by Davis, Alexa
I held her hand in mine for a moment, pleased with the way that we had seemed to bring out the best in one another. In a way, when we first met, we were both lost souls. Now, we had a positive contribution to the world, a purpose to keep on going.
“You really are going to give Ali the best life,” I told her honestly. “She is so lucky to have you as a mom.”
“You, too,” she insisted happily. “She’ll be lucky to have such an awesome dad. We’re going to give her the best family possible.”
Over the last few weeks, because of the possibility of adoption, June had been doing her best to heal the rift with her own parents. They hadn't exactly fallen out or anything, but as she centered her mind in on her end goal of becoming a journalist, I got the impression that she’d forgotten them somewhat. Seeing the kids and seeing me, I got the idea that she felt compelled to fix that because she was one of the lucky ones.
“You will have to invite your mom and dad to come and stay with us soon,” I told her as the idea popped into my mind. “It’ll probably be a good idea for them to meet me, but more importantly, they will want to get to know their granddaughter.”
She remained silent for a few moments, but I could see tears filling her eyes. “You’re right,” she eventually whispered. “And, they’ll love her, too. Then, Ali will be gaining grandparents, as well as parents. She definitely deserves that.”
“Well then, once we’re all settled, give them a call and set it up. It’ll be amazing, I’m sure.” It gave me a pang in my heart that I didn’t have any parents to share with Ali, but this moment wasn’t about me.
What had happened to me had happened; there was nothing that I could do to change that. All I could do was make things better for the future. My mom would have loved Ali, but I just had to hope that she would be watching over us all. I would eventually tell Ali all about everyone else in my life anyway…when the time was right.
***
“Well, it’s official,” I told her, whilst throwing my arm around shoulder. “You’re in.”
“I don’t think that just having the boxes indoors counts as in ,” she replied wryly, looking at the massive tower. “But it’ll certainly do for now. I’m far too tired to do anymore now!”
“At least, you know what is in each box, so we won’t spend hours scrabbling around…right?” I asked her as her expression turned somewhat guilty.
“Well, I had all good intentions, but it didn’t quite pan out that way in the end. Moving takes up so much time. I don’t think that you understand!”
I chuckled agreeably with her. I didn’t because I’d never had to move; I’d just gone on to expand and have renovations done on the house, so maybe I really didn’t get it. “Okay, fair enough. Let’s forget all about it now and get something to eat. I think that we should maybe order a takeout and have a glass of wine.”
“Celebrate the first day of the rest of our lives,” she interjected happily. “I can’t believe we have made it this far, it’s incredible.” She looked at me with such love in her eyes that it almost had me falling apart right there and then. “Just think, once upon a time you crashed into my car—”
“That was your fault,” I felt compelled to remind her. “You were the one on the wrong side of the road, remember?”
“And now,” she continued, totally ignoring my very rational point. “We’re about to become parents. We are in love, happy, with careers that surprisingly suit us both, adopting a beautiful little girl – it’s absolutely crazy.”
“And all because you were sent by your newspaper to interview me,” I replied, causing her to spin around in shock. “Oh, come on. I knew that’s why you were coming all along, the second you mentioned your job. Why else would you have been all the way out here? I offered because I wanted to help you…but I knew what you were doing all along.” I moved closer to her and wrapped my arms around her. “Lucky for you, I think you’re very cute, or maybe I would have sent you away.”
“Well, it’s a good job you didn’t,” she replied, returning right back to that bold as brass personality that I so adored. “Or you never would have had any of this.”
“I love you,” I told her, kissing her fiercely. “And, I’m glad I didn’t, either.”
If I had, I would have thrown away the best future I could have ever hoped for. June was the right girl at the right moment, and I would always be happy to have found her.
Epilogue
June – 6 months later
“You must buy at least thirty copies!” Roy exclaimed into the phone, as I told him the joy of seeing my book on the book shelves for the very first time. It was an extremely exciting moment for me, a wonderful dream come true, but it seemed like Roy was even more thrilled for me. He sounded like a child bouncing around after eating candy.
“I already have a copy,” I giggled back. “Plus, if we buy them all, who else will read them? That’s the whole point of writing a book, isn’t it?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he joked. “I just want them all. I’m too damn proud of you…and Ali is, too!”
“Well done, Mom!” she cried out loudly in the background, sounding nothing like the shy, quiet child I’d met over a year ago.
When I first told her that she was coming to live with me and Roy, she was excited, but nervous, too. Well, we all were. But now she’d settled in and was making real positive strides in the right direction.
The choice to call us Mom and Dad was all her own doing. We hadn't wanted to push her considering she’d known us as June and Roy for a while, but she needed to. She had a large gaping hole in her life which had been there since the day that her real parents died, and she’d needed it filled.
As a part of the adoption, we received all of the information about her birth parents, who seemed like really good people. It was a shame that they’d been killed in a traffic accident, but all Roy and I could do was to try and make the best life for their daughter, to give her what she wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Everything was kept in a drawer for Ali to see as soon as she wanted to, but so far, she hadn't mentioned it. She was still too young and adjusting to the life that we were giving her. She was growing up a lot quicker ever since she started kindergarten, but I was trying not to worry about that too much.
“Now, when are you coming home?” Roy took over the conversation again. “We have a celebration all panned out. It isn’t every day that your debut novel gets released. Plus, your mom has been phoning; she wants to hear from you…”
Things were great between me and my parents these days; they’d even been to stay with us a few times. Any past pain was long gone now, and we were all looking happily towards the future.
“Ooh, I hope it does well,” I replied, anxiety suddenly getting the better of me. “And I hope the publishers like the second book, too…”
“Stop worrying,” he insisted. “There’s nothing you can do about all of that now; it’s out of your hands. All you need to do is celebrate today, okay?”
“Okay,” I sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to take his words to heart. “I’m on my way now, so I’ll see you guys really soon.” I’d done all that I wanted to in town anyway. I’d snapped some photos of my book in the shop to post on social media, so heading back sounded good to me. “I can’t wait to see you both.”
As I hoped into the car and proceeded to drive home – home , sometimes it still felt a little strange to call the ranch that – my mind whirred over how perfect my life had become. I still had my amazing friendship with Hailey, the tutoring job at the Hangout, and my book.
Plus, on top of that, I had the best family that anyone could ask for. Sure, the way that we all came together might not have been traditional, but it honestly didn’t matter. We had one another, and that was all we cared about.
As I pulled up my car, Roy, Ali, and Tank were all waiting for me, with Ali holding up a congratulations sign that they’d obviously been working on. Simply seeing that made everything worth it – a
ll the stress, the late nights, the self doubt. Just to have someone so lovely believing in me…nothing else could even come close.
“Well, this has to be an awesome homecoming,” I exclaimed happily. “You guys look like you’ve been busy.”
“That’s not it; there’s more,” Ali gushed, before dropping the sign and racing towards me for a hug. “We have organized you a picnic and everything!”
“You have?” I held her close to me, smiling to myself. Even on my worst days, even when I was feeling my most vulnerable, Ali had the ability to make me feel good. “Then let’s get going! I’m starving.”
They walked me to my favorite spot over by the lake, where a spread had already been set up for us. Happiness washed over me as I saw how much effort had been put into my celebration; it was so much more than I would have ever asked for. There was a bottle of champagne, strawberries dipped in chocolate, and cookies that Roy and Ali had obviously made from scratch.
“This is too much, guys,” I told them, whilst patting Tank, kissing Ali on the forehead, and giving Roy a proper kiss. Tank growled a little as Roy and I kissed, exerting his protective side over me, but that simply made us laugh. “But as I’m so hungry I’m going to have to take your kind gesture as it is.”
We sat down, and all clicked our plastic champagne flutes together to celebrate. Roy and I had wine, whereas Ali had juice. The “fancy” glass was enough to have her feeling like a grown up.
As they told me how proud they were of me, I felt a blush spread through my entire body. I wasn’t used to having so much focus on me, but considering it was my family, I could tolerate it. If my writing career really took off, I wasn’t sure how I would be able to hack it. Being on one side of the media was one thing…being on the other would be something else entirely.
“You know, I got a letter from Lewis today,” Roy told me casually, as if this wasn’t huge news. “He must have written it to me from prison.”
“He…he did?” I stammered, feeling a little awkward. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be good or bad news…that would depend on the content of the letter. Luckily, the thing with Lewis had impacted Roy in the way that it could have done, especially when you considered his past. He’d managed to move past it fairly quickly, even putting trust into another member of staff. Fredrik was a good guy, though. I couldn’t see him ever letting Roy down. “What did he say?”
“I guess that he must be in some kind of twelve step program for his addiction because most of it was apologizing for what he did to me and the business. He finally seems to recognize that he threw a lot back in my face, so I guess that he wanted to make up for that.” He sighed for a second, before taking a swig of his drink. Growing bored of us, Ali and Tank went off to play with a nearby ball, giving us a little more privacy. “He even said that he understands why I reported him, why I had to get him locked up.”
“And, do you think he’s genuine?” I didn’t want to step on any toes, but I also didn’t want Roy to get sucked in again. He’d come too far for that. I needed to protect him over everything else.
“I don’t know,” he sighed honestly. “And, it doesn’t really matter anyway. I don’t really feel any way about it. It’s just like any other piece of mail; it doesn’t make me feel anything…other than glad that it’s over, of course.”
“Dad!” Ali yelled loudly, dragging us from our conversation. “Have you asked Mom yet?”
“Asked me what?” I looked at Roy, whose face had turned ashen. “Roy, what’s going on? Asked me what?”
“Get over here, Ali,” he half scolded. “I can’t ask without you.”
Confusion flooded me as I tried to work out what this could be. Ali was terrible at keeping secrets at the best of times, I’d learnt that the hard way when I took her shopping with me for Roy’s birthday present, so the fact that she’d kept whatever this was to herself for such a long time was very impressive. As she jogged back towards us both, the curiosity started to get the better of me. It took all that I had not to scream out and demand to know what was happening.
They whispered among themselves for a moment, making things even worse. But then they turned to face me, and everything stilled within me. This moment was going to be monumental, I just knew it.
“June,” Roy started in a loving tone of voice, which instantly had my excitement levels growing. “I love you, you know I do. In fact, I think I might have loved you from the very first moment I laid my eyes on you. When you were sitting there, shaking in the car.” I giggled at the memory, but the sound came out a little strangled because the tears were already starting to form in my eyes, the emotion already getting the better of me.
“And now we’re here, like some miracle, as a family. Me, you, Tank, and Ali…a dream that neither of us thought we could make a reality.” My heart thundered in my chest as I started to finally accept where this was going.
This was another fantasy that I had barely even admitted to myself, but now that the moment had arrived, it was all I wanted in the whole damn world. To be Roy’s wife, to have an official family unit…nothing could be better. “And now, I want to ask you something…”
“Mommy, will you marry Daddy?” Ali jumped in, far too excited to let Roy finish. “You have to see the ring. It’s amazing. Daddy let me help pick it. It’s a green diamond; how cool is that…” She was talking so fast that I could barely keep up, which made me laugh aloud.
“Are you going to let Mom answer?” Roy finally interjected. “We don’t even know if she wants the ring yet?”
“Oh, you do; I’m a sucker for shiny things,” I teased, taking the small box from him. “Plus, it would be pretty cool to be your wife, I suppose.” But all jokes vanished as I finally saw the ring that Roy had picked out for me. It made me gasp out in a really happy shock. “Oh wow.”
“So when are you going to get married?” Ali jumped in, still far too excited for words.
“Ooh I don’t know,” I told her, before pulling her close to me. “It doesn’t matter to me when I get married; all I care about is that my maid of honor has the dress that she wants.”
“Me? Is that me? I get to be a bridesmaid? Daddy said that you might let me.”
“Of course. Who else would I want? You are the sweetest, most beautiful girl that I could ever hope to be my bridesmaid.”
As we all held one another, safe in the knowledge that soon we would be a family by law, I felt intense happiness flooding me. My life really was perfect, and with the way that things were headed, they would only get better. I had a man I adored, and who loved me, too, despite all my flaws. We had a child who needed us to raise her, who we could pour all our excess love into. Tank loved me and Ali, too, which I knew was a huge thing for Roy.
“Well, I suppose I better phone Mom,” I told them both happily. “She is going to freak when she hears this one…”
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BILLIONAIRE DOCTOR
By Alexa Davis
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Alexa Davis
Chapter One
Matthew
Early Thursday Morning – Early June
“Hello there, Mr. Smith.” I smiled brightly as one of my favorite patients entered my consult. “How are you feeling today?”
“Oh, not so good,” he shot back quickly. “I’ve had this cough for three weeks, my throat hurts like hell, and it’s affecting my bad back.”
I only half listened as he rattled off his list of symptoms, knowing it wouldn’t be anything serious. Mr. Smith had a great personality, and as a person, I got along with him, but as he descen
ded further and further into old age, he started to develop that hypochondria many people seemed to get.
I was convinced it wasn't even about seeing the doctor, not really. I felt like a lot of it was the social aspect of hanging around in the waiting room. I almost wanted to create some kind of club for them all, anywhere but the hospital, just to give me the time I needed to see people who really needed me.
“Okay, well, let me just do some checks. Why don't you tell me how your writing is going while I take your blood pressure and run an ECG?”
I set about to work as he told me all about the book he was working on, the one he was certain would be the next bestseller. I made agreeable noises wherever needed, but I didn’t have to fully listen because he’d told me about it a million times before.
“Of course, if I’d won the lottery last night, I wouldn’t need to be fussing about with this book now, would I?”
I laughed along, but the thought of that sort of cash really tugged at my heartstrings. I always brought a ticket with the hope of being able to sort out my finances, but so far, I’d had no luck.
I didn’t harbor dreams of a jobless future with endless luxuries at my disposal. I didn’t think about holidays and mansions and God knows what else. All I wanted to do was to pay off my debts because they were dragging me down. They felt endless, like they would be with me for the rest of my life, and I really wanted to shake them off.
They had started in medical school because I’d had to fund a lot of it with credit. My parents didn’t have a lot of money themselves, and I didn’t want to pressure them and leave them in debt because of my damn dream. So, I told them I would work through college to fund myself, and that was what I thought I would do.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out like that.
I tried, I did, but it just wasn't possible. I had too much course work, too many hours in placement, and I had stop and get a loan instead – a massive loan no one knew about but me.
