Chapter 17

Aiden

I leaned back in my chair and ran my fingers over the papers sitting on my desk, trying to figure out how to make things up to Elizabeth. I'd been a dick that day to the only person I truly cared anything about. Saying that I was sorry would only go so far. I got up and walked back down the hall to Mrs. Peterson's room. They were going to pull the plug on Lance at eight, and I wanted to be there with her when they did. I knew Elizabeth would do a great job delivering the news, and some part of me was angry over having pussy-footed away from doing it myself.

I cared about the little old couple and had fought hard for Lance's life more times than I could count over the last ten years. Between having to watch him die and deal with the shit between me and Elizabeth, I was mentally and emotionally wasted.

After knocking on the door, I poked my head inside. "Sarah, can I speak with you for a minute?"

Everyone turned to look at me as Sarah got up from the couch with the help of two middle-aged men who sat on either side of her.

"Of course. Aiden, come in here and let me introduce you to my family." She gave me a tired smile, and I walked in and shook hands until we'd gone all the way around the room.

"Nice to meet you all. I wish it were under different circumstances." I held the door open and glanced down at Sarah. "Let me buy you a coffee?"

"I'd like that." She looped her arm into mine and glanced up at me with a sweet smile as we started down the hall. "You know something?"

"Tell me." I turned the corner and held open the door to the cafeteria.

"Lance always wondered if you would ever find the right woman. He was in here so often that I think he started to think about you like he did Fred and Tommy, our boys." She chuckled. "He used to always tell me that you were a good-looking man with a great head on your shoulders, but you were missing one vital thing."

I lifted my eyebrow as I grabbed a couple of coffee mugs for us. "What's that?"

"A good woman to complete you." She winked at me and took the mug, filling it up and walking toward a table in the center of the room. It was empty, which was good. I needed a few minutes with someone I knew would listen to me and offer sound advice. I had a lot of patients like Sarah and Lance. I guess that's why I never really felt alone until Elizabeth showed up. These people were my family when Ansley was too busy with her career or Gwen was traveling the country dancing.

"Tell me about the girl you sent in to share the news about Lance." Sarah sat down and gave me a motherly look. "I assume she must be pretty important to you if you were willing to let her do that deed for you today."

I let out a long sigh and sat down. "Yeah. I should have come in there myself. I just hated the fact that this was it. I've been with you guys since Lance's first seizure. You're like family."

"I know, Aiden. You are too, sweetheart." She reached out and brushed her hand over my forearm as I swallowed my devastation. It was a flavor I'd tasted far too often, and yet it was part of the job on a regular basis.

"Elizabeth is an incredible doctor, or will be one day. She's at the top of her class and graduated number-"

"Aiden, I don't want statistics on the girl. I know you came to talk to me because you're hurting. I could see it on your face when we talked about Lance earlier. Either she's incredibly sensitive, or she was hurting too. She cried right along with me, and I'd never seen her a day in my life." Sarah laughed. "I wanted to comfort her over us losing Lance, but she wasn't weeping over that, was she?"

"No. I mean... she's sensitive and loving, so your pain was mostly shared by her, but no... I've hurt her." I ran my hands through my hair and let out a shaky sigh. "I'm in love with her, and I can't be."

"And why in Heaven's name can't you be?" She squeezed my arm and let out a curt laugh.

"It's complicated, but it boils down to the fact that I'm her mentor and she's my resident. We can't step over those lines, or one of us will have to move to another hospital. She needs me as her mentor because I'm the only one truly capable of pushing her to greatness. I need her because she's the only woman who's made me feel anything... ever."

"Wow. That is complicated." Sarah took a sip of her coffee. "Have you spoken to Peter?"

I loved that Sarah and Lance knew me so well. We'd had coffee together many times over the years, and they had grown to love me, as I did them.

"I did, but there's very little that he can do about it. The rules are black and white. We can sneak around for the next three years, or one of us can call 'uncle' and leave the hospital, but that would destroy anything we had between us anyway, or at least I think it would. I've been an ass to her since I realized that I was in love with her." I left out the part where we'd made an arrangement for me to pay for access to her delicious body. Sarah and anyone else with breath in their lungs would frown heavily upon that. And they should. It had to stop.

"Life is short, but you know that all too well. Go get the girl, and you can figure out the rest later, Aiden. Love doesn't show up on your doorstep every day. It's rare, and it deserves to be treasured and fostered. Stop messing around, and trust that everything will work out as it should. Go take the first step. Lance did, and we had forty-three years of bliss. My daddy hated him, but he didn't care. I was more important than the opposing forces, and you know what?" Tears filled her eyes, as they did mine. "We won. We got all those years of being together. No one can take that away from us. Go get the girl."

I nodded and got up. "You're right. You always are."

After giving her a long hug and walking her back to Lance's room, I stopped by my office and gathered my things. I would text Elizabeth, and wherever she was... I was going there too. I wanted to tell her how much I needed her, how much I'd fallen in love with her.

She could accept me or deny me, but I had to get it off my chest.

I pulled my phone from my pocket as it buzzed, and stiffened as bile rose up in my throat. The text was from Parks, and there was picture after picture of Elizabeth wrapped in his arms, or his lips pressed to her cheek. They looked happy, whole - right. The message simply read that Parks was almost there with her. He was rounding first and headed toward home.

Anger and regret raged through me like I'd never felt before, and I texted him back, asking where they were. The minute I got the name of the club, I got into my car and drove like a bat out of hell. It would be a holy nightmare for me tomorrow for busting into the club and dragging Elizabeth out, but I wasn't letting her go, and I owed Parks an explanation. He cared about me, and I had no doubt that he would be furious with me for keeping my feelings a secret, but he could get over it.

She mattered far too much to keep my mouth shut any longer. Sarah was right. We would find a way to make things work out, and the rest of the story would fall in line somehow. We could make sure it did, but first... I needed to get to my girl.