What Matters Most (26 page)

“What’s going on here?” Jack asked.

“Oh, so you’re the doctor with so much money he can buy this daughter of mine. You enticed her out of my house so you could use her, and—”

“Shut up! How dare you impugn this woman’s character. She’s a respectable woman, in spite of you.”

“Don’t get uppity with me. She’s living with you like a shameless tramp. I’ll—”

“You’re a liar. She has never set foot in my house. And you’ll do nothing, because you are a coward. A man who would treat his own daughter as you have and as you’re doing now isn’t worth the salt that goes into his food.”

When Ralph Sparks headed toward Jack, three of the male patients jumped up as if on cue and placed themselves between Ralph and Jack. “Do you want us to get rid of him, Doc?” one of them asked.

“I want him to tell me who sent him here and why,” Jack said. “Otherwise he’s going to jail for harassment and disturbing the peace.”

An eerie sensation weakened Melanie, and she stared at her father, anticipating his answer because he had the look of a man who held all the cards. She had covered her tracks. She had an unlisted phone number at home, her cell phone belonged to Jack’s office, she had never mentioned Jack’s name or his office address to her father, and he didn’t know where she lived.

“I don’t know what you want with this trifling woman,” Ralph said, slightly subdued.

“Listen here. If you want to curse at somebody, try me. I’m your size, and I’d love to give you what you deserve. Neither you nor any other man is going to stand in my presence and berate Melanie Sparks. If you do it again, I’ll be merciless with you. Who sent you here?”

“I ain’t going to no jail. Your old man don’t want you with this…this woman, and he told me to see that she leaves you alone,” he said, backing out toward the door.

“I don’t believe a word you say,” Jack said and looked at the three men. “Please show him the door, but don’t hurt him.” He looked at the patients who had witnessed the ugly encounter. “Not a word he said is true. I apologize for the disturbance.”

“We know his type,” a woman said. “He ought to be proud of his daughter. But she got out of his clutches, and he’ll never forgive her for it. If she was my child, I’d be on my knees thanking God.”

Melanie struggled to hold her head high, smile as usual and do her work. When the last patients walked out of the office, she collapsed in her desk chair. Oh, they had seemed sympathetic, but the situation had embarrassed her.

“Please don’t be sad, Ms. Sparks,” one older man said to her. “He doesn’t deserve to have a daughter like you. We know he wasn’t telling the truth.”

She’d thanked the man and added, “But it hurts that he would try to ruin my reputation. I’ve been a good daughter to him.”

“Don’t worry,” a woman said, “we don’t believe him. We see how you are here with us, and that’s what we care about. Dr. Ferguson should’ve let Miles knock the stuffing out of him.”

She appreciated their efforts, but she wasn’t placated, and she sat slumped in the chair, all but oblivious to the silent emptiness around her, making up her mind. The touch of Jack’s hand on her shoulder brought her upright.

“I’d give anything if this hadn’t happened, Melanie. Even overworked, in life-threatening situations, tragedies and near-tragedies, I’ve never see you dispirited as you are now. Sweetheart, please don’t let it get you down. I can’t bear to see you like this.”

She patted the hand that rested on her shoulder almost absentmindedly. “I’m leaving, Jack. My father has made it impossible for me to work here after his awful accusations. These people won’t respect me.”

“What do you mean, you’re leaving? Leaving where?”

She stiffened her back for she could see his objections coming and knew that she would need all of the willpower that she could summon if she were to stand her ground. “I can’t work here any longer, Jack. I’m sorry, but I…I can’t. I’ve never been so mortified. He’s found me, and this is just the beginning.”

He walked around to face her, his mouth agape as he stared into her eyes. “You…you’re mortified because someone will think you live with me, that you sleep in my bed?” His words had a strangely staccato cadence, and his voice had sunk to a lower register, almost menacing. “Is that it?”

“Oh, Jack. How could you think that? If my father doesn’t respect me, why would anyone else? And why shouldn’t some of those patients believe him? I can’t stay here.”

“Our relationship means nothing to you?” he asked her.

“Are you saying that what we mean to each other is valid only as long as I work here? If that’s true, it won’t kill me. I’ll send you my resignation tomorrow. I’m sorry.”

His face contorted, whether in furor or sadness, she couldn’t figure out which, but no matter; she was not going to let his feelings derail her. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry. I don’t want to hear it. You signed a five-year contract, and if you quit before it expires, I’ll sue you for breach of contract, and I will be merciless. Woman, you changed my life. You opened up a whole new world to me. You made me need you. Damn you!” She heard the tremors in his voice, but steeled herself against his obvious pain. “You can lock up or not. I don’t care,” he said, striding out and leaving her sitting there.

She’d walked home many nights, and she wasn’t afraid to do it on that night. She changed into her street clothes, locked the door and headed home. She didn’t feel like walking thirteen long blocks, but she’d do it.

She had almost forgotten how the youth hung out on the corners and how the automobiles rarely bothered to stop for red lights and stop signs.

“Hey, miss. You dropped something.” She didn’t pause for fear that the boy was up to some devilment. He caught up with her and handed her a folding umbrella. “I think you dropped that.” Recognition bloomed on his face. “Ms. Sparks!”

She took the umbrella and scrutinized him. “You don’t remember me,” he said, “but I’m one of the guys who makes sure nobody parks in Dr. Ferguson’s spot. You got any idea when Midge is coming back home?”

“She’s supposed to come back tomorrow. I heard that she’s doing nicely.”

“Gee, that’s great. She was real sick. Want me to walk you to the avenue? It’s kinda late.”

She’d be the last one to discourage gentlemanly behavior in a sixteen-year-old boy. “Thanks. This is so kind of you.”

“Call me Takk. You know, the whole neighborhood changed after Dr. Ferguson opened his office. It’s like we’re a different community. Everybody treats everybody nicer. He’s a real cool guy. I’m thinking of studying to be a doctor. My dad says I’m crazy, but my mom says I’m not.”

“Go with your mom,” she said as they reached the avenue. “And thank you for walking with me.”

“Anytime. You look after us—we look after you,” he said and headed back to his friends.

His words and sentiment stayed with her, and as she prepared for bed, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he would be disappointed in her if he knew she’d quit the job.

As soon as he could get away from his Bolton Hill office, Jack headed for his office in South Baltimore. The past fifteen hours had been the roughest since his mother had died. Once he’d stopped resisting, he’d opened himself completely and wholeheartedly to Melanie, and he loved her to the recesses of his soul. The mere contemplation of a life without her caused him heart palpitations. He had committed himself to the needy in the Morrell and Cherry Hill communities and others like them, but with her sweet, caring and loving ways, she had lightened the burden of his long hours. Some would say they hadn’t stood a chance, but he had more in common with her than with any woman he’d known. Two girls ran out to remove the orange cones in front of his office building, and he eased the car to the curb.

“You spoil me,” he told them, “but I appreciate it. Thanks for helping me out.”

“Everybody loves you, Dr. Ferguson,” the younger one, who he guessed to be about eight, said. He put a smile on his face, patted the girl’s shoulder and went inside.

“What on earth? I thought you quit,” he said when he saw Melanie sitting at her desk.

“And I did. But I remembered that Midge and her mother are coming home today and that I had stored some food for them in the refrigerator. When can I expect that court summons?”

He ignored her question. “I sent someone to meet them, and they’re coming here directly, so I can examine Midge and make certain she’s all right after that plane trip. It’s good you’re here. I don’t know what shape she’ll be in.” He hated talking to her as if she were a stranger, when what he wanted, what he needed was to put his arms around her and love away her hurt and pain. And he needed to know that she was his and that she wouldn’t allow her father’s stupidity to come between them.

He went to the closet, exchanged his jacket for his white coat, walked back to her desk to ask her to fold back his sleeves an inch, as she usually did, and stopped when his gaze caught hers. The naked passion in her eyes nearly clobbered him. He started to her, and the door buzzer sounded.

“Damn,” he said aloud. In another second, she would have been in his arms. He opened the door.

“Midge! My goodness. You look wonderful. Come on in. How do you feel?” Melanie rushed to the door and, standing there beside her, he knew he couldn’t let her leave him.

Melanie leaned down and hugged the girl, then wrapped her arms around Alice Hawkins, Midge’s mother. “It’s so good to see Midge looking so healthy,” she said, took the girl’s hand and walked with her to the examining room.

“My father is going to call you,” Jack said to Alice. “He’s got some kind of deal in mind.”

“Really? I hope it’s a job. I made a little money in Memphis appearing on that TV show, but it was just enough to pay next month’s rent and get the children ready for school.”

“It’s a job, and don’t let him stiff you. He’s got the money, and he does his best to keep it.”

“Who can blame him? If I ever get any, that’s what I’ll do. If he’s half as nice as you, I’ll be glad to hear from him.”

Jack read the St. Jude doctor’s report and examined Midge. “You’re to rest for the remainder of the day and follow the instructions the doctor gave you. I’ll continue your treatment precisely as he ordered. You look wonderful, and we want to keep you in good shape.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, Dr. Ferguson. Mama said I wouldn’t have had this chance if it hadn’t been for you.”

“Don’t thank me, Midge. Do something good for someone else. That’s all the thanks I need.”

Melanie brought the two shopping bags of food. “I’ll walk home with you,” she said to Alice. “Your other children will be home tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t thank the two of you enough,” Alice said. “When I think what you all have done for me, and my own family pretends I don’t exist…Well, it makes me humble and grateful. See you in two weeks, Dr. Ferguson.”

He hung the white coat in the closet, put on his jacket and left. As he was about to get into his car, he looked across at the building that seemed to be rising out of the earth like a well-fertilized, growing plant. Soon, they would begin the roofing. He walked over to speak with Drake Harrington.

“He just left, Dr. Ferguson,” a man told Jack, “but he’ll be back around four. Can I give him a message?”

“No, thanks. I can’t believe how fast this building is going up.”

“We’ll top if off next week.”

If only Melanie had been there to rejoice with him. She’d left, and only nodded in his direction. Not a word of goodbye, because she didn’t want anyone to think her father had told the truth about her, and he knew that before twilight, Alice would know about that encounter.

He stopped at a convenience store, bought a bag of peanuts and drove to Druid Hill Park. He needed to think, and he’d always done that best when completely alone with no voice or music to disturb him. He threw nuts to a couple of squirrels, and soon several of them frolicked around his feet. He tossed the empty bag into a refuse bin and went home, unsure what to do with himself.

“What would you do?” he asked Vernie at supper, “if you loved someone who walked out of the relationship for reasons that had nothing to do with you personally?”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she stopped chewing her food. “I’d go to her and shake the living bejeebers out of her. If you didn’t do anything bad, don’t stand for it. Besides, she’s waiting for you to straighten out the mess she’s made. Believe me.” That didn’t sound much like Melanie, but what could he lose? He showered, dressed and headed for Melanie’s apartment. If she wasn’t at home, so be it. He rang her doorbell and tried to breathe when he heard her slip the chain.

“Jack! What’re you…”

“May I come in?” He was half into the apartment as the words left his lips. When he heard the door close and lock, he swung around to face her. There was no point in preambles.

“Do you love me? Did you ever love me?”

She didn’t look at him. “You know the answer to that. I hardly remember my mother, so you’re the only human being that I have ever loved. How could you doubt my feelings for you?” She turned away from him, and by the time he reached her, tears cascaded down her face. “Oh, Jack. I hurt. I hurt.”

“I don’t want you to hurt, or be unhappy, sweetheart. We love each other, and we belong together.” He put his arms around her, and it seemed as if she dived into him. “Kiss me. Love me,” he said, shocked at the urgency in his voice.

She parted her lips and he went into her, unashamed of his trembling body. She sucked his tongue into her mouth and loved him as if she’d never get another chance. He picked her up, carried her to her bed, peeled every scrap of clothing from her body, stripped himself and joined her.

“I don’t need finesse, Jack. I need you,” she said, swaying beneath him as an ocean wave undulates beneath a rising moon. He took her with a powerful thrust and thought he’d lose his mind as she rocked him senseless. In the end, he gave himself to her as he’d never done with her or with any woman, and collapsed in her arms.

When he could summon sufficient energy, he smiled down at her. “Don’t think I’m going to give you up. It won’t happen. Did you ever tell your father my name and where my office is located?”