Doctored (22 page)

“I have to get home to my kids,” Madison told her.

“Ah, so you had them after all.  I wondered.”

“Yeah, I got the white picket fence I wanted,” she said wryly.  She wondered if she should tell her about the divorce too.

Deanna laughed as expected.  “I’m happy to hear that,” she told her truthfully as she walked with the nurse towards her vehicle.  She wasn’t surprised to see it was a minivan.  “I’ve wondered about you over the years.”

“I’ve wondered about you too,” Madison was truthful.  She glanced at Deanna speculatively for a moment and then asked, “What are you doing here?”

Deanna had known that question would come up, but was surprised Maddie, now Madison, had been brave enough to voice it so quickly.  “I agreed to come as a favor to the board.  It’s only for six months, but I didn’t know you were here.  I saw you a few weeks back and I wasn’t sure how you would feel….”  She had seen her from afar and thought the bouquets a nice way to break the ice.  They had, after all, seen many of those flowers in their natural habitat, although some of them were derived from the original species and looked nothing like them anymore.

Madison unlocked the door to her vehicle with the key.  “I was surprised,” she admitted, looking at the doctor.  The high-tops were funny and funky, a far cry from the boots she had worn in Africa, a necessary evil.  They suited Deanna, made her appear cool and hip.  She wondered if anyone on the board or the stuffy doctors had said anything about them.  She could well imagine Deanna telling them to stuff it.  “We will have to get together and catch up,” she promised.

“Tomorrow?” Deanna asked persistently.

“I’ll get a sitter,” Madison agreed and got in her vehicle.  She waved in response to Deanna’s wave, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

* * * * *

“Hey, ready to go?” Deanna called, hurrying up as she saw Madison waiting near the entrance that they all used.

Madison had waited all day for this meeting, a bit on pins and needles.  She wasn’t hungry, but at the same time she was starved.  She couldn’t inquire at the hospital as the gossips would have a field day.  Her divorce alone had provided food for fodder, but she wouldn’t explain the reasons she had decided to file.  It was no one’s business but hers and Scott’s.  She didn’t need anyone to speculate on her relationship, past or present, with Deanna.

She saw that Deanna was wearing different shoes, black with rainbow laces.  It amused her as she knew that the doctors must be disapproving of so blatant a display.  The kids the doctor dealt with must love it—Deanna looked hip and cool.  Their parents probably realized that it was a subtle way to affirm her sexuality, but Maddie wondered at that.  Why the name change?  Had Deanna married?  Had she given up being a lesbian?

“You want to go in separate cars or…” Deanna gave her the option.

“Let’s take separate cars so we can drive home from wherever…” she responded, startled out of her surmising.

“I thought we’d go over to the steakhouse,” she pointed down the street from the hospital.

Knowing how tight her budget was since the divorce, Madison hesitated.  She hadn’t wanted a fast food restaurant, but…

“Hey, I invited you out, remember?” Deanna reminded her, seeing the hesitation.  “I’ll meet you there,” she finished, not giving her a choice, and walking away before Madison could argue.  She seemed to recall money had been an issue back in Lamish ever so long ago.

Madison watched from her own vehicle as Deanna walked over to the doctor’s parking lot.  She was amused to see her get into a Rover.  After ten years she couldn’t drive a different vehicle?  She made her way out of the general employee lot and turned onto the busy roadway towards the steakhouse.  She was there only a moment when Deanna pulled in beside her.  Still amused by the Rover, she greeted Deanna with a smile plastered to her face.

Seeing the amusement in the redhead’s still amazing blue eyes she asked, “What?”

“Not much for variety?” she tilted her head towards the Rover to indicate what she was talking about.

Deanna caught on immediately.  “Yeah, I guess I don’t like some changes.”  She turned to walk into the restaurant.

“Ah, Doctor Kearney,” the greeter said with obvious familiarity.  “We have your usual table...” she said, cutting off when she saw Madison was with the doctor.  She didn’t look too happy about it either.

“There will be two of us this evening, Lauren,” Deanna answered easily.

They began to follow the greeter and Madison asked to Deanna’s back, “Come here often?”

Deanna turned back to address her, “Every night practically.  It beats cooking.”

Madison had to agree with her.  They were seated in a booth built for two, maybe three people if someone sat at the back of the curve.

“Do you need menus or the usual?” the greeter asked, looking only at Deanna.

“I think tonight we will need menus,” Deanna said easily, deflecting the rudeness of Lauren.

The greeter handed them both a nice embossed menu and asked, “Drinks?”

“I’ll take whatever is on tap,” Deanna answered and then looked at Madison.

“I’ll have the same,” she answered, feeling foolish.  She didn’t go out often and hadn’t been out in a long time, except perhaps the fast food restaurants and through the drive-thru for the kids.  She quickly opened her menu, knowing Deanna was looking at her and feeling…inadequate.

Deanna already knew the menu by heart, but wanted to make Madison feel comfortable.  She was relieved when Lauren left to get them their beers.  She glanced away and looked around the restaurant to see if there was anyone from the hospital that she knew.  The furnishings were deep, rich, and polished woods.  She was glad there were no animal heads on the walls, but it was a near thing with the rest of the furnishings encouraging deer hunting and big game.  The beautiful pictures of the animals in their wild settings were much more preferable than the actual trophies, at least to Deanna’s way of thinking.  She saw one of the board members, and at their acknowledgement she nodded her head, smiling in that fake way that you often did when you saw someone you didn’t particularly care to see.  She knew at some point that person would come over to say hello.  She didn’t wish to be disturbed, but there was nothing for it.  She looked back at Madison to see her finishing the menu.

“Find something you like?” she asked.

“It’s kind of pricey, isn’t it?” the nurse responded warily.

“I told you, I got this,” she promised.  “Don’t worry about the prices.  Order whatever you want.”

Lauren returned with their beers and smiled, a fake little smile that she saved for customers.  Deanna saw it and was amused.  She watched as the woman left and wondered if she had some sort of crush on her…Deanna hadn’t encouraged her in any way.  She’d been coming here regularly for a while, but only because she liked at least one hot meal a day that she didn’t have to cook.  The cafeteria at the hospital wasn’t the best place to get a real meal, although the food was healthier there than in other hospitals she had visited.

A man hurried up.  “Oh, hello, Doctor Kearney.  Would you two like to hear the specials?” he asked courteously.

“I don’t need to hear them.  How about you?” Deanna asked Madison, looking at her curiously.  “Do you know what you would like?”

“The stuffed pork chops sound good,” she answered.

“Would you like green beans or asparagus with that?” he asked, scribbling.

In no time he had both their orders and Deanna reached for her beer to take a sip.  “Ah, that hits the spot,” she said with a sigh.

“It does,” Madison agreed, not knowing how to start talking to the woman she remembered from so long ago.  She looked different.  She was definitely more mature, but still had that youthful look about her that belied her age.  She knew that Deanna was the same age as her, but she certainly did not look it at all.  Madison had spread out a bit and hated that her hips had the middle-age spread from having given birth.  Deanna was still thin, her breasts a bit fuller, but maybe that was how she had aged.  She was wearing a white blouse…was it silk or satin?  Madison wouldn’t know.  She couldn’t have afforded to even look at that on her salary.  Deanna carried it fine, with a nice blazer over the ensemble.  She had definitely gotten better with age.

“So…what have you been up to for the past ten years?” Deanna began with a smirk, laughing at the incongruity of the question.

“Well,” Madison started laughing, “I’ve been married, I have two kids...and I’m divorced.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Didn’t it work out?” she sounded genuinely compassionate and Madison hated her for it, momentarily.

“It just didn’t feel like it was right,” she admitted honestly.  “He didn’t meet my needs, I guess.”

Deanna wanted to ask more in-depth questions, but didn’t feel it was her place.  She didn’t know Maddie,
this
Madison, like she had so long ago.

“What about you?  What’s with the name change?  Did you get married?” Madison asked her.

“Well, I’ve always been Doctor Kearney, but I wanted my anonymity in Africa, no special privileges.  Fortunately, Doctor Wilson understood that.  Doctor Burton, not so much,” she admitted wryly as she remembered how hard he had made things.  It didn’t have to be that way.

“Ah, so you were Doctor Kearney all along?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

Deanna shrugged as she looked at Madison.  “I guess it didn’t really matter to me at the time.  It matters more to others.  I prefer to get by on my own merit.  What about you?  Why Madison now?  What happened to Maddie?”

“Oh, that was a child’s name.  I found I was taken more seriously when I went by my full name,” she dismissed.

Deanna nodded understandingly.  “Do you have pictures of your children?” she asked kindly, genuinely interested, wondering if she had some of her husband too.  Who had she procreated with?  She remembered that male nurse Shawn from so long ago.

Madison pulled up pictures on her phone and, sliding around the curve of the booth slightly, began to show Deanna pictures of two children who were absolutely precious.  Chloe was about eight and Conor about seven.  Both had Madison’s red hair, but it was obvious that Conor would take after his father, a robust and hearty man from the picture of the four of them that Madison shared.

“They are beautiful,” Deanna told her and meant it.  Chloe looked like Madison so much that Deanna was certain that was how she had looked as a child.  They both scooted back to their sides of the table as their food was brought up.

“This looks delicious,” Madison commented before digging in to her pork chops.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” their waiter came back to ask.

“I’ll take another one of these?” Deanna tapped her fork on the glass of her draft beer.

A persistent noise went off and Maddie looked at Deanna wondering why she didn’t take care of it.  It was after the third time that she asked, “Are you going to answer that?”

“Answer what?” Deanna asked in return, genuinely confused.

“Your phone?”

Deanna looked at her for a moment and then began to fish around in her pockets for the device.  Pulling it out, she kept pushing buttons on the side until a screen lit up.  “Well, what do you know?” she murmured.  She looked up at Madison and said, “It was easier when they had beepers.  Excuse me for a minute, will you?”  She got up and walked away, an amused Madison watching as she tried to make the phone work for her.  It was obvious she wasn’t familiar with the technology.

When she returned to the table, they both finished their meals, chatting easily, but really not telling each other much of anything.

“Doctor Kearney?” a voice asked as they were chatting.  Deanna looked up, went to get up, but the man addressing her quickly motioned her to sit.  “Sit, sit.  I didn’t want to interrupt, but I wanted to introduce my wife before we left,” he said.  “Audrey.”

The woman had a pinched face that looked like she had been drinking straight lemon juice. 

“Hello,” Deanna said, holding out her hand to be shaken.  The woman’s grip was limp and too effeminate for a real handshake.  Something must be wrong with her arm as it went up and down oddly, the woman must have thought it was effusive.

“This is Deanna Kearney of Kearney Pharmaceuticals,” he explained to his wife.  “We’re hoping to get her on the board and…” he would have gone on to explain more, but Deanna interrupted, distinctly uncomfortable.

“I’ve explained it would be a conflict of interest and not compatible with our dealings.  As a doctor I can practice without entering into the dealings with my family’s holdings.”  Her voice sounded pained as she glanced at Madison to see if she had caught on to what the man had just disclosed.

“You don’t even run the…” he began to argue, trying to persuade her.

“This isn’t the type of conversation we should be having here,” she warned him with a charming smile.

He got the hint and, not wishing to offend the valuable doctor, he soon made his exit, trying to be charming…and failing. 

Deanna waited until they were both out of the restaurant before remarking, “Money, brains, and no class.”  She sighed, wondering when the questions would begin.  She wasn’t disappointed as Madison asked one right away.