by L. C. Giroux
"Really! Oh Michael, I'm so glad. I think it is a wonderful idea."
"Allain? Qu'est ce que c'est?"
"Michael has agreed to come work for the foundation. He will be running a group of clinics that will partner with Médecins Sans Frontières setting up longer term treatment in affected areas."
"Marie, I actually owe this to you." Michael looked over at her.
"Moi, I do not think so."
"No, it is true, remember when you first got here and Violet forced me to have you read my character or whatever you called it. You said that I had a need to do more and you were right. Besides this way I can work along side my beautiful wife."
"Yes, darling, since there seems to be no end to the babies that will be arriving Marie and I have hired a baby nurse. She comes highly recommended and she speaks French."
"Always twisting the knife that I don't. Well that won't work any more." Michael smiled at his wife. "I've signed up to take the course the state department uses so I'll have some idea what the heck you people are saying about me now."
"Good. Now when we visit my family in France or they come here again you'll finally be able to talk to them. Oh, here is our wonderful new nurse. Maricelle, I would like to introduce you to my husband, Michael and my brother and Marie's husband Allyn."
"Enchanté, Messieurs. Madam, would you like me to take Allyson for you?"
"Non, she is fine for now." Harold walked in wiping his hands.
"Mr. Bellows, I have changed the oil on your roadster..."
"Harold, I'd like to introduce the newest member of the staff..."
"Maricelle?"
"'arold?"
"I take it you two know each other?" Marie quickly whispered in Allyn's ear. "Hmm, I see. Well, that won't do at all." Allyn pulled out his wallet and fished two hotel keys out.
"Harold, my wife informs me that you spent a long time looking for this woman, is that true?" He almost laughed to see Harold blush, the man was usually unflappable.
"Yes, sir."
"Maricelle, am I safe in assuming from the smile on your face, that you are not unhappy to have been found?"
"Oui c'est vrai, monsieur." She said quietly.
"Fine, You can start next week. Harold take these. The Continental, put it all on my tab." When Harold tried to object, "I don't want to hear any argument. You have a week, with everything we owe you it is a drop in the bucket, please take it." Harold smiled at Maricelle and she grinned back at him. When Allyn turned to watch them go he saw Maricelle throw her arms around Harold and he spun her around. He turned back when Marie flinched.
"Ough, you are a greedy boy. Be gentle with your Mamman, non?" She turned to smile at Allyn. "'e is too much like 'is father I think?" Allyn fished a box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Marie as he took their son.
"Perhaps but I give better presents. Open it." She untied the ribbon and opened the jewelry box to find a bracelet of platinum links, some of which were set with diamonds.
"Allyn, it is beautiful, but why?" He just smiled knowingly at her and laid his forehead on top of her head cradling their child. The peace and contentment were like nothing he had known...and immediately shattered by the wail of a still hungry infant. They both looked at each other and smiled. The baby had to sleep sometime.
His Lady Godiva
Lovers and Other Strangers Series Book One
The Clinic Building
Dr. Michael Dennison hated seeing new patients. He enjoyed their cases but not the first meeting. Having been an orthopedic surgeon for enough years now he had an established routine when entering an exam room with a patient he had not seen before. He would enter, shuffling his papers and charts to announce his entrance but avoid eye contact. He would put the x-rays on the light box and act like he was looking at them. All to give the new patient time to get used to the idea of the man in the wheel chair could actually be their doctor.
Their surgeon more precisely, he would maintain this charade for 5 or so minutes before addressing them and seeing the pity on their faces. In truth, the patients were not what he hated, it was the pity. Along with the poor attempts to look anywhere but at the wheel chair. He expected his next patient would be much the same as all the others. He flipped through her chart.
Violet Bellows, age 29, seeing him for surgical correction of Spondylolithesis. From her X-rays he was surprised at the degree of slip in someone so young but there had been trauma to the vertebral bodies hastening the degeneration. He took a deep breath, best to get this over with.
He knocked and hearing her answer, rolled in while looking at his notes, he moved to the light-box and hung the x-rays and began to study them or at least appear to.
He was surprised when he heard her say “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you do surgery?” He was shocked at her challenge to his skills. He quickly turned around, his shock forgotten.
In front of him sat the most exquisite woman he had ever seen. Her skin was the color of whipped cream. Her eyes were dark rich brown, her full lips and high cheeks had a deep rosy blush. But her hair was indeed her crowning glory. Almost black, it hung to nearly her waist in renaissance curls. She wore it over her shoulders in such a way even in the johnny coat she was breathtaking. She reminded him of a temptress from a Vatican painting. “Excuse me?” he coughed to cover his lack of composure.
“I wondered how you do surgery?” Michael found the most intriguing thing about her question was that she directed the question to his face, not over his shoulder, or staring at his chair but actually looking him in the eye. He searched her face for some kind of condescension, he only saw intelligence and warmth. He almost smiled.
“I worked with a group to develop a wheelchair to my exact specifications that does this.” He pressed a button and the hidden engineering whirled to life, in a couple of seconds he was in a standing position. “It's a simple matter of hydraulics and weights, really. I have enough torso and upper body strength that I can do anything that any other surgeon can. In the process, I can save my patients from a life such as mine.” He said as he lowered himself back to a seated position.
“You mean the life of a handsome and famous surgeon?” Now she was laughing at him and her laughter sounded like the tinkling of bells. He heard no slight in her laughter and it wasn’t for several seconds Michael even realized she had called him handsome. He sputtered and finally got some control of himself and the situation.
“Yes. Right. Let’s see what your issues are then, shall we? If you look at your X-ray here and here you can note the vertebra are shifted significantly forward. This is putting tremendous strain on these discs and compressing the Cauda Equina. The nerve fibers at the base of the spine. That is why your legs go numb and you fall. Have you had any pain associated with this?”
“No” He had expected more from her but when he turned to look at her now she was changed. She seemed smaller as if in having to talk about her situation was too much to bear.
“You’ve had no back aches? No charlie horses?”
“Oh, some but that is just part of life.”
"No, not in your case, Ms. Bellows. You have a grade four slip of all of these vertebra. I can think of only one other case I have seen in someone so young. We will need to get you in for surgery soon. I will have the nurse set you up in the schedule but this will have to be soon.”
She looked at him though her lashes, her face was unreadable. Was she scared? He couldn’t tell. He found her beautiful but distant. “Will it be very painful?” She finally asked in almost a whisper.
“I can’t lie to you. We do have very good pain control methods available but yes, I’m afraid the days just after surgery are not pleasant even with a morphine pump. Unfortunately without it, you are looking at being in a wheel chair within the next few months. If it comes to that I don’t know that we would be able to get enervation back even if we did surgery. Can you to stand in front of me?”
She got off the table and stood facing him. She was a
bout five foot five, and fairly slim. Michael noted that her hips were even but tipped forward at a severe angle. She showed the sway back associated with her condition. “Now, walk to the door, stop, turn around and come back.” She did as she was told. “Yes, you have a classic presentation, I could probably have diagnosed you without even seeing the X-rays. I will need a few more images, CAT scans, and an MRI before we bring you in for the surgery but we should be able to get those done quickly.”
He had turned and started to leave when she said “Will I be ugly still?” His chest felt like he had been kicked. How could a woman this spectacular worry about being ugly? He turned back to her, noticing her lashes were now wet. He was not in the habit of giving compliments to his patients or anyone else for that matter. He knew for a fact the nursing staff, while respecting his work, sought to avoid having to do it with him.
For this woman he wished he could be polished, more articulate. He searched his mind, his love of opera, food, wine, beautiful art, but could come up with nothing that compared to her. Finally he gave up and tried for honesty. “You are already so beautiful, a small thing like straightening your spine will have very little effect.” Lost in trying to pay her a compliment, he had not realized he had placed his hand on her knee. He saw her look down and blush. He immediately felt her skin go warm through the thin cotton of the gown. He pulled away like he had been burned.
He had no idea he could make a woman respond to his mere words like that. “Well yes... I should go and let you get dressed. You need to stop at the front desk. They have the list of things to be scheduled and then my nurse will set up the surgery date.” His mind was chaos and he needed to get out of there quickly. Thankfully, a returning patient waiting for him next. After getting outside the door, Michael’s hands were shaking. What had this woman done to him?
The Clinic Building Entrance
Violet thought that would never end. Everyone is so worried about the patient experience but it would be a lot better if the appointment process were more streamlined. She made a mental note to talk to Allyn about it. She let her thoughts drift to Dr. Dennison again. He was unarguably attractive in a buttoned up way even in scrubs. What was it about him that made her want to unbutton him. She had become very practiced at no longer looking men in the eye so she didn’t see the initial attraction fade when they saw how deformed her back was. Could her interest only be because, in a wheelchair he was “safe”. He’d understand what it felt like to be stared at for something you couldn’t control. Maybe, but the silky sandy blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, close cropped beard, and those broad shoulders didn’t hurt. He had already called her beautiful. Just thinking about him saying it made her light up like Christmas. Hmm, good she’d need that to be nice and warm to go outside. She hated winter and yet, couldn’t really live anywhere but Boston. It made no sense but she loved the house and Allyn was there. Living in the huge place together allowed her to feel like she was part of a family still even if it was just the two of them.
Stepping out of the building her attention was drawn to the street by the blaring of car horns. The light had changed and someone crossing in a wheelchair was still in the crosswalk. It took a second to register that the chair must be stuck either with a power failure or snow clogging the wheels. “That poor man!” All she saw of him was his over coat and a fedora. She couldn’t stand around and not try to help him. She ran into the traffic now trying to go around him. Once she reached him she asked “Is there a way to release the drive so I can push you."
Michael Dennison was never a patient man but at times like these he could be a complete bastard and he knew it. Some do-gooder wanting to help the cripple, just what he needed today. He growled “I can deal with this myself, Thank you very much!”
“If you’ll just let me help I can get you across the street and then you can be on your way!” The woman yelled over the blaring horns.
“I said I am fine, thank you!”
“Look, you are obviously not fine! You are stuck in the middle of traffic and if you don’t tell me how to release the mechanism so I can roll you to the curb you are going to get us both killed!” Shouts now added to the car horns.
“I didn’t ask you to help!”
“No, but I am here now and you obviously need it, stop being so pig-headed and... oh, here is the damn release!” Violet flipped the switch and pushed the miserable man across the street. Once they were safely out of traffic she moved to the front of him. “It is all well and good having your pride but it is not worth getting killed over or worse taking someone else with you!” She gulped when she realized the man she was screaming at was indeed her handsome doctor. “Dr. Dennison! I...well, don’t thank me!” and she turned on her heel and entered the building. Michael sat staring at her as she walked away. Wonderful, the one patient that hadn’t pitied him outright now thought he was a complete prick.
“Brilliant Dennison, just brilliant!” he said out loud. Today was shaping up to be a top ten worst of all time and to make matters worse he had to go to records and sign off on some charts before lunch.
Violet was supposed to meet Allyn at the hospital president’s office but she was still too angry to be civil and called him to catch up with her down in the lobby and they could go to the cafe in the atrium. He took about 20 minutes to finish up his meeting and found Violet reading a magazine there.
“How did your appointment go?”
“Oh, fine, I need surgery soon, as in I am scheduled in two and a half weeks! With the number of tests and x-rays and whatever I should probably just get a bed here now!” She was getting flushed the more she talked.
“Whoa, what is up with you? You knew you were going to need to have surgery. Why so pissed now?”
She debated telling him about Dr. Dennison but he would get all protective and feel like he needed to do something about it. Dennison might not be a great human being but he was an excellent doctor and she didn’t want to delay the surgery any more.
“Oh, you know I hate winter and they are talking about a once in a century storm coming.”
“Its weeks away, you can’t worry about it yet. Probably won't even get here. Let's get lunch, I think you are cranky because you need food.”
Hard to argue with reason. She led him into the cafe to get some sandwiches. She had chosen a sandwich from the cooler and was turning around when she ran smack into Dennison. Allyn was just on the other side of him.
“Ms. Bellows...”
“Come to exact revenge!” she hissed
She looked up at Allyn staring at her. “Allyn, this is my doctor. Dr. Dennison, Allyn.” She stepped around Michael and handed her tray to Allyn and walked out.
Both men stared at her retreating figure in a daze. “Um, Sorry, I don’t know what has gotten into her. Allyn Bellows” he said as he stuck out his hand. Michael shook it. “Sorry, I better go see what is wrong with her.” Michael Dennison silently cursed himself.
Of course a woman as beautiful as her would be married and to a guy that looked perfect and obviously cared about her. There would be better times to apologize to her when she came back for tests before the surgery. Michael felt deflated, he hadn’t allowed himself to be attracted to a woman for as long as he could remember. Who the hell was he kidding, he was stuck in this damn chair and there was no way a woman like her would saddle herself with a man like him.
Allyn paid for the food and found Violet standing near the doors at the front of the hospital. “Here’s your sandwich, did you want to take it with you or do you want to go back and eat here?” Violet turned and looked at him and he swore she had been crying.
“I...I want to go home. I’m sorry Allyn, I am just emotionally rung out. I knew what the doctor was going to say and I thought I was prepared but you know how terrified I am of hospitals and the thought of surgery. Allyn put his arms around her and swallowed her up in a bear hug. He was thinking about the accident and how he had almost lost her too. She was shaking as he held her.
“I know you are scared but this is not anything like when you were a kid. You’ll only be in a couple of days and then home with round the clock care. I even arranged for a spa to come in and give you a treat each day, manicures, pedicures, facials anything you want to spoil yourself with. I was going to surprise you but you know I am horrible at keeping secrets.”
She looked up at him and smiled “You are the sweetest brother a girl could ever have.” and she kissed his cheek.
***
Radiology Suite at the Clinic Building
“Okay miss, lay very still and this will be over before you know it. Myself, I’d take a nap.” the elderly x-ray tech said. Violet almost snorted at the thought. She’d love a nap, the nightmares from after the accident had come back. It didn’t seem to matter that as an adult she could rationalize it was her subconscious trying to work through things she still couldn’t really deal with. She still woke up screaming and then couldn’t go back to sleep. Allyn wanted her to take the sleeping pills a doctor prescribed but she never reacted well to those things. The only saving grace in the round of appointments was that she probably wouldn’t run into Dr. Dennison. She didn’t figure him for the type to associate with the techs. The MRI whirred to life and the spinning magnets got loud. Violet could feel her panic rising. She tried deep breaths, tried finding her happy place, finally she started yelling “I can’t do this anymore! I need to get out of here right now! I mean it!” The whirring stopped and she sucked in great gulps of air.