by Kathi Barton
Me too. I really like her. She’s all soft and mushy about some stuff, but a real bear when it comes to things being right and equal. I’m going to have so much fun with her when they’re married. She laughed. I’m hoping they bond soon. I sort of feel sorry for your brother.
Yeah, I do as well. But he is doing what he thinks is right with her. She strikes me as someone that hides her emotions inside, and when it blows over, someone will be picking up the pieces for a very long time. And her feelings for Adam, I think, are terrifying her. Something that she’s never felt before, and it’s taking over. Sunny said that’s what she’d thought as well. Hmm. Sunny, they’re here.
It had never occurred to him that his grandda was part of the board at this hospital too. His mom and dad were on the one at home, but he’d never thought to even ask about this one in Columbus. His grandda was leading the pack, so to speak, when about a dozen men and women came into the room.
“What’s the meaning of this, Mr. Whitfield? You show up now, with these people, instead of sitting with the board? I won’t have it.” Grandda sat down and winked at Adrian before turning to the four men in the room. “Mr. Whitfield, can you please tell me what this is all about?”
“I can. I can. But I think these people are going to tell you in their own words. There is some nasty stuff going on around here, and they’re here to let you know just how disappointed they are in the lot of you.” The eldest man stood up then sat down when Grandda snapped at him to do so. “You’ve been mighty negligent around here, Bob. You’ve went and lost you about the best there is in the surgical field, not counting my grandson. And on top of that, these people here have been deprived of their money and awards. That woman, Miss Lily, has made a mess of things, and now, since you didn’t step in when you should have, you’re about to see the back end of the turkey as it goes over the fence when it comes to keeping this place running.”
“Mr. Whitfield, we’ve only been made aware of this today.” Grandda told him that he was a liar and he should have noticed that they were losing doctors and other staff right and left. “We assumed that things were going well. No one came to us about any of this.”
“As he said, you are a liar.” The doctor that was standing next to the wall handed Adrian several pieces of paper. “You’ll see there that not only have I made several complaints about lost wages, no pay raises, as well as lost vacation time, I’ve emailed the board and sent out notices of the way things are headed. And all to no avail. You’ll also find in those papers my resignation. I can’t work under these conditions. And I don’t think any of us will.”
The table was flooded with unfinished paperwork that had been due weeks after the man had demanded someone else do it—resignations. Notices of strikes, as well as disciplinary actions taken against the employees that were not just untrue but unfounded as well. Adrian just sat back and let the men hang themselves. There was just too much evidence on what had been right under their noses. His cell phone was ringing just as the second man in line began telling them what he’d been putting up with. It was Henry Cobb.
“Are you trying to kick me to the curb before my time here is up?” Adrian laughed when he did. “You’ve done a good job with this. This is going to be another feather in your cap when this comes out in the paper. And there isn’t any way for them to shove this under the rug now.”
“They’re claiming that they’d not known anything about this. But that’s been quashed. The men and women here have a long list of shit that has been going on. And for some time, it seems like.” Henry asked him what he thought they were going to do now. “Grandda is here. He seems to think that this place will shut down soon. At least that’s what he’s saying to the men I’ve been talking to.”
The fourth man was handing the board paperwork, his voice was deep with anger. Also, the loss of wages, which was what it was since Lily had taken it from them, was the least of their problems. Apparently, Lily had never put in for vacation for some of them, and they were still waiting to get paid for it—had been for the last several years.
“I’m sending you some help. Not that I think you’re going to need it, but I’m sending you a financial attorney that has all the amounts owed to each of them in that hospital. As well as those that have left because of Lily.” There was a long pause. Adrian waited while Henry spoke to someone in his office. “Adrian, I want you to remain calm for a bit. Apparently, more things against Miss Lily have been turned up.”
He asked what it was, but Henry was laughing too hard to tell him. When he told him he’d talk to him later, Henry just laughed more. Whatever was going down, it wasn’t going to help keep this place open.
When the door behind them was banged against the wall, Adrian as well as the others stood up. Christ, he was really in a shitstorm here. Adrian thought it was just as funny as Henry had when he became a part of the meeting with him.
Chapter 5
Meghan called Ivy again. This was ridiculous. They’d been meeting for breakfast or lunch every day since they’d arrived, and now when she had something important to tell her, she wasn’t around. Stomping her foot as she hung up the phone, Meghan went to the little place on her own. Meghan so hated to eat alone.
Carter, another Whitfield, was in there with an elderly gentleman. Meghan thought that he, too, was a Whitfield, but couldn’t keep the large family straight. When she sat down at her usual table, Mr. Whitfield as well as Carter came to sit with her. Under the circumstances, she decided that she’d rather eat alone.
“Hello, dear. What do you have on your plate today?” Meghan told Mr. Whitfield that she was looking for Ivy. “I think her and Adam are furniture shopping today. Something about not having enough chairs for the dining room. You must be very happy for Ivy. Her and Adam make a great pair, don’t you think?”
“Ivy? No, you must be mistaken. She won’t date, much less go furniture shopping with someone. She detests shopping as much as I love it. No, there isn’t any way that she’d be doing such a thing.” She looked at Carter when she laughed. “Do you know where she is?”
“Yes. She’s shopping with Adam. As you were told.” Meghan didn’t like the way the woman was talking to her and decided that she wasn’t hungry enough to sit with them. But as soon as she stood up, Carter told her to sit. “Now, we’re not lying to you that she’s with Adam. Nor about the fact that they’re shopping. You do know that they’re getting married, don’t you?”
“Married? How on earth could you even think that? Ivy and I have only been here for a few days. A week. There isn’t any way that she’s met with someone and decided to marry them in that short time. Besides, Ivy doesn’t even care to date, much less marry someone.” Meghan looked at them both, wondering if what they were saying could be true. What would she do without her sister by her side? They were all they had, just the two of them. “I’m assuming that the guy you say she’s marrying is another Whitfield. I mean, I might have met him at some point, but I can’t see him wanting to marry my sister. She’s brilliant, sweet, and kind. That’s why I know that she’d tell me if she was thinking of getting married.”
“I’m sure that you were going to be told. From what I understand, she’s signing on to work with my grandson, Evan. They’re forming a partnership even as we speak.” Meghan knew then that they weren’t lying to her. Ivy had spoken of nothing else but how much she was enjoying working for the other man. “I’m sorry, honey. But I’m betting that with her working with my boy and getting things squared away with her old boss, it slipped her mind.”
“Thank you.” Mr. Whitfield nodded. “We’ve been so close for so long. We were all we had since we were children. I probably got too…. Well, I was very dependent on my sister—too much, I guess you could call it. And when I asked her to take me on this trip, it was for me to just blow off some steam. And to spend some alone time with her.” Meghan thought of how whiney she sounded. “I’m sorry. I sound like a child that hasn’t had a nap.”
“Not at all.
I can understand that on some level. It’s difficult to have to share something that has only been yours for a long time. Like teddy bears or some shit like that.” Meghan laughed and felt better for it. “I have to tell you, Meghan, I don’t think that your sister is leaving here. She and Adam are mates. And I’m sure that you know what that is.”
“She said something like that.” Mr. Whitfield nodded when she looked at him. “We were going to the coast. I think she was going to give her notice too. I don’t know why she’s not been here for me too. Or even to tell me— Are you sure that she’s here to stay?”
“Yes, she is staying. Or if she decides not to for some reason, Adam will go with her. It’s the only way that he can be happy.” Meghan just looked at the menu that was in front of her. If she’d been asked, she couldn’t tell anyone if she’d ordered or not. She told Carter and Carter’s grandda-in-law that she didn’t know what to do now. “You don’t have to worry about a thing. Not anything now that we’re going to be related. I have a couple of houses that you can choose from. They’re not as big as Adam’s—he and Ivy really are out shopping. But you can live in one of them houses that I got for as long as you want.” Mr. Whitfield took her hand into his rough callused ones.
“I never thought that she’d marry. Not after what had happened to her at home.” Carter asked her what had happened. “This man, I don’t think they ever caught him, started saying things about her that weren’t true. I believe one of them was that she had carried his child and aborted it. This was all put in the paper, and they wouldn’t tell anyone who had given them the information. The police told us that their hands were tied on this. That whoever wanted to could put whatever they wanted in the paper, true or not. His free speech got her into all kinds of trouble. I think that is another reason that she was so willing to go with me to the coast.”
Carter started making notes as she bombarded her with question after question. How many lies had been printed? Was anyone else at the paper willing to talk to the police? And the one that seemed to have pissed Carter off the most, was the hospital added to the rumors by saying that they’d seen things as well.
When a platter of food was set in front of her, Meghan pushed it away. She wasn’t sure that she could hold anything down right now. But Carter shoved it back at her and told her to eat. Meghan picked up her fork and took several bites before she realized that the woman was treating her like a child.
“No, I’m not. But you need to keep your strength up to deal with all this. Ivy will need you.” Meghan looked at Mr. Whitfield, then back at Carter. Meghan was sure that she’d not voiced anything about being treated this way. “You didn’t. I can read your mind. I don’t think you have to worry about not being useful around here—none of us think badly of you. Your sadness of Ivy seemingly leaving you is unfounded. The other things that you’ve done? I’m not worried about that. But I would like to tell you that you are right that Ivy needed this more than you did. And I think that you’re an amazing sister for making sure that she loosened up and had some fun. Even arguing with you, it’s a stress reliever for you both.”
Tears filled her eyes as she sat there. These people, they’d been nothing but kind to both her and Ivy since they had arrived. Meghan was sure that they were only doing it for her because of Ivy. But at this point in her life, she would take a friendship any way that she could get it.
“When we were informed about our parents getting a divorce, Ivy rushed home to be with me. She’d already gone away for college by then. When our parents filed for divorce, I think it was somewhat of a relief to both of us. All they did was argue, slam doors, and even going so far as to threaten each other with bodily harm.” Ollie, as he’d asked her to call him, said that she and Ivy were lucky to have each other. “Yes. We are. However, at the time, all I could think about was that our parents were going to kill each other if they didn’t do this right then. I don’t know what I’d do if Ivy were to leave me. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I love her with all my heart.”
“You’re a good girl, Meghan. And you’re both very lucky to have each other.” Ollie smiled at her, then nodded at her now empty plate. “You were a might hungrier than you thought, I’m thinking. How about you and me, we mosey on over to them houses of mine, and we’ll see which of them suits you? Don’t matter to me if you take one or not, or which one you have your eye on, you can stay there for the rest of your days for all I care.”
The generosity of these people was amazing to her. They were there for someone whenever they needed it—they didn’t even have to be related to them, opening their hearts and their home so that others could be safe and sound. Looking at Carter, Meghan wondered why she was so afraid of them—all of them, for that matter. Meghan figured that it had more to do with her and Ivy just having each other rather than them having a closed heart to others.
As soon as she paid her check, which never ceased to astonish her at how low it was, she and Ollie went to see the houses. Meghan had just eaten a breakfast of ham, bacon, and sausage, as well as two eggs and sausage gravy in a side bowl. And the fluffiest biscuits she’d ever eaten. There was a crock of butter on the table, honey, as well as an assortment of jams. Nothing could compare to that and looking at houses.
The first house that they looked at reminded her of Tara in that movie about Rhett and Scarlett. There were pillars out front on a porch that just looked like it was begging to be sat on. The rockers there, even though it was cold, looked inviting and nice. When they opened the door, it spilled into an entrance hallway that took her breath away. The entire house was just like the front hall, spectacular and welcoming.
The next two were just as beautiful and as large as the first one. There were three bedrooms on the second floor, and the master suite at the end of the long hallway. Ollie told her that he knew this group of men from the pack that would take an old house and bring it up to par. This one, he told her, had had five bedrooms, but they’d been small. Meghan fell in love with the kitchen of the second house.
“Well now, I won’t rush you about this.” She told him that she would love to rent the first one from him, just until she got herself something smaller. “I’m sorry, darling, I never meant for you to pay rent. The house is yours to live in if that’s what you want. I have no use for so many homes, and I’d be glad if you were to take if off my hands. And I don’t much care what you do to it either, so long as you don’t burn it to the ground or paint it some ungodly color.”
“No, I’d never do that. I love the wood siding on it. The backyard that just screams for someone to sit out and watch it. I love the pool as well. But, I can’t live there rent free. That wouldn’t be right.” He told her that she was doing him a favor by living in it. “A favor for you? How exactly does that work?”
“Well, I don’t have to worry about squatters or the such. Not that we have much trouble with that, but you just don’t know about people nowadays. And if you’re living there in the house, you’re only a hop and a skip away from your sister’s home. I should have pointed that out right away.” Meghan was charmed. Not just because of the house, but also the elderly man too. He was so sweet that she couldn’t help herself. She kissed him on the forehead. “Now, you’re gonna make some man jealous if he were coming around. Kissing an old man like me—well, it surely does feel good. I thank you for it.”
Laughing and crying at how wonderful she felt, her and Ollie made arrangements for her things to be brought from her rental back home. They also made plans for her to be able to go to the barn. It was a large building that sat at the back of his son’s property, he told her. It had all kinds of things that they’d been saving.
“I don’t know why we save so much. Hard to part with it—memories, I guess. Like my Adam. It took him getting a mate for him to finally fill the house with things that weren’t as old or older than his daddy is.” She laughed with him. “I’m so happy, Meghan. You did this old man a solid, you did.”
Meghan stil
l wasn’t sure that the arrangement was working out to the best advantage for Ollie. But she’d have her own home, for a while anyway, and her things around her. Yes, Meghan thought, she might well like living here.
~*~
Ivy made her way around the hospital. It wasn’t large, but it had so much charm that she couldn’t help but be happy to be here. Evan had made sure that she was known to the people that worked there with him, as well as set her up with an office close to his.
“I don’t go there much. But it’s nice to have it when I have a patient in post-op. Saves me having to go home to nap and come back.” She told him that she usually slept in an empty room when she had to stay. “Yes, but my wife? She gets a little testy when I’m not close to her.”
Ivy didn’t comment. She had noticed that all the mates to the Whitfield men were constantly touching and hugging their other halves. She thought about Adam and what they’d done last night.
She’d been in the kitchen, making herself a sandwich since she’d missed lunch, when he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Ivy had leaned back into his chest and they’d stood that way until she turned toward him.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.” He asked her what she wanted to do. “Sex. I want to have sex with you. But as I told you, I’m not that good at it.”
“Perhaps it was your partner and not you.” Ivy looked into his eyes to see if he was making fun of her. “Never. I’d never make fun of you when something so serious as sex is being discussed.”
She still hadn’t been sure what to do with him, so she kissed him though it was such a mundane word for what it was. And nothing in this world could have prepared her for the connection that seemed to want to take her to her knees.
