Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss (2 page)

“
I’m not a dentist, Niki.
I’m a dental hygienist,” Ruby corrected her.

“
Well, they’re all the
same to me,” Niki muttered, pulling her protective glasses back
on.

“
No, they’re not.” At that
point, Ruby aimed the light over Niki’s face. “Dentists focus on
restoring teeth. I focus on preventing dental disease. That’s the
difference. Now, I’m putting this suction in your mouth to remove
the water while scaling.” She teasingly added, “So you won’t drown,
okay?”

“
Are you serious? People
can drown?” Niki shrieked.

Ruby laughed. “Don’t be
silly. I was just joking.”

Niki pulled a face. “Yeah,
I knew that.” She sighed as though she were about to enter the
dragon’s dungeon. Ruby noted it and shook her head.

“
Ready?” she
asked.

“
Yeah. Ready. No, wait! Be
gentle, okay?”

“
You know I’m always very
gentle on you,” Ruby responded.

“
And could you use that
rubber thing to make my teeth smooth?”

“
Oh, you mean polishing
after scaling?”

“
Yes.”

“
Sure.” With that, Ruby
started scaling Niki’s teeth, while the thought of her upcoming
trip to Europe returned.

“
Grr!”

Her patient yanked at her
wrist, drawing Ruby’s attention. She paused at her scaling, raising
her brows at Niki.

“
Where were you, Ruby? You
wanna drill a hole in my tooth or something?”

Ruby chuckled behind her mask. She expected her patient to
be a bit difficult today, and she was right.

“
Don’t be such a baby, Nikita. Now stop groaning and let me
clean your teeth properly. Did you
really
floss and
brush like I told you to?”

“
Heck yeah! What am I
supposed to do? Ignore your insistent nagging?”

Ruby laughed. “Okay, I’m gonna polish your teeth now. Gee,
girl, hold still and don’t move so much; otherwise, I
am
going to drill a hole in your tooth.”

Nikita muttered something
in her own invented slang, which Ruby didn’t care to translate into
English. Her friend groaned and opened her mouth wider as Ruby
started polishing her teeth.

Ten minutes later, when Ruby was finished, Nikita said,
“Who are those from?” She was pointing to the bouquet of perfect
white roses and a box of
Cadbury Rose
chocolate.

Her station cleaned,
sanitized, and packed up, Ruby turned to her friend.
“What?”

“
The roses and
chocolate.”

Ruby chuckled as she
picked up her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. “Another
marriage proposal.”

“
Really?” Nikita said. “I
swear to you, Ruby, ever since you got your braces off, you’ve had
more proposals than I can count.”

“
I know. Wouldn’t it be
nice if one came from a young, hunky man? Like the Australian
dude?” Ruby looked at her friend, her eyes twinkling.

Niki chose to ignore her remark as well as
the
look
Ruby was giving
her.

Ruby continued, “But most
of my admirers are retirees with bad teeth that need unending
attention… and pronto.” She picked up the bunch of roses and
chocolate. “Must admit these are nice though.”

“
Did you say yes?” Nikita
asked curiously as they headed out to the empty reception area. It
was after six in the evening, and everyone had gone home for the
day. Ruby purposely stayed late at the clinic, where she worked
part-time for the past three years, to scale her friend’s
teeth.

“
I told him I’d think
about it,” Ruby said.

“
Good answer,” Niki
commented. “Hey, thanks for staying late and doing my
teeth.”

“
No problem,” Ruby
replied. “Let’s get some dinner.”

An hour later, Ruby
gleamed a smile at Isabella as the young woman opened the door for
them. Ruby thought it was darned good of Nikita to share her
flashy, inner city apartment with Isabella without accepting any
rent—since she couldn’t have afforded to pay it anyway.

“
Bought dinner,” Nikita
announced as she displayed the plastic bags in the air for Isabella
to see.

“
Is there Char Satay?”
Isabella queried eagerly, spotting the familiar logo on the plastic
bag that said SAN Restaurant.

“
Yes, my dear. There’s
Char Satay just for you,” Nikita replied. “I knew you’d hit the
roof if we didn’t buy you any.”

“
Thanks, Nik. Oh, Alex is
on Skype.”

After kicking her shoes
off, Ruby rushed into the open plan living area, threw herself on
the comfy sofa, and pulled the laptop that was sitting on the
coffee table onto her lap.

“
Hey, how are you?” she
said to the laptop.

Alexandra Stewart, who, at
that precise moment, was in the lavish penthouse overlooking
Central Park in New York City, grinned back at her best friend
through the laptop screen.

Ruby recalled Alex and Jayden’s wedding over a year ago. It
was fantastic, full of life and fun. It was also quoted as “the
wedding of the decade in New York City.” Ruby—as the maid of
honor—was very proud of her best friend indeed. She had to admit
however, her own wedding—if she ever managed to find herself a
man—wouldn’t be anywhere near as grand as Alex’s. How could it be?
Alex married one of the most eligible bachelors—not to
mention
, one of the youngest
multi-billionaires
—in the
States. A year ago, Ruby could never have imagined that shy,
down-to-earth Alexandra Stewart would ever meet and fall in love
with a man like Jayden McCartney. Life was eternally full of
surprises.

“
I have news,” Alex
announced. Her voice hinted a sort of excitement that was very
contagious.

“
What is it? Tell us!” Nikita shrieked excitedly as she
propped herself comfortably on the seat right next to Ruby.
Isabella sat down at Ruby’s left—a bowl of Char Satay with rice in
her hands. All three girls faced the laptop screen expectantly,
waiting for the important news.

After a moment of silence,
came the words, “I’m pregnant.”

“
Holy cow!” Nikita
shouted. “Now, you’re pregnant for real.”

“
That is so cool,”
Isabella exclaimed. “I’m so happy for you.”

Ruby butted in. “Do I get
to be godmother?”

Alex laughed. “Of
course.”

Nikita pulled the laptop
from Ruby’s lap and put it on hers. “How about your hunky
hubby?”

“
He’s over the moon,” Alex
replied. “And naturally, so was Beth when we told
everyone.”

Ruby stole the laptop and
placed it back on her lap. “Hey, Alex, I won’t be here next
time.”

“
Oh yeah. So are you
nervous? It’s gonna be great. I have something else to tell you.
Jay and I are going to London at the end of the month. If all goes
according to plan, we can meet up there with you.”

“
Oh gosh! That’s sounds
great. I’m going to be in England for a week, and then off to
Scotland for another week after that. Week three, I’m in Ireland,
four in France, and then, last, but not least, week five in Rome.
I’ll be back in London after that.”

“
Right. I will have to ask
Jay about the meeting with his new business partner. He’s
Scottish.”

“
Woo!” Nikita laughed.
“Hot! Hot! Hot!”

On the screen, Alex turned
to look behind her. “Jay? When are we meeting your future business
partner?” She turned back to her friends. “Most of whom are, by the
way, middle-aged men. I assume this one is no
different.”

“
Aw!” Nikita groaned in
disappointment, and Isabella laughed.

A moment later, hunky
Jayden McCartney appeared on the screen next to Alex. The girls
sighed dreamily as they gazed at him. Was it possible that he
looked even more handsome now, after marrying Alex?

“
Hey, girls.” Jay waved at
them, grinning.

The girls waved back, all
three in silent awe.

“
Don’t worry, Ruby, we’ll
make sure we meet up with you in London. Just email Alex the
details.”

“
Sounds good,” Ruby
replied, nodding furiously.

“
What’s his name again?”
Alex asked Jayden, who was actively placing kisses at the nape of
her neck. “Not in front of my friends,” she whispered, pushing him
away light-heartedly.

Jay chuckled. “Sorry,
girls.”

The girls giggled
knowingly.

“
His name is Alec Hasting.
He’s hosting a charity party at the end of the month to sponsor
refugee relief in Africa and Cambodia. You should come with us,
Ruby. You and Alex are both half-Cambodian.”

“
Okay,” Ruby replied,
thinking that she was already a fan of Jayden’s future business
partner.

“
Anyway, you all have a
good day. Bye, girls.” He nodded as he left.

Alex moved closer to the
screen. “Anyway, I should go. Ruby, please email me your plan
before you leave. Bye, girls.”

“
Bye,” the three girls
said in unison. Once Skype was logged off, they moved over to have
their dinner and chat about life in general. About an hour later,
exhausted from the long day, Ruby said goodnight to her friends and
drove home.

“Oh my God, Ruby, just
relax,” Amethyst, or known simply as “Amee” to family and friends,
muttered. “Stop fussing over everything. You know I can handle it.
The houses will be fine. The family will be fine.”

Ruby sighed. “I trust you,
Amee. I suppose it’s just me. I can’t get over the fact that I
really am going on this trip. It’s ridiculous.”

Amee chuckled and folded
her arms across her chest. “You know, you’ve been planning this
trip for like… ages. You’re not going to back down now, are
you?”

“
Of course not! Don’t be
silly!” Ruby muttered, neatly placing some panties into the large
luggage. She held up a few more and wondered if she needed
them.

“
It’s not like you’re
going to live there, Ruby,” Amee commented, smiling.

Ruby frowned. She was
being overly cautious of course, as usual. “You’re right. I’m not
going to live in Europe.” That said, she put the spare panties
aside before turning her attention to her bras.

Rhonalite, known as Rhona,
poked her head in through the door, followed by Emerald, known as
Emm to them. The girls crashed onto Ruby’s bed, ruining Ruby’s
carefully made-up duvet before dropping her clothes to the
floor.

“
Bet you can’t wait to
meet that handsome English man of yours,” Emm chuckled, resting her
pretty face in her palms as she looked at her sister. “I’m so
jealous of you.”

“
You’ll get your turn soon,” Ruby said, picking up her
clothing from the floor. “And Brian is
not
my English
man.”

Emm laughed. “Oh yeah? So why did he
insist
you
stay at his place when you told him you’re coming over for a wee
holiday?”

“
He did not insist,” Ruby
replied, neatly folding a pair of black skinny jeans before placing
them into the luggage.

“
Don’t lie, Ruby,” Rhona
butted in. “See? You’re smiling. We know you like him.” Rhona
kissed the air as though she were kissing a boy. “Oh, Brian, I love
you. Let’s get married and make babies.”

Emm and Amee
laughed.

“
Stop it!” Ruby snapped,
slapping Amee’s arm. “Don’t be silly. He’s a good friend, that’s
all.”

“
Okay,” Rhona chuckled.
“He’s whatever you say he is. But deep down, you know what he is to
you.”

Ruby frowned at her
sister, indicating she should mind her own business.

The door opened at that
moment, and Mrs. Chan came in.

“
Mum?” Ruby said. Emm,
Rhona, and Amee cleared some space on the double bed for their
mother to sit.

“
Come here, Ruby,” Mrs.
Chan said. Ruby moved toward her mother, and they hugged. “You be
careful, all right? And you ring us at least every second
day.”

“
Yes, of course I will,”
Ruby answered.

“
I love you,” Mrs. Chan
said.

“
I love you, too,” Ruby
replied, hugging her mother again.

* * *

Somewhere in the Middle
East

Ruby felt like she was dying. She
was feverish all day and hoped like hell she wouldn’t get any worse
because then she knew she’d have to go to a hospital. She did not
like hospitals. The very thought of them reminded her too much of
her dead father, evoking the memories of familiar hope and
desperation, routine checkups and chemotherapies, and what happened
that final day, years ago when he took his last breath, and
submitted to cancer. The images still caused her heart to ache
painfully, while brewing fresh tears in her eyes.