Perfecting For Love - A Standalone Novel (A Doctors Romance Love Story) (Burbank Brothers, Book #3)

by Naomi Niles

  “Sit down!” Dad barked and I ignored him.

  “No, Dad, I told you, this is my life. You no longer have a say in it. Bob? Please?”

  Bob leapt to his feet, his head spinning at the barrage of anger exchanged between Dad and myself. He followed me outside and I walked him to the back of the yard where Dad couldn’t listen in.

  “What the hell, Gwyne?”

  “Bob, this is a mess. I was pregnant when we came here for dinner that day.”

  He nodded. “Well, that explains a lot.”

  “I told Dad that I won’t tell him who the father is.”

  “But… the father is…?”

  “I don’t think you have to ask, do you?”

  “No, I suppose not. So, why am I here?” Bob was pacing and I knew he was having trouble getting his head around this latest development.

  “Dad thinks you’re the father, obviously. He doesn’t know about Sean and I.”

  “And what does Sean think about all this?”

  “He doesn’t know.”

  “You didn’t tell him?”

  “No. If I tell him, he’ll want to marry me and then Dad will see to it that he’s out of a job. You can see how pissed Dad is. He’ll realize that Sean and I were seeing each other behind his back and that probably the entire fire station knew about it. He can’t handle that—it would finish him. He will fire Sean and then Sean has no choice but to go back to Iowa.”

  “Iowa?” I could hear the smirk in his voice.

  “Don’t, don’t do that, Bob. It’s where he’s from, okay? In many ways, it makes him a better guy. I’m not comparing, but he’s got some pretty deep commitments to helping the unfortunate. It comes from his upbringing.”

  “Do you think you’re being fair to him?”

  “There’s no choice in it. I know him. If he finds out, he’ll want to do the noble thing and will throw himself on the bomb known as Warren O”Reilly.”

  Bob stopped and turned to look at me. “Marry me.”

  “What? Whaaaaat?” I couldn’t absorb what he was saying.

  “Marry me, Gwyne. It’s perfect, even intended. Don’t you see? Look, you know I’m in love with you and have been since forever. The only thing standing in the way of my sniffing at your heels was your relationship with Delaney. The baby? I’ll adopt her – no problem. She’s a mini you and I’ll love her as much as I love you. I’ve got a great job, a nice place, and I’m just plain crazy about you. I’ll make you happy, Gwyne; I swear I will!”

  “Bob, this isn’t your daughter. If Sean ever realized what happened, it would kill him. You need to see her. His eyes are looking back at you. There’s no mistaking it. He will know instantly when he sees her.”

  “So, don’t let him see her. There’s no reason you ever have to see him again – ever. Marry me, Gwyne?”

  I held up my hand, letting the idea seep through the confusion in my brain. He had a point. Sean didn’t have to see the baby, ever. She would be given all the advantages of Bob’s wealth and connections. It would be best for her. Dad would be happy and there would never be any chance we’d move away from New York City. He loved me; I could tell. The only thing that remained was that I didn’t love Bob. I was in love with Sean.

  He must have read my thoughts. “I know you don’t love me, Gwyne. Not now, you don’t. But your baby will have the best I can give her and I’ll do the same for you. You will come to love me, Gwyne. You’ll have the perfect life. Work when you want to and don’t when you want to stay home. I’ll even agree to your having your own room, until such time as you wish to share mine. Just think of this, Gwyne: I’ll name your baby as my heir. It’s a win-win all the way around!”

  I took a deep breath and gave away my life. I nodded. “My own room.”

  “Yes, whatever you say. All I ask is that you don’t see him again. No more babies. Agreed?”

  I swallowed hard and thought of Katie and her sparse and simple life. All she wanted was the protection of a man and she had accepted Mark Miller without question because no one else was asking her. If she could do it, so could I.

  “Okay. Deal. You tell Dad.”

  He took a few paces towards me and hugged me—hard. I turned my back as he jogged inside the house. I could hear his voice talking to Dad and the sporadic responses from Dad. I remained where I was, steeped in misery and the sense that I had betrayed Sean, even if I never had. Finally, I remembered Kaci and went straight in to the bedroom. She was awake and kicking her chubby, little legs. I picked her up and carried her into the living room. With a subtle, but deep breath, I handed her to Bob. I saw his eyebrows raise as he looked at her eyes, but he didn’t skip a beat.

  I felt like I’d handed two lives away. That didn’t even count Sean’s.

  Chapter 35

  Bob agreed to stay away from my place. I needed to get things together and wanted the peace of mind in which to do it. He picked us up one evening and we shopped for an apartment in town. Bob gave me a fairly generous budget and although my heart wasn’t in it, we found something with three bedrooms and the amenities on hand that would give us a very comfortable life.

  I stood now in the bay of my firehouse, deciding what to do. The apartments were finished and that made the property considerably more valuable. I knew I could sell it for a pretty profit. It tugged at my heart, but I knew I needed to sell it. There was too much of Sean in it. I needed to disappear where he couldn’t find me again. It was the only way to protect Kaci.

  With a sigh, I called a realtor and put it on the market. I moved my few belongings out and moved with Kaci directly into Bob’s apartment ahead of schedule. He wouldn’t join us until after the wedding.

  It was to be a small, private affair with Carla as my witness and my Dad giving me away. It was planned for the following Saturday.

  The fire station sold almost immediately. I knew it would. I more than tripled my money and put it into a savings account. I would invest it later to pay for Kaci’s college.

  I wasn’t happy, although I had no right to be anything but. Bob was being extremely generous in his offer and my Dad would be happy. Sean would be safe. It was only my heart that would lie broken in a hundred pieces. I could take it. I had learned the quality of nobility and quiet pride while living with Katie. I was strong enough to do this.

  Bob had hired a nanny so I could move about and even work if I wanted to without worrying about Kaci. She was a gentle woman from Britain; she reminded me of Mary Poppins. Her name was Caroline and she had eyes that almost glittered. I knew that Kaci would grow up loving her.

  On the night before the wedding, I went by Dad’s house to discuss any open details. I took Kaci with me. I found him on the patio, staring out over the backyard.

  “Hi, Dad,” I greeted him from inside the screen door. He turned at the sound of my voice and nodded.

  “Gwyne…” he acknowledged.

  I pushed the screen open and joined him. He bent and kissed the baby on the cheek and once again took up his “captain on the bridge” stance. This had always meant that he was conflicted.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing important.”

  “Dad, what is it?”

  “He’s not the father, is he?” His voice was quiet but deliberate.

  “Dad… we talked about this…”

  “Gwyne, just confirm what I’m thinking. He’s not the father, is he?”

  I sighed. “No, Dad, he isn’t.”

  “Damn!” he cursed.

  “I’m sorry if that makes you angry.”

  “What makes me angry is that you are marrying a man you obviously don’t love, I don’t like, and he’s going to become the father of your daughter and my granddaughter. Gwyne, I didn’t raise you to throw your life away like this.”

  “Dad, he’s giving us the best shot we can have.”

  “Why isn’t the father a better idea?”

  I was trapped. “He’s just not, Dad.”

  “Why?”

&n
bsp; “He doesn’t know about her and he can’t provide for her, much less himself, if he finds out about her.”

  “Why not?”

  “Dad, please stop right there. I’m not going to say any more on the matter and I’m asking you to just accept this.”

  “Gwyne, this is your entire life we’re talking about.”

  “I know, Dad. Would you give your life for me?” I asked him.

  “Of course.”

  “Then let me do the same for my daughter, will you?”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but I knew my point had hit home and he couldn’t argue. He sighed deeply and nodded. I kissed him on the cheek and left.

  * * *

  I sat on the bench in the darkness, a single light from the lamp post next to me providing the only source that allowed me to see. Even so, I could barely see through the tears that streamed down my face.

  Kaci and I were sitting across the street from where Sean lived. I’d found his address among bills he had forwarded and now I sat there, as though worshipping a shrine.

  “When did you get back?” asked a voice to my right.

  “Sean!”

  He came over and sat down next to me. “How long have you been back?” he asked and I could hear the hurt in his voice.

  “A few weeks.”

  “Why didn’t you come to see me.”

  “Oh, please don’t ask.”

  “Let me see her.”

  “No,” I cried and clutched Kaci to my chest, pulling her blanket over her head to hide her. “Go inside. I didn’t mean for you to find me here.”

  “I know, and yet, here you are.”

  “Please, Sean. Go inside and leave me alone. I’ll leave.”

  “No—you won’t. C’mon, Gwyne, let me see my daughter.”

  I drew in my breath and my head twirled to face him.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s okay. Your dad called me.”

  “What?”

  “Why not?”

  “He knows?”

  “I guess so. Said something about looking at her eyes said it all.”

  I was shaking as I lowered Kaci from my shoulder and passed her to him. Sean broke into a smile as he angled her so the light from the lamp post shone into her face. “Yep. I’m in agreement. Those are definitely my eyes.”

  “What else did Dad say?” I asked Sean.

  “Well, the damndest thing. He said I’d sure as hell better find you and marry you.”

  “He did? Really?”

  “He sure did. He’s known about us for some time, Gwyne. I think he suspected back in the days when I was training you. But I guess it was Carla who gave us away. She’s a pretty classy lady.”

  “But how will we live? I sold the fire station and Dad will probably fire you.”

  “Nope,” he said as he rocked Kaci. “I got a second job as an illustrator and actually, your dad said he’d rather have you married to one of his men where he can keep an eye on you.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” I wanted to throw my arms around Dad at that very moment. “I had him all wrong.”

  “We both, did. So?”

  “So, what?”

  “Gwyne O’Reilly, will you marry me?”

  “Yes! Oh, yes, I will!”

  Chapter 36

  Sean and I were married two weeks later in the garden behind Dad’s house. Carla stood up for me as the maid of honor and Dad was Sean’s best man. Kaci was our flower girl and laid on a bed of rose petals as she wailed throughout the entire ceremony. It was the best wedding anyone could have ever had.

  Afterwards, we had a reception at the firehouse and Dad had imposed upon another station to take the remote calls, which left us free for almost an hour before all our guests donned overalls and climbed about the fire engine.

  Dad stood at one point and clanked his fork against a goblet. He gave a short speech and announced, to my immense surprise, that he and Carla were going to be married and that he was moving into her house. His wedding gift to Sean and I was his home. I was flabbergasted. Kaci would grow up just as I had and go to a nice school and have friends to play with in the front yard and invite in for hot chocolate on rainy days.

  There was nothing in the world that would make me happier than I was on that day, with the possible exception of my mother being on hand. That’s wasn’t to be so I hugged Carla a few extra times and welcomed her to our family.

  Naturally, Bob had been disappointed, and that made me feel really rotten for having used him. It was short-lived, however, when he ran into this new neighbor at the apartment building. She was a bombshell, single, and loved blond, successful men. He had ended up wishing us well and requesting to be called Uncle Bob.

  We planned a honeymoon trip for the next spring when we would take Kaci to Iowa to meet her daddy’s family. I quit my job at the paper; Martha had my resignation ready when I walked in and I simply signed it as she winked at me. John Warner came out and hugged me, his eyes filled with tears as if he were bidding goodbye to his own daughter. “Promise you’ll do an op-ed for me from time to time?” he asked.

  “I promise,” I agreed.

  I set up an office in the house and took on freelancing writing jobs so I could be there with Kaci… and with the new baby that was conceived on our wedding night.

  He was born nine months later, and we named him Damian

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  PHYSICAL

  By Erin Wes

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 Erin Wes

  CHAPTER ONE

  KYLE

  The headache was always the same. It would just hit me out of nowhere. Today I was sitting at my desk trying to finish up some paperwork before my sister showed up to take me to the doctor. She was insisting on going with me like I’m twelve. I didn’t want to go and I didn’t want her to go with me…until once again the crushing pain descended down on me. It pulsed like a slow heartbeat and each time the veins dilated and the blood rushed through, it brought with it a new wave of pain, each one worse than the last. I couldn’t sit still… I had to get up and pace from one end of the room to the other and back again. It was so intense that I honestly looked at the big glass window behind me and for just a second, I thought about shoving my head through it. I know that doesn’t make any sense, but nothing does when the pain is this bad.

  As I paced up and down, my vision got blurry as my eyes began to burn and pour water out of them. I was at least grateful that I was at work when it happened and not out driving to a job. It hit me once on the I-635 on my way out to a jobsite. There was nowhere to stop until I got off the freeway and the whole time, I was clutching the wheel with one hand and wiping the water out of my eyes with the other. It was one of those situations where you just know: this is it, I’m fucking dying right here on the 635. I just knew that I was going to die. It had been just my luck that my sister was joining me on the jobsite that day. I work for her husband, Michael. He and I are both architects, and he owns his own business in Dallas. Sarah is a stay-at-home mom most of the time, but when we’re short-handed and one of us needs an assistant, she fills in. I was forty-five minutes late that day and she called and texted me four times before I got there. The last time, I finally answered, and when she asked me where I was…I literally had no clue. I’d gotten off the freeway and pulled onto some side street in a residential area and paced up and down the street. Luckily, no one called the cops. I told Sarah about the headache while I was still recovering and in a vulnerable state – that’s why I have the doctor’s appointment today.

  When I�
��m smack dab in the middle of the pain, going to the doctor sounds like a fine idea. But once it’s gone and my thoughts clear, I change my mind. Sarah knows me too well. She grew up looking after my stubborn Native American dad and me. She actually called the doctor and handed me the phone. Then, she stood there and listened. When she heard them try to give me an appointment for next week, she said, “He can’t wait that long!” So rather than deal with my sister, who can be quite pushy, they got me in this afternoon. Right now, this fucking pain is so bad that it can’t be soon enough.

  “Hey, Kyle!” The sound of my brother-in-law Michael’s booming voice ripped through me like a knife to the skull.

  “Shh! Too loud,” I whispered, holding my head in my hands.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? You look like hell. Are you crying?”

  “My head!”

  “Okay…”

  “It hurts.”

  “Damn, man! Sit down. You’re pale as a ghost. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

  “Can’t…can’t sit still.”

  “Fuck! I’m calling Sarah-”

  “No!” I pushed it out through my gritted teeth. “Don’t call her. I have a – an – I’m going to the circus…fuck, I mean the doctor.”

  “Yeah, you’re going to the circus alright – in an ambulance.” He pulled out his phone and I stared at him. I wanted to tell him no again, but I couldn’t remember about what. What is his name? Fuck! Why can’t I think?

  “Yes, my name is Michael Penner. I need an ambulance sent to 546 Amon Carter Blvd. It’s the Penner/Styles building and we’re on the third floor…I’m not sure. He said his head hurts, but he’s white as a ghost and he’s saying crazy things…no, he’s not mentally ill. No! He doesn’t have a weapon. He’s not threatening anyone. Shit! He’s sick, isn’t that what ambulances are for? Okay…thank you.”

  I could hear everything he was saying, but the words were like bouncing around inside my skull. They wouldn’t settle down long enough for me to grab hold and make sense of them. I kept moving though. Somehow, that made me feel better. My sister’s husband is back on the phone. Why the fuck can’t I remember his name? What the hell is wrong with me? “Sarah, something is really wrong with Kyle….Yes, it’s a headache again, but this one is different…He’s pacing all over the place…He won’t sit down…He’s not making sense, Sarah. I’m not putting him on the phone. I called an ambulance.”