Everlasting

by S. E. Lund

  I'll let you know about my schedule once I speak with the prosecutor.

  Cheers,

  Drake

  I'd speak with Kate and make sure she was fine with it, although I knew she'd encourage me. She often suggested I try to pull together another band like Mersey while we were in San Francisco. I'd been too busy with my shifts in the ER to do any serious planning for it, but maybe I would work on that once we returned from Manhattan. If I wasn’t going to be working in the ER, I'd have time on my hands. What better way to fill that time than to play music?

  I heard snuffling on the baby monitor and checked my watch. She'd been asleep for about forty-five minutes. Usually, she went down for an hour or hour and a half, so I left her alone in case she was going to go back to sleep. While I waited, I surfed the news sites for the latest and was dismayed to see coverage of the suicide of Lisa's partner in crime. I tried to avoid anything to do with the trial and case, but it was making national news and so I faced an uphill battle. When Sophie continued to babble to herself in her crib, I decided to go and get her up.

  When I went into her room, she was lying on her back, a stuffed toy in her hand, her pacifier between her teeth. She was making sounds around it and the image of her lying there with the Herb minion from her half-brother warmed my heart.

  "Hey, baby," I said and went to her side. "Time to get up?"

  She smiled and reached up when I came to the side of the crib. I picked her up and brought her over to the change table to check her diaper. It was wet so I put on a new one and changed her outfit. Then I carried her out to the living room, slipping her into her ExerSaucer so she could play with her toys while I got things ready for our trip to the beach.

  When we got home from our trip down the beach to make and destroy sandcastles, Kate was already home and was sitting in front of the television, watching the news. She took Sophie from me and kissed her, then sat with her, watching the television intently.

  On the screen was a reporter standing in front of the courthouse in Manhattan. Apparently, Lisa had been indicted on a charge of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree for encouraging Jones' suicide.

  "She was indicted," Kate said, handing a toy to Sophie while I got myself a drink of water. "Apparently, there are letters between them that encouraged him to kill himself."

  "She's evil," I said, shaking my head. "They need to put her away for a very long time. I bet she'll be hell in jail and will probably be one of those women who runs the place. Pure sociopath."

  I stood beside the sofa and watched the news for a moment, amazed that she had gone from a successful surgical resident to being incarcerated and waiting trial for attempted murder, murder and now reckless endangerment.

  I realized once again that Kate and Sophie were lucky to have escaped with their lives.

  "Turn away," I said and sat on the sofa beside Kate, my hand on her shoulder. "I don’t want to waste a moment thinking about her. I want to spend my time with you and Sophie."

  Kate tore her eyes away from the screen finally and turned to me after changing channels to one of the music stations.

  "I'm sorry," she said, her voice soft. "I can't stop thinking about her and what happened. I feel a bit obsessed about it. I'll try not to think about it too much."

  "I understand," I said and slid down the arm of the sofa to sit beside Kate, pulling her into my arms and kissing her forehead. "It's morbid curiosity. Perfectly natural but not healthy. As your doctor, I'd advise a healthy dose of making love to your husband to distract yourself from the coverage."

  She smiled up at me, her eyes narrowing. "That sounds like a very self-serving prescription, Dr. Morgan."

  "It is. It's extremely self-serving. It's a prescription I plan on delivering once Sophie's asleep tonight."

  Kate smiled up at me, the hungry expression in her eyes telling me everything I needed to know.

  We had a dinner of grilled fish, salad and fresh baguette and spent an hour or so with Sophie, taking an evening walk along the beach while the sun set. When it was time for Sophie's bath, I took over, running the bath and getting everything ready. I loved bath time and if I could, I would always be the one who took over. Kate had been responsible when I had been working and so I wanted to give her a break. Besides, it was fun. Sophie loved her bath and it made me feel like a real father to be so involved in Sophie's day-to-day care.

  I held her after she was dried off and in her jammies, giving her a bottle. Her eyes were heavy and when I saw that she was going to fall asleep, I carried her to her crib and put her to bed. Kate joined me and we stood beside the crib and watched her for a moment.

  We left the room, turning off the hall light so that the back of the house was in darkness.

  "We're lucky she's such an easy baby," Kate said, her voice soft. "I don't know if I would have survived if she'd had colic."

  "We would have managed. It would have been a lot harder, but we would have found a way. I do admire parents who have colicky babies, though. Adjusting to parenthood is hard enough, let alone with a baby who can't settle and has digestive issues."

  I took Kate's hand and led her not back to the living room, but to our bedroom and the master bath.

  "And now, Mrs. Morgan, I gave you a prescription to divert your attention away from other matters. It involves pampering you, giving you a nice warm bubble bath and then a full body massage followed by multiple orgasms. I aim to deliver on my promise."

  "You're the doctor," Kate said, her voice all throaty with desire.

  "I am," I said and pushed her gently into the bathroom, intent on delivering my prescription exactly as described.

  Chapter 17

  KATE

  The next few days passed quickly as we prepared to travel to Manhattan for the trial. I spent as much time as possible with my dad and Elaine. I'd grown used to seeing them at least once a week and now we'd be away for a whole month. I worried about my father. He was frail and weaker than I liked to see, although he was in good spirits. I had to remind myself that Elaine was a nurse and took good care of him. She was aware of any sign that he might be sick. But still, I felt anxious that something would happen to him while I was away and there would be nothing I could do about it.

  I got quite weepy when I finished packing my bag and it was time to go to their place and say goodbye before we left for the airport. Drake was there of course, to comfort me.

  "Hey, hey," he said, his voice soft. "Come here." He pulled me into his arms and let me snivel against his shoulder. "Your father's fine. He's got Elaine there all the time. She knows what to do if anything happens. He's in good hands."

  "I know," I said and wiped my eyes. "It's just I'm afraid that he'll die and I won't get the chance to say goodbye."

  "I know," Drake said. "I know how that feels. Not good. I don't see that there's anything immediate to worry about. He's not ill and at his age with his condition and on his meds, I'm more worried about him getting the seasonal flu than anything else happening to him. Okay? I'm the doctor in this family, remember..."

  "Okay."

  I squeezed Drake because, of course, that's what happened to him with his father. Liam died in a remote part of Ethiopia when his small plane went down during a volunteer mission. I wish I'd met Drake before his father died, because I would have loved Liam. My father loved him. I know I would have, too.

  Finally, I wiped my eyes and let go of Drake, taking in a deep breath and putting on a brave face.

  Drake took my hand. "If anything happens, you'll be on the first flight to San Francisco. How does that sound?"

  I nodded. "That sounds good."

  We drove to my father's place for a quick visit.

  I practically ran inside because we were running late, to find Elaine and my dad on the patio, sitting in the shade under the umbrella.

  I went right over to him and gave him a kiss and then kissed Elaine as well. Drake handed Sophie to Elaine, who gave her a big hug and kiss and then held her for my dad
to kiss as well.

  "Goodbye, chipmunk," my dad said to Sophie, who had her two front bottom teeth and seemed to like to show them off to us like they were a prize. Her top ones were due out next and she was teething, drooling over everything like crazy so we had to keep a bib on her at all times. She gave her grandpa sloppy kisses as a result but he didn’t seem to mind.

  "See you when you get back, sweetheart. Drake, take care of my girls."

  "I will, Dad," Drake said and leaned down to kiss my dad on his forehead, clasping my dad's good hand in his briefly.

  We hugged Elaine and said goodbye then we were off. It was a considerable detour, but I couldn't imagine not seeing them before we left.

  Our flight departed mid-morning and we wouldn’t arrive until late in the afternoon. My hope was that Sophie would fall asleep on the flight and would be easier to manage than if we left earlier in the morning when she was always wide awake. Luckily, Sophie seemed to be a good flying baby for she didn't make a fuss and seemed to enjoy sitting in our laps, reading books and playing with toys on the long flight from San Francisco to JFK. She fell asleep briefly after lunch and slept until about an hour from our arrival time.

  We touched down and I watched through the window, pointing it out to Sophie, who was beside me next to the window. I was happy that we could travel first class and could afford to buy a seat for her. I always hated the thought of not having her in a car seat in case of turbulence so she was in her familiar car seat for a lot of the trip.

  I sighed and turned to Drake, who sat across from me on the other side of the aisle.

  "Well, we're back. I feel like saying home, but I don't know if it is home anymore."

  Drake took my hand across the aisle. "It feels strange. Like home is wherever Ethan is."

  "I know," I said and nodded. "It does feel like San Francisco is our home now. But still, I was here all my life."

  "I was here most of my adult life."

  We were silent the rest of the way, while the plane was taxiing to the terminal.

  After we got our bags, we found our Uber waiting outside and piled in, suitcases in the back. After getting Sophie seated, we drove off toward the city. I was glad to see the Manhattan skyline again after months in San Francisco, and realized that I did miss it. Living in San Francisco felt more like an extended vacation but I didn't think I'd want to live there if my dad and Elaine weren't there. Heath was here with his family and there were the O'Riley's...

  Still, home was where family was and my dad and Elaine were the closest thing Drake had as family. Of course, now we had Drake's new family. I hoped we could all become closer and spend time together, especially on the holidays.

  That would make Drake very happy.

  By the time we were a few blocks away from our place on 8th Avenue, I noticed we were nearing the spot where Lisa attacked me.

  "Can we stop?" I asked, my hand on Drake's arm. I pointed to the block where it happened.

  Drake leaned forward and asked the driver to stop ahead for a moment. Once we were parked, I got out and walked over to the place where I had been hit. From what I had heard, I just stepped off the curb and Lisa accelerated, striking me before I got more than a few feet in the crosswalk. I was thrown several feet and landed on the pavement a few feet away from where I stood.

  I had no memory of the events surrounding that day. The last memory I had was calling Drake in the morning before I went out for a walk. The next memory I had was waking up in the ICU, and Drake telling me what happened. The rest was a big blank.

  "This is where it happened," I said to Drake when he joined me, Sophie in his arms. "I don't remember anything."

  "That's good," Drake said, turning around in a circle with Sophie held up high. She laughed and waved her arms around. He stood still and kissed her cheek. "You don't want to remember that. It happened and changed many things but we're here now, alive. With our beautiful daughter. I'd like to forget that day. It was the worst day of my life," he said and met my eyes. He rubbed my cheek with the backs of his fingers, his gaze moving over my face. "I almost lost you. I almost lost both of you." He leaned down and kissed me and then he kissed Sophie.

  "We're glad you didn't." I smiled at him. "Don't worry. This is just a bad story told to me since I remember nothing."

  Drake exhaled heavily and I knew that the accident and everything that happened afterward had been very hard on him, even if the horror of it seemed lost to me, other than my injuries and the fact I couldn't have any more babies. That was upsetting to me but truthfully, I felt blessed that I did have Sophie and she survived the attack. If we got shared custody of Liam, we would have the kind of family that would make Drake very happy and me as well.

  How could I be anything less than thankful?

  I was thankful. I knew how lucky I was, and any lingering PTSD was of the unconscious variety. I no longer walked around feeling like something bad was going to happen, so I was glad that was dealt with soon after we realized I was suffering from PTSD.

  "We should get going," Drake said and gestured with his head back to the car where the driver was patiently waiting.

  "We should. I just felt a need to stop and remember how lucky I am."

  Drake kissed me again and then we went back to the car. After I closed the door and fastened my seatbelt, I sighed as we drove off. It felt so strange that such a momentous event in my life was a total blank to me, but as Drake said, it was for the best.

  I turned away, seeing a small jeweler on the street and that was more my memory of this part of the city rather than the accident.

  We stopped at the same small grocer where I always used to shop, to pick up some supplies we'd need for the night and the next morning – tea and coffee, cream, bread, cereal, and food for breakfast and lunch. I'd do a more thorough shopping trip once we were settled.

  We arrived at the building on 8th Avenue, and after the driver helped us with our bags, we climbed the stairs to our apartment. I felt butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of staying there for a month. I loved that apartment. There were so many good memories there when Drake and I were first together and he introduced me to real pleasure, D/s and a bit of kink.

  I felt like my life really began in that apartment – my life as a woman who was coming into her own. Discovering what she needed and wanted. Drake was the one who helped me become that woman.

  "Here we are," he said and smiled while he turned the key in the lock. "Our old home."

  "Home sweet home," I said to Sophie in her car seat. "You won't remember this place because you were too young, but I'm filled with memories – so many memories."

  We went inside and I stood in the entry, taking in the apartment. It was exactly as we left it, of course. It smelled a little dusty, but it was otherwise welcoming. Every renovation we had made was to our tastes and it felt like us.

  I got a bit teary because I hated that we no longer felt at home in Manhattan because of the trial and scandal associated with Drake's past.

  "What's this?" Drake said and put Sophie's car seat down. He pulled me into his arms and wiped the tear off my cheek. "What are the tears for? This is a place of happiness for us."

  "I know," I said and laid my head against his shoulder, squeezing him more tightly. "I was the happiest I'd ever been here. I'm just so sad that we can't live in Manhattan because of Lisa. I hate her." I looked up into Drake's eyes. "I hate her guts."

  "I hate her too, but there's no reason we can't come back in time. I'll be able to have a private practice again. I'm sure once this all blows over, we'll come back for part of every year.

  "But my dad is going to stay in San Francisco."

  "We can come for a few months every year if we want. We're free, Kate. We can do whatever we want. And maybe if we had a better situation for Ethan, he'd feel okay about coming here for spring, summer and fall. Maybe something that is more wheelchair accessible. I'll talk to him about it. They could sell their apartment on Park Avenue and find one that
is more accessible with a nice big patio so he could sit outside in the good weather. Maybe even Brooklyn..."

  "Brooklyn?" I said with a laugh. "Sacrilege! My father would never live in Brooklyn." I grinned up at Drake, seeing the gleam in his eye, knowing full well that my father would never leave Manhattan except for a place like San Francisco.

  "He might not live in Brooklyn, but maybe a nice townhome somewhere in the upper east side in a building with a huge patio and easier access than a penthouse in an apartment block. Somewhere close to a park where he could go and sit when the weather was good. I'm sure he just wants to be able to get outside more than he was when he was up in the penthouse."

  I nodded, and let go of Drake, wanting to get unpacked as soon as possible so we could settle in for the evening.

  Afterwards, I went to the drawer in the kitchen where I kept all our takeout menus and found my favorite – an organic restaurant that only sourced organic and humane produce and meat.

  "Should I order our favorite? Ribs and salad and rice?"

  "Please," Drake said, glancing up from the floor where he was playing with Sophie. "I'm salivating at the thought of those ribs."

  "Me, too," I said and called up. The owner still recognized my phone number and was happy to fill our usual order. Not much had changed since we'd been away and before long, I felt right at home.

  After dinner, we played with Sophie for a while, Drake gave her a bath and then she had a bottle and went to bed for the night. I wondered if she'd be fussy and not go to sleep well, but she was fine, falling asleep quickly. I returned from her room and stood in the center of the great room and just took it in.