Dear Mystery Guy (Magnolia Sisters Book 1) Read online

  Othneil grimaced and put his head in his hands. "The ego is here. I'm happy I don't work here and don't have to deal with him."

  Luca chuckled and left his brother in his office and headed to Room 4.

  Two nurses and Dr. Bowen, the anesthesiologist, was in the room.

  "She bumped her head. Her ribs are bruised, not broken," Bowen said, looking up at Luca when he entered the room. "Apparently Othneil was not going too fast or she would have been in worse shape. She will have a hell of a headache and pain from the bruised ribs when she wakes up. I ordered an ice pack for the ribs and painkillers for both the head and the ribs when she gets up. She should be right as rain in a couple of days."

  He took off his gloves. "We have no more surgeries scheduled for today. I am heading out. See you on Tuesday. "

  "Is there anything else you want us to do, Dr. Lawson?" one of the nurses asked. "Her bag is there. Her name is Della Gold. We'll fill out a patient chart. Her phone has several contact numbers. We tried calling them but nobody is answering."

  Luca nodded. "I will take it from here. Keep trying her contacts."

  He looked down at the patient and a shaft of recognition hit him. It was that girl from the restaurant at Rizzle.

  The gorgeous girl in the yellow dress that he had been drawn to like a moth to a flame.

  She had beautiful brown eyes, he remembered that clearly. They were kind of luminous, and she had a throat infection where she couldn't speak. He had wondered at the time if she was a singer.

  My brother hit her down in the street. How weird is that?

  A part of him had been yearning to see her again, wishing that he had gotten her name and number.

  He had successfully buried the attraction to her because he had a wedding coming up in two weeks. He should not be feeling so strongly attracted to another woman.

  But he had not been able to completely shake this girl from his mind since then. She had disappeared after he said hello.

  Della Gold. He sat beside the bed. She was lying there so eerily still.

  "Hey Della." He squeezed her hand in his. "This is the worst time to get hit by a car. You know that? It is the long holiday weekend. Most of the doctors won't be around. We have only a skeletal staff with maybe one nurse here to deal with emergencies. Now it will have to be two because somebody will have to be here to help take care of you until you wake up."

  He glanced at her long, tapered fingers. They were elegant fingers, limp and lifeless, not reacting to his squeeze.

  He carefully placed her hand beside her body. He looked down at her, hoping for a reaction--a fluttering of an eyelid or a movement from her face. There was nothing. She had a lovely face, nut brown skin. She had a mole just above her lips.

  He remembered that from Rizzle, and her plump pink lips. She had looked at him and smiled. When she smiled her whole face had lit up.

  It had created a certain warmth in him that he felt coming back now just thinking of it; her long, feathery eyelashes that were now covering her expressive eyes like short, stubby fans. When he had introduced himself to her she had looked at him with such intensity, as if she was speaking.

  It was amazing how he remembered that about her. That had been weeks ago, New Year's Day.

  He spoke again, looking for some reaction from her.

  "My brother, the one who knocked you down, is a cardiologist who just finished a fourteen hour surgery. He shouldn't even be behind the wheels of a car after being awake for more than twenty-four hours.

  "He is very sorry about the accident, and I am sure when he is rested he will come back here and tell you himself. He's not a bad guy. He's a decent family man. A good father, a dedicated Christian. He's actually president of the Christian Doctors Association. This whole situation is eating him alive.

  "His wife Yasmin is pregnant and very close to her due date, which reminds me, I have to call her to come and get him."

  He sighed. Not even a flutter of her eyelids. She was out for the count. They would have to closely monitor her to see if this was a coma.

  The thing about comas was that doctors could do nothing to wake up a patient. They just had to wait.

  He sat down and found his cell phone in his pocket and dialed Yasmin's number and waited for it to ring. When she finally answered she was laughing at what somebody said in the background.

  "Hi Luca." She was still chuckling. "What's up?"

  Luca grimaced. His news was going to wipe the smile off her face.

  "Othneil was a car accident. He hit a pedestrian. He wasn't going fast, though. Thank God."

  "Oh no," Yasmin gasped. "Is the person okay? Is he okay?"

  "The person is unconscious and at the clinic. I am hoping she wakes up soon. Othneil is tired, disoriented, and now feeling guilty. Can you come and get him?"

  "Sure," Yasmin said. "I am in Norbrook at your parent's house. I should be there in twenty minutes. One second, Luca, your mom is saying something to me."

  She spoke to his mom and then came back on the phone.

  "Luca, someone mailed a package to you here. I'll bring it with me when I am coming over."

  "Okay." Luca pushed the phone back in his pocket and leaned back in his seat. He assumed an air of relaxation, folding his arms over his chest. He was going to have to monitor Della until she woke up.

  He hoped it would be soon. He really hoped that her injury was nothing more than bruised ribs and a knock on the head.

  It was ironic that this morning he had gotten up with a sense of impending change, a feeling of anticipation that he had not felt in years.

  He had been praying about his pending marriage to Josephine and he had mistakenly thought that this feeling of anticipation was the answer God gave him because he had been feeling very doubtful lately and he had prayed about it.

  Lord, if it is your will that I marry Josephine, take away the doubt. And this morning, just like that, he woke up without doubt or anything, just a deep sense of anticipation.

  Now he wasn't so sure, with Della lying in the bed unconscious. The feeling that something momentous was going to happen was gone. This gave him pause. Was this the fulfillment of his anticipation? Was Della the answer? He had developed an unusual fascination with her at Rizzle and he had thought of her at the most inopportune times through the weeks following. It was like he couldn't shake her from his mind.

  Now here she was, in one of Sunshine Medical Associates’ rooms, and the doubts about Josephine came wheedling back into his mind with a vengeance.

  He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something was not quite right with how he felt toward his fiancée. He wasn't sure that he could call it love, and he wasn't sure that they were compatible.

  He felt as if they were rushing into marriage. He didn't even know whose idea it was that they got married so fast. To this day he couldn't remember proposing to her.

  He didn't feel as if he really knew Josephine. He had seen so many marriages of his friends and colleagues marriages break up that he had concluded that he had to really know the person who he was going to marry first.

  The first time he had gotten married was to Tessa. She had been his friend from prep school. They had truly been soul mates.

  Since her death he had determined that he wasn't going to get married on the fumes of attraction alone. No, not him. He wanted to know his future bride inside and out. He wanted to know what made her tick. He wanted them to be friends. He wanted to be comfortable sharing himself with her: his thoughts, dreams and aspirations.

  He wasn't sure that he had that with Jose. There was something a bit closed off with her; he couldn't explain it. It was like she had a hidden, secret depth that he could not touch.

  He had been wildly attracted to Josephine at first. They had met at the burn unit at the Children's Hospital six months ago.

  She had been visiting a friend's child and he had been the doctor who was going to restore the burnt half of the little girl's face.

  The first thin
g that he noticed about Josephine was the classical beauty of her face, how she carried herself with style and confidence. He had looked at her ring finger and seen that it was naked and he had made up his mind to approach her. His patient's mother, Nancy, had added fuel to the fire and gushed about Josephine and how loving and kind she was and how much she loved children.

  When she eventually introduced them he had been predisposed to like Josephine, and their meeting had coincided with his feeling of loneliness and the fact that he had been single for quite some time and had made up his mind to actively search for a girlfriend. Especially one who was mature and loved children and family as Josephine did.

  She got on well with his family. They had grown to love her. His niece Shelly loved her Aunty Jose.

  Josephine was even throwing a baby shower for Yasmin this Sunday. She was already a part of the fabric of his family.

  He closed his eyes and worked out what he had been planning to do this weekend. Sleep had been on the top of his list, and Sunday the shower. He had no idea why he had to attend; Yasmin had done this once before and he hadn't gone to any shower.

  The family barbecue would be on Monday. He was going to spend a good chunk of the weekend here.

  It wouldn't be a hardship, popping in to see Della. As a matter of fact, it was frightening how protective he was feeling toward her right now.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Luca stopped by Brick Place Supermarket on his way from the practice. Thursdays were the only convenient day for him to shop for groceries. He loved to do a power smoothie every morning after his gym workout and his supplies were running low.

  After a cancer scare by his father, he had taken up green smoothies as a regular part of his diet.

  Thankfully his dad did not have cancer, but it had shaken up the entire family. Now instead of takeouts and junk food he had taught himself to cook and decided that he liked it. Cooking was relaxing and a bit like plastic surgery, his specialty. It was nice to take the raw ingredients and fashion it into something usable. He was growing to be quite the chef.

  He walked into Brick Place, got his trolley, and as usual headed to the fruit and vegetable aisle.

  His phone rang and he answered it quickly. He had told the nurse to call him as soon as there was any change in Della's condition. He hoped it was good news.

  "Hey, it's me," Josephine said brightly when he answered the phone.

  "Hey Jose." He hooked the phone between his shoulder and ear and examined a package of kale.

  "I was thinking that tomorrow I could come over to your apartment and we could just have a day in. I hardly see you these days."

  Luca inwardly groaned. He had been planning to get some sleep. Visit Della to see how she was doing and maybe read. He hadn't done that in a long time.

  "You know what?" Josephine said before he could answer. "I am coming over to your place in the morning. We have a lot of things to discuss about the wedding and where we'll live and that kind of thing."

  "Okay," Luca sighed. "Fine."

  "Don't sound so excited," Josephine snapped.

  She hung up and he took the phone from his ear and looked at it, puzzled. He had never heard Josephine snap. It was like every day he discovered something new and unpleasant about his bride-to-be. He had never heard her snap or whine. She was always even keeled and pleasant.

  He guessed there was a first for everything and maybe she was having bridal nerves.

  He didn't want a big wedding but she did. It was her first marriage. His second. So he had to acquiesce.

  He thought about how stressed and cranky she sounded. He couldn't expect her not to get cranky but there was that feeling again like he needed to find out all he could about Jose. Maybe it was a good thing she was coming over so that they could spend some time together and really talk.

  Luca took the groceries out of his car and walked up to his townhouse door. It was a small complex with twelve townhouses. It was very private; it had to be. A few famous people lived in the place. He had only known that because Yasmin had pointed it out to him.

  They had a gym and a swimming pool and a common area. He rarely used the common area and the pool but he was very familiar with the gym. He had lived there now for six months and though he had more rooms than he needed, he liked it so far. After all, it would probably get smaller when Josephine moved in, and when they started having children, the three bedroom place would probably get too small.

  He juggled his keys and the groceries.

  "Need help?" a friendly voice asked to the right of him.

  "Hey Nick," he called to Nick Benedict. A fellow doctor and his former brother-in-law, Nick had recently bought the townhouse across from his. "I am good. What's up?"

  "Nothing much." Nick was watering his potted plants. "I am so busy these days I have neglected the plants my mom sent over to beautify my porch."

  "Okay man." Luca opened the door and then turned to Nick. "Have you decided to give up on public service and come join us at the practice?"

  Nick looked at him contemplatively. "I am seriously considering it but you guys already have Othneil. He is a cardiologist. Wouldn't it be odd to have two doctors with the same specialty?"

  "Othneil left us for the private hospital. They wooed him away by offering him a higher salary, but they are overworking him. His former office is empty."

  Nick nodded. "Okay. I'll get back to you on that."

  "More interesting cases," Luca said. "Better equipment. You can dictate your hours."

  "Okay, okay, I am almost sold." Nick grinned. "What are you up to these days?"

  "I am supposed to get married in two weeks," Luca replied.

  "Really?" Nick raised his eyebrows. "Congrats. Did you tell my parents?"

  Luca nodded. "Thanks and no, I didn't tell them. I don't really speak to them regularly anymore."

  Nick looked at his watch and then at Luca's open car trunk, where the rest of his groceries were sticking out. "Want me to help you with the rest of the groceries and then we have a chat?"

  "Sure," Luca said. "Come on in."

  "Found this with your groceries." Nick put down the brown envelope that Yasmin had carried from his parents place.

  "Oh." Luca hadn't given it a thought since he had gotten it. "Thanks, put it over there." He pointed to a far point on the counter and Nick did as he said and then sat down.

  "So why do you look so utterly unenthusiastic when you said you were getting married?"

  Luca turned around and looked at Nick in dismay. "It was that obvious?"

  "Oh yes." Nick grinned. "Very. A far cry from when you were getting married to Tess. You two were over the moon happy."

  "Yes well... Tess was my first love. It was heady and romantic and we had stars in our eyes."

  "And it was all the more romantic because she had a congenital heart defect and she could expire at any time." Nick smiled sadly. "You know that's why I went into cardiology? I am always looking to save the little Tesses in Jamaica."

  "Yes. I know." Luca folded his arms. "Tess and I had a perfect year of marriage together. I wouldn't have traded that for anything."

  "And that was ten years ago," Nick said. "You are not comparing her to this new person, are you?"

  "No." Luca grimaced. "I am not so crass that I would do that. It's just that Josephine is kind of hard to read and I am not very sure we have, you know, the 'it' factor."

  "Josephine? Josephine?" Nick frowned, "Is she a doctor?"

  "No, a real estate developer," Luca said. "Property owner. She's a business woman."

  "Josephine Fearon?" Nick snapped his fingers.

  "Yes," Luca nodded, "know her?"

  "Yes, I do." Nick nodded. "She owns adjoining property to Dad's on the North Coast."

  "Oh," Luca said, "for a moment there I thought you knew her personally."

  "I do, I do. She used to come to Dad's yearly meet and greet down in Ocho Rios--very pretty, very charming." Nick drummed his fingers on the table. "I thi
nk she has a bit of a hard core. Very clever business woman, though. Dad has some stories about her and her previous husband and how they got the Heritage Trust to withdraw their claim to an old building they declared as a heritage site. It was all orchestrated by her. It was a source of grief for Dad because you know he is on the board of the Cultural Heritage Trust."

  "Hold up." Luca stiffened his back. "Josephine's previous husband?"

  "Yup." Nick nodded. "Can't remember his first name but he had a huge belly and wore a ruby on his pinky finger. Just like the godfather. And he had like an evil laugh. People were slightly afraid of him, but they were even more afraid of Josephine."

  "Really? Why would people be afraid of Jose? She is a sweetheart. I thought she inherited her wealth from her Dad."

  "Maybe," Nick said, "but she really increased it with her marriage to Fearon."

  "A hard core, though?" Luca frowned, not knowing what to think. He really didn't know this hard Josephine. "I don't see the hard part of her. She said she wants to be a homemaker and she desperately wants children. She wants us to start trying as soon as we get married. She's a sweet person. People love Jose; my family loves Jose."

  Nick's eyes opened wider and wider. "We are talking about the Josephine Fearon the barracuda?"

  Luca nodded. "Okay then. Obviously, Jose and I need to spend some quality time together before this wedding. Six months is not a lot of time and for most of that time I was busy."

  "Yes. Definitely." Nick nodded vigorously. "You definitely do need to spend more time together. And people change; the love of a good man has been known to mellow a woman. Maybe Josephine is mellowed. It happens."

  Luca nodded uncomfortably. Barracuda. His Josephine? No. Not the lady that he knew. Maybe Nick was right, maybe she had mellowed.

  "Want to stay for dinner?" He resumed packing out his groceries. "I think I am going to make something where I can throw in a lot of jalapenos."

  "Sure." Nick smiled. "Reminds me of old times, when Tess was alive."

  Luca nodded. "Yup. I remember. Good times."