Three Thousand Miles (9 page)

“Alanna, I know that you want
out
of this hospital, but I can assure you that I won’t let you go until you are one
-
hundred per
-
cent ready
.” M
y smile quickly fades and I cannot believe that he
has
saw through me so easily.

“When do you think that I will be ready?”

“You need to rest, I would suggest at least another few days before you can even think of going ho
me.” I roll my eyes slightly as I glare at him. He is smartly dressed in a
dark blue shirt and smart black trousers that fit him perfectly, and the sh
irt fully shows off his muscles. H
is hair is jet black and flicked into a quiff
-
type hairstyle, he has the perfect golden skin and by seeing
him
again, I fully see that he is a beautiful guy.

“Have
you had many visitors today?” H
e says
kindly
.

“Just my friend Katharine
although
,
after today
,
I don’t think
that
she is my friend anymore
,” h
e
nods as he
looks interested in what I am saying.

“What happened?” He
says as he stands by my bedside.

“It is a long story,” I say
quietly as I do not really want
to go over it again.

“I have plenty time!”

“You never have time, there is always some nurse calling for you,” I say smugly to him.

“I am on break, so go ahead and tell me,” he says as he pulls a chair over and sits very close to me. I move slightly back in th
e bed so that I am not so close.
I take a deep breath and begin to explain to him what happened.

“That’s very unfair
,
of her
,
to make you chose like that
,
” he says finally after listening so long to me ramble on about Katharine.

“I know it’s not fair
,
I don’t understand
,
how she can ask me to do a thing like that
?
”

“She obviously has some jealously issues, she must feel threatened by you but
,
come on
,
the guy saved your life how can you just ignore him
?
”

“I know, I couldn’t and I won’t, Katharine will have to accept the fact that I am still going to see Michael, regardless of what she thinks.”

“You are one feisty girl
,
Alanna, but I like that about you
.
” I look over to him and lock my eyes on his.

“Do you have any women troubles
that
you want to talk about” I say trying to lighten the mood.

“Not really.”

“Come on, share with me,” I say and
I
let out a soft giggle.

“The only woman trouble I have ever had was with my ex
,
Emma.”
H
e
says as he looks down to floor and
I can tell that th
is may be a touchy subject for
him.

“What happened?” I insist as I maintain my stare on his eyes
.

“It’s complicated
.
”

“Isn’t every relationship?” H
e smiles and
then he
continues to talk.

“Emma was my girlfriend, we met at a club in
S
oho and I fe
l
l for her instantly. I was very nervous to even speak to her, but I managed to pick up enough courage to approach her
.
I asked her out and she said yes, am I boring you yet?”

“No, go on.”

“We dated for nine mo
nths and I was in love with her. E
ven though she would not admit it, she felt the same way. She is five years younger than me and at first I just thought
that
it was her age that was holding her back from
committing fully to me,” James’s voice is shallow
and I can tell
that
he still hurts over this girl.

“What was holding her back?” I say.

“She had issues that went far beyond what I could have imagined.”

“What were they?” T
his strikes a chord with me and resembles what I first thought of Adrian. I want Dr James to tell me more I am very interested to hear his story.

“Emma’s mother is very protective of her. She does not like guys getting too close to her daughter, and Emma was always worried about what her mother would think of her and
I
. So she kept our relationship a secret for a long time.”

“That must have been hard.”

“It was, I loved her and I wanted her to move in with me but I knew she never would. She cared too much about what her mother would say and in the end it ruined our love.”

“Why would a mother do that to her daughter?”

“I guess it was because of her mother’s own experiences.” This is starting to sound familiar to me. The mother
’
s concerns and the name Emma strikes a liking to Maggie and Adrian’s sister Emma. I shake of the feeling and
I
think it is just a coincidence.

“Did the mother have a bad experience with a guy?” I say still with the crazy idea in my head that Dr James is referring to my Adrian’s distant family.

“Emma’s father left them and I don’t think her mother ever fully got over that.” I am stumped the similarities that just keep coming.

“What was the mother’s na
me?” I ask him and it feels as if
my heart has stopped beating as I await his answer. 

“Maggie I think
,
” I gasp loudly and I can see that Dr James looks puzzled by me.

“Is there something wrong?” H
e says. My mind is racing and I do not know what to say, what a small world this is, my doctor is the ex-boyfriend of Adrian’s sister. This type of thing does not happen.

“I know the mother, Maggie.” He looks confused.

“How do you know her?” I sigh, “The boyfriend that is MIA, Emma is his sister.” He sits silent and reflects on what I have just said after a brief pause he finally says.

“I wasn’t aware she had a brother.”

“They literally just found out.”

“How can this be? Is he a step brother or a biological brother?”

“He is her half-brother, they share the same father, and he also left Adrian when he was very young, and I guess that he did the same to Emma.”

He shakes his in disbelief. “Has he met her?”

“I don’t think so, I only found out about Emma on the day I was shot.”

“Ho
w did you find out about her?” H
e asks.

“Maggie is a chef and she
was working for Adrian at the condo in which I was staying. S
he told me about her daughter and we finally came to understand that she and Adrian were siblings.”

“This is unbelievable.”

“I know, but you have to understand that there is a reason
why
Maggie acts
in
that
way
about relationships.”

“I had a feeling that she was hurt before by a man, whenever I asked Emma about it she wouldn’t tell me.” I nod in agreement and I feel that Dr James deserves to know the truth.

“Maggie met Emma’s father when she was a young college student in Chicago. Maggie had dreams to become a journalist and while she was out on
a
work experience programme, she met and fell in love with Edward Black. He was the
most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Soon after they got together Maggie found out t
hat she was pregnant.” I look at Dr James’s
face as he processes the new information he has now found out about the girl
that
he loved. I feel sorry for him and I think that he still loves her. I wonder about Emma and if she has any issues that go further than commitment. I know for sure that Adrian has suffered and
he
has problems still to this day, about what happened to him. Although Maggie was the best mom she could be and always put Emma first, I can
not help but think that perhaps
Emma suffers in silence about her father leaving her.

“When Emma was born, Edward wasn’t around a lot and he refused to marry Maggie. She heard rumours every day
,
that he was with other women, but she ignored them until one day he left her and a one
-
year
-
old Emma.”

“I never knew any of this; I wonder why she never told me?” Dr James says his voice is sad and I think that he feels sorry for himself. I reach over and take his hand
and he looks up at me
.

“You still love her don’t y
ou?” He sighs and agrees with
what I am saying.

“Yes
,
I love her
but I can never be with her, her mother won’t allow it.”

“The thing with Maggie is
that
she had to put her dreams of becoming a journalist on hold, while she looked after Emma, and Maggie believes that love is not the most important thing. She feels that love finds you and
,
until it does, you should focus on your career. She said she would never let her daughter
fall stupid in love and throw
away her dreams.”

“That’s crazy; you can still have a career whilst you’re in love.”

“I know that, but when people go through certain things they tend to stick to the opposite of what they have experienced,” I say as my mind flashes to Adrian and the way he is. I automatically think to how unreasonable he is being right now; it is as if he is trying to prove a point by staying away from me. I close my eyes for a second and
an
image of Adrian pops into my head. It was the night whe
n I sang to him that I remember. H
is face was amazed when he heard me sing, it seemed very important to him and he has a deep connection
to music, which possibly is reflected back to his child hood. Dr James brings me out of thought,

“Alanna, I think
that
you were day
-
dreaming or something.” He says in a varied voice.

“Sorry, I do that a lot; anyway I hope you understan
d more about Maggie now?”

“Kind of, but that doesn’t mean I agree with her opinions.”

“N
o, but it gives you little hope that it’s not you who did something to offend her, Emma could be with any guy and Maggie would still act the way she has, it is nothing personal.”

“Alanna, I hope
that
you are right.”

“I am sure
that
I am
,
Dr James.”

“It is just James
, ok?” I smile at him.

“Alright then James,
”

We talk about a number of things over the next twenty minutes. He has told me about his family and that he has two brothers, one is younger and the other is older. James also told me that his parents are divorced, his mom lives in the New York and his Father has moved down to Miami. He explained how hard the divorce was on him and is brothers, but after three years, the family is now in a good place. His father visits every weekend and the brothers go to dinner at their mothers every Wednesday night. Alistair is his older brother and he is a top lawyer at some fancy firm in the city. George is his younger brother and he is still in high school, according to James George is the rebel in the family, he does everything he possibly can to you be different from the other two and insists that he won’t end up in a boring job like his older brothers.

“What does George find boring about your jobs?” James rolls his eyes.

“Everything, he wants to be a rock star of all things.”

“Everyone has a dream, music maybe is Georges dream.”

“No he just wants to rebel against my father.”

“What does your father work at?”

“He owns a luxury car dealership in Miami, he always wanted one of his sons to take over the business but I am
a
doctor and Alistair is
a
lawyer, you see George is the only one left and that’s why my father pushes him harder and George pushes back with even more force.” I nod to him and my mind turns u
nexpectedly to Michael and Chad.
I wonder if they had the similar problems to
those of
James and his brothers. I bring myself out of thought and continue my conversation with James.