by Amy Ruttan
No doubt her mother wouldn’t approve of her marriage to Andrew.
It’s not real and you’re not pregnant.
“Dr. Haole, we’re ready for you now,” the scrub nurse said.
“Thank you, Vickie.” Lana took her place next to the trauma surgeon, Dr. Aeolia, who had been working on controlling the blood loss from the shattered femur.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Dr. Aeolia said as she began to formulate her game plan for repairing the femur in her head.
“Pardon?” Lana asked, not really listening to what Dr. Aeolia had to say.
“Your engagement. I was in the conference room when Dr. Tremblay announced it.”
Oh, God.
This was exactly the kind of thing she wished she could avoid. She didn’t like to be singled out, to have the attention drawn to her and as the words slipped out of Dr. Aeolia’s mouth she could feel the gaze from all of those in the operating room fixed on her. Just like when David had dumped her. Humiliating her.
“How can you possibly think I love you? You have no spine. No fire and you’re not as brilliant as your father thinks you are. This was purely a business move. I thought you knew that. I thought you knew that it would benefit us both!”
Lana shook David’s cruel words from her head.
“Right,” Lana said. “Thank you. Vickie, can you bring me my surgical tray?”
Vickie had been an orthopedic scrub nurse for years. She was her father’s scrub nurse and knew exactly what surgical screws and plates would be needed to fix a broken femur.
“You don’t sound happy about it,” Dr. Aeolia said and Lana could sense the censure in her voice. Or maybe it wasn’t censure, but jealousy.
She knew Dr. Aeolia lusted after Andrew, like most women did. Andrew was a playboy. A love ’em and leave ’em reputation that probably would hurt their story if they didn’t play their cards right.
“I am, but right now I’m focused on fixing this patient’s femur. Perhaps later we can discuss wedding arrangements, but not now.” Lana’s voice rose and as she glanced up into the gallery she could see Andrew grinning at her, giving her a subtle nod.
“Fine,” Dr. Aeolia said with annoyance. “Since my job is making sure the patient is stabilized and will survive, I guess I can let you continue on with picking up the pieces. You’re quite good at that, if I recall.”
It was a jab that was laced with sarcasm, which Lana didn’t care much for, but was used to. As the daughter of the Chief of Surgery she was used to people treating her like this. She knew very well that they all thought she was a spoiled princess. That she was Daddy’s girl and got preferential treatment because of it.
When that was far from the truth.
She was not a princess. Everything she’d earned she’d worked hard for.
“You’re right, Dr. Aeolia, your job here is done. Thank you; kindly leave my OR. I have it from here.”
Dr. Aeolia glared at her over the surgical mask and Lana shook her head in annoyance as she continued to work on stabilizing and preparing the femur.
She didn’t have many friends in this hospital and she tried to tell herself she didn’t care, but she did. She was alone.
It was why she was known as a bit of an ice queen.
And she was fine with letting them think that. It was easier on her heart.
Lana knew who she really was.
Do you?
And as she glanced back up at the gallery she saw that Andrew had left. She breathed an inward sigh of relief and continued on her repair of the femur. She was glad he was gone because he was a distraction and that was the last thing she needed in her life.
* * *
Just go home. You don’t need to wait for her.
Only Andrew was waiting for her in the main lobby. Just like a dutiful fiancé would. He had been so impressed with the way Lana had handled herself in the operating room under the scrutiny of Dr. Aeolia, who was a big gossip and who had been hitting on him since he’d first arrived, but he had no interest in her.
Now, he wanted to show the rest of them this was for real.
Except it’s not.
He rolled his stiff shoulder and then got up from where he’d been sitting in an uncomfortable lobby chair and began to pace as he waited for Lana. Her surgery on the femur had been done hours ago and it was the middle of the night, but there was a diner where a twenty-four-hour breakfast was served. He could at least treat her to some kind of meal and then maybe they could talk.
Get their stories straight so they could present a united front.
As he rolled his stiff shoulder he saw her on the breezeway, in her street clothes, walking down he steps to the main lobby. She looked tired, but that still didn’t detract from her grace and beauty. The Ice Queen of Oahu.
Which was an unfair name, because even though she tried to put up an appearance of being frosty he knew there was a warmth about her when she dealt with patients and her younger brother Jack. A caring side, even if she didn’t want to admit to it.
She looked up at him, her dark eyes widening in shock. “Dr....Andrew, what’re you doing here still? It’s three in the morning!”
“I went home and had a sleep, but thought I would come back and take you out for a bite to eat.”
“It’s three in the morning,” she repeated.
“I know, but the Kahuna Café on the north shore is open twenty-four hours and their specialty is breakfast.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That place looks like a dive.”
“It’s not a dive. Are you telling me that you’ve never been to the Kahuna Café?”
“No, it was never somewhere my parents took us.”
“Jack likes it,” Andrew teased.
Lana smirked. “Jack would eat his own hat if it was deep fried.”
Andrew chuckled. “True. Come on, what do you say? Come have some early breakfast with me and then I’ll take you home.”
“Fine.”
“Hey, it’s not a punishment, you know,” he teased.
“What?” she asked as she fell into step beside him.
“Going out to eat breakfast with me. I’m not a monster.”
A smile played on her lips. “I never said you were. Perhaps I’m the monster. I am considered a bit of a...”
“You don’t have to say it. I’ve heard it,” he teased. “What I’m saying is that appearances can be deceiving and you, of all people, should understand that.”
“Sorry,” she said.
“No problem, sweetie.”
Lana wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, don’t call me sweetie.”
“Pookie?”
“Nope.”
“Polkaroo?”
“What?” she asked, confused.
He chuckled at his subtle Canadian joke that he knew that she would never get. “Never mind. You don’t want an endearment nickname?”
“No, thank you. Just Lana is fine by me.”
“Okay.” Then he picked up her hand and she snatched it back as if he were on fire.
“What’re you doing?” she said under her breath.
“There are people watching,” he whispered.
Lana took his hand grudgingly. He’d never really held a woman’s hand before. He wasn’t a touchy-feely guy—well, he was never one for public displays of affection, because public displays of affection meant something more. It meant permanence, romance and he wasn’t a permanent sort of guy. But holding Lana’s hand felt right.
And that made him nervous.
It’s because people are watching. It doesn’t mean anything.
And then tension settled between them. It was completely awkward and no one in their right mind would believe that they were in love and the marriage was for real
unless he eased this tension.
“How did surgery go?” He winced because it was a dumb question. He knew how it had gone. Lana was a brilliant surgeon and he knew the patient had pulled through.
There were good odds he was going to make it, although there would be a long road to recovery. Andrew knew firsthand the pain of physical therapy.
“It went well,” Lana said and he could tell by her tone she thought it was a weird question too.
He let go of her hand and opened the passenger side door to his car. When he shut the door he rolled his eyes. Annoyed with himself.
Why had he thought this was going to be easy?
When had anything in life been simple?
Never.
Lana and Jack might be siblings but they were complete opposites. Jack was so warm and open. Lana was closed off and cold. He had heard the term ice queen bounced around about Lana and he got it. There was a social awkwardness there at the very least.
Yet, in her office, talking about the terms of their engagement she’d been warm and funny. Feisty even. And he was sure that was the real her, but she was suppressing it and he didn’t know why.
The drive to the Kahuna Café was laced with quiet tension, but when they pulled into the parking lot a smile crept across her face.
“That’s a lot of Tiki masks,” she teased.
Andrew chuckled. The place was a bit kitschy and totally catered to tourists, but he loved it. The food was simple and good. It reminded him of the small diner outside the east gate of Algonquin Park in the town he’d grown up in.
He hadn’t been back to north-eastern Ontario in several years. There was nothing for him there, but there were moments when he missed things and the Kahuna Café, a world away from Whitney, Ontario, brought back just a piece of home.
And when he thought about home, he thought about his sister, Meghan, which made his heart hurt. God, he missed her. And it had been a while since he’d really thought about her.
“You killed her! It’s all your fault, Andrew! You killed your sister. How could you be so reckless?”
“This is why I’ve never been here,” Lana teased, interrupting the memory of that horrible night from his mind.
“Why? Because of the Tiki masks?”
“My dad would never come here.”
“Well, your dad isn’t here, so what do you think?” he asked.
She bit her lip in concentration as she slid out of the car. “I’ll let you know after I taste the food.”
Andrew grinned and opened the door to the café and they walked in to an almost empty diner. There were a few people, farmers and tourists alike, but the diner was mostly empty. Another reason he liked this place so much.
They slid into a booth and the waitress brought them coffee.
“Mahalo.” Lana thanked the waitress, who nodded. “So what would you like to talk about?”
“Well, our wedding for starters,” he said.
“I don’t think we really have to discuss much with respect to plans.”
“Oh?” Andrew asked.
“My stepmother loves to plan parties. She’ll take care of everything. She is the top wedding planner in Waikiki.”
“How over-the-top is this thing going to be?” he asked suddenly, dreading a crazy fiasco.
Lana grinned. “Over. Way over.”
Andrew groaned. “Well, at least it will be convincing.”
“They don’t know that...” Lana trailed off. “It’s real as far as they’re concerned.”
“True. Okay, but what about after?” It was hard for him to talk about after. He never had relationships, just flings. There was never an after. It was weird to talk about after when this wasn’t a real marriage.
“After?” she asked.
“Living arrangements. I remember that you suggested my moving in with you, but we didn’t actually decide, did we?”
* * *
Lana tried not to choke on her coffee.
Living arrangements?
The waitress came over. “Are you ready to order?”
“Just some toast,” Lana said because she didn’t really feel like eating all of a sudden.
“Nothing for me,” Andrew said. “Coffee is fine.”
The waitress left and Lana found the words that were struggling to come out. The reality of ‘married’ life was becoming all too clear.
“To sell our marriage to Immigration, we will have to live under the same roof. For at least a year.”
He sounded just as freaked out as she was.
Andrew was right, but the thought of sharing her home with him, a man who simultaneously drove her bonkers and who she was wildly attracted to, was scary.
How could she live under the same roof as him?
“It does make sense if you move in with me.” She looked reluctant, though. “I mean, I don’t even know exactly where your apartment is.”
He grinned, that sly mischievous grin which caused a dimple to appear in his cheek.
Dang, his teeth were so white and perfect.
“That’s pretty bad that you don’t even know where your husband lives.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “You’re not my husband yet.”
Andrew laughed, and she liked it when he laughed. She wasn’t used to this. Usually he was so serious around her. She’d watched him be charming to others from afar.
But he was never this way with her.
She liked this.
Don’t get carried away. This isn’t real.
“So, your place, then?” he asked.
“Well, my house is near the hospital and the beach. I have three bedrooms and a pool.”
Andrew raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
“Now who doesn’t know where the other lives?” she teased.
“Since I’m in a bachelor apartment I guess I’ll move in with you.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not a hardship.”
“Oh, but it is.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not moving in with you.” The waitress set down the toast and poured more coffee.
“My bachelor pad is nice. Sparse but nice.”
“Sparse but nice?” she teased. “I don’t do sparse. I like neat and organized, but sparse? That’s just sad.”
They laughed together and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like this. She’d never laughed like this with David. Not even with her father.
“Don’t be so silly, Iolana. Act your age. Be respectable.”
“I like this,” he said.
“What, toast and coffee at three in the morning?” she asked.
“Yeah, but also this side of you. Why do you keep this side of you locked away?”
Lana felt her cheeks heat again and she cleared her throat to regain composure. She couldn’t let him in. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He frowned. “Fine.”
She felt bad for throwing up a wall, but it was her best form of defense. And now the toast was like gravel in her mouth; she could barely choke it down.
“So when do you want to move in?” she asked, changing the subject.
“How about after we’re married? I think your dad is a traditional sort of guy.”
“That’s true. He is.” She sighed. “I’m exhausted. I really should get home and get some rest.”
Andrew nodded. “I’ll take you home.”
“Just back to the hospital is fine. I have to get my car.”
“Right.”
They both threw down some money for breakfast and then walked out to his car. Lana was nervous, as if she were on a date—one that ended badly.
Only she wasn’t on a date. This
wasn’t real. They had just been formulating an intricate ruse.
And she had to keep telling herself that.
CHAPTER FOUR
LANA MANAGED TO avoid Andrew for the rest of the week. Even though the wedding was creeping up fast, she was actively avoiding him. He’d made her feel things at the Kahuna Café that she wasn’t comfortable with. Things that she’d hidden for so long because it was expected of her. Her father had certain expectations, but there was a part of her deep down that was like her mother.
And it was that side she hid because it was too painful for her father.
When her mother had left, shortly after Jack was born, she’d assumed the mantle of mother.
And since she wanted Jack and her father happy, she’d buried the feelings of grief, anger and loss well. Only one other person had got through her icy shell and that had been David.
David had made her feel things she’d never thought possible and look how well that had turned out.
Then there was the constant butting of heads between her brother and father. So Lana had learned to adapt to smooth things over between the two of them. She was the mediator and the peacekeeper. So, to make sure everyone was happy she’d do almost anything.
Even wear a wedding dress that slightly horrified her.
“It’s so dreamy,” Sophie, her stepmother, gushed, running her manicured hand over the fabric as if it were one of the fluffy poodles she showed. “Isn’t it, Lana?”
You expect me to wear that?
Only she didn’t say that.
Keep the peace. Keep the peace.
“Sure.”
There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the dress. It was just...she wasn’t used to dresses. They weren’t something she was used to wearing. Especially one that was lace-covered, form-fitting, backless, ivory-colored and scattered with pearls.
That wasn’t her idea of nice clothing.
She’d missed her prom because her father had been at a medical conference and someone had to watch Jack. Maybe she was the only girl who didn’t dream of being Cinderella.
Give her scrubs, slacks or a wetsuit any day.
Oh, come on. You dreamt of wedding dresses when you were with David.
