by Erin Wade
“Together.” Dawn smiled as she reached for Niki’s hand.
Chapter 29
Niki moaned in her sleep and snuggled closer to her lover. Dawn hugged her tighter, never wanting to let her go. She dreaded tomorrow when she would return to the prison and a cold, empty bed.
Dawn suppressed the desire to take Niki and run away to some tropical island, Mexico, or even Canada. Any place where no one could find them. Six more months. You can do six more months alone, she told herself.
Niki stirred in her sleep and undulated against Dawn. “Are you awake?” she asked.
“I am now,” Dawn murmured.
“Good. I want to make the most of the time we have left together.”
##
Dawn awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon, two of the things she liked most in life—right after Niki, of course. She opened her armoire and pulled out her favorite T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. She was delighted to find everything just as she’d left it. It was as if she hadn’t been gone at all.
Dawn stopped in the kitchen doorway as a surge of desire drenched her body. Niki’s back was to her, and she was wearing one of Dawn’s old T-shirts. The shirt reached Niki’s thigh, and she was barefoot. Dawn wanted to run her hands up Niki’s legs and underneath the T-shirt and . . . .
A startled Niki turned to face Dawn. “Oh, I’m glad you’re up. I almost have breakfast ready.”
Dawn moved to the redhead and lifted her onto the island in the center of the kitchen. “I know that look,” Niki whispered as they kissed. “You should turn off the cooktop first.”
##
Later, Niki rested her cheek against Dawn’s chest. “That was a first for me,” she said, giggling, “but I trust it won’t be the last.”
“Um, I’m sorry,” Dawn murmured into her ear as she stroked her back. “I didn’t mean to act like a caveman, but I can’t even begin to describe the feelings that swept over me at the sight of you in my T-shirt.”
Niki pulled a serious face. “Note to self—always wear Dawn’s T-shirts.” She pressed her lips to Dawn’s.
“You’re much stronger than you look,” Dawn said. “The strength in your legs is incredible.”
“I’m pretty tough for a little gal,” Niki bantered. “Do you think you could take me?”
Dawn laughed. “I just did.”
“You sure did,” Niki said, sighing.
##
Dawn showered and slipped back into the clothes she had worn from prison. She didn’t mind wearing the same clothes every day or eating the prison food. She didn’t mind working in the prison hospital. She did mind being away from Niki. The thought almost paralyzed her. How could two days and two nights make such a difference?
I’ve got to find a way to get another weekend pass, she thought as she pulled on her shoes. I’ve got to be with Niki.
“I can’t stand this,” Niki sobbed. “I think I’m going to hyperventilate.” She threw herself into Dawn’s arms and clung to the blonde.
“I know, honey. I feel the same way. I’ll call you tonight. I’ll find some way to see you more. I promise.”
Niki tried to be brave. “I’ll see you Wednesday. We have that to look forward to.”
Chapter 30
Monday Niki missed her first two classes. She attended them, but she never heard a word the instructors said. Her mind was filled with Dawn—the way Dawn looked when she slept, the way her eyes gleamed when she looked at Niki. And she would never forget the way Dawn had looked at her Sunday morning in the kitchen. A shiver ran through her body at the thought of what had transpired in the kitchen. She almost jumped for joy to find a note on her professor’s classroom door stating class was cancelled for the day.
Niki stood in the shade of the building and watched the two men who were leaning against her car. Her heart was in her throat as she tried to pull their faces from her memories. There had been so many men in her life: Johns, dealers, pimps. Their faces were a blur.
“You okay?”
She jumped as a security guard touched her elbow.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I just . . . there are two men leaning on my car. I don’t know them, and it made me nervous.”
“I’ll find out who they are,” the guard volunteered. He talked to the two men and then led them back to where Niki was standing.
“Niki?” The younger of the two men leaned down so his face was level with hers. “It’s us, Willard and Renfro.”
“She hasn’t seen us in several years,” Renfro explained to the guard, “but we’re her brothers.”
“Do you know them, Miss?” the guard asked.
“Yes,” Niki said. “Thank you for your help.”
“Anytime, Miss. A pretty lady like you can’t be too careful.”
Niki scowled as the security guard walked away. “How did you find me? What do you want?”
“It’s good to see you too, little sister,” Renfro huffed. “We’re here because Mother wants to see you.”
“The warden at your prison is so proud of you,” Willard added. “She gladly gave us the name of the university you’re attending. The rest was easy.”
“I like your Lexus,” Renfro said with a smirk. “Which pimp is providing that?”
“I want nothing to do with either of you or Mother,” Niki insisted. “Stay away from me.”
“Niki, wait.” Willard caught her by the arm and instantly found himself lying on the ground flat on his back.
Niki spun around to face Renfro who was backing away from her. “I won’t touch you,” he grumbled, holding out a hand to Willard who was still trying to recapture the breath that had been knocked out of him.
“Damn, where did you learn to do that?” Willard gasped as Renfro pulled him to his feet.
“Prison, no doubt,” Renfro said, raising a judgmental eyebrow. “Anyhow, Mother’s dying. She asked us to find you. Here’s my business card. All my numbers are on there. Call any time, day or night.” Willard followed him to a BMW parked nearby, and they drove away.
Niki got into her car and drove around the campus. When she noticed her brothers following her, she pulled into the parking lot at one of the dorms and walked inside. She watched as her brothers drove by. Hopefully they’ll think I live on campus.
Niki gave her brothers plenty of time to get out of sight and then walked back to the Lexus. She would stay as far away from them as possible. They were the ones who had gotten her hooked on drugs her last semester of college. They had also convinced their mother to disown her because she was an addict. So much for brotherly love.
##
Val sauntered into the diagnostic room where Dawn was looking at sonograms and an MRI. X-rays were clipped to the lightboard above them. “How was your weekend?”
“Good.” Dawn tried to suppress the smile that threatened to take over her lips at the thought of her weekend.
“I bet everyone was thrilled to see you.” Val toyed with a stethoscope lying on the table.
“Yes, they were delighted.” Dawn gently took the stethoscope from Val’s hands. “Not a toy.” She let the smile take over.
“You certainly are in high spirits. Perhaps I should give you more weekend passes.”
“Perhaps you should,” Dawn said. “How did your meeting with the DA go?”
“Excellent,” Val said, beaming. “They’re throwing the book at Merrick and the uncooperative guard. He’s asking for the death penalty for both. Lucky’s a lifer anyway, but they’re fixing it so she will never be eligible for parole.”
“That’s wonderful news.”
“He’s holding a press conference this afternoon at three,” Val added, “and has asked me to be a part of it to show the cooperation the federal prison system is giving law enforcement.”
“Kudos to you,” Dawn said. “They rarely share the limelight.”
Val agreed. “I think it’s a first. I’d like you to attend. You know, for moral support.”
“That’s very nice of you, but I have a conferenc
e call with some top heart specialists at three thirty. We’re Facetiming because I want to discuss an anomaly I’ve discovered in our heart patient. I’ve already emailed them the x-rays along with the MRI and sonogram. See here?”
Val studied the x-ray. “It looks like she has two hearts.”
“Excellent diagnosis, Dr. Davis.” Dawn laughed. “You were paying attention in med school.”
“Well, at least enough to recognize two hearts when I see them.” Val flashed a pleased smile. “What’s her story?”
“She developed heart problems after she was incarcerated. She was sent to us two months ago when she almost died and they defibbed her back to life.
“I’ve read everything I can find and talked to specialists all morning. It appears to be some underdeveloped form of conjoined twins, and one of the hearts is failing. The other is healthy, so I see no reason why we can’t remove the ailing one and let the healthy heart take over.
“She isn’t overweight and appears to have no other health issues. But I want to run this by my colleagues to get their thoughts.”
“Dawn, I want you to perform the surgery. It would be an incredible coup for the prison to have a doctor on staff capable of performing a procedure like this one. The press coverage would be invaluable.”
Dawn tilted her head and stared at Val. “If I feel I’m the best surgeon for the job I’ll do it, but if I feel she has a better chance with another physician, I’ll turn it over to him. I won’t jeopardize a patient’s life so your prison can incur glory from the press.”
Val’s mouth dropped open as she gazed into the stormiest blue eyes she had ever seen. “I . . . I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
“But that is what you meant,” Dawn hissed, spinning on her heel and fleeing the room.
##
Dawn turned on the TV in the doctors’ lounge to see if any of the local stations picked up the DA’s news conference. To her surprise, all the local stations and one highly rated cable news station were carrying the briefing.
The DA introduced Warden Valerie Davis and praised her for working closely with law enforcement officers to bring Merrick and the guards to justice. Val maintained a stoic expression, but Dawn knew she was bursting with pride.
Dawn’s phone rang, and she opened her iPad to have a larger screen. She spent the next hour discussing her patient with the surgeons who had joined in the conference call.
“I operated on a girl with two hearts,” one of the surgeons informed the group. “She wasn’t born with it. She had a transplant when she was two. We placed the heart of a nine-month-old in line with her own heart whose muscles hadn’t fully developed. It worked great until she was ten. Then the new heart began to fail.
“We removed the transplant and let her own heart take over. That was five years ago, and she is thriving. Just to be safe, clamp off the heart you’re going to remove and let the remaining one take over. Watch it until you feel confident the remaining heart can handle the workload alone.”
“Judging from your experience and how thoroughly you have delved into this,” the senior surgeon on the call said, “I think you may be the best surgeon to perform this surgery.”
The others agreed. Dawn thanked them and disconnected the call.
Chapter 31
“Lance said you were in here,” Val said, entering the diagnostic room for the second time that day.
“I watched your press conference. It was very impressive, Warden,” Dawn said.
“Thank you. How was your conference call?”
“Good.”
“Are you going to do the surgery?” Val asked.
“I’m considering it. I’m not certain I’m the surgeon for the job.”
“I have faith in you,” Val insisted. “How about this? You do the surgery, and I’ll give you a weekend pass every weekend for the duration of your sentence.”
Dawn shoved her hands into her pockets to keep from doing cartwheels. She knew Val wouldn’t be pleased to learn she’d spent her weekend with Niki.
“What if something goes wrong and the surgery is a failure?” Dawn said. “What then?”
“You’d still get the passes. Of course, we’d all be sad to lose an inmate during surgery.”
Val looked at her watch. “Let’s go out for dinner. I want to get away from this place for a few hours.”
“That’s supposed to be my line, Warden.”
##
“Tell me about your weekend,” Val inquired. “What did you do? I know you had a big family dinner Friday night. What else did you do?”
“Bought groceries. Changed the oil in my car.” Dawn tried to remember all the things Niki had done in preparation for their weekend. “Wore my own clothes. Showered with my own shampoo and good-smelling soap. We talked about going to a movie but decided to just hang around the house. It was nice to be home.
“What about you? Did you celebrate with friends after your successful meeting with the DA?”
“No. Like you, I just wanted to relax and spend a nice quiet weekend at home.
“The self-defense equipment was delivered today,” Val added. “We should have that up and running by the end of the week. I’m so excited, Dawn. Before you came I felt like I was spinning my wheels. Now, suddenly, things are falling into place.”
Val reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Dawn’s. “You’re my muse.”
“You underestimate yourself.” Dawn smiled as she withdrew her hand to pick up her drink.
##
“Dawn, you called early tonight,” Niki said into the phone.
“I got away from the hospital early and wanted to call you so you could get a good night’s rest. I’m exhausted after this weekend. We didn’t sleep much.”
Niki giggled. “I loved every minute of it. I wish every weekend could be like that.”
Dawn thought about telling her about Val offering to allow her to leave the prison every weekend but refrained. She wanted to wait until she was certain it would happen.
“I saw your keeper on TV,” Niki said. “She looked marvelous, and it sounded like Merrick will either get the needle or die in prison. I’m good either way.”
“Yes, she compiled one hell of a case against him,” Dawn said, unable to hide her admiration for the warden.
“You helped her,” Niki pointed out. “I noticed she gave you no credit.”
Dawn shrugged. “I didn’t want any. The less my name is associated with that prison, the happier I’ll be.
“On a good note, the ladies started setting up the new self-defense center today. Lots of new equipment and state-of-the-art machinery. What about you? How was your day?”
“I received a visit from my brothers today,” Niki said, her voice flat.
“Brothers? I didn’t know you had brothers.”
“Two,” Niki croaked. “Two brothers and no sisters. I’m the baby.”
“You don’t sound very happy,” Dawn noted.
“I’m not. I don’t want them around me.”
“Honey, they’re your brothers.”
“They got me hooked on drugs,” Niki said. “My last semester of college they said I should loosen up. Then when I couldn’t kick the habit they washed their hands of me. The big brothers of every girl’s dreams.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Dawn fought down the rising sense of doom that invaded her thoughts. “Do they know where you live? How’d they find you?”
“I don’t think they know where I live. Val told them where I went to college. They traced me down that way. I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with them. I think I’m through with them.”
“I must share something with you,” Dawn said, eager to change the subject. “I’m doing the prison’s first open-heart surgery Wednesday.”
“Oh honey!” Niki gasped, not knowing whether to be pleased or worried.
“It’s okay.” Dawn chuckled. “I feel confident about it. I’ve run every test imaginable and have looked at i
t from all sides. It should be a long but successful surgery.”
“Call me as soon as it’s over,” Niki insisted. “Call me tomorrow night, but then call me Wednesday as soon as it’s over. Okay?”
“Of course I will.”
##
Tuesday was filled with visits from prison dignitaries and a female reporter. Dawn received rave reviews on the cleanliness of the hospital and the cure rate of patients.
Val led a tour of the prison facilities, sharing how proud she was of the self-defense center they were setting up. “We want to empower our inmates, not leave them helpless prey for prison bullies,” Val explained as the VIPs followed her through the prison and into the cafeteria.
“You should dine with us,” one of the inmates called out to the group. “The food here is great.”
Questioning eyes turned to Val. She shrugged and motioned for the visitors to pick up a tray and get in line for the buffet.
The visitors left at the end of the day with only praise for the prison and its warden. “I’d like to do a piece on you,” the reporter said.
“Call me. We’ll set up an appointment,” Val said. “I’m certain we can coordinate something.”
After everyone left, Val sought out Dawn in the infirmary. “Today was perfect,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Just perfect.”
“I’m glad,” Dawn said, looking up from her paperwork. “It’s about time you started to receive some recognition for the hours you put in here and the innovations you’ve introduced.”
Val laughed out loud. “Let’s talk about how great I am over dinner.”
“I can’t. I have the heart surgery at ten in the morning. I want to get there early to make certain everything is in order and our patient is properly prepped. I need to go to bed early.”
“Of course.” Although Val admired Dawn’s dedication, she couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Chapter 32
Dawn drained her coffee cup and headed toward the hospital. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alone. Niki had always been with her during her difficult surgeries. Niki always had the instruments lined up perfectly. She smiled as she briefly let herself think about waking up next to Niki. Then she forced her mind back to the task at hand.
