Page 7 of My Heart's Doctor
“Good night, Dr. Dulcet.”
“Same to you, Mr. Cavaller. And thank you again for bringing me the phone.”
“If you ever want to visit my daughter, you just have to come see her,” he said, extending his hand to give me a business card. “Aurora will be very happy to see you.”
“I appreciate the invitation. You can also tell Alba that it would be a joy to receive them at my home,” I said, mentioning the nanny with the purpose of not making him think I was inviting him. “And now that I think about it, how did you know where I live?”
“I always get what I want, or what I need, as was the case this time.”
“I see,” was all I could say, because it was evident that this man was powerful and had connections.
“Is the invitation only for Aurora and Alba?”
“Uhhh, I don’t understand,” I stammered, not knowing what to say, because what he was asking was clear, but theimplications of that question had disconcerted me and I didn’t know how to respond.
Cavaller smiled again, but this time he did it in a sensual way. Sensual? Why was he smiling at me like that?
“Of course you understand. Good night, Dr. Dulcet.”
“Good night, Mr. Cavaller.”
He turned and headed toward the elevators. When I saw him walking away, I had to admit that his backside in those jeans was perfect and... that back... The most attractive man I had ever met, but with an explosive temper and the personality of an ogre! I closed the door and had to lean against it because I felt nervous. Why had he affected me that way? That man deeply affected me to the point that I felt a flutter in my stomach every time he looked at me with those deep blue orbs. I shook my head and headed to my bedroom. I wasn’t going to check my phone, I was going to try to sleep and forget this strange day. What reassured me was knowing that I wouldn’t cross paths with William Cavaller again. Or so I thought.
Chapter 3
“I never knew I had a dream until you came true”
—Pablo Neruda
William
When I entered the medical clinic room and saw my daughter on that woman’s lap, a new emotion invaded me and my heart began to race wildly. Aurora was hugging her, giving her a kiss and laughing, and that wonderful scene made me feel a strange sensation of vertigo like I’d never felt before, which forced me to stop. I made a great effort to hide my bewilderment, but I noticed that Alba was looking at me strangely and perhaps somewhat fearfully. I wasn’t a man who was often left speechless; usually I was the one who left others without words, but nothing had prepared me for seeing my daughter so happy in the arms of a stranger. I took a few moments to observe them. The attractive woman was looking at her with indescribable tenderness and speaking to her sweetly. Her voice was captivating and melodious and managed to seduce you; it was no wonder Aurora looked at her as if she were an angel.
“Mr. Cavaller, I apologize for not notifying you personally, but your secretary told me you were in an important meeting and couldn’t be disturbed,” said Alba, forcing me to look at her and bringing me back to reality, because I had been completely enchanted and had even forgotten the reasons why I was there.
“My daughter comes above everything else and you should know that, Alba. It’s not what my secretary says, it’s what Isay,” I stated, without raising my voice, but firmly. My secretary would soon find out who decided what was important and what wasn’t.
“I apologize. Fortunately, Aurora is fine. The doctor examined her thoroughly and found absolutely nothing wrong,” she informed me, filling me with relief, though I could tell that Alba was extremely nervous.
Alba was the one who had helped me care for Aurora since her birth because Cristina, Aurora’s mother and my ex-wife, had never devoted herself to her. Cristina was a beautiful woman who worked as a model and was more concerned with her weight and physical appearance than with her daughter and me. She had died in a car accident when Aurora was just over three months old. She was returning from one of those parties she always attended to be seen and photographed, but she had drunk too much, which caused her to lose control of her car and crash into a column. The impact was so severe that Cristina died instantly. Although I wasn’t in love with her, that moment was very difficult, and it took me a long time to recover. We had married because of the pregnancy, because while she had dazzled me with her beauty, I wasn’t in love with Cristina, nor she with me. I was clear that she had used me because my surname was powerful and had opened many doors for her in her profession; I was even convinced that her pregnancy had been premeditated so that I would marry her. Our short marriage had been torture, but I didn’t complain because she had given me the best thing in my life, Aurora. Since her birth, she had become my priority and my greatest responsibility, in addition to having taken over my heart and making me feel a deep devotion for my daughter.
Aurora had never had a mother and I had never seen anyone look at her the way this woman was looking at her, with suchgreat tenderness, and I must confess that I had never seen my daughter look at a woman with such emotion either. I couldn’t get over my astonishment.
I noticed that the doctor, because I assumed the woman who was with Aurora was the doctor who had treated her, hadn’t looked at me at any point, as if I hadn’t entered the room at all; she had only dedicated herself to talking to my daughter and pointing things out on the phone that Aurora had in her hands.
“Alba, wait for me outside,” I ordered.
At that moment, the doctor decided to look up and meet my gaze, and the wild hammering of my heart took me by surprise. If she had seemed attractive in profile, when her magnificent gray eyes met mine, I realized she was beautiful. Her features were sublimely perfect, and I had the sensation that her penetrating gray eyes wanted to reach my soul. Her gaze conveyed purity, and that left me stunned. She was also looking at me with surprise, but in her case, I assumed it was because she was waiting for me to say something. I cleared my throat and asked her what was obvious. Where had my confidence and wit gone?
“Are you the doctor?” I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to hide my bewilderment with arrogance, and the question sounded contemptuous.
“That’s right. My name is Devon Dulcet. I assume you are Aurora’s father,” she responded, but made no attempt to greet me with a handshake as would have been proper in such cases.
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard her last name was that it did her justice, because she clearly seemed like a very sweet woman with children.
“I’m William Cavaller; and yes, I’m Aurora’s father. Explain to me right now what happened to my daughter,” I ordered, because I wasn’t going to show that she had affected me.
“There’s no need to raise your voice, I don’t have hearing problems, Mr. Cavaller,” she stated, leaving me surprised because few people dared to respond to me that way, especially women who always competed for my attention. “Your daughter is healthy, there’s absolutely nothing physically wrong with her. You can take a seat here while we finish watchingSleeping Beautyor you can wait outside, whichever you prefer.”
