by Kathi Barton
When she closed the connection, Adam thought about what she’d said. He wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not, talking about getting rid of the people that may or may not come after them. Adam had a feeling that she was serious, but he didn’t want to think about that. It was hard to tell sometimes with Dylan. Closing his eyes while holding onto Ivy, he decided that he wasn’t going to ask her. He thought it would be better if he didn’t know.
Waking up on the couch, Adam felt his body had stiffened up, and his arms were sore as well. Looking around, he noticed the note standing up on Ivy’s desk with his name on it. Standing and stretching, Adam only just then realized that Ivy was a cat. And she had gotten up already—she’d not had to rest up for several days as others he’d heard about had. Christ, he loved that woman.
Picking up the note, he could smell her on it. Her cat was right there where he could catch her scent. Opening the folded paper, he was hit harder with her scent. It was so delicate, so amazingly her, that he felt his cock stretch and harden.
So, I’m a tiger. I love you for this. I was terrified that I was going to die, but I so love that you and your pretty kitty helped me be safer. Laughing, he sat down at her desk to finish the note. I’m on call until noon today. The emergency department is so short-staffed right now, I have some feelers out for some of my old gang to come out to be interviewed. I’ve spoken to Evan about it. Anyway, I thought that if I had stayed there with you all wrapped around me, I wouldn’t have been able to leave you. I’m in the ER when you wake up. I love you dearly. Oh, before I forget, your mom is a saint, just so you know. She has everything set up for us to get hitched anytime we have a few minutes. I hope you don’t mind.
Putting the note down on the desk again, Adam leaned back in her chair. It was a very stark room. No pictures or diplomas were on the wall. He knew that she’d lost a great many things with the fire, but he also knew that she’d not bother getting a copy of any of it. Picking up his phone, wanting to make her space just for her, he made several phone calls and got everything that he wanted for her lined up. Leaving the office then, making sure that the door was locked, Adam made his way to the emergency department.
He found Ivy talking to a couple. The woman he thought he knew. It was difficult to tell with her being covered in so much blood. The man, hurt as well, held the woman next to him as she sobbed. Ivy told them several times that she was sorry for the decision they had to make at this moment, and for the bad news she was imparting to them. Adam didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that he couldn’t talk to her right now.
Standing next to the desk at the front of the department, Adam asked Linda what was going on. She shook her head and wiped at her nose as she looked at the couple.
“They were in an accident. Their little boy, about four, was ejected from the car even though he was buckled in the proper way.” Adam asked if he had been killed. “No, but things just don’t look that good for him. His momma found him a few yards from the impact. Dad was unconscious when he was pulled from the wreckage. Doctor Ivy is telling them their options. Which, sadly, aren’t all that good.”
When Ivy moved toward the desk, he started to reach for her when she shook her head. She gave orders to Linda, telling her to make sure that they could spend as much time as they wished with their son, and to call her if there was any change in the next several hours.
Ivy took his hand and took him to the doctors’ lounge, and then nearly collapsed when they were behind closed doors. She cried harder than he’d ever seen her do, and Adam was at a loss at to what to do for her. Holding her seemed so little when he could feel her suffering like it was his own.
Ivy looked up at him and his heart broke for her. Her face was puffy from the tears—the sorrow there had him picking her up and holding her on his lap. When she finally spoke, Adam having given her time to do so, she spilled out the story that had him wanting to go and find the man responsible for the accident and killing him again.
“He had just been buckled into his seat to go to the zoo when the car driven by an idiot came out of nowhere and hit theirs hard enough that it went through a stoplight and into oncoming traffic.” Adam asked her where the parents had been. “The mother was just opening the door to enter the car, and the father was on the other side, where the impact occurred, to get in as well. Neither of them made it inside, but the mother was knocked into the car next to it. The father, a shifter, was thrown into the woods beyond the parking lot of the restaurant they’d been coming out of.”
He’d seen his brother be devastated by such horrors of his job. Evan would hurt for days before he was able to get a good grip on his emotions after losing a patient. He would wear his pain like armor sometimes, especially when a child was involved. Evan had told him once that he wished that he could save all the children from those like the one from today, but he knew also that it was a fact of life that people were stupid for the most part. And it seemed that children were the ones that took the brunt of their foolhardiness.
When Ivy left him, Adam made his way out to the front desk again. Linda informed him that the child had died and that his parents had been with him when he had. Nodding, he hurt for them too. And although he didn’t have children of his own, he had brothers who did, and he didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to their children.
About an hour later, Adam helped out by fielding calls. Most of it was just talking to someone in a certain room, and Linda showed him how to transfer calls. But there were times when he didn’t know much more than the callers did. Those calls he had to send to another department. Someone there would have to give them information.
He saw Evan twice when he was called in, Ivy every hour or so. He’d not been surprised to see his grandda coming in. The man knew more people and their families than anyone. He came in and made his rounds before having a seat with he and Linda.
By the time Ivy was off duty, he was drained. He couldn’t imagine how anyone did this job over the extent of their lives without having to seek professional help. The things that he’d never realized, the way things were done, Adam thought for sure that he’d stay a farmer until his dying day rather than have to do a job that for the most part was depressing. Adam wanted to do something fun, something that would take both their minds, mostly Ivy’s, off their day.
Walking out into the fresh snow, feeling the bite of the cold, Adam wanted to see Ivy’s cat. He knew that she’d be beautiful, also that she’d be unique. Taking her hand in his, noticing that she hadn’t bundled up to leave the hospital, Adam took her to the back side of the hospital, where there was a walking path. Taking off his shirt, he let his cat take him, knowing that this was just what they both might need.
Shift. Ivy told him that she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that. Sure you are. But if you don’t want to, then run.
Ivy stared at him for several long tense minutes. And when she smiled and took off running, Adam heard her laughing. Yes, he decided, this was just what the doctor ordered. Taking off after her, he noticed that her shoe prints had turned into paws. Stopping, his need to run her down stilled for a moment, Adam looked for Ivy in the perfectly laid out landscape. When he spotted her, Adam sat in the snow to enjoy her figuring herself out.
I can see why you love this. I’d be a cat all the time if I could. Adam told her that she’d soon grow bored with it. No, I don’t think so. I feel stronger, more alive than I did before. It’s like, not only am I this different being, I’m also magical. You must think that I’m a sap.
On the contrary. I’m enjoying seeing the freshness that you’ve brought to being a cat. I’ve been one my entire life, done just what you’ve done today countless times. Yes, I can see your feeling this way. He went to her, walking slowly as she played and romped in the snow. You’re so beautiful, love. The most beautiful tiger I’ve ever seen. And I love you with all my heart.
The two of them played for nearly an hour. Adam could have gladly stayed out here forever, but he knew that
they both had obligations. Family, their jobs—all things that made this right now seem like the best medicine. He took the time to show her things that she could do now, as well as stuff that she had to do to keep herself and those around her safe.
When they were ready to go home, Adam gave Ivy the bag of clothing that he had stashed in his truck and let her pick from it first. He had to laugh when he suggested that they just go home like they were. Ivy told him to behave. Adam decided right then and there that he was going to do this more often.
When the planting and harvesting time of the year came around, he rarely took the time to shift and relax. Adam rarely had a meal on time, much less resting. It was then that he came to a profound decision. He was going to take more time, not just in minutes here and there, but doing it daily, and with Ivy. He’d been doing it for so long, putting it off, that he was never bothered by it any longer. Now, with Ivy, he thought that he would miss it more.
Adam was glad now that his grandda had come by to see him. He’d not told him that he’d already been thinking about asking him to go with him when he went to find a ring for Ivy. But when he’d given him Grandma’s ring to give to Ivy, Adam knew that she’d treasure it as much as he did her. And tomorrow, if all went well, they’d be married.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Adam couldn’t help it, he wiggled his brows at her. “Behave yourself. Men and sex. I mean, you’re really good at it, but that seems to be all that you think about.”
“Of course it is. As you’ve pointed out, I’m a man.” She just sighed heavily, and he had to laugh again. “Actually, what I was thinking about was something that my grandda wanted to see me about recently. He gave me my grandma’s rings. The second set of them that he purchased for her long ago.”
“That’s lovely he bought her more than one set of rings. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you have a very romantic grandda. Your dad is as well. I’ve never seen your mom without something new that Oliver has gotten her. They’re a wonderful couple.” Adam pulled out the wedding set and handed it to her, box and all. “Oh, Adam. These are beautiful. And so well done.”
“Grandda has his hands in a great many things, which brings him into contact with a lot of talented people. Anyway, he had this one made for her just after my dad started school, Grandda told me that she was inconsolable when he walked to school. In order to make her smile, just a bit, he went to his buddy and had this made for her.” Ivy told him that was very romantic. “You would think that would keep him from getting into trouble for a little while. But not only did she get upset with him a few minutes later when he brought home a dog for my dad, but she also fussed at him about nearly everything else after that. Grandda got into more trouble with Grandma, he told me, just to see that fire in her eyes. Grandda is a card, as my grandma used to call him.”
Taking the little box back, he took the engagement ring out first. Slipping the wedding band and box back into his pocket, Adam took Ivy’s hand into his. Sliding the ring onto her finger, Adam wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that it fit her like a glove.
Kissing the back of her hand, then turning it over to kiss her palm, Adam looked directly into her eyes. My God, she was beautiful. Holding her hand in his, Adam cleared his throat. Love rolled over him. No, that wasn’t the right word. It took him like a storm how much he loved her.
“Ivy Dawn Walton, will you marry me? Please? Words fail me on how you make me feel. How I can tell you how much I love you. You would make me the happiest man in the world if you were to consent to marrying me and making an honest man of me.” Before he’d allow her to answer him, Adam kissed her quickly. “I would love to have as many children as you want. And so long as you’re happy, I couldn’t care less what sex they were. But I would love to have myself a daughter with you. And for her to be just like you.”
“I will. Oh Adam, I will marry you and be happy with you too.”
Adam kissed her again, this time showing her as best he could how much he loved her. He knew that life would never be boring with Ivy. Excited for the next stage in their life, he and she made love all through the night and well into the next morning and were nearly late for their own wedding.
Chapter 10
Nathan wasn’t sure what to think about his parents. They’d abandoned him—by his way of thinking, not once but twice. Doing some reading in old newspapers, there had only been a few references about his disappearance in the months after he’d gone missing. After that, he’d found out from talking to a reporter, the incident was republished on his birthday every year. And every year, the reporter told him, his parents couldn’t be reached for comment on how they were dealing with it. Nathan didn’t know why, but he didn’t think they’d been dealing with anything. Only, as he’d overheard Meghan say to her sister, that they’d been just as happy to have him gone as she was to have him in her life.
Meghan was a really super person. She made him laugh. Made sure that he had what he needed, and sometimes what he didn’t need. When she’d signed him up for school to start the week after Thanksgiving, Nathan and her had gone out and gotten him new shoes, clothes, as well as his very first backpack.
“Nathan?” He had zoned out for a moment. but she didn’t make him feel stupid over it. She never made him feel stupid about things that he did. “They’re here. It’s not too late for us to reschedule this if you’d like.”
“No, I’m okay. I just want to see what they want.” When she sat down in the chair that she kept hopping up and down in, he smiled at Meghan. She was more nervous than he was, he thought. “You promise not to leave me with them? I don’t think that they’ll hurt me or anything, but I might need you there.”
“No, I won’t leave you. And you’re aware that Adrian is going to be there, right? He’s just going to be there to answer any questions you might have in this.” He nodded. “And the rest of the family, our family, they’re going to be there as well. Just in the event that you need them.”
“I’m glad. Aren’t you?” She nodded, and Nathan felt his heart hurt for what this was doing to her. “We’ll be fine, Meghan. I know it.”
Although he’d already decided to not go with his parents, he’d promised Meghan that he’d not make the decision officially until he talked to them. He no more trusted them than a snake in a room full of tasty rats. Nathan thought of Grandda Ollie and had to smile. Some of the things he said were just too funny not to repeat. And there were a few that he wasn’t allowed to repeat.
“I want you to know that wherever you hang your hat, I’m still going to be here for you whenever you need me. And if’n the people that created you say that you can’t see me no more, then I want you to know that all you have to do is pick up that phone of yours and call me. I’ll be there lickety split for you.” Nathan hugged the elderly man, trying to hide his tears from him. “You’re a good boy, Nathan. And a good hearted one too. You’ll be fine. I know it.”
But how did anyone know if he’d really be fine or not? He’d been thinking about it a lot, and he had a feeling that his parents were only out for one thing. Money.
Nathan knew that the Whitfields had money. A great deal of it, Meghan had told him. And while they were generous with it, helping others with it when they needed it, they were never stupid about it. Nathan had already figured out, even in the short time that he’d been with them, that his parents were terrible with money and not at all generous, especially when it didn’t give them more.
When his name was called to go into the courtroom, he stood up and adjusted his tie. Dylan had told him it was always good to put your best foot forward in this sort of thing. It wasn’t exactly what she’d said. Nathan knew better than to repeat anything she might say. She sure did have a way with words, he thought.
The judge wasn’t sitting at the big desk that he’d seen on television when there had been one to watch. Instead, he was sitting at a table with just a plain suit on, and no robe or anything like that. When he was asked to have a s
eat, Nathan sat as far from Welham and Evelyn as he could. Under the table, he reached for and gripped Meghan’s hand tightly. He had to admit, he was as afraid as he’d ever been in his life.
“Hello, Nathan. My name is Judge Wicker. We’re here today to talk to you about your feelings on things left unsaid about your—”
“Those people have no right taking him right from under our watch. He’s our son, not the famous Whitfields’.” Nathan looked at Evelyn. He wouldn’t call her mom, nor the man that had fathered him dad. They weren’t here for anything but what they could get. Even if he’d not overheard someone say that about them, he would have been able to figure it out. “We want to press charges against them and have them pay for the trouble that they put us through.”
“And what sort of trouble have they put you through, Mrs. Hitchcock? Did they rough you up to take him? Did they, I don’t know, drop him off at the hospital, telling all the staff that could hear them that they didn’t think they could raise him to be their own? I wonder what you might have said had the woman that took him in the first place perhaps killed him.” The judge looked at Nathan. “As I was saying when I was rudely interrupted, we’re here to see what it is that you wish to do.”
“He’s just a kid. What sort of things do you suppose he’d say? I’m sure that he has his own stuff that they bought for him. Probably a car too, even though he’s only ten.” Nathan told Wilhelm that he was actually twelve. “Whatever. I’m sure that he’s been promised the moon if he’d say that he didn’t want to be with us.”
“I do have a lot.” He looked at the judge when Wilhelm said he knew it. “I have a roof over my head that I don’t have to worry about leaking on my face. There is always hot water, no matter what time I take a shower. My clothing is new and not full of holes, and I even get to go to school like other kids. But the best part of all is that nobody is tying me to the floor or making me help steal from other people that no more deserved it than I did being dropped off like I was bath water on a Saturday night.”
