I know that it happens often, but I know it won’t happen with Rose, but I still want her right there with me. I want us to feed off each other’s high levels of passion and our dedication to the craft of saving lives. Yes, it really is a craft.
And nobody’s going to tell me otherwise.
“I need it to happen, Monique. What do we need to do to make it happen right now?”
She purses her lips and her eyebrows raise. “Well, for starters we’d have to get her a job here at the hospital.”
“Huh?”
Has she lost her mind?
“She was let go this morning. It’s more of a restructuring which allowed the newer RNs to take up employment at an affiliated clinic, but in—“
“Wait a second. What did you say?” I interrupt.
“She was let go with some of the other newer staff. I’m really sorry, doctor. I didn’t know she was that important to you.”
A million thoughts race through my brain but I have to stay calm.
Why didn’t she tell me? What in the heck is going on?
“When did you give her this news?”
“About twenty minutes ago,” Monique says after looking at the clock.
I high tail it out of the HR office and straight out of the building.
I’m not tolerating this kind of treatment to my woman.
She’s got my back and I’ve got hers. If the hospital just up and decides to let her go then they’ve actually lost the both of us whether they know it or not.
We’re a package deal.
When I told her I was going to make her mine I meant it. And I’m just as much hers now as she is mine.
That’s the way it works.
For life.
And now I’ve got to find her and get our life straightened out. Together.
Chapter Fourteen
Rose
I pull another tissue from the box and spoon out another bite of ice cream.
I’ve been trying to enjoy some ice cream since Cristiano moved in and now I finally have time. But this is definitely not the way I wanted to sit down and eat it and I sure can’t say I’m enjoying it.
It’s serving more as a self-prescribed medication to help heal my broken spirit.
I loved working at that hospital. I was making friends and had just gotten settled into the big city and then boom!
They dropped the hammer on me.
I hear a knock on the door and prepare myself for some information about the busted water pipe.
Great. Rent will probably be going up at the end of my lease now, not to mention how am I going to afford my cracker box with no money coming in. Two weeks severance doesn’t last long and I’m not sure if I’ve worked long enough to qualify for unemployment, not that I’m thinking about it.
I need to toughen up and start looking for a job…tomorrow. A day to feel in the dumps is kind of a waste, but it does help with the catharsis.
And gives me time to realize just how real this whole living in the big city thing is.
I don’t want to be dependent on Cristiano. Sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes me the offer to move in, but doing so when I’ve fallen on tough times is more of a convenient escape. I want to do it from a position of power, as his equal.
Because that’s exactly what we are.
He may be older than me and have a couple more commas in his bank account, but we all start at nothing right?
With his experience and guidance he can help me navigate the pitfalls of life and employment as a medical professional.
It’s just one of the other benefits of his being an older man.
Not to mention how he’s so much calmer, cooler, and more collected than guys my age.
How he doesn’t get in a rush when it’s time to please me. And how he even thinks of my pleasure first and foremost.
How did I get so lucky?
I walk to the door and open it, ready to see the landlord but there he is.
“You’re not allowed to cry anymore,” he says.
“Who made that rule?”
“I did.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“I told you you were mine.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with crying,” I say as I sniffle a bit.
“It has everything to do with everything. You’re mine so we face everything together. And when we face everything together we never lose.”
“Well, I sure feel like a lo-”
His finger comes up and he places it gently on my lips silencing me.
“Don’t ever say that. You’ve made me feel what it’s like to be a true winner. A winner in the game of life, love and the happiness that that brings. And I’m absolutely and totally committed to making sure you feel the same way all the time. All day every day.”
“Thank you,” I say. I lean into him trying not to touch the cold ice cream carton to him. It is hot out and he might appreciate it though. I pull back slightly and look up at him. “I believe you and I trust you, but still…right now I’m unemployed and with that soon to be homeless unless I find something soon.”
“You’re not unemployed. I already found something for you.”
“Thank you, but um…don’t you think I should get a say in this?”
“You get the ultimate say. Of course.”
“Thank you,” I say realizing he was already hard at work trying his best to help me, but realizes I can and will stand on my own two feet at the end of the day. “Sorry I should invite you in…like a friendly neighbor,” I say. I wink at him at the neighbor reference.
“Yeah, about that whole neighbors thing,” he begins.
“You found me a place too?” I joke.
“I didn’t find you a place, exactly. I found us a place.”
“Us? What happened to me getting a say. The ultimate say I thought.” I squeeze his side but am quickly reminded there’s little there to squeeze due to all those sit-ups of his. Technically there’s nothing, but squeezing muscles does count. But as much as I really do want to stand on my own two feet and prove to myself I can make it in the big city I am interested to hear what he has to say.
“The way I see it we’ve got two options. One, you move in with me and I take a job at another hospital. I can easily bring you aboard as part of my team when I negotiate my new contract.”
“But you just signed with this hospital. You can’t back out now…can you?”
“One hundred and eighty day out clause. I can terminate any time within the first six months. So I don’t ever have to go back there if I don’t want to. I even get a severance and the final part of my moving allowance, even if I terminate.”
“I need to learn your negotiation secrets.”
“You will. I’m going to share everything I know with you, or at least everything that interests you.”
“Great,” I say wrapping him up in a hug. “Because I’m interested in everything when it comes to you.”
I put my head on his chest and realize everything is feeling way better now. I pull back, place my ice cream on the table, and hug him properly.
“Wait. What about option two?”
“Option two is we open our own family practice in Colorado.”
“Colorado?”
“Or Florida. Or California. It really doesn’t matter. Colorado just seems like a really nice place to live and raise a family…which would make a lot of sense if you’re running a family practice.”
“One little contradiction with that. We’re not a family.”
“Yeah, I know. And I don’t like contradictions either which is why we need to take care of that discrepancy right now.”
“How in the world are we going to…oh my god!”
“I don’t want another second of my life to pass without you by my side. Without the world knowing what we already know…that I’m yours and your mine. But let’s make it official and that way I’ll never have to see anyone m
ake you feel like they made you feel today. We’ll take on this big bad world together and shine our light on it while we help people. While putting bandages on kids knees. While we rehab seniors who fall and crack their hips. While we show people how to eat healthier so they can live longer and enjoy more time with the ones we love, just like I want to do. Like I need to do. Spend the rest of my days on this beautiful earth with the one I love. The most beautiful woman in the world who makes my heart skip a beat. The woman who challenges me just as much as she challenges herself. And the woman who’s not scared to take risks head on all alone, but who I’m pretty sure would much rather do so with someone by her side who loves her and who has her back and who’s going to be right out in front leading the charge as we make the world a better place. But first do me the honor of making my world not only a better place, but the best place. I’ve seen a glimpse of heaven on earth and it’s with you. Be my angel. Be my everything. Be my wife. Will you marry me?”
I look down at the ring that sparkles beyond belief, but not nearly as much as the belief I see in his eyes. The belief that he has in us. A belief that is only matched by my belief.
I took a chance going to nursing school so young.
I took a chance moving to the big city when I knew no one there.
And most people would look at this opportunity now and say this is the biggest chance that’s ever been put in front of me.
But I don’t see it as a chance at all. I see it as a sure thing because I’m just as sure of my love for him as his love for me.
When you know you know.
And even in a short time I know we have similar interests, desires for life, and most importantly the want and need to have a family…but only with the other.
He is mine and I am his and now it’s time to make it official.
I nod my head. “Yes,” I say but not very loudly. It’s not that I want to, it’s just that I can barely speak.
He slides the ring on my finger. A perfect fit, just like us.
He stands and takes my face in his hands and looks at me one last time before he kisses me. We’re now officially engaged to be married.
Tears of sadness have quickly turned to tears of joy.
He kisses me again and then without me noticing he sticks his finger in the ice cream just beside us. He scoops up a bit on his finger and taps it on my nose before quickly kissing it off.
“Hey!” I say.
“I’ve been trying to have ice cream with you since I first saw you. It’s only right,” he says with a smile.
“You’re only right, as in the only one who’s absolutely right for me.”
“And you’re absolutely perfect for me,” he says.
I quickly scoop us some ice cream of my own but when I bring it to his face I dab it on his lips.
He’s the sweetest man on earth and now his kiss matches his heart.
The heart which he’s given to me.
And mine which he holds now and forever.
Epilogue
Rose
Seven years later
“Don’t go chasing squirrels into the briar patch, okay little buddy?”
Jacob Little nods his head as his mother runs her hand through his hair.
“Thanks doc. How much do we owe you?” Laura Little asks.
“For some bandages and a little bit of life advice?” Cristiano pauses and pretends to calculate. “I’d say if you don’t mind letting me take your boy fishing this weekend we can call it even.”
“So you’re going to patch up Jacob then take him to do his favorite thing in the world for a day while his dad and I get some couple time and that’s our ‘payment,’” she says raising her fingers in the air putting air quotes around the word payment.
“That’s right. If you’re okay with those terms that is, or should I say if the boss here is okay with those terms.”
Cristiano looks down at Jacob who is now beaming from ear to ear. He’s our boy Joshua’s best friend in the whole world and there’s nothing these boys like more than going fishing. Okay, maybe trying to catch bullfrogs down by the river on a hot summer night or building snow forts in the winter could be in the running, but I still think fishing is their number one.
“You’ve got yourself a deal!” Laura says. She shakes hands with Cristiano before turning to me.
“I don’t know what angel brought you two here to Cedar Creek, but I’m glad it did.”
“You’re the angel,” I say to Laura. “And you too!” I say messing up Jacob’s hair with my palm. “He’s so cute!”
“And growing so fast,” Laura says.
“Joshua is the same way.”
“What’s Joshua doing?” Jacob asks.
“Right now? Well, I would guess he’s probably at home alllll by himself just wondering where his buddy Jacob is. Maybe you should go check on him and make sure he’s okay.”
I look up at Laura and Jacob soon does the same.
She nods and Jacob takes off like a bolt of lightning. “But stay out of those sticker patches! Or briar patches or anything that can cut you!” she yells, but it’s already too late.
The screen door bounces off the door jamb and comes to a rest.
Jacob’s out of our little family practice office and half way up to the house. We’ve got both situated on the same property here in Colorado, just as Cristiano had suggested in that moment he proposed to me.
And true to our word we made our family practice a real family practice.
Most of our so called doctor visits were easy fixes.
Joshua and his best buddy Jacob getting scratched up in the woods.
Our daughter Jessica and her bff Jovana, Kate and John’s little girl from down the street, poking their thumbs when they were practicing needlework. They were pretty young to be starting on crafts, but we saw it as a positive. We liked that our kids were out here in this part of the country. We were sure it made their minds more creative.
And of course there was Jerry and his little buddy Rick and their scrapes and slides from T-ball practice.
And once baby Julia got old enough we were sure she’d get a scrape here and a scratch here and mom and dad would rely on their “extensive expertise” and make everything better well before dinner time when we all gathered ‘round the table for a home cooked meal.
I liked nothing more than cooking for my family, and my man.
The man who showed me that you can take the girl out of the small town, but you can never take the small town out of the girl. I guess that’s why we moved back here after everything that went down in the big city.
The big city, huh?
The more I thought about it and everything that goes with it the more I thought it was overrated.
There’s no catching lightning bugs in a jar in the big city.
There’s no s’mores in the backyard around the fire while dad scares the bejesus out of you during a sleepover tent party in the big city.
And most importantly we’re not in the big city.
Because home isn’t where you live, it’s where your heart is. And my heart is with my family.
And when I found him I found the man who I’d make my family with.
And now that we had our family we both had our home.
Together. Forever.
Laura steps out of the doctor’s office and I switch the sign over that reads “The Doctor’s Always In” to read “The Doctor’s Always Out.”
Cristiano winks at me. “Jacob was our last one of the day right?”
“Unless we get a walk in.”
“How about we lock that door and we walk into the back room here together.”
“And why might that be?” I ask as I slide the deadbolt home.
“I’ve still got the operating table out. And you know I was just reminiscing to that time when…”
“Uh huh. Isn’t that how we got all these kids in the first place?”
“All these? You say it like it’s a lot.”
�
�You didn’t have to carry them for nine months and deliver them either.”
“Actually…” he says.
I laugh. He did deliver them. He insisted on being a part of their life from the first moment they saw the light of day. That and he said he never wanted another man to see my flower garden, as he called it.
He was as protective of me as he was with our children. And perfect every day since the first day we met.
The man who knew what he wanted all along.
And all he wanted was me and only me.
And all I ever wanted was him.
“Are you sure we have time before I have to start dinner?” I ask as he takes my hand.
“Beautiful, I’ve always got time for you. As long as I have you I don’t need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe. You’re all those things for me. And that’s why I love you.”
He pulls me in close and we kiss.
And it doesn’t take a doctor to tell me this is how we made all those babies in the first place.
But I do know what this doctor will tell me tonight.
“Let’s have one more baby, baby.”
How do I know?
Because he’s been saying it every night for the last seven years.
Seven year itch?
Not with him. He says I’m that perfect tingling sensation that will never go away.
That sensation in his groin and more importantly in his heart.
Forever.
56) POSSESSIVE POLICEMAN
POSSESSIVE POLICEMAN
When my dad’s best friend, the hot cop, suddenly becomes a possessive, territorial, controlling, obsessive, borderline stalker there’s cause for concern.
And when I find out I’m this possessive protector’s obsession I’m not sure if I should run into his older man arms, or if this younger woman should take off in the other direction as fast as she can.
But when I discover this possessive policeman is obsessed with my safety and making me his I know I was smart to save my first time just for my police officer prince charming.
Will his possessiveness wear me out or turn out to be a blessing in disguise?
A Man Who Knows What He Wants Box Set 5 Page 24