Doctored (46 page)

Deanna looked over Madison’s shoulder.  “You got the van,” she said joyfully.

“You sneak, you,” Madison teased.

“I told you,” she said quietly.  “I want to take care of you.  We needed a van for all these ruffians,” she indicated the two children who were waiting to greet her, and spying Roman, she pulled all three kids in for a group hug.  “I missed you guys!” she told them exuberantly.

“Can we use the pool this time?” Conor asked as he squirmed to get away.

“Yes, and you can use anything in our house you want, but you have to ask an adult first so that we know what you are doing, okay?”  She got him to promise.  “Guess what,” she asked as she let them all go, her question directed at Madison’s kids.

“What?” they asked together.

“Your bedrooms are ready and waiting for you,” she whispered, as though telling them a big secret.

“Really?” Chloe squealed.

“Can we go, Mom?” Conor nearly shouted.

“Go on.  We can empty the van tomorrow,” she told them, smiling at their exuberance.  She had her arm around Deanna and they watched together, smiling, as the three children took off up the stairs.

“What do you have in this van of yours?” Deanna teased her.

“
Our
van has some furniture and some groceries,” she told her and leaned in for a kiss, unable to get enough of them.  She found such comfort in them.  She’d missed her so much.

Deanna hugged Madison so tight to her body she lifted her up, squeezing her mercilessly.

“Wait, wait,” she gasped.  “I can’t breathe.”

Deanna laughed exuberantly, turning around and around with Madison in her arms.  “Oh, God, I love you!  You’re here!  You’re here!” she said excitedly, almost like the three little kids who had just gone inside.

“I couldn’t wait any longer…not one more night,” she confessed as Deanna lowered her back to the ground to kiss her soundly.

“Come on.  Let’s get the groceries and go into the house.”

Together, they took the few bags of groceries—the last of the things from the kitchen in the house in L.A.—and put them away in their new kitchen.  Madison couldn’t stop smiling as she bumped into Deanna time and time again in the kitchen, learning where things went.  “I hope your housekeeper won’t mind me cooking now and then.”

Deanna came up behind her, put her arms around her from behind, and nuzzled her ear.  “
Our
housekeeper won’t mind,” she assured her.

“Mmm,” the redhead leaned back in her lover’s arms.  “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m looking forward to other things,” Deanna whispered in her ear.  “I found an interesting box,” she confessed.

Madison turned around in Deanna’s arms.  “Did you go through my things?”

“I started to put away your clothes for you, but I stopped after I found that one box.  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…,”

The redhead was embarrassed and the red of her skin clashed horribly with the red of her hair.  She looked down, but then was brave enough to look up again.   “What did you think of them?” she asked in reference to the adult toys.  She looked down again immediately.

“I’m looking forward to experimenting with them,” Deanna told her honestly, putting her fingers under Madison’s stubborn little chin and raising it for a kiss.  They continued until a noise in one of the bedrooms had them pulling apart, panting slightly.  “I suppose we should see what they are up to,” Deanna said regretfully, wishing at the moment that neither of them had children.

Deanna took Madison’s hand and led her to the two bedrooms they had chosen for Chloe and Conor’s bedrooms.  The rooms looked amazing…perfect pictures of a child’s room.  This was exactly what Madison had always wanted for them and had never been able to provide.  “Oh, the painting looks wonderful,” she exclaimed.  The furniture was perfect too and the kids were bouncing all over it in Conor’s room.  “Stop that,” she ordered, seeing Conor trying to launch himself off the bunk and Chloe climbing up after him.

“Hey, you heard your mother,” Deanna told him, a little more sternly.  “We had an agreement if we bought you a bunk bed, remember?” she reminded him.

He had forgotten and nodded.  He sat down on the mattress and Chloe returned to the floor.

“I love my bedroom too,” she told Deanna.  “Mommy, did you see it?”

“Yes, I did and it’s lovely.  You are going to have to place those stickers carefully,” she told her with a smile.

“I’ve changed my mind.  I don’t want to ruin the white,” the little girl told her now that she had seen her very own bed in her very own bedroom.

Madison was thrilled with that announcement.  “What are you going to do with all those stickers?”

“Maybe I’ll get a sticker album.  I could ask Santa for one for Christmas.”  They both knew she didn’t believe in Santa, but played along anyway.

“That’s a good idea, and who knows, your new friends might have ideas about them too,” Deanna put in.

“What new friends?” she asked, surprised.

“Aren’t you going to make new friends at school?”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

Deanna laughed as she put her hand on the young girl’s head and pulled her in for a one-handed hug.

“Well, it’s late and we had a very long day.  Wash up and let’s get ready for bed,” Madison announced.

“Awww, Mom,” Conor complained.

“And you, make that bed.  I had the sheets on there and not pulled off the edges,” Deanna added.

“That’s no fair,” Conor complained again.

“What’s not fair?”

“You two, ganging up on us!”

Deanna and Madison exchanged a look and started to laugh as they nodded.  “Yep, that sounds about right,” Madison said as she pointed at the bathroom.  “March!” she ordered.

* * * * *

Once the children were tucked into their new beds and Roman was in his ‘old’ room, the two women snuggled in their own bed.  Madison was telling Deanna about her day: from the cake, to signing the papers on the house, to the van showing up and packing up one final time, and finally to her mother’s call.

She started crying as she remembered the horrible things her mother had said to her and her own anger over it.

Deanna was thrilled that she had stood up for herself.  “Shhh, baby, shhh.  It’s all right.  She’ll come around.  She won’t be able to help herself.  She’s just surprised and thought she could bully you again.  She knows better now.  Shhh,” she comforted her.  She tried to kiss her, but sensed that making love wasn’t what Madison was in the mood for.  She wanted her so bad, but she was willing to wait.  They had the rest of their lives together for that.

Slowly, Madison stopped crying and was able to snuggle into Deanna’s arms…because she wanted to…and because she could.  “Thank you,” she said sleepily, exhausted from the very full day of work and the long drive.

“For what?” Deanna pulled back to ask.

“For everything.  For loving me enough to wait for me.  For teaching me that I always had this strength in me.  For taking care of me,” she said gratefully.

“I love you.  No thanks are necessary.  Always be honest with me, love me, and that is all I will ever need.”

Slowly, talking things over and relaxing, they both fell asleep as the cat figured out how to open the latch handle on the door and snuck into the bedroom to join them.  The dog soon followed.  They woke up, unable to move, with the two animals trying to take over the bed.

“Psst,” Deanna woke first and tried to wake Madison.  She poked her with her finger.  She would have tried with a toe, but there was a cat in the way.  “Psst,” she called and was rewarded with a sleepy, green eye opening to the bright sunlight.

“Mmmm?” she asked inquiringly.

“We seem to have company,” she rasped in a sleepy morning voice.

Madison leaned up and looked down at the animals sprawled on their bed.  She looked at Deanna and knew she couldn’t be happier.  She was home, this was part of her family, and she was happy.  This was her happily ever after.  It wasn’t an ending…it was a beginning.  She couldn’t wait for it to begin.  She leaned over.  The dog squeaked as her body leaned on him and she kissed her partner good morning.  “I love you.”

THE END BEGINNING

If you enjoyed DOCTORED, you may enjoy a sample of K’Anne Meinel’s other unforgettable novel:

~ CHAPTER ONE ~

The view from her window wasn’t that impressive as she looked at the dismal aged and gray buildings outside on an equally dismal and gray day in New York, but at least she had a window and a view.  Not all associates had a window, most were in inner offices but she was a senior associate, a lawyer of counsel if you will, and it was part of her perks.  She looked out her window a long time, lost in thought even though she knew she should be getting to the pile of briefs on her desk.  Instead she daydreamed about the incredible offer she had just received.  She had known it was coming, she knew she deserved it, but at the moment wasn’t sure if she should be insulted.

              Nia Toyomoto worked for one of the most prestigious law firms in Manhattan.  It wasn’t a small thing to be an associate at Chase-Dunham.  It wasn’t a small thing to be a lawyer of counsel either.  To be offered a partnership though was something that Nia had worked towards for years.  Everyone knew she was on the fast track, everyone knew that she deserved it, but at this moment, she wasn’t sure.  When Stewart Dunham had scheduled this morning’s meeting she had assumed it was for a personal update on certain cases that she was handling for him, for others, and with others.  Although she had eventually expected the offer, the stipulations had surprised her.  She didn’t realize her personal life would be part of the offer.  Not that she had anything to hide but being a partner at Chase-Dunham required a certain panache that Nia simply didn’t have at this time.  Stewart had kindly pointed out that they needed her to ‘spruce’ herself up, to become a bit more social.  It was not a matter of her talents as a world class attorney, no, that was
why
they wanted her to be a partner.  It was a matter of smoozing with the right people, having parties, attending the elite of the elite.  Her reputation was such that she fit in but her appearance left a little to be desired.  She was all business.  They wanted her as a partner but they also wanted her to use every means at her disposal to get them new clients.  Not that she hadn’t drawn them in the past with her incredible expertise but being a partner meant that she would represent the firm on levels that she hadn’t thus far.  Her talents alone wouldn’t sell the firm.

              Nia sighed.  She wasn’t one to get ahead on her looks.  She was overly tall for the average woman at 5’10” and this for someone of Asian descent was almost unheard of.  Not that you could tell she was Asian except for the certain narrowing of her eyes that gave her a feline like appearance.  Her father was pure Asian, a former executive from Japan, he had fallen in love with a German-American woman who Nia had inherited most of her looks from.  The clunky black glasses she wore hid the slightly exotic Asian tilt of her eyes.  Her smooth round face v’d becomingly, but with her straight dark brown nearly black hair with occasional reddish tints that she held severely back in a bun, she gave herself a no nonsense appearance.  She had never cared for her looks.  She wasn’t like other women.  Her nails were cut short, purely functional; no polish had ever graced them.  Her long legs were encased in nylons and this only because she was fairly pale in appearance and the style was to have a semblance of tan.  She had business suits but these too were merely functional.  She owned six or seven that she interchanged to provide variety but these were of lessor quality and again, she just hadn’t cared.  Now they were making her care, in fact making it a condition of her partnership.