Love M.D. (38 page)

“That will end soon.”

“So?”

“
Immm hmmm
.”

“About your proposal…”

“Yes…”

I think about having a long
conversation about where we’re going and what we see in the future, but I
decide against it. I remember Jada telling me that I have to trust him. I
remember him trusting me with someone very special last week. I remember his
amazing Christmas present with my new family, and I make the decision to do
just that.

“Are you sure you want me to come
into your house? You know I’ll take over your closet, right?”

“We have two closets in the master.
One is mine, the other is already yours.” He pecks my lips.

“What if I want both?” I ask
mischievously.

“You want to be greedy? It’s not my
intention to be mean, but you barely have enough clothing to fill one rack in
that closet.”

“Well, FYI, that’s something I
intend to change—fast.”

“Fine. Then I already see where it
can be extended to double or triple the space, and I happen to know the perfect
person for the job.” His hands inches closer and closer to my ass.

“Do you?”

“Yep. She’s this hot babe I met a
few months ago. She has gorgeous eyes and the most beautiful ass I’ve ever
managed to get my hands on.”

“Perhaps you need to date her
instead.”

“She doesn’t date clients.”

We both laugh, and he kisses me
softly on my lips.

“So when do I move in? Purple
accents and all?”

“As soon as we get back. And if it
makes you happy, we can get all the purple accents you want.”

“That’s okay. I think the blue and
the green work better at that house.”

He kisses me again. “What made you
say yes?”

“Did I say yes?” I ask, giggling.
“I decided it was time to stop questioning everything, to just trust you. I
love you, and you love me, and right now I’m going to put all my trust and
faith in that.” I expect him to respond, but he holds me in his arms and plants
the sweetest, softest kiss on my lips.

Zoë Jenkins is
most definitely back. As we make it
through our journey, I realize the amount of planning that has gone into this
trip. I understand why Zoë wanted to leave the US. I suppose she’s hoping no
one would follow us here, and we could be safe and completely free to do as we
wish with no worries. But even after my conversation with Lucas, I have no
intention of letting down my guard, despite knowing Nicholas is our security. I
want Zoë to be at ease, so I will keep that information to myself.

She planned everything to the last
detail, down to what I will wear. Based on what she packed, I realize she has
gotten to know me very well. She did an amazing job.

Celine Dion is someone I know Zoë
would love to see perform live. Since we’re already here, I’ll put Nicholas
Dale to the test. See how good he is at making things happen.

Although it’s freezing outside, we
don’t waste a moment in this stunning place. We take a long afternoon walk
along the lake. As the sun drops behind the glaciers, the temperatures plummet,
too. We make our way back to the warmth and comfort of our suite at the hotel.

“I’m starving,” Zoë says as we
enter.

“Good. Get ready. I have a surprise
planned for tonight.”

“We’ve been here for six hours.
What could you possibly have up your sleeve?”

“Look over on the coffee table.”

She turns to see the gift wrapped
box. “What’s this?” she asks, smiling.

“Open it and find out.”

Carefully, she pulls away the gift wrap
to reveal the ice skates inside.

“Morgan, they’re beautiful,” she
smiles. “But I haven’t been skating in years.”

“I know. I was hoping it would
remind you of some of your happier memories of Paris. There’s an ice festival
going on now. I thought it would be fun.”

“Babe,” she smiles, hugging me. “I
can’t believe you remembered that.”

“I was thinking maybe we could get
some dinner, and I’d take you skating.”

“You skate?”

“No, but it would be my pleasure to
sit and watch you.”

“Funny… you started this. I’ll be
getting you in a pair of skates tonight.”

“I think not.”

“We’ll see about that.”

After dinner, we
head out to the lake where some
stunning and elaborate ice carvings surround the rink, all beautifully lit. It’s
magnificent, and many people glide across the lake’s hardened surface.

To one side, the mountains and
glaciers still manage to show through the midnight skies. To the other, the
lights of the Fairmont Chateau twinkle. However, what is most beautiful about
tonight is seeing Zoë happy, worry-free, and relaxed.

I thought I was the one surprising
her, but after dinner Nicholas appeared with a pair of skates for me. I’ve been
with Zoë all this time. When did she have the time to contact him?

I indulge her because I know it
makes her happy. After several unsuccessful tries, she’s happy with my efforts.
I convince her that her time would be best spent actually skating as opposed to
helping my ass off the ice.

For a while, I sit and watch her as
she gracefully glides across the ice. She looks so elegant. No one would have
guessed that she hadn’t been skating in years. Every time she circles past me,
she throws me a kiss, or actually stops and kisses my lips, or does something
silly like making a face at me. It’s fun and refreshing to see her this way.

Increasingly, the rink becomes more
and more crowded. Every so often, I lose sight of her. Rising to my feet, I
look around. Still, she’s nowhere in sight. An uneasy knot develops in my
chest. And while I try to convince myself I’m okay with this, apprehension is
starting to show it’s ugly face.

Suddenly, she shows up.

“I’m ready to go. I just had to put
some asshole in his place.”

“What happened?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just some
drunkard who thought it would be a good idea to slap me on my ass.”

“Where?” I ask.

“Morgan. I’m fine. I can handle
myself.”

“Some fuck put his hands on you,
and I’m supposed to just let it slide?”

“Yes. Now please, take me to the
deli. I could use a nice hot cup of cocoa.”

I stare at her. My panicked
thoughts before she returned here are replaced with rage.

She hugs me, slipping her hands
into my back jeans pockets. “Babe, please. I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s
try to enjoy this beautiful space and not let some moron who probably won’t
remember any of it tomorrow ruin the night for us. Please.”

I look down at her. She bats her
beautiful eyes at me. It’s hard to continue fueling my anger when her hand
grazes past my crotch.

“If you let this go, I’ll make the
two of you very, very happy when we return to our amazing suite tonight.”

I can’t help but smile at her
words.

“Come on, babe. Let it go. I’d much
prefer having cocoa with an extra dose of
whip cream
on top if you know
what I mean,” she says, winking at me.

“Fine,” I relax a little and help
her slip into her shoes. Walking back to the deli, I ask, “What do you want to
do tomorrow?”

“This is your Christmas present.
You get to decide.”

“Okay then.”

That might be the best idea
after all. That way, I’ll control the environment we find ourselves in.

After some cocoa to warm our
bodies, we head to a pub that opens late in another part of the hotel. We chat
over cocktails at the bar. I leave for a moment to go to the restroom, but when
I return Zoë is not there.

“Excuse me,” I ask the bartender.
“Did you see where the woman I was with went?”

“Some guy seemed to be bothering
her. I asked the guy to leave and he wouldn’t, so she left.”

“Thanks.” I rush out of the room,
unsure if it is that fuck from earlier or something far more serious. In the
corridor, I arrive in time to see Zoë ram her knee into some man’s groin.

“Don’t you ever put your hands on
me again, you sick jerk,” Zoë shouts.

He clutches his groin and rolls on
the carpeted floor, wailing in pain.

I run toward her when I realize
what happened, and I am about to exercise my own style of justice when Nicholas
appears from nowhere with two security guards and holds me back.

“Sir, we’re going to have to ask
you to leave,” one of the guards says to the man.

“Babe, let’s go.”

“I’m going to sue you for assault,”
the man shouts.

“Go ahead and try, and I’ll see to
it that sexual assault charges are brought against you.” Zoë pulls me away as I
yell at him. I glare at him as blood pumps through my chest.

“Babe, please. I don’t want to do
this. Let’s go.” She’s angry, but I sense some sadness in her voice. She tugs
at me again, and I let it go. As difficult as it is, I take her to our suite.

“Are you okay?” I close the door
behind us.

“I’m fine. I don’t want to talk
about it anymore. Please leave it alone. Let’s go to bed.”

“Don’t be mad at me, baby.”

“I’m not mad at you,” she murmurs.
“I’m mad at the situation. Just come to bed. I don’t want to waste any time
being upset while on vacation.”

When I wake
the next morning, Morgan is not beside
me. I wrap myself in a thick blanket and head to the window to take in the
view. A fresh coat of snow from the previous night blankets the grounds below.
It’s a beautiful piece of artwork, painted in hues of whites with a tinge of
blue and green.

“You know you could not have made a
more perfect choice.” Morgan says, enveloping my waist from behind. “This place
has the tranquility we need.”

“Hey, Doctor Drake” I say, turning
to face him. He’s all dressed, complete with boots. “Where have you been?”

“Hungry?”

“Not really.”

“Well, I have a great day planned
for us. I rented a vehicle. Throw on some clothes so we can get out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. Just wear
comfortable shoes. I love your stilettos, but save them for another day.”

We spend the first half of the day
hiking a beautiful trail at a place called Johnston Canyon Falls. However, the
pièce de résistance— Mother Nature at her very best—is a waterfall completely
frozen in time. Massive icicles hang down in sheets of turquoise, green and
white, creating an magnificent masterpiece. Stunning.

In the afternoon, Morgan takes me
on an amazing helicopter tour over the Rockies. For a while today, I am at peace,
and I forget all the things that have plagued my mind in the last few weeks. By
the time we head back to the hotel, I’m exhausted and drift to sleep on our
return.

I don’t know
how much time has gone by when Morgan
nudges me awake. “Baby, wake up. I think you’ll want to see this.”

Opening my eyes, I pan the view
around me. We’re at the Chateau’s sister property in Banff. “Oh my God. It
really does look like a castle.”

“I suspected you’d recognize it.”

“I do. When I picked this area, I
had to choose between Banff and Lake Louise. It was a difficult choice between
the two resorts.”

“We’ll be here for the night.”

“Really? But I didn’t bring
anything to change into.”

“Trust your man, baby. I have
everything we’ll need.”

We pull up to the front of the
building. After the bellhop takes a leather duffle bag from the trunk, he
escorts us inside the grand lobby where Nicholas waits.

It’s old world, I suppose to match
the stone castle-like exterior. With stone walls, arched beams, abundant wood
and regal-styled furniture, it’s like we’ve stepped back into another era.

Nicholas escorts us to the
elevator, and it stops on the very top floor. Leading the way, he soon comes
upon the double door entrance to the room. At the sight of the room’s sloped
walls and trapezoid shaped windows, I realize we’re at the peak of this castle.
Three hundred and sixty degree panoramic glacier views surround us, with the
Bow Valley below. The living room décor is contemporary in style with purple
accents and a few eclectic furniture pieces mixed in.