I passed his room once I woke after trying to sleep, but too many cokes and caffeine had me up most of the night and day, and now I was feeling drowsy. I guess that worked out fine. I won’t accompanying him to the clinic tonight. Looking at the clock it’s seven pm.
Stepping lightly down the stairs, I marveled at the beauty of this home. If I could furnish it, it would be more beautiful than it is now. After all I am a doctor’s wife and if he expects me to welcome the townspeople it should have furniture.
Reaching the kitchen, I didn’t expect to see him sitting in a chair at the isle in the kitchen staring into space. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you. I have to go to the clinic tonight. Tonight is my first night and the way you look you’re not ready to go with me.”
“I can go. I don’t want you to say I didn’t carry my weight. I want to work. I need to do something or I will go crazy.”
“How about during the day you try to spread good will with the people in the town. It’s expected of a physician’s wife,” he said angling his head to the side.
“What doctor are you talking about?” I glanced around as if I’m looking for someone.
“Me of course. If you can’t play the part...” He said angry and taking large breaths.
“You’re going to get someone else I suppose. Your threats don’t work on me,” I said.
“What will work?”
“How about telling me what we’re running from and who’s likely to show up to harm me. Maybe then I might be less hostile and want to cooperate with you.”
“I think I said in due time I will tell you.” He stood. I walked in front and planted my feet, and looked into his beautiful face, put my hands on my hips, and stood in his path. He reached for me, held me by the arms and lifted me, and placed me to the side.
He shot me a closed smile and headed for the door.
“You can’t bully me. I won’t be put off. I’ve been through hell and I won’t stand for you sidelining me like I don’t exist,” I said.
Sebastian kept walking and I followed behind him carping about everything I didn’t like about him and the house. “You need to tell me something if you want me to remain here.”
He turned and for the first time I saw into his soul. His eyes fixed on me and his jade eyes turned to stone and I became frightened. Had I needle him, pricked at him to the point where he would show me this part of him.
“You want to know. Then I’ll tell you. You don’t know what you’re dealing with. There are men, no, that’s a stretch,” he took a full breath, “to say men will come for you and they will destroy you, and they will kill you in ways you can’t imagine, and then try to destroy me because I haven’t killed you yet or changed you, is to speak mild. You just don’t know. ”
Touching him I said, “What do you mean change me?”
“I have to get to the hospital. I don’t like to be late.” He looked at his watch.
“You can’t go. I need to know more.”
“Why do you need to know? All that will do is make you more nervous and you will do things you shouldn’t do.” He kept walking and got into the elevator and took it down to the garage. I stood breathing hard and questioning everything.
I needed to eat so I walked back to the kitchen to see if there was anything I could cook. Once again nothing that wouldn’t give me a heart attack at an early age, but what the hell, the way Sebastian talked, I’m a walking corpse anyway.
Opening a can of chili I ate that with some crackers and trotted out of the kitchen to take a bath. My life was upside down, and my body clock was fucked up. As I was getting ready to climb the stairs, I saw a figure of a woman standing outside the front door.
She rang the bell and I turned. From her silhouette she looked pretty. Her hair long and she wore a dark dress and boots. When I opened the door, she stood smiling. She had a plate in her hand and Saran-wrap covering what looked like a plate of brownies. My eyes stayed on the brownies for a while. I needed some sugar. When Sebastian stocked the house he conveniently forgot cookies, candy, and ice cream. To hell with what’s good for me.
“Does Dr. Sebastian live here?” she asked with a soft accent. I think she must have been English but I wasn’t sure.
“Yes, he does. Please come in.” She walked two steps into the foyer, turned her nose up as if she smelled something rancid, and didn’t go any further.
“I’m not going to be here long. I would like to welcome Dr. Sebastian to our little town. I mean I’d like to welcome you and him,” she said looking around. She was a beautiful looking woman with dark hair and black eyes. She wore a dark dress with a shawl covering her and a pair of black boots.
“Are you his wife?” I stumbled a bit with my answer but I managed to get it out.
“Yes of course,” I said as my eyes measured her.
“I envy you. Your husband is so handsome and young for a doctor.” She had a sparkle in her eyes as she described him which was a bit unsettling because she was in her twenties which worried me more.
“Are you married?” I asked her.
“I haven’t been as fortunate as you. In a town like this, all the young men leave to go to a city and all we’re left with are the middle age and elderly. We are fortunate to have Sebastian, I mean Dr. Sebastian here with us.” She shot me a wide closed smile.
Then she remembered that she had a plate in her hand. It was filled with brownies. “Oh here. I almost forgot to give these to you.” She appeared nervous but delighted when she handed me the plate.
Taking it from her hands, I was happy to get some fresh baked sweets. Clearly Sebastian hadn’t loaded the kitchen up with cookies and potato chips. Not good for me.
Happy to get the gift, I asked her, “Do you want to come in and talk, maybe eat a few of the brownies with me?”
“Sorry, but I can’t. I have to go. There’s something I need to take care of.” She gave me a wide smile with her beautiful white teeth, and looked at the brownies again as she walked to the door. I walked with her. She opened it and stood on the outside and said, “I hope you enjoy them and tell Sebastian that Samantha stopped by when you see him.”
I watched as she walked down the steps and it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen a car. Maybe she parked it down the path instead of the driveway leading up to the house, but why would she do that? I wouldn’t be caught dead walking down that path if I didn’t have to.
And I didn’t get any information from her. I think I was taken aback by her brazen nature and how she seem to salivate when asking about Sebastian. Just her very nature put me off. I could see her going to his office wanting him to examine her.
Walking back to the kitchen to put the brownies in the fridge to eat later, I decided to dump the plate in the garbage pail. “There,” I said. “No one’s going to eat your stupid brownies. You probably brought them for Sebastian and not me. That was just an excuse to see him, bitch,” I murmured to myself.
And I dumped them into the garbage with the Saran-wrap tightly covering them.
Oh. I forgot. I needed a bath and I turned and headed for the stairs after locking the door behind Samantha. “What kind of name is that?” I mumbled.
I wouldn’t be answering the door or letting in any nosy hot young women who really want to get a look at Sebastian, I thought. I passed Sebastian’s room and saw another door. Opening it I decided to peek in. There, I found one of the largest tubs in a bathroom that connected to my room.
Stepping into the bath after turning on the cold water, I eased myself down and exhaled. Throwing my head back, I closed my eyes to think about what had just happened. A woman shows up at your door at eight at night looking for your husband with a plate of brownies in her hand. Her entire discussion is about how handsome my husband is.
“He’s not my fucking husband and I doubt that will happen,” I murmur. When I open my eyes and reach for a towel, standing looking down at me is Sebastian.
“What are you doing here? And how did you get in here without me seeing or hearing you.”
“That’s not important. Did you eat any of Samantha’s brownies?”
“What kind of question is that and how did you know her name is Samantha? And what the fuck are you doing looking at me naked. And no, I didn’t eat any of her fucking brownies. She probably brought them for you not me.”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?” he said.
“How about why are you looking at me naked in this tub.”
“I have seen naked bodies before. Who do you think took you home and washed you and took care of you as you lay in a coma for all those months? It was me. I’ve seen and I know every freckle on your body. You have one between...”
“Stop it. I don’t want to know if you did anything to me while I was unconscious. I don’t want to be confronted by a necromancer.”
“I think you used the word wrong,” he said.
“Never fucking mind. How do you know Samantha?” He didn’t say anything at first as if he was measuring how much he needed to tell me. He walked over to the linen closet and pulled out the largest towel I’d ever seen and held it to the side as he turned his back to me.
Turning to face me, he placed a towel on my hair and wiped it. That was a memory I had when I was a child. Someone bathing me and then drying my hair. The touch of his hand was so light and loving that I thought it was my mother’s hand. But it wasn’t. His hands gave me the same feeling I received as a young child, and I became confused.
Looking at him all the hostility I once felt faded with his touch. “What is this about, Sebastian? Why are you here and not at the clinic?”
“Because I can’t leave you for two minutes without you putting yourself in harm’s way. Didn’t I tell you not to answer the door?”
I walked away from him. Just when I warmed up to him he becomes aggressive. “No you didn’t. You just said I would be safe here and that I should make myself known to the people in this town. So I did.” I gritted my teeth at him.
“She’s not from here,” he said standing in front of me.
“How the fuck should I know.” I looked up at him and he appeared to smile and then he calmed.
“No. I guess you wouldn’t know.” I walked away from him and walked into my bedroom and sat on the bed and crossed my arms in defiance. He sat near me with his mouth open and blowing out a large breath through his white teeth. His mouth distracted me. With him being near me distracted me to no end. His closeness made me warm as if we were in an embrace.
“Do you drink coffee or tea?” I asked him. I didn’t know what to say to him. That was to distract me from craving his touch.
“No.”
“Thought so. No one with perfect white teeth like yours ever ate or drank things that weren’t good for them. Do you at least drink wine or beer?” I was trying to relax him and myself where he could tell me about Samantha.
“I know what you’re doing.” I’m glad he knew because I didn’t.
“I have to tell you about Samantha. Things I think you shouldn’t know I won’t tell you,” he said his voice low as if he expected someone to hear him.
I shifted to face him, “But why?” I asked in a small whining voice. “Why won’t you tell me everything?”
“Because you can be harmed by knowing these things.” His look trailed off. He no longer looked me in the eyes, but he was somewhere I couldn’t follow.
“And I can be harmed by not knowing, too,” I said trying to get his attention.
“That’s true, but there are things your mind can’t grasp or understand.”
“How about telling me and let me decide.” He leaned over and kissed my lips. I felt my heart beating wildly. I wasn’t aware he would affect me the way he was doing. His kiss warm and gentle. He grabbed my shoulders and brought me to him. I heard his breath. I heard a moan. I heard the silence in the room, and I heard the loud beat of one heart.
That heart was mine.