Doctored

by K'Anne Meinel

  “He what?” Deanna suddenly sounded angry, almost ominous.

  “Yeah, and when he wouldn’t let my arm go at the courthouse, a cop asked if I was okay and I said no. Scott was surprised that I told them exactly what he was try to do. I was too,” she confessed.

  “Why did you?”

  “I’d had enough, and when he threatened the kids,” she shook her head sadly. “I’d put up with his childish behavior for years. It’s why I divorced him. I was done raising a big child along with the other two. I loved him, I thought, but…” she left off.

  “But what?” Deanna asked softly.

  “I didn’t realize what love was until I saw you again,” she looked up briefly as she said it, starting to cry.

  “We had a few things to work out you know,” she said equally as soft and made no move to comfort the redhead.

  It was a tense few minutes as Madison tried to get her emotions under control. Watching the boy with the large cat helped distract her and allowed her to take deep breaths. Finally, she nodded and swallowed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Sniffling one more time, she asked, “Do you want to try again?”

  “We shall see,” Deanna answered without committing.

  “I do need to apologize. You were right about him,” she put in, hoping to sway her.

  Deanna shrugged and looked out at her son and cat.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “So, we’re going where?” Conor asked for what must have been the fourth time.

  “Santa Barbara,” Madison answered patiently as she packed a lunch for them all. Deanna had offered to take them out, but Madison wanted to contribute something to this trip. There was no way she could compete with what Deanna had so she wanted to do this.

  She had stayed a couple of hours watching the blonde interact with her son and the cat who had proved to be just an overgrown softie. He was playful like any kitten and tired just as easily, falling asleep leaning again Madison who was learning all his favorite scratch spots. When he began to purr it was a deep rumbling and then he must have forgotten he was purring as he started to drool. Deanna had laughed as Madison jumped up and away from the amount of drool coming out of the big cat. He’d looked up sleepily at her wondering why she had woken him, his expression clearly said, “What?”

  “He purrs backwards,” Deanna told her.

  “He what?” she asked, confused.

  Deanna started laughing. “I think he forgets he is purring and the saliva starts leaking out…he purrs backwards.” She made it sound like a perfectly plausible explanation for his drooling.

  “Is that a real thing?”

  Deanna was giggling as she shook her head and Roman joined in at the joke they had just played on the trusting redhead. Madison grabbed a pillow and threw it at the both of them, which led to a pillow fight. Spot wanted nothing to do with it and left the humans to this disgraceful display of behavior that didn’t befit his dignity. It didn’t stop him from grabbing a pillow, hugging it close, and starting to kick at it. Deanna had to grab the pillow to keep it from being ripped to shreds by his back feet.

  “So she has a lion?” Chloe asked, almost fearfully. They had heard Madison’s story about visiting Deanna’s home.

  “No, it’s a Caracal,” she corrected gently as she finished up the sandwiches and added chips to the large bag of picnic lunch she had packed. She wondered briefly if she should add drinks, but didn’t have a way to keep them cool, and then she heard the honk of a horn outside the house.

  “They’re here,” Conor called from where he looked out the front window. He recognized Deanna’s Rover. “There’s a boy with her,” he said importantly.

  “That’s Roman, Dr. D’s son,” Madison said casually.

  “She’s got a son?” Chloe asked and then ran to look too.

  Madison finished packing the lunch, adding water bottles, and then lugged the zippered bag to the front door just as the doorbell rang. Fluffy sprang into action immediately, barking furiously at the ‘invading hordes’ in his home.

  Nothing would shut him up until they answered the door so Madison put down the bag and opened the door. “Hello,” she said over the barking dog who stopped to look at the people on the doorstep. He eyed them distrustfully.

  “Hello,” Deanna said brightly and Roman parroted her. “Are you all ready to go?” she asked as she eyed the dog too.

  “Yep, just have to grab my purse. I made us sandwiches,” she indicated the bag then scooped it out from under the interested dog’s inquiring nose.

  “Here, I’ll take that,” Roman offered immediately. Then he noticed the two younger kids eyeing him, almost as much as the dog had.

  Deanna noticed their mutual interest. “Roman, I’d like you to meet my children. This is Chloe and Conor. Kids, this is Roman, Dr. D’s son.”

  In typical kid fashion, all the kids nodded shyly at each other and then pretended not to really see each other, glancing back and forth.

  “Do we need anything else?” Deanna asked helpfully.

  “I have to put Fluffy on a leash,” Madison added and went to the table in the hall.

  “Why don’t you kids put that in the back of the Rover and get in the back seats—you all decide where you’re going to sit,” Deanna ordered them and Roman turned, carrying the bag, followed by the other two eager kids.

  “Wait, grab jackets,” Madison warned them and both grabbed them off the couch where she had lain them earlier in preparation for the trip.

  “Do you have a jacket?” Deanna asked helpfully.

  “Oh, I forgot,” Madison said and put the leash on the dog as he lunged to follow the children. She handed the leash to Deanna and opened the hall closet to get her own jacket. Madison was surprised when Deanna helped her put it on one-handed. She wasn’t used to being helped, even Scott hadn’t done that. She smiled bashfully. Grabbing her purse, she reached for the leash.

  “I take it we’re taking the dog? No kennel?”

  “I couldn’t afford one,” she admitted sheepishly and attached the leash to the dog’s collar.

  “I’ve got him,” Deanna said helpfully, accepting the situation with no question, and pulled the eager dog to her side saying, “Heel,” very firmly and authoritatively. The dog looked up, surprised, as though he had never heard anyone give him a command before. Strangely, he only pulled slightly on the leash as she pulled back once again and repeated the command. She patted him on the head when he listened, not completely, but enough that she praised him with a “Good boy.”

  Roman was in the far back of the Rover with Conor. Deanna put Fluffy on a seat next to Chloe and Madison got in the front passenger seat.

  “Are we ready? Everyone in seat belts?” Deanna called to the kids.

  “Fluffy isn’t in one,” Chloe teased.

  “Well, tell Fluffy that he should get in one,” she teased back as she started the car and looked at Madison with a smile. “We’re off, vroom, vroom,” she said and Roman called from the backseat.

  “You have to put it in gear, Mom.”

  “Oh, that’s what’s wrong,” she teased and put it in drive and carefully pulled away from the curb.

  As they pulled out, Madison began to remember the long drives from Mamadu to Lamish in another Rover a long time ago. She was amazed that the kids had started chatting, oblivious to the adults in the front seats. “Do you want some music?” Deanna asked cordially.

  “That would be nice,” she answered and was surprised to hear a symphony start playing when Deanna turned on the music. She quickly turned it off and turned to a local rock and roll station with current hits to listen to as they made their way to the 405 freeway heading north. They all enjoyed the music and Madison was surprised her kids even knew some of the songs. Roman encouraged them to sing along and the adults joined in. Madison wasn’t surprised that Deanna could sing. It wasn’t particularly pleasant, a bit off-key, but she could sing and didn’t hesitate to do so. They all enjoyed themselves as they turned from the 405 to
the 101 and headed west towards the coast.

  With traffic, it took well over an hour to get up to Santa Barbara. Roman pointed out things to the younger kids since he made this trip weekly, and Madison listened, learning more about Deanna than she had known. “Yeah, my school is up here, so when Mom moves up here I don’t have to stay in the dorms anymore. It’s fun though. There are lots of kids from all over that live there,” he told Chloe and Conor.

  “Mom, how come we don’t go to a school where we would stay overnight?” Conor asked.

  “Oh, that’s a very special school. You’d miss me, wouldn’t you?” she teased.

  “Do you miss your mom?” Conor asked Roman.

  “All the time, but it’s better now that we live on this coast,” he said importantly.

  “Where else did you live?” Chloe asked as she turned in her seat to talk to the older boy. Her hand was resting on a happy Fluffy who was panting and trying unsuccessfully to put his nose out a window.

  “We lived in Boston for a while, but my cousins were mean. Before that, we lived in South America for a while.”

  “South America? Where’s that?” Conor asked.

  “It’s south of here, dummy,” Chloe said disdainfully.

  “Chloe,” Madison warned. “Mind your manners.”

  “It’s a whole continent,” Roman explained. “We lived in the jungle with my mom’s friends.”

  “In the jungle?” the boy was wide-eyed.

  Madison found it fascinating how accepting of the lifestyle the boy was. He had no idea how special and different it was. Her children were fascinated by this biracial child that had done so much and done such diverse and unique things. She was relieved that they hadn’t said anything about the difference in skin color that he had from blonde-haired and blue-eyed Deanna. They accepted him completely and easily. She envied that in the children. She glanced back at Roman and smiled. He really was a good-looking young man and she hoped his manners would rub off on her own children. She had studied him yesterday and decided his physical features were very similar to Deanna’s.

  “There’s Ventura,” he said, pointing at the beach they were passing on the 101 heading north now. “I’ve seen dolphins out there.”

  “Have you ever petted a dolphin?” Chloe asked seriously, she had a penchant for those animals.

  “Nope, have you?”

  “Nope.”

  The conversation continued and Madison realized Deanna was smiling and nodding along as the kids exchanged information. The radio was low enough that their voices carried in the SUV.

  When she got to Santa Barbara, she turned into the hills and wound around until she came to a set of gates not that much different from the house she had in Los Angeles. She pushed a code into the security box and the gate began to swing inward. She waited until it was completely open before she drove in. The driveway went up a rather steep hill and at the top was a one-story house that spread out over the hilltop. They drove around to the back of the house and parked in the driveway in front of a four car garage that went into the hill itself. The rock around the outside looked like it had been quarried from the hill and it lined the driveway like cobblestones and also lined the sides of the garage and up the sides of the house.

  “Cool,” Conor breathed and his exclamation was echoed by Chloe.

  “Is this the house you found, Mom?” Roman asked unnecessarily.

  “No, I thought we’d just start going to strangers’ houses and see what we find,” she teased and then turned back to grin at the boy who laughed at her sarcasm. “Come on, you kids. Let’s go check out my new house.”

  They all got out of the car including Fluffy, who immediately started sniffling the foliage around the house and lifting his leg. “Is he fixed?” Deanna asked Madison.

  “I have no idea, good question,” she answered, wondering if Scott had taken care of that or if she would have to.

  “You have the keys?” Roman asked his mother as they climbed out of the vehicle.

  “Yep, right here,” she patted her pocket as she waited for the dog to stop peeing and then pulled him over. “Come on F–Fluffy,” she said, the name seeming to stick in her throat for a moment. She looked at Madison and pulled down her sunglasses so she could see her roll her eyes.

  Madison laughed and held out her hand for the leash as Deanna pulled the keys out of her hand and unlocked a door to the right of the garage. Inside you could go into the large bays of the garage to the left or up a flight of steps into the main part of the house. They began to climb the steps and Deanna had to unlock another door. Inside was a very large kitchen with marble countertops of pearl gray color that were absolutely stunning. The wood of the cabinets was a cherry color that was lighter than most cherry wood and the inlaid designs were obviously hand-hewn. The top cabinets were all glass with a reflective mirror inside. Once the lights were on, it lit up the kitchen beautifully, showing its warmth. The ceiling was of copper that made the cherry wood look even paler. The kitchen led to a dining room and on the other side, beyond a wall, was a large living area with a big screen television already attached to the wall.

  “The last owner had nowhere to go with that,” Deanna indicated the sixty-inch television.

  “Oh, cool,” the younger kids breathed.

  “Oh, look at that,” Madison marveled, for beyond the living room was a patio area with an in-ground swimming pool, which was dug into the side of the hill and glass on one side to make it an eternity pool.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “Mom, can we go swimming?” Conor asked excitedly as he saw the pool.

  “Well,” Madison didn’t know what to say, they weren’t invited here to swim.

  “Let’s look around a bit more, eh, champ?” Deanna smiled down at his enthusiasm.

  At the front of the house to the right of the front doors was a room that could be considered a library, but was obviously a warm den with a fireplace and bookshelves lining all of the walls. The light in the room was incredible and enhanced by strategically-placed skylights.

  “Wow, this is incredible,” Madison marveled.

  “Isn’t this great?” Deanna asked her with a smile. “I can’t wait to order some books,” she enthused.

  “Why don’t you take some from the library at the house?” Roman asked her.

  “I will, but some should remain there,” she answered with a smile as she ruffled his hair. It wasn’t completely straight like her own, but her ruffling had it sticking on end and he ducked as he smiled.

  “Where are the bedrooms?” Chloe asked.

  “Across over there,” Deanna pointed to a hallway beyond the kitchen and to the left of the front door. They all walked across stone floors that were of the same stone used on the outside of the house, but polished to a high sheen. A hall began beyond the kitchen area with a powder room, a laundry room, and four bedrooms off of it. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. The master bedroom was twice the size of any of the smaller bedrooms with a luxurious bathroom.

  “That’s a lot of bathrooms to clean,” Deanna commented.

  “Yeah, I’ll have to interview someone to come in and take care of that for me. I wonder if they might want to work at cleaning the clinic too,” she murmured as she showed off the bathroom with a sunken tub and a steam shower that was big enough for four people.

  “That might be a lot to ask of one person,” Madison pointed out. “Why do you need this much room?” she asked over the children, who were discussing the rooms and what should be in them.

  “I’ll show you why,” and with that she opened the windows in the bathroom where blinds had hidden the view. The hill they were on gave them a fine view of the Pacific Ocean. Later, as she showed them around the outside of the house, Deanna found they could sit on the patio that led up to the front door and the view was incredible—the Pacific Ocean in front of them and the mountains of Santa Barbara rising behind them, the white of the stones that were visible almost looked like snow. “I�
�m going to have to hire gardeners. The owners apparently fired the previous gardeners for some reason,” Deanna confided, looking at the overly long grass.

  Fluffy started barking at something in the overgrown foliage and Madison pulled him back. “I don’t want to know what he might have found,” she stated to Deanna. They watched as the children ran back and forth across the lawn, the hill no problem for their young legs. “That will work up an appetite.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat,” she teased. It had been several hours since they had breakfast.

  “Why don’t we go down by the pier and grab…” Deanna began.

  “I packed a lunch, remember?”

  “Oh yeah, sorry.”

  “We could probably use something to drink besides the water that I brought.”

  They gathered up the children and locked the house behind them as they made their way out the garage door again. Deanna showed them a large room under the house off the garage that could only be a rec room, but contained nothing but indoor-outdoor carpeting at the moment.

  “That TV should be down here,” Madison commented.

  “I agree, good idea. It’s really too big for the living room and the furniture I have in mind.”

  “This indoor-outdoor carpet, do you think it’s a good idea?” They continued talking decorating ideas as they got back into the SUV, the children discussed the merits of different playground equipment, and the dog just wanted to go back and figure out what he had found in the jungle back there.

  “Who’s hungry?” Deanna asked as she drove down to the pier and parked. Taking the chorus of “MEs” as a good sign, she grabbed the bag of sandwiches and carried it while Madison managed Fluffy. “Roman, could you buy yourself and the others sodas and get me a juice?” She turned to Madison. “What would you like?”

  After choosing juice, Madison looked out at the brilliance of the ocean and nearly had her arms yanked out of their sockets as Fluffy tried to chase seagulls. “God, this dog is going to be the death of me,” she stated exasperatedly and watched the children run off to get everyone drinks.