I Believe in You

No Matter The Cost

"I need to talk to you." Conrad said sitting down across from me in the cafeteria late one night.
"You can talk to me about anything." I muttered still signing paperwork.
"My father's in town."
I stopped mid signature and looked up at him.
"Says he wants to meet up and talk. Didn't seem like he knows we're getting married." He sighed.
"You don't want to talk to him." I smiled understandingly at him.
"I really don't."
"When was the last time you saw him?" I asked reaching across for his hand.
"Honestly, I punched him in the face at my last rehearsal dinner thus ending my engagement when I was eighteen and haven't seen him since."
I wasn't surprised that he'd been engaged before. I was surprised that she left him and that we'd never discussed it.
"She wasn't very happy I punched him so she left then I entered the marine corps." He elaborated reading my expression.
"It's up to you if you want to talk to him. It has been eleven years though. I'm also going to leave inviting him to our wedding up to you. If you want to give him a chance. He is your family."
"Hardly." He sighed.
"My sister, Nic, Chloe, and Alisa are going dress shopping tomorrow."
"I have to work." He sighed.
"I know. It's not very often that either of us works without the other."
"It's just because you took the day off." He squeezed my hand.
"We only have six months until our wedding. We're behind in our planning." I reminded him.
"I know." He sighed.
My sister was going to be my maid of honor followed in the processional by Nic, Chloe, and finally Alisa. We'd decided on a classic black and white wedding theme. So the bridesmaids and Conrad would wear black while I and Conrad's groomsmen were going to wear white. Conrad reluctantly chose four men to stand beside him on our wedding day. Devon, Jude, my brother Logan, and Irving.
I tried on a grand total of twenty seven wedding dresses before finding "the one" that I was going to wear on our wedding day.
Elena chose a floor length aline dress with split spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline.
Chloe chose a flowy floor length dress with cap straps and a sweetheart neckline.
Alisa chose a floor length tapered to the ankles in the front with spaghetti straps and a deep v neckline.
Nic chose a floor length sleeveless straight dress with a scoop neckline.
We chose silver elegant drape style necklaces with black oval stones and matching earrings for each of the bridesmaids.
"Can I talk to you?" Nic asked after the other bridesmaids left and I was preparing to meet with the florist.
"Of course you can." I answered.
"Devon just called and he thinks that Lane is purposely overdosing patients for pharmaceutical profit." She sighed.
"Can you prove it?" I asked.
"No." She admitted.
"But we have to do something. Don't we have a responsibility to her patients?"
"Of course we do but if we can't prove it they won't launch a formal investigation. We need to find the proof but we have to do it quietly or she'll retaliate and they'll side with her because she's been the head of Chastain's oncology department for fifteen years. All we are is an intern, a nurse practitioner and two third year internist residents." I sighed.
"You should just be planning your wedding. Not worrying about what Lane's doing." She sighed too.
"If she's purposely overdosing patients then there's a chance Lily's in danger... and that she is directly responsible for my mom's death in June."
"I didn't even consider that."
I shrugged.
"That's why this needs to be done right. If she's responsible she has to pay for it."
I got home before Conrad after my appointment with our florist, putting together black and white bouquets. White boutonniere for Conrad and white corsages for my bridesmaids as well as black boutonnieres for the groomsmen and a black corsage for me.
After making dinner and putting Conrad's plate into the microwave I turned on the television and sat down on the couch to watch some B rated horror movie on Scifi with Ace sleeping with his head on my thigh.
An hour later Ace perked up as Conrad opened the front door. He hopped off the couch and ran to him.
"You wouldn't believe the day I had." Conrad sighed sitting down next to me on the couch while Ace laid in front of us on the carpet.
"Come here and tell me all about it." I opened my arms so he could lay his head on my chest.
"Let's start with my father touring the hospital all day with none other than Lane Hunter." He began as I kissed the top of his head wrapping my arms around him.
"So, it felt like he was always looking over my shoulder. I met a patient today who had been going through every test known to man without any actual treatment for the last year. He was refusing any further testing so I asked him to let me diagnose and treat him. I discovered he had an extremely severe case of Histoplasmosis. I wanted to treat him with the antifungal medications necessary but those bureaucratic attending doctors tried to overrule me so they could continue to test him for various diseases and billing his insurance until he dies." He finally stopped for a breath.
"I'm sure you got him treated and restored his broken faith in our broken system." I smiled kissing his head again.
"Of course I did. I love fighting the system. How was your day?" He asked resting his chin on my stomach looking up at me.
"Good. Found the dress. No, you can't see it. Found all of the bridesmaids dresses. Had lunch with everyone. Elena's planning the bachelorette party. I met with the florist. On our next day off we have to find our wedding cake and you need to go with your groomsmen to get your suits." I sighed.
"You're stressing again." He smiled at me.
"It's our wedding. We're only going to do this once and I want it to be perfect. I don't want you to hate it."
"Oh, sweetheart. You are all I need to make it perfect. I love you so much and I get to marry you in six months. It's already perfect."
"How did I get so lucky for you to love me so thoroughly?"
"I'm the lucky one."
He moved so he could kiss me grasping my hips.
"Dinner's in the microwave." I smiled at him.
"Perfect. I'm starving."
He jumped up and I watched him walk into the kitchen.