“My status?” he asked.
“Cam asked about you this morning, I think he remembered you said you’d see him,” she said. “But you brought a dog.” Tipping her head back, she drew her eyes up at him, making him feel so close to her, he considered that this might be a dream. Being with her again was all he’d ever wanted. “Daddys become insignificant when there are dogs… he’s always loved dogs. I’ve always been so worried because he loves petting them when we’re out, but you never know, you know? Some dogs have a bad temper.”
“But you’re not worried about Rocky? He’s a big guy,” Shane asked, curious about her reaction to him.
“You said I was his mommy,” she said. “I wouldn’t raise a beast… and how can I be afraid of such a handsome thing.”
Rocky left Cameron poking Owen’s eyes and came over to circle her legs. He whined and nudged her. She stroked his head, but that wasn’t enough. He rose up, putting his paws on her chest. The weight of the canine made her fall back against him and Shane almost swore.
That was her body, his wife’s beautiful body leaning on his. Yes, it had been the sudden weight of the dog that made her lose her balance, but he loved that he’d been here to hold her up. Still, he couldn’t keep her here at the expense of her fear. “Down,” Shane said. “Come on, boy, you’ve done so well not to scare anyone.”
“It’s ok,” she said, holding Rocky’s legs, but he was heavy and her strained voice betrayed that she was struggling.
Rocky licked her and whimpered.
“He’s missed you,” Shane said. When he turned his mouth down, he caught the scent of her hair, and he almost groaned. He felt her shiver and he recognized it, not as fear, but as awareness. Lifting his hands, he considered grasping her arms, but he wasn’t sure how she’d react given that Rocky had backed her into this proverbial corner. “He cried for a month after you went missing. I had to take him to the vet, they were worried about him not eating… he didn’t want to exercise.”
Rocky pawed her shoulder and nuzzled his muzzle against her throat, forcing her head back. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Rocks,” she said, kissing his nose again.
Shane had to tip his own head back because his need for her was growing. He’d give anything to turn her around, to grab her face, push her back against the column of the portico, and kiss her with every ounce of gratitude he had, and he had a lot. There had been times he never thought he’d see her again and now she was not only here, but her back was pressed into him.
“Hey!” Someone called out and it took him a minute to recognize his own brother’s voice. “We’re ready, cabin four on the waterfront, you coming?” Murphy came over. “It’s round back, just down the hill.”
Rocky jumped down and went back to Cameron who was delighted at the attention. “Take Ginger and Cam down, we’ll get the luggage,” Shane said.
Owen came over, as did Murphy who put himself between Ginger and his brother, grinning as he did. She glanced back with a frown as Murphy pulled her toward the stroller. He couldn’t blame Ginger for being confused about why he’d dismissed her, but he couldn’t be honest.
When they were out of sight, Shane turned away and let himself fall against the portico pillar, facing out into the parking lot, away from the building. Owen was grinning and wiggling his brows when he came into view and Shane scrubbed his hands over his face.
“Like that, huh?” Owen asked. “Like getting a little bump and grind with my baby sister?”
“Don’t,” he groaned behind his hands.
“Your jeans sure liked being that close to her.”
Great, that was what he needed, his brother-in-law commenting on his boner. “You’re a real pal, Owe.”
“Like yesterday when she kissed your crotch, that was a hoot.”
“Don’t,” he said again and let his hands fall. With his shoulders pressed into the column, he let his hips arch forward. “How the fuck am I gonna do this?”
“What? Help my sister? You thinking of bailing on her?”
“No,” he said, shoving away from the column. “But she doesn’t know everything I do, does she? Seeing her now, with Rocky… and with Cameron, it’s like… my life is right there. It’s right there.” He gestured with flat hands, side by side. “It’s in front of me and I can’t do fucking anything about it.”
“That’s why we’re here, to do something about it,” Owen said and put an arm around him. “I saw my sister on both her wedding days and I can tell you, she never looked as happy with him as she did with you.”
That wasn’t much of a consolation. “No one came in and busted up our wedding,” he muttered.
“Not only then, I’m talking about at dinner and yesterday. She looks at you like she knows you. She’s comfortable with you. Yesterday, when we walked in and saw you both with Cameron, it looked… right.”
Ok, Shane had to concede, that was better. “It was incredible… he’s incredible. She’s just… despite everything, she raised the most amazing kid… She almost died for him, Owen, how can I give her that back? I wasn’t there. I wasn’t the one holding her hand when she decided to risk it all for a child she didn’t know. She had no idea if he was a product of love or a one night stand. She knew nothing about who had fathered her child, but she was willing to give up her life for him.”
“That’s what mother’s do,” Owen said. “The doc will help you talk all of this through.”
He shrugged off Owen’s arm and moved to look into the lobby where he saw Calvin and his mother talking to someone. He still didn’t trust that guy, but couldn’t tell if it was just because the man was sleeping with his wife. “I never needed a doctor’s help with my wife before.”
“So go down there and tell her like it is. Lay down the law. You tell her, she’s your wife and Cameron’s your son. You tell her you make the rules. Tell her she’s coming home and this Calvin guy can go fuck himself.”
Although Owen was doing well with the delivery, Shane smiled when he turned to his brother-in-law. “How do you think that will play?” he asked.
“With your Ginger? She’d grab you by the balls and tell you to say pretty please, or she’d drop to her knees and blow you right there, she always did have a thing for you taking control. This Ginger… I don’t know.”
The reminder that she wasn’t quite the same woman he’d married didn’t worry him, it upset him. She was missing out on so much happiness from their past and she might never get it back. He went back to watching Calvin and Diane talking to the lodge employee. “Gin likes to remind me that we don’t know for sure if Cam is mine.”
Owen scoffed, having much the same reaction Shane had. “Who else got near enough Ginger to sleep with her?” he asked. “I can’t… I can’t even imagine her sleeping with another guy, and I’m saying that two days after seeing her at the altar with another guy.” Owen always had been one of his biggest supporters. “Wait… you’re not worried about that, are you? You don’t think she cheated on you, do you?”
“No,” Shane spat out. If Owen had been anyone else, he’d have hit him. “God, no, Cam is mine, I don’t have any doubt.”
“But you did the blood test anyway… why did you do that?”
“Because Ginger asked me to,” he said, looking at his brother-in-law. “That didn’t offend you, did it? I didn’t do it because I had doubts, I did it because she wanted to be sure. And I figured you’d support it, as my lawyer, you’ll have unequivocal proof of who is responsible for that little dude if we ever have any issues.”
Owen nodded. “It is important that we have that. It just weirds me out to think you don’t trust each other.”
“She doesn’t trust herself,” Shane said. “I trust her completely.”
Owen’s expression loosened and his brows rose. “You know she’s engaged to Calvin. They’ve probably had sex.”
“Yeah, but that’s not my Ginger.”
“That’s an important distinction for you, is it?” Owen asked.
Anoth
er vehicle drove into the parking lot and Doctor Guinness got out. “Go and get a bellhop,” he said to Owen, giving him a pat as he zeroed in on the doctor. “Or a trolley or something.”
“You just want rid of me, don’t you?” Owen said.
“Head off our mutual friend if you see him heading this way. I’m going to talk to the good doctor.”
Owen went his way and Shane went to meet the doctor who he hadn’t managed to speak to alone yet. He didn’t have much time, but he had plenty of questions.
The two floor chalet had seven bedrooms. Only one was isolated with its own bathroom. The other bedrooms were paired. While they had their own doors to the mezzanine hallway that hung over the living space, they were paired with a bathroom in between them, accessible from a door on either side of the central bathroom. Two bedrooms with one bathroom in the middle.
Ginger decided that Murphy was an interesting character, Cameron liked him though, so she was pleased about that. He carried his nephew around as they explored every room, and did a lap of the wrap around porch that surrounded the lower floor. It also wrapped around the second floor too, in a balcony linking the bedrooms at the back of the property. It gave a great view of the lake beyond the grass stretched out at the bottom of the back stairs.
It was a picturesque scene with mountains and forest all around the lake, but she didn’t imagine she’d be going into the water any time soon.
Ginger was pleased, and surprised, to find the kitchen fully stocked with ice-tea, whole milk, and more fruit than they’d ever be able to eat. And there in the middle of the table was a top-of-the-line blender with a bow on top, so they could mush up anything and everything Cameron might want.
She’d made coffee and fruit salad by the time Calvin and Diane arrived. Owen wasn’t far behind. But it was another ten minutes before the doctor showed up and Shane hadn’t arrived yet at all. She knew she shouldn’t, but she was beginning to worry.
“I have to put him down for his nap soon,” Ginger said, fighting with her struggling son who was trying to free himself from her arms to get to Rocky who was asleep in front of the open fireplace that they hadn’t lit yet.
Everyone was sitting around the fireplace drinking coffee, eating fruit, being polite, and she guessed they were waiting for Shane before anything official was said. But cases were piled in front of the door, no one had even unpacked yet.
“Yes,” the doctor said and put his coffee on the table. “Ok, we’ll just get started. First of all, thank you everyone for coming.” She hoped he didn’t think that Shane had bailed because he was definitely here, or he had been, maybe he’d freaked and split, but she doubted he’d have left Rocky.
Mumbles went around in response. “I suppose I should be the one saying that,” she said, trying to shirk her distracting concern. “Thank you, everyone, for being here.”
Cam was still fighting and because she knew he’d be tired, she let him go and he crawled over to bury his face in Rocky, who cracked an eye, but just settled after seeing the baby.
“I appreciate that you have all given up your time for this, and it tells me how important it is to you all,” Guinness said and pulled a folder from his case beside him. “I have contracts for you all.”
“Contracts?” Calvin exclaimed and thrust his cup to the table. “We didn’t agree to contracts.”
“They’re goodwill contracts,” Guinness said. “Not exactly legally binding.”
Owen cleared his throat and opened his hand. “May I?”
The doctor handed one over and Calvin exchanged a look with his mother. “Boyd had business. I can’t sign anything without my lawyer present.”
Owen read it, but his frown became a smile and he was relaxed as he went further down the page, his expression almost amused. “There is no monetary commitment here and it states anyone can leave at any time, so your freewill is intact. This is not a contract for terms of payment, as he says, it’s a goodwill contract… My client will sign it.”
“Your client already has,” Guinness said, taking another page from the back of the folder to show that Shane had already put pen to paper. “I saw him in the parking lot.”
Owen cleared his throat and put his own sheet on the table. “My client and I will be having words.” The doctor handed out the other sheets and Ginger began to read it. Owen was beside her and he offered his pen after he signed. “Apparently my advice isn’t needed, but you’re safe to sign it, sis.”
Ginger took the pen and wondered about her relationship with her brother and how that affected his relationship with Shane, his client. Or maybe Shane hadn’t been his client before she disappeared, maybe her disappearance had brought them closer together.
The pen went around the room with grumbles of displeasure and protest, and when they were done, Owen tucked the pen away and the doctor gathered the contracts. “It’s best to make sure everyone knows where they stand… this is going to be difficult for everyone and we have to make sure that we understand everyone is on the same level here. We all have to be respectful of each other’s feelings. We have make sure there’s no physical violence—”
“Uh, the only one who has threatened physical violence is the man conveniently absent for this orientation,” Calvin said.
Murphy grumbled. “You pushed him first.”
Guinness took control. “This is exactly what we don’t want. It won’t help Ginger, and we also have to be considerate of the child in the room… Usually we don’t have children present for these kind of retreats.”
“My son and I come as a package deal,” she said, jumping onto the defensive. “If he’s not welcome, I’m not welcome.” Moving to the edge of her seat. “Would you like us to leave?”
“No,” the doctor said quickly. “No, I didn’t mean that, Miss…” he stopped and eyed the others in the room.
Her vehemence was always strongest when her child was in question. But the reminder of ambiguity over her name took them all down a peg and she sat back. “Are you going to start using your married name again?” Murphy asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
“No, she’s not,” Calvin said.
“All of these issues will be worked through while we’re here,” Guinness said, quick to calm everyone. “This is a process, and not one that will happen quickly.”
“You said ‘retreats like this’,” Diane said. “Have you done this kind of thing before?”
“Not exactly this,” the doctor said. “I have had several amnesia patients before, but your situation is unique.” No kidding. She didn’t need to be reminded of that. “We’ll begin tomorrow. Tonight we shall settle in, eat at the lodge, and get a good night’s sleep.”
“Which leads to the question of the bedrooms,” Owen said. “I assume doctor that you would like the individual room.”
The doctor nodded. It did make the most sense as he was the only one not related. “The other six rooms are arranged in pairs with a shared bathroom between them,” the doctor said before he cleared his throat and linked his hands. “As you’ll have seen in your contracts, we ask that everyone has their own individual room. It seems best while we have the ambiguity of husbands and fiancés. It’s also possible that tensions will run high and we need everyone to have a safe space they can retreat to while they are here. All rooms have locking doors, and the bathrooms have two doors, one from each bedroom, both are lockable from the inside and from outside. So we will all have our privacy.”
She looked at Calvin whose jaw had shifted to the side as he looked at her and she tried to be apologetic. It wasn’t fair that he was going to have his status seemingly reduced while in this situation. But it made sense. This might look like a nice rural retreat, but it was in fact a medical intervention. So they shouldn’t really be fooling around, this wasn’t a vacation meant for fornication. It was supposed to save her sanity, she couldn’t be thinking about sex.
“So what are you thinking, doc?” Murphy asked.
“We divide by fam
ily,” Guinness said. “The Bishops, Warrens and Leylands.”
Murphy bobbed his head. “Trouble is, we have four Warrens.”
“I suppose he means siblings,” Diane sneered. “Ginger should share with her brother.”
“Sure, but how will be feel about being woken up by Cameron?” Murphy asked. “Shane’s got off lightly on the midnight feeds so far—”
“No, I have to object,” Calvin said. “You cannot insinuate that—”
“What?” Murphy asked. “Husband shares with wife, why not?”
“It’s not like they’ll be having sex,” Owen said. “Not while we’re all in the same house, and Ginger doesn’t like to be touched, right? I guess Shane deserves a chance to get to know his son too.”
That was what swayed the doctor, he stopped objecting and looked to Calvin. “As I said, I don’t usually have to develop minor relationships, but it would be useful for Mr. Warren to have as much contact with his son as possible while he is so young. They imprint deeply at this age.”
“So we’re now nurturing not only Ginger’s health, but that of father and son too,” Diane said, almost choking on her real name. “This is becoming ridiculous.”
“No,” Calvin said, looking at her. “No, it’s ok. Let him share a bathroom with them.”
She hadn’t expected such a quick turn around and there was something in the way he was looking at her, was this a test to see if she would betray him or was he really putting Cameron before himself?
“Excellent,” Guinness said. “Then let’s all get settled in. We have a reservation for dinner at the lodge at five thirty.”
“That’s early,” Owen said.
“Cameron goes down at seven thirty,” she said in explanation and no one argued. “And he needs his bath before bed.”
“That tiny thing is going to rule all our lives, isn’t he?” Owen said.
Turning on her brother, she lifted a finger. “Complain and I’ll…”
Unthreatened, Owen grabbed her finger and shook it. “What, sis? What will you do? Wedgie me?”
Remember When... Page 6