My Christmas Doctor

I hung up before she could reply. I couldn't believe she had stooped so low. No wonder Jane wasn't speaking to me. She thought I was just like her ex. Probably worse since, thanks to my mother, she thought I was some sort of predator! I had to set things straight with her. But first, I needed a shower.

I locked the front door and went up to my room to wash up and change. An hour and a half later, I pulled into the garage at Jane's apartment building. I hadn't called beforehand because I figured she wouldn't answer, and I couldn't blame her for that. I'd also made one other stop on my way, at the police department to file a restraining order against Belle.

Gathering all my courage, I knocked on her door.Chapter 19JaneI'd spent the last week miserable. I missed Brian so much. My heart had fractured into a million tiny pieces, and I couldn't do anything but sit on my sofa-bed watching sad movies and cry. I'd lost weight, I couldn't eat, food just reminded me of Brian. I'd turned off the alarms on my phone, they too, reminded me of him. I was even considering getting rid of my sofa-bed because of the memories. They hurt so much.

I hadn't seen or talked to anyone since that phone call. Well, I had spoken to Brian through the door, telling him to go away, but that had been it. I hadn't written a word, hadn't taken calls from my agent, hadn't called Ellie or anyone. Hell, I was still in the same pajamas that I had put on after my shower that afternoon of his mother's call.

His mother! I had to be told what kind of man he was by his mother! He must be horrible for his own mother to tattle on him! I shook my head and tried to push the thoughts of him away, but still they lingered.

As I lay there, watching The Fault in Our Stars, there was a knock on the door. I glanced toward my kitchen, afraid to move. I hit pause on the movie, hoping if I stayed quiet, whoever it was would just go away.

"Jane? Please, please listen to me. I know my mother called you. You have to let me talk to you. She lied, Jane. Please."

I wiped my eyes and stood up. Hope, apparently, still lingered in my heart, and I desperately wanted to grasp it, but I was afraid. Afraid of being hurt, broken. Still… I didn't know if I could see him… I walked over to the door.

"Please, Jane. I love you. I want to be with you. Only you. I've never cheated on you. I can prove it. Please, please just let me in. Let me talk to you."

He could prove it? I opened the door and stared at him.

"Oh God, Jane." His gaze was troubled as he looked at me. "I am so sorry, please… let me explain?"

I nodded slowly and let him in. I couldn't trust my voice at that moment.

Brian moved into the room and tried to take my hand, but I pulled away from him. "I understand. I know you don't trust me right now, but you can. I promise. Here, look at this." He handed me two different folded stacks of paper.

"What are these?" I whispered.

"Open them."

I opened the first one and I read it over. It was a divorce decree. I blinked and then looked up at him. My heart was pounding in my chest. So, he really was divorced and had been for two years. I set it aside and opened the second one. It was a restraining order, filled out earlier today against Belle Winslet, his ex-wife for harassment. I set it aside and looked at him.

"I want to trust you, to trust this… but your mother—"

"I know what she told you, but I swear, I have never slept with a patient and I am in very good standing at the hospital. I have never pursued a former patient until you. I rarely even dated after my divorce until you, Jane. You can ask anyone at the hospital or even my office, and they will vouch for me. I love you, Jane."

"I love you too," I murmured, "that's why it hurt so much. I've been so miserable, Brian. I thought… I thought you were like Aaron. Like my mother said, you'd hurt me, like he had. I just… I couldn't believe it, but it was your mother… she seemed so gentile and kind, like she was trying to save me from getting hurt… the way she told me…" I shook my head. "For her to lie like that… I just don't understand how she could do that, to you, to me…"

"I know. My mother and Belle are two of a kind. They don't care who they step on to get their way. They will lie, cheat, and steal to do it. If I never go back to the Hamptons it will be too soon. I don't know if I will ever speak to her again." He picked up my hand and held it gently in his. "Jane, please tell me we can work past this, get back to where we were a week ago."