Forevermore

by Cristiane Serruya

  “I have been friends with Meredith for a long time and she was not so bad, you know?” Lydia didn’t start with any pleasantries and cut right to the chase. “Before Melissa died, she was just a…vapid and snobby American princess, but she was harmless.”

  Ah, the girl in the photo. “Who is Melissa?”

  “They think that not talking about it can make it go away.” Lydia huffed and leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs. “In short, Melissa was Meredith’s youngest child, ten years younger than Aleksander and the darling of the family. When she was in college, she fell head over heels for a guy. Within days, they were living together. Burt—that was his name—was everything Melissa wasn’t: outgoing, boisterous, and funny. Meredith didn’t approve of him because he was not from their social circles. To speak plainly, he was poor and his family was not important. But, hell, Ava, I didn’t approve of him either, but for a completely different reason. I felt there was something sinister in him…maybe that was what attracted Melissa. After a few months they broke up. He didn’t take it well and became obsessed. Well…” Lydia took a deep breath. “He slaughtered her.”

  “Kristus!” Ava was shocked not only by the story, but also by Aleksander never mentioning he had a sister when she had asked about his family.

  “Meredith…she broke down and, even after a long treatment, was never the same anymore.”

  Ava nodded. “Understandable.”

  “She is not a very agreeable person to be around.” Lydia sighed. “I’m telling you this because Alek is a great guy, who has been through a lot already and deserves all the happiness in the world. It may seem strange to you to be receiving a…blessing from the mother of Aleksander’s late wife, but I find it easier to be pragmatic about life.” Her shoulders lifted in an apologetic shrug. “I have been dealing with people all my life, Ava, and I believe you are exactly what he needs right now.”

  “Lydia,” Ava leaned forward and put her hand over the older woman’s knees. “I want to assure you I will do my best to make them both happy.”

  “I know.” Lydia patted Ava’s hand and gave her a small smile, before looking away. “There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Ava settled back on her chair, sensing she was about to hear about Rachel. “Yes?”

  “Aleksander didn’t deal well with Rachel’s passing.” Lydia took in a shuddered breath. “Rachel didn’t leave Olivia’s side for a minute after she began the chemo. Not even if Aleksander—or I—was there to relieve her. She barely ate and took naps only when she was too exhausted to keep her eyes open. One day, I insisted—forced her to go home and—” She brushed her hand over her face as if the gesture could keep the memory away. “She was tired, confused. She crossed the street apparently without realizing the light was red. She was hit by a bus.”

  “I’m so sorry, Lydia.”

  Lydia nodded and her voice was barely a whisper, as she continued, “When the doctors told me she was showing no brain activity, I wanted it all turned off immediately, but Aleksander…he just couldn’t. For weeks he ran from Olivia’s room to Rachel’s, sat by her, watched her laying there, talking to an unresponsive body, making promises to an already gone soul. Only when Olivia finally improved enough to leave the hospital did he relent and finally let Rachel rest.” Lydia flatted her lips and closed her eyes for a brief moment, swallowing ache and tears, before she looked at Ava. “For Olivia’s sake.”

  The thought was appalling to Ava.

  “I thought it was going to kill him to sign the papers for the machines to be turned off but it didn’t. And that was because he had Olivia to worry about. To take care of. To focus on.” She heaved a sigh. “Even though he has you by his side now…I’m worried, very worried.”

  She stared at Lydia. She knew about the older doctor’s prowess in the psychiatric field. She would not be telling her that if there wasn’t a serious chance of a break down. “So…if Olivia has a relapse and is hanging on with machines, he wouldn’t allow them to be turned off?”

  Lydia frowned. “Not really, since it’s unlikely for Olivia to be brain dead but physically well. What I am saying is: I am worried about Alek’s state of mind.”

  Kristus! Success in Ava’s profession was all about concentration. A narrowing of focus. Dulling the senses, ignoring emotion, weeding out all her human frailties—until all that remained was the sick body in front of her and her knowledge about curing.

  But now the sick body and her knowledge about curing took on another dimension, a menacing dark hole threatening to swallow her.

  She knew Olivia had a good chance to be free of cancer, but the chance she could end up as a vegetable was not small. Ava’s mind spun in circles, the full weight of what she had put in motion settling on her heart heavily.

  And although Ava desperately wanted was to blurt out everything they were about to face to Lydia, Aleksander had asked her to keep the surgery a secret, and she could never betray him. “I will keep that in mind, Lydia.”

  Ava had shouldered hefty burdens on her own, all alone, but the future suddenly didn’t seem so rosy, so light.

  Now, not only was there the prospect of she and Aleksander losing Olivia, but if they did, she might lose Aleksander as well.

  Chapter 36

  Meredith turned to her son and asked, “Would you like some coffee?”

  “Sure,” Aleksander said.

  She didn’t appreciate his mood, but she made the coffee anyway, hoping to speak with him alone before Ava came down.

  Once the Nespresso machine finished filling the two coffee mugs, Meredith handed Aleksander one and with hers in hand, she gestured for him to sit down at the table in the nook.

  In the large and empty kitchen, they remained in silence, each one sipping coffee.

  “The coffee is good,” Aleksander commented dryly, feeling slightly better after the coffee, but still aware that Meredith was less than pleased about the events that would take place in two days.

  Aleksander waited. His mother wasn’t often tongue-tied, and when she was, it didn’t last long. He knew he’d face a hundred questions sooner or later—and they came sooner.

  Meredith looked down at her coffee as if it could offer her a solution to what she saw as a dilemma before she asked, “There is nothing I can say that will make you change your mind?”

  “No, Mother. Not even if you begged. I’d sell my soul to the devil to see a smile on Olivia’s lips but that is not the reason I am marrying Ava.” Aleksander hadn’t become one of the most powerful businessman in America by being a shrinking violet. He went after what he wanted, no holds barred. “I am in love with her. She is compassionate, dedicated to what she does. And it goes without saying, stunningly beautiful. She is a great woman.”

  “Similar praise was given by your sister once.”

  “For Christ’s sake, Mother,” he raked a hand through his hair, bewildered at where his mother’s mind had taken her. They never talked about what happened to Melissa but it was always lurking there in the shadows. Maybe for her, it’s still too present. He put a hand over hers. “Mother, Ava is nothing like him. Besides, I met her outside the hospital, on neutral grounds. I didn’t know she was Olivia’s doctor then, she didn’t know I was Olivia’s father.”

  Meredith took a deep breath but her eyes were still a bit wild when she asked, “How did you meet her?”

  “At the Rose Bar, at the Gramercy,” he answered plainly. “Thaddeus dragged me there.”

  “Ah. She frequents it?” Meredith’s face relaxed at the mention of the famous, exclusive bar where only a few select people were allowed in, the Maximilians included. “Have you known her long?”

  “Long enough to feel comfortable marrying her.”

  Meredith pressed her lips into a fine line to keep from saying things that would only anger him and make him shut down on her. “Who is her family?”

  Aleksander stifled a groan. The family question. Always a personal favorite of mine. He knew where the
questions were leading, but he answered anyway. “Her surname is Larsen. She is from Trondheim, as you might recall, and she was raised by her grandparents.”

  Meredith made a face at the mention of Ava’s city.

  And then came the ultimate absurd, ever uncomfortable, and totally irrelevant question to ask when one was seeking a partner in a relationship, but for his mother, Aleksander knew it was the number one.

  “Is she from money?”

  “What does it matter?” Aleksander hissed between clenched teeth.

  But Meredith only raised her eyebrows, not deigning to answer him.

  “Well, if you must know, she happens to be.” He took a deep breath, centered himself, and then he discarded his ace. “Actually, Mother, your husband worked for her grandfather in the past, and Ava and her brother are the only heirs to his company. You might even recall it…Trondhjems Værksted. It’s possible that she might be even wealthier than me—us.”

  “Oh. The Huitfeldts.” Suddenly Meredith’s face opened in a smile. “Yes, I remember them. Very nice people. If she weren’t so passionate about pursuing her career in the medical field…she could make you a good wife.”

  “Mother, please! Did you not hear anything of what I just said?” But he couldn’t expect much from his mother.

  “Oh, yes. Yes, I have.” Meredith gave him a disgruntled look. “Well, I suppose I owe her an apology, then.”

  “Well, you did call a wealthy doctor who’s devoted her life to sick children a gold-digging whore. So, yeah, an apology might be in order. ”

  New York, Manhattan

  Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center

  11:00 a.m.

  * * *

  Dr. Paloma Wang entered the meeting room and found a seat, followed closely by Dr. Follett, who sat opposite her, and Dr. Cullen, who took the head of the table.

  “Good morning, doctors,” Dr. Wang greeted monotonously. “Thank you for agreeing to meet.”

  “Of course,” Dr. Cullen said. “You said this concerns Dr. Larsen and an ethical issue? Is it the same case Dr. Larsen reported about Dr. Duncan’s scandal?”

  “No,” Dr. Wang said. “Actually, this concerns Dr. Larsen’s own ethical breach of conduct.”

  “Dr. Larsen’s at question here?” Dr. Follett asked, the doubt clear on his aged features. After all, she was the one who volunteered the information about her involvement with Aleksander and voiced her worries about a possible violation. “She’s the last person I would expect to break our ethics code.”

  “You’re not the only one surprised by this development,” Dr. Wang said.

  “I suppose I should have seen it coming after my last meeting with her,” Dr. Follett mumbled.

  Dr. Cullen stroked the fuzz that had formed on his chin from ignoring his habit of shaving for a day and asked, “What happened in this last meeting?”

  “Dr. Larsen informed me that prior to the Maximilian assignment, she had been romantically, though not sexually, involved with Mr. Maximilian without knowledge that he was Olivia’s father.”

  Both doctors frowned at the news.

  “You knew this and still allowed her to take the assignment?” Dr. Cullen asked.

  “You saw clear as I did that she was the only doctor qualified enough—or rather, the only doctor who was willing to take the assignment.” Dr. Follett strummed his fingers against the large oak table, deep in thought. “She wanted to pass on the opportunity due to her involvement, but volunteered only after it was apparent that no one else would take it. And like you, I never assumed Dr. Larsen would be one in question for violating our ethics code.”

  “Well, yes.” Dr. Wang nodded thoughtfully. “I can clearly remember the nurses pushing her up and I seized the opportunity to hook her in, before she could say no.”

  “Well, that alone isn’t reason enough to file a breach of conduct violation against her,” Dr. Cullen said.

  “No,” Dr. Wang agreed. “But marrying Mr. Maximilian is.”

  “What?” Dr. Follett exclaimed. “When was that? When I visited last week, they were not married.”

  “Seems they are about to be.”

  Both Dr. Follett and Dr. Cullen raised their brows at the news, but neither said a word.

  “It’s merely a rumor as of now,” Dr. Wang continued, “and it only gets more convoluted since it was Brian Duncan who made the accusation against her, but such an accusation cannot go undiscussed.”

  “Agreed,” Dr. Cullen said. “But this is rather outlandish. She only just met him right before the assignment, right? Surely she would have known him to be Olivia’s father if they had been seriously involved before.”

  “I want to give Dr. Larsen the benefit of the doubt and say she truly was unaware of his connection,” Dr. Follett said, “otherwise she wouldn’t have so willingly reported it. But still...marrying him? Ava Larsen and Aleksander Maximilian? It doesn’t add up.”

  “No, it doesn’t, which is why I asked both of you here.” Dr. Wang took a deep breath, then released it slowly. “We allowed Dr. Duncan to get by without punishment only because we are so short-staffed, but I’m afraid this cannot go unaddressed. If you both agree, we will open an official investigation on Dr. Larsen.”

  The room was quiet as each doctor rummaged through their thoughts for any alternatives. Finding none, there was an audible and collective exhale of defeat.

  “Then we will open the investigation,” Dr. Cullen said finally. “And if Dr. Larsen is found guilty, we will have no choice but to release her from her position at this hospital.”

  Nevada, Lake Tahoe

  The Cottage

  Friday, November 27, 2015

  2:30 p.m.

  * * *

  Between tending to Olivia, confirming plans with Alicia—they had met with only the best vendors, but even so, there were tiny details she would never have imagined—and entertaining Aleksander’s family during Thanksgiving, Ava was ready to put her feet up and do nothing for a couple of hours.

  The wedding itself may have come together in an extraordinary rush and due to the circumstances, less than fifty guests were invited and that was fine with Ava—she’d always dreamed of a small, intimate wedding, outdoors, overlooking the mountains. A month ago, she never would’ve believed that dream would come true. At least, not this soon. And never in this way.

  Now, seeing Alicia conducting hundreds of people around, from food caterers to florists, from furniture deliveries to the men readying the patio and gardens for the ceremony, as if she did that everyday, Ava was finally able to relax.

  A bit at least, since she was anxiously waiting for Benedict Lockeheart, Aleksander’s long-time friend and partner—and later her grandparents—to arrive.

  Aleksander had chosen Benedict as best man, not only because he—along with Markus—was his best friend, but also because he was blind.

  Ava realized just how little she knew of him. From Markus and Hannah, who had come to The Cottage regularly over the last several days, she had learned that Benedict would forgo his recluse status and fly all the way in from his Connecticut mansion because nothing would come between him and this wedding.

  She was hopeful he could answer some of Olivia’s questions about living life as a blind person.

  “Daddy!” Olivia came running down the stairs. “A car just pulled up in our driveway.”

  “That’s got to be Markus and Hannah, back from the airport with Benedict,” Aleksander said, standing.

  She followed Aleksander through the hall and was surprised by the man getting out of the car. Even though he was wearing dark glasses and using a walking stick, there was a wild, untamed power swirling around him. His mouth was wide, a sensual slash on a squared jaw, dark with whiskers. Overlong hair brushed the upturned collar of his black leather jacket over a gray turtleneck sweater and straight black pants which did nothing but highlight his fabulous body, from slim hips to muscled thighs falling over black boots.

  Aleksander embraced his friend,
slapping him on the back. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

  “I’d not miss bearing witness to you getting shackled a second time for anything,” Benedict said with a smile. “Where is the poor girl?”

  Aleksander pulled Ava to his side and said, “This is Ava, my fiancée.”

  She took his stretched hand, shaking it warmly. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “All good, I’m sure,” he said.

  Markus and Aleksander snickered as they flanked Benedict, leading him into the library, the only quiet place on the ground floor.

  Hannah and Ava followed behind as Olivia tugged Victoria to her room to play with her brand new American Girl which Meredith had gifted her yesterday.

  Matthias arrived with finger foods and small canapés, placing the tray on the center table, in front of the hearth.

  Aleksander poured champagne for them.

  “Well, you’re both here,” Aleksander said, as they toasted. And added, in a mumble, “Despite my better judgement.”

  They all laughed, and Benedict toasted, “May you beat all the odds and have a happy married life.”

  Ava stared curiously between the three men. Aleksander definitely seemed more relaxed around the men, even jovial. Though they had an ease around each other, the three didn’t seem likely friends. Aleksander was more of an introvert, Markus had an air of danger, while Benedict looked grave and scholarly. The only common trace they had was their huge football player sizes.

  “How did you three become friends?” she asked.

  “Blackthorn and I met at our first year in Harvard, where I was—”

  “Drinking beer and cavorting with the cheerleaders,” interjected Markus, raising his champagne flute at him. “And Lockeheart was losing his time arguing philosophy with other boring fellows interested in politics.”

  Benedict interjected a snort here, but Markus continued, oblivious to the interruption,“One night we came across him in the midst of six vulgar toughs who were in the process of pounding him into a sort of puree.”