Attending Physician
Page 32
Cord tsked at Raven.
“Cord, jealous?” asked Raven astutely.
“Maybe. A little,” Cord said. “It’s getting to be time for the real thing for me.”
I put my hand on her forearm. “Tired of Gabby’s hissys?” I asked sympathetically.
“Yes’m,” she replied, “real tired.”
“You’ll find her, or we’ll find her for you. Don’t worry, Cord.”
“We?” she asked as we walked over to Raven’s.
“The Femme Force,” I said.
“The ...?” she choked.
Raven cracked up. “Cord, we are outgunned, man. Wait till I tell you. They organized this afternoon and summoned Kimmy for Mel.”
“I wondered how that happened,” said Cord shaking her head.
“Cord, darling, real femmes waste no time. Mel wanted his True Love. Now, do you?”
Cord looked down at me, taking my measure. “Ma’am,” she said, “I’m afraid to say yes, and I’m afraid to say no.”
“Clever man,” I purred.
We were ready to sequester ourselves in Raven’s living room and open the blessed box when Greg, Geoff’s boyfriend, arrived wearing scrubs.
“Dr. Lange?” he asked. “Where is she?”
Geoff indicated Raven. “Why, sweetie?”
“I have to talk to her. C’mon,” Greg said, jerking Geoff along with him up Raven’s front stairs.
“Dr. Lange, I’m ....”
“Call me Raven here, Greg. Have you eaten? Do you need some lunch?”
“I’m starved,” he admitted, “but I need to speak to you first. Could we be private somewhere?”
“Yes,” she said, taking my hand. “Come on in, Greg. This is my lady, Verity.”
“Hi, Dr. Spencer,” said a very cute Greg. “I’ve heard a lot about you. He,” he tossed his head toward Geoff, “can’t stop raving about you.”
“Oh, Geoff,” I said.
“Believe me, you have to be special,” said Greg. “You’re the first woman he’s sent flowers to. Ever.”
“Wow,” I said.
“Yeah, I was jealous at first,” laughed Greg, “but I see it’s a bad case of hero worship.”
“Rather I suspect your boyfriend is intuitive and what he’s gunning for is a teacher.”
“Oooh, Verity,” cooed Geoff, “would you?”
Greg rolled his eyes.
“I take apprentices in intuition,” I said.
Raven asked, “You do?”
I didn’t respond. Greg’s information took precedence as far as I was concerned.
“Greg,” said Raven focusing our discussion. “You had some information for me.”
“Yes, and you know I’m not supposed to do this, but your friend Gretchen does not have any cancer markers.” He handed Raven the printed test results. “The doctors will schedule another mammogram to see if perhaps the initial results were off, but she’s cancer free.”
“Oh, thank God,” said Raven, crossing herself.
“Oh, thank Goddess,” I said, smiling at Raven’s childhood-influenced reaction.
Geoff gave Greg a look as if to say, see? I didn’t know what he was seeing.
Raven spoke, “Geoff, take Greg over to Gretchen’s and fix him a plate of lunch, would you?”
“Sure, Raven. N.P.”
The boys went off, and Raven drew me into her arms. She spoke softly into my hair, “I am so relieved, baby.”
“I know, darling,” I said. “Raven, you know, I don’t think we would have gotten this news if she hadn’t done the forgiveness work Angie made Lucy insist on.”
“Really?”
“She works in mysterious ways does the Mother,” I assured my butch. “Are you going to tell her?”
“No, I’m going to make a full-party announcement!” Raven grinned. “After we open the box. Let’s go, baby.”
“A moment, milord,” I said.
Then I wrapped my arms around her neck, and kissed her with all I had.
“Milady,” she said somewhat unsteadily.
“Milord, I missed you.”
“So it would seem.”
She watched me repair my Forever Fuchsia. “Gorgeous. Perfect. Mine.”
“Indeed, sir.”
We walked into the living room where Cord, Terry and Jamie awaited us.
“About time,” Jamie complained.
“Sorry,” said Raven, “I was getting Gretchen’s test results. Greg works in the lab at the hospital.”
“And?” said Cord, clearly tense.
Chapter 76
Raven gave her a thumbs-up. “I’m going to announce it after we open the box.”
“Rave, that’s awesome,” said Cord.
“Yeah, boss, the best,” echoed Terry.
“Gentlemen and lady,” said Jamie, “I want to get back to my extremely sexy paralegal. The box, if you please.”
“Patience is a virtue, Jamie,” I said primly.
“Bullshit, Raven’s Beauty.” She was succinct, I’ll give her that. Very unusual for an attorney.
Raven sat on the sofa and held the cigar box. She closed her eyes, and then opened them, and flipped open the lid.
We peered into the box, and saw a passbook for a savings account, like we got when we were children, a small black velvet box, and a drawstring bag, plus an index card.
Raven opened the passbook, then she flipped page after page after page. “Jesus and Mary, she must’ve put her first allowance in this account, I swear.”
Then she got to the last page where the total was over one million dollars dated just before Lucy’s birthday and held it open for us to see. A sticky read.
“Jesus and Mary is right,” breathed Cord. “She effing did it.”
“Just like she said she would,” added Terry.
“Exactly,” spoke Jamie. “Angie was a woman of her word. Always.”
Raven opened the drawstring bag. Two necklaces fell into her broad palm.
“I searched fucking everywhere for these,” Raven said. “Sorry, milady.”
“I’ve heard that word before, sir,” I confessed.
She grinned.
“These pearls belonged to Angie’s grandmother. They’re for Lucy’s confirmation. The gold necklace is a Blessed Mother medallion—I know she’d want Lucy’s new mama to wear it till Lucy was old enough.”
She opened the clasp and stood behind me so she could fasten it around my neck. Then she bent down and gave her mating mark a quick lick.
Cord spotted it, “Raven.”
“Yeah?”
“A mating mark, Rave?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re very serious about Verity, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I want her to be my wife.”
The words shimmered in the air among the four friends.
“Congratulations, man,” said Cord.
“She hasn’t said yes yet, Cord.”
Raven reached down into the cigar box. “I knew what this was when I saw the velvet box. My mother gave it to Angie to keep for me when we were eleven because she was sure Angie wouldn’t lose it. It’s the promise ring my dad gave her.
“Verity, would you wear this as my promise ring till it’s time for me to get you an engagement ring?”
I said, “Yes, Raven. Yes, darling. Of course I will, yes.” I held out my hand.
She opened the box and pulled out the ring, a stunning oval cabochon ruby surrounded by diamonds.
A good woman is more valuable than rubies rang through my mind as Raven slid the ring onto the fourth finger of my left hand.
Then she swept me into her arms and kissed me passionately. Her three friends held still and witnessed the moment. It felt like a blessing.
“We have to buy stock in Revlon, darling,” I said repairing my lipstick yet again.
“Why, baby?”
“Because at least then we’ll make money when I have to replace it so often.”
“There’s a femme investment s
trategy for you,” chimed Jamie. “C’mon, guys. Let’s go share three pieces of stellar good news, shall we?”
“You just want your sexy paralegal femme fantasy,” I accused.
“That, too,” agreed Jamie affably, “but I also want to celebrate finding the box, Gretchen’s clean bill of health, and the new lead femme in our midst, Raven’s Beauty,” and she kissed me on both cheeks.
“Okay, I give.”
Raven stood on the top of her stairs on her side of the porch with her arm around me.
“Friends, I have some announcements because I want you to be the first to know.
“First, thank God we located the missing cigar box. It had started to wear on me. In it we found the missing funds—over a million dollars to pay for someone we know through college, which was always Angie’s goal.”
Gretchen started to cry.
I think Sam got his handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. They still missed Angie something terrible.
“Second, I have it on excellent authority that Gretchen is about to receive a completely clean bill of health.”
“What?!” shrieked Gretchen, crying harder. “How did you—?”
“I told her,” owned Greg. “I work in the lab, and Raven asked me if I could run your test today.”
“Oh, Greg, how can I thank you?!” Gretchen threw herself into his arms.
“You can give me the recipe for whatever this heavenly casserole is.”
The whole crowd laughed. And agreed. My mama’s Moose was a bona fide hit.
“That would be Verity’s,” acknowledged Gretchen. “You’ll have to ask her.”
“I’ll be glad to give it to you, Greg. It’s the least I can do.”
“Finally,” said Raven, “when I was eleven, my mom gave Angie her promise ring to keep for the day I met the woman of my dreams. It lived in a black velvet box, and Angie dutifully kept it for me. I had no idea where it had gotten to, but it was in the cigar box. I’ve given it to Verity as a promise ring, and she’s promised to marry me.
“I thought you ought to know,” Raven finished shyly but proud as a peacock.
Butches swarmed to congratulate Raven on her good fortune, yanking her down the stairs and into their midst as they teased her about settling down. Femmes grabbed my hand wanting to see the ring and congratulate me on nabbing one extremely elusive butch bachelor—and so quickly.
Gretchen sat close to Greg for the rest of the party, sometimes with her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in her relief at not having a life-threatening illness.
By grace, the boys knew not to leave us with a dreadful mess to clean so they did the trash duty, recycling, putting food away, and generally squaring the house to its pre-party state before they kissed me, and saw their various ladies home.
Gretchen was overwhelmingly tired from the party but also from the fear of the possibility of having cancer. She’d retired to bed with her novel.
Raven and I put Lucy to bed together. When I leaned over to kiss Lucy goodnight, she grabbed the Blessed Mother medallion, “New mama,” she said. “Mama says.”
“Yes, Lucy love,” I said, “I know.”
“Good,” said Lucy, snuggling in for her story time. And of course that night, the Prince, Charming by name, found his True Love, Cinderella, the shoe fit perfectly, there was k-i-s-s-i-n-g. And they all, naturally, lived happily ever after, because that’s how those sorts of stories go.
Lucy was asleep as we crept down the stairs to go to Raven’s side of the house. We went through the kitchen this time and up the steps to Raven’s kitchen.
“This side of the house has seen more life this weekend than it has the entire preceding year,” Raven said, staring out the window at the leaf-strewn yard with me in front of her held close in her arms. The moon rose full over the trees, a beautiful night to conclude a lovely weekend.
“Baby, you have to make this side of the house into a home when you have the time. I know you’ll do a lovely job.”
She picked up my left hand and kissed it. “The ring is perfect on you,” she said.
“Thank you, darling. It’s gorgeous,” I agreed.
“On you,” she said.
“Yes, milord.”
“Milady, are you tired?”
“Tired, yes. Sleepy, no. Why? What did you have in mind?”
“I want to make you mine in a new way tonight, milady,” said that husky baritone.
“Indeed?”
“Yes, I’ve never made love before to a woman who has promised to marry me.”
“Do you think it will be different, milord?”
“Who can say, milady? I can only tell you afterward.”
I twisted in her arms to face her. The moon drew my eyes to the planes of her beloved face.
“Well then, we best get on with it, sir, don’t you think?” I twinkled up at her.
“As you wish, milady,” Raven swept me into her arms and whispered possessively, “Mine,” sending a thrill through my body before lowering her mouth to capture mine in a searing kiss. She lifted me in her arms to carry me up the front stairs and take the femme she’d claimed as her own, as she’d said, “For keeps.”
Tony Amato, for care, prayer, keeping, showing up; oh, and editing
CB, LB, & UB, for inspiration and what if
Sara Chaiken, for insisting I write this
Sue Katz, for ballroom dance inspiration
Noelle Lee, D.O., for physician consultation and support
The Reverend Wendy Miller Olapade, for tending the flame with me
Eddie Sarfaty, for cheerleading and deep respect
Court Stroud, for constant encouragement and belief in me
Vivienne Hartt Quinn is the pseudonym of spiritual innovationista and author Dr. Susan Corso. She is already writing her next butch-femme literary romance novel.
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Attending Physician
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