Doctored

by K'Anne Meinel

  “How the hell am I going to afford that? I no longer have health insurance now that I lost my job!”

  “Well, I guess you are going to have to get a new job first thing then.”

  Sarcastically, he answered, “Yeah, with this on my record, that’s going to be easy.”

  “You did this to yourself,” she pointed out.

  “That bitch did it to me,” he nodded towards the hired suits that had just left the courtroom.

  “No, Scott, you did it. You should have stopped. Nothing happened,” she was grateful she hadn’t told him that she had slept with Deanna, his rage would have been something to behold. She regretted telling him anything at all about Deanna. She now realized the childish behavior he had exhibited in all the years she had known him. While endearing at first, he had never developed into the adult he should have been.

  “Do you really want it known that you’re in love with a dyke?” he asked meanly, with a hint of a threat in his tone as he hissed the question.

  “What do you mean?” she asked warily as she began to back away from him.

  He grabbed her arm to hold her in place. “I mean you better find a way to help me pay for that fine or I’m going to start telling your friends exactly what you told me.” He changed his voice to mock a woman’s. “I loved Deanna in Africa, Scott. I’ve fallen back in love with her.” His voice returned to normal, with a threatening overtone as he continued, “How do you think that will look? Do you really think people will let you keep the kids when I get through with you?”

  “I told you that in confidence,” she hissed back, horrified that he would use it against her. This was blackmail. He knew very well that gossip around the hospital was prevalent. She’d never live it down. Threatening the kids though, that was the last straw!

  “Yeah? Then you better help me pay for this fine or I’ll talk to Bonnie or Beth or social services…” he let the menace hang in the air.

  “You okay, ma’am?” a police officer had noticed Scott’s hand on her arm and the expression on her face.

  Scott let go immediately and stood up straight. Madison staggered back, showing she had been trying to get away.

  “No, officer, I’m not,” she said and saw the surprised look in Scott’s face. “He was just threatening me. Blackmailing me actually, over the fine he just received in that court,” she nodded towards the courtroom they had just exited.

  “I was just kidd–” Scott began defensively, but the officer wasn’t buying it. He immediately signaled to someone and before Scott knew it, he was in handcuffs again and being read his Miranda rights. “You can’t do this…it’s all a misunderstanding,” he tried to say, but no one was listening to him and Madison stood back, letting it happen.

  Madison went down to the police station and gave her statement. She explained fully how he had threatened her and was trying to blackmail her into paying off his fine. This, added to the fact that he had just appeared in court, led to another arrest. Madison, upset at what she had done, left the police station shaking.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Madison tried to find Deanna to apologize. She’d realized that the doctor had been right and she had possibly thrown away any hope of a relationship with her. She also realized she didn’t care anymore what her coworkers and friends might think about her being in love with a woman. That was drilled home when she phoned her mother to catch up and confessed to having Scott arrested. Her mother had been horrified to realize what she had done, hadn’t listened to any of Madison’s objections or attempts to explain, and had completely sided with the man in her life, even though they were divorced. Madison had almost confessed that she was in love with a woman out of sheer pettiness, but knew that it wasn’t the time. Her mother was traumatized enough over Scott’s imprisonment and her involvement in it. Catholic guilt was heaped on her shoulders.

  Madison realized she had allowed her own fears over what others might think to rule her life. She had walked away from the only woman, the only person, she had ever truly loved. To find out after all these years that Deanna had loved her too, despite everything, she should have been happy and over the moon in love with her. Instead, she was trying to find her to apologize and had started to wonder if she was avoiding the redhead.

  “Hey, have you seen Doctor Kearney?” she asked at the nurses’ station on four.

  “Oh, she’s down in the E.R. today causing trouble,” Bonnie grinned. People loved the courteous doctor, but there were a few, and those were usually doctors, who didn’t because she told it like it was. She was honest, straightforward, and usually more knowledgeable than they were. They resented her for it and let it be known.

  Madison grinned knowingly, but didn’t comment. “Thanks,” she answered instead and headed for the stairwell.

  “You think something is going on with those two?” Beth asked as Bonnie and she watched Madison walk away.

  “C’mon, Madison was married to Scott. Remember?” she scoffed.

  “I heard Scott is in jail,” Alyson commented as she walked up with a chart.

  “He is?” the other two said together.

  Alyson looked up, surprised, as though they should already know about it. “Yeah, he broke Doctor Kearney’s nose. Didn’t you know?” Inside she was thrilled to be the one to tell them and spread the tale. Kudos to her.

  “No,” Bonnie gasped.

  “Do you think it was over Madison?” Beth speculated.

  And so the gossip mill continued at the hospital, getting more fanciful with each telling, until there was very little truth in it.

  * * * * *

  “Dr. Kearney, may I have a word with you?” Madison asked politely when she found Deanna attending to a woman.

  “Just a moment,” she dismissed absentmindedly as she discussed things with her patient.

  “No, I didn’t say it was the Guinea worm. You get that by drinking from stagnant ponds or bodies of water that may contain water fleas. Those bugs carry the larvae and when ingested, infect the host. The larvae will grow and develop inside the host’s body. After a year the female worms will start to crawl out of your skin.”

  “So I have a Guinea worm?” the woman asked as her son looked on fascinated at what the doctor had just told them. She was better than Google.

  “Ma’am, that’s why I asked the questions after your son said you’d developed a fever, swelling, and localized pain after a worm came out of your skin. Again, have you been anywhere that you may have drunk the local water that might not have been clean?” she asked patiently.

  Madison nearly smiled. So often patients would check on the web before they came to be treated. The odds of this woman having a Guinea worm were pretty far-fetched but, since Deanna was an infectious disease specialist, she’d been called.

  It turned out the woman did have worms, not Guinea worms, but worms nonetheless. They were working their way out of her skin slowly, a few millimeters at a time, and the only way to get rid of these was to pull them out.

  “We’ll start you on antibiotics, but if this is a Guinea worm infection, there is no known cure or treatment. All we can do is keep pulling them out as they appear,” Dr. Kearney explained.

  The woman was impressed with Dr. Kearney’s manner and knowledge, and promised to come into the walk-in clinic daily to have the worm, or any others that might appear, pulled out of her skin. Madison swallowed hard at the idea, but being in the medical field she had seen worse.

  Once Deanna was done with her patient and had given her directions to the waiting nurse, she turned to Madison. “Was there something you wanted?” she asked professionally.

  “Yes I needed to ap–” she began, but just then the alarms at the entrance of the Emergency Room went off as a young man charged in.

  “Where is he?” he shouted, brandishing an automatic rifle. “Where is he?” he screamed as several people backed away.

  Deanna froze where she was standing at the end of her patient’s bed. The boy was not full grown,
but he was wearing gang clothing, a bandana around his forehead, and holding the gun as though he knew how to use it. Madison stared as a security guard jumped him, knocking him to the floor.

  Several people jumped on him as he struggled with the guard. The gun went off into the ceiling, the loud report of it echoing in the Emergency Room, creating panic with the personnel and patients. Deanna stood frozen where she was as she watched the drama unfold. Madison looked at her curiously, wondering why she didn’t react. Several people struggled with the boy until someone injected him with something and he soon slumped underneath the pile.

  “Get him handcuffed,” one of the attendings called. They soon had the young man in handcuffs, in a bed, and the gun was confiscated. The clip held twenty rounds. That news made several people shudder.

  It was only when the young man was in a bed and the curtains drawn that Madison noticed Deanna react. She seemed to grab the end of her patient’s gurney to steady herself, before drawing a deep breath and walking away.

  “Dr. Kearney? Deanna?” Madison called, but was certain Deanna never heard her as she stepped into an elevator and the doors shut. The next day Madison heard through the grapevine that Dr. Kearney had quit on the spot and emptied her office. The hospital was all atwitter.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “Hello, may I speak to Doctor Kearney?” Madison asked formally at the gate. She’d had the devil’s own time trying to remember the way to Deanna’s home in this exclusive community. She’d driven down the wrong road more than once and she knew that the suspicious glances her old minivan was getting in a community full of expensive vehicles might result in the police being called. Still, she persevered and finally she recognized the gates and pulled up to the box and pressed the button.

  “Who is calling?”

  “My name is Madison M–MacGregor,” she stuttered, almost giving her married name.

  “One moment please,” the disembodied voice came through the speaker box. Madison waited there, hoping her van wouldn’t overheat as it idled. Finally, almost majestically, the gates began to open inward. “You can go in now,” the voice came back to say.

  “Thank you,” Madison called over the noise of her van before putting it into gear and starting up the drive. She’d noticed the grounds the other day as they left, but had not really thought about it at that moment. She’d been too caught up in being with Deanna and realizing that they were in love, the shock of what the blonde had told her, and meeting her son.

  Madison drove up the fairly long driveway, which curved through manicured lawns and into a large circle in front of the mansion. That night so many weeks ago, she hadn’t noticed the house. She’d been wrapped in Deanna’s arms, ready to be taken she’d wanted her so badly, heatedly making out in the back of the limousine together. She didn’t even recall going up the sweeping staircase to that magnificent bedroom. She certainly remembered making sweet love to the attractive blonde. It had been very mutual, the desire to please, the desire to touch, the…desire. She couldn’t kiss her enough. She wanted her skin against the blonde’s, she’d almost wanted to crawl inside of her to get close enough. It had been sweet, time and time again, as they assuaged their pent-up need ten years in the making.

  Parking the van, she looked up at the imposing wood doors, the same maple color she had noticed inside. They were beautiful and now she noticed the crest on them, carved and impressive. As she cut the engine and got out to approach them, they were opened.

  “Hi,” said the nine-year-old boy who recognized her. “You’re Mrs. MacGregor, Maddie, right?”

  “Ms,” she said, automatically correcting him.

  “Oh, sorry,” he answered. “My mom is out back,” he told her courteously. “If you would come this way?”

  Madison had to wonder at the impeccable good manners that the young man displayed. Were they born with that or was it taught? Her own children, only slightly younger than this boy, weren’t nearly this polite.

  She looked about curiously as he led her through the foyer and past the staircase to a part of the house she hadn’t seen when she’d been there last, through what was obviously a morning room to a patio and down some stairs. As she noticed Deanna lying next to a pool, she also saw an incredible sight reminiscent of Africa. Running across the lawns that swept up to the pool doors was a large cat, a caracal that she had last seen so long ago. This one was full-grown and running at full speed towards the woman they were approaching. Just before they got there, Madison stopped momentarily to watch as it dove on the woman on the chair.

  “Ooof,” the woman let out as the full weight of the animal fell on her. “Spot!” she gasped when she got some breath back. “Jeezus, couldn’t you warn me?” she looked up as her son’s shadow fell on her.

  “He got you good,” he started laughing like any other normal boy would.

  “Yeah, he got me good,” she grinned as she turned the huge cat onto its back to pet it. It was obviously pleased with itself as it started purring loudly. Madison could hear it from where she was standing and observing. It looked up at her with its odd eyes, the tufts of its ears making it look like a lynx of some sort. It stopped purring abruptly as it realized it didn’t know her. Madison froze as it got up off the woman and came over to smell her.

  “It’s okay, he’s still a kitten,” Deanna told her, seeing Madison’s stance.

  “A kitten?” she squeaked out.

  “Yeah, they take time to mature.”

  The cat, deciding she was harmless, rubbed against her a little, not realizing its size, and actually moved her slightly before something else distracted it and it went bounding off after a leaf. The boy ran off after the cat.

  “That is Spot,” Deanna announced, amused.

  “Spot? Yeah, I can see why you call him that,” Madison returned, sarcastically.

  Deanna grinned up and indicated a chair. “Well, he’s a lot of contradictions.”

  “As are you,” Madison agreed as she sat down primly.

  “So, what’s up?”

  “I was wondering if I could talk you into coming back to the hospital,” she began.

  “The hospital sent you?”

  The redhead shook her head. “No, I came on my own.”

  “Well, they can’t pay me enough to come back. Besides, the contract is up this week and I’m opting out.”

  “Because of the incident in the E.R.?”

  Deanna nodded. “Yes, that, and I’d already decided to open my own clinic up in Santa Barbara.”

  “You’re opening your own clinic?”

  The blonde nodded again as she squinted through her glasses. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it would be best if I did things my way in my own clinic. That way, people can come to me to be taught or for my skills. I can do what I want, the way I want it.”

  “Wow, that’s quite an undertaking.”

  “Yeah, I’d been looking for a place and found it about three months ago. It’s taken that long to get it in shape and get the licensing I have in mind from the State of California. Fortunately, this is a progressive state and they allow for the different,” she indicated the cat that was now wrestling, claws sheathed, with the little boy. “I found a house a couple weeks ago.”

  “You’re moving up there?” Her heart began to sink. That meant she was going and wouldn’t be back. Well, Madison could visit. Santa Barbara wasn’t that far from Los Angeles.

  Deanna nodded again, her eyes, invisible from the redhead, watching her reactions carefully. “Yes, it’s time to stop living on the family’s name and make my own,” she indicated the grand house and grounds. She smiled, knowing it didn’t mean anything as she had made her own name with the Cooper-Aloe formula as well as her own innate skills. “The house is beautiful. Roman and I are going up tomorrow when I return him to school to take a look at it. You want to come along?”

  Madison wanted that more than she could say, but she tried to be cool about it. “I’d have to bring the
kids and now that we have their dog…” she stopped talking.

  “Well the kids are certainly welcome, but is the dog potty trained?”

  “Mostly,” she replied with a defeated voice. Since Scott’s incarceration she’d had the full responsibility for the beast.

  “Well, I’ll just leave this beast,” she said as the cat returned and climbed into her lap like he belonged there, “home with Aura.” She started hugging the large cat, but it took off to run with the boy who ran by. “Nice huggling you, Spot,” she laughed.

  “Huggling?” Madison teased as she watched the large cat run off like something from National Geographic.

  “Well, he is hard to hug and I love cuddling with him, so it became huggling.”

  “That makes sense,” she laughed.

  “So what brings you out to the Chateau?” she joined in the laugh.

  “The Chateau?”

  “Yeah, Dad bought a chateau here in Southern California and the name stuck,” she indicated the large mansion.

  “Gawd, this is beautiful,” she breathed, looking around at the manicured lawns. The boy was wrestling again with the large cat, giggling. “He really gets a workout,” she commented.

  “Spot is so playful. He’s better than a dog somedays.”

  “How do you feel about dogs?”

  “I love them, but I still think yours should stay home tomorrow,” she grinned.

  “I’ll get a kennel,” she promised and then worried about the additional expense. Without Scott working, and in jail for who knew how long, she had no child support to help her make ends meet.

  “What were you just thinking?” the astute blonde asked, watching carefully.

  Sighing, Madison decided to level with her. “I had Scott arrested again after court the other day.”

  “What?” Deanna sat up, surprised. Her lawyers had told her his penalties, but she hadn’t heard this tidbit.

  “Yeah, he was grabbing me and trying to blackmail me into paying his fines. He wanted me to take out a second mortgage on the house or he was going to spread rumors about us. He wanted the kids involved with social services too.”