Judged Love Page 6
“Yes I will wait. We better get out of here then. Or I’m not making any promises.” Ben breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t upset anymore and was willing to wait. He stood to allow her to get out of bed. “You first or me for the bath room?”
“How 'bout you take the bathroom I’ll just get dressed in here.” Ben grabbed her bag that Mary had left on the bench at the end of the bed and took it to the bathroom for her. They both got dressed in their respective areas but Annabelle couldn’t get what he said out of her mind. She also couldn’t figure out how and why she ended up coming out here. Normally when she had a really bad day at the hospital she went to Mary but she didn’t this time and was worried why she had done that.
~
Once Ben and Annabelle entered the kitchen the force of love for her hit her. She slowly looked around the table to everyone sitting there drinking coffee. Matt, Senior and Derek were at one end of the table talking and Kate and Sarah were at the stove getting lunch ready for the crowd. She also saw Todd and Mary sitting together with Benny laughing at what Benny had just said. She could feel the tears in her eyes again but refused to allow them to fall so she blinked twice to hold them at bay. All the chatter in the room stopped and everyone looked at Annabelle to see how she was. Annabelle started to blush because she knew all this was for her. Mary left Todd and Benny to head over to her to give her a hug. Mary whispered to Annabelle, “If you ever scare me like that again I… I… God Annabelle I love you.” Mary and Annabelle both knew the tears had started for them both. When Annabelle pulled herself away from her sister she saw Sarah and Kate standing before her. Sarah took her into her arms for a hug and Kate hugged her also which surprised Annabelle since she hadn’t met her before today.
“Coffee dear? I just made a fresh pot since all the boys drank it all.” Kate smiled at Annabelle and then turned to Ben. “I think the boys need to talk to you.” Ben stayed right next to Annabelle almost like he was afraid something was going to happen to her. Kate was an older woman but was still beautiful. She was about fifty with graying blond hair and a short full figure but her eyes were defiantly the windows to her soul. She showed Annabelle the love for her there without even knowing her.
“Yes some coffee would be great.” Kate shooed her to sit at the table and headed to get her some coffee. Once she was seated Derek leaned over the table to introduce himself and while shaking Annabelle’s hand he finally spoke to her.
“Welcome to the family.” Derek was as tall as Ben and built for the work he did. His salt and pepper hair and tanned leather skin showed he spent most of his time outdoors. “Sorry we haven’t met before today but now that we have I see why Ben is so smitten with you.” Kate walked up behind Derek just then and slapped his shoulder in a playful jester.
“Don’t you go getting any ideas mister?” Kate said while smiling at Derek and handing Annabelle her coffee. “Dear all the fixings for the coffee are on the table let me know if you need anything else.” Kate smiled at her as if she had known forever.” Derek pulled Kate onto his lap and kissed her.
“Never my dear then I would have to train another to cook all my favorite foods.” The banter of the couple still acting like newlyweds after such a long marriage was refreshing to Annabelle but she noticed the only one watching them was Mary everybody else just ignored the couple. Derek put an arm around Kate to hold her where she was and then turned to talk to Ben. “Well boss everything has been taken care of on the ranch maybe we should all have the rest of the day off” Derek wasn’t asking Ben but was in his own way telling him what was going to happen.
“Sounds good to me.” Ben said to Derek without even taking his eyes off Annabelle. Ben couldn’t believe everything that had happened in the last two weeks. He couldn’t believe that he may have found his soul mate but he had to wait to see if she loved him as well. Love where the hell had that come from, but he didn’t have much time to think on that because Sarah spoke.
“Annabelle do you remember what happened yesterday?” Ben became defensive like he wanted to protect Annabelle from having to relive what happened but knew he had to let this happen.
“I remember being at the hospital and the girl coming in with the bad burns and she died but that is the only thing I remember. No wait I remember this guy came in with her but his eyes scared me. He had no emotion in his eyes like he didn’t care she was hurt. But then he was gone. The next thing I remember was waking up in the middle of the night and Ben was there waiting for me. Was that man her father and what happened?” Annabelle wanted to know what Sarah knew but was afraid to.
“Yes that was her father and yes he did that to her. After she died the cops started asking questions and then we noticed a few hours later that you were gone. Somebody found your coat and badge outside and the fact that your bike was gone. To be honest we all thought something happened to you. When I called Ben to find out if you were here he yelled at me but I didn’t notice till later. Todd saw you turn down the drive and when they got down here you just passed out in Ben’s arms. But you were so cold Ben did the right thing by warming you quickly. Matt called me and I rushed over here to help with what I could. Mary was called who called you Mary?”
Mary blushed before she answered. “Well Todd actually called me at the office.” Mary looked up at Todd to thank him for thinking about letting her know what was going on but Todd just nodded to her to tell her it was alright.
“What happened to the father?” Annabelle had to know this evil man was taken care of.
“Well that’s the weird thing the cops found him after his wife called them to tell them to come arrest her because she just shot her soon to be ex. The cops called me to tell me what happened a few hours ago. It was all very upsetting but I want to know how you rode around for a few hours and then finally ended up here.” Sarah was still trying to figure that out since the ranch was only a ten minute drive from the hospital.
“I have no idea heck I don’t even remember riding or leaving the hospital.” Annabelle was starting to get worried that she may have put herself in danger.
That’s when Matt spoke for the first time in the conversation. “She was protected to leave where she was and protected to get here safe. I’m not saying she took the short route to get here, but I think god wanted to protect her and he did in the only way he knew how.” Everyone looked a Matt like he just sprouted two heads for what he just said. “What don’t look at me like that? Think about it she left the hospital with a mad man who just killed his child still on the loose and she made it here safely. Who else in this world could have done that but god making sure she was safe.” Matt put a firm end to that conversation by picking up his coffee cup and then said to Ben. “Hey don’t let that one get away she is a special one.” Sarah walked over to Matt to be close to her man. She put her hand on his shoulder and he covered it with one of his.
Kate and Sarah got lunch on the table and everyone dug in after the pray was said. Annabelle, Ben and Benny sat together just as if they were a family. Senior watched the scene around him sending up prayers of thanks for this family. Strange as it seemed they all fit together very well all the cowboys and the city girls seemed a good fit to him. They all spent the day together in the house and on the porch that wrapped around. Late into the evening everyone started to disperse and went to their homes except Annabelle. Ben asked her to stay the night he wasn’t ready to be far from her. She agreed and they spent late into the night just talking and holding each other. Annabelle must have fallen asleep in the living room because she found herself in Ben’s bed for the second time. Ben wasn’t there with her but there was a note on the table next to the bed. All it said was:
Sleep well I’m just in the next room if you need me. Love Ben
Did he really mean to say he loved her? She thought could she love him before she fell back to sleep and started to dream. Her dream wasn’t of her and Ben in bed together this time. No this time she dreamed of her wedding day and Ben was the groom.
Annabelle and Ben spent Saturday together with Benny just getting to know each other better. That evening they went to church together and Annabelle returned to her house to begin her work week. Once she was at her house by herself she had time to think about her weekend. She was happy to spend her weekend not doing much but relaxing riding horses and spending time with Ben. She was beginning to miss having his protective nature around her but she was back in her own domain. Annabelle started to wonder if the life she had was enough or if she wanted more.
Annabelle and Ben hadn’t seen each other all week because of the different schedule they worked but they talked every day on the phone. Come Wednesday they were to go out with Sarah and Matt, just before Annabelle was to leave the hospital Ben showed up to pick her up to go out.
~
On Wednesday evening Ben showed up at the hospital a few before he was to pick Annabelle up for their dinner with Matt and Sarah. Ben walked in the reception area and saw her talking with another doctor but stopped at the counter because he didn’t like to disturb her at work. He thought was probably just giving him the rundown of what was all in the emergency room and would be ready in a moment. He looked around to see if Sarah was still here then he heard Annabelle’s laugh and turned in her direction. She was laughing at something the other doctor had said and placed her hand on his arm. He couldn’t believe it she was flirting with someone else right before their date. Of course he knew he wasn’t good enough for her she was a doctor and he was nothing but a rancher how did he even have a chance against this guy. It also seemed like she knew him very intimately the way her body leaned in towards his. He then looked up to see the man she was flirting with. He had a dark complexion and long jet black hair pulled back in a braid. He had to be six foot and looked like he worked out but had to be at a gym since he looked like he would never get dirt under his nails to have a build like that. Ben felt himself getting angry at the fact that he trusted Annabelle and she broke that trust with flirting with someone else. The other doctor said something and she turned in his direction and saw him for the first time since he walked in.
She headed in his direction and waited to speak to till she was close enough to him. “Ben is everything all right?”
“Who is that?” He nodded in the direction she had just come from to indicate who he was talking about. She could see the anger show on his face over seeing her with Dakota.
“Oh Dakota he’s just another doctor here.”
“That’s not what it looked like to me. You two sure looked a little too cozy for just another doctor.” He knew his tone was sharper than he wanted it to be but he had to let her know how he felt.
“Oh good lord he is just a friend. I have known Dakota for years.” Now she was getting upset with him over this whole thing.
“Yea I figured you were lying about it.” He was getting really upset at the fact that he couldn’t trust her around other men.
“OH! You flipping Neanderthal. I can’t believe this I’m not going anywhere with you. Good night Ben.” With that she skirted around Ben because she didn’t want him to see that he had hurt her with his mistrust. She ran to her pickup with tears streaming down her face without looking back to see if Ben fallowed her or not.
~
Once Annabelle made it to her house she called Mary and Mary raced over to her house. “Annabelle where are you?” Mary yelled as soon as she walked through the front door. Annabelle came out of the kitchen into the living room and looked up at Mary. “Oh dear lord what did the jerk do? Come here.” Mary said with her arms stretched out toward Annabelle to envelope her into a hug.
While crying on Mary’s shoulder she tried to tell her what he had done. “He thought…” Hiccup “He is such an…” Hiccup “What do I do now?”
“Honey I have no idea what you just tried to tell me but let’s get us some coffee and try to calm down so I can understand what is going on.” Once Mary got the coffee for each of them she had Annabelle sit at the table. “Alright are you calm enough to tell me what happened?”
“Yes all I know is I was talking to Dakota and then Ben showed up in a really bad mood. He accused me of flirting with him and being a liar but all I was doing was making sure Dakota was able to still cover my last half of my shift tomorrow so I could surprise Ben by spending all weekend with him. Well that got blown out of the water by the Neanderthal.” Annabelle looked down at her coffee like she was going to find all the answers in the cup.
“Oh you guys will probably work this out.” She leaned in to hug her sister. “Besides without Ben I would have no reason to go see Todd.”
Annabelle laughed at Mary’s comment. “Oh I see how it is, use me to get what you want.”
“Heck what are cute little sisters for. Now shall we order pizza or Chinese for dinner?” They ended up ordering pizza and eat in silence till Mary said it was time for her to go home. Annabelle kept replaying what happened today in her head for the rest of the night and finally fell asleep about midnight. She was unable to figure out what she did wrong. She knew with Dakota she didn’t have to hide who she was; he knew all her secrets since they shared an apartment through college and med school. She kept asking herself why Ben reacted the way that he did she was only interested in him.
~
Ben didn’t sleep half the night trying to figure out where he went wrong on reading Annabelle. He thought she was his soul mate but obviously she didn’t feel the same way or she wouldn’t have been hitting on another man. He finally got about three hours of sleep and knew it would be a long day since he was riding the fence line with Matt and he forgot till late to call Sarah to tell her they wouldn’t be coming to dinner. She was upset with him for not calling earlier and for not giving her any details of what happened. He decided he better get to work and get the work over with but he had to figure a way to keep Matt from getting to nosy. He met Matt down at the coral to get the horses saddled and ready for the ride that would take all day. He expected Matt to barrage him with questions the moment he showed up but Matt just kept quiet the whole time and just did his morning chores before they headed out. After about three hours of riding he knew his bad mood was rubbing off on Matt because he started to just give him one word answers or just riding behind him.
“Alright Ben what the hell is eating you alive. I can’t stand this piss poor attitude anymore.” Matt pulled his horse up next to Ben’s while speaking.
“I just didn’t sleep much. That’s all it is.” Ben knew Matt wasn’t going to buy it since he made a grunting noise deep in his throat.
“I call your Bullshit right now. What the hell happened that both you and Annabelle didn’t show up last night I’m pretty sure that has to do with your not getting sleep. So just spill it.” Matt was normally the quiet man but when he was getting his head bit off for nothing it made him snap.
Ben knew this was coming but how do you tell your best friend that your woman may be cheating on you. Every time he closed his eyes he would see her placing her hand on the man and probably smiling up at him with the same love eyes she used on him. Hell he was such a fool for believing her about her feeling for him. They have only known each other for a short while. “Well I showed up yesterday to surprise Belle and she was hitting on another doctor and then she had the nerve to tell me he was just a friend. Yea the way she was flirting it seemed like she wanted a whole lot more. That’s it she left and I followed a little bit later. Why am I not surprised that a party girl wanted more than what I was willing to give?”
“What doctor was it? Not that it makes a difference but to be honest that doesn’t sound like Annabelle.” Matt was now confused she normally pushed the male doctors away because she was raised to believe you don’t mix work with pleasure.
“Damn you didn’t even make it two minutes before you tried to defend her. But he looked to be Indian and I think she said his name was Lakota. No Dakota that’s it.” Ben knew he was getting madder by the word and took a de
ep breath then released it slowly.
“Oh hell that makes it even better.”
“What? How the heck is it better he is still a man?” Ben was now starting to feel fury work its way into him and he was always able to control his anger.
“Well to start with Dakota is not your competition for Annabelle, he is more like a girlfriend that boyfriend material.” Matt knew he lost Ben by the confused look on his face. “Do you remember that young kid I brought out here last year to teach him how to handle a 22?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well that kid was Dakota I taught him how to show his new 22 after he stayed with us for a week after he got the crap kicked out of him.” Ben was giving him the look of so and Matt figured he better tell Ben why Dakota got beat up. “Ben that was a gay bashing incident. Three drunks left the bar and saw him leave Studley Ranch; ya know the gay bar and smashed his face into the side walk. Annabelle and Dakota have been friends since college and med school and even shared an apartment for most of that time. Hell he is probably checking you out and not even looking at Annabelle except to make sure her outfit matches.”
“Hell no he was not the flaming type ya know with all pink and bull crap advertising it.”
“Well Ben if you knew he was gay would you let him look after Benny.” Ben started to nod to answer his question but Matt continued like he did nothing. “Answer that honest for once would ya. He keeps a low profile at work so the parents feel okay with him being near their children but out with the boys he lets loose. He really is a good guy or I wouldn’t let him stay at the house.” Ben had a lot to think about first the fact that he jumped the gun on this one fast and hard. Dakota was probably more like a girl’s best friend than one of the guys. Great she was always saying he judged her all the time in the beginning but now he really blew it. How the heck was he going to get her back this time better yet could he even apologize to her without making her furious with him? While in deep thought Matt turned to Ben, “Go I’ll finish here you fix things with that little woman.”