Pursuing Mrs. Regrets - Ch. 5.2

Back at the doctor’s office, Royal closed his office door for the second time that day. This time he wanted to have a private word with Charlize. The subject – Delia Valentine.

Royal already knew that Delia’s marital status was single from her medical file and from the things she’d said in the exam room today. What he didn’t know was why. Why was an attractive woman like Delia alone, especially after just having some man’s baby? A man who never showed up at the hospital to see the baby, much less sign the birth certificate.

Charlize seemed reluctant to answer that question at first. Finally she said, “Since you were so kind as to take Delia on as a patient from my recommendation alone and since what I’m about to tell you can be found in newspaper databases on the internet, I see no point in not answering your question. Matter of fact, I think you should probably know Delia’s whole story if you’re going to remain her doctor. And I think you should hear it from a person that actually gives a hoot about her.”

Starting from the loss of Delia’s biological father, Charlize brought Royal all the way up to the present concerning this particular patient of interest. Listening intently, the quiet man soon heard more than he bargained for. Much more.

Now Royal knew exactly why Delia was raising her children alone and how she’d gotten to that point in the first place. It took everything in him to contain his shock about her actually killing a man, even accidentally. Delia just didn’t seem like the murderous type. But how many people in this world did?

“Are you going to drop her as a patient now that you know all these horrible things about her past?” Charlize asked with anxious eyes upon concluding her lengthy disclosure.

“No,” Royal replied, omitting the fact that what happened in that exam room today might remove Delia as his patient anyway. Yet it wouldn’t be him terminating their professional relationship. “According to what you told me, it’s not like Delia is some serial killer out to prey on society. What she did was more or less in a fit of rage. Even then the death of her children’s father was accidental. Therefore Delia can remain one of my patients for as long as she wants,” Royal assured his favorite RN with a warm smile.

“Thank God,” Charlize breathed out in relief. “Delia needs more good people in her life like you, Dr. Seeger.”

“I imagine she does after all she’s gone through in her life,” Royal replied, finding his heart filling up with even more compassion for Delia.

When Charlize left a few minutes later, he filled his mind up with even more facts about Delia. Royal studied her medical history as if he was going to be quizzed on it tomorrow. Then he got on the internet via his office computer and soaked up everything that had been written about the Valentine murder case.

If Royal thought he was shocked by what he’d learned about Delia so far, he was even more shocked to learn that she was directly connected to two of his very own relatives – Aisha and Gregory ‘Bonz’ Forsyth. And that that connection stemmed from the very man that she’d killed.

This just keeps getting worse and worse, Royal mused, squeezing his tired eyes shut to block out the awful words some reporter had written about Delia on the computer screen.

Bad move.

Images of Delia going over the edge instantly popped into his mind. Royal’s body grew rigid again. His pulse began to race with ferocious desire like none he’d ever known before.

That’s when Royal knew that Delia’s past would not be a deterrent in his pursuit of her. At least not a permanent deterrent. Once he worked through a few emotions about certain things regarding her past, Royal was going to make some definite moves towards Delia. That much he was sure of.

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier