Page 61 of The Wrong Husband (The Davenports #6)

Connor

"Where’s Fever?"

"Fever?" Her mother knits her eyebrows.

Phe was visibly agitated at the thought of meeting her parents. When her mother returned without her, I realized the meeting must have upset her.

I should have been next to her when she spoke to her mother.

But I didn't want to come off as being intrusive. This is her mother, after all.

In the future, it doesn’t matter who she's meeting, if I feel the person will compromise Phe’s peace of mind, I'll insist on being present.

"Phoenix. Where is she?" I try to keep the annoyance from my voice and fail.

"She left." Her mother sounds confused.

I stiffen.

"She left?" Without telling me? "Did she mention where she’s headed?"

"There was an emergency at the hospital," her mother finally adds.

That should make me feel better but instead leaves me more confused. They know she's on her honeymoon . And why would she not tell me she had to leave? I’d have driven her there.

"She seemed upset—" Her mother hesitates.

"Upset?"

"I told her it was clear she loves you, which is why, I assumed, she couldn’t wait to marry you." She shakes her head. "But it seemed to disturb her."

That would do it.

"I hope I wasn’t overstepping. I didn’t think so, but my daughter…" She wrings her hands. "She hasn’t had it easy, because of me."

I tilt my head. I want to cut her short and run after my wife, but surely, whatever her mother tells me is going to help me understand my wife? I decide to stay silent and listen.

"I might have been overprotective about her in her teenage years. And demanding, at the same time. My Phe is very different from me. Far more creative and introspective, while I’m an extrovert.

I couldn’t quite understand her and might have pushed her to do things she might not have liked.

I couldn’t fathom why she wanted to spend her time reading or looking at things through her toy microscope.

She was curious about the world and, while I encouraged it, I couldn’t understand it. "

Her husband comes over and puts his arm about her. She looks at him gratefully. A look of understanding passes between them.

"When she told me she wanted to become a doctor…" She swallows. "I was both horrified, and also, so proud. Then she told me she wanted to leave home and put herself through university on her own merit. Needless to say, I was alarmed."

"She always was an independent person, our Phe," her father says fondly.

"I’m afraid I was angry with him for encouraging her.

" She casts a sideways glance at her husband.

"And when she left home, and he let her and didn't try to help her financially through medical school, I was not happy.

" She leans into her husband. "It took me a few years to come to grips with how this was probably the best thing for her.

By then, my relations with our daughter were strained. "

She clenches and unclenches her fingers.

"The reason I’m telling you all this is to say, I hope I have a chance at repairing things with her.

I thought, with her getting married, this could be the start of a new relationship between my daughter and me, but perhaps, I was too hasty.

Perhaps, I should have called her first, met with her, and tried to smooth things over, instead of arriving unannounced. "

She rubs at her temple.

"My excitement at seeing her again overshadowed everything else." She blows out a breath. Her color has faded, leaving her looking pale and much older than when she arrived. “I’m sorry if our conversation distressed her. That wasn’t my intention.”

But you did unsettle her. Whatever you said triggered something, and now she’s hurting.

Anger burns low in my gut. I wrestle it into submission. No use directing it here. What’s done is done.

Would I have chosen for her parents to show up like this? Hell no.

But maybe, Arthur had a point. Maybe, she needed this. Maybe, facing them is the first step toward healing.

Still—if I’d known what he had planned, I would’ve warned her.

I would’ve prepared her.

I’m glad I’m here for her. No matter what she’s facing, she’s not going through this alone.

My wife is the center of my world.

I nod at my mother-in-law, then turn to her husband. "I’m going after her, if you’ll excuse me."

I didn’t realize how strained her relationship is with her parents. And that’s on me. I shouldn't have assumed. I’ll make sure to find out everything there is about my wife, so I don’t commit such a mistake again.

Trust Arthur to invite them without a thought for how it might impact my wife. To him they’re valuable business and society contacts who’d help further the Davenport Group’s influence.

Again, my bad. I should have seen this coming and warned her. But I was too wrapped up in my new wife to think clearly. I was distracted and not thinking straight. A shiver of unease crawls up my spine.

Why did she rush out without telling me?

"You alright?" Brody walks over to me. "You don’t look good, Bro."

I shake my head. "Phoenix left; I’m going after her."

One glance at my face, and he sets his jaw. "I’m coming with."

"What? No. You don’t need to?—"

"You look shaken. It’s best you let Brody drive you," James, who walked over to joins us, chimes in, having caught the end of the conversation.

Both look resolute. Rather than waste time arguing with them, I nod. "If you can let Arthur know that we had to leave?—"

"Of course." James looks over at Arthur and sets his jaw. "You two go on. Leave Arthur to me."

"She’s not here?" That frisson of unease turns into a warning tingle.

The nurse in charge of the ER operations shakes her head. I came in through the main entrance and was directed to her when I asked to speak with Phoenix.

"She hasn’t come in today." She checked her computer. "In fact, she isn’t expected back for the rest of the week."

I’m aware of that. I'm the one who used the Davenport name to talk to the senior management of the hospital and have them sign her off the rotation so she could rest up on our honeymoon.

Which is why I was surprised to hear that she’d been called into the hospital. I assumed she called for a ride-share to bring her here.

But she’s not here. Where could she have gone? More to the point, why did she tell her mother she was coming here if she never intended to?

The supervisor must see the confusion on my face. She opens her mouth to ask me a question, when there’s a commotion behind me. A nurse in scrubs comes running over to the reception table. "Three teenagers just brought in—stab wounds. We need a trauma doctor in Resus, stat."

Instantly, the supervisor reaches for the internal phone system. She speaks into her mouthpiece, "Hi, it’s Kenzie on the floor. We have three teens. Multiple stab wounds. Please alert Dr. Vora and have him meet the trauma team in Resus."

I turn to leave, then turn back to find she’s disconnected her call. Her fingers fly over her keyboard. I wait until she’s done, then she looks up with a curious expression.

"I’m Dr. Hamilton’s husband."

She looks at me with mild curiosity. “Didn’t realize she'd gotten married.”

Right, because Phe didn’t have a chance to mention it to anyone yet.

I turn on my most charming expression. "I don’t suppose Dr. Drew is around?"

She blinks again. "Dr. Drew?"

I nod. "He was Dr. Hamilton’s…ex?"

I curse myself. This was a bad idea. The last thing I need is setting off the grapevine here. If I have a question for Phe, I should ask it of her. It’s fucking beneath me, and her, to ask someone else, not to mention, at her workplace.

"Forget I asked."

I turn to leave again.

She calls out after me. “Dr. Drew Carmichael, is that who you mean? He passed away in a cycling accident nearly six months ago.”