The Doctor’s Claim Read online

  “I need my medicine,” she said peremptorily, referring to some stupid vitamin or other that she’d started taking a decade back and was convinced held the cure to every ailment.

  “You can’t bring outside medications into a hospital, Mom. If you need medicine, they’ll figure out exactly what and provide it.”

  That set her off on a wild rant and all I could do was sink into a chair, lock eyes with a sympathetic nurse, and wait for it to end.

  Chapter Nine

  Chloe

  I jumped to my feet as David walked into the lobby, sipping distastefully at a cup of coffee. “Honestly, this has to be hot water and food dye.”

  “How is he?” I asked urgently.

  The hospital staff had headed me off at the pass when David had informed them that I wasn’t family. I’d been sitting waiting for what felt like forever, praying for some kind of good news.

  “They,” David replied, trying another sip and making an identical grimace to the one he’d walked in wearing, “are fine.”

  “They?” I repeated uncertainly.

  “Mother and Father,” he clarified, tossing the full cup into a trashcan. “Come on. I need something with actual caffeine.”

  “What about Alex?” I asked. “And I thought it was just your father?”

  “Alex is dealing with Mother,” David replied, taking my arm and steering me toward the exit. “He’ll be in there for a good while, so there’s no point cooling our heels here.”

  Bewildered, I allowed myself to be led outside, where David stopped and considered various restaurant options in the vicinity before apparently deciding on one and starting across the street, half-dragging me.

  “What happened to your mother?” I asked.

  He rolled his eyes. “Father was having a cup of coffee—a good cup of coffee, I might add—during a business meeting. He’s always had acid reflux but refuses to do anything Alex or the doctors tell him.”

  I noticed immediately that he didn’t class his brother as a doctor and wondered why, but decided now was not the time to ask. We stopped at a crosswalk and waited for traffic to slow.

  “He also had a massive breakfast full of everything he’s not supposed to eat. So, in the middle of his meeting, he started feeling this heavy ache in his chest.” My arm clasped firmly in his, David guided me across the street toward Java Joe’s. “If you’re not aware, my family has a tendency toward melodrama. He panicked and that probably worsened the heartburn. He collapsed on the floor and Mother was right there with him, shrieking hysterically and screaming for her own doctor.”

  I blinked, trying to take all that in as we walked up to the take-out only coffee joint. While David ordered, not bothering to ask if I wanted anything, I felt a deep sadness well up inside of me for Alex. My family had been far from perfect, but the chaos David had just described was nothing I’d ever experienced, not even on our worst days.

  “Much better.” He smacked his lips around what looked like a cappuccino and finally actually looked at me. “So. You’re into Alex.”

  Stepping up to the window to order something to ward off the cold, I studiously avoided his gaze. It was so unlike his brother’s. So cold. So … judging?

  “Oh, sorry. Here. I’ve got it. What do you want?” David elbowed me aside and shoved a wad of cash at the cashier without even asking the price.

  “Uh … hot chocolate,” I muttered.

  “Not a fan of coffee?” he asked archly.

  Why I told him, I don’t know, but I did. “Caffeine isn’t good for babies.”

  David’s eyes went wide for just a second before his usual narrow-eyed gaze reasserted itself. “Aha,” he said thoughtfully, as the cashier handed over my hot chocolate.

  I cupped my hands around it, cold in more ways than one. “Aha?” I repeated.

  “That explains your interest in my brother.”

  If I’d been taking a sip right then, I’d have spat it out all over myself. Thankfully, I’d barely lowered my nose for a sniff. “Excuse me?”

  David smirked. “Don’t playact with me, Chloe. My family is very familiar with your type.”

  “My type,” I repeated, strangely numb in the face of what was very definitely some kind of insult. Usually I’d have let him have it with both guns blazing, but this was part of the issue I hadn’t had a chance to discuss earlier with Alex …

  “Hangers on,” he elaborated. “People in need of our class. And our cash.”

  Behind us, the cashier coughed violently and David swung around, probably to give him an earful. I took my chance and started away at a fast pace, but not fast enough. A moment later, he was beside me once more.

  “Don’t take it like that. We have. You don’t. It’s natural for you to want it.”

  “How is Alex even from your same family?” I muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, Alex is no saint,” he promised me, and I could see his perfect grin from out of the corner of my eye, leering at me. “You do realize that you’re just a project for him.”

  Now I stopped and turned to face David head on, my temper finally flaring. “Excuse me?” Somehow it was one thing for him to tear into me, but for him to start in on his brother—

  He laughed. “Look at you. Already thinking you’re in love with him. Worse yet. Probably already thinking he’s in love with you. Let me save you the heartache, sweetheart. The Reeds don’t love commoners. Alex went to medical school to save the world, not to marry it. You’re one of his little projects where he feels like he can redeem himself somehow by pulling you up out of the gutter.”

  The problem was that Paul’s walking out on me had cut more deeply than I’d let on to anybody. I’d thought he was so into me … and then he wasn’t. So there was a chance that I might be making the same mistake again with Alex. Right?

  “Poor Chloe,” David droned on. “Let me take you home, sweets. It’ll save you all kinds of heartache. Stress can’t be any better for the baby than caffeine, right?”

  I wanted to douse him in steaming hot chocolate. I really did. I was so close …

  “If you don’t believe me, here’s the evidence.” Before I knew it, he’d shoved his phone under my nose. It was a conversation between him and Alex and much as I wanted to tear my eyes away, I was paralyzed.

  Esme’s hot, right? I’m not slumming?

  She’s gorgeous. And you’re an ass.

  Really? I’m not too good for her?

  Man, she is way too good for you. When did you mutate, Dave?

  So you don’t see Chloe as slumming?

  Unlike your feelings toward Esme, I’m too good for her.

  Told you …

  Honestly, the conversation didn’t even make sense. Something was seriously off. But all my brain saw was I’m too good for her I’m too good for her I’m too good for her I’m too good for her.

  David patted my back sympathetically and I didn’t even have the strength to pull away. My mind was whirling with feelings of betrayal, warring with the belief that Alex was better than this. I knew he was.

  Except. I didn’t. That’d been the whole thing earlier, when he’d halfway told me he loved me and wanted to raise my baby with me—

  My eyes filled with tears.

  —and I’d tried to remind him that we barely knew each other.

  “Right this way,” David said quietly, and I stumbled along beside him in a daze. Somehow, I found myself in his car and somehow I then found myself back on my grandmother’s doorstep, with David waving to me as he pulled away. “You’re making the right decision, Chloe,” he called. “For you and your baby. Alex has no part to play in your lives.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alex

  I should’ve walked out on Mom. And after I finally did, I should’ve walked out of the hospital, rather than going back to check on Dad. I had no connection with them whatsoever. I’d spent most of my life with them and yet I knew Chloe better than either one. But they were my parents and I wanted to help, even th
ough several decades should have told me I couldn’t.

  By the time I finally walked into the lobby, bone weary and having accomplished nothing more than making my parents a) angrier and b) even more certain that my degree was a sham, all I wanted was to find Chloe and hold her close to me. No talking. Not even necessarily any kissing. I just wanted to be with her quietly, and I knew she’d understand exactly that need. Chloe understood everything.

  Except, Chloe wasn’t in the waiting room. And she didn’t answer my call, or my texts.

  “You were here for hours,” David pointed out as he strolled into the waiting room with a fresh cup of coffee. “If you’re looking for your girl, I’m guessing she split.”

  “No,” I said firmly. “Chloe wouldn’t just walk like that.”

  He snorted and handed me the coffee. “Here. Drink that. Maybe it’ll thaw your brain. You don’t know the girl, Alex.”

  I gave him a look even as I gratefully sipped the coffee. “Since when do you do nice things like remembering other people might need caffeine?”

  “I’m a nicer guy than you think,” he shrugged. “Look. It was like five hours you were in there. No girl who isn’t married to you or seriously dating is going to wait around that long.”

  “Chloe’s different,” I insisted.

  “And you say I’m selfish?” David said archly. “Dude. Pregnant lady? Exhausted, maybe?”

  “How do you know she’s pregnant?” I said in surprise, feeling guilt creep in at the truth of his words.

  “She told me,” he replied. “Right before she hit on me.”

  My free hand clenched into a fist. “Bullshit. Don’t even go there, David. I mean it.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Why? Because you don’t believe that your busgirl might just have a thing for the Reeds, rather than you?”

  “She’s not like that.”

  “They’re all like that, big bro. You’d think Chicago would have cleared up some of your chronic case of naivete. The girl acted all heartbroken for a little while and then she was suddenly all over me.”

  I lunged for David, splashing searing coffee everywhere and biting back a scream of pain and fury.

  He danced back, his face grim. “Think about it. How else would I know about her pregnancy, Alex? She’s desperate for someone to raise the kid. Someone with money.”

  The remains of my coffee splashed all over his shirt and my left hook collided powerfully with his right temple. Then I was out of the hospital, driving away from the Reed family drama as fast as I could.

  I didn’t believe a damn word out of David’s mouth. Sure, I didn’t know why he knew about her pregnancy, but I trusted Chloe. I hadn’t realized up until that moment how much I trusted her above anyone else in my life. It was irrational and borderline insane, but hey, insanity clearly ran in my family.

  Following that insanity, I took a sharp detour, ran a fast errand, and then jumped back in the car and hooked it toward Chloe’s. She had to be there, waiting to find out how my parents were. True, I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t answering my calls, but she’d have a good reason.

  Pulling up in Chloe’s driveway, I jumped out and was halfway to the door when her sister—the short, soft one—walked outside, arms folded across her chest. I slowed and waved tentatively, unsure what had changed the expression on her previously friendly face.

  “Hi. Is, uh, Chloe in?”

  “No,” she said flatly, then didn’t contribute further information.

  “Um.” I scratched the back of my neck, uncertain. “I’m not sure if she told you what happened—”

  “She told us. You have some nerve showing up here. If Mara were around, you’d have a rifle stuck halfway up your behind.”

  I blinked in shock. “Wait. What? You don’t understand.”

  “I understand plenty,” she said tersely, every line in her face so rigid that it was obvious she was fighting back rage. “You’ve known my sister for all of a few days and yet somehow you still managed to wipe the floor with her heart worse than when the father of her baby walked out on her.”

  “I did what?” I exclaimed in shock. “Wait a minute. Look. My parents were both taken to the hospital. Chloe went with me and I guess they didn’t let her because she wasn’t family, so I kept her waiting for hours, I know. I’m really sorry. But they were my parents—”

  “And she’s my sister,” the woman—Shannon, I finally remembered—cut in coolly. “She showed us the text. So you can quit your crap.”

  “Text?” I echoed. “What text? She didn’t answer any of my texts!”

  As I spoke, the Mercedes pulled up suddenly in the driveway, peeling in so hard that it kicked up a cloud of dust. Out of the Mercedes climbed tall and sharp Mara, her eyes blazing as she headed straight for me.

  “You better run, boy.”

  Exasperated, I threw up my hands. “What the almighty fuck? All I want to know is where Chloe is!”

  “Don’t you presume to curse at me on my own land!” Mara snarled, walking up and poking me hard in the chest with nails like talons. “Not after you left my baby sister close to a zombie. When I loaded her on that bus, she was so lifeless I worried for her baby.”

  “Bus?” Tired of echoing everyone’s words, I finally spat out my question. “Look. I have no idea what the fuhh—crap is going on here, other than that Chloe isn’t here. For some reason you all think I’ve hurt her. But I would never do that. See?” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the small jeweler’s box and popped the lid so they got an eyeful of the simple but brilliant ring. “It’s not super fancy because I didn’t think she’d be into that. But it sparkles. Like, uh, her eyes. So why would I get her this if I didn’t love her? If I didn’t want to commit to her?”

  Both Mara and Shannon had actually gone silent for a few minutes. When Shannon finally spoke, her tone had thawed very slightly.

  “You don’t even know her.”

  “I know her enough to love her. And you’re telling me that she’s on a bus? Headed where?” I asked desperately. “And why, for God’s sake?”

  The look the two women exchanged between them sent chills down my spine before Mara finally said, “You better come in.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Chloe

  The bus was louder than the one I’d taken earlier in the week, what seemed like a full century back. Having left my phone at the house and practically everything else, I had nothing to block the sound. So I wrapped my head in my sweater and tried to sink into some kind of coma where there was no sound and no pain. No vision of Alex dancing in front of my eyes, typing out those cruel words.

  Too numb to even cry, I rested my palm over my unborn child and whispered, “Just you and me, little one. Somehow, we’ll make it work. Just like we were planning before he walked into our lives.”

  Technically, I’d walked into his, I had to admit. I’d forced myself into the seat beside his and now I was paying dearly for my temerity.

  I didn’t ask to love him, I whispered to myself. That was never part of the plan.

  But I had, almost immediately. Something about that stupid newspaper, his immediate surly attitude, followed by the shift to total protectiveness, had reeled me in like a fish. And now I was left flopping on the line, struggling to breathe.

  God, what a morbid image, but it was exactly how I felt. He’d played me for a total fool, gotten me in bed almost instantly, and then laughed about it behind my back, undoubtedly just waiting for me to head back to Chicago at which point I’d never hear from him again.

  The air beneath the hoodie was getting stuffy, so I finally shoved it back and took a deep breath in. The noise was still there. Screaming baby in the back; arguing couple on my left; someone’s non-soundproof earbuds in the near vicinity, venting misogynistic lyrics every which way.

  “You okay?” my seatmate asked sympathetically.

  He was a gray-haired guy, actually someone I could see reading a paper. His face was creased and kind, almost making m
e tear up. But not quite. I couldn’t let go until I got back home. Then I’d wallow for a few days before picking myself up and moving on with my life.

  “I’m … fine,” I mumbled, reaching for the water bottle Mara had insisted I take, if nothing else.

  “You’ve been tossing and turning for over an hour.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t seem fine to me.”

  “Has it been that long already?” I scrubbed at my eyes in disbelief. “Sorry, have I kept you awake?”

  “You’re fine,” he assured me. “I rarely sleep in automobiles. Leaves me queasy.”

  Nodding, trying to remain polite while utterly uninterested in conversation with anyone, I squeezed past him and stumbled down the aisle to the bathroom. Predictably, it was less than clean but at least I managed to wash my face and even attempt to square my shoulders in the mirror, giving myself a stern lecture.

  “You didn’t know him. Whatever you’re feeling is an exaggeration, probably because of your pregnancy hormones. You may have thought you loved him, but you didn’t. And even if you did, he was way out of your social stratosphere. There was never any chance, kid. Just deal with it.”

  Shaking my head and trying to force myself to believe, I stepped out of the bathroom and discovered to my surprise that we were stopped. With relief and more than a little confusion, I stood in the back and watched everyone in the bus, screaming baby included, vacate the premises.

  The driver glanced at the way I was protectively holding my stomach, something that was becoming more instinctive by the minute, and nodded. “You can stay on the bus, miss. We’re having some mechanical trouble and just sent for another bus to come meet us so you all can transfer onto it. Go ahead and get you some rest while it’s quiet.”

  Gratefully, I sank down into my seat, minus my chatty seatmate, and reached for my hoodie once more.

  Time must have passed. I wasn’t sure how long, but I actually managed to doze a little, until my seatmate returned and gripped my shoulder, shaking me, clearly telling me to move out of his window seat. It was just so much easier to rest when my head was pillowed on the glass, rather than my own shoulder, though.