Rescued by the Billionaire (Billionaire Romance Novel) (12 page)

Along the way, she stopped to pick up dinner for her and Emma. Her thoughts raced as she replayed what the pharmacist told her. Why don’t doctors tell you these things, she thought, so you’re not shocked at the pharmacy? It would have been nice to have a clue as to what was going on before I got there. At least Emma didn’t seem too upset about her condition; the most she was worried about is whether the kids at school would know or not. Never mind the fact it could
progress into something much worse, but I didn’t tell her about that.
 

Later that night, Dave called to check on Emma after she had gone to sleep. Kelly was so relieved to hear his voice. She filled him in on tidbits of information she’d read from the literature. He agreed it was scary that a disease could leave a child crippled as it progressed. The two talked on the phone until wee hours in the morning as they made plans to barbecue together that weekend.
 

On Monday, Kelly called Dr. Berringen’s office to schedule the first appointment with the specialist. She was nervous, scared, anxious and excited at the same time. The potential for this doctor to pinpoint exactly how severe Emma’s disease had grown was something she wanted to know but frightened her at the same time.
 

“I’m sorry Ms. Hall, but Dr. Berringen’s schedule is booked solid for the next three months. The earliest we can get her is after the school year starts this fall.”
 

“There’s no way you can squeeze her in? Her pediatrician said it was important to determine how far the disease has already progressed so we can closely monitor it.”
 

“No, we don’t have any available openings. If you’d like, we can go ahead and schedule the appointment today. We can also put you on an on-call list if there should be a cancelation, we’ll call you to see if you can make the appointment.”
 

“Okay, let’s go ahead and do that.”
 

Her next call was to MaxCare, the mail order pharmacy. The end of the day was drawing near and they still hadn’t contacted her from the prior week when her local pharmacy faxed over the prescription.
 

“Yes Miss Hall, we received the request for the prescription from your local pharmacy but have been unable to process the request at this time.”
 

“What? Why?”
 

“When they faxed it over, they failed to include any insurance information. All they sent was the prescription along with the patient’s name and date of birth. Do you have a few moments to create a patient profile so we can process the request?”
 

Kelly sighed. Could her day get any better? “Yes, that’ll be fine.”
 

Kelly grabbed her purse and removed her insurance cards as the woman from the pharmacy quizzed her over her insurance details.
 

“Do you know how much it will cost?” Kelly asked when they were finished creating Emma’s profile.
 

“Let me run your benefits and I can tell you,” the woman said as she clicked around on her computer screen. “Okay Ms. Hall, it looks like, with your insurance, a 90 day supply will cost $242.”
 

“And that’s
with
my insurance?!”
 

“Yes, that’s after your insurance. Now once you meet your annual deductible, the price will go down considerably—to about $124 every 90 days.”
 

“Do you know how close I am to meeting my deductible?”
 

“No, we’re unable to see those details, but you can call your insurance company and they should be able to tell you.”
 

“I’ll do that, and can you let me know when you’ll fill this medication?”
 

“We’ll get this filled as soon as possible. You should receive it within the next 14 days.”
 

“Fourteen days?” Kelly asked in disbelief. “But she needs this medicine. Can I pay extra for expedited shipping?”
 

“We can expedite it, but it will only arrive about 5-7 days sooner. Would you like me to do that for you?”
 

“Yes, please do. Thank you.” Kelly said as she hung up the phone.
 

Oh, these phone calls, she thought, will never stop. She flipped over her insurance card to call the toll-free number on the back to learn more about her deductible. Since they were generally healthy, she hardly used her insurance before. This was unchartered territory for her. As the prompts continued to ask what seemed like a million questions, Kelly’s frustration began to grow. After several minutes of prompts, she was finally listening to the tacky elevator music that intermittently cut out while holding for the next available operator to answer her call.
 

After her long hold time, she found herself scribbling a ton of notes about her insurance onto a sheet of paper as she fervently questioned the man on the other line. He patiently explained her deductible, including the current and pending charges from the labs and doctor’s appointments. He then estimated how much of her deductible she still had to meet prior to when the insurance would begin more coverage. When signing up for health insurance, she opted for the lowest priced monthly plan since her and Emma lived on a tight budget. She would soon regret making that choice; her deductible was $6,500. To date, she’d met about $450; leaving her to still meet over $6,000 of the deductible until they began to increase their portion of coverage. She also learned it meant she had approximately $450 worth of pending medical bills on their way—and
they hadn’t even seen the specialist or began any real testing yet.
 

Exhausted from the day’s events, Kelly curled up into bed with Emma and fell fast asleep. She would let herself worry about how she was going to pay for everything later. Right now she had to get some rest. She’d been running herself ragged taking care of Emma, going to doctor’s appointments and calling everyone all over God’s green Earth trying to figure things out. She had to get back to work. Brian had given her a total of eight points for taking off while her daughter was sick; it only left two points until she’d lose her job. With bills to pay and food to buy, Kelly desperately needed her job more than ever. Her hopes were that Emma’s symptoms would lessen with her new medications and allow her to work. If she were lucky, maybe she could pick up a few extra shifts to pay down some of the medical bills that would
soon come in the mail. Once she had those taken care of, she’d have to start saving money for their upcoming appointment with the specialist.
 

Although the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping, Kelly had a bad feeling about her day. She dressed for work and helped Emma get her clothes on before she drove her to Dawn’s. During her commute, she could already hear Brian’s voice in her head, berating her for missing so much work and scoffing at her for fussing over her daughter. She tried to prepare herself, but she couldn’t. Her thoughts were scattered between Emma, the piling bills she was faced with at home and her new boyfriend. She felt badly for putting her relationship with him on the back burner, but it was necessary so she could focus on her daughter. The truth was, she would love to spend more time with him and go on more romantic
dates, but she didn’t have the ability to do that while taking care of her baby.
 

When Kelly arrived at work, the air was charged; she could feel the hostility emitting from her boss as they crossed paths.
 

“Kelly, I need to see you in my office, please.” He commanded.
 

As she followed closely behind him, he instructed her to close the door. This, she told herself, is only the beginning.
 

“We need to talk. As of today, you have eight points against your attendance. The company policy states I’m required to give you a verbal warning, which I did over the phone, after the first three. When you hit the seventh point, I’m supposed to give you a written notice. I couldn’t
do that since you weren’t here, and now you’re up to eight.” He removed a yellow carbon-copy paper from a clipboard inside his desk drawer.
 

“Here,” he said as he pushed the paper in Kelly’s direction. “I’ll need you to initial that you understand the attendance policy and sign at the bottom, acknowledging this as your written warning.”
 

Kelly could feel the heat radiating under her shirt collar. She wanted to yell and scream at her boss, but she knew better. He was so angry with her that he would’ve fired her on the spot if she dared speak up for herself. She hastily signed the papers before walking out onto the floor to begin her shift. Unfortunately, business was still slow. She was hoping it would pick up soon; she desperately needed the money.
 

Chapter Eight
 

Over the course of the summer, Emma slowly began to see an improvement in her symptoms. Kelly was elated to see that the medications seemed to help her daughter. It was nice watching her run and play again. Nothing made Kelly happier than seeing her daughter back to her old self. Additionally, Kelly and Dave’s relationship really began to take off and blossom.
 

When Emma finally started experiencing relief from her arthritis symptoms and could eventually move like a typical eight-year-old again, Dawn began watching her regularly. With the help of her best friend, Kelly was finally able to start dating Dave more and spending one-on-one time with him. Throughout the summer, he treated her to top-notch restaurants, took her to fancy clubs and
he even flew her to an island he owned off the Florida coast during her time off work.
 

The first time Dave took her to his house, she was blown away by the size of his mansion. Embarrassment swept over her as she began to walk through his living room foyer. The size of his living room and the study was roughly the size of her entire house! Though he’d never commented on her tiny two-bedroom house, which was once her parent’s, she began to feel inadequate. Dave could tell that something was wrong by the way she behaved.  
 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.
 

“Nothing.” She didn’t want to tell him how suddenly inadequate she felt standing in the living room of his mansion.
 

“I can tell something’s wrong. We were having such a great time after dinner, what changed?”
 

She didn’t know how to answer his question. Kelly shyly looked at her feet, only her mind was focused on the marble floors and how expensive just the flooring must have been in this house!
 

“Kelly?” he cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her head.
 

“What’s wrong?” he asked again.
 

Staring into his eyes she said, “It’s just…you’ve been over to my house many times and never once made a comment about how tiny it was, and you live in a mansion.”
 

“So?” he asked. “What’s the problem?”
 

“I don’t know…I feel like,” she swallowed. “Maybe I’m not good enough for you.”
 

“Not good enough for me?” he questioned. “Kelly, you’re perfect for me. You’re the first and only woman I’ve ever met who was down-to-Earth, didn’t look at me like a cash cow and shown me what a real relationship is like.”
 

He leaned in close to her and began kissing her. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight as they embraced in their kiss.
 

When they broke free, he whispered, “Come. Let me show you the rest of the house.”
 

A dazed and giddy Kelly eagerly followed him through the house tour. She marveled at all the expensive paintings and statues; she’d never seen anything like it. As they made their way into the
master bedroom, he flipped on the switch and said, “This is my room.”
 

He walked over to the bed, kicked his shoes off and patted the bed. “Come sit with me.”
 

Kelly sat next to him. “So where were we?” he asked as he took her into his arms.
 

The couple began kissing once again. This time their passionate kisses led to clothes dropping to the floor. Kelly rubbed her hands down his muscular chest and started to wrestle his belt buckle that fastened around his taut waist. As she was busy undoing his pants, Dave slipped her shirt over her head and began unclasping her bra. After they had been topless, he laid Kelly back on the bed and climbed on top of her with his pants barely hanging onto him.
 

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he whispered as he trailed kisses down her neck, making his way to her breasts.
 

“It’s been so long,” she said, panting as he began sucking on her nipples.
 

Euphoria washed over Kelly’s body as tingles ran through every fiber of her being. He smelled so good and his touch was amplified by his big hands as they cupped her breasts. He lifted Kelly’s skirt and began to remove her panties; she eagerly raised her hips, helping him along. Suddenly, her sexual appetite quickly awakened as she sensed what was coming. He tossed her panties to the side and began going down on her. Kelly’s blonde locks spread out on the pillows as she threw her head back, relishing in the oral pleasure she was receiving. His tongue firmly flicked her clitoris as he fondled her breasts. Her sweet juices glistened
in the soft moonlight as he continued to enjoy her delectable lady parts.