Prescription for Desire (18 page)

“
Children are a blessing.”
He paused, and when he spoke, there was a slight hesitation in his
voice. “Rave?”

“
What?” His words kept
playing in her head, and her heart ached at the thought of never
knowing.

“
Are you still looking at
adoption options?” While no one in the family, except for their
mother, knew about Raven’s miscarriage and subsequent early
menopause, the siblings were aware of her trying to adopt at one
point. However, Raven suspected that Cannon knew
something.

“
I’m contemplating some
things, but let’s worry about the practice right now.”

“
I can worry about the
practice for both of us. You just do what you need to do. I owe you
big time. Oh, speaking of which—”

“
Wait, I have another
call,” she said, glancing at her cell phone’s caller ID. “Drat.
It’s the hospital. Baby time. Gotta go.”

“
We’ll talk
later.”

After hanging up with the hospital
attendant, Raven exited Cannon’s office and stopped by the kitchen.
The catering staff was there, and she asked if they could wrap her
food to go.

“
Where are you going?” Dr.
Darla Chase-Arrington, the matriarch of the Arrington family,
asked. She was seated at the kitchen table with Yasmine’s mother,
Emma Dubose.

“
Hospital. Mrs. Nixon’s
baby boy is coming. I just need to change into my scrubs and head
on out.”

“
I hate that you have to
leave,” Darla said. “I love having all of my girls with
me.”

Raven bent down and kissed her
mother’s flawless cocoa cheek. At age sixty-five, Dr. Darla, as her
patients called her, was Raven’s other twin. They had the same
brown curls—except Darla’s was now laced with gray that she didn’t
want to dye—and the same pleasant smile. Cannon was the spitting
image of their father, as well as the same personality
traits.

“
I know you do, Mom, but
I’ll try to come back. Or, I can stop by your home later in between
deliveries. St. Francis Hospital isn’t too far from
Germantown.”

“
That would be wonderful.
Then you can see how well my orchids are growing and some other
projects I’m working on.” Since semi-retirement, Darla had begun
taking gardening classes at the local botanical garden. It had
always been a hobby of hers, but now she had more time.

“
That sounds like a plan.
See you later.” Raven kissed Yasmine’s mother on the cheek. “Great
seeing you again.”

Two hours later, Raven sat in the
hospital break room, finally eating her lunch from the shower. She
had delivered Mrs. Nixon’s baby, but was sticking around and
waiting for another patient whose water had broken with
contractions every five minutes. She laughed silently and bit into
a chicken salad croissant sandwich. How did she think she was going
to attempt to adopt again when she was never home to raise the
child in the first place? Sometimes, she had to call one of her
siblings to feed and let Sahara out. Even if she was able to adopt
a baby from a foreign country, she would definitely need a
full-time nanny, but she was willing to cut back on her hours as
well. She could always take less on-call shifts, but as of now she
did so because she preferred to deliver her own patient’s babies.
She had friends who were Ob-Gyns with children, but they had
husbands, or at least the father was in the picture to help out.
She didn’t even have that.

Raven cringed as her cell phone rang.
It was baby time again.

*****

“
Oh wow, Mom. These are
beautiful.” Raven and her mother were in the greenhouse of the
Arrington estate where Darla had begun repotting some plants, as
well as growing seedlings from different flowers to plant in her
garden in the spring.

“
I’m learning so much from
my classes,” Darla said, gently pressing the soil around a lily
that she’d transferred from the nursery container. “I’m really
enjoying the orchid one. You remember the young lady that helped me
do all of the gardens last year? It was before we had the first
cook out of the year.”

“
You mean, Traci?” Raven
asked with a yawn. It was after ten o’clock at night, but Raven had
promised her mother she would come over. She was going to spend the
night in the on-call room with Shelbi, since she was on call as
well as a resident. Raven had two more patients there that could
possibly deliver before daybreak. Luckily, Sahara was spending the
weekend with her “grandparents” because Darla gave the Pomeranian
the title grand dog.

“
Yes. She’s such a sweet,
intelligent girl and knows her stuff about plants, especially
orchids. She just went through a bad break up. I hope she finds a
nice guy. She deserves it. Like you.”

“
Huh? Like me? Mother, I’m
not looking for that at the present moment, but I will say that I
feel comfortable trying to date again.” At least that’s what she
kept telling herself. While it was true, she only wanted a man that
was thousands of miles away.

“
Really? What about that
fine hunk of man in
Ghilaua
? That’s who you should have
gotten with.”

Raven couldn’t believe her ears as she
stared at her mother. Did she know something? She knew mothers had
six senses when it came to their children. She’d spoken to her
mother while away, but she never mentioned Armand. Did
she?

“
Who are you talking about,
Mother?”

“
Dr. Armand Phillips, the
Chief of Staff. I saw his picture on the website a few weeks ago.
Cannon was showing your father the updated site, and I just
happened to glance over his shoulder and saw that gorgeous man. How
did you manage to work around a man that damn fine without wanting
him? That neatly trimmed beard he has, and oh my, what a beautiful
smile. Did he ever smile at you? Girl, I love your daddy, but that
Dr. Phillips is one fine specimen of a man.”

Raven listened in utter shock at the
words coming from the woman in front of her. She looked like her
mother, but what she was saying definitely didn’t sound like her.
Raven thought she was talking to Shelbi or Bria.

“
Um … Mom, it was a
completely professional atmosphere.”

“
So you never had a chance
alone with him?”

Sure. In a truck, in the
supply room, in his apartment, in the cabin, against a tree and
countless other places.

“
We went to the orphanage
about once a week.”

“
I remember you telling
me.” Darla stacked up the empty plastic nursery containers and
gazed at Raven with a serious expression. “You didn’t consider
adopting any of the children there? None of them melted your
heart?”

“
No, Mom, not at that
time.” She thought about Israel and Isabella’s adorable little
faces and precocious personalities. She truly prayed someone would
adopt them soon.

“
And are you still thinking
about adopting?”

While somewhat glad for the change in
topics, this was one Raven wasn’t ready to discuss either until she
made up her mind. She leaned against the potting table and crossed
her arms in front of her chest. “Not sure about that. I go back and
forth with trying again, especially after days like today when I’m
at the hospital all day, or like last week when I got called at
four o’clock in the morning. I know it comes with the job. It’s the
career I chose, and I love bringing … babies …” She had to stop as
the tears flowed. Her mother pulled her into her arms, rocking her
back and forth. “What about … me? My baby—”

“
Shhh … I know, baby girl.”
Darla continued rocking Raven and kissing her forehead. “You just
let it all out. Your mother is right here.”

“
I mean … don’t I deserve
to have a baby? I’d make a great mother, too.”

“
Of course you do, and you
will.”

Raven pulled away from her mother and
wiped her eyes. She laughed a little bit when she saw soil all over
her green scrub shirt from her mother’s gardening gloves. Now she’d
have to re-shower and change again. “You know I hate to
complain.”

Darla took off her gloves and set them
on the potting table. “It’s not a complaint.” Patting her
daughter’s hand, she led her to the bench to sit. “You’re just
asking God for help.”

She shook her head and smiled. “You’re
always the one telling me to have a little faith, and I haven’t had
any lately. In anything.” Her thoughts led her to letting Armand go
because she couldn’t give him children, despite the fact that she
knew he loved her and she loved him. She didn’t want to take the
chance that even if they would’ve adopted, he would one day resent
her because he didn’t have his own biological children.

“
God answers our prayers on
His time, not yours.”

“
I know, Mom.” She kissed
her mother on her cheek. “Thank you for being here for me through
all of my ups and downs these past three years, or actually all of
my life. I love you.”

“
I love you, too, baby.
That’s why I’m here, and one day you’ll also be comforting your
daughter about something.”

She shook her head. “Mom—”

“
Stop, Raven. You mark my
words. You’ll have your own daughter one day.”

Raven smiled with a laugh. “Okay, Mom.
I trust you.”

Chapter
Twelve

It was the following Monday after the
baby shower, and Raven sat on the couch on the veranda overlooking
the lake behind her home. It had been a great day. She’d done a
C-section that morning, saw patients for the majority of the day,
and was finally able to make it home at a decent time to enjoy
watching the sun go down. It was a little chilly outside, so she
was wrapped in a blanket and had the fire pit lit. Sahara sat at
her feet, or went running out to the grass every now and then.
Raven reached for her tablet on a nearby table and scrolled through
pictures of the time her and Armand chaperoned the children to the
museum. She smiled at the picture of Israel banging the gavel on
the judge’s stand, and little Isabella wanting to be a doctor just
like her.

She replayed her
conversation with her mother over and over. Raven had always been
practical, trying to stick by her life blueprint that she’d planned
out when she was younger. However, she learned after Howard’s death
and the miscarriage that plans could definitely change. Being
in
Ghilaua
had
definitely opened her eyes to the possibility of loving and trying
for adoption again. She knew what she had with Armand was over
with, but at least being with him gave her the encouragement and
realization she needed to get out of the funk that had hindered her
from living happily.

Armand was the kind of man who didn’t
live by a plan, and she admired that about him. He just did what he
had to do when the opportunity presented itself. He’d traveled all
over the world, helping people in different places with Doctors
Unlimited and Doctors Without Borders, never wanting to settle in
one place for a long period of time. She figured he’d probably take
the position in Chile that he’d mentioned before she was
leaving.

Raven slid the blanket off and reached
for her cell phone in her lap. She had to make the phone call she’d
been waiting to make all day.

“
Hola?”

“
Hola, Maria. This is Raven
Arrington.”

“
Well, hello, Raven. How
are you?”

“
I’m doing well. I have a
question for you if you have a moment.”

“
Of course, love. Go
ahead.”

“
How long does the process
take to adopt with you. I would love to adopt Isabella and
Israel.”

“
Oh, wow! Raven, as
wonderful as that is, the twins were adopted together a few weeks
ago.”

Raven was a little taken aback, yet
relieved that they were together with a family. “Oh, that’s
wonderful. Who adopted them?”

“
Because I do private
adoptions, I’m not at liberty to say, but I promise you, the twins
are in excellent hands and will be loved and welled cared for. Is
there another child here that you would like to consider? Many of
the ones that were here when you were are now gone, but there are
five right now. I can email you their information and an
application?”

“
Um … sure. That will be
fine.”

After hanging up, Raven was a little
sad but elated that the twins were together. She knew how much
Maria loved them, so if she let them go they were definitely in
good hands.

*****

“
Hey, sis, how was the
delivery?” Bria asked as Raven entered the practice’s break room.
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out her lunch, which she had
twenty minutes to wolf down before her next patient.

“
It went well.” She popped
the lasagna into the microwave and pressed two minutes. “A baby
girl.”

“
Cool. So why didn’t you
mention how fine that Dr. Phillips was? Goodness!” Bria said,
taking the last bite of her salad.

Had she seen the picture,
too
, Raven wondered. Was her mother showing
everyone?

She shrugged and pulled a bottled
water from the refrigerator. “Um … hadn’t really thought about it.
He was my supervisor, but a really nice guy.”