by Tasha Jones
As much as he hated caving in, Jeremy heard himself agreeing reluctantly to show up to the dinner. But even as he said yes he cautioned her, “But no more trying to set up me for the next year.”
“Let’s say three months.”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay six months.” Her voice brightened as she launched into praise for the Weinmans’ daughter, “You’ll love her Jeremy, I’ve heard she’s very beautiful and accomplished and I just know that she has a wonderful heart.”
“How would you even know about her heart, mother?” he asked her, feeling exasperated.
“She’s gone to third world countries to build huts or homes or something like that. You would obviously need a kind heart to do something like that voluntarily!”
Jeremy didn’t even know how to respond to that, “I’ll see you on Saturday then, Mother.”
“Lovely! Why don’t you come over earlier and we can go together.”
“Sure, Mom, whatever you want.”
“Love you, son.”
“Love you too.”
“Have you eaten today?”
“Yes, Mother, I ate today.”
“Good, make sure to look after yourself properly, God knows there’s nobody else to do it.”
“Goodbye, Mother!”
As he hung up the phone, he groaned to himself for the second time in three minutes, wondering for the hundredth time why he allowed himself to be so blatantly manipulated by his mother’s emotional blackmail. Over the years, his mother had repeatedly tried to set him up with girls she considered good enough for him and while he managed to duck out of most of them, he occasionally found himself giving in to maintain the peace. He knew there was nothing his mother wanted more than to see him settled down with someone. But the problem was, he had very little interest and even less time to be embroiled in a relationship.
Despite Jeremy coming from an immensely wealthy family, Jeremy’s father had instilled in him the importance of a good education and how nothing in life should ever be taken for granted. His father himself came from very humble beginnings, but he had worked tirelessly, and by the age of 30 had made a small fortune in real estate; by the time Jeremy was born, the man was worth hundreds of millions.
But he never forgot his poverty-filled childhood. As a result, Jeremy had worked extremely hard for everything he had in life and he had very specific goals about where he wanted to be in life ten years down the road. Even as a child he had been very focused, when he was a teenager and girls were constantly crushing on him, he paid them very little attention and instead looked ahead to an education at Harvard University. During his time at Harvard, he dated here and there but it was never anything serious and he was never known to have a steady girlfriend, and it wasn’t for a lack of girls trying.
With his chiseled features, straight, narrow nose, blue, serious eyes, tousle of dark blond hair and a tall, muscular build thanks to regular tennis games and daily swims, he looked more like a movie star than a pre-med student. But even at twenty-two years old, Jeremy had big dreams for himself. And now almost a decade later, he was still focused on pursuing those dreams.
Simply becoming a heart surgeon wasn’t enough, he wanted to be the best doctor he could be, he wanted to save lives and heal people. And unfortunately, he saw love as a hindrance to those goals. From first-hand experience, he knew that girls brought nothing but trouble.
His cell phone beeped with an incoming message, shaking him out of his muddled thoughts about his mother. It was a message from his best bud Xavier confirming plans to grab dinner and catch the game at their favorite pub later that evening. Jeremy looked at his watch; he would need to leave soon if he was going to make it in time.
He went back to the file he had picked up before the call and began to thumb through it halfheartedly. It was a referral from Dr. Harrod who had briefly explained the situation. It was a pretty straightforward case about a five-year-old girl who had a congenital heart defect, a hole in her heart. Jeremy had been tempted to turn it down because he wanted to focus on more complex cases but the file had already been delivered and he figured he may as well take a look before saying no, out of respect to a colleague he admired greatly.
He quickly scanned the page with Dr. Harrod’s notes on it and flipped a few pages over to the patient’s medical history and he knew in an instant he would have to take the case. What had caught Jeremy’s attention was not the case itself, but the girl’s picture pinned to her medical history. She was small for a five year old but she had beautiful features. Her lips were twisted into a half smile as though she knew an amusing secret while her enormous caramel eyes looked out at him solemnly.
Digging deeper into her history, Jeremy discovered she lived in one of the poorer parts of the city, she was an only child, and was being raised by a single mom. As he continued to stare at the little girl’s face, he knew he had to help her get better. He jotted off a quick email to Dr. Harrod saying he would be happy to take over the case and sent another email to Lynn asking her to schedule an appointment with the mother and daughter as soon as possible.
CHAPTER THREE: Violet
“Do you know how much longer it will be?”
The nurse consulted the chart she was carrying around and chewed on her bubblegum for a few seconds before answering, “It won’t be much longer now. Doctor Harrod has recommended Tanya to one of the best heart specialists around and he’ll be the one seeing you both today.”
At the mention of another doctor, Violet started to feel anxious. “So we’re not seeing Dr. Harrod?” He was one of the doctors she actually liked. “Is there a problem? Is everything okay with Tanya?”
“Everything is fine, Ms. Lewis. You can see Dr. Harrod but he’s with patients all day today so we can book something for tomorrow if you want. But you’ll be in good hands with Dr. Waterhouse. He’s one of the best doctors around and he’ll take good care of Tanya.”
Violet couldn’t help the edge in her voice, “By palming me off on someone else?”
“I can assure you, Ms. Lewis, Dr. Harrod isn’t palming Tanya off. Dr. Waterhouse only takes a few select patients because he is very methodical and he likes devoting more time with his patients.”
The nurse, whose name tag read Martha, patted Violet’s hand gently, “You’ll be fine, trust me.”
Feeling slightly reassured Violet smiled weakly and repeated her original question, “Will it be much longer?”
“Maybe another hour or so.”
“Dr. Waterhouse…is he nice?” She was worried they would be stuck with someone who wouldn’t be caring or concerned.
A young, very pretty nurse who couldn’t have been more than twenty five years old heard the question as she was passing by and answered for Martha, “Oh Dr. Waterhouse is very ,very nice,” she said with a dreamy little smile in her eyes, “and he’s the handsomest doctor in this hospital, all the nurses love working with him, he’s so charming and sex…”
Martha interrupted the young nurse mid-sentence, “I think they were looking for you at Ward C, you’ve already come in late this morning.” she reprimanded her sharply.
The young nurse blushed and hurried off mumbling an apology.
Martha turned back towards Violet, “Can I get you or Tanya anything?”
“No, thank you,” she said and gestured towards the waiting room, “We’ll be here then, waiting.”
A short while later, they were directed to a consultation room to wait for Dr. Waterhouse. As they waited, with Tanya studiously coloring in her drawing book, Violet recalled the nurse’s impulsive words and wondered what this famous doctor looked like. When he entered the room, Violet’s first thought was the nurse hadn’t been exaggerating: he was without a doubt the handsomest man she had ever laid eyes on. Her second thought was he was extremely young. But what really caught her attention were his piercing blue eyes. They were a clear, clear blue and filled with kindness. He had a well-modulated voice, which inspired confidence, it was stro
ng, firm and reassuring. After being bounced around between so many doctors and people not taking Tanya’s condition seriously, Violet felt here at last was their savior.
As he introduced himself and shook her hand, an inexplicable warmth filled her heart and some inner instinct whispered he was the man who would bring back all the happiness and joy into their lives again.
CHAPTER FOUR: Jeremy
When Jeremy entered the room, he almost paused in the doorway taken aback by how young and attractive the mother was. When he had read Tanya’s file, he had imagined a middle-aged black woman with tired eyes, calloused hands and a drawn face. Typical of single mothers who lived in that area of the city. He knew it was unfair and stereotypical, but as a doctor he had come to expect stereotypes. Instead he was confronted with a curvy, breathtakingly beautiful woman with full sensual lips and intelligent, warm, honey-colored eyes. She was wearing a simple white dress, which showed off glowing, mocha-colored skin.
As he introduced himself, he held out his hand, something he never did. But he was possessed by an irrational need to touch her. She murmured a hello, he stared into her eyes for a moment, they were filled with concern and questions but he could imagine them sparkling and shining with laughter. It was with some difficulty he tore himself away from her gaze and turned his attention to the little girl next to her.
“So this must be Tanya.” He said. Within seconds, he had himself under control and proceeded with the appointment in a cool, matter-of-fact way. They went over Tanya’s history and he scheduled her for several tests.
“Once I get all the results of the tests, we’ll decide on the best course of action for treating her.”
“What’s the worst case scenario?” Violet asked hesitantly.
“Best case, this can be treated with some medications, and worse case, we’ll discuss it if we get there. Heart murmurs are very common in children and a hole in the heart is treatable nowadays.” He turned back to Tanya and smiled at her, “She’s a strong little girl.”
Tanya beamed back at him, she had taken an instant liking to this doctor. Once they had left, Jeremy looked over the file again and added his own notes. He was already looking forward to seeing them again.
***
The following Saturday as promised, Jeremy put on a tux, grudgingly looped a bow tie around his neck and set out for the charity gala. When he arrived, his parents were already there and the gala was in full swing. The hall was tastefully decorated with expensive flowers and a coordinated lighting scheme. Fine china graced the tables, a live band had been set up in one corner. He looked at the glittering couples drinking champagne and he shook his head ruefully.
Rather than spend all this money throwing a lavish ‘fundraiser’, why not donate it instead? His mother would argue galas were designed to attract rich people so they could make bigger contributions. Taking out his checkbook, Jeremy wrote out a check for a sizeable sum of money and was just tearing it out when his mother arrived, dressed impeccably in black velvet and diamonds. She was arm in arm with a tall, stunning blonde woman.
“Jeremy, darling! You’ve made it at last, we were getting worried about you.”
“Hello, Mother.” He kissed her cheek fondly; no matter how much she aggravated him, he loved her dearly.
Her dark eyes fell on the check in his hand and lit up, “You’re making a donation I see. That’s very generous of you, sweetheart,” she turned to the blonde next to her, “I was just telling Venetia here what a big heart you have. You remember me mentioning Venetia don’t you? The Weinmans’ daughter,” she added pointedly.
Jeremy sighed, could his mother be making this more obvious? He forced himself to smile and nod at her politely. “Hello.” He said holding out his hand.
But Venetia ignored the hand and reached over for a kiss instead. He kissed her perfumed cheek and stepped back. “Jeremy! I’ve heard so much about you,” she said in a husky, breathy voice.
“Oh look!” his mother exclaimed, “Someone I have to say hello to, I’ll leave you kids be.” Beaming from ear to ear, his mother hurried away leaving behind an awkward silence.
“Lovely to meet you,” he said politely. His mother hadn’t been wrong; Venetia was extremely beautiful and, judging by the look on her face, she was well aware of how attractive she was. Jeremy immediately felt turned off. It was an unfair conclusion to assume she would be like Julia. Jeremy's first love who had hurt him, and caused more pain than he thought would be possible.But Jeremy couldn’t help the comparison. She too had carried herself in exactly that same self-satisfied, arrogant manner expecting the world to fall at her feet and worship the ground she walked on.
But to walk away now would be the height of rudeness and at the very least he owed her the benefit of the doubt. Forcing a smile on his face he asked her, “So how are you enjoying the evening?”
“Oh I’m having a marvelous time. It’s been a while since I’ve been among proper civilization again so it’s like a breath of fresh air.”
“Have you been travelling a lot?”
“Building houses in Africa. You know, doing my little bit to help the world and all that jazz.”
Jeremy felt a flicker of respect and interest for her, anyone who wanted to help the under-privileged couldn’t be all that bad. “Is that a passion of yours or do you work for some organization?”
“Jeremy, would you mind terribly if we continued our conversation out in the garden? It’s so hot and crowded here, I would love some clean air.”
“Of course.” He offered her his arm and she linked hers through his. They walked across the ballroom and towards the open French doors, which led out to a garden.
Once outside he repeated his question about her volunteer work.
She laughed and shook her head vigorously, “Oh God no, I got roped into it because this guy I was seeing was going. And then it was too late to back out. Not that it wasn’t a great experience, it really was and I’m glad I did it. But I wouldn’t go back.”
“I see. Well I’m glad it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless.”
Venetia shrugged her slim, fair shoulders, “It was definitely an experience,” she sidled a little closer to Jeremy and coyly batted her lashes at him giving him a demure smile, “but what I really want to do is settle down and take good care of my man. I think every man needs a dutiful, supportive wife, don’t you agree?”
Her meaning was unmistakable and Jeremy was appalled to find himself in this situation, good grief would she propose marriage to him next?!
“Ummm I haven’t really thought about it,” he said taking a step back.
“Well surely you must be thinking about it. A handsome, rich doctor like you…life must get lonely, no?”
“Not really, no. My work keeps me pretty busy.” He deliberately looked at his watch and took another step back, “Anyways, I really…”
But Venetia took two steps towards him and placed her hand firmly on his arm, “All work and no play can’t be very healthy, you know.” She giggled and gave him a teasing smile, “And I thought you were a doctor. It’s a beautiful night, is it not? So romantic.”
Ignoring her words, he removed her hand from his arm. Rude or not, he couldn’t continue this anymore and used the one excuse no one could ever argue with, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to forgive me, Venetia, but I have an emergency to take care off at the hospital and I have to run.”
Her eyes flashed with irritation but she quickly covered it up with a pretty pout and grabbed his phone out of his hand. In a few rapid strokes she had put her number in his phone, “You owe me a dance Jeremy. I’ll be expecting your call this week.”
She reached over and slipped his phone into his jacket pocket, pressing herself seductively against his lean, hard body, she brushed her lips over his and whispered, “Call me.”
Without responding, Jeremy stepped away from her and hurried out of the garden and across the ballroom. He considered looking for his parents to tell them he was leaving, but fear
ing that might give Venetia the chance to catch up to him again, he left.
The cool air of the night was a welcome change and he took in a deep breath trying to get rid of Venetia’s overpowering scent still lingering around him. If all women were like Venetia then his mother may as well give up all hope of grandchildren. Or maybe he had been out of the dating game for so long he didn’t know how to play it anymore. But surely they couldn’t all be like Julia or Venetia…could they?
He thought back to another woman he had met earlier that week, his new little patient’s mother. Ms. Lewis, he couldn’t remember her first name. He had been impressed by how loving and gentle she was with her daughter. Something told him she wasn’t like the Venetias of the world.