That and they knew Janet was a subpar doctor and needed to protect their asses. It makes sense now why Carter always blew me off about it whenever I tried to question why he was working with Janet and not me. He wasn’t legally allowed to tell me anything.
Only Janet didn’t know he had told anyone about our relationship. Hell, neither did I.
Which is why I automatically assumed the worst—especially with Janet filling my head with that.
Why didn’t Carter tell me he told them? Oh right, because I asked him not to tell anyone and he knew I’d freak the fuck out. Yeesh.
“So when she came to us overnight with claims of you engaging in unscrupulous and scandalous behavior with Dr. Fritz, to use her words, we were, well, shocked.”
I sit up straighter. “I can explain. Dr. Fritz and I have always tried to keep our personal relationship separate from work. What she saw was after our shifts ended beyond the walls of this hospital. When it comes to our work here, Dr. Fritz has always placed that first. Never once showing favoritism or treating me as anything other than his resident, equal with all others. I don’t know specifically what Dr. Johnson claimed, but if any of it involves Dr. Fritz engaging in anything unscrupulous or scandalous, it’s an absolute lie.”
Janet can say what she wants about me, but us hiding our relationship was on my terms. Terms Carter clearly didn’t abide by. I’m the one at fault. Not him. I won’t let her take him down with me. If that’s my fate, so be it, but I will not let it be Carter’s too.
I suck in a breath, holding it tight in my lungs.
“Yes.” Dr. Westerfield agrees emphatically, glancing first at Carter and then over to Dr. Rohrs. “Now you understand why we’re meeting today. This situation is troubling indeed. Dr. Fritz has been transparent about your personal relationship from the beginning, even going so far as to continue your education while passing your evaluations over to me so as to remove any form of misconduct. Which is why we know everything she’s claiming to be false.”
I shake my head, totally, completely, utterly flabbergasted. “I’m sorry, I think I’m missing something.”
“Dr. Johnson informed everyone in this room in the wee hours of the morning, I might add, that you’re holding sex over my head in exchange for stellar evaluations and good recommendations for after your residency has ended,” Carter states flatly. “She claims that you used my infatuation with you against me.”
“Um.” Yep. I might be impersonating a goldfish.
“She was obviously unaware that I had already removed myself from a position of power over you. Months ago. Our number one priority—as you stated on my behalf though that pact came from both of us—has always been and will always be patient care and we vowed from the start of our relationship that anything you and I engage in beyond the walls of this hospital would never interfere with that. There was no way you could demand stellar evaluations from me when I was no longer evaluating your work.”
I think I blink about a thousand times.
“No.” That’s as good as I’ve got at the moment.
When the hell did Carter go and do all of this? Have my evaluations transferred? It makes sense with everything that’s transpired. I’ve worked more with Dr. Westerfield since Janet’s accident. I just didn’t think much of it as she’s the head of the department and makes rounds through all the residents, benchmarking our training. I was more consumed with the notion that Carter was freezing me out while taking Janet in.
“These latest accusations are the tipping point for us with Dr. Johnson,” Dr. Smart states. “She claimed her initial incident happened because she was spread too thin with you not picking up the slack when we know not only is that false but that she had actually been changing the board herself to remove your name and place hers on there instead. You understand how dangerous that is for our patients and other providers. It’s why we have protocols surrounding that sort of thing. Protocols she breeched which ultimately led to her mistreating her patient. We had been giving her a second chance to work on improving her behavior and performance, but after last night we can no longer do that.”
My head is spinning like a top.
“I…” I have no idea what to say. I shake my head, sinking back into my chair and rubbing my hands up and down my face. “What’s her future position in this program?”
“She has none,” he informs me. “After the notes of this meeting are registered, we will be terminating her contract as a resident. She was made aware of this just prior to your interview. We gave her the option to switch to a lesser role within the department. She declined.”
So Janet is gone. Not me.
“Grace?” Dr. Westerfield says softly, drawing my attention back to her. “We want to thank you for your continued dedication, professionalism, and discretion. We hope that in putting this situation behind us, we can all move forward in a more positive direction.
I meet their steadfast gazes and say, “Thank you. That is my hope as well.” Then I expel a heavy breath.
How the hell did this turn out this way?
36
“I don’t understand what just happened,” Grace says to me as we make our way back toward my office.
I shut the door behind us, feeling yet another weight off my chest. I wrap her up in my arms, holding her supple body against mine. Her eyes, so pretty, so blue, gaze wondrously back at me like I’m a hero she never saw coming or knew she needed. But it was her taking my hand the way she did right in front of Janet and anyone else in the hospital who happened to walk by that stole my breath.
She’s mine, is what she was telling me. She chose us. There are no more obstacles between us now. Everything is out in the open just as it should be.
And here we are, together on the other side of it.
“It’s like I told you last night. There is no one else for me but you. That means I slay all who attempt to fuck with you. I destroy any who want to hurt you. You are who I kill, maim, and die for, sweetheart. And I will fight ruthlessly toward that death if it means you come out standing on the other side.”
Doesn’t she understand? Her body. Her love. Her soul. I’m crazed with her, well beyond the point of madness or obsession. And now that she’s carrying my child in her, I am a man to be feared by, how I will fight to protect her.
“I love you,” she whispers into me, pressing her mouth against mine, those words on her lips never failing to ruin me all over again. “My fierce caveman.”
“You wouldn’t have me any other way.”
“Not for a second. But… how did you know what she was up to? And when the hell did you tell everyone you and I were together?”
“This was never temporary.” I flick a finger back and forth between us. “I had always planned on more. And I couldn’t be your teacher with you and I being more. So I told all of our supervisors and explained that I would continue on as your secondary attending since there was no one else available who could teach you as much or as well as I could but that I would no longer evaluate your work as your boss. Dr. Westerfield doesn’t do as much teaching as she used to now that she runs the department, but she agreed to take on your evaluations. Once Janet got hurt and we realized what she had done with the board and how lacking her skills were, I didn’t have a choice but to up her training.”