Page 5 of Waiting for Devon
“There really isn’t much more to say, but here goes.”
Devon took a deep breath and launched into her likes and dislikes. Afterward, she spoke about her education and career. She attended Stanford University and enrolled in medical school in Boston where she met the man she eventually married, Jack Taylor. Inseparable from the moment their eyes locked and held in a crowded lecture hall, they did their residency at the same hospital in Chicago where a marriage took place two years later. Devon found it difficult to speak about the devastating event that led to her divorce, and when she thought of her baby, unwanted tears sprang into her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to become so emotional.”
Shane reached across the table and touched her hand. “It’s all right, Devon. You don’t need to apologize.”
“Today is more difficult because my divorce was final a year ago. To make the situation worse, my ex-husband showed up at the hospital to ask for a reconciliation.”
“He did?” Shane lifted a brow. “After what he did to you?”
“Jack Taylor has an outrageous ego. The irony is almost laughable. Mr. Linhart, the hospital administrator, is probably going to hire him to take my place while I’m gone.”
Shane chuckled. “So, your ex-husband knows you’re ‘engaged’?”
“I certainly hope so. I don’t want to have any contact with him whatsoever.”
“Then I guess our running into each other was a fortuitous event after all, Dr. Brooks.”
She doubted it but refrained from flinging a sarcastic rebuttal.
After they finished eating, Shane drove Devon back to the hospital to retrieve her car, and they went their separate ways for the night.
Mentally and physically drained from the long day, Devon fell into bed. Although her mind whirled with a thousand different thoughts, sleep came almost immediately.
It felt strange not rushing to get to the hospital the following morning as Devon showered and dressed. While she prepared brunch for her and Shane, she called the hospital to inquire about her young patients.
After Jill explained the status and condition of each one, she asked, “Dr. Brooks, are you really engaged to Shane Barrington? Everyone thinks so, but, well, we work closely together, and I’d like to believe you would have shared this with me. Is it true?”
“Jill, I can’t even begin to explain what’s happened. Please,please, don’t voice your doubts to anyone. Let the others believe what they want for now.” She paused. “Has Linhart hired Jack Taylor to fill my position?”
“He’s having another extensive interview today. Why?”
“Don’t tell him anything about me. I don’t want him to know I’ll be heading to Dallas in a few days. I’m only informing you so you know where I am if there’s an emergency.”
“Jack Taylor won’t hear anything from me, but I can’t speak for someone else on staff who knows about your, uh, rather sudden engagement.”
“If others gossip, there’s nothing I can do about it. I only hope my engagement will dissuade him from pursuing a reconciliation.”
After reassuring Jill she would keep in touch, Devon bid her friend goodbye and placed a frozen quiche in the oven to bake. She sliced fresh fruit and set the kitchen table.
Shane arrived at ten o’clock, and while they ate, Devon showed him her family photo albums. They spent two hours studying pictures so he could recall important moments in the Brooks family. Devon quizzed him over and over until his answers about her past came from memory.
When Shane began to speak about his own family, he told a much different story from hers. He, his brother, and sister grew up in a house full of staff members and absentee parents who spent most of their time socializing with Dallas’ elite and cultivating business relationships instead of taking an interest in their children. His voice held no bitterness or resentment. Shane’s tone was always matter-of-fact, even when he shared about his mother’s death.
“I was ten.” He stared out the bay window of Devon’s home. “I don’t remember much of those days before the cancer took her from us except for feeling helpless and abandoned. My father shut himself away from us for days after the funeral. Poor Blair, my sister, was only five years old, and she hardly understood what was happening. All she knew was that her mother had disappeared and her father didn’t want to see her. She was so lost and confused, I didn’t know what to do to help her.”
Shane shook himself free of the memory. “Thank God for Reed, my older brother who was twelve. He took the burden of caring for me and Blair on his shoulders even though Mom’s death hit him hardest. They were especially close because of their mutual love of horses, and although he kept his feelings well-hidden for our sake, I knew he must have been dying inside. Reed grew up fast that spring, and Blair…well, she developed a hard shell of indifference. She won’t allow others to get too close, and if they do, she pushes them away. She numbs her pain by drinking too much.”
“And your brother, Reed? Did your mother’s death change him, too?”
“It made him strong, I think, and independent. Reed doesn’t share my social aspirations or visions of the future of Barrington Industries. He’s content to raise and train horses on our ranch outside Dallas. As far as Blair is concerned, she has a degree in business administration but hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in the company, as I said earlier.”
“Are they married?”
He laughed. “No. Blair frightens away every guy who might be interested in her, and Reed won’t let anyone under his guard. I, on the other hand, am not ashamed to admit I want it all. I want the prestige and power of the Barrington name, but I also want– no– IneedAlana in my life, too. I have never met a more unpretentious, sweet, generous, and compassionate woman than Alana. Everything I have would be meaningless without her.”
“I hope she demonstrates some of her generosity when she learns about me,” Devon remarked.
