Promise Me (Book One of the Kirkland Family)

Promise Me: Chapter 44

Chapter 44

When the surgeon, Dr. Williams, and the oncologist, Dr. Brimm, finally made their appearance, Dr. Brimm gave Hannah a weary smile.  "How is she?" Hannah asked immediately.

"Everything went well, and Lawna is stable, for now."

"For now?  Why for now?" she inquired, her voice rising from not only her worry and fear, but from sheer exhaustion and that caged-animal feeling after being cooped up in the private waiting room for nearly five hours.

“Well, removing a tumor from the brain is tricky stuff, and in this case, it was trickier than normal,” Dr. Williams said, waving her to sit down so they could talk.  Hannah folded herself into a chair and eyed both of them warily.

“We got out what we could,” Dr. Brimm explained.  “But parts of the tumor were lodged so deeply into the Parietal Lobe, we were afraid we’d do too much damage if we explored any further.  We’ll have to see if your mother responds to chemo and radiation, and hopefully, those treatments will take care of the rest.”

Hannah swallowed nervously.  “Is she...is she still going to die in a few months?”

Both men shook their heads.  “That we won’t know for sure.  Like I said, for now, she’s stable, and in a few hours, we’ll try to rouse her enough to check her muscle, speech, sensory and memory functions to see if any damage occurred during the surgery.  She’ll be moved to the critical care unit for the next five days and will constantly be checked for any hemorrhaging, infections, swelling or any chance of a stroke or seizure, and of course, for how well she’s healing.  After that, she’ll go into an assisted living unit which she picked out to begin her rehabilitation therapy.  That could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, but she’ll receive the best care provided.”

Hannah could feel the blood draining from her face.  “Then what?” she asked in a near whisper.

“Once we feel her health is strong enough, we’ll begin the other treatments,” Dr. Brimm said.  

Nodding vaguely, just because she thought she should, Hannah asked, “When can I see her?”

The doctors glanced at each other.  “Normally, we say in a few hours, but Lawna’s tumor had grown significantly in the last six months.  She should have had this procedure done back in May, but she’s a stubborn lady -- which will serve her well in recovery -- but for now, it is best that you wait until tomorrow to visit with her.”

Again, Hannah nodded.  She wasn’t sure she could look upon her mother’s face right now anyway.  Tears threatened to fall all over again, but she blinked them back.

Dr. Williams scooted closer to the edge of his seat.  “Miss Baker, you mother said you lived in Conway?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re not far away,” he said soothingly.  “But if you want to stay closer -- just until tomorrow -- then the hospital’s Family Liaison can set you up in a nearby hotel.  We keep several rooms reserved for this reason.”

Now, Hannah shook her head and uncurled her cramping fingers from each other.  “No...that’s okay.  I have friends staying with me right now, and I can be here as quickly as possible, if need be.”

The doctors stood up, and Dr. Brimm pulled a card from his lab coat pocket.  “We have your contact number if anything should happen, but if you have questions later, then feel free to call me anytime.  I won’t return to California until I know Lawna will be okay.”

Hannah plucked the card from him.  “Thanks.”  She eyed the man carefully.  He was handsome, in his mid-sixties, and had kind eyes.  “She wrote me a letter...mentioned you in it.  You’ve known her for almost a year?”

Dr. Brimm smiled.  “Yes.  We’ve become good friends in that time.”

Chewing on her lip, Hannah wondered if she should ask...

“She spoke of you often,” he said after a moment.  “You’re the reason she waited so long to have the surgery done.”  A soft smile graced his lips.  “She said she was a lot like you when she was your age, at least in the looks department.  She showed me pictures, so I believe her.”

“She had pictures of me?”

“Nothing recent,” he explained.  “She had a picture from your high school graduation, and a few head shots from when you lived in California.”

So, her mother hadn’t been bullsh*tting her...she’d kept up with Hannah’s life.  It eased some of the pain inside her.

Dr. Brimm smiled wider.  “Miss Baker, if I may be so bold...If she was anything like you, I wish I had known her back then.”

Blushing -- thankful she was blushing, since it brought blood flow back to her cheeks -- Hannah looked away.  “Thank you...I wish I had known her back then, too.”

He patted her shoulder in that kind-fatherly way.  “It’s never too late, my dear.”  He turned to leave the room.  Dr. Williams had already shuffled out.  “Remember...call if you need any information at all.”

“Okay,” she said, and thanked him again.  He left, and Hannah dropped back onto the sofa.

*****

By the time lunch rolled around, Justin was going stir-crazy.  Hannah wasn’t answering her cell or his texts.  Mark hadn’t returned, and Justin was nearly sick to his stomach with worry.

He understood why she had to go alone, but dammit, he wished she had at least woken him up this morning and explained to his face rather than in a blasted note!

Josie started to feel better, and since waiting around for word from Hannah was grating on his nerves -- not to mention the workers outside Hannah’s house, hammering, sawing, running power tools, thumping up on the roof and out front -- he had to get out of there.

So, he drove Josie to see Kim at the store, and he needed to speak to Chad.  Just as he finished offering his condo to the young man as an option for a home until Chad and his family could find one -- “It comes with a housekeeper,” he added, lumping on the temptation of getting Chad working in his spot ASAP -- Mark arrived.

Justin immediately bombarded the man with questions about Hannah, but Mark held up his hand, his eyes glittering, and he said, “We need to talk.”

Justin followed Mark outside and to the side of the store, away from prying eyes.  He planted his hands on his hips as Mark turned to face him.  But before he could get out more than, “Is she okay?” -- meaning Hannah, not Lawna -- Mark reared back and suckerpunched him in the jaw.

“Sonofabitch!” Justin roared as he stumbled backward, cupping a hand to the sore spot.  “What the f*ck was that for?”

“That was a warning,” Mark described as he shook out his hand, his voice low, dark, and positively threatening.  “If you ever do anything to break her heart, there’ll be more where that came from.”

That was twice, Justin thought.  Twice, in as many days, that someone hit him!  First Hannah, and now her biological father.  Jesus!  Falling in love shouldn’t ever be so freaking painful!  Or abusive.

“I hope like hell she’s forgiven you, you bastard,” Justin snarled.

“And if she did?”

“Then I ain’t gonna hit you back,” Justin replied, standing upright at his full height again.  “It’ll just piss her off.  Did she forgive you?”

Mark smiled a tiny bit.  “Yes.”

Justin growled.  “Damn.”

Mark grinned.  “Sucks, don’t it?  Since you’re going to be my son-in-law.”

Justin glared.  “Where did you hear that?  Hannah tell you that?”

Mark shook his head.  “Nope, but that’s what’s going to happen.  She loves you, so you’re going to marry her.”

Justin cocked his head higher.  “You going to put a shotgun to my back?”

“Don’t have to,” Mark said, walking away.  “Hannah will do it for me.”

*****

Hannah pulled into her driveway and grimaced.  Her house was a wreck.  The front porch was completely gone, baring the bricks of the foundation, and the roof looked like three tornadoes had recently swept over it.  God, what a mess!

Walking around to the back, she spied Justin reclining in her hammock with a dish cloth full of ice pressed to his chin.  His eyes were closed.  She eased up next to him...and then she saw it.  The left lower side of his face was swollen and bruised.  

“What happened?!” she asked, almost shrieking.

Justin cracked open an eye.  “I ran into Mark’s fist.”

Hannah gasped.  “Mark hit you?  Why?”

“It was his way of making sure I don’t screw up this time.”

She frowned and knelt beside the hammock.  Prying the ice pack away, she winced, and he groaned.  “Don’t screw up what?”

“You and me,” Justin said.  “Damn bastard’s got a mean right hook.  Now I know where you got yours from.”

Instantly, it all made sense to her, and she smiled.  He found his spine.

“You don’t have to look so happy about it,” Justin complained, closing his eyes again with a heavy sigh.

“Sorry,” Hannah mumbled.  “So, what does Mark look like?”

“Smug and bruise-free,” Justin said with a scowl.  “I didn’t hit him back.”  He peeked at her again, hopefully.  “Did you want me to?  Because I still can.”

“Nah,” Hannah said waving that off.  “Does it hurt?”

“Like a b*tch.”

“Ahh...let me kiss it and make it feel better...”  She rose up and pressed her lips to the lump.

Justin groaned again.  “I’ve gotta another pain down south, too, if you want to kiss that.”

She laughed at him.  “Maybe later...where’s Josie?  Still resting?”

“No, she was feeling better, so I took her to the store.  She’s helping Kim for a while.”

“Oh...”

An evil grin spread across his mouth.  “Still want to kiss my pains away?  We’ve got some time alone...”

A group of workmen entered the backyard and scurried up a ladder to the roof.  “Yeah,” she snorted, seeing just how alone they were.  “Totally alone.”

“Aww, and I was hoping to fulfill my doctor/patient fantasy,” he groused.  He glanced at her as a worried frown crossed her face.  His words brought back her own doctor/patient non-fantasy that was today.  “Ah, hell, Hannah...I’m sorry.  That was thoughtless of me.”  He reached for her and pulled her up onto the hammock with him, securing her against his chest.  “Tell me what happened this morning.”

She sighed and related everything the doctors said to her about her mother.  Justin listened, smoothing his palms over her back, and she felt so much better.

“Can I come with you tomorrow?” he asked.  “When you go back to see her?  I don’t like it when you shut me out like you did earlier.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “But it was something I needed to do on my own.”

“I understand,” he replied softly.  “But I’m here to help you.  I love you, Hannah, and I want to be there for you, through the good and the bad.”

She smiled with her ear pressed against his heart, hearing the beating steadily soothing her.    "I'd like that...very much.  Maybe Josie won't mind hanging out with Kim one more day, seeing as how Mark conveniently forgot my warning, so he won't--”

“Hannah!  Daddy!”  Josie raced into the backyard, Kim following behind her.  “We’ve figured it out!”

Hannah lifted her head, and Justin raised up, too, which caused the hammock to swing wildly to one side, effectively dumping both of them on the ground...dropping all two-hundred-pounds of pure male body on top of her.

“Oomph,” she groaned, and Justin scrambled as quickly as he could to get off her, but succeedingly kneeing her in the butt.

“Ah, shi-oot!  Shoot, I meant, shoot!  Are you okay?!”

Josie giggled.

“I’m fine,” Hannah said into the grass under her nose.  Kim emitted a heavenly sigh as she took their place on the hammock.

“God, I wish I had a place to hang one of these,” Kim said.  “I’m going to have to plant some trees, that’s all there is to it.”

Hannah crawled out from under the hammock and Kim.  “Yeah, then in twenty years, you’ll get to lay in it.  Better to just buy one with a stand.”

Justin cradled Hannah’s elbow as he helped her to her feet.  He brushed some grass out of her hair and smiled into her eyes.  “You sure you’re okay?  I’m kind of heavy.”

“Kind of?  You weigh a freaking ton!”

Josie giggled again and folded herself on the ground next to them.  “Anyway,” she said, catching their attention again, “I was telling Kim about Mom calling and what she said, and Kim reminded me of something.  I don’t have to live with her, or see her if I don't want to!”

Justin glanced down at his daughter.  “Yes, baby, I know.  You don’t have to do anything you don't want to do when it comes to your mother.  We’ve already talked about that.”

Josie shook her head stubbornly.  “No!  I mean, I can tell the judge that I don’t want to.  I’m old enough to choose now.  Remember?”

Hannah and Justin looked at the blonde girl on the ground.  Justin then closed his eyes for a moment and groaned.  “Now, I feel stupid.”

“Why?” Hannah asked.  “Didn’t you know Josie can choose who can get full custody of her?”

“Yes,” he replied.  “I mean...when I divorced, she was too young -- the law says that she has to be fourteen to make the choice, but the judge on the case said that he would allow her to decide at thirteen.  But at the time,  it didn’t matter anyway.  Beth only wanted Josie to use her as a threat to make sure she got her alimony, and since she remarried and the whole game became moot, the subject never came up again, but now...crap.  I should have had all that done on her last birthday, but I just forgot.”

Josie beamed.  “Kim reminded me,” she repeated.  “She was telling me about her divorce and her wonderful lawyer--”

“Jackson Bruens,” Kim inserted.  “Best family/divorce lawyer there is, and he’s licensed in four states, including Georgia.”

Josie nodded, “And she told me about how her cousin used him, and got full custody of his children -- even though their mother was like this fancy doctor or something  and he was only a plumber--"

"A construction plumber, actually," Kim interrupted again.

"Right," Josie said, "But because they were old enough to decide who they wanted to live with, he got custody of them.  So, I figured since my next birthday is coming up in a few months, and I’ll be fourteen, when I can legally decide for myself, Mom is trying to get some kind of control over me now, before she loses the opportunity forever.”

Kim fished a sticky note from her pocket.  “I called Jack earlier.  Here’s his number, if you’re needing another attorney.  He’s expecting your call.”

Justin took the note from her fingers and studied it.  Hannah bit down on her lip as she watched the emotions spread across his face.  Surprise.  Regret.  Relief.  Then admiration and respect, which he directed at Kim.  “Thanks,” he said softly.  “This means a lot to me...that you would do this for me.  I'm practically a stranger to you, and...”

Kim’s expression got hormonally weepy-eyed.  “Well, hell...now, you’re going to make me cry...again!”

“Again?” Hannah asked, worried.  “You’ve been crying today?”

Josie rolled her eyes, but she pointed a bemused smile at the other woman.  “All morning.  She cried when she stuck her finger on a thorn.  She cried when she trimmed one of the hothouse ferns.  She cried when she saw a diaper commercial on that little television in her office.  She cried when she couldn’t get the storage door unstuck!”

Kim wiped her eyes.  “So, I’m a little over-emotional.  I’m entitled.”

“Yes, you are,” Hannah agreed.  “I’m guessing you haven’t seen Mark today?”

And Kim burst out into tears all over again.  “He asked me to marry him!”

Justin cleared his throat, shifting his feet at the same time, as he eyed the watery woman.  “I think I’ll...um...go do something...else.  Maybe call Mr. Bruens.”  He kissed Hannah's forehead and made quick work of crossing the yard to her backdoor.  Josie hopped up.

“I’ll come with you!”

Kim and Hannah watched them leave.  After a minute, Hannah asked, "So, he proposed, huh?"

"Yes."

"What did you say?"

Kim huffed.  "Well, I said yes, of course!  The bastard cornered me in my fertilizer bin when Josie went to the bathroom!"

Hannah tried really hard to hide her smile.  "And you love him."

"And I love him," Kim admitted sheepishly.  "But that doesn't change the fact that he has lousy timing, lousy approach, and lousy execution.  The last proposal I got included roses and wine."

"The last proposal you got proceeded into a disastrous marriage and ended in a nasty divorce, not to mention the numerous restraining orders."

"True."

"Just face it, Kim.  There's nothing conventional about any of this.  So, he gave you cow sh*t instead of roses?  Aren't you always telling your customers that plants grow better in well-fertilized soil?  Think of it as an omen for the future."

Kim started laughing.  "Talk about being full of sh*t!  Justin has really gotten to you, hasn’t he?  When did you start becoming all optimistic and crap?”

Hannah smiled.  “When I fell in love.”

Kim sighed.  “Yeah, love has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does.”

*****

Josie stretched out on the floor of Hannah’s office, petting the two guinea pigs that kept trying to crawl under her hair.  Justin liked seeing her there, happy, playful, content.  He liked seeing her in this house -- a real house.  And he really liked himself there.  Already it felt like home to him.

As if she read his thoughts, Josie glanced up and asked, “Is it weird that I don’t feel weird here?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know...this is Hannah’s house, and we’ve only known her for a few months, but I’m starting to think of this as my house now, and that’s my bedroom upstairs...and that she could be my...”

“Step-mom?”

Josie snorted.  “She’s more of a real mother than I’ve ever gotten.  I wouldn’t call her a ‘step-mom’.”

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  This isn’t our home,” Justin said, dialing Kim’s attorney’s phone number.  “And we still have to deal with your ‘real mother’.”

His daughter shot him a narrow frown.  “Don’t you like it here, Daddy?”

Listening to the phone ringing on the other end, he said, “I can’t afford to look ahead just yet, honey.  We need to focus on the here-and-now for now.”

Josie laid her head on her outstretched arm.  “But you’re in love with her, right?  Hannah?  You’re dating her...you’re spending the night with her...you are going to marry her, right?  We will get to stay here?”

Justin couldn’t reply since someone picked up the other line.  “Hello.  This is Justin Kirkland.  I would like to speak to Mr. Bruens, if he’s available.”

“One moment, please,” the woman on the phone said.  “I’ll see if he’s in his office.”

Justin looked down at Josie again.  She idly stroked Lady’s fur while she stared out of the window above her.  The sun cast dappled shadows across her face as the wind blew through Hannah’s oak tree out in the yard.  If he pictured it real hard -- hell, not really hard at all -- he could see all three of them, Hannah, Josie, and himself, sitting there like that...a family enjoying a few moments of a peaceful afternoon.  And if he imagined a little further, he could see Hannah with her hand on her belly, swollen with his child, and an ache started in his chest.  

Yes, he wanted that.  It was a given.  They would marry, and he wanted Hannah to adopt Josie as her own.  These were things he needed to talk to Hannah about, but Beth was determined to screw up the little bit of happiness in his life.  He had to deal with her first.  Completely fumigate her from their lives.  And that meant more court dates, more legal matters, more bullsh*t to go through to gain that tiny iota of happiness.

“Mr. Kirkland,” a man’s voice answered through the phone.  “I’m glad you called.”

Justin turned his attention to the here-and-now.  “Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Bruens.”

“Call me Jack,” the lawyer said pleasantly.  “Everyone does.  Well...not everyone.  My wife has a few oddball names for me, but I won’t get into that right now.  Kim told me a little about your situation.  I’d love for you to come in and talk to me, if you’re looking for another attorney.”

“It seems I am,” Justin said, and related to Jack what Beth had told him about his previous lawyer getting dis-barred.

“Interesting,” Jack said.  “I’ll have to look into that.  Right now, let’s talk about yours and your daughter’s rights.”

For the next hour, Justin discussed options with Jack.  They went over the legalities of a permanent full-custody situation in both this state and in Georgia, and what it would mean for them if they moved back to Arkansas.  They reviewed Beth’s rights as a mother, and her recent “change of heart,” and they made plans for Justin and Josie to meet with him the next afternoon.  The sooner the better.

Especially since Justin, Josie and Hannah were flying back to Georgia in two days to sort out his work mess...another headache Justin couldn’t wait to get cleared up.  His talk with Chad that morning went well, and he wished that Chad could fly over with them, but it was too last-minute, and the young man had his own family to think about.  

Through the whole conversation, Josie laid at Justin’s feet, listening and caring for the pets.  Hannah came inside once -- without Kim, who had gone back to the store -- to see what was going on, but she soon realized who he was talking to, and so, she meandered outside to supervise the rebuilding of her new porch.  Justin briefly wondered why she didn’t stick around to listen, too, but he figured she was giving him some privacy to focus on getting Beth out of his life for good.  Hannah had a way of distracting him, and they both knew that.

In the end, Justin felt he could breathe a little better.  Jack Bruens seemed like he knew what he was talking about.  And once all the dirt had been disclosed to the attorney, Jack seemed quite adamant to help Justin.  It was a relief to know that he wasn’t going at Beth alone anymore.  He had Josie’s support, and Hannah’s, and Jackson Bruens’...and his own parents.  It was nice.  It was a blessing.  It felt so great to have an army of his own.

Beth didn’t stand a chance.

Yet, he knew she had something up her evil sleeve.  She always did.