Page 57 of Whispers of My Skin

?

“At last! I’m being discharged! They’re finally letting me home today,” I yell as Joel walks into my hospital room. I’m practically bouncing on the bed with excitement at finally being released from what has begun to feel like a prison. I’ve been stuck here for nearly a week, since Dr. Wang wanted to be sure the Cyanamide was well on its way out of my system and hadn’t caused any long-term problems. So, I’m more than ready to return home and get on with living the rest of my life—you know, the one I didn’t think I’d be around to enjoy. My life with Joel. The life we’re going to share together. Our life. As a couple. Our future together.

So yeah, I’m pretty eager to get out of here.

Although the big question still remains unanswered, I know I can deal with whatever is discovered about who the hell was trying to slowly poison me, now that I have Joel by my side. Part of me still wonders if it wasn’t down to plain human error, a simple mix up over prescriptions, but Joel insists that’s not a feasible theory.

Anyway, I’ve left my mother in no doubt that she can forget any idea she might have had about me getting a quick divorce from Joel. While I’ve made it crystal clear she has to accept Joel as my husband, she’s made it equally clear that we’re not welcome at her house, although funnily enough, she hasn’t felt it necessary to decline her monthly allowance check. So, it turns out she only really cares about the income I provide, which is a real slap in the face considering everything I did was to keep her and Camille safe and provided for. Thankfully, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of Oscar the entire time I’ve been in the hospital, since I have absolutely no wish to see him again after all the nasty vindictive things he said to me.

So, my mother has made her choices, and I’ve made mine. It’s her loss if she chooses to have nothing to do with us, so I put all thoughts of her behind me as we leave the hospital. From now on, I’m getting on with my life in the way I see fit, and nothing and no-one is going to rain on my parade today.

“Fermin seems to have taken his house-sitting responsibilities very seriously. He says we should prepare to be amazed,” I comment as Joel drives us out of the hospital parking lot. Since he’s hardly left my side the entire time I’ve been in there, he called in his friend Connor to take over at Redlands in his absence, and has now offered him the vacant ranch foreman position. It’ll be such a relief to finally have someone totally reliable and trustworthy on staff.

“Knowing Fermin, I guess that means we’d better be prepared for anything,” Joel shakes his head, chuckling.

“Can’t argue with that,” I smile.

On the way home, we discuss my treatment, what we’ve been through these last days, and the investigations now being carried out by the police into my previous medical care under Dr. Kurt.

The whole matter was taken out of my hands once Dr. Wang reported her concerns regarding my previous treatment to the police. Within the hour, detectives were swarming into my room, asking all manner of detailed questions, which I answered to the best of my ability, relieved that Dr. Wang’s involvement meant it wasn’t up to me to prove anything.

My mother first took me for a consultation with Dr. Kurt, because according to her, he was the leading specialist for the symptoms I was experiencing. I was suffering from dizziness and nausea, and my skin had developed a yellowish-gray hue, with nothing my mother forced me to take making any difference to my condition.

Now, though, the police have put out an all-points bulletin for Dr. George Kurt, as he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. All very dubious, and I wonder what on earth possessed my mother to take me to him in the first place.

Joel has his own theory about that, but I’ve asked him to wait for the outcome of the police investigation before jumping in with any accusations, since they’re based solely on his gut feeling without any actual hard evidence to back them up.

All I want right now is to go home. The police have recommended we don’t leave the ranch unless absolutely necessary while they continue their investigations, and Dr. Wang has told me not to overdue things as I still need to give my body time to fully recuperate.

Of course, my overprotective and possessive husband is thrilled to have a legitimate reason for keeping me locked up indefinitely, and although I can live with that for now, he’ll have to back off once I’m fighting fit again. I’ve wasted too much time allowing other people to push me around and force their decisions on me.

Well, not anymore.

While I’m more than happy for Joel and I to run every aspect of the ranch as equal partners, that doesn’t give him the right to control every aspect of my life. I know this is something my alpha male husband is going to struggle with, but he’ll eventually have to accept that’s the way it has to be. But for now, I just want us to spend some time together, reconnecting and getting to know each other again.

“What a way to spend our first couple of weeks of married life. Nothing more romantic than a honeymoon in the hospital.” I sigh.

“Baby, when all this bullshit is over, we should escape to some remote tropical island,” Joel says, taking the hand I have on his thigh to place a loud kiss on my palm.

“That sounds wonderful.” I sigh. “I feel like putting on a bikini again.”

“Who said anything about wearing a bikini?” He laughs. “I mean remote as in no one else around, so I have you naked all the time, just for me.”

“You’re thinking like a dick, Joel,” I say, playfully punching him in the arm.

“With my dick, for sure.” He winks.

I grin broadly as I look at him. I can’t help it. We’re just two idiots madly in love.

“I see the house is still standing, so that’s something,” Joel comments as we turn onto the drive leading up to Redlands.

“I don’t even want to imagine the outcome of Fermin being let loose in the house.” I laugh a little nervously, because let’s face it, my best friend can be a bit outrageous. “And I hope Connor’s been okay keeping everything going for us. It was really good of him to take over at such short notice.”

“I wouldn’t have asked Connor if I didn’t think he’d be up for it, and anyway, we’ve been in constant touch to make sure everything was running as smoothly as possible. Trust me, we’ve worked together for years and he’s a really great guy,” Joel reassures me. And I am reassured, I trust his judgment completely, and agree that it was worth the expense of bringing Connor on board to act as his right-hand man. I’ve learnt the hard way that not having reliable staff is a false economy that only leads to disaster.

“And you said we’re starting to get offers for renting plots of our land?” I worry, unable to believe we might actual be turning a corner and finding some solutions.

Joel nods.

---