frowned, his eyes dark. "I can’t believe she'd do that."
"She did, or else Sefton is lying. But considering what you heard from the nurse at the hospital, I believe him. He's probably embellishing, but I think she hoped that Sefton would get in between you and me."
Drake took a long drink from his glass of wine. "I wonder if I shouldn’t have a little talk with her the next time I see her."
I reached out and touched his arm. "No, don't," I said, my voice soft. "I don't want any hard feelings between you and Michael. It's best you let this die a natural death. We still have to go on safari with them."
"How can we even socialize with Claire after this?"
I squeezed his hand. "We don't have to invite them over, and I'm sure Claire won't be inviting us over anytime soon. Let's just let this go."
Drake nodded, but I could see he still wanted to confront Claire.
So it happened that on the following Tuesday, when I was out shopping at the market near the compound, I saw Claire standing at a stall examining vegetables. Although my first instinct was to walk away, I knew I had to do something.
