Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jamieson
The next morning, I went in the back way of the hospital to avoid seeing Grace.
We would inevitably run into each other, especially when she needed a consult on a patient.
I just prayed that it wasn’t today. I had just finished my morning rounds when my pager went off, and I was needed down in the ER. That sure as hell didn’t last long.
“Someone paged me?” I walked into trauma room two and saw Grace standing over a patient.
“I did,” she spoke without looking at me. “Patient was hit by a truck walking across the street. She has massive internal bleeding and a skull fracture. Her heart stopped, but I was able to revive her.”
I walked over to the patient and checked her eyes with my light.
“Her pupils aren’t responding, and there is no corneal reflex. I’m sorry, Dr. Harper, your patient is brain dead,” I spoke as I stared into her eyes. “You need to prepare the family.” I walked out of the room.
As I walked to the elevator, I noticed some nurses and doctors staring at me. My pager went off. Renata needed to see me stat. I took the elevator up to her office and lightly knocked on the door.
“You needed to see me?”
“Yes, come in, Dr. Finn, and have a seat. How did your presentation go?”
“It went well.”
“And Dr. Harper’s?”
“She did great. Is this what was so urgent?”
“Renata, you needed—” Grace stopped speaking when she saw me.
“Come in and have a seat. I need to speak with both of you. There’s a rumor going around this hospital that the two of you got married while you were in Las Vegas.”
“Who would say that?” I nervously asked.
“Apparently, someone in this hospital, and I’m not naming names, was in Vegas, in the elevator with the two of you.
This person overheard you say, ‘We’ll call my attorney and see how quickly we can get this marriage annulled.
’ This person also said that the two of you looked panicked.
So, you two better come clean now!” she spoke through gritted teeth.
“Shit.” I placed my hand over my face.
“Did you just say ‘shit,’ Dr. Finn?”
“It’s true,” Grace spoke in calm, soft voice. “Dr. Finn and I did get married in Las Vegas, but it was a mistake, and we’re having it annulled as quickly as possible. We were drunk.”
“Drunk? You were drunk?” she voiced loudly. “So, it isn’t just a rumor, then?”
“No, Renata, it’s not,” Grace replied.
“And you!” She pointed at me. “What the hell did I tell you?”
“It happened,” I voiced loudly. “We were heavily intoxicated and didn’t know what we were doing. We are getting it taken care of immediately. No one was supposed ever to know. Shit.”
“Shit is right. Now the whole hospital is talking, so expect some backlash, Dr. Finn, from all the heartbroken nurses who wanted more from you.”
“Are we done here?” I got up from my seat. “I have an aneurysm I need to clip.”
“You may go, but Grace stays.”
Grace
“How did this happen?” Renata asked as she took a seat next to me.
“I don’t know. Neither one of us remembers anything from that night.”
“Why on earth would you drink like that? That isn’t like you. Did you do this on your birthday?”
“Yes. Usually, on my birthday, I make sure to take a double shift at the hospital. That way, I’m so busy I don’t have time to think about it.
I figured I wouldn't have to if I just spent the day drinking. Then we met this couple there and spent most of the day with them. After dinner is when everything else is a total blank. Jamieson told me it’s best we stay out of each other’s way.
He doesn’t even want to be friends anymore. ”
“Typical Jamieson. Screw them and leave them. Or, in this case, marry them and leave them. I’m not the least bit surprised. Are you okay?” She placed her hand on my arm.
“Yeah.” I gave her a small smile. “I never should have come back here. I left New York to get away from my ex-boyfriend. We dated for over a year until I found out he was married. I didn’t know, Renata, just like I don’t know how Jamieson and I got married. How can I be so stupid?”
“You’re not stupid, Grace. Both of those men are stupid. You’re a highly intelligent trauma surgeon. You’re human, just like everyone else. We all make mistakes in life. Some start making them a little later in life than others.”
My phone dinged with a text message, and when I pulled it out of my pocket, I saw it was from Jamieson.
“My lawyer just called. We need to be in court tomorrow at noon.”
“Okay.”
“That was Jamieson. We have a court date tomorrow at noon.”
“That was fast. But I guess you can get things done quickly when you have the kind of money he does. Too bad, though.” She smiled. “I would have liked to have seen him sweat it out for at least a couple of weeks.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“By the way, my Aunt Cora is in town and said she will drop by to see you later.”
“Really?” She grinned. “It’ll be good to see her.”
I left her office and went down to the ER, where I saw Jackie sitting behind her computer. She quickly got up, grabbed my arm, and led me into the on-call room.
“Is it true?” she asked. “For the love of God, please tell me it’s just a rumor.”
“I wish I could, Jackie. Jamieson and I got hitched in Vegas.”
“Grace, what the fuck?”
“We were drunk. Really, really drunk. Neither one of us remembers exactly what happened.”
“And you know for sure it’s legit?”
“Oh, it’s legit, all right. I have the proof of marriage certificate to prove it. We woke up the next morning with gold bands on our fingers.”
She hugged me tightly.
“You poor thing. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I won’t be Mrs. Jamieson Finn for long. We have a court date to get the marriage annulled tomorrow at noon.”
The ER was slammed, and I was grateful because it kept me busy all day long.
Once I had a break, I went up to the rooftop to grab a cup of coffee.
As I stepped off the elevator, I saw Jamieson sitting at one of the tables.
He looked at me, and I at him. Then he went back to staring at his phone.
I walked over to where the coffee was and poured myself a cup.
When I turned around, he was standing behind me.
“I told you my lawyer would handle this quickly,” he spoke. “By this time tomorrow, our marriage will be annulled, and it will be as if it never happened.”
“I never doubted you for a second, and as far as I’m concerned, it never did.” I walked away.
Jamieson
I was lying in bed, going over some notes, when I sent a text message to Grace.
“Hey. We can drive to the courthouse together tomorrow.”
“I can drive myself.”
“But we’re going to the same place. It doesn’t make sense to drive separately.”
“It makes perfect sense, Dr. Finn. Good night.”
I clenched my jaw and slowly shook my head before tossing my phone next to me.
Grace
“That was Jamieson. He said we could drive to the courthouse together tomorrow,” I spoke to my Aunt Cora.
“And?” Her brow arched as she stared at me.
“I told him I can drive myself.”
“Okay. But it does make sense for the two of you to drive together. There are parking fees and a lot of traffic. Let him handle it.”
“I’ll take the parking fees and traffic. It’s better than sitting in a car with him.”
“And now you’re in the angry stage,” Aunt Cora spoke.
“You bet I’m angry. He’s a jerk—a man with no emotions whatsoever. Maybe someone needs to cut into his brain to find out what’s going on in there. And to think I once called him a saint. He’s more like the damn devil.”
My Aunt Cora let out a laugh.
“When did you call him a saint?” she asked.
“The night we met in New York. He got the woman who was sitting next to him a cab and sent her home because she was drunk. He told me right then and there that he was far from a saint. I should have heeded his warning.”