For The Love Of The Doctor (BWWM Romance) (6 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

While sweeping under the living room couch, Violet came across a set of keys. It was Jeremy’s. The sight of them nearly brought tears to her eyes because in a flash she was remembering the night he had dropped them. He had taken her out for dinner and they had come home in a frenzied rush unable to keep their hands off of each other. They barely made it through the door before tumbling on to the couch, limbs tangling, clothes flying off. She had heard the clink of his keys hitting the floor; they must have slid under the couch somehow.

With a heavy sigh, she placed the keys on the dining table and decided she would stop by his office later that evening when Anna would be gone for the day. The last thing she wanted was to have a conversation with her or get sympathy looks.

Tanya was busy watching Frozen for what seemed like the hundredth time while Debra was in the kitchen making them mac and cheese, when Violet went out to run her quick errand. Debra took one look at her and raised her eyebrows, “Quick errand huh. Girl, that better not mean what I think it means.”

“I’m just going to drop off his keys! He left them here last time he was here.”

“No hanky panky, no matter how much your vagina might be screaming for it.”

“Deb! Tanya’s in the next room!”

Debra waved the spoon she was using to mix the cheese in the air and shooed Violet out of the kitchen, “Yeah, yeah, now go and give him back his keys. Take as long as you need to, hun, I don’t have anywhere else to be.”

“Thank you again for coming over on such short notice, you’re a lifesaver.”

“Yeah yeah,” Debra muttered going back to the task at hand.

It took Violet just over thirty minutes to get to the clinic downtown where Jeremy had his offices. Instead of going into the main clinic area, she went up directly to the third floor. The desk in the reception area was deserted, Anna had gone home for the day, Jeremy’s office was just down the hall and she could see the light was on in his office, clearly he was still in the office. Fighting back an overwhelming urge to go and see him, she resolutely started to head towards Anna’s desk with the intention of leaving a short note with the set of keys.

But the soft murmur of voices drew her back towards his office. She tiptoed down the hall quietly, making sure she was well out of view. The glass wall had blinds on it, which made it difficult to see clearly but she saw two shadowy forms. The tall form she recognized as Jeremy, and the other silhouette looked like a woman. A patient probably but the sound of the girlish voice was too low and intimate for it to be a patient. Violet’s heart began to flutter uncomfortably as a cold feeling settled into the pit of her stomach; she wished she could get closer and hear what they were saying but to do so would mean revealing her presence. A breathy, sensual laugh escaped the office and Violet recognized it immediately, she now knew who was in the office with Jeremy this late in the evening. The stunning girl with the gorgeous face and killer body, Venetia.

Violet knew she should leave, she should put the keys on Anna’s desk with the note and leave but her legs refused to function and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene unfolding in front of her. In wrapped fascination, she watched as the female shadow stepped closer to Jeremy’s shadow, slim hands went up and entwining themselves around his neck pulling his head down into a kiss. Large breasts thrust up and pressed themselves against his body, the two shadows blended into one.

Feeling sick to her stomach, Violet stepped away from the torturing sight, choking back a cry of despair. All of a sudden, Jeremy’s actions over the past week made perfect sense. His silence, the way he had just dropped out of her life with a bullshit excuse of needing to focus on his career and not make any more mistakes. What a load of bullcrap, she thought, when the real reason was Venetia. She knew why he had chosen her, Venetia was the kind of girl he should be with, they came from similar backgrounds and understood each other’s worlds, whereas she would never fit into it at all. But what hurt was the lie, why couldn’t he have told her the truth? That he was better matched with Venetia than with her? And why couldn’t he have figured it out sooner instead of breaking her heart once she was already in love with him? How could he have done this to Tanya?

Unable to contain her disappointment and anger any more she whirled around and rushed towards the elevator, the pain of his betrayal was so great she felt like the walls were closing in on her and she couldn’t breathe. In her haste to escape, the keys slipped out of her hands. The clanking sound of metal hitting the marble floors echoed loudly through the area.

“Arghh…” she choked off the rest of the word desperately hoping that somehow Jeremy and Venetia were so wrapped up in each other they hadn’t heard the key or her. Grabbing the key off the floor, she dashed towards Anna’s desk as quietly as she could. From down the hall, she heard the murmur of voices again, she heard Jeremy’s voice call out, “Anna?”

Deciding she didn’t have time to leave a note, Violet jabbed the down arrow on the elevator hoping it wouldn’t take too long to appear. The elevator whirred to life and began its slow descent upwards, the seconds seemed to trickle by in excruciating slowness.  She heard Jeremy’s footsteps in the hall and pressed the button again, knowing it wouldn’t really make a difference. And then to her great relief, the elevator grinded to a stop and the doors opened smoothly, she popped inside just as she heard Jeremy’s shocked voice, “Vy?!”

As she turned to press the button on the panel, her scornful eyes connected with Jeremy’s before looking behind him to where Venetia stood with a smug smile on her face. She managed to hold on to the tears, which threatened to flow until she was safely back in her car once more. She started the engine and calmly drove herself home, concentrating all her attention on the road ahead, deliberately refusing to think of anything else.

The phone calls from Jeremy started to arrive soon after. Violet looked down at the caller ID, feeling utter disgust. Resolutely she pressed the decline button each time it rang until she was finally forced to turn her phone off. Jeremy was the last person she wanted to hear from. No doubt he had a packet of lies ready to force down her throat. 

***

The light in the living room was on; Debra must have heard her because the door opened just as she was inserting the key into the lock.

“Violet!” Debra greeted her with a slight concern, “Is everything okay? Did you drop it off?”

“Yes, I did. Everything’s fine.” Violet replied vaguely, too tired to go into the story now. She entered her home relishing the comfortable, homey feeling of the small bungalow.

“Okay well, Tanya’s in bed asleep already.”

Motherly concern overshadowed her immediate pain and she hurried to Tanya’s room, “Already? She usually puts up a struggle going to bed so early on a Saturday night.”

“Oh no no, she’s fine.” Debra hastened to assure her as Violet opened the door to Tanya’s room, “We spent a few hours at the park and I think that tired her out.”

True to Debra’s words, Tanya was fast asleep, curled up in a tight little ball, the blankets tucked around her warmly. Violet kissed her petal-like cheek, unconsciously listening for something to be wrong but Tanya’s even breathing assured her everything was all right. Feeling immensely relieved, she gave Debra a warm smile. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be the crazy mother. I hope she didn’t fuss too much with her supper?”

“No, she ate well, she’s fine Violet, don’t worry.” Debra smiled at her kindly and squeezed her hand in reassurance. “Sometimes kids get tired doing kid-like things, you know. She’s a tough little girl and she’s recovering well.”

“Thank you, Deb, want me to drop you off at home?”

“You look pretty tuckered out yourself, Violet, so don’t worry about it. I’m going to walk home.”Sensing that Violet was about to protest, Debra held up a hand, “I insist, it’s a really nice night out and it will take me less than ten minutes, so why don’t you call it an early night. I’ll show myself out.”

Feeling too emotionally spent to argue with the indomitable Debra, Violet agreed and hugged her friend goodbye, thinking for the hundredth time how grateful and lucky she was to have someone like Debra in her life. As she headed to her bedroom to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top, she heard the front door close and the lock click into place. Without bothering to wash her face or braid her hair, she crawled into bed after checking in on Tanya once more and resisted the urge to gather the warm bundle into her arms. Burying her head into her pillow, she allowed herself to release the flood of tears. Bitter, angry, lonely tears drenched her pillow before she fell into a dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Jeremy thought about it for a second. Seeing Violet standing by the elevator thinking he had cheated on her was a nightmarish situation to say the least and at first it was desperately important he clarify the whole situation. He wanted to tell her that Venetia had come by his office unannounced when everyone had left. That she had followed him into his office with a pretense of gathering information for a friend who was suffering from a heart problem. He started to gather some pamphlets for her when she started to openly flirt with him, telling him in a whisper she was dressed only in a bra and panties. And he had realized there was no friend and she had set out to seduce him. He was telling her to leave but then she grabbed him and started kissing him and that was the unfortunate moment Violet had chosen to drop by.

He wanted to explain all that to her and tell her there was nothing going on between him and Venetia, but as she continued to ignore his calls he finally gave up, thinking it might be better she think he was cheating on her so she could at least hate him and move on with her life. So he didn’t call her anymore and instead he poured all his energy back into his work, putting in long hours at the office, often staying up till 2a.m. in the morning reading research papers and books. Barely a week had gone by before Jeremy began to regret his rash decision. Over the span of a few short months, Violet and Tanya had become firmly entrenched into his life and suddenly cutting them out hurt more than he could ever have imagined, so he drowned himself in his work.

He made sure to not have even a spare second to himself because whenever he did, he found himself thinking of Violet; he thought of her musical laughter, her dancing eyes. He could hear the sound of her voice, her cries of ecstasy when she lay quivering in his arms. Memories of them talking, walking and eating engulfed him, making it hard to breathe or function. He missed her more than he had missed anything in his life and he couldn’t imagine going on for the rest of his life without her and Tanya. So he forced himself to never think of her and consumed his life with medical work.

He became extremely diligent, second-guessing his every decision, still haunted by the death of Mr. Karim and waiting for the day when his widow would no doubt file a suit against him. When he did finally hear from Mrs. Karim, she dropped another bombshell, which threw his world upside down yet again. The receptionist came to see him when he was back in his office from doing his rounds at the hospital, “Mrs. Karim is here to see you, Doctor.”

“To give me my walking papers no doubt,” he said dryly.

“I don’t think so, she’s been waiting here for the last five hours.”

“She’s not agitated or upset is she?” he asked cautiously.

“No, she seems fine.”

“Okay, send her in.” he said sighing to himself, better get this over with it.

“I’ll keep security on standby.” Lynn offered.

Jeremy just shook his head and went into his office to wait for Mrs. Karim. She came in to see him, quiet, composed and looking deeply ashamed of herself.

“May I come in, Doctor?” she asked in a small voice.

“Please do.” He said courteously. She came in and sat down on the chair across from him, looking nervous. “What can I do for you today, Mrs. Karim?”

Wringing her hands in distress, she looked at him with troubled eyes. “I have come to apologize.”

Instantly his heart softened at her words and guilt washed over him. “There’s no need for that, Mrs. Karim, you owe me no apology. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I should have been more careful…”

“No, Doctor,” she interrupted him, “it really wasn’t your fault, the autopsy result came back and his death wasn’t your fault. It was Al’s fault. You told him he wasn’t to drink while he was taking the medication but you see…you see…” her voice faltered briefly before she gathered her emotions and carried on, “You see he didn’t listen to your instructions. He was drinking secretly, I didn’t even know myself and when he took the medication you prescribed, it was a lethal combination and his heart stopped. So you see, Doctor, it wasn’t you who killed him, it was Al, and me too, I should have been watching him more carefully.”

Jeremy listened to her words almost in a trance, it wasn’t his fault! He hadn’t done anything wrong! He thought of his conversation with Violet and what he had given up and he could have cried. So much heartache could have been avoided! But then joy took over, this meant he could be with her again! As all these thoughts swirled through his head, he suddenly heard the guilt in Mrs. Karim’s voice and realized she was blaming herself. Pushing aside his thoughts of Violet, he focused his attention on the old woman sitting across from him.

“Mrs. Karim, you must not blame yourself for anything. Al was old enough to know what he was doing and he was well aware of the repercussions of mixing alcohol with his medication.”

“But I should have seen it,” she protested.

“How could you have seen it if he was hiding it from you? A good wife doesn’t spy on her husband, isn’t that right?”

Her face brightened a little at his words, “You’re right, I couldn’t have known unless I was spying on him and that wouldn’t have been very nice now, would it.”

“Exactly. But thank you for coming and telling me this.”

“Well it was my duty,” she said and then launched into a long discussion about how much she missed him and how much she had loved him. Jeremy listened quietly, letting the woman talk as much as she needed to. At last when she had nothing left to say, she slowly got to her feet and looking infinitely relieved, she left his office, humbly thanking him for everything he had done. Jeremy sat in his chair for a long while contemplating everything once she had left. He was glad to not have Al’s death on his conscience anymore, but he knew he had to decide whether he could be successful in his career and still make time for love. He looked back on the weeks without Violet in them and how empty they had been and he decided then and there no amount of success would mean anything if he didn’t have her at his side to share it with. Like a shot he was out the door, rushing across the city to reclaim his lost love.