The Drake Unwound Complete Collection (The Drake Series Book 9)(43)

Exactly what I needed.

Exactly what I most wanted.

I felt a tiny bit selfish, but I knew that for Kate, I was what she needed and wanted as well.



When we arrived at Ethan’s, he and Elaine were sitting in the living room, drinking cocktails and listening to some music on the sound system.

"Come in you two," Ethan said in his gravelly voice. "What can I get for you?"

I held up my hand. "Let me bartend," I said and went behind the bar. I opened the small bar fridge and removed Yelena Kuznetsova's shot glasses and poured two shots of Anisovaya, then brought them over to the couches by the fireplace. I handed one to Kate and then held up my glass.

"To us," I said.

"To us," Ethan replied. We toasted each other and then Kate and I shot back the vodka.

Kate sat on the couch beside Elaine and I sat beside Kate, my arm possessively around her back.

"We've been so looking forward to dinner tonight," Elaine said. "We thought you two would be gone in a few days. We're glad we'll have you here for a few more weeks, even though the circumstances aren’t happy."

"I'm happy to stay for as long as Drake wants," Kate replied. "Everything's packed and repacked and repacked again. We have our passports and Drake has his papers and offers of employment so as soon as Drake's ready, we can go."

"So Drake," Ethan said, turning his attention to me. "You're still going to be able to teach?"

"Luckily yes," I said. "The third semester starts in March. I'm going to teach two courses in the Masters of Medicine Neurosurgery program. One is intro to neurosurgery and the other is for 6th year students and was the final neurosurgery course in the program. It's called HMS 1001:Principles and Practices of Neurosurgery and focuses on the kind of surgery I do at Columbia. Stereotactic surgery for epilepsy and deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's and other movement disorders."

"Are they lectures or is there actual surgery involved?"

"Both," I replied, eager to teach the classes. "Lectures, demonstrations, and surgical rotations with me. It's really hands-on at this point. The final course is taught in the last year of their neurosurgery program so they're almost finished."

"You must be pleased."

"Very. I've wanted to go and teach there for a while. Ever since I did some volunteer work a couple of years ago."

"Sad that you have to cancel the surgery you’ve got lined up."

I shrugged, although I felt bad for Michael. He had such need for support, especially when it was mainly wealthy doctors like me who could afford to put a practice on hold and volunteer our services. "It'll be hard for them to find someone qualified to take over on such short notice, but it's my son."

"Do you like to teach?" Elaine said, as if trying to change the subject.

"Love it," I said, as I took Kate’s hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. "I love teaching almost as much as doing. I love to watch students develop their skills, discover new knowledge, improve. And Kenya has a severe shortage of neurosurgeons, so this is important work getting more students to graduate. I'll get privileges and will be on call in the ER and scheduled surgeries. I'll be really busy, but hopefully not too busy or Kate will get really bored." I turned to her. "But she's started painting again, so maybe we'll get her some studio space and she can work on a collection while we're there."

Kate smiled back at me. "Thank you," she said and kissed me on the cheek.

Ethan turned to her, smiling broadly. "Well, that's just great," he said. "I'd love to see some new work from you, sweetie. What are you working on?"

"It's a secret," Kate said. "A gift."

"For Drake?"


She shook her head "No, for me."

"Be mysterious," Ethan said, shaking his head. "I can't wait to see it, whatever it is."

Elaine and Ethan seemed pleased that we were together, that we were going to Africa, and that Kate would start painting again. It was almost enough to wash away the darkness inside of me as I worried about Liam and whether the treatment would work. I pulled Kate a bit closer, and she responded by snuggling into my embrace. If it wasn’t for Liam’s illness, I didn’t think I could be any happier.



The meal was catered and was delicious. Kate and Elaine discussed the food while Ethan and I caught up on how his campaign plans were progressing. I related how I was wrapping things up at the hospital, the Foundation and the Corporation.

Beside me, Kate seemed especially happy to be with her father and Elaine. I watched her drink a bit more than usual, amused that she was getting a nice buzz from the wine.

When we were alone for a few minutes, while Ethan left for his office and Elaine went to the kitchen to fix us tea, I leaned over to Kate.

"You're flushing from the wine. You look very alluring. I wish I could take you home right now instead of going to meet Maureen. Later," I said. "We'll do something special."



After tea and some more discussion of life in general, we said goodbye to Ethan and Elaine and I led a slightly tipsy Kate down to the parking garage. Kate tripped and laughed when I caught her, steadying her against my body.