Fiance for Keeps

by Gail Chianese

  “They’re keeping me another night to make sure I can keep some food down, besides soup and the gross green stuff. You shouldn’t have flown all the way home for me. I’m fine and so are the babies.”

  “Twins?” At Elysia’s nod, she let out an undoctor-like squeal and gave her sister a quick hug before running around to embrace Bill. “I know it’s still tax season and you’re both swamped with work, but you need bed rest when you get out of here. Small, frequent meals. Nothing spicy, high in protein, and more rest. I swear, you’ve lost ten pounds since I left.”

  “Yes, Dr. Bossy Pants.” Elysia rolled her eyes at Denise. A good sign in Denise’s medical and sisterly opinion. “Now that you know I’m okay, you can go back to finding your true love, right after you give us the rundown on the men.”

  Denise sat on the other side of the bed from Chel. She’d missed her sisters and their talks. “The show got the ax.”

  What?” both asked at the same time. Bill cocked an eyebrow, then went back to the news.

  “Poor ratings, and anyway, I didn’t really want to be there. I mean, it was sort of fun. Some of the dates were cool. I looove San Francisco and the guys were hot.” She glanced at the TV, which had switched from real news to entertainment gossip. A chill passed over her. “I belong here, with you guys.”

  Chel picked at the cotton sheet, keeping her eyes averted. “Mom said Brody was in California. Is that true?”

  Drat. She’d been hoping to be wrong about Mrs. Nichols sharing info with her mom. “He was one of the participants.”

  Elysia exchanged a silent look with Chel before looking her dead in the eye. “He was there the whole time?”

  Oh, boy, time to leave. “I should get going. I’m exhausted from the flight and you, my sweet, dear prego, should be resting. I also need to stop in downstairs to let them know they can put me back on the schedule.” She jumped up, gave all of them hugs, and reached for the door as it swung open and her mom and dad stepped in.

  Within seconds she found herself engulfed in her dad’s arms. “Welcome home, honey. We’ve missed you. Is it time for us to meet your guys already?”

  “No, it’s over, Dad.” She hugged him back, breathing in his unique scent of Irish Spring soap and airplane fumes, not wanting to let go.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll see.” Reluctantly, she stepped out of her dad’s embrace. “I was just saying I should check in downstairs, let them know I’m home, and Elys should get some rest. I’ll call tomorrow or stop by.”

  Her mom had remained silent, but the pinched look on her face spoke volumes, so she wasn’t surprised when her mom followed her out of the room and stopped her. Denise turned around and stuck her hands in her back pockets.

  “It’s about time you got here. I’ve been calling for days, trying to ask you about your sister. Why haven’t you returned any of my calls?” The tone sliced through her.

  Nothing Denise said would matter, not with her mom standing there with one hand on her hip and her foot tapping away.

  “Mom, I told you, they take our phones away.”

  “Oh, but you got your sister’s message. Didn’t you?”

  She blew out a deep breath. This wasn’t the place to discuss her failings as a daughter.

  When she opted not to answer, he mom went on. “Your sister could have died. But do you care? No. You were off chasing after some elusive dream. You never think of anyone else, only what you want, not how your decisions can affect those around you.”

  Same lecture, different day.

  Ever since Chel’s near-fatal asthma attack, if something didn’t go as her mom wanted, it was Denise’s fault. Hell, she didn’t even have to be around for her to get the blame. Elysia got an F in science—Denise should have helped her more. Chel stayed out too late—Denise shouldn’t have set a bad example. On and on it went. Today was no different. Didn’t matter that Elysia’s condition had been brought on by her pregnancy with twins. Denise should have seen it coming and been home to monitor her sister’s every move.

  She clenched her jaw so the thoughts in her head wouldn’t spill out of her mouth and get her in more trouble. It’d been twenty years. She’d save dozens of lives. It wasn’t enough for her mom. Maybe it would never be enough. She’d always be that selfish twelve-year-old. “Mom—”

  “Your father and I worked hard to give you girls a good life, to send you to college, to give you what we didn’t have, and you throw it back in our faces.”

  What was the woman talking about? She went to college on a scholarship and was still paying off her medical school loans. “Mom—”

  “It’s just like when you called off your wedding. Did you think about the money we’d sunk into the affair? No. Did you think about how the breakup would affect the rest of us? No. You only think of yourself. If you’d been here, your sister wouldn’t have gotten so weak that she passed out in the middle of the grocery store parking lot. Do you know how lucky she was not to have hit her head or been run over?”

  Denise hadn’t known about the parking lot, but this had to end.

  “Mom.” She had to raise her voice to be heard. “I know you’re upset and worried about Elysia. She’s going to be okay. I’ll stay with her for a couple of days and make sure she gets bed rest. I also know I’ve let you down. Countless times, but this isn’t the time or the place to discuss it.” She glanced over to the station, where two nurses eyed them. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  She punched the Down button and strode into the elevator without a backward glance. What was the freaking point? Nothing ever changed. Except, for this one time, Denise had refused to rush back and beg her mom for forgiveness. It was time to move on. Live her life for herself; stop living by someone else’s dictates. Maybe she’d even look for a new position. Start fresh. A new job. A new home. A new city.

  Distracted, she rushed out of the elevator and bumped—okay, practically tackled—some poor guy, sending his phone sailing across the hall and into the wall.

  Way to make a comeback, Saunders. Drilling up new biz for the ER.

  “Dr. Saunders.”

  Crap. She knew that voice and tone.

  She lifted her chin and met those piercing black eyes. “Dr. Simon, my apologies. Are you okay?” With considerate care, she retrieved the cell phone and handed it back to her boss.

  “Please let me know if it needs replacing and I’ll, of course, reimburse you.”

  He pocketed the device without looking it over. “I’d heard a rumor you’d returned. Were you planning on informing me?”

  “I only returned this evening. My sister—”

  “Aw, yes. How is she tonight?” He signaled for her to walk with him toward his office.

  She’d bet a month’s salary he already knew the answer. The man knew all.

  “Better, thank you.”

  “Good.” He opened his door and let her enter first. “Now that you’re back, and none too soon, I might add. I hope you’ve got all this silly reality TV thing out of your system and can get back to work. We’ve been terribly understaffed and you’re in danger of being passed over for the fellowship.”

  “Yes, sir. The show is over and I’m free to return to work.” She remembered her promise to her mom. If she didn’t keep it, she’d just prove the woman right. “Actually, sir, my sister should be released in the morning and with it being tax season, her husband can’t take any time off to help her this week. I’ve told my family I’ll look after her. After all, I wasn’t scheduled to return and I still have vacation time.”

  He hit a few keys. Stroked his imaginary beard and then swung his gaze back to her. “I can give you tomorrow off, and then the rest of the week you can work the swing shift, which should allow another family member to take over from you. Your department has covered for you long enough.”

  Apparently, it was rip-Denise-a-new-one day and she’d missed the memo. Damn, she hated when that happened. The only
thing worse was showing up in pink when everyone else was wearing blue.

  Where the idea of starting fresh earlier had only been a fleeting thought—one you might have in those frustrating, I hate MFL moments—now it took shape and dug its claws into her, not letting go. She’d start looking as soon as she found five minutes alone. Right now she had to play nice and not burn the bridge while she stood in the middle of it.

  “Of course, sir. Thank you for your understanding.”

  Brody parked his SUV in front of his mom’s house, grabbed the grocery store flowers, and walked into a den of disarray.

  He looked around his mother’s normally tidy living room to piles and piles of clothes, knickknacks, and taped-up boxes. He’d heard of spring cleaning, but this looked like a purging. Yeah, he’d seen that before too, fourteen years ago, after the old man died.

  Shit. What the hell had happened while he was away?

  “Mom?”

  “Back here.”

  He followed the voice to his old room only to find stripped-down walls, the old twin bed gone, and more boxes, these with his name on them. In the middle sat his mom, flipping through a photo album.

  She patted a space next to her. “Come sit and let me embarrass you while you tell me about your adventure.”

  “Do I have to?” he teased as he took the spot next to her with his knees drawn up in front of him to fit into the cramped space. “So what’s going on here?” He nodded to the mess around him.

  “First, tell me about California and Denise. Was she mad when you showed up?”

  He picked up a picture of him and Dee . . . senior prom. She was beautiful then, even more so now. “Surprised, which isn’t her favorite thing. Then mad, then . . .”

  She waited, sorting pictures into different stacks, giving him time to tell it in his own way. His mom had always been good at knowing what not only he needed but Jason and Dave too. What did his mom need? If you’d asked him that question a couple of months ago, he would have thought he could tell you. Now, looking around at his former life boxed up, he realized he didn’t have a clue. He only knew he didn’t want to give her false hopes.

  “She was thankful.” He shook his head at her smile. “It’s not what you think. One of the guys got a little rough. I helped out.”

  “And now you’re home. Early.”

  “We’re all home early. They canceled the show, and before you ask, I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t.”

  “Are you seeing Denise again, now that you’re home?” She carefully placed the sorted pictures into a box and noted the contents on the outside.

  “Plan to. Now, tell me what’s going on with you, Mom.” They’d talked before, numerous times, about her moving out of the rented house. Leaving behind the memories of his father and starting fresh. She’d always argued that while she didn’t own the house, it was home and filled with more good memories of her boys than anything else. Maybe she was ready.

  Absently, she ran a hand over the box of pictures, seemingly lost in her thoughts. A small smile ghosted across her face. “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you. But I haven’t been sitting around doing nothing. You’re lucky you caught me home tonight. Had it been any other time, I would have been out with Kevin, or he would have been here.”

  “I’m glad you’ve found someone to spend time with.”

  “It’s more than that, Brody. He’s asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes.”

  Shock left him speechless. His brain tried to process the words and failed him. Cripes, it’d only been a couple of weeks. A guy takes a vacation and his whole world implodes. Anger surged through him. He hadn’t even met this man and here was his mom, packing up their life—not that it should matter, considering he hadn’t lived at home in a decade.

  She didn’t know what she was doing. There’d only been one man in her life, his father, and that hadn’t gone well. He guessed it was only natural for her to fall hard for the first decent man she dated after her marriage.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Shit. He hadn’t meant to say the words out loud, and even he heard the sarcasm and disrespect in his tone.

  “No, my heart.”

  “I’m sorry, Mom. It’s only been a few weeks. Shouldn’t you wait until you know him better?”

  “You mean like you and Denise? How long did you date, and look how that turned out. I dated your dad for two years before we got married. Two long, wonderful years in which he treated me like the queen of his world, and look how that turned out. Life doesn’t come with guarantees, my sweet baby boy. Nor does love. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and follow your heart.”

  She slipped her arm around his waist and lay her head on his shoulder. “Maybe it’s time for you to stop listening to that critical brain of yours and take a leap of your own.”

  Yep, his mom knew what he needed, like when to tell him to pull his head out of his ass and move on.

  But first he needed to make sure his best girl wasn’t about to marry a psychopath or a misogynist.

  “Well, I guess I better meet this guy. Or were you planning on hiding me away until after the license has been signed and he couldn’t back out?”

  She smacked him on the arm and then hugged him. “Brody Andrew Nichols, I probably should hide you away with that fresh mouth of yours. But because you’re home and you’re kind of too big to stuff in the closet, how about Saturday night? I’d like to introduce Kevin to Jason and Cherry and David and Tawny too. I didn’t bring those boys into this world, but they’re mine.”

  His heart warmed at his mom’s words. She may have lost her heart, but she hadn’t cast him or the guys out. “I’ll see if they can come over Saturday. If Kevin looks like he may bolt, we’ll just ply him with Jason’s wine and he won’t remember a thing the next morning.”

  “You boys will be on your best behavior. Don’t think because you’re all grown up and taller than me that I can’t still bring you to your knees. We’d like to have the ceremony the second week of April.”

  His head spun around to meet her gaze. Pink colored her cheeks, the stress lines between her brows weren’t as deep as they used to be, and the dark smudges beneath her eyes were gone. Love shone in those dark eyes so like his own. His mom looked happy and relaxed. He’d save his doubts, keep them to himself, and when the time came he’d walk her down the aisle, if she let him, and give her to this new man who made her eyes smile.

  “Good thing I came home early, then.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Welcome back.” Dr. Shad Davis, the new chief resident, slapped a folder in her hands and headed down the hall. “You’ve got hemorrhoids in exam one.”

  “Yay. Missed you too,” she teased as she headed in to see her first patient in weeks. It was moments like these when she thought accounting sounded like a fun profession. Elysia might have had the right idea. Then again, after hearing a few of her stories of clients who tried to claim pets as dependents and write off trips to the spa as medical expenses, and dealing with audits from the IRS, maybe not. Chel, who currently worked at a chain portrait studio while she saved up to open her own photography business, didn’t have it any easier, dealing with cranky, tired families.

  Her sisters loved their jobs, and on most days she loved hers as well.

  Most, not all.

  For a Thursday night the place was hopping, which made the evening zip by with an interesting assortment: a GSW to the stomach, an OD, a sprained ankle, an ear infection—poor baby—multiple lacerations, and a cardiac arrest. The night shift was barely getting started, but thankfully, she was out of there at eleven, right before the witching hour.

  “Ambos pulling in people. Got a multiple MVA. Let’s get the injured in here.”

  Denise ran alongside Shad to greet the gurneys. “Must be a full moon.”

  The paramedic rattled off the kid’s—he couldn’t have been more than nineteen—vitals. There was blood everywhere: his face and the side of his head, his arms and
thigh. Together, they lifted him from the gurney and on to the exam bed.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Saunders. Can you tell me your name?” She checked his pupils and noted the nonresponse.

  “I, uh, Donny?”

  “Okay, good. Donny, do you know why you’re here?” She checked the lacerations on his face first, then the one on his forehead. “Going to need stitches up here,” she told Jenna.

  “Butterfly on the forearm,” Jenna called out.

  “Donny, you still with me?” For a response he started shaking all over, like he’d been outside on a winter night.

  “Okay, folks. We need to move. He’s going into shock. Let’s get an IV into him. Someone get these jeans off. I need to see what’s going on with the leg. Katie, order a CT, and let’s get an X-ray of his ribs. His breathing is too shallow for me.”

  Together, the team worked to stabilize Donny. The kid’s leg was a mess. According to the paramedics, the car had rolled a couple of times before spinning around on its roof. Glass from the sunroof was embedded in the kid’s thigh. Thirty minutes and thirty-six stitches later, they sent him down to radiology.

  Denise was headed to the nurses’ station when she saw Shad. “How’s my guy’s friend?”

  “Santiago Reyes, age eighteen, intracranial hematoma. They’ve got him in OR now. The two of them had just dropped their dates off to snag seats at a restaurant while they went to park the car. According to witnesses, the driver took the corner without slowing down and a delivery truck plowed into them.” Shad wiped the moisture from his eyes. “The girlfriends are in the waiting room. So young, full of promise and hope . . .” His voice trailed off, full of despair and anger.

  She got it. Every emergency department doctor got it, because sooner or later they all lost a patient before their time. They all had to make that call, deliver those words that would forever alter a loved one’s world, and you never got over it.

  “Denise, we’ve got the test results back on your patient.” Jenna handed her the tablet and studied the results with her.