by Kylie Walker
He kissed her again and said, “Now you have both of us.”
“Now I have everything. I love you, and thank you too…for him, or her.”
Derek put the side rail down on her hospital bed. Chloe scooted herself over and he lay down next to her. He’s such a big guy that it was a tight fit…but neither of them cared, they wanted to fit tightly together. They were still laying like that a half hour or so later when the doctor came in. Derek jumped up like a teenager caught by his parents. The doctor only smiled indulgently.
It was a female doctor. She was wearing green scrubs and he long black hair was tied back at the nape of her neck in a low pony tail. She had large brown eyes and the easy smile of someone visiting an old friend.
“Good Morning Chloe. I’m Dr. Singh. I did the surgery on your arm, but we never actually got an opportunity to meet.”
“Hi doctor, thank you.”
She smiled a white, toothy smile. She looked like she was only about Chloe’s age and when she moved around the side of the bed to shake Derek’s hand; Chloe thought she looked like a sleek little black cat. She smiled because when she’d pictured the person who had worked on her arm, she had the image of an elderly white man for some reason. This little woman was the exact opposite of that. Derek introduced himself as they shook hands and the doctor said,
“So, you had a very deep cut that went along this way,” She showed them a diagonal pattern on her own arm from just above the wrist to the antecubital area in front of the elbow. “It went through your skin, tissue and muscle, taking out arteries, veins and even nerves with it. We repaired first what was life-threatening, which was the major arteries. We re-routed some of the veins and then we closed up the tissue and the muscle underneath it. You do have some nerve damage there but with time and therapy, your other nerves will learn to send impulses to different muscles and the use of your arm and hand should eventually return to normal. You might have numbness and tingling at first, but that will also go away with time as the arm heals. Does that all make sense? Do you have any questions?”
“Is there going to be a really ugly scar there?” Chloe knew that wasn’t the most important thing…but so far most of the scars she’d had to live with could at least be covered up and forgotten for a while.
“There will be scarring, yes. There was no way to avoid it. The cut was made with a serrated edge…that means jagged so it wasn’t a clean line. But the good news is that before you leave we will have the plastic surgeon meet with you. There are lots of great things he can do so that you don’t have to live with the scarring forever.”
“I don’t have insurance.” Chloe didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it was definitely something that had been on her mind once she was fully alert.
The doctor smiled and said, “I realize that. But what you do have is a guardian angel.”
Confused Chloe said, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Someone has authorized the hospital to do whatever you need and it will be paid for in full.”
“Who?”
The doctor shrugged. “The financial office made those notes, so that’s as much as I know. Count yourself very lucky, Chloe. You’re alive and you’re obviously loved.”
Chloe looked at Derek. He shrugged. “It wasn’t you?”
“No. I wish it was. I didn’t get here until early this morning…around one or two. The financial office was closed then. I’ve been here with you ever since.”
The doctor smiled again and asked, “Any more questions, Chloe?”
“When can I go home?”
“I’m discharging your case today and you’ll be assigned to a hospitalist. He and the Ob/Gyn will consult on your discharge. Congratulations by the way.”
Chloe couldn’t help but smile broadly at the suggestion of her and Derek’s child. “Thank you, doctor.”
“Of course.” Once the doctor left Chloe asked Derek,
“Do you think my parents are paying for this?” She had her brow furrowed. She was grateful and touched, but at the same time she didn’t like the idea that someone had to pay her way.
“I think you shouldn’t worry so much,” Derek told her. “Whoever is doing it obviously loves you and isn’t concerned about the money. If it will make you feel better, I can find out and pay them back.”
“How does that help? That leaves you stuck with it then.”
He laughed. “First of all, I won’t even miss the money…but most importantly of all Chloe, I plan on taking care of you and this little one forever. We are forever linked, we’re a family and what’s mine is yours, don’t forget that.”
“Will you be intimidated once I become a teacher and start making my own thirty or forty grand a year?”
He looked like he was thinking about it and then he said, “Actually, it might be nice to just quit working and let you take care of me then.”
Chloe laughed. “I’ll take care of you alright. Kiss me again.” Derek did as she asked and then climbed back into the bed next to her, pulling her in close. Chloe felt tears stinging her eyes again. She was lying in a hospital bed with a freshly repaired gash in her arm…she wasn’t sure whether or not she would be charged with murder…yet, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world…even when the nurse came in and told her the police were here to see her.
CHAPTER FOUR
“You can let them come in,” Chloe told her.
“Baby, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea without Dad or Jake here.” Derek was no attorney, but he’d spent plenty of time over the years listening to his father and Jake talk about things. He was so happy that she was okay. He couldn’t fathom the thought of her being taken from him and locked away in a cage.
“I’m only going to tell them the truth,” she said.
“I know, but I’d prefer…” he started. Jake walked in the door just then.
“Hi guys! Chloe, how are you feeling?”
She smiled. “Better. The nurse says the police are here.”
“Yes, they called and asked me to come down this morning so they could interview you. Are you ready to talk to them?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“If you don’t feel comfortable answering any of their questions, you defer to me, okay?”
“Okay, thanks Jake. I hope you know how grateful I am that you’re doing this. I don’t know how I’ll re-pay you.”
“Please, family doesn’t pay. If they did, Derek would owe me millions.” Derek laughed.
“I thought we were just trading services…how much of a discount did I manage to get you on your last real estate investment?”
Jake rolled his eyes, but he smiled. “You ready?” Chloe nodded. Jake went to the door and called the two detectives inside. They looked like Mutt and Jeff to Derek. The first one was over six-three probably with white blonde hair and ruddy cheeks. His suit hung loosely on his thin frame and if Derek had to guess his age, the only thing that would give away he was over eighteen would be that he was a detective. The other man was older, almost a foot shorter and had a belly that protruded over the top of his polyester pants. His suit jacket was open in front, but didn’t look like it would button across his rotund belly if he tried. He was bald…mostly. He had a ring of dark hair he was hanging onto and a full mustache to match it. The blonde was smiling, the darker man looked like he was about to attend a funeral.
“Hello Miss Green, I’m detective Case and this is detective Brady,” the blonde said. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, thank you.”
“I’m sorry to have to disturb you while you’re recuperating, but we need to find out what happened last night.”
“It’s okay,” Chloe said. She looked at Jake. He smiled. “Where do you want me to start?”
“What was your relationship to the deceased, Jesse Donavan?”
“He used to be my boyfriend…until he tried to kill me.”
The dark man grimaced. The blonde looked unaffected as he said, “So how long have you
and Mr. Donavan been apart?”
“Almost three years.”
“Miss Green, after speaking to your attorney we did some investigation into the case where Mr. Donavan was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. The complainant is named as Kelly Ward.”
“Yes, I left the state and had my name legally changed. I knew that he would come after me. I was hoping he wouldn’t be able to track me down.”
The detective nodded, wrote something down and said, “How did Mr. Donavan find you?”
“I ran into his father, Vince Donavan at a fundraiser. I was with Mr. Stark here who the elder Mr. Donavan was acquainted with. Not long afterwards, my best friend was nearly killed and Jesse was stalking me.”
“What evidence did you have of his stalking?”
“He told Chantelle he was going to kill me. My boyfriend’s brake line was cut and while he was recuperating in the hospital, Jesse showed up on the pier while I was there with Jake…my attorney.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“Yes. He said something about being sorry Derek was in the hospital…he could have only known that if he was following me…and if he’d been the one to cut the brakes.” The detective didn’t look convinced.
“Did you notify the police?”
“Yes. They were looking for him because Chantelle told them it was him who beat her. There was a warrant out in New York for his arrest. We called them that day at the beach but by the time they got there, he was gone.”
“Okay…let’s flash forward to last night. You were at your condominium…alone?”
“Yes. My roommate is out of town. My boyfriend,” she looked at Derek and he winked at her. “He was still recuperating from his accident…he was at my parent’s home in New York. My attorneys were also out of town. I needed to pick up a few things and take care of some business in Rhode Island. I was going to spend the night at the condo and go back to New York today.”
“Did you let Mr. Donavan into the house?”
“Of course not. You should be able to tell that the lock was tampered with on my front door.”
“So he broke in the front door. The lights were out, the fuse had been thrown…did he do that?”
“I’m assuming so. Suddenly everything went dark and I heard him at the door.”
“What did you do?”
“I got ready to fight.”
“You were expecting a fight?”
“Detective, this man tormented me for years. He tried to kill me. He told me he wouldn’t stop until I was dead. He tampered with the brakes on my boyfriend’s car. He stalked me…yeah; I thought there was a pretty good chance I would have to fight for my life.”
The detective took her through the fight and Jesse cutting her and then he had her tell him about Jesse falling through the door. Chloe looked nauseous as she described the sound of the glass shattering and the back of Jesse’s head hitting the table. Derek wanted to make the detectives leave and take her into his arms. He knew how relieved she was that Jesse was out of her life forever…but he also knew that she had to be dealing with emotions over taking a life. Even seasoned cops had a hard time with that one. He had to fight through his urges and let her go on. They were almost finished…he hoped.
“What did you do after you realized he was dead?”
“I went out front and sat in the pick-up and called 911.”
The detective read through his notes. His partner still hadn’t said a word. He asked a few more minor questions and then he said, “I think that’s it for now, unless you have something else to add Miss Green?”
“No, nothing I can think of.”
The small man said, “I have one more question.”
“Okay.”
“Did you fear for your life that night?”
“I’ve been in fear for my life for three years,” she said. He nodded. Derek got the impression that he was very much on Chloe’s side.
After they were gone Jake said, “You did good, Chloe.”
She smiled, looked towards the door and said, “I am the one that flipped the light switch. I was waiting for him. I didn’t think that would sound good…but just in case it comes out, I thought you should know.”
“I figured that much out,” he told her with a grin. “I think you did everything right…I do wish you would have let someone help you.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve gotten used to doing things for myself.”
Derek reached out and took her hand, “You better get un-used to that. I don’t intend to take away your independence completely, but I do want you to learn how to let me help you.”
“All of us,” Jake said.
Later that afternoon when Jake was gone to pick-up Roxi, Samantha and Trevor and Kevin came in. Kevin carried a gigantic bouquet of roses and Trevor had a bouquet of orchids and a handful of balloons.
“Oh my goodness, is there anything left in the gift shop?” Chloe asked.
Kevin smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “This wasn’t half of what they wanted to buy you,” he said. Chloe’s room already smelled like a florist shop. Besides the two new bouquets, there were already several that had been delivered from Roxi; Derek…who must have went online on his phone, because he never left her side…and Jake. There technically weren’t supposed to be so many people in the room, but the nurse was kind and willing to look the other way as long as they visited quietly.
“Oh Chloe, I was so worried.” Samantha hugged her, almost too tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay, honey.” Trevor hugged her next and said,
“You should have called me. I would have gone with you…”
“I’m sorry that I worried you both, but I didn’t want to bring any more pain or drama into your lives. You’ve both been through too much.”
“You need to stop thinking that way, honey. You are the most important thing into the world to us. We’d rather worry than not know what’s happening. It’s a parent’s prerogative to worry,” Trevor said with a smile.
“Things went okay with the police?” Kevin asked her.
“I think so. I just told them what happened. Do you think the D.A. will file charges?”
“I doubt it,” Kevin told her. “It’s an election year and it would look really bad for him to try and prosecute a woman who was nearly killed by her boyfriend once, and then attacked and fought back. When you add in that this guy was wanted for the savage beating of another woman…your friend…He’d be a fool to touch this one.”
“Hopefully he has more sense than New York’s D. A.,” Derek said.
Jake and Roxi walked in then and Jake said, “Apparently, he does. I just got a call from his office. Due to Jesse’s history with both Chloe and Chantelle and the fact that he broke in and he had a weapon…they’re very likely going to call it what it was...self-defense. They’re not going to arrest you, and as long as nothing else comes up during the autopsy, they will very likely not be filing charges.
There was a collective cheer in the room. That netted them a “Shh!”From the nurse that poked her head into the room. In a whisper Derek told her, “I’m so happy baby. Now we can really get on with our life.” He looked around the room and said, “Can we tell them our news?”
Chloe smiled through the tears in her eyes and nodded. “You tell them,” she said.
“Chloe and I have news,” Derek said with a big smile. Jake and Roxi and Kevin of course already knew, but none of them let on. Derek was just about to make the announcement when the door was pushed in wildly and Vince Donavan appeared in the doorway.
CHAPTER FIVE
“What are you doing here?” Derek was instantly on his feet.
“I wanted to see the woman who murdered my son.” Trevor was closest to the door. He stepped into Vince’s face and said,
“Get out.”
“No wait,” Chloe said. “Let me talk to him for a second.” Reluctantly, Trevor stepped out of the way. The men were all staring at Vince with hostile looks, but his eyes hadn’t left Chloe’s fac
e. “I didn’t “murder” Jesse. He was attacking me and in the process, he fell and hit his head.”
“So that’s what you’ve told the police, I hear. You’re making yourself out to be a victim when my son is the one who is dead.”
“He wouldn’t be dead if he had left me alone. He was there to kill me. I had to protect myself.”
“He was broken and confused. He’d just spent two years in a hell hole for crying out loud!”
“Because he tried to kill me!”
“And because you made sure he was out in two years, he once again had the opportunity to try and kill her. If you had let him pay for his crime in the first place the way he should have, he would still be behind bars and none of this would have happened,” Kevin told him. Vince pulled his head up then and looked at Kevin. He narrowed his eyes and said,
“How dare you accuse me of this being my fault? You used to be my friend. You’re a defense attorney for Christ’s sake. You’re the one who is always championing the wrongly accused. How would you feel if this was one of your children?”
“I would feel sad…and ashamed and repulsed at the same time,” Kevin said. “Sometimes we have a hard time facing that anyone we love and care about are not what they seem to be. I’m sure Chloe went through that when she first realized that Jesse wasn’t the man she thought she fell in love with. I am truly sorry that you lost your son, Vince…but you didn’t lose him last night, you lost him a long time ago.”
“You think you’re an expert on child rearing suddenly? Don’t kid yourself, Kevin. I lost him because of her! She’s told you her side of the story. Jesse never got to tell his. He was brilliant…did you know that?” Vince had tears sliding down his face and his body shook as he talked. “He had a bright, shining future. It went down in flames because of her. Jesse was raised in a good home with nothing but the best examples…if he snapped…it was because she pushed him into it somehow. You better keep a close eye on your own boy.” He glared at Chloe and he was becoming more agitated quickly. “I lost him because she drove him to do something desperate and stupid that landed him in prison and now he’s dead! I keep hearing “self-defense,” but I’m not going to just let this go. She needs to pay for what she did to my son. My wife is devastated.”