Page 6 of Dusty

Scott was taken away, and the officers looked at her sister’s hand to make sure that she didn’t need medical help. The two officers who had been to the house before when Scott had shown up also kissed her on the cheek, welcoming her to the Erickson family, and left with Scott. They didn’t even check his wound, even though he had bitched about the pain he was in for so long. After they all left, all of them leaving with her and her sister promising not to leave, the two of them sat on the first porch and waited for them to return.

“Is it a lovely ring, Candace? Please don’t make me beg to see it.” They both laughed, and shegot her first look at the ring. “It’s the same color as our eyes. Do you suppose that he picked it for that? Amethyst are about the closest thing that I’ve ever seen to judge our eye color.” She told her sister that he’d come here with it. “I don’t suppose he told you why he was coming here in the first place?”

“No. But he didn’t butt in when Scott was spouting off his mouth about the rules when I marry him. He said that he wanted to have kids but would leave the decision up to me. I never thought about having them before, but now that’s all I can think about.” Amanda asked her about her job. “I don’t know what to do about that. I want to retire, I told you that but I only have six months until I can retire with all my benefits. That’s not a long time, is it?” She told her no, it wasn’t if they had the rest of their lives together. “I’ll talk to…I never thought that I’d think that I’d have to talk about myself and what I’m doing with anyone before. It’s kind of a heady thing. Did you and Fred talk all the time?”

“Rarely. I mean, I suppose we talked about things…Can I tell you something? Something I’m only just figuring out.” She told her sister that she could tell her anything. “I don’t know that I ever loved Fred. Not the way I think that I should have. I see the love you have for Dusty, and I think the world would know that you love him, but it’s also the way that Locke talks to Alex. The way they talk to each other. From the beginning, it was more arguments than anything between Fred and me. Then I got pregnant with Mandy, and it was sort of like we had to get married. I don’t know that I’d do that today if I knew what real love was like.”

“That’s really sad, don’t you think?” She nodded, then shook her head. “What do you mean? You would have done it all over. You just told me that you’d not.”

“I’d not have Parker and Fred if I hadn’t stayed with him. And they were worth every second of the things that I had to endure. That’s sad, too. I had to endure my marriage to someone else. But I’m not going to think about that. I’m going to get on with my life. Perhaps date a little and move on. I have my health, my kids, and a good bit of money in the bank. Also, I have you and the Erickson family. They’re a good group to have on your side if you were to ask me.”

The house phone was ringing when they stepped into the house. It was the police and they wanted to talk to her. Taking the phone from her sister, she said her last name and asked what she could do for them.

“Did you at any time pull out your weapon and aim it at Mr. Landry? He said that you threatened him, and that was why he said what he said in the heat of the moment.” She told him what happened and then said that her sister had cameras all around the house, and it had sound if he wanted to hear it. “No, that’s all right. I just wanted to ask you. I would have shot him myself, but then he’s not saying anything to us. By the way, he is saying that he asked you to marry him first and that you did him dirty. But when Dusty asked you, you had an answer. Congratulations on that. He’s a great man. By the way, Scott said that he’s going to sue you for that. Just a heads up.”

“Thanks. He did ask first.” She relayed what he’d said about children as well as how he wasn’t buying her a diamond. “I didn’t even want a diamond. The ring that I got from Dusty is so much more wonderful than a diamond. He said that I wasn’t…I have no idea why I’m telling you this.”

“You’re a friend, that’s why.” He cleared his throat. “I was wondering something. And you can tell me to fuck off or not. But when do you think that your sister will be ready to date again? I know that I sound insane for asking you that, but I’ve had a major thing about your sister since before she married Fred. He was a good guy and all but I don’t think he treated her all that well. I’m sorry if you think that I’m out of line.”

“You’re not. And I’d say…give her a month. If she doesn’t ask you out, then you ask her. I think that the two of you would make a good couple. I think that she’s not really into getting married or anything but she might date you for a little bit. However, remember, I’m never too far away to make you pay if you hurt her or one of her children.” He said he’d never hurt any of them. “Good. Then you have my blessings to ask her out.”

Chapter 3

Dusty was on the board of trustees of the hospital. He hadn’t really wanted to be. It just happened that way. When Martha, the woman that they all had fallen in love with when moving here, when she would ask them to do something, they did it for her. She had always steered them in the right direction, and even in death, they still thought of her to do things that would keep making her proud of them.

She would have told him to fire Scott several months ago had she still been with them. The man was insane to think that someone who loathed him as much as Shipley did would marry him. He looked around the table of the men and women that were on the board as well. When asked if he had anything to say, he stood up.

“As you all know, my family has been taking care of this hospital since we moved here. Donating not just our hard-earned money but also our time and efforts to keep things well running here. But the funding will stop if you continue to keep Scott Landry on as an employee. This is the first time that we’ve had any interaction with you to do something that we want, and after all this time, it’s something that needs to be done before he gives the hospital a bad name.” He named off all the things that they’d been able to find out about the man in the short amount of time that they had.

Fifteen minutes before the board was called together, his family was able to find nearly thirty things that the man had been reprimanded on, written up about, and talked to about his behavior. That was a lot of things to have on your record for only the first five days of the month.

“My family has mentioned four times before that Scott Landry is a problem here, and according to the notebook that I have from his office, he’s been doing things behind the back of all of us that should have been picked up on sooner than this.” They asked him what kind of things that they supposedly had on the man. “I have it right here.”

He handed each of them a copy of the pages that he’d only been able to glance at when Alex had told him what to copy. In addition to the things in the book that involved the hospital, there were things in the book that had to do with not just Shipley but her sister and her husband as well. He had the staff hold pain meds from the man that might have made him rest easier. They certainly would have made his death a bit more comfortable than it had been.

The men and women of the board were reading over the papers as he finished up handing them out. There were several questions, which he had expected, but there were also a lot of them saying that they had had trouble with him as well.

“I don’t want to tell you what to do. But if he continues to work here, you’ll find the funding that we donate here taken off our books. As it stands right now, we have stopped payments made to keep the nursing staff in things that they need to get their jobs done. Also, the wing that is being funded by the Martha Grable foundations, which my brother oversees, will stop as well.” One of the women asked him if he was blackmailing him. “Call it what you wish, but would you keep a man on that you can see for yourself is causing trouble over the hundreds of thousands of dollars my family donates to you yearly?”

Gathering up his things, he was on his way down the elevator when he heard from the board. They had decided to fire Scott. However, they weren’t pleased about the blackmail of their funding. As soon as he saw Locke and the other, he was going to tell them to stop donating money to the hospital by half. He didn’t like the way that he’d had to do what he’d done either.

He was glad to see that they had done as they said on his way out of the hospital. Much to his surprise they were calling in the police in the event that something went wrong. While he didn’t think that the man was the violent type, he was single-minded and would drive them crazy with his way of thinking things through. Watching the men gather with the others made him feel good about having toput his foot down. He also didn’t care to be doing that as it made him feel like he was making demands on the staff that he’d been trying his best to make sure had all that they needed to work.

Dusty was headed home when he heard from Shipley. She told him that she was at his house and had some questions for him. Diverting himself to his home, she was standing on the front porch when he pulled into his driveway. Then he corrected himself. It was their driveway now.

“Why on earth did you buy such a huge assed house?” He laughed, telling her what Martha, the woman that they compared all women to, had told him all the time about going big or going home. “I suppose that’s about as good a reason as any; however, if you think that I’m filling these rooms with babies, then you have to rethink that. I’m not a broodmare.”

“No, you are not.” He kissed her on the mouth. “What was it that you wanted to ask me? I’m in a sore mood. Not bad; I just think that the hospital board hurt my feelings. Whiney? Yes, but they should have taken care of the man long before now.”

“I agree. Okay. You have eleven bedrooms if you count the playroom on the third floor. I’ve been in all of them and if you ask me, there needs to be something done to the ones on the upper floor. The rooms are much too small to be anything but for an office or storage.” He asked her what she had in mind. “Well, and you can tell me no if you wish, but what if there were only two bedrooms on that floor, and we take the middle one and make it a part of the master bedroom. The other one can be an office, that’s about all it’s going to be good for that people can’t just wander into our private area and then have a bedroom worthy of a house this large.” He asked her about the other bedrooms.

“There are eight of them down the long hall. Four on either side of it. While I do know that they’re a good size for a bedroom for kids, just putting that out there, I think that only having the one bathroom at the end of the hall will cause trouble when we have daughters. I hope that they’re just like you, by the way.” She glared at him. “Or sons. I could care less so long as we can make them be good people that we can be proud of.”

“While you’re right about the bathrooms, I can’t think of a way to make that happen without tearing up the entire house to get it done.” He kissed her again, loving how it made her look frustrated when she was asking him something.

“Will you stop that and pay attention to me? I’m trying to be serious here. If we start having sex, I want to be prepared for any child that might come from it. And yes, before you ask, I’d be thrilled to have a child with you. But I want this taken care of first. What do you say?”

“I say that we have August come in and look around. I think he has a minor in architecture that has come in handy a few times. I know that he loves doing it but starting out, it didn’t make him as much money as he thought that they should be making. I don’t know what that means to him. But call him, tell him what we were thinking, and let him guide us to make it so that we have the least amount of mess that we can have.” She asked how come he didn’t do that for a living now. “I don’t know. I believe that he has his reasons but I can’t for the life of me remember if he told me about it or not. He is really good at facts, so that might be it.”

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