Dearest Readers, I am so sorry to take so long to write. You see, the events from where I last left off to a few months after that are so upsetting, even now, to think about let alone write about. But my therapist has been strongly recommending that I stop avoiding writing about it.

You all know that Meredith almost had that cyst out a few weeks after Julie Anne’s christening. The surgery was cancelled because an emergency case needed the operating room. I was so proud of Meredith for showing up, intending to go through with it and my heart broke for her when it was cancelled. I really couldn’t blame her when she didn’t want to reschedule after all she’d gone through emotionally to get there, but I felt that with time she’d cool down and change her mind. I was right about that.

I was pretty upset about her being diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse the week before, but it was a mild case and Oliver Hampton wasn’t worried, so I tried not to be concerned. Meredith keeps telling me I worry too much. Maybe sometimes I do, but most of the time I don’t, especially where she’s concerned. I don’t think she worries enough.

Since she didn’t have the surgery that day, I decided to do something for her for Valentine’s Day. I know she said she didn’t want to do anything special and I did not plan anything until supper. I gave her the day to herself, but I had to do something to show her how much I love her. So I cooked her a nice meal and had Karen’s daughter run into town and get a dozen roses for me. I had already bought the locket necklace and card as I was going to give it to her in hospital after her surgery. I was so worried that she’d get mad at me for doing something, but she allowed me to do the small bit I wanted to do.

To my surprise, Meredith had bought me a card and gift. What she said in the card meant the world to me. It left no doubt in my mind that we are on the same page regarding our relationship. I mentioned in a previous writing that I had considered asking her to marry me, but feared it was too soon. Even with what she wrote to me, I still think I made the right decision. It wasn’t the right time - yet.

Her spraining her ankle while scrambling to get off our home exam table when I walked in on her was so her. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw her but when I realized she was injured, I went into doctor mode and forgot about the hilarity of it.

The fight - what to say about that? When my superintendent called me at the clinic, I knew something was seriously wrong. He had never called me at work before. I had visions of there being an explosion or something, but then he told me that it looked like a scuffle had taken place and Meredith was unconscious. I don’t like taking off from the clinic in the middle of the afternoon like that, but I had to. Fortunately, I had just finished with a patient and Nick agreed to squeeze the next couple in and see them. Ms Jamieson called the others and rescheduled them.

Meredith had regained consciousness by the time I got there. When she threw up, I suspected the cyst had ruptured and my external palpation showed it was smaller in size, which confirmed my suspicions. At that moment, I could have killed Jane with my bare hands. I’m not a violent person and I don’t hate easily, but I detest Jane for what she did to my darling Meredith. The same goes for Watters but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I know I was snippy with the police officers and paramedics, but I just wanted to get her to the hospital and into surgery as soon as possible. I knew what was wrong and did not want to waste any time.

The only good thing about that fight was that it put an end to that cyst, but it was a mess in there. I spent hours cleaning it up. Unfortunately, there was another one coming up behind it that was not visible on the ultrasounds. I didn’t tell Meredith, but I was certain that more would crop up and that she would eventually lose the ovary.

It took me a long time and a lot of therapy to realize it was not my fault. The guilt I felt for that and subsequent events weighed on me heavily. I kept thinking that if I had never got involved with Jane, they would never have happened. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alex Carmichael for helping me with that. To be honest, I still have twinges of guilt from time to time, even after all these years.

Her recovery was going along quite well and she was doing her very best to comply with orders, though I think her pain had a lot to do with that. But then she got upset over something the detective told us and she wouldn’t settle down. To her credit, she allowed me to give her a sedative, but then she had nightmares, and I don’t know if it was the medication or just something that happened. Nevertheless, it did and the dreams of Jane were so real to her that she tried to get out of bed by climbing over the rail and ended up falling on her left side - the side that the cysts had been on - while I was out of the room.

I was so worried when she refused surgery to repair the internal damage - some of the sutures, both inside and outside had come out and she was bleeding internally. It was a slow bleed, thank God, which gave me time to talk to her and find out why she was so adamant about not allowing Chad Watters, who was on call that night, to operate on her. When she told me the full story of how he had treated her when she was his patient, I didn’t want him touching her either. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to get him to tell the hospital he couldn’t come in. All I did was tell him I knew everything and said he would be wise to come up with an excuse. I did not say I wouldn’t turn him in if he agreed to let me take call that night. If that’s the way he interpreted my words, that’s on him.

I now had two people on my “hate list” - Jane and Watters. I could quite easily have gone to his home and put him in traction, but Meredith needed surgery ASAP. Besides, I did not want to ruin my life over scum like him. In hindsight, part of me wishes I had put him out of commission, then maybe subsequent events would not have happened. Once again, I’m getting ahead of myself.

When Karen asked me if she could bring Meredith’s dog and favourite horse to visit, I hesitated but then thought that it would do her a world of good to see them. I knew I had made the right choice when I saw her with them, even though she let them get too close for my comfort.

Unfortunately, Jane wouldn’t leave us alone. First a phone call, followed by an email, then a note dropped into Meredith’s lap and finally, a highly venomous snake left in the bathroom of her hospital room. It killed Meredith to have to send her horses away for their safety and it tore me up watching her go through that. But it was for the best.

After the snake incident, I decided it was time to go to the safe house, even though I would have preferred to keep her in hospital for another day or two. The trip was a bit rough on her as she hates flying, but I gave her a light sedative, which helped.

For the first time in a while, we both felt safe and were able to relax. The one good thing about being in the safe house was spending 24/7 with Meredith in a home-like setting, though I did have some medical equipment for her. But we had complete privacy, whenever the cops needed to come by, they called first when possible and always knocked. Meredith was pretty compliant and she got stronger by the day. We both missed home and our regular lives but we made the most of our time there. Some couples run out of things to talk about if they spend too much time together - not us. We can always find something to discuss.

We even got a bit of “play” time in. Meredith astounds me. No matter how miserable she’s feeling or how much pain she’s in, she’s usually up for sex. I say usually because sometimes she’s not, like when she’s just out of surgery. She really seems to enjoy it with a catheter in, it heightens her arousal. Which heightens mine.

When Det. Randall asked Meredith if she would go help that horse in labour, I knew there was no use in trying to prohibit it. She’d go, one way or the other. If not in a car, on foot. I was not happy when she took the portable cardiac monitor off, but in the end she was right to do so. It would have got drenched when the birthing fluids splashed all over her. I was really worried about the low grade infection she had and as it turned out, I was right to worry. She ended up needing a culture and IV antibiotics.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the least of our problems. Jane found us and sent a car with a look alike woman and some men, all armed, to the compound. Fortunately, the police were tipped off and were able to stop it before it got there. One of the detectives wanted to take Meredith and I down a very long underground tunnel to another house. Meredith refused to go, said she wanted to confront Jane and end it right then and there. I had to trick her by kissing her and saying it might be my last one from her, which allowed me to get close to her without arousing her suspicions, and I was able to grab her and carry her downstairs to the tunnel. She went kicking and screaming all the way. I’d have expected no less.

That wasn’t the end of it. She tried to take off from the house we were taken to - she was no longer in a cast for her broken ankle, but was in a boot. Which meant she could walk on her foot. She managed to get across the road before I caught up to her - I was delayed because I was drawing up a dose of sedative, figuring I’d need it. When I got to her, I picked her up and headed back across the road. Would you believe she had the gall to take the syringe out of my pocket and empty the contents? And on my shirt!!! Any other time, I would have been furious but at that moment, I was just focused on getting Meredith back to the house. Of course, she fought me fiercely and managed to partially wiggle out of my arms so that she was standing on the road with me holding her upper body.

I didn’t see the car coming, but Meredith did. She got free of my grip and pushed me out of the way. Unfortunately, she was not able to avoid getting hit. She saved my life. She was willing to die for me, that chokes me up whenever I think about it. And would you believe, she was more concerned with finding her stuffed horse that I gave her than with letting me assess her injuries? I had no choice but to find it, she wouldn’t settle down until I did. Fortunately, it only took me a moment to locate it and it wasn‘t damaged.

I had asked the plainclothes officer, Dana, to go back to the house and get my bag. She was on her way back and almost to us when the house exploded. Thankfully, she only had some cuts on her back. I realized that Meredith being such a hot head saved all of our lives - if we’d been in the house, none of us would have survived. She saved my life twice that day.

She passed out shortly after that but came to in the ambulance. I knew she was in a lot of pain in her upper left side, which made me concerned about her spleen. She also had cuts and scrapes, and her knee was swelling up pretty bad. As it turned out, she had a tear in her bladder as well.

I was so worried when Meredith wouldn’t let the ER doctor do an internal exam to make sure there were no other injuries. I was also surprised, I’d thought she might not have a problem with a female doing it. But she held firm, and that showed me she was more traumatized by what previous doctors had done to her than I had realized. Fortunately, I was able to get temporary privileges in order to do one.

We were just getting ready to take her up to the OR - they had asked me to help - when Jane burst in the door with a couple of her “friends”. They were armed. First thing one of them did was hit Randall Baker over the head with his weapon and knock him out cold.

Meredith, being Meredith, wanted to get out of bed and fight Jane. I tried to stop her, but then Jane fired a shot into the ceiling and I realized that I couldn’t fight against a gun. However, when Meredith fell down and Jane took advantage of that and choked her, I had to do something. Unfortunately, I got shot in the leg and then everyone passed out from whatever the police had put in the room through the ducts. That probably saved Meredith’s life.

They wouldn’t let me go upstairs with her until they cleaned and stitched the entrance and exit wounds from the bullet - fortunately, no damage was done other than a couple holes in my thigh. By the time I got up there, she was in surgery. They let me watch from the observation room. In retrospect, I’m not sure that was a wise thing to do.

Watching them shock her over and over again in an effort to save her life almost killed me. I wanted to jump through the glass down into the room and do it myself. I know I was crying. We men are taught to never cry or if you do, don’t let anyone see it. At that moment, I didn’t care who saw it. I was frantic inside. What would I do if she didn’t make it? How could I go on without her? Fortunately, they were able to save her and continue with the operation.

Weeks later, Meredith told me of her NDE (Near Death Experience). I’d always been skeptical about those, but she knew things she had no way of knowing - like seeing me with my hands up against the glass of the observation room and crying.

Neither one of us were happy with the hospital. Her medical care was competent, but they wouldn’t let me stay overnight, which stressed both Meredith and I. I had to spend the next two nights in a hotel, and did not get very much sleep. I know Meredith didn’t sleep well either. She sure did not like her night nurse, dubbing her Nurse Ratchett.

I was so glad when her doctor offered to send us home the second day after her surgery as they needed the bed, though I was worried about how the trip would be on her. I put a few conditions on the trip, one of which was that she let me do what I felt best, including giving her a sedative. To my surprise, she didn’t give me much of a hassle over it. I think she really, really wanted to get back to Williams Lake. It was so nice to be back, even though she still had to be in hospital. At least I could stay with her 24/7 and help with her care.

One of the conditions I put on it was that she had to talk to Alex Carmichael about all that had happened. She would only agree to that if I also agreed to talk to him. I did, only to make sure that she did, but I’m glad I did. He’s helped me a lot over the years.

Even in jail, Jane managed to find and contact Meredith. First the email and flowers, then the phone call to the house after she had left the hospital. When I got back to the ward after my appointment with Alex and found that she’d left, I raced to the farm, figuring that was where she’d go. But I couldn’t find her there. I even checked the barn, thinking that was where she’d feel closer to her horses, but didn’t find her. I was frantic and fretted for two nights. I knew she had gone home as her purse was in the house. Nothing was missing from her wallet. I was terrified that someone connected to Jane had kidnapped her. The second night, I couldn’t sleep - again - and as I tossed and turned, something told me to go back out to the barn. This time, I thought to call out to her and I finally heard her answer me. Her voice was weak and she was behind some bales of straw, but I heard it when I got close and found her. She was dehydrated and very weak from being in the barn for two days without food or water and from the infection that was ravaging her body.

Typical Meredith, she gave me a hard time about going back to the hospital, even as sick as she was. She refused at first, even threatening to get Alex to commit her didn’t work. Finally, I pleaded with her, told her I didn’t want to lose her and that I wanted to be with her for many years to come. That seemed to get through to her and she let me take her back.

Because she’d been gone a couple days, we had to go to the ER to get her re-admitted. An ultrasound showed fluid in her abdominal cavity. Urine was leaking out the tear in her bladder from her having the catheter clamped off for the past couple days. She now had peritonitis - a very, very serious infection. She didn’t give us much hassle in the ER until a nurse came in with a phone message from Jane. Then she freaked out, pulling out her IV and trying to get out of bed. Alex and I had to hold her down while the ER physician gave her a shot of Ativan. Since Alex said she wasn’t “with it” enough to give informed consent, I - as her power of attorney - had to sign the forms for surgery to repair her bladder and clean up the leaked urine, as well as remove some of the infected tissue.

The operation was very hard on her. She didn’t go into v-fib or cardiac arrest, thank God, but she wouldn’t breathe on her own for a couple days and she had to be in ICU under sedation until we could take her off the vent. Even down on the surgical ward, she was in and out of it for a few days and in incredible pain when she was awake.

Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. Meredith means everything to me and I couldn’t stand seeing her like that, on top of everything else she had gone through. I snapped and headed for the detention centre where Jane was. Deep down I knew it wasn’t a wise thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. To my surprise, they let me see her. I told her what she’d done to Meredith, including her spending two days hiding in the barn and ending up with peritonitis. I also told her that even if Meredith died, I’d never go back to her and that if I saw her on the street, I’d spit on her.

Scott Fletcher was not happy with me for doing that, but I have no regrets and I’d do it again. You can mess with me all you want, but if you harm Meredith, you will see a side of me you never dreamed existed. In fact, it’s a good thing there was bullet proof glass between us or I’d have gone for her throat.

My only regret in going was that Meredith woke up a few times while I was gone and thought that I’d left her. I should have left a note for her, but I didn’t decide to go until I was at the apartment getting cleaned up. Still, I should have gone back and left a note or called the nurses station and told them that I had something to do that would take me all day, but that I’d be back in the evening.

After that, I was feeling pretty certain that things would get better. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had forgotten about Watters. Somehow, he managed to get an order for an ultrasound into the computer system, then posed as a porter to get Meredith off the ward. He covered his mouth and nose with a mask, saying he was getting over a cold, so she wouldn’t recognize him at first. The mask muffled his voice, too. By the time she figured out who he was, he had her in the basement of the hospital and away from anyone who would hear her scream. He got her outside and to his car, but then she found an opportunity to try to disable him by stomping on his feet. Thank God she had the presence of mind to call me and hide her phone after putting it on speaker and turning the volume down so he could not hear me. Of course, I didn’t know at the time that she couldn’t hear me, so I kept calling her name. She was also smart enough to get him to confirm their location, so I knew where to go and where to send the police. After calling them (the police) on my landline, I headed over there. I could hear the sounds of their fight. Finally, Meredith was able to get back to her phone and turn the volume up. I was seething mad and threatened him that if any harm came to her, I’d hurt him even worse.

I don’t know where either of them got the strength to hold their own in that fight. Watters was old and frail and Meredith was weak from her recent injuries and surgeries. She was fighting for her life, so it must have been adrenaline. What was giving him the strength, I do not know - perhaps rage at the prospect of losing his licence to practice medicine after Meredith and I turned him in.

I finally got there - it seemed to take forever, though it wasn’t more than ten minutes. I had wondered if I’d be able to resist the urge to pummel him, but he was out cold due to hitting his head on the pavement when Meredith kicked him to stop him from jumping on her yet again. I didn’t care about him, I was only concerned about her, but she said he was hurt worse and reminded me of my oath. She was right, I had to tend to him first. He stopped breathing, so I had to do CPR on him. When a stretcher from the ER got there, I was able to pass his care off onto them and go to Meredith.

Due to a multi vehicle accident, Watters got the last ER physician who was free. It was a good thing I have privileges there, I was able to take care of Meredith and assess her injuries. Fortunately, there was no internal bleeding. She had lost a few stitches, which had to be redone and cracked her knee, but otherwise she was okay.

Watters was in a coma for a few days but came out of it. Much as I hate him and don’t care about him, I care about Meredith and had he not come out of it, she would have felt responsible, even though she was acting in self defence. So I’m glad he didn’t die.

When the detective told us of finding a dungeon in Watters’ basement, along with restraints and torture devices and the fact they thought it was all meant for Meredith, I seethed and wished I had let him die out there on the pavement. I wanted to go and finish him off and almost did later when I saw Meredith all curled up in the corner of the shower and saying she was “done”. Alex Carmichael had to physically restrain me from going to the ICU and unplugging his life support.

I really couldn’t blame Meredith for withdrawing. With all she had been through in the past few months, I was, quite frankly, surprised she’d not snapped sooner. Still, it was very hard seeing her like that and I hated Watters even more. Alex talked me out of harming him by pointing out that I’d end up in prison for, at the very least, attempted murder and I’d lose everything. Thank God for Alex. He helped both of us so much through that difficult time.

When Watters came out of the coma, I should have seen it coming that Meredith would sneak out of her room when I was talking to Alex in his office. When she wanted to leave undetected, she would call for a nurse and say she had to go to the bathroom, so the nurse would unhook her from her monitors. That way, alarms wouldn’t sound. She would go to the bathroom, then sneak out after the nurse left her room. When a nurse called me and said that Meredith was not in her room or the bathroom and that the wheelchair was gone, I was pretty sure I knew where she was headed.

Alex and I ran for Watters’ room and sure enough, that’s where Meredith was. She wasn’t hurting him, in fact she was sitting by the foot of his bed, telling him that he owed his life to me. I couldn’t let her leave it at that, I had to tell him that he really owed his life to her, as she insisted I tend to him when I didn’t want to.

Finally, Meredith was released from hospital and we went home to the farm. Her horses were back and the look on her face when she saw them almost put me in tears of joy for her. She just had her own 3 at that point - Buddy, Jack and Nell. The pregnant mare, Lilly, would come back a bit later. The others would go on to new homes.

Jessie, her dog, was so happy to see her. I have to admit I had missed her and was glad to see her, but in her excitement, she jumped all over Meredith and I worried about her surgical areas. Everything was okay, though and no damage was done.

I tried not to get my hopes up too much, but I was thinking that maybe our ordeal was coming to an end. There were a couple more “blips”, the first one occurred the day after we got home. I figured out she had not been taking her Ativan that Alex had prescribed to help her anxiety. I insisted she take it, but then she made herself throw up, so I had to get Alex to prescribe injections. When I got back from going to the city to pick up the prescription, she was curled up in a corner of our bedroom, just like she had been in the hospital’s shower. This time, I took a video with my phone so I could show it to her later. It shocked her to see it and she didn’t give me a hassle about the injections.

Meredith got stronger with each passing day. Finally, we were returning to our regular life and it was so good. I went back to work, half days at first, then 3 half and two full days. I kept the doctor that Nick had hired on so that I could work less and spend more time with Meredith. Lilly came back to the farm and I hoped I would get to see the birthing.

One day, Meredith went through the mail and found an envelope with a message in it saying “down but not out”. I was upstairs reading in the library and she doesn’t like disturbing me when I’m up there, so she went to the barn and brushed her horses instead. I was so proud of her for doing that instead of doing something rash like running away. When I went to the barn looking for her, she brought Lilly out and let me feel the baby kick and listen to it’s heartbeat. I fully enjoyed that. I hear it all the time in human pregnancies but had never done that with an animal before.

My birthday was so special - the best I’d ever had. Everything Meredith did was special, including dressing in a school girl uniform (an unfulfilled fantasy of mine) and letting me spank her with the wooden hair brush, but the trip to Toronto was extra special, made even more so by her putting aside her hatred/fear of flying to go somewhere I had really wanted to go to. I know she does not like big cities, but she was a trooper, going to all the places I wanted to go and without complaint. I think she even enjoyed them. I suggested we go to the zoo on the Sunday because I knew she’d really like that.

Lilly finally gave birth and I was able to watch. I was awestruck. I’d seen that horse at the farm near the safe house give birth but it was a problem birthing and she needed help. This was the first time I’d seen a horse deliver it’s young on it’s own. Meredith even let me dip the umbilical stump in a solution to prevent infection. Lilly and I had formed a bond of sorts and she let me get near her baby without giving me any trouble. She wasn’t as trusting of anyone else, including Meredith. Meredith even let me name the baby and I chose Blossom because she was pretty as a flower.

I finally decided to get off the pot, as Meredith would say, and propose to her. I felt it was the right time, though I was still nervous. I cooked a very special dinner for us, then danced with her a bit. I was trying to get up the nerve to say the words, and she sensed something was up and insisted on knowing what it was. She was terrified I was going to tell her I was dying of cancer or some other terminal condition. I sat her down and reassured her that I was very healthy, then told her how much she meant to me. I had had a bunch of things to say rehearsed but in the moment, forgot most of them. I finally got to the point and asked her to marry me.

At first, she didn’t say anything and I was so scared she was going to turn my proposal down. I offered to get down on one knee and she blurted out that yes, she would marry me. In doing so, she made me the happiest man alive. I showed her the rings I’d had made and she allowed me to put the engagement ring on her finger. She said she loved them.

I did not want to wait to set a date. If it could be done, I’d have married her the next day, but that was not possible. We discussed it and settled on December 7. September we were going to be busy with first Jane’s preliminary hearing, then Chad Watters’ trial - they had charged him and he had waived his preliminary. If Jane went to trial, it would be held in November. We wanted all that out of the way before the wedding. We decided to not go for our honeymoon until January since Christmas would be so close.

Our summer bash was only a couple weeks away, so we thought we’d announce our engagement then, though we told a few people right away.

The bash went off without a hitch. We made our big announcement and people were so happy for us - most people, I should say. I had been a bit worried, given how Meredith and I had met, but nobody said anything to either of us about that.

Julie Anne spent almost the entire time in my arms. She sure was growing. I’d missed her a lot while we were at the safe house and Meredith was in hospital. Charlotte brought her to the farm for visits frequently that summer and we bonded quite well. Every time I tried to give her to someone else to hold at the bash, she’d get very upset. I was happy to hold her, though. I knew that the day would come when she’d be too big and I would miss it a lot.

I did do one thing at the bash that I rarely do and that was overeat. I’m usually quite careful about that. This day, I slipped up and paid for it. Meredith thought I was getting sick and insisted on playing nurse, making me stay in bed and taking my temp rectally. I put up a bit of an argument but I really wasn’t feeling up to a big fight over it, so I let her. Meredith sometimes likes to think she’s in charge. I humour her and let her think that way - but not often or for long. I don’t want it going to her head. I have to admit, I do enjoy to be pampered now and then, but mostly, I like to do the pampering.

I had been cutting back on Meredith’s Ativan. It “neutered” her, as she called it. After a while of her being on it, I was missing the old feisty Meredith. Being “neutered” is not who she is and is not who I fell in love with. I didn’t tell Alex I was doing it as I knew he’d disapprove.

The Tuesday after the bash, Alex called me at the clinic. He said he couldn’t reach Meredith and was worried. I tried calling but there was no answer on the house phone or her cell. I was concerned and only doing paperwork for the rest of the day, so I took off early.

I didn’t find her in the house so I headed for the barn to see if she was in there. On my way, I saw her ATV at the back of the yard under the fruit trees. I headed for it and realized she was in the peach tree. Unfortunately, when I called out to her, it startled her and she fell out of the tree. Thankfully, she just had a few cuts and scrapes and a sprained ankle. The same one that she’d broken in the winter/spring. Poor Meredith, she couldn’t seem to catch a break.

I insisted on taking her in to get it x-rayed to make sure there were no fractures. On the way in, Alex called me and I put the phone on hands-free then told him what had happened. He said he’d meet us in the ER. Meredith insisted on going home and when I refused to stop the car, she undid her seat belt and opened her door. I knew she was going to jump out, so I slammed on my breaks, pulled over and talked to her. She wouldn’t stay in the car unless I called Alex back and asked him to not meet us at the hospital. I had no choice but to do it.

After we got going again, she told me why she didn’t want to talk to Alex. She was upset with him because he’d questioned the wisdom of us getting married. Apparently, they had had words at the bash. She had not told me about this. I reassured her that I had her back about that and that if Alex pushed, he’d find himself less two friends and patients.

I didn’t see him in the ER when we got to the hospital, but he burst in to the room Meredith was placed in a few minutes later. I pushed him back out and talked to him and made it very clear to him that if I allowed him to stay, he’d better not say one negative word about the wedding or *he* would be in that hospital bed. He agreed not to and to his credit, he did keep that agreement.

He asked Meredith if she’d been on antibiotics, some of which can block the effects of Ativan. When she said no, I think he was suspecting she wasn’t getting her injections and asked for blood work. Meredith, not knowing I had cut back on her dose, readily volunteered to let him do that. I didn’t get a chance to object.

Alex gave me a new prescription for her Ativan, with a dose increase. He was now suspecting that her body had developed a tolerance. Meredith said she refused the increase. We finally talked Alex into cutting down on it (the increase). When we got home, I told her I’d been cutting back on her dose. We talked and I agreed to wean her off of it and she agreed to go back on when the court cases started if I said she needed to.

We were looking to buy a cabin and I found one online that looked nice. Meredith and I both talked to the real estate agent and she offered to let us stay there for a weekend to try it out. We decided to do that. On the Saturday, Meredith decided I needed a spanking for having sex with her bent over a barrel in her barn one day when she was supposed to be off her left foot. She bet me that I’d enjoy it - said if I got an erection, she would win the bet and if I didn’t get one, I’d win. If I lost, I had to have sex with her on a table in my clinic, which she’d been wanting to do. If I won, she had to let me give her an enema, which I’d been wanting to do.

I did my best to not get hard and was doing pretty good. I was being mindful of the length of the spanking - if she went longer than I typically take to spank her, I’d put an end to it. We were almost getting to that point and I was thinking of the enema I was going to give her when it happened - I involuntarily got hard. That put an end to that - I lost the bet.

She took me into the bedroom and insisted I lie across her lap again so she could put cream on my cheeks. She did that, then fondled my testicles from behind. I was still hard, but she decided she wanted lunch. I stood up and she stood up. I grabbed her and sat down on the bed, pulling her over my knee. I tried to get her pants down but was unable to. She got away from me and ran out of the bedroom, out to the living room and then back to the bedroom, with me in pursuit. She tried to shut the door, but I got my foot in and I’m stronger than her. Little brat, she stopped pushing on the back of the door, then ducked under my arm and out of the bedroom again.

This time, she ran through the living room to the door, went outside and around the cabin to the back door and inside again. I could see she was bleeding. She had cut her foot on a broken beer bottle, which I would find later. It was a very deep cut. I had to take her to the nearest ER to get it cleaned out and stitched up. When we got back to the cabin, I took a garbage bag outside and found a bunch of broken glass, which I cleaned up. I called the realtor and she told me that the owners had had a raucous party a few weekends ago. There was a huge mess outside, which she’d ordered them to clean up before she’d show it again. They had missed some. I was not happy about that.

Because she now had to be off both feet, I insisted on putting a catheter in Meredith as I wouldn’t be able to carry her to the bathroom all the time. At first, I was insisting on picking her up and putting her into the wheelchair or into bed etc., but Alex got me to see I was being too overbearing and that it wouldn’t hurt to let her stand and walk a few steps as long as she was off her feet most of the time.

Meredith and I had been seriously thinking of putting an offer on the cabin, but I decided I didn’t want it. At first she tried to get me to change my mind, but then she said if it was that important to me, we would find another one. I talked to Alex about it and he got me to see how I was being silly about refusing to buy something that I really liked just because the current owner had been careless. I told Meredith I wanted to think about it some more.

She did really good staying off her feet after that, but started to get restless about 5 days from the day I would take her stitches out. It was a Monday and I only worked a half day, so I told her I’d take her to a park by the lake she loves to go to when I got home. I called Rick from work and had him prepare a picnic lunch for us. I also picked up an ankle bracelet I’d bought and had had engraved for her as it was now ready. A few weeks prior, I’d ordered some leather wrist and ankle restraints, which I’d had sent to the clinic instead of my home address. This was so Meredith wouldn’t see them. I’d been waiting for the right time to use them on her and decided this was the day to do it.

I called her on my break and told her what I wanted her to wear. To her credit, she didn’t give me a hassle and was dressed as I’d asked when I got home. I put a vibrating plug in her that I had picked up at an upscale sex shop in the city, then the restraints. I left them unattached for the time being, just snugly on her wrists and ankles. She really liked the ankle bracelet. I put it on her leg below the left ankle restraint. Finally, I put a pair of stiletto shoes on her that I’d bought a while ago and had hidden in the bedroom. She wouldn’t be walking on them, they were just eye candy for me.

Our afternoon at the park was divine. First, I pushed her along the paved pathway and then we sat on a bench for a while. I kissed her and put my hand up her skirt and a couple fingers into her - she was not wearing panties, as I’d instructed. I teased her a bit, then said we were going to have lunch.

We left the park and I drove down a path that a friend had told me about. It was a wooded area, with a few clearings a ways from each other. I drove to the last clearing at the end of the path. We sat on a blanket and I attached her wrist cuffs together with a chain and did the same thing with the ankle cuffs. Then I teased her some more, by fondling her breasts and putting a couple fingers inside her and my thumb on her clit. I let her get worked up again, then stopped for lunch. I left her cuffs attached and spoon fed her the cold salads. I expected her to put up a fuss about that, but she didn’t. She did everything I told her to do that day without giving me attitude.

After lunch, we lay down on the blanket for a bit to rest, then I sat up and got her to lie over my knee for a spanking. This was not a punishment spanking, it was the first “pleasure” spanking I gave her. First, I finished undoing her blouse - I had undone her front hooking bra before lunch - and opened it wide so her breasts would be completely free. Then she lay over my lap and I turned the vibrating plug on. I spanked her hard for a bit, then stopped and opened my zipper so I could take my penis out. It rubbed up against her side as I resumed the spanking and her blouse moved up from the motion. She told me later that feeling my pre-cum on her bare skin was very hot. It did not take her long to orgasm. She came over and over and over again. I think I counted at least three or four. Meredith tells me she’d never had multiples before me but that I’d given them to her right from the first time we were intimate.

When she was spent, she lay limp across my lap. I was hard as a rock. Once her breathing returned to normal, I took her blood pressure and listened to her heart, just to make sure she was okay. Or so I told her. I also took her temperature rectally, removing the plug to do it, then putting it back in after. She was lying on her back with one of the pillows we’d brought with us under her hips. I’d obviously had to unhook her ankle cuffs but I left the wrist ones attached.

While I waited for the thermometer to register, I put a couple fingers in her and rubbed her clit with my thumb. She was getting aroused again. I lied and told her that her temp was up a bit and that I had something to bring it down. I put the plug back in and turned it on, then I undid the button on my pants and entered her as I kissed her. I pushed her bound hands up over her head and held them there with my left hand and with my right hand, I put my stethoscope in my ears and listened to her heart. I had been wanting to do that for quite a while - listen to her heart while she had an orgasm - but had never worked up the nerve to ask her if I could do it. This seemed like the perfect time to just do it and see how she reacted.

Once again, my dearest love came over and over and over again. The contractions of her vagina sent me into orbit and I exploded inside her while listening to her heart pounding away. The arrhythmia from her MVP stayed steady with no worsening, so I knew the activity was not harming her. I absolutely loved listening as I made love to her and vowed to do it again, if she’d permit it. I was sure she would, she seemed to really like me auscultating her - in fact, it’s the one medical thing she never gives me attitude about when I want to do it.

Apparently, we’d had an audience, at least for the last part - some yahoos in a car had pulled up. Meredith, being Meredith, flipped them off with her finger and asked if they’d enjoyed the show. Thank God they left without seeing my red face, as my back was to them. Despite that, I was so glad I’d taken her and given her that afternoon of pleasure. I knew she needed it, with having to be off both her feet and idle yet again, but also because the next week, Jane’s preliminary hearing would start.

And that, dear readers, is all for now. I’m so glad Meredith accepted my marriage proposal and I was thoroughly enjoying being engaged to her. I could not wait for the wedding. I will tell you all about that in a future chapter.