“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked, her temper rising.
“You heard me. You can’t give the courtesy of a damn cup of coffee, then suddenly, you run into some hard-body-look-at-me man, and you jump right into bed with him?”
“What I did or didn’t do with Vince is none of your business. He’s a good man. He’s my man. My man, my life, and myself, other than my behavior, accuracy and professionalism at work, is none of your business.”
“It’s very much my business. You live under my roof. I trusted in you and your morals. I gave you access to my personal life that no other has received. I allowed you to live in my private home.”
“In a rented room!” she said, raising her voice. “And morals? Really? You’ve screwed every single nurse that is employed at this hospital, and half the married ones! Don’t talk to me about morals!” she insisted, nearing shriek level with her voice.
“How dare you?!” he demanded.
“No! How dare you?! My life is none of your concern!”
Dr. Fuches stood there glaring at her. Finally he swallowed visibly and very quietly spoke, the strain of keeping himself in check apparent. “Get your things out of my home. Tonight. Leave my key on the table. Do not come back.”
“Gladly, with pleasure,” she answered, stepping around him to march down the hall past the nurses’ station where several of her coworkers stood gawking.
“I’ll file an ethics complaint against you with the board!” he called after her as she walked away from him.
Natalie stopped walking — she was just past the nurses’ station. She smiled and turned to face him slowly. “Please do. I want you to. I cannot wait for our in-depth discussions about your reasons behind filing a complaint about me. Do be prepared to defend your own moral turpitude, Doctor. That is one date I will happily attend.” She blew him a kiss and resumed her march down the hallway.
He stood seething, watching her go, then he turned and punched the door of the nurses’ locker room he still stood in front of. “Ahhhhh,” he bellowed, cradling his hand. “I think it’s broken,” he said, gritting his teeth and holding his injured hand.
All the nurses but two had scattered as Natalie left, tossing her own threat right back at Dr. Fuches. Only the elderly nurse and one new trainee were left in the station watching. The elderly nurse got to her feet and gently nudged the younger woman ahead of her. She looked condescendingly at Dr. Fuches as they walked past him. “It would be in your best interest not to file a complaint against Nurse Salvaggio. She’s not the only one who knows names and places to report if called to give a statement.”
Dr. Fuches narrowed his eyes at her and held up his hand. “My hand is broken, and you dare to stand there and threaten me?”
The nurse looked at his hand rapidly turning purple. “Yes, I do. And you might want to wander over to the triage station. Get them to look at it for you. I have some bedpans to clean.” She walked away in no rush at all, completely unconcerned with the seething man they’d left standing in the hallway, cradling his broken hand.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Natalie parked her car in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn on St. Charles Avenue. She found a parking place and dug out the key card Vince had slipped into her purse. She glanced into the back seat at the pillows, comforter and sheets she’d shoved there along with a few personal trinkets she’d kept in her room at Dr. Fuches’ to make it homier. She’d not had anything else there except her clothes and shoes, and those she took back and forth with her. She reached back for her overnight bag, now stuffed with several sets of clothing and got out. She locked her car and started for the back entrance to the hotel.
On the ride up in the elevator, she finally started smiling. Vince was waiting for her. Her heart fluttered, her belly flip-flopped and she couldn’t stop the grin from taking her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirrored surface of the elevator. She giggled, even her eyes sparkled. The doors opened, and she actually skipped a couple of steps as she hurried toward the suite door. She swiped the card through the reader on the door and waited for the light to turn to green signaling she could push it open.
The second it turned green, she pushed the handle and opened the door. “Vince?” she called. “I’m back!”
There was no answer. Natalie was sure to close the door behind herself and throw the deadbolt. “Vince?!” she called a little louder. “I worked a little later to make up for being late this morning.”
Natalie walked through the suite. The television was on, the lights were on. But he wasn’t there. She went into the bathroom, but there was no sign of him. Then into the bedroom. She flipped the lights on there, but still no sign of him. Natalie walked back into the living room and dropped her overnight bag beside the couch.
“He’ll be back,” she said aloud. “Just had to run out for something.” She went to the mini-fridge and took out a bottle of water before returning to the couch. She sat there for a little while, flipping channels before she decided to take a shower.
Natalie gathered up some clean clothes and her shampoo from her overnight bag and headed toward the bathroom. Thirty minutes later she emerged feeling fresh and thoroughly relaxed. Her eyes lingered on the main door of the suite as she wondered what could be keeping Vince. Her stomach growled and she went back into the kitchen to see what was left from their previous night that she could warm up. She turned her nose up at the cold leftovers and spying the room service menu on the dining table, she decided to order fresh meals for them.
Natalie thumbed through the menu, then walked over and picked up the hotel phone. When the kitchen answered, she placed her order, complete with a slice of apple pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for Vince. As she replaced the phone in its cradle, her eyes caught sight of a small pad of paper on the floor beside the side table the phone sat on. It looked like there was writing on it. She bent down picking it up, and her brows came down over her eyes as she realized what it said.
Natalie took a seat on the couch and placed the notepad on the coffee table in front of her. “He’ll be back,” she whispered. Her heart rate had picked up. She felt slightly queasy, and she felt foolish — for many reasons. But she remembered his words of promise to her. And hers to him. He’d wanted her mark. And he’d marked her. They were bound — mated he’d called it. She raised her fingertips to the mark he’d placed in the crook of her neck as her eyes fell on the obviously hastily scribbled note once more.
‘Brandi needs me. I’m sorry.’
Natalie sat there, her eyes glued to the note. “He’ll be right back,” she whispered. Then she sat back and waited for room service to deliver their meal as she did her best to not let her insecurities feed her imagination. Fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door. Natalie jumped up and hurried over to look through the peep hole. She knew it was most likely room service because Vince had his own key card. But still she was disappointed as she pulled the door opened and pointed to the table. “You can put it there, please.”
She signed the ticket and wrote in a twenty percent tip on the ticket, then locked the door securely behind the waiter. She looked at the food she’d ordered. She couldn’t even make herself eat the egg custard she’d gotten for herself.
Hours later, she finally fell asleep on the couch, still waiting for Vince to come back.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Kaid wandered into the kitchen at Ms. Sadie’s call. Everyone was taking their seats and starting to pass the platters and bowls of food around to serve their plates from. He wasn’t the least bit concerned with serving his plate, though. He was holding Barron. Barron’s ever-changing eye color was shifting back and forth as Kaid played with him, holding Barron up near his face and making rumbly noises as he slowly leaned forward and bumped his nose against Barron’s. Barron’s eyes would go from gold, to ice blue, to violet and back again as he grinned at his Daddy and drooled down his own chin.
Kaid took his seat as he held his son steady while his little hands tried to reach fo
r Kaid’s face. When finally Barron’s hands rested on Kaid’s face, Kaid turned his head just slightly and blew raspberries against Barron’s hands. Barron smiled again and tried to grab handfuls of Kaid’s face.
“I will take him, so you can eat, my Mate,” Delilah offered.
“Naw, I got him. You go ahead. We have an intense game of grab Daddy’s face going on,” Kaid answered.
Avaleigh and Ms. Sadie, having placed all the platters of food and pitchers of tea on the table, finally took their seats. “Valerie said she’s gonna pass on dinner tonight. She’s too uncomfortable to make the walk over,” Avaleigh explained.
“Is she going into labor?” Kaid asked.
“Not yet. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was any day now.”
“We have to keep a close eye on her ‘til Mav gets back,” Kaid said, blowing into Barron’s palms again.
Avaleigh smiled watching Kaid play with his son. He’d wanted this for so long.
Jobe sat next to Ms. Sadie and beside Daniel. He accepted each platter as it came his way and passed it to the next person without serving himself. Bane realized what he was doing and just couldn’t let it go.
“Jobe?”
Jobe looked up at Bane calling his name. “Yes, sir?”
“Why aren’t you serving yourself?” Bane asked.
Jobe looked down shyly at his plate, then glanced around the table at everyone briefly. “I thought I’d wait until everyone has their fill, then I’ll eat.”
Bane barked out a laugh. “Oh, no. See, that ain’t how it works.” Bane got up from his chair and walked around the table to where Jobe was sitting. He snagged the platter of pork chops on his way. “We’re family. Every single one of us here is part of a dynamic. That dynamic doesn’t work if we don’t all pull together. So, stop placing yourself on the outside of that dynamic. You’re here, you’re part of it. You get me?” Bane asked as he plopped two pork chops on Jobe’s plate.
Daniel reached for the mashed potatoes and scooped a huge mound out and plopped them beside the pork chops on Jobe’s plate. “He’s right. Here, have some potatoes.”
“Here, baby. Have some corn, too,” Ms. Sadie said, using the tongs to place a fresh cob of corn, dripping with melted butter, on his plate as well.
Ms. Sadie filled his glass with tea and patted his back as she placed a corn muffin on his plate.
Delilah watched all her family welcoming this young man into their fold. This was as it should be. He needed. And they could provide. And he had a kind, honest soul. “Jobe?” she said quietly.
He raised his head and looked at the beautiful, scary woman that had welcomed him to her home. “Yes, ma’am?” he said quietly.
“You are here because you deserve to be here. Not one single moment of anything we share with you is charity. You are here because like recognizes like. You have a good soul. You are honest and kind. And you are one of us now. Bane is correct. Do not place yourself apart again. You have finally found your place. Do you understand?”
Jobe nodded. “I’m trying.”
“Try harder,” she demanded quietly, one eyebrow raised as she spoke to him.
He surprised her when he chuckled. “Yes, ma’am. I will.” He grinned to himself as he dug into his food. “Thank ya’ll. All of you. You just don’t know how much I appreciate ya’ll.”
Avaleigh smiled sadly. “I do. I was where you are, and Kaid and his family took me in, gave me a home here. I know exactly how much you appreciate it.”
“So do I,” Janie said. “Until Bane found me and brought me home, I had no hope of a future. Now, I have all the strength, all the support of people who love me for who I am. So, I understand.”
“Without Goldy loving me, insisting that I give him the chance he deserved, I most likely wouldn’t be alive today,” Ms. Sadie admitted in a hushed voice.
Delilah placed her fork on the edge of her plate. “Without Kincaid, and all of the people sitting around this table, who took me in without question, without fear, and fought for me as hard, if not harder than I fought for myself, I’d have surely destroyed myself and all in my path by now. We are all here, because the fates have brought us together, to be stronger, to be loved, to be valued, in the best place for us, to be family. The only thing I ask of you is to never, ever forget where you came from, and where you find yourself now. This is where your strength lies. This is where your value and your power lie. All that came before has made you who you are and set you on the path you’re on now. Make that path a glorious one, one that outshines all that you've overcome to be here. Your successes are the only thing we ever ask to share with you. Be the best you, and we’ll stand behind you every moment.”
Jobe nodded. “I will be the best me,” he said, looking Delilah in the eye. “I promise.”
“Then you have already earned your place,” she said quietly. Delilah nodded her head once.
Jobe nodded back to her.
“You’ve found yourself a strong family to stand beside you, Jobe,” Kaid said, smiling at Jobe.
“Yes, sir. I’m seeing that.”
“And we’ve found ourselves a good addition to our family,” Goldy said, reaching around Ms.Sadie to pat Jobe on the back.
Chapter 20
Once Jobe was more relaxed and enjoying his meal, Kaid asked him if he got a chance to see the property today.
“Yes, sir. Mr. Goldy took me to meet Mr. Bane and Ms. Janie, and Mr. Bam and Ms. Everly. And we went over to Ms. Avaleigh’s and Mr. Daniel’s. And they showed me where Mr. Maverik lives, but we didn’t go there because Ms. Valerie is really close to having her baby, so we didn't want to bother her. But I saw where everybody lives, and we went up to the creek and all.”
“Well, good. Glad you got to see everything,” Kaid answered.
“Mr. Goldy showed me where the four wheelers are, and we rode the property line, so I’ll know how to check it, too, when ya’ll need me to,” Jobe continued.
“Good. Now what about your room, there?” Kaid indicated the small room that had been Maverik’s before he bought the mobile home for himself and Valerie and had it moved in across from Avaleigh's.
“We moved the desk and filing cabinet out of it and put them back in the corner in the living room, Kaid. Then we brought Maverik’s old bed down from storage upstairs and got it set up. We moved his old dresser back in there too,” Goldy answered.
“It’s still a little small,” Kaid said thinking. “Maverik wasn’t in there a lot, so it didn’t matter. But, Jobe needs a real room.”
“It’s fine,” Jobe said.
Kaid ignored Jobe. His mind was working, and he just ran with it. “Tell ya what… what do ya’ll think of extending the back of the house there, where Maverik’s room is? Extend the roof about ten feet, take out the back door and extend the exterior wall. Add a couple windows, add a closet, and make it a real room.”
Goldy turned around in his seat looking over the area that Kaid was talking about renovating. “We could do that easily.”
“Yep. Have it done in a couple days,” Bane added.
“We all pitch in, it’ll be a piece of cake,” Daniel said, taking a bite of his corn. “I say, let’s do it.”
“It’s a plan then,” Kaid said, grinning. “You ever build anything, Jobe?”
“No, sir. I haven’t.”
“Well, you about to learn. That’s our business. We work construction. No time like the present to learn a trade. And your new room will be a good place to start.”
“Yes, sir, I’m looking forward to it,” Jobe answered.
“One more thing… I appreciate all the respect and all, but lay off the sirs and ma’ams. We are not that formal around here. You making me feel old, boy!” Kaid said, handing Barron to Delilah since she’d finished her meal so he could eat.
Jobe chuckled. “I’ll try.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Natalie woke from the aches in her body. She’d slept the night curled up on the couch in the suite Vince had r
ented for them. Only he still wasn’t there. She was alone, and the food she’d ordered for their dinner sat still untouched on the table.
She stretched her muscles as she stood. She walked over to the kitchenette area and placed all the food that had sat out overnight into the garbage. Then she went to her overnight bag and pulled out some clean scrubs and her toothbrush. She went into the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth, then changed into her clean scrubs. She packed her things back into her overnight bag, walked around the suite, making sure she’d gotten all her things, including the clothes that Vince had bought for her. She double checked the kitchen to be sure she’d left it as straight as it could be. Then she left the key card on the coffee table on top of Vince’s note telling her that Brandi needed him. She picked up her bag, and left the room, pulling the door tightly closed behind herself.
Natalie stopped at the front desk and waited for her turn to speak with the desk clerk. The perky young woman greeted her. “Good morning. How may I help you?”
“I’d like to pay for a room service meal that I had delivered last night, please.”
“Okay, what room number?”
“Room 627.”
The clerk pulled up the room on the computer and scanned the information there before answering. “It says here that all charges are to be applied to Mr. Nobles’ on file credit card.”
“I’m sure it does. Please, I’d like to pay for the meal from room service last night.”
The clerk looked at her curiously. “Of course. Just one moment, please.”
A few moments later the clerk was back. “The total is $63.75. Would you like to pay with cash or credit card?”
“Is a debit card okay?” Natalie asked.
“Sure is.”
Natalie signed her name on the receipt and tucked her copy into her purse.
“Thank you,” the clerk said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No ma’am. Have a good day,” Natalie said, as she zipped her purse and turned to head out of the door.
“I will, you, too.”
Vince's Place Page 19
