by Nancy Adams
He then held both his arms out and hugged each of his friends as they came into the house. Juliette gave him a little kiss on the cheek as he did. The happy Frenchman then led them through to the lounge where they found Margot sitting at the far end of the couch with a small pink bundle in the crest of one arm as she fed him with a bottle.
As Jules and Juliette walked in with Claude, Margot looked up from the baby and beamed a smile of joy as she spotted her two friends.
“Come and say hi to baby David,” she said sweetly as they approached.
Juliette put on her best smile as she took a seat right next to Margot and gazed down at the baby. A tinge of sadness enveloped her as she saw the tiny rose-colored boy sucking hungrily at the bottle, his little button nose, tiny eyelids with lashes and the shock of black hair sprouting out on his head. But she held firm and merely made her smile even larger, spreading it across her cheeks as she reached out and offered his little hand her finger. The boy took it and Juliette felt a spark elevate from the baby’s touch, a quiver moving through her.
Although she felt sad, something else happened to Juliette then. She felt a joy move through her that she hadn’t felt for so long, and it was all because of her contact with this little boy that had fallen into her friends’ lives.
“He’s beautiful isn’t he?” Margot commented.
“Yes, he is,” Juliette agreed, gazing down at the boy as he held her finger firmly.
Meanwhile, Jules stood to the side with Claude looking down at them. The former glanced at his friend and observed the huge expression of pride, the Frenchman grinning with all his strength at the sight of his little boy held in the arms of his love. Jules moved his arm around the bulky Claude and grabbed him by the shoulder, patting him as he did. Claude turned to Jules with that big grin.
“I am complete, mon ami,” he whispered happily. “I have never been happier.”
“You enjoy it, friend,” Jules said warmly.
After that, Juliette and Jules gave the couple their gifts for David—some clothes, bath toys and a night-light—before the four went for a walk around the neighborhood with the baby in the stroller. Outside, they walked past the homes of the rich and famous, Margot pointing out several prominent homes to David as they passed them. Juliette meanwhile walked to one side of her in silent refrain, occasionally glancing over at the baby in the chair.
Having walked the neighborhoods for some time, the four made it to the beach and they settled themselves down on a picnic blanket close to the ocean. When Margot retrieved David from the stroller, she immediately got a whiff of something and realized that it was changing time.
As she lay him out on the blanket, Margot turned to Claude and said, “It’s your turn.”
With a slight frown, Claude shrugged, came over to the boy and began stripping him. While he did, Claude felt someone’s hand on his arm and, turning to look, he saw Juliette’s smiling face.
“May I do it, Claude?” she asked.
Claude grinned with an element of relief.
“Of course, mon cheri,” he said moving to the side and leaving the little mite to her.
With love and care, Juliette changed him as the others sat on the blanket chatting and gazing at the beautiful ocean.
“Oh!” Margot suddenly exclaimed. “There was something else I wanted to say.”
“And what is that?” Jules asked her, Juliette still seeing to David in the background.
“Well, it’s not just from me, it’s from Claude too. Anyway, we want to ask if you’ll both consider being David’s Godparents, as well as being his kinda auxiliary grandparents, on account of him not having any. So would ya?”
Jules looked back at Juliette behind him and then turned back to Margot.
“I’d be absolutely overjoyed,” he said.
Juliette finished redressing David in that moment and sat up, placing the baby on her knee.
She turned to Margot with a smile and said, “I’d be honored to be this little boy’s Godmother.”
Margot smiled for the millionth time in the last few days since she’d gotten David, and the friends spent the rest of the day on the beach, Juliette feeling better and better the more time she spent in the little baby’s presence.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Claire was trembling all over as she walked into the departure lounge of Denver International, Paul by her side. Searching out the faces that stood at the barriers, she quickly made out the beaming face of her mother, her brother Kyle’s sulky teenage face alongside it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her father wasn’t among them. The moment Claire was within two yards of her mother, June leaped forward and took her daughter in her arms. Paul smiled to see the warm embrace between mother and daughter, June bursting into tears.
“Ma,” Claire let out, a little embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, honey, it’s just been so long,” June sobbed lightly. “I’m so pleased to see my little girl.”
“Ha!” Kyle exclaimed cheekily. “Her little girl!”
Claire gave him an angry look as he laughed. She let go of her mom and then scruffed his hair up with her knuckles.
“Hey!” he snapped as he pulled his head back from her grasp.
“I see you’re still as cheeky as ever,” Claire remarked to her brother.
When mother and daughter were parted, Claire introduced Paul, who had stood outside of everything up until now.
“Hey,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Paul,” June said sweetly as she held out her hand.
Paul took it gently and they shook.
“This little shit,” Claire said as she grabbed ahold of Kyle and dragged him out in front of Paul, “is my baby brother, Kyle.”
“Hey!” Kyle said as Claire shoved him forward. “Keep your hands off the merchandise!” he remarked, turning back to his sister.
When he was in front of Paul, Claire let go of Kyle and the boy merely glanced at Paul and said, “Hi!” The teenager gingerly held his hand out, and Paul took it and shook it warmly.
“I’m sorry your father couldn’t make it,” June said as they began walking out of the airport. “He’s busy opening another two stores out in Boulder and another in Colorado Springs. They’re getting everything ready out there, so he’s away most weekdays. But he’s promised to come home early tonight so that he can meet Paul here and see his daughter.”
“That’s nice, ma,” Claire said with a slight grimace, her mom looking the other way and not seeing her daughter’s expression, but Paul observing it as he walked beside Claire.
A few minutes later they were all getting into June’s Ford Explorer and rolling out of Denver. It was a forty-five minute drive to the town of Rock Springs where they lived and on the way, Paul enjoyed the beautiful scenery that drifted by the window. The wide, flat valleys with fields of bright green, farms dotted along the way, patches of trees, and the mountains cradling the whole place in their rocky arms made a pleasant impression on him. It was the first time that he’d ever been to Colorado and he was enjoying the view immensely. He’d grown up in a small town in North Dakota where it was very flat. You could see for as far as the eye could reach in any direction and not see one bump in the landscape. It could get a little boring. But here in Colorado everything was surrounded by the great Rocky Mountains and the many little hills and buttes scattered across the landscape in all directions.
While he gazed at the beautiful surroundings in the back, Claire chatted away in the front with her mother, and Kyle sat beside Paul listening to his headphones and gazing blankly out the window, having seen the Colorado landscape countless times.
“So, Paul, honey,” June suddenly said into the back.
“Yes, Mrs. Prior,” he answered turning away from the window.
“You don’t have to call me Mrs. Prior,” June giggled. “You can call me June.”
“Okay, June.”
“Claire tells me your father has a doctor’s pract
ice in North Dakota. Does that mean that when you’re finished with medical school you’re gonna go and join the family business?”
Paul laughed at the innocent absurdity of June’s question.
“No, June,” he said with a grin. “My father’s comfortable with small-town affairs. I’ve wanted to escape North Dakota since I was a kid. I wanna work somewhere with a little more action. I was thinking a city hospital, working ER.”
“Well, I guess Claire has already told you that I’m an ER nurse at the Mary Magdalene city hospital in Denver.”
“Yes, she had. She told me you’ve worked there for twenty-five years. You must’ve seen some pretty heavy stuff.”
Claire sniggered to herself as she sat listening. She knew that Paul had talked himself into a trap. Her mother had him cornered and would now burn his ears for the rest of the journey with her tales.
“You ever heard of the Denver Monorail crash of '83?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think I have,” Paul replied.
“Sixty-three people killed,” June told him in a firm voice. “Over forty-seven injured. All brought to the Mary Magdalene because we were only two blocks away from the crash. In fact, I remember me and some of the others heard it as we were doing our rounds. It was eight in the morning, at the height of rush hour. Not twenty minutes after we heard the rumble, chaos came stampeding through our doors as the first were brought in. The train had come straight off the rails and into a bunch of pedestrians on the ground below…”
Claire drifted into reverie, gazing at the beautiful mountain vista. She’d missed Colorado. Maine was beautiful, the coastline, the countryside and the quant little colonial buildings that made up the towns. But she’d missed the mountains constantly surrounding her, holding her within their arms. She felt slightly comforted by the landscape and it eased her a little for what awaited her at home. She was deeply glad that her father wasn’t present and she hoped that he would keep his distance from her for the two weeks that she and Paul would be there.
“So how’d ya think your finals went?” June suddenly asked Claire, stunning her daughter.
“Eh,” was all Claire could manage.
“We hope we did well, June,” Paul said for her from the back. “This year was mighty hard. It took us a little by surprise at how difficult some of the exams were. Didn’t it Claire?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile.
He was so sweet. Always so sweet. The college finals had only been four days before. In two months time the results would be in and Claire would have the dubious task of informing her mother that she’d failed. A lie of course. She never even taken the exams. But it was the final part of her heartbreaking cover-up and something that she wasn’t looking forward to. Paul had recently been to see a friend of his who was a graphics major. He’d gotten the friend to produce a letter that was an absolute carbon copy of a real University of Maine exam results letter. In it was an absolute duplicate of failed exam results and an accompanying letter from the associate dean stating that there was an offer for Claire to repeat the year. The letter would be posted to Claire’s parents’ address, as all result letters were sent to the student’s permanent address rather than the campus one. For authenticity, Paul and Claire were due to send the letter on the exact day that the official letters would go out to the many students of the college.
It wasn’t long before they were pulling into the driveway of the Prior’s five-bedroom suburban home.
“Welcome to the Prior homestead,” June let out with a smile as she opened the door and let them all in.
Claire felt a shudder run through her as she stepped inside, forcing her to stop abruptly. Paul, who was beside her, placed his arms delicately on her shoulders and stopped with her.
“You okay?” he inquired.
“Sure, I just got a little dizzy is all.”
They continued inside and made their ways immediately upstairs, led by June.
“Now I’m not sure how your parents do things,” she was saying to Paul as they reached the landing, “but in the Prior house we’re Christians who go to church on a Sunday. Well, me and Joe do. When the kids were twelve we gave them the choice and the little scamps both decided not to. But it’s okay, they’ll see the light again one day. You can’t force them, you have to allow—”
“Ma!” Claire interrupted. “You’re babbling.”
They soon reached the open door of a plain-looking bedroom, obviously a guest room.
“Well, as I was saying,” June began as they reached the threshold, “we’re Christians and as you’re not married, you’ll be sleeping in the guest room. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, June,” Paul said with a smile as he stepped inside the room holding his bags.
He placed his things on the bed and then sat down next to them, bouncing up and down as he did.
“Nice spring to it,” he remarked to June, making her instantly smile. “I wouldn’t have dreamed of imposing myself by expecting to share a room with your daughter under your roof, June.”
This little piece of politeness pleased June even more than his boyish enthusiasm, and the old mother blushed.
“Well, I’m glad you like it,” she said as she left, trying her best to hide both her smile and her red cheeks.
Claire noticed, though, and it made her happy to see her mother so joyful having her daughter back at home with her new handsome boyfriend, everything how it should be in her life. It all made Claire so glad in that moment that she hadn’t told her mother about the pregnancy, submitting the woman to all kinds of worry and internal mischief. Everything was done now; she was back within her mother’s sight and could put the old woman’s heart to rest. The pregnancy was over and life could go on. Her mother could be happy.
“So your room’s as you left it,” June said as she opened the door to Claire’s old bedroom.
Claire’s heart sank slightly at the sight of her old room. She hadn’t expected that. But as she gazed at the room’s contents, she realized that she hadn’t been back there since the night she had come home soaking wet after running off in the rain the night of Sam’s crash. For the remainder of her stay in Colorado after that, she’d stayed at Beth’s, only returning home to get clothing and see her mom, so that she didn’t explode with worry.
Now, however, she felt herself being brought back to that melancholy time, before she found out that she was pregnant and just after the crash. All those emotions that had attacked her nine-and-a-half months ago came flooding back and she found herself going a little weak. She quickly moved forward into the room and dumped her bags on the bed, feeling a sudden relief at having let go of them.
“You okay, honey,” June asked.
“Yeah,” Claire said as she took a seat on the bed. “A little lagged from the flight is all.”
“To be expected. I’ll go make you some coffee.”
“That’d be nice, ma.”
June smiled and zipped off out the room. As she passed Paul in the guest room, who was busy unpacking, she called in and asked him if he’d like some coffee, to which he replied that he’d be delighted. Once she was halfway down the stairs, Paul left the bedroom, stepped across the landing and came into Claire’s room.
Seeing her sitting on her bed looking slightly glum, he inquired, “Happy to be home?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she mumbled. Then, looking up at Paul with a despondent expression, she said, “Can you hold me, Paul?”
“Of course,” he said as he swooped down onto the bed, sat next to her and placed his loving arms around her.
She instantly melted into them, placing her own around his body and resting her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t deserve you, Paul,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
They remained like that for some time, holding each other, Paul’s delicate touch soothing Claire’s enfeebled soul.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I’m a
fraid,” Tom Higgins said across the table to Jenna as he gave his final verdict at the hearing, “that in light of the evidence we have before us, as well as your corroborating statement, Mrs. Blackwell, our only option is to find you guilty of violation of code three, section four of the Californian State Medical Ethics Procedures. It is therefore our recommendation that your license to practice in this state be revoked forthwith.”
There was no gavel for him to bang, but the death toll had definitely been drummed for Jenna’s career as a practicing psychiatrist. She would be unable to reapply for her Californian license for at least ten years, and most states in America refused to issue a license to a medical professional if another state had already revoked it there. In other words, Jenna would no longer be seeing patients unless she wanted to move to Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas or Mississippi.
Having heard the declaration on her career, Jenna thanked the panel and hastily left the room. She wanted to get the gauntlet that awaited her outside out of the way as soon as possible. When she and Sam had arrived at LAX in his Learjet, several bodyguards that often worked for Sam were waiting for them in three blacked-out military-style Hummers. The men were all ex-special forces, Navy Seals or British SAS.
The convoy of beefy vehicles then left the airport, pushing through the crowd of reporters camped outside. After that, they were followed all the way by the media scrum. At most of the junctions that they passed on their way to the hearing, they were met by more reporters who joined the scrambling mass that followed the convoy.
When they reached the headquarters of the Medical Board of California, there was already a mass waiting all around the building, someone clearly having tipped them off that this was the day of the hearing. The huge following that they’d gotten prior to arriving joined the one that was waiting and there soon became a mass of flashbulbs, video cameras and microphones surrounding the three cars of the convoy. The doors of the Hummers opened all at once on command and out stepped the bodyguards, instantly going to work on the crowd. They’d parked as close to the building as possible and within seconds of being out there, Jenna quickly kissed Sam before emerging from the central Hummer, accompanied by two rather large bodyguards, the crowd going wild and threatening to overwhelm the guards. Microphones were thrust in Jenna’s face and questions were asked, such as, “What does it feel like to be portrayed as a money-grubbing femme fatale?”