Doctored (37 page)

“Cool,” Conor breathed and his exclamation was echoed by Chloe.

“Is this the house you found, Mom?” Roman asked unnecessarily.

“No, I thought we’d just start going to strangers’ houses and see what we find,” she teased and then turned back to grin at the boy who laughed at her sarcasm.  “Come on, you kids.  Let’s go check out my new house.”

They all got out of the car including Fluffy, who immediately started sniffling the foliage around the house and lifting his leg.  “Is he fixed?” Deanna asked Madison.

“I have no idea, good question,” she answered, wondering if Scott had taken care of that or if she would have to.

“You have the keys?” Roman asked his mother as they climbed out of the vehicle.

“Yep, right here,” she patted her pocket as she waited for the dog to stop peeing and then pulled him over.  “Come on F–Fluffy,” she said, the name seeming to stick in her throat for a moment.  She looked at Madison and pulled down her sunglasses so she could see her roll her eyes.

Madison laughed and held out her hand for the leash as Deanna pulled the keys out of her hand and unlocked a door to the right of the garage.  Inside you could go into the large bays of the garage to the left or up a flight of steps into the main part of the house.  They began to climb the steps and Deanna had to unlock another door.  Inside was a very large kitchen with marble countertops of pearl gray color that were absolutely stunning.  The wood of the cabinets was a cherry color that was lighter than most cherry wood and the inlaid designs were obviously hand-hewn.  The top cabinets were all glass with a reflective mirror inside.  Once the lights were on, it lit up the kitchen beautifully, showing its warmth.  The ceiling was of copper that made the cherry wood look even paler.  The kitchen led to a dining room and on the other side, beyond a wall, was a large living area with a big screen television already attached to the wall.

“The last owner had nowhere to go with that,” Deanna indicated the sixty-inch television.

“Oh, cool,” the younger kids breathed.

“Oh, look at that,” Madison marveled, for beyond the living room was a patio area with an in-ground swimming pool, which was dug into the side of the hill and glass on one side to make it an eternity pool.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Mom, can we go swimming?” Conor asked excitedly as he saw the pool.

“Well,” Madison didn’t know what to say, they weren’t invited here to swim.

“Let’s look around a bit more, eh, champ?” Deanna smiled down at his enthusiasm.

At the front of the house to the right of the front doors was a room that could be considered a library, but was obviously a warm den with a fireplace and bookshelves lining all of the walls.  The light in the room was incredible and enhanced by strategically-placed skylights.

“Wow, this is incredible,” Madison marveled.

“Isn’t this great?” Deanna asked her with a smile.  “I can’t wait to order some books,” she enthused.

“Why don’t you take some from the library at the house?” Roman asked her.

“I will, but some should remain there,” she answered with a smile as she ruffled his hair.  It wasn’t completely straight like her own, but her ruffling had it sticking on end and he ducked as he smiled.

“Where are the bedrooms?” Chloe asked.

“Across over there,” Deanna pointed to a hallway beyond the kitchen and to the left of the front door.  They all walked across stone floors that were of the same stone used on the outside of the house, but polished to a high sheen.  A hall began beyond the kitchen area with a powder room, a laundry room, and four bedrooms off of it.  Each bedroom had its own bathroom.  The master bedroom was twice the size of any of the smaller bedrooms with a luxurious bathroom.

“That’s a lot of bathrooms to clean,” Deanna commented.

“Yeah, I’ll have to interview someone to come in and take care of that for me.  I wonder if they might want to work at cleaning the clinic too,” she murmured as she showed off the bathroom with a sunken tub and a steam shower that was big enough for four people.

“That might be a lot to ask of one person,” Madison pointed out.  “Why do you need this much room?” she asked over the children, who were discussing the rooms and what should be in them.

“I’ll show you why,” and with that she opened the windows in the bathroom where blinds had hidden the view.  The hill they were on gave them a fine view of the Pacific Ocean.  Later, as she showed them around the outside of the house, Deanna found they could sit on the patio that led up to the front door and the view was incredible—the Pacific Ocean in front of them and the mountains of Santa Barbara rising behind them, the white of the stones that were visible almost looked like snow.  “I’m going to have to hire gardeners.  The owners apparently fired the previous gardeners for some reason,” Deanna confided, looking at the overly long grass.

Fluffy started barking at something in the overgrown foliage and Madison pulled him back.  “I don’t want to know what he might have found,” she stated to Deanna.  They watched as the children ran back and forth across the lawn, the hill no problem for their young legs.  “That will work up an appetite.”

“Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” she teased.  It had been several hours since they had breakfast.

“Why don’t we go down by the pier and grab…” Deanna began.

“I packed a lunch, remember?”

“Oh yeah, sorry.”

“We could probably use something to drink besides the water that I brought.”

They gathered up the children and locked the house behind them as they made their way out the garage door again.  Deanna showed them a large room under the house off the garage that could only be a rec room, but contained nothing but indoor-outdoor carpeting at the moment.

“That TV should be down here,” Madison commented.

“I agree, good idea.  It’s really too big for the living room and the furniture I have in mind.”

“This indoor-outdoor carpet, do you think it’s a good idea?”  They continued talking decorating ideas as they got back into the SUV, the children discussed the merits of different playground equipment, and the dog just wanted to go back and figure out what he had found in the jungle back there.

“Who’s hungry?” Deanna asked as she drove down to the pier and parked.  Taking the chorus of “MEs” as a good sign, she grabbed the bag of sandwiches and carried it while Madison managed Fluffy.  “Roman, could you buy yourself and the others sodas and get me a juice?”  She turned to Madison.  “What would you like?”

After choosing juice, Madison looked out at the brilliance of the ocean and nearly had her arms yanked out of their sockets as Fluffy tried to chase seagulls.  “God, this dog is going to be the death of me,” she stated exasperatedly and watched the children run off to get everyone drinks.

“He just needs training,” Deanna commented in return.  “Let’s grab that table,” she pointed to a set of tables the city had laid out on the sand.  The children should be able to find them on their return, but Deanna made sure to sit herself facing away from the ocean to keep an eye out for them.

“What’s the clinic like?”

Deanna smiled as she began to describe how homey it was.  She had six examination rooms and she had an option on the other side of the building, which was exactly like her own.  “The way they set up the medical facilities, it’s like a duplex.  I’ll have a lab finally,” she breathed, remembering how they had flipped at some of her more outlandish ideas in L.A.  She told some of the plans she had in place, how much equipment had already been delivered, and how much was set up.  “The surgery is top notch and I’ve had some of the most advanced equipment brought in.”

“Who’s setting it up?” Madison asked casually.

“My staff and some of the companies I contracted with who manufacture…” she continued on, oblivious of Madison as she gushed about the new clinic. 

The children returned and their conversations turned back to the house, Roman’s school, and the ocean behind them.  “Can we go swimming?” Conor asked again.

“You didn’t bring your swimsuit,” Deanna pointed out.  In fact, it was too chilly with the ocean breeze, but she didn’t want to point that out, not yet.

“Maybe next time, Squirt,” Deanna smiled as she answered him and took a big bite of the ham sandwich she had been offered.  “Mmmm, Doritos,” she turned her smile to Madison, showing orange teeth from the chips. 

“Gross,” Madison teased, indicating her teeth with a gesture.

“What?  You don’t want a kiss?” Deanna murmured playfully as she took another bite of a chip.

“Oooh, gross,” Conor overheard her.  “Women don’t kiss,” he stated.

“Sure they do,” Roman countered.

“Nuh uh, men kiss women,” Chloe argued.

“Not my mom,” he argued back.

“That’s enough,” Deanna cut it off before it escalated.  “I’ll say this…some men kiss men, some men kiss women, and some women,” she indicated herself, “kiss women.”

“You do?” Chloe asked wide-eyed.

Deanna glanced at Madison who had frozen mid-bite, not sure how to contribute to this uncomfortable conversation.  “Yes, Chloe, I do,” she said quietly, not elaborating.  Children didn’t always need details.

“I saw a man kiss a man at school,” Conor suddenly spoke up.

“You did?” Madison gulped.

“Yeah, Sam Ryan’s got two dads,” he answered as though it was no big deal.

Deanna decided to challenge him.  “But it isn’t okay for two women to kiss?  It’s okay for two men?”

He thought about it as he chewed on a corn chip and then sipped his soda.  “I guess it’s okay if they love each other.”

Deanna smiled and nodded encouragingly, but didn’t say anymore.  She caught a glance of Madison and was pleased at the surprise she saw on her face.  She grinned to herself at how eye-opening the day had been.

They spent the afternoon playing on the beach, tiring out both the kids and the dog.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to see the clinic,” Madison stated sincerely.

“There will be another time, and Roman does have to get back to school,” she said as she drove him back up into the hills on different roads.

“Is this a good school?”

“Yes, they have students from all over the world, diplomats even.  He can learn up to five languages and go to a prep school nearby.”

“Wow, you have it all figured out.”

Deanna nodded.  “I had to,” she said quietly.  The kids didn’t hear them, they were discussing their afternoon and the school and still bringing up the relative merits of playground equipment they had decided the house needed.

“Hey, I’ll see you next weekend,” Deanna said affectionately as she hugged Roman goodbye.

“Yep, I’ll call you before bed,” he promised with a smile.  Turning to take a step to the SUV he held out his hand to Madison.  “It was a pleasure to spend the day with you, Ms. MacGregor,” he said formally.

“Thank you, Roman.  I had a very nice time with you this weekend,” she answered, including the previous day as she had gotten to know him.

“See you, Roman!” Conor called to him excitedly.

“Bye, Roman!” Chloe called with a smile and waved.

“See ya,” he said with a big smile and grabbed his bag to put on his shoulder.  “Bye, Mom,” he said and headed into the large building.  It was a three story edifice of white stone that stretched out on both sides of the main entrance.  One side was for younger students: living quarters in the upper stories and classrooms below.  The other side was all classrooms for older students with another building in the rear for living quarters.  A large field behind the school was used for the various sports taught to their students—from European football, or soccer as it was called here, to lacrosse and other activities.  It was truly a multi-cultural school.

“You pick him up every weekend and take him back?” Madison asked as Deanna got back in and buckled up.

“No, I don’t always have the time.  We have a car service that picks him up on Friday nights and usually takes him back on Sunday night.  That way he can spend the weekend at home with me.”

“That’s why you insisted on weekends off,” she verified.

“Yep, I insisted.”  She drove away from the school expertly and down out of the hills to Highway 101, heading south towards Ventura.

“I can see why you want to locate your clinic up here, it’s beautiful.”

“Yes, I am negotiating with a hospice type service where people can be taken care of long term, but not terminal patients.  That way I can attend to them on site.  That’s why I kept the option open on the other half of the clinic as I grow.”

They talked about it a bit with interruptions from the now sleepy children becoming rarer and rarer as they drove.

“I think we tired them out,” Deanna commented as she pointed with her thumb to the back seat where two little children and a dog were snoring happily.

“All that sun and air, it was magical,” Madison enthused.  She too was feeling the effects and was sleepy, but she’d very much enjoyed the day talking with Deanna and seeing how well their children got along.  She was disappointed that they didn’t talk about anything personal, about their future, and she hoped to rectify that, perhaps when the children weren’t around.