Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(35)
Ama asked the couple and then repeated the information to Monica. She said she’d be there in ten minutes, to have Doris sit down and put her feet up. When she arrived fifteen minutes later, she had not only Walker, but Caitlynne and Khan with her. They each had a bag in their hands.
“I’ve brought help. And you need to find another doctor. Yours is a quack.” Walker took Doris’s blood pressure and temperature. “You’re as healthy as a bear, aren’t you?”
Monica sat back but said little. Ama knew she was watching the pregnant woman until Walker turned to look at them both. He didn’t look happy, and his next words confirmed it.
“There was a rumor going around before I left the hospital that Dr. Anderson was poisoning his patients. Not to kill them but to give them a miscarriage. I tried to figure out more, but he moved out of the hospital setting a few weeks later and I thought he’d retired. Apparently not.” Walker sat down and looked at Doris. “You’ve been given a vitamin, correct?”
“Yes.” Doris reached into her purse and handed him the bottle. Walker opened it and sniffed it. “He told me to take them twice a day. Should I take more?”
“No. They’re toxic. And as they build up in your system, they slowly kill your unborn child. You’ve known that, haven’t you?”
Doris flushed. “I haven’t been taking them for a few months. And tomorrow…I think he knew it, and he was telling me that I need a transfusion. It was set up for me to go in tomorrow so he could pump me up full of those things. I decided…I told Peter that I’d rather die than to go do it, and he brought me here.”
“He more than likely just saved your life and your children’s.” Walker looked at Caitlynne. “And my lovely wife here would like to do everything in her power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“I’d like to have you come to the clinic we’re opening in a few weeks.” Doris nodded at Khan and Ama raised a brow. “I don’t tell everyone everything I’m doing. Monica and I have been thinking about it for some time and I talked to Walker about it yesterday. With the president retiring, he’s going to have a bit more time on his hands now and has agreed to help us.”
“And I would very much like it if you came to work for us.” Doris flushed again at Monica’s invitation. “You’re a secretary, aren’t you? We’re going to need someone to help out in the office.”
“I’d like that. I haven’t been…my boss told me that I couldn’t come back after this baby was born. He said that his own wife needed to get out of the house more and she wanted my job. We were…Peter and I were wondering how we were going to make it.” She smiled. “I don’t think he’ll be so happy to have her there when he finds out she can’t file a thing and thinks answering the phone is beneath her.”
They all laughed. And when Doris stood to leave, she hugged Ama tightly. “Thank you, my lady. I can see why Peter thinks so highly of you.”
“He is a wonderful man, and you two are going to be great parents. I know it.” After another hug from her, Peter simply nodded. She figured he’d know about the male touching thing more than anyone.
Ama went back to the kitchen to finish the dishes when she heard a chair scrape across the floor. She turned to see Monica sitting there smiling at her.
“Peter is making us dinner. I’ve called Sebastian and the others, and they’re coming over as well.” She nodded. “I have a favor to ask you.”
“Anything.” Monica smiled and patted the seat next to her. “You’re not going to ask me to leave Sebastian, are you? If you do, I’m going to have to tell you no.”
Monica laughed. “No. Nothing like that. I need your job. Not me precisely, but someone I know. You see, there is this man who works for us. He’s the gardener...I think you met him.”
“Yes, Conrad I think his name is.” Monica nodded. “What does that have to do with my job here?”
“His son. He had a son that’s been in a bit of trouble with the law. Stealing and vandalism just to name a few. I’ve been talking with the judge, and he said that he’d release him to work if I found someone that would keep him in line.”
“And Peter agreed.” Monica shook her head. “Then I don’t understand. If you don’t want him to work for Peter then…. You are asking me first.”
“Yes. It would only be fair. I didn’t know if you’d agree or not, and didn’t want Peter to think you’re keeping this job because you feel you owe him. You don’t, you know. We do, but you don’t.”
“How so? I needed a job when no one else would hire me. He didn’t really want to hire me because he knew what I was, but he did. He’s a wonderful man.”
Monica smiled as she stood up. “And he kept you here for Sebastian. If he hadn’t hired you, where would you be right now?”
She didn’t know and thought Monica knew it. She looked around the room that she had come to like because it gave her a sense of pride to have a job. She looked back at Monica.
“If Peter agrees, I can let the boy have the job. But if he screws up one thing, I’m coming after his ass.” Monica told her she’d not have it any other way.
~~~
Khan watched Sebastian and Ama and wondered not for the first time in the past few days what was going to happen to them once this thing with the demon was over. Would they be required to go to some other place to be in some castle, or would they be able to live here and work? He wanted them here. He wanted them all here. He looked at Walker when he sat down next to him, taking his last slice of pizza.