Over the next few days, Doc and I relaxed and discussed the changes we wanted to make in the cabin. We decided that he could do the kitchen in whatever style he wanted and I could do the living room and the spare bedroom. He likes to have his own private reading space, so we agreed that he could have the third bedroom for his den. We would do our bedroom in a style we both liked. I'm not much of a modernist, Doc is okay with some of it but he'd gotten used to country so he thought he'd like rustic.

On Monday and Tuesday, we went furniture shopping. We lucked out and found some we liked in the same town we'd gone to the summer before when I'd cut my foot on the broken beer bottle. We finished by noon on Tuesday, so we decided to stop in at the local hospital and see if Dr Braxton was working. He was and it was a slow day, so he had time to sit down over lunch in the cafeteria.

“I'm so glad you two dropped in!” he exclaimed when we'd sat down. “I've been wondering how you were doing and if you got married.”

“We did!” Doc replied, holding up his left hand to show his ring.

“How did it go?”

“Once we got started, it was awesome. Meredith and her bridal party got hung up behind a traffic accident on their way to the church, but a detective friend of ours pulled some strings and got them there sooner than it would have otherwise been. It was worth the wait, too – Meredith sang to me at the beginning of the ceremony and it was beautiful.”

“I'll bet she was a beautiful bride.”

I blushed, then asked “Would you like a copy of the ceremony? We had lots made.”

“I'd love one, Meredith.” I took a DVD out of my purse and handed it to him. “Thanks. I can't wait to see it. How have you been medically? No more accidents, I hope.”

“Not exactly 0, but not a lot either.”

“I'm almost afraid to ask.”

“It wasn't my fault this time. We got hit by a drunk driver just before Christmas and I dislocated my hip.”

“It really wasn't her fault”, Doc interjected. “We had picked up a horse and were on our way home when the drunk tried to pass us. He hit Meredith's truck as he tried to pass, and dented her door. It cut her leg pretty bad and dislocated her hip. It's a good thing I was there and a friend of ours, who's also an MD, was along for the trip – he and I got her hip back in place. It would have taken two hours to get to the hospital.”

“It does sound like a good thing that you were there, Julian. But, Meredith, why are you walking so soon after? You should not be on whichever leg it was – I presume your left.”

“Yes, my left. My orthopedic surgeon said to use crutches for two weeks, then I could walk on it.”

“Two weeks sounds like too short a time.”

Doc piped up again. “Adam, the orthopedic guy, said he'd rather she be in a wheelchair for a month, but he knew she wouldn't comply with that, so he settled for two weeks on crutches. His one absolute was no riding – and I have to say she's been compliant with that – though only because she was told that if she wasn't, she could lose the ability to ride ever again.”

“You ride horses, Meredith?” I nodded. “Oh yes, you said you had just picked a horse up when the accident happened.”

“Yes, but not to ride. This was a hard case rescue.”

“What is that?”

“When the horse is critically ill, malnourished or injured and not expected to survive.” I went on to tell him of my rescue work and about Robbie and his situation. “He's doing so much better now”, I concluded. “His wounds are healing and he's starting to put some weight on. He has a long way to go, but I think he has a very good chance of making it.”

“You should meet my daughter, Serena. She has horses, too, and could talk about them 24/7 if she had an audience.”

Doc pointed at me. “Her, too. Maybe they shouldn't meet.”

“Do you ride, Julian?”

I laughed. “Julian isn't the riding type, he's a city boy.”

“Now, that makes sense. He doesn't strike me as the farm type.”

“I'm working on him. He's made really good progress, and even adopted a mare and her filly. He's very attached to them and one of my permanent charges has taken a fancy to him. I've made it my mission to get him to learn to ride.”

“I have ridden, Meredith. Have you forgotten about lying all night by that creek that you waded in in SEPTEMBER? And I rode Jack in to get you because the only other way was on foot?”

“Oh, yeah, but that doesn't count, honey. That was under duress.”

“Duress doesn't begin to describe it, hon.”

“Oh, my. Were you okay, Meredith?” Dr Braxton asked.

“I spent a week in hospital, but yes, I was okay.”

“Eventually”, Doc said. “After I had to perform CPR on her because she went into cardiac arrest.”

“What happened? Why did she arrest?”

“She has mitral valve prolapse. It's not severe, but stress makes it worse. Last year was a very stressful one. It's a long story, but google 'Jane Patton trial' and you can read about it. The press used false names for us so that we wouldn't be harassed.”

“Are you okay now?” he asked me, concern in his voice.

“Yes, I'm fine. I had lots of TLC.”

“TLC is very important in recovery from accident or illness. The more support a person has, the better they heal.” Dr Braxton looked at his watch, then ran his hand through his silver hair. “I need to get back to the ER, but it was good seeing you two.”

“We're here for three weeks”, Julian said to him. “We'd love to have you and your wife out for supper some evening.”

“Julian is an excellent cook, Dr Braxton. And yes, we'd love to have you out. Bring the kids, too.”

“Call me Ralph, please. My kids are grown and have kids of their own. But the wife and I would love to come.” We exchanged phone numbers before he went back to work and Doc and I headed for the parking lot.

“I'd like to stop at the local grocery store and pick some things up, if you don't mind, hon.”

“Sure, Doc. Already planning a menu?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I'm thinking of having them over Saturday. How does that sound to you?”

“Sounds good to me, but we'll have to hustle our butts and get at least the living room set up.”

“The furniture is being delivered Thursday, hon. Let's get the old stuff out tomorrow.”

The next day, we rented a truck and put the furniture we didn't want on it. While loading it, a neighbour across the road saw us and came over to see if he could help. “Hi, I'm Cecil Montgomery. I live across the road.” He shook hands first with Doc, then me.

“Julian Richards”, Doc said to him. “And this is my wife, Meredith.”

“Need some help with that?” Cecil asked.

“That's very kind of you”, I replied, “but we're okay.”

I saw Doc looking sideways at me. “Are you offering?”

“I am. How much is there to load?”

“A living room and one bedroom.” We had decided to leave the kitchen table and chairs for now, since they were not hideous. We'd do the other two bedrooms either before we went home or the next time we came to the cabin. “I'd rather my wife not be doing heavy lifting, though she is very capable – but she dislocated her hip just before Christmas and it could cause her harm.”

“Say no more.” Cecil took his phone out of his pocket and made a call. When he'd finished, he said that two of his sons were on their way to help. “Caleb has his own beef farm and Jake helps me with mine. There's not nearly as much to do in the winter, so it will do them good to get some physical work in. Jake would sit around playing video games all day if he could.”

Caleb and Jake soon arrived and got to work loading the truck. Doc and Cecil helped. It only took them about an hour to get it all on. Cecil and his sons insisted on going with Doc to the storage locker to unload. Then they were going to gas up the rental truck and return it. I followed in my SUV to bring them all back. I hadn't wanted to leave it at U-Haul so I'd driven the truck to the cabin and Doc had driven mine.

Before we headed back, Julian wanted to stop at the grocery store and pick up some things. When he came out, it looked like he'd bought the whole store. “Just a few things to make lunch with”, he said to me. “The guys were kind enough to help us, the least I can do is make them lunch.”

“I bet they'd like a case of beer more”, I quipped. A chorus of “yeah” arose from the back. So I stopped at the beer store and picked up a two four. That's Canadian for a pack of 24.

Back at the cabin, I set up the kitchen table while Doc made salad and sandwiches. We had taken all the furniture out of the living room and the kitchen table only had four chairs, so I fetched a folding chair from the back porch. There were a few left behind by the previous owners and we chose to keep them.

We settled down to eat. “I'm sorry for such a basic meal”, Doc apologized. “If I had known we were going to have lunch guests, I'd have made something decent.”'

“This is just fine”, Cecil responded. “It is very good.”

“Julian loves to cook”, I told the guys. “And he likes fancy meals. He's very good at it, too. I haven't not liked anything he's made.”

“We'll have to have you and your families over for dinner some night”, Doc said.

“You might regret that when you see my two hellions”, Caleb told him. We all laughed.

“I doubt that, I love kids.”

“You don't have any of your own?”

“We just got married about a month ago”, I said. “Give us time.” I winked at Doc.

“Well, congratulations!” Cecil exclaimed.

“Thank you. This is our honeymoon. We waited until now as we were quite busy up until Christmas.”

“I can think of things I'd rather be doing than remodelling on my honeymoon”, Jake finally spoke. Everyone laughed. Doc blushed.

“Oh, we are making time for that”, I said and everyone laughed again.

“Tell you what”, Cecil offered. “When the weather warms up, come over to my farm for a pig roast. Julian, you can bring the side dishes if you want. Except for potato salad. My wife makes a mean one and she will be insulted if someone else brings it.”

“Sounds good”, Doc replied.

After the guys had left, we cleaned up the kitchen. “When we are done, we should have a nap”, I told him. “You aren't used to heavy work, I bet you are tired.”

“I am, and I see you are walking rather stiffly. You should not be helping me clean up.”

“I am fine, Doc.”

“You are not fine. I saw you carrying the stuff you could carry by yourself.”

“It was only a couple end tables.”

“It was more than that. The only reason I didn't say anything is I didn't want to create a scene in front of our new friends – but you need to go lie down now.” He took the dish towel from me. “Let's not fight on our honeymoon, okay hon?”

“Okay, Doc”, I gave in. He was right, I didn't want to argue on our honeymoon.

Fifteen minutes later, he came into the spare bedroom – the master bedroom was bare now. He sat on the bed and leaned over and gave me a kiss. “How's the pain, hon?”

“Bad.”

“How bad?”

“8”

“I know it's bad when you say that. Want your pain meds?”

“Please.” I nodded.

He picked up his medical bag from the floor and took a vial out. “I'm giving you the heavy duty stuff”, he said. “I know it's early in the day, but no arguing. Pills won't cut it with your pain being that bad.”

“You will get no argument from me, Doc.”

“More confirmation that it's bad.” He gave me the shot, then lay down with me. “I want you resting for the next couple days, Meredith. You don't want to be in pain when the Braxtons come for dinner Saturday.” Ralph and his wife had accepted our invitation for that weekend. He had enough seniority at the hospital to get most weekends off. “Tomorrow, I will have the delivery guys put our new furniture where we want it, so we don't have to be moving it around. You can put your clothes in your new dresser, that's all you can do.”

“Okay!” I know you are probably thinking I gave in too easily, but he had that tone of voice that told me he was serious and would not back down. We had had an intense “discussion” about what I called his “bossiness” over a year ago. I agreed to let him have control over meals and medical issues. In return, he agreed to not interfere when I am dealing with a situation with my animals – unless it was life or limb threatening. After the animal is safe or on the mend, he can tell me to rest, but not before. I may give him a bit of a hard time here and there, but I know when not to push it. He knows it's hard for me to let him have control, so he's pretty understanding. As long as he gets his way in the end.

The next day went off without a hitch. The guys on the delivery truck were very good about putting everything just where we wanted it. Julian and I only had to make a couple minor adjustments. Once they were gone, I let Scruffy out of the spare bedroom. She sat on an end table and chastised us for confining her yet again – we'd done the same the day before when we were moving furniture out. We hadn't told our helpers about the squirrel as we didn't want them asking to see her. They were boisterous farm boys and I didn't think she'd take well to them.

I put my clothes away while Doc got the bed made up. We'd bought some flannel sheets with a floral print. There's nothing like warm flannel on a cold winter's night.

While Julian got lunch ready, I changed into that old pair of jeans I'd cut the crotch and butt out of, then wandered into the kitchen nonchalantly. It didn't take him long to notice. I stood at the counter pretending to be busy with something there and he came up behind me, pretending he needed to reach in the cupboard for something. As he did, he bent his knees and rubbed up against my ass. I pushed back into him and could feel his semi. I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. He kissed me. I grabbed his hands and placed them on my breasts. “Hmmmm..... you don't have a bra on, hon.”

“You noticed, Doc!”

“It's all those years of education and training, hon.”

“Ah, you did all that to be able to tell when a woman is not wearing a bra under her t-shirt.”

“Did I get my money's worth?”

“You tell me, Doc. Was I worth it?”

“Most definitely.”

I put my hands on the counter behind me and lifted myself up to sit on it. I opened my legs and Doc stepped up between them. He took the hem of my t-shirt and pulled the garment off me, dropping it on the floor. My jaw just about dropped to the floor – this was a first for him. Julian took a breast in each hand and began to squeeze them. “Just checking for lumps, hon. You know that's very important.”

“Be very thorough, Doc.”

“You know I will.” After a few minutes, he leaned over and kissed them all over, then took a nipple into his mouth. I could feel myself getting wetter and wetter. I had no doubt that after this, Doc would pour a jug of bleach on the counter.

“Doc”, I said after I'd let him suck my nipple for a while.

“Yes, hon.”

“I think I'm wet.”

“Where, hon?”

“Between my legs.”

“This could be serious, I need to check it out.” He inserted a couple fingers into me while sucking on my nipple. His thumb found my clit. I began to moan.

“Are you okay, hon?”

“Oh, yes, Doc. That feels amazing.”

“You are very wet, Meredith. I think you need the probe.” He undid his pants and pushed them down, then his underwear. He was standing at full attention. “Lean back, hon.”

“If I lean any further back, I'll hit my head on the cupboards.”

“Sorry, hon.” He put his hands on the back of my butt and pulled it toward him, so that it was hanging off the edge of the counter. He entered me slowly and teasingly. I was getting ready to beg him to hurry up when he was in all the way and began to thrust in and out. He fucked me like that for a bit, then told me to get down. He kicked over my step stool and had me get on it and bend over the counter, then took me doggy style. Since he is so much taller than me, we can only do it that way if I'm standing on something, or kneeling on something like a chair or the bed. Doc leaned forward and took my breasts into his hands. His thrusts got faster. “Come all over my cock”, he instructed. “I want to feel your contractions.”

He didn't have to ask twice. I felt the ecstasy of my orgasm take over my body and cried out, then I felt him explode in me. He lay over my back for a minute or two, while we both caught our breath. I was almost in shock – I'd been trying to get him to have sex in the kitchen for a long time, to no avail. If I'd known all it would take was to wear those crotch-less jeans, I'd have done it a year ago.