Romancing the Doctor

by Alie Garnett

“It would be easy if you could, but a life worthwhile is never that easy, is it?”

  Chapter 32

  It had been three days since the big move, and everything finally had a place. Dylan made sure of it. After everyone left that Saturday, she had spent the next several hours putting things away and then moving everything around again until they were perfect.

  That Sunday, they had finally spent the day in their house with their son. It had been perfect. For lunch, Holden had even taken her on a picnic in the backyard. Since Tim was napping, it had been just the two of them. He had insisted on her wearing her T-shirt from Pike’s Place Market, not that she didn’t look sexy in her Army one, but this was something different.

  They sat on the blanket together and talked, and she finally opened up about the abuse she had endured when she was eighteen and why she’d been so upset with her mother. It had been unbearable, but she had also been too stubborn to call her mom. At the time, joining the Army had seemed like the only option to Dylan, but it had been the Army that had steered her toward medicine and made her who she was.

  She had even told him about the letters, most of which were back with her family. But the ones she’d kept had made her realize that her life could have been different if she had reached out to them. Her mom had loved her and wanted her back, all while Dylan stubbornly thought she had nobody.

  It was those letters that sent her back to them, because ultimately, Dylan was the reason her life had seemed so lonely. She wanted to change that, so she did.

  Her mom hadn’t reached out to her yet, which saddened her because she thought her mom wanted a relationship with her. But she had gone this long without her mom and now had a family of her own. She needed to focus on them.

  Now she was more relaxed now than she had ever been during the six weeks she had spent raising Tim with Holden. No longer was she reading books on raising a baby; she was just being a mom, realizing that mistakes would be made and could be corrected.

  She was laughing more and was almost a different person than the one Holden had met the day Jackson was hurt. The edge and hardness were dulled, and she wasn’t working herself to the point of collapse. In fact, she was looking at cutting back a little, mostly because she found stateside surgery boring.

  Monday afternoon he walked into the house at the end of the day and found his mom was recapping Tim’s day to Dylan as she snuggled the baby close to her. It never got old seeing Dylan loving on their son. She still treated him like a gift she had never thought she wanted or deserved.

  “He was just a happy baby today,” his mom concluded. Since day one of him needing daycare, Donna had volunteered to fill the roll, loving the opportunity to spend time with the baby. After a few days, she had decided to babysit Tim at their house instead of him bringing the baby to her. All his stuff was at home, and she didn’t have to keep a lot of it at her house.

  “He always is, aren’t you, Tim?” Dylan asked the baby as she kissed his little fingers.

  “He is. Well, I better get home before Glenn thinks I’ve run off.” Donna chuckled.

  “Oh, he’ll go looking for you, I’m sure.”

  “Maybe once, but not anymore.”

  “Once and still, Donna. I’ll tell Holden to give him some pointers on being romantic.”

  “I’ll get right on it,” Holden said as he came in from the entry; he hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.

  “No need, your dad isn’t one for that.”

  “I’ll do it anyway.” Holden hugged her and followed her to the door. He was serious about talking to his dad—his mom deserved to know she was loved also.

  “See you tomorrow,” his mom said as she headed out the door. It was working out great to have her there.

  After closing the door behind her, he headed to find the love of his life and their son. Now that the kitchen was empty, Dylan had vanished from that half of the house, and Holden found her in the living room getting ready to feed the baby. Though he wasn’t crying, he was happy lunch was being served.

  “How was your day?” she asked as she shed her button-up shirt and laid it on the arm of a chair.

  “Good, and yours?” His eyes were on her bare breasts the moment before his son latched on. This was still his favorite thing to watch.

  “Okay, but I got a call from the ER today about an opening. It seems they want to open more of a trauma center and need surgeons on staff. It would be way closer to what I was doing in Afghanistan.”

  “Sounds interesting.” He didn’t know if he liked her going to back to the exhausting work she was doing, though.

  “I think so too. They’re trying to get three surgeons. I would have to work a forty-eight-hour shifts every week, but then I’d get the rest of the week off. I would have to put in another twenty-four-hour rotation every third week, but most weeks I would have five days off to spend with Tim.”

  “Did you say yes?” he asked as he leaned against the doorframe. They had never talked about work schedules before, but it seemed so…normal.

  “Not yet. I wanted to hear what you thought about it.”

  “You want it?”

  Dylan stole a quick peek at him, then looked back at Tim. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can spend more time with Tim, and I hate the routine of my current job at the VA. I like the excitement of the desert, but I can’t leave you guys.”

  “You don’t think you’ll get bored with all that time off?”

  “Not with Tim, no. And I want Elissa to work with me. They said I could bring along my nurse. We can pal around together on those days, and Ryan too, of course.”

  “And she says…?” he asked, knowing she would have talked to her already.

  “She likes the idea, and I’m thinking that either Mara and Jake or your parents would help with Ryan. And you, sometimes. We have to be her family; she has nobody here,” she reminded him, not for the first time. It seemed she was way more concerned about her friend than she had ever been about herself while in the same situation.

  Holden couldn’t help but smile at his amazing, gorgeous wife who cared for so many people. “We will. If that’s what you want, we can make it work. I can attest that you’re a great emergency surgeon. When would you start?”

  Dylan beamed. “Next week. The two other doctors are as ready as I am.”

  “Good thing we already have all those coolers for the milk you’ll be bringing home with you,” he teased.

  When she had admitted she couldn’t stop providing milk for Tim while they were separated, he knew she had started losing the battle of independence. Tim was a part of her and would be forever.

  “You’re being mean, Captain. And after I got you a present,” she said petulantly. The baby was no longer suckling but sound asleep in her arms, just where he liked to be.

  “I got you a present also. You first.” Holden sat down next to her on the couch.

  With a flourish, she pointed at the wall above the fireplace. They had no pictures when they had moved in, so the walls were still mostly empty. But now, leaning against the fireplace was a framed picture of black and white flowers.

  “Is that one I gave you?” He got up and looked closer at it, remembering how he had given it to her so long ago.

  “The first one. I had it framed to remind us of how far we’ve come.” She didn’t move, just sat with Tim.

  Turning to her, he grinned. She just admitted she loved the romance. Not in so many words, but still.

  “All this time you scoffed at my romantic ways, and now here you are being the romantic one.”

  “I never said I didn’t enjoy it, just that you needed do it. I kind of liked you from the start.”

  “And I liked you way more than I should have. Way more. My brother had great taste in women.”

  “I wonder what Marquez would think of us?” she asked, looking out the window, probably at the sky.

  “He’d think I’m the luckiest guy around. He may have been your first love, b
ut I’m going to be your last.” His heart started pounding as he crossed the room and got down on his knee in front her. She didn’t notice because her eyes were still on the window.

  “I hope so,” she said dreamily. Holden could see the faint, wistful smile pulling at her lips.

  “Dylan, will you marry me?” he asked, because she was lost in her own thoughts and he wanted her forever.

  “What?” She turned and looked at him, eyes widening as her mind raced to catch up.

  “Marry me. You don’t even have to take my name,” he joked.

  “You bought a ring?” She looked as if she was trying to decide if she was simply imagining things.

  “Well, that’s what you do when you ask someone to marry you,” he hesitated, wondering if she was going to say yes.

  “It's beautiful.”

  “Are you saying no?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, okay. This just became awkward then.”

  “What? I mean no, I am not saying ‘no.’ I’m just surprised, is all.”

  “Does no-no, mean yes?” Now Holden was totally confused. And his knee was starting to hurt.

  Dylan let out a joyful laugh and said, “Yes! Yes, I would love to marry you.”

  Monday came quickly, and suddenly, she was leaving her baby for two days straight. Dylan worried that she hadn’t thought this through enough and that maybe she should just go back to boring surgeries at the VA and leave the “leaving babies alone for days on end” to someone else.

  “Dylan, I’m here,” Donna’s voice rang up the stairs. Her shift started at nine, so she still had a little time, but Donna must have realized she’d be a little frazzled this morning.

  Frazzled? I never get frazzled, Dylan thought. Today was the first time in years she was anything close to frazzled. The doorbell rang as she got Tim dressed in his moose pajamas. Elissa would be there to drop off Ryan, and they would drive together to work. It was her first day on this shift also, and she was leaving her kid with virtual strangers, so others had it worse than Dylan did.

  Dylan headed down the stairs in black slacks and a light blue blouse. She felt a little weird in her new outfit; she wasn’t used to wearing something other than fatigues to work. Even in the surgical department, she usually wore them.

  Now she was required not to look like a soldier since her roll in the emergency room, she’ would be seen by the civilian public. Therefore, no fatigues.

  “Okay, Tim is fed and changed and changed again. Blow out. But he should be good for a few hours.” She headed down the stairs with Tim in her arms. Though he was sleeping, she didn’t want to miss a moment of time with him. She would be gone for two days and needed to soak up every last second.

  “Got it. I answered the door when you were upstairs,” Donna said a little sheepishly, as if she wasn’t allowed to.

  “Was it Elissa?” she asked, not hearing Ryan, which she usually could if he was within a mile.

  “No, it was me,” Janet Reed stated from behind her future mother-in-law.

  “Oh, I didn’t think I would see you.” Dylan reflexively pulled the baby closer.

  “Amanda misplaced your slip, but I found it this morning. I didn’t think you would be home, but I had to try. I couldn’t wait to see you again.” Her mother looked at her from top to bottom, and Dylan started wondering what she thought of the semi-professional look she was trying to pull off.

  “Usually, I’m not, but this is my first shift in the ER,” she replied causally. Holden’s mother had moved towards the kitchen, giving them some privacy.

  “I’m really sorry for everything I did back then, Dylan. I never realized that you thought I didn’t love you. I never preferred your sister over you. I loved you both equally,” Janet insisted.

  “It didn’t feel that way.”

  Janet nodded. “And that’s all my fault. Same with believing Jesse that you were happy and healthy with him. I should’ve known better. I believed his lies again. I should have known better.”

  “I should have called, but somehow, I had convinced myself that I couldn’t. My only escape was the Army, so I took it and didn’t look back. Until Holden.”

  “He’s a very nice man, and you’re very lucky to have found him.” Her mother smiled.

  “He deserves all the credit; I wasn’t that easy to get close to, but I’m so glad he kept chipping away.”

  “How about I take him from you so you can get to work?” Donna came back from the kitchen and reached for Tim. Dylan let him go willingly.

  “Oh, Donna, I’m sorry! Janet Reed is my mother. Janet, this is Donna Marquez, my mother-in-law.” It still felt odd to say that, and glancing at her ring, she realized she should have said future mother-in-law. The two women didn’t shake hands but looked at the baby instead, as if in agreement that he was the most important thing.

  “I thought you weren’t married to Holden yet?”

  “When I was 22, I married his brother, Chase. He died a few weeks later. Holden and I ran into each other last year in Afghanistan. We clicked, I guess.”

  “You were over there all the time. When I would talk to other families who had kids or husbands over there, their tours were always less than a year, but you were there for years on end. I was so scared for you.”

  “I was never in danger; I never left the base. Medical personnel doesn’t unless they’re field medics, and I was never that.”

  “You became a nurse? You always talked about it. I was skeptical, but every few months, you’d bring it up,” Janet said with a smile. “I am so happy you fulfilled that dream. I wish I had believed in you more.”

  “I tested well in medicine and knew that when I left for basic, I would be heading to college, not war when it was over. I lucked out. Chase and I met at basic, but he went to war.”

  “Are you staying here?”

  “Yes, I have twenty years in now, so I can say where I want to go at this point. If they want to send me back to Afghanistan, I can get out.”

  “Would it be possible for us to have lunch sometime? I don’t want to lose you again.”

  “I would like that. It might take a little to get over everything, but I’m willing to work on it if you are—” Her words were cut off as Janet hugged her tight, tighter than she remembered her ever hugging her before. Not that she remembered many hugs while she was in high school.

  “I love you, Jess…Dylan. So much.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  Within moments, the front door flew open, and Ryan ran into the room with all the energy of a five-year-old. His mother walked in after him more sedately.

  “I cannot believe you talked me into more twenty-four-hour shifts. Hell, this one is forty-eight hours!” the blond said. She was dressed in dark red scrubs; no need for semi-formal for her. Lucky.

  Dylan’s mom let her go at the sudden intrusion of more people. Turning slightly, she looked at Elissa and Ryan.

  Dylan grinned at her friend and replied, “But then you get five days off, not two.”

  Elissa tossed a bag of her son’s stuff on the floor and groaned, “Only you could talk me into something like this.”

  “I know, don’t you love me?”

  Elissa rolled her eyes. “I must, because I’m working with you again.”

  “I missed my favorite nurse.”

  “Are you going to be as demanding as you were overseas? Or have you relaxed at little?”

  “Oh, not in the OR. Elissa, this is my mother, Janet Reed. Mom, this is my nurse, Elissa.”

  “Oh, my God! You have a mother? What happened to you being hatched? I’m still going with hatched.” Elissa laughed at her own joke. “Just kidding, your daughter is an amazing surgeon, Ms. Reed. I have worked with a number of them over the years, but Dylan has great hands.”

  “Surgeon?” Her mother turned and looked at her, clearly surprised.

  “I tested very well,” Dylan replied, nonchalant.

  “I didn’t think you would make a good nurse, a
nd I never thought you would go beyond that.”

  “The Army thought I could, so I did.”

  “Dylan, if you and Elissa don’t leave now, you’ll be late,” Donna said after glancing back at the clock on the microwave.

  “Yeah, we have to get to work.” Dylan was glad the woman had been keeping an eye on the clock; they couldn’t be late the first day.

  Elissa gave Ryan one last hug before heading out the door, and Dylan kissed her baby and followed her. Oddly, leaving the two women in charge of her son—two women she hadn’t trusted or liked a year before—didn’t worry Dylan at all.

  Chapter 33

  Wednesday dragged by for Holden, who now understood why Jake hated working when Mara was off. He hated being at the office when she was home. Even worse, she was home in bed without him.

  “Did she at least call you and tell you how it went?” Jake asked. The office had been dead all day.

  “Yes, at lunch. She played with the baby and was crashing. My mom was taking him home with her, so I have to pick him up.”

  “Right after work?” Jake grinned.

  “Nope, she can keep him for a bit longer.” His parents were completely on Dylan’s side now. She had wormed her way into their hearts without even trying. Some of it had to do with Tim, but a lot of it had to do with how much she had actually loved Chase, and now him.

  “How was her shift?”

  “Good. A few surgeries, but there was some downtime in between. Enough time to talk to her mom again, so we’re having supper with them later in the week—her mom and stepdad and her sister and her husband. It’s going to be hard, mostly because I haven’t forgiven her as easily as Dylan has.”

  “She’s changed a lot, even from before when she was taking care of the baby.”

  Holden shrugged. “She just let her guard down and decided not to let other’s opinions of her matter anymore.”

  “Why don’t you head out a little early and surprise her?”

  “If you're sure, I would love to,” he stated, already getting up to leave.

  “Yup, but you owe me.” Jake chuckled as Holden practically ran out of the building.