Mistake (8 page)

CHAPTER
19

    “How was your trip?” Beth’s mother asked as she and Andrew entered the house.

     “It was wonderful,” Beth said as Andrew put her overnight bag on the couch and Beth threw her purse on the table. “I will never forget it,” she said smiling at Andrew.

     “Separate rooms, right,” Beth’s father bellowed as he entered the room.

     “Yes, daddy,” Beth said as she held out her hand for her parents to see her ring.

     “Good lord. Are you two engaged?” her mother asked.

     “Isn’t this kind of sudden and quick? Is something going on that you need to get married?” her father asked suspiciously.

     “No daddy. We haven’t even discussed any plans yet or set a date.”

     “Have you been participating in any hanky panky and now you need to get married?” her fathered asked with a stern look.

     “No daddy. You’re embarrassing me.”

     “Okay honey, I apologize. Let me have a look at that ring,” he said reaching for her hand.

     “Very nice,” he said eyeing the ring. “Take a look Kate,” he said holding Beth’s hand out toward her to look at the ring.

     “Son, I do believe you forgot to speak with me before you asked my daughter to marry you,” Father Master’s said.

     Andrew looked at Beth with an expression as if he was about to run. Beth’s father let out a burley laugh and reached for Andrew’s hand, “Welcome to the family,” he said shaking Andrew’s hand.

     Beth and Andrew both let out a breath of relief as Father Masters laughed happily and Kate eased over to hug Beth and Andrew.

     “Look who’s back,” Lil said eagerly as she entered the open door.

     Lil gasped and her hand went up to her mouth, “Is that what I think it is. Is that an engagement ring I see?”

     “Yes it is,” Beth’s mother said excitedly. “We have a wedding to plan.”

     “I have to get home to prepare for work,” Andrew announced. “I’ll see you in the morning for coffee before you go to work Beth,” he said kissing Beth on the cheek and heading for the door.

     “Come on Beth, upstairs, tell me everything,” Lil demanded heading for the stairs and dragging Beth by the hand.

     “Spill it,” Lil said plopping down on the bed.

     “There’s nothing to tell,” Beth said with a shy smile.

     “Come on Beth. You have that look.”

     “What look?”

     “That sick I’m in love look. What happened in one night? Oh!  My! God! Wait, you tried the shoes on!”

     “No, Lil, I didn’t. Okay. It was the most romantic evening I could have ever imagined,” Beth said tilting her head to the side and looking at Lil with a dreamy expression. “He took me to see Romeo and Juliet in New York and then we went to a very nice restaurant where he proposed and gave me this beautiful ring,” she said holding her ring up to admire it.

     “And you said yes!”

     “Well of course I did. I’m wearing the ring silly.”

     “You spent the night with him, didn’t you?”

     “Lil, we had separate suites.”

     “So. That means nothing. What happened? I can see it. Stop holding back. Do you love him Beth?”

     Beth’s eyes gleamed as she answered, “Yes, I love him so much.”

     “Beth you have that look in your eyes. He put something on you girl.”

     “No, you know I’m waiting until I get married.”

     “So, let me get this straight. He asked you to marry him. You said yes and he didn’t try to get you into your bed?”

     “Well, he did…”

     “I knew it! Beth, come on now. Do you think he rushed to give you the most romantic evening of your life and a ring like that to get into your panties?”

     “Lil! That’s a mean thing to say! But because it’s you and I know how your mind works, I’m going to let that remark slide.”

     “Beth, you’re my dearest friend and I won’t stand by and let no one take advantage of you. If you didn’t have sex, what did the two of you do? And don’t say nothing. I don’t have stupid written across my forehead.”

     “We kissed a little.”

     “And you are now deeply in love with Andrew after a play and dinner?”

     “I do love him. I love him more than I could have ever imagined Lil. Just be happy for me.”

     “So, you’re telling me you are still a virgin, no sex?”

     “Well, yes.”

     “Oh hell no. I’m not that crazy. He has you wrapped now. If you didn’t have sex with him…, Oh shit Beth, you let him taste your fruits?”

     Beth paled and said nothing.

     “Beth, you did! And you think that’s not having sex. He may not have ruptured your hymen but he has you in a way that you will keep going back. Awe man, you better not let Father Masters find out. He will be praying over you for years.”

     “Stop Lil. He won’t find out unless you tell him. Oh Lil, that was the most mind-blowing thing I have ever experience. I don’t ever want to be without him. I want to give myself to him completely now. If it wasn’t for my father I would have given him whatever he wanted.”

     “Oh Beth, you have it bad.”

     “I do and I can’t wait until our wedding night.”

CHAPTER
20

    
Beth was waiting at the door for Andrew in the morning with his coffee after his morning run.

     “Good morning beautiful,” Andrew said as he accepted the coffee from Beth.

     “I made breakfast to go with that coffee,” Beth said as she feathered a kiss across his lips.

     “How do you find the energy to do all this in the morning before you go to work?” Andrew asked.

     “I just love starting my day off with the man I love.”

     “I love you too sweetness,” he replied as he perched in a chair at the table.

      “It would be nice if we were on the same shift so we could spend more time together.”

     “I agree, it would be much nicer if you were on days with me instead of evenings,” Beth replied. “Then after breakfast, we could ride to work together.”

     “I was thinking, we should go out this weekend and start making wedding plans,” Andrew said.

    “You’re in a hurry aren’t you?” Beth asked.

     “I am. I want everyone to know you’re off the market. You’re mine,” he replied leaning across the table to kiss Beth.

     “Oh, I believe this one carat marquise says it all,” Beth replied admiring her ring. “Well I have to get to work and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast.”

     “You’re spoiling me Beth.”

     “I know,” she said as she headed for her car.

     Beth entered the report room with the other day shift nurses to wait for the night shift nurses to handoff their patients by giving a report to the day nurses.

     “Oh my goodness!” Betsy, one of the day nurses exclaimed. “Look at that rock Beth is sporting.”

     “It’s gorgeous!” Tammy, another nurse remarked. “Someone is getting married. Who is the lucky guy? Do we know him?”

     Beth smiled broadly, “Yes, it’s Andrew.”

     “Andrew? As in Dr. Conway?” Tammy asked in disbelief.

     “You mean the new nurse landed and tamed Dr. Conway? Betsy said sarcastically.

     Beth turned a glaring confused eye on Betsy,                   “What do you mean by that remark?” Beth asked.

     “Don’t pay any attention to her Beth. She’s just jealous because she couldn’t get him all to herself, no matter how she threw herself at him,” Tammy replied with a chuckle.

     “Good morning,” Lil said to the day shift nurses. “I hope you have assigned patients because we night shift nurses are tired and ready to go to bed.”

     “Oh my God, that ring is blinding me,” Sandy a night shift nurse blurted out.

     “Compliments of Dr. Conway,” Betsy said sarcastically.

     “Someone sounds jealous,” Lil said.

     “You see Beth, Lil agrees me. She’s being attacked by the green eyed monster,” Tammy said happily.

     “You don’t know what you’re talking about Tammy,” Betsy said angrily.

     “Enough with the elementary school behavior; let’s get report done so we can get home,” Lil said.

     After report was all done and the nurses were exiting the conference room Lil walked over to Beth and took her hand in hers to admire the ring.

     “This is one beautiful ring and it has already caused trouble. The new nurse has landed a doctor. The jealousy has just begun Beth. Ignore it,” Lil said.

     “I’m here to take care of my patients, not to fuel the rumor mill. You need to get home so you can get some sleep and come back tonight to redo it all over again,” Beth said giving Lil a hug.

     Lil exited the room to go home followed by Beth to begin her day of taking care of her patients.

     “Good morning Mrs. Greene,” Beth greeted cheerfully.

     “Good morning nurse Beth,” the elegant looking patient answered sitting on the side of the hospital bed brushing her shiny gray streaked black hair which fell to her shoulders.

     “You’re looking as healthy as ever. You will probably go home in the next day or two. We’re just waiting for a couple test results.”

     “I’m looking forward to that. My sista is visiting from New Orleans and I would enjoy spending time with her outside this hospital,” she replied with black eyes filled with excitement.

     “Is there anything I can do for you now, Mrs. Greene?”

     “No, I’m fine. I’m so happy you’re my nurse today.”

     Beth handed a medicine cup to her patient. Mrs. Greene began to reach for the cup but snatched her hand back as if she had touched fire and her black eyes dilated tenfold.

     “My goodness! Look at that ring!” she exclaimed. “You are one lucky girl.”

     “Thank you. I’m really pleased with my ring.”

     “Congratulations nurse Beth. I only wish I could see you in your wedding dress.”

     “We haven’t even set a date yet, Mrs. Greene.”

     “Here, let me give you my address and phone number. Make an old lady happy and send an invitation.”

     Beth accepted the paper handed to her, “I will Mrs. Greene.”

     “Beth, could I speak with you a moment?” Keisha, the charge nurse asked.

     Beth excused herself and walked into the hall.

     “One of the evening shift nurses called out sick. I was wondering if you could work her shift. It would be a great help.”

     “Yes, I can do that. I don’t have any plans for this evening.”

     “Wonderful,” Keisha said walking briskly down the hall.

     Beth thought about how she was going to have to double back to work in the morning with less sleep than usual. A sixteen hour shift; Beth couldn’t believe she agreed to it.

     The sixteen hour shift was coming slowly to an end. Beth was feeling tired and decided to take a walk to the canteen to get a soda. She strolled to the elevator and was greeted by Karen and Joe, two of the evening shift nurses standing at the elevator.

     “The elevator is so slow tonight,” Joe said looking at Beth.

     “Well, I’m not waiting,” Beth said as she headed to the door across from the elevator leading to the stairs.

     Beth entered the stairwell and froze at the top step as the sound of muffled noises echoed up the steps. She quietly stepped back and peered over the railing in the direction of the sounds. Her hand flew up to her mouth to muffle the scream trying to escape. Her eyes widened and filled with tears as she backed quietly toward the door, eased it open and ran smack into Joe and Karen landing her on the floor.

     “Beth, are you okay!” Joe said helping her up.

      She couldn’t get out any words. She just looked at the pair with horror filled eyes and turned away running down the hall to the bathroom and locking herself in. She couldn’t process what she had just seen.

     Joe and Karen concerned about what spooked Beth in the stairwell went to investigate. They looked over the railing and froze. Joe grabbed Karen’s arm and eased the two of them out of the stairwell.

     “What the fuck?” Joe said shaking his head.

     “Oh shit, Joe. Don’t you say a word. Not one word.”

CHAPTER
21

     Beth went straight to her room after work and threw herself across the bed and let the tears flow.
How could he,
she thought to herself.
How could he ask me to marry him, tell me he loved me and stand on a fuckin stairwell and fuck that bitch,
her thoughts yelled in her head.

     She could see it over and over in head. The woman’s long legs wrapped around Andrew’s waist with her skirt hiked up to her waist, his hands holding on to her ass as he plummeted in and out of her. Beth became angry as the hurt was pushed back.
Who was she and how long has he been fuckin her,
Beth wanted to know.
They were so involved they didn’t even notice me,
she thought bitterly to herself.
Well he wasn’t going to get away with this. He will pay,
she thought as the anger consumed her and the tears drenched her pillow.

     Beth thought about Cornflower. She could now feel the depth of the pain that pushed her to take her own life.
But what did she accomplish by killing herself? She was gone. She would never enjoy watching her daughter grow up. She will miss everything, Kelly’s graduations, proms, smiles and laughter. She’s gone and Tommy lives on to pick up the pieces of his life and move on. Well fuck that,
she thought.

     
She thought about what to do when Andrew came over in the morning for breakfast. She knew he would come; after all he didn’t know she was at work. She intended to surprise him after work by waiting for him at his car. Instead she was the one who got a surprise.

     Okay, pull it together Beth,
she thought.
No more tears. When he comes over I will act as if everything is hunky dory until I figure out how to handle him,
she told herself.

     
Her phone chimed. Andrew’s smiling picture showed on the screen. She threw the phone against the wall
,
pressed her face into the pillow to catch her tears and drifted off to sleep.

      Beth awoke an hour earlier than usual feeling as if she had not slept all night. She pulled herself off the bed and went to the shower. The hot water pounded her body and soothed her thoughts. She had a show to put on for Andrew this morning.