Things settled down after that. There was nothing further from Jane. The police found a fingerprint on the envelope. They ran it through their computer system, expecting to not be able to find a match, but they were pleasantly surprised that it was in the system. Up until now, Jane had only used people with no criminal record. The print belonged to a male with a lengthy record for non violent crimes. When they interviewed him, he said Jane had paid him to mail the note to me if she ever went 7 days without contacting him. She would text him once a week just to say not to mail it yet. But when her cell phone was found in the detention centre, she was put in solitary for two weeks and he mailed it after going one week without hearing from her. The cops told him he wouldn’t be hearing from her again. He agreed to testify against her in exchange for not being charged. He was on parole and did not want to go back to prison.

The Crown managed to get Jane’s charges from Vancouver transferred here and a preliminary hearing date was set for early Sept. If it went to trial, that would be held in November.

Chad Watters - I no longer called him “Dr” since his licence was under indefinite suspension - waived his right to a preliminary hearing and opted to go straight to trial. A date had been set for mid September. September was going to be a very stressful month. Alex said he’d help me - and Doc - get through it.

My injuries were on the mend, but I was still getting bladder pain. However, it was not as bad as it had been. I was finally able to walk on my leg, first with crutches and then with a cane.

Alex dropped my Ativan dose, but would not stop it. He felt I should be on it until after the court cases were over. He gave me a choice of whether to continue with injections or go back to pills, but he said if I chose pills and stopped taking them again, it would be back to injections for the duration. Doc and I talked about it and we decided to continue with the injections as it left no room for temptation to not take it.

Charlotte brought little Julie Anne for a visit shortly after Doc and I got home. (Doc hadn’t wanted her to bring the baby to the hospital for fear of catching something, since she had not had all her vaccinations yet.) We hadn’t seen her in so long and she had grown so much. She was now five months old. Doc was smitten and he didn’t want to put her down. Charlotte promised him that he - we - could have her overnight once she was weaned. She started bringing her for short visits on a regular basis and even left her here for a few hours a time or two while she ran errands. Doc bought a crib and we set it up in the downstairs bedroom. Correction, *I* set it up. He didn’t know how.

Doc went back to work part time, just in the mornings. He was home by 1pm. He enjoyed being back, he’d missed it a lot. For him, it’s not work, except for dealing with paperwork. He loves being a doctor, helping women with their gyn problems and giving obstetrical care, including deliveries.

His birthday was here - May 25, a Saturday this year. I told him I was taking him to his favourite restaurant. We had not been there since before the Jane mess started. I gave him his gifts at breakfast. One was a monogrammed pen set. His old one had been stolen, presumably by a patient, but he had no idea who and he hadn’t wanted to involve the police. “I love this, Meredith, but I will use it here at home. I’m not taking a chance on it getting stolen.” The other gift was a voucher for plane tickets to Toronto, he’d always wanted to go there, but never had. I bought vouchers instead of tickets as I wanted him to choose the dates.

“Meredith, I can’t accept this. I don’t want to go without you.”

“I’m going, too, silly. That’s why it’s for two tickets.”

“But you hate flying.”

“I know, but you have always wanted to go there. I knew you wouldn’t go without me. So, I will go with you.”

“Are you sure, Meredith?”

“Yes, Julian. I am very sure. Start thinking about when you want to go.”

“I don’t want to take time away from the clinic as I’ve been away so much recently. We have the court cases coming up in the fall. Perhaps in the summer, but just for a weekend?”

“Toronto summers are extremely hot, honey. I know you love hot weather, but it gets very humid there. What about June? Lilly is due later in the month or in early July, so how about trying for mid-June? See if we can get tickets on such short notice? Of course, it’s up to you as it’s *your* gift.”

“Sounds good to me, hon.”

Doc had once expressed to me that he thought the teacher/student role play thing was hot, but he’d never done it. After lunch, I went upstairs and changed my clothes. I put on a pair of frilly panties which is something I do not wear every day. Long white socks on my feet. I couldn’t find any shoes that looked suitable, unfortunately. I wore a white blouse, but no bra. The short skirt was a red plaid. I sat on the bed and texted him to come up to the bedroom. He was in the tv room watching a documentary he’d recorded during the week.

He came upstairs and smiled when he saw me sitting on the bed wearing the uniform. “I’ve been a bad girl, Mr Richards. I skipped class yesterday.”

He played right along. “Skipping class is very bad. You need to be punished, my dear.” Sitting down on the bed, he commanded “Over my knee.”

I walked over to the dresser and picked up my wooden hairbrush. I handed it to him.

“Meredith, no. I can’t - I agreed not to, remember?”

“I know, honey but I’m making an exception. It’s your birthday, you get to spank me with it today. And yes, I am sure.”

I lay over his lap and he pushed my skirt up over my rear end. He rubbed my butt through my panties for a moment, then pulled them down just far enough to reveal my cheeks. He rubbed them some more, then brought his bare hand down on them over and over. He stopped and picked up the brush, which he’d set down on the bed. Inwardly, I braced myself. I didn’t know how I’d feel when the time came, but I wanted to do something for him that he really wanted. He brought the back of the brush down on my ass. I flinched. He did it again and again. “Are you okay, Meredith?” he asked part way through.

“Yes, I’m fine. I have my safe word, remember? Do continue.”

The spanking made both of us horny, and one thing led to another.

Afterward, we fell asleep until we heard Karen downstairs. She was calling my name. “We’re up here!” Doc yelled. She started up the stairs. He was already up and heading for the bathroom. I didn’t have time to change out of my schoolgirl uniform. My bestie came into the bedroom, took one look at me holding the blouse shut and said “Uh oh, I came at a bad time.”

I couldn’t resist cracking a joke. “No, Doc and I came.” We both laughed. “Seriously, though, we were done. We just woke up from a nap, so don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, good. I brought over some cream, it’s in the back fridge and I’m taking some eggs, if that’s okay.”

“Of course that’s okay and thanks! I’ll make butter and ice cream tomorrow.”

“I’ll be on my way. Chey will be over later to feed the horses.” She walked to the ensuite and knocked on the door “Happy Birthday, Julian!” she said.

When she’d left, Doc opened the door and peeked out. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, honey, it’s safe.”

Karen hadn’t said a word about the uniform.

We both needed a shower before getting dressed to go to the city, so we took one together. This time, we soaped each other up as we often did when I wasn’t sick or injured. I was still using the shower seat but I stood to lather Doc up. Then he made me sit down again.

I wanted to drive to the city, since it was his birthday and I wanted him to not have to do anything. However, he insisted on driving. He wouldn’t take anything but his BMW to the restaurant and while he had let me drive it at Christmas, he prefers to drive when we are going somewhere together. I guess it’s a male thing.

I was still using the cane and Doc would not let me leave it at home, even though I felt weird being dressed up and going to a fancy restaurant with it. Since it was his birthday, I didn’t give him a hard time about it. The lower dose of Ativan had given me part of my old feisty self back, but I didn’t want to argue with him today.

We arrived at the restaurant and Doc handed the keys to the valet. We went in and waited for the maitre d. After we were seated, Rick, the owner came over to our table with a bottle of champagne. “This is on the house”, he said as he opened it and poured us each a glass before setting it down on the table. “We are so happy to see you back! I trust you are well?”

“It’s been an uphill battle”, Doc replied. “Meredith has spent a lot of time in hospital, she’s been hit by a car and attacked by a former doctor of hers and she’s had 4 surgeries in as many weeks. But we are home now and she’s on the mend.”

“Oh, my goodness!” he exclaimed. “You are lucky to be alive after being hit by a car, Meredith.”

“I’m very lucky, Rick. And that note you sent to us in the hotel room before we left for the safe house was very sweet.”

“We all hoped for a good resolution to your situation. It’s your birthday today, isn’t it, Dr Richards?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Happy Birthday! Your meal is on us.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary.”

“I want to do this for you. This is my restaurant so be quiet and enjoy it. Order anything you like, if the total is under what you usually spend here, then I’m sending a bottle of champagne home with you.”

“Okay, Doc, what do we do?” I asked when Rick left us with the menus. “Order our usual or be stingy and get a free bottle of champagne?”

“Meredith!”

“I’m joking, Doc.”

He shook his head. “Rick will be insulted if we do not order as we usually do. I don’t want to insult him.”

We had a lovely meal. Instead of my usual lasagne, I ordered a healthy dish so that Doc wouldn’t fret. After we were finished, Rick came over again. He was holding a cake with lit candles on top of it. As he got close to our table, he started singing the Happy Birthday song. I joined in and I think the whole restaurant did, too. Doc was blushing. I know he was embarrassed, but he was gracious about all the attention.

Neither of us wanted dessert, but to be polite we had a thin slice of cake. Rick had the waiter put the rest in a box and sent it home with us, along with a bottle of champagne, even though we did not go cheap on our meal. He couldn’t send the rest of the open bottle due to liquor laws. I suggested to him that the staff finish it off rather than pour it down the drain. We’d only had one glass each, since Doc was driving and I was on medication.

On the way home, I told Doc I’d made a cake for him. “I’ll put in the freezer for another time.”

“Let’s put this one in, too. Or part of it. That’s too much cake to eat in a short time.”

“Good idea, Doc.”

We were both really tired, so we turned in early. Doc gave me my night time Ativan injection, then cuddled up to me. “This was the best birthday I’ve ever had. Thank you, hon.”

“You’re welcome, Julian. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

We were able to get flights to and from Toronto for mid-June but we had to leave and come back on weekdays. So Doc took two days off - which were really half days - and we left on the Thursday and came home on Monday. Alex suggested increasing my Ativan starting a couple days earlier to help me cope with flying and he wrote a letter for the airline stating that the needles I was carrying were a medical need. He didn’t raise the dose to what it had once been, though, as I wanted to enjoy myself in the big city. Well, as much as I can in a city that size.

The flight wasn’t what I would call “fun” but I didn’t want to let on to Doc that I was anxious. The Ativan did help, but I still had a bit of anxiety. We were finally there and we got a taxi to our hotel. We were staying at the Royal York, a very old and luxurious Toronto landmark.

I do not like big huge cities and Toronto is no exception. But Doc does, so I sucked it up and went everywhere with him. We went to the Royal Ontario Museum, the Science Centre- which Doc absolutely loved, and Casa Loma. Doc suggested the Toronto Zoo as he thought I‘d like it, but I told him we’d have to rent a car as it was quite a distance from where we were. He said he really wanted to see it, so we did that as our Sunday outing. We dined at the CN Tower the first night, which was another thing I had to suck it up for - to get up to the dining room at the top.

We also saw the Toronto Symphony, another thing Doc absolutely loved, and saw a play at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

By then, I was not using the cane much anymore, but Julian insisted I use it for the trip, since we did a lot of walking. Even with all that activity, we managed to have enough energy to make love a few times. I tell ya, Doc has 3 times the sexual energy of the average man his age! He tells me he has to keep up with me, but I think I have to keep up with him!

I was so glad I’d taken him on this trip (I paid for everything, he tried to pay for dinner a few times but I wouldn’t let him, this was his birthday present). He had such a wonderful time, it was worth the anxiety about flying and going to a few places I wasn’t keen on. I did enjoy myself, especially at the Science Centre and the zoo. The important thing was that we had 4 wonderful days all to ourselves and it wasn’t a case of me being sick or injured.

Back home, he insisted on me taking it easy for a few days. He wouldn’t even let me do the evening feeding. “Meredith, it hasn’t really been that long since you got hurt and I know you are still in some pain from the bladder tear and surgery.”

“It’s better than it was, Doc.”

“I know, hon, but most people are pain free by now after that kind of surgery. For some reason, it’s hanging on with you so you need to rest.” I had to admit he was right. I was in more pain than I let on. My knee was acting up a bit, too, with all the walking I’d done. At least the catheter was out, I thought.

It was haying season and I wanted to go help Walt and The Boys, but Doc said no. Walt wouldn’t let me unless he (Doc) okayed it, so I had to sit it out. I wanted to throw a fit over it, but I knew that Doc was right to say no. I was still recovering from my injuries and surgeries and haying is hard physical work.

I still only had the four horses. I’d asked the rescue co-ordinator, Alana, to only call me if she absolutely couldn’t get anyone else to go get a horse. I wasn’t physically up to going any distance to get one, and my heart wasn’t in it either. I was afraid of something happening which would necessitate me sending them off again. Doc was worried that something was wrong with me, he said it was so unusual for me to not want to do rescues. I reassured him that I was fine, just wanted a break from it all. He even talked to Alex about it and Alex brought it up with me.

“I’m concerned too, Meredith. It is really not like you.”

“I’m fine, Alex. Like I told Julian, I just need a break.” Doc and I were both still seeing Alex, and we were making progress with our issues. His sense of guilt over Jane was easing up and my feelings of my body being ugly due to all the scars were diminishing. I was also learning to cope with all that had happened to me and Doc was doing well with his feelings about it, too.

We were settling back in to our regular lives and it felt so good. Julian upped his hours at the clinic to two whole days and three half days. He liked being home a bit more and I liked having him here. I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I did, but I found that with each passing day, my feelings for him deepened.

We used our home exam room on a regular basis. Doc said he had to keep checking to make sure I wasn’t getting any more ovarian cysts. Every couple weeks seemed excessive but who am I to argue?

The end of June came and Lilly had not foaled. She had been bagging up (udder filling with milk) for a few weeks, so I knew it was not far off.

I mentioned to Doc that it was about a year since I got that bad bout of pneumonia, which is when we started spending a lot of time together, albeit at first it was because I was so sick and then in a medically induced coma for 8 days. I told him that being that sick was hell on earth, but since it was what brought us together, it was worth it.

The day after Canada Day, which is July 1, Lilly was “waxing”, meaning wax-like beads of colostrum were forming at the tips of her teats. She was acting restless, so I knew time was getting close. She was also very irritable - can you blame her? I had to be careful around her, she’d flatten her ears if I got too close, but Doc could approach her with no problem. She really liked him. I told him he was a horse magnet, Jack liked him a lot, too.

I had her in the foaling stall with the cameras on. I could watch on any tv in the house, or on any digital device. I put the tv in the bedroom on when we went to bed at night and slept with one eye open. In other words, I didn’t sleep much. Doc was sawing logs.

Sunday morning, just after 2am, I saw her water break. She was gracious enough to have her hind end to one of the cameras. I nudged Doc. “Wake up, honey, Lilly’s water just broke.”

“How long do we have?”

“It will likely happen within 15 minutes.”

He sprung up and we got dressed and ran downstairs and out to the barn. When we got to her stall, Lilly was pacing. We stood at the stall door and watched. I hid behind Doc as she was more attached to him than to me. I figured she’d feel safe around him. They say the foal picks the day to be born but the mare picks the time. A horse is the only animal that can stop labour in it’s tracks if she feels unsafe.

It seemed like forever, but in reality was only a few minutes, when Lilly finally stopped pacing and lay down. I waited a few minutes to make sure she was going to stay down, then I opened the stall door and we quietly crept inside. The mare’s back end was facing the opposite wall, so we had to walk around her to see. The foal’s head and legs were visible.

A couple pushes from Lilly and it was out. I pulled the sac off and cleared mucus out of it’s mouth. Lilly was up and watching me warily. I had the distinct impression that if Doc wasn’t right beside me, she would have been looking to run me out of her stall.

I got a couple clean, dry towels and gave Doc one, then we began rubbing the newborn dry. I told him it was good for the foal to have humans touch it right off the bat, it helped make them easier to handle as they got older. I checked to see what it was - a filly. She was a palomino. After we’d rubbed her dry, we backed off and watched them. The little girl stood up about 15 minutes after being born.

I went to my foaling toolbox and took out a bottle of betadine solution. “Doc, I dip the navel in this to prevent infection. Do you want to do it?” There was an ulterior motive or two behind my offer. I wanted to involve him more with the horses and I figured Lilly would be less likely to throw a fit if he did it.

“I’d love to, hon!” He took the bottle and I told him what to do. Lilly didn’t give him any problems. In the meantime, I got the wheelbarrow and began cleaning out the area where the birth had occurred. Lilly still had the afterbirth hanging from her and it was almost to the ground, so I tied the bottom in a loose knot to keep her from stepping on it. If she pulled it out, she’d tear her insides and that would be bad news. It had to come out on it’s own and should within an hour or so. If it wasn’t out by the time we were back in bed, I’d get Doc to set his alarm for 3 hours so I could watch on the tv and see if it had been passed. If not, I’d have to call Steve to come out. I needed to get him out in the next few days anyway, to check the filly over and give her her shots.

After I put some fresh straw down, Doc and I left the stall and watched from outside the door. Once the filly was nursing, I felt comfortable going back to the house and to bed. Of course, Doc insisted we both shower before getting into bed. I had left a note on the blackboard on the barn wall for Nasser, the teen who did Sunday morning chores for me, to not do Lilly’s stall and that she had her hay so all he had to do was give her her grain, which he could do from outside the stall. I didn’t want to take a chance on him getting hurt if Lilly didn’t want him in the stall.

As we settled into bed for the second time that night, I told Doc that he could name the filly. Lilly and baby were supposed to be put up for adoption soon, but I had a sneaky suspicion that he would talk me into keeping them.

I could see on the tv that Lilly had shed the afterbirth, so I turned it off and we went to sleep.

Time marched on. Doc named the filly Blossom. I kept them in the foaling stall for a few days, but opened the door to it’s private paddock for them to get outside during the day. When I felt confident putting them out with the other horses, I did and things went fine. Buddy, Jack and Nell accepted Blossom right from the start.

Doc and I set the date for the summer bash - August 3, a Saturday. Monday was British Columbia Day and his clinic would be closed, so he would have two days to recover. He planned on taking the Thursday afternoon and Friday morning off (he didn’t work Friday afternoon anyway) to cook for it. There were quite a few more people coming this year than in years past, due to Doc being in my life. He invited Ms Jamieson and the other doctors from his office, as well as some of the doctors from the hospital, including his bestie, Curt Wilcox and a couple other doctors that had been my docs while I was in the hospital.

A couple weeks before that, early in the week, Julian asked me if we could have a “date night at home” that coming Saturday. I said of course. He asked me to dress nicely for supper and that he would ask Chey to do evening feeding for me. What’s he up to? I wondered. I had the distinct feeling he was going to spring something on me. Perhaps he had to go to an out of province conference and wanted to soften me up with a nice dinner before telling me.

He spent a good deal of the day in the kitchen. Any time I’d go in to get something or a drink, he would be acting nervous. Something was definitely up. “Doc, what’s up?” I asked when I went to the fridge to get a can of pop.

“Why do you think something is up, hon?”

“Because you’re as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” He turned back to the counter. I sighed and went out to the barn for a bit.

Doc texted me just after 4pm asking me to come and get ready. He had showered and changed into one of his good suits, minus the jacket. “Take your time, hon. Supper isn’t until 5:30.” I gave him a kiss and went upstairs.

I had a long soak in the tub. It was a hot day, so we had the central air on and it was a little on the cool side indoors. I think Doc turned it up so it wouldn’t be too warm for him in the kitchen.

While I soaked, I wondered what he was up to. Out of province medical conference? Was he sick? Was he going to tell me he has cancer? Oh God, I hope that’s not it, I thought. I couldn’t handle the prospect of losing him. Especially this soon after getting involved - it was less than a year ago that we’d decided to follow our feelings for each other.

I shaved, then stood up and showered before getting out of the tub. After drying off and blow drying my hair, I stepped into the bedroom and dressed in one of the dresses I had bought to wear when we went out to the fine dining restaurant - this one was Doc’s favourite. I left my hair down as that’s the way he likes it. I’d agreed to let it grow out for him and it was now a few inches past my shoulders.

I put on the horse necklace and earrings he’d given me last Christmas. After dabbing on a bit of Doc’s favourite perfume, I put my shoes on and went downstairs. I was still not used to dressing up like this. Before Doc, I’d do it once in a blue moon. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’d dressed to the hilt in the last five years.

When I stepped into the kitchen, Doc looked at me and said “Ms Hottie, you are absolutely gorgeous!” He has never tired of calling me that name that I coined for his love interest, not realizing that said love interest was me. Even after all these years, he still calls me Ms Hottie.

“You look pretty handsome yourself, Julian”, I said as he walked toward me. He leaned down and kissed me before guiding me through the door to the dining room. He had our best china out, as well as our best cloth napkins. The china was mine, a gift from my parents years ago when Chris was alive, and the napkins were his, he’d brought them from the apartment since he had rarely used them there. I’d asked him if he wanted me to buy new china, and he said no, it didn’t bother him to use mine.

He’d placed tealight candles all around the room, and taper candles in fancy holders on the table. He pulled my seat out for me and I sat down. “I’ll be back in a minute, hon.” When he returned, he had taken off the full apron he’d been wearing and put on his suit jacket. He was pushing a kitchen cart with our supper dishes on it.

We had a lovely meal of some fancy beef dish - he told me the name of it, but I can’t pronounce it. It was really good. Doc tried hard to hide his nervousness, and did a pretty good job of it, especially as we got into the meal and talking about this and that. I tried to hide my fear that he was going to spring something really bad on me.

When we were finished the meal, Doc cleared the table and put the leftovers away. He told me to go sit in the living room and he’d be in shortly. He said he was leaving the dishes for tomorrow. Oh, God, it’s bad if he’s not doing the dishes right away, I thought.

Five minutes later, he came in and sat down on the sofa beside me. No coffee? I thought. He must really be nervous to forget our nightly cup of decaf. “How was supper, hon?” he asked.

“It was delicious, Doc. I loved it.”

“Would you like to dance?” He had soft music playing in the CD player.

“Sure, Doc.” He held his hand out and I took it and got up and moved into his arms. We slow danced for a while, just enjoying being together. I was so afraid for it to end, fearing what he’d tell me when he was ready. I had the feeling that the dancing was a delaying tactic.

Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer and I blurted out “Doc, what is it?”

“What do you mean, hon?”

“I have a feeling you are about to tell me something bad. You’ve been nervous all day and now I think you’re using the dancing to stall.”

“Come and sit down, Meredith. What is it you think I’m going to tell you?”

I sat down and he sat beside me. “Something bad, like that you have cancer or some other horrible disease!”

“Oh, Meredith”, he said with such love in his eyes. “No, nothing like that. I’m perfectly healthy.”

“Doc, that is such a huge relief! But what is it? Are you going away?”

“No. In fact, I have a question to ask you.” I’m sure I looked puzzled. He turned toward me and took my hands into his. “Meredith, you have brought such joy to my life. A year ago, I could never have imagined that in such a short time I would be so in love with you and living with you as if we were husband and wife. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs with things that have happened to us, but we’ve weathered each storm and our love is stronger than ever.

“I don’t ever want to be without you, hon. We’ve both said we want to be together for the rest of our lives. Like I said, we’ve been living together as husband and wife. I’d like to make it official.” It suddenly dawned on me what he was about to ask. “Meredith, will you marry me?”