Chapter 2

Josephine O'Bannon loves her twin sister. Really, she does. Still seeing her get her happily ever after stings a little.

　

　

[2]

　

　

For some reason I expected pitchforks and fire. I had totally winged it up there and I was sure it showed. Rachel had pestered me about getting my speech prepared and I’d gotten so frustrated with her bossing me around that I’d purposely ignored my responsibility. That childishness was sure to come back to haunt me. I stood in the front of the room and simply rambled. And not only that anybody within two feet of me was sure to smell the scotch on my breath. Oh happy Day!

 

Surprisingly, it didn’t happen. Nobody glared at with me angry contempt. Nobody shook their head with pity. Nothing happened. Instead Luke’s best man and best friend, also a former cop, Chad Hoyt, stood up and clutched the microphone.

 

“My old boss used to tell me cops aren’t allowed to make the same mistake twice. You have to learn from every screw up as if the next one could be your last, because as a cop, it could be.” He looked over towards me and shook his head, his thick southern accent dripping with charm. “So that being said, Doc I gotta tell ya, if we ever have to give speeches on the same day again, I’m going first next time. That‘s a tough speech to follow. I‘m not nearly as funny as the doc but let me tell you about my buddy Luke anyway.”

 

Chad Hoyt looked as if he could be Rachel’s brother. They each had matching red hair and green eyes and both seemed to spend all their free time in the gym. Hoyt was a few years older than Luke from what I could tell but wasn‘t quite forty years old. I didn’t like muscle heads but despite his bodybuilder frame he was a handsome man. He was tall with winter green eyes, a shade twice as dark as I’d ever seen before, and a chin full of stubbled hair. He was extremely good looking, handsome enough to draw my attention the first time I met him only to be viciously c**k blocked by Rachel. According to gossip they were currently exclusive and had been for quite a while, apparently having bonded over bench presses and leg squats at the local gym.

 

I parked my rear in my place of prominence besides Jo and sipped the champagne on the table in front of me. Halfway through a large gulp I noticed she was staring at me with disapproving eyes but said nothing. Self conscious and embarrassed for being a lush I sat the glass back down on the table and tried to focus on Chad’s speech. She finally smiled at me and I knew like that, I was forgiven.

 

Jo danced twice, well if you could call standing in place while music played dancing. Once with her new husband, and another with Daddy. Once the dances ended she was back in her wheelchair with Luke at her side and before I knew it they were laughing and carrying on as usual. Her limitations didn’t seem to bother either of them one bit. Luke really was her prince charming, he would follow her anyplace and I knew from our many conversations she trusted him implicitly and would do anything for him.

 

I spotted Rachel sipping wine across the room and despite her usually reserved demeanor I realized rather quickly that she was half in the bag. I took this opportunity to bond with her and closed the distance between us as she glared at me with suspicion. Clearly she wasn’t drunk enough to not see me as a threat.

 

“Rachel, how’s it going?”

 

She shrugged still glaring. “Fine. You?”

 

“Why didn’t Jo tell me she was making progress on the walking.” It was a seemingly minor thing but it hurt my feelings that I hadn’t been included. I was more qualified to monitor her progress than anybody in this room and I was left out in the cold.

 

Rachel shrugged apparently not at all bothered by MY being left out of the equation. “She didn’t want you to know because you would have tried to get her to slow down. She was intent on walking down the isle today and dancing with her husband on her wedding day. She knew you would have stopped her from pushing herself so hard.”

 

It made sense. Jo was determined when she wanted something. So much so she’d put her long term health at risk for a few minutes of glory. If she was pushing too hard, too fast, I’d have definitely stopped her.

 

“She doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody here. We all love her. She needs to stop being proud, and you can tell her I said that.”

 

Rachel simply shrugged. “She’s been extra determined since the Gabriella thing.”

 

“What Gabriella thing?” I asked but had to wait for her to finishing drinking before I got my answer.

 

“That French Supermodel Gabriella, she came on to Luke at some work thing a few weeks back. She was doing some print ads for the company. Hoyt said she told him that SHE could have his babies and tried to give him her hotel key.”

 

F*****g b***h! “She said that? That SHE could have his babies, implying that my sister can’t.”

 

Rachel shrugged. “Jo was all freaked out about it. She was intent on getting out of the chair after that. I tried to tell her that Luke wouldn’t cheat, but she was stuck on the Supermodel part. That and the baby thing.”

 

I was suddenly appalled she didn’t tell me about this. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

 

Rachel looked over at Jo who was still with Luke only now she was sitting on his lap swaying back and forth. Dancing sitting down. They were so damn cute together it was almost annoying.

 

“She was embarrassed.”

 

That made absolutely no sense. Why was SHE embarrassed? Some French s**t comes on to her guy and SHE’S embarrassed. I knew some people believed all was fair in love and war but THIS crossed the line. It was below the belt. Jo’s loss of her baby had hit her extremely hard. She cried in my arms about it for days. It had taken so much for her to accept the fact that she’d never be able to give the man she loved children. It was a brutal truth that she was still really sensitive about. To have some woman bring it up and use it against her in an attempt to steal her guy was low, even for a French woman.

 

“She doesn’t have to be. Some French w***e comes on to her guy and she crawls under a rock. I’ll take care of it if she needs me to.”

 

Rachel shook her head. “Believe me I tried. She says we should forget it. Still she‘s on half a dozen adoption lists. When we were in China, they offered to let her take a baby home that day if she wanted to. All she has to do is say the word but she wanted to get the wedding out of the way first. When she’s ready though she’ll have a kid no problem. Who wouldn‘t want to give a baby to them? I go through her fan mail, she gets at least a dozen offers a day to have babies.” Rafferty chuckled. “Of course most of them think it’ll work a lot smoother if Luke get’s them pregnant the old fashioned way.”

 

I had to laugh at this. The world was full of crazies. Luke was a handsome rich guy but asking something like that was absurd. “That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

 

“Josie.” I heard someone calling over my shoulder. I hated how everyone here called me Josie simply because it was what Jo called me. I preferred Josephine, or even doc. Josie was much too intimate for a bunch of strangers. Jo got away with it but my sister got many luxuries most people didn’t get to enjoy with me. She’d earned the right.

   

Jill Collinswood was Luke’s sister Patti’s personal assistant. Jill, unlike most personal assistants, had gone to Harvard and had come from money. The Collinswood family had prospered in dry goods for a century before Jill’s grandfather sold the family business and became a philanthropist. I wasn’t sure what dry goods were but from what Jo told me Jill’s family had truck loads of cash and owned half of Rhode Island.

 

Jill and Patti were roommates at Childress boarding school as girls and sometime since that introduction they had become inseparable. She was a short pretty blonde with shoulder length hair, perfect skin, and a very thin frame. She was extremely polite, especially to me, and from what I could tell she was Patti’s Rachel, she almost never left her side.

 

“Josie do you have a minute?” She asked. I didn’t know what Jill and I had to discuss but the Lucas family didn’t actually give you a choice. There were rules, most of which I didn’t understand, but they had a way of leading you around by the nose without you knowing it. Jill was usually tasked to do this sort of thing but she made it as painless as possible. She frequently made suggestions which I took to be orders and we’d gotten along famously.

 

“Yes I do.” I answered not actually sure if I had a choice.

 

Jill didn’t bother beating around the bush. “The family needs to know what your plans are.”

 

I had no idea what she was talking about. My plans for what? “I’m sorry my plans for what exactly?”

 

Jill didn’t flinch. “Your career. Between you and me, Doyle just bought a house in Alpine New Jersey for the two of them. It’s only fifteen minutes outside of Manhattan.”

 

I knew Alpine from my many marathons of the Home Channel. Alpine was an East coast Beverly Hills of sorts. Rich and classy, often labeled the most expensive zip code in America. It made sense that Jo and Luke would settle there.

 

“Really, they found a place?” From what I heard real estate didn’t come up for sale often. At least not the kind of real estate Luke’s money could afford him.

 

“They bought the Hamilton Estate.”

 

I’d heard much about the Hamilton Estate. According to reports it was thirty thousand square feet with every perk imaginable. Fourteen bedrooms, a ballroom, an indoor and outdoor pool, a 30,000 bottle wine cellar and an indoor basketball court. It was a dream house but I couldn’t imagine Jo would be happy with all that unused space.

 

“That’s a nice house.” Was all I could think to say. I’d watched a special on it just the other day on the Home Channel.

 

Jill nodded. “It is, it‘ll be perfect for them. The security upgrades are being handled as we speak and the family is hiring the full time household staff. However the Vice President thinks it would be a good idea if you stuck around for a while also. He thinks it would be nice to have you close by so Jo doesn’t feel so out of sorts. She’s handling things so great it’s important to the family that her adjustment continue to be smooth.”

 

This was strange. “Jill I have a job. I just passed my boards, I need to get back to work.”

 

Jill nodded. “We understand that and are just as concerned about your career as you are. Still we can’t let anything happen to you. You will have to be afforded some security.”

 

I began to protest. “Jill, I can’t.”

 

She cut me off. “Josie your sister was shot. Doyle was shot. They’ll be in danger for the rest of their lives because of this. Security is always going to be an issue. You don’t do what they did without making enemies. Perverts, mob bosses, drug cartels. They’ve upset the whole criminal apple cart. And they’ll pay for it for the rest of their lives by constantly being under armed guard. You have to understand you’re not just Dr. Josephine O’Bannon anymore. You’re JoAnne Lucas’ sister. Her twin sister. Somebody who wants to hurt her will definitely want to hurt you. You need to be protected and the world needs to see that you are a part of the family now. As far as the family understands you and Jo are a package deal.”

 

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t planning on sticking around and living the high life. I was going to go back to my parent’s home in Memphis for a few weeks and fly back out to my apartment in Houston to find a job. I didn’t imagine it would be difficult for me to find work. I’d gone to some of the best colleges and I’d aced my boards and had terrific references. Still I had taken an absurd amount of time off to be with Jo while she healed up from her surgeries.

 

“Jill I need to find a job. I can’t just hang around with Jo all day. I have student loans to pay back, and I have a life to lead.”

 

Jill nodded once again, still not the least bit disturbed by my refusal. “Your student loans have been paid off. The family thought it would be best. It reflects poorly on them to have you struggling with debt that way while they have so many resources. And as for work we’ve put together a list of medical practices that would be acceptable for you to join. All have given tentative offers, all very generous. Of course you’d have a room at your sister’s mansion, along with access to transportation into and out of the city along with full time security.”

 

I was stuck. Was she serious? “You’re serious about this?”

 

Jill nodded. “Of course. The Vice President thinks it would be much more sensible for you to stay close to your sister. Of course you have a little bit of time to settle into a routine and plot your path while they’re on their honeymoon but after that, yeah, it’s pretty serious. The VP would like to see you chose a job in the next few days and buy a new wardrobe. Then they’ll be a few things more to go over, but after the inauguration and we all come back from DC you should be relatively free to make your own movements.”

 

“DC?” I asked.

 

“Of course you’ll be with us at the inauguration. Nobody thinks it would be a good idea if you didn’t stay close to Jo for the immediate future. That includes the inauguration.”

 

“Okay.” I said with tentative acceptance.

 

Jill nodded. “Great. I’ll have those lists put in your room along with some other essentials you’ll need to make a nice transition. It’ll be great having you here. We don’t have a doctor in the family.”

 

Technically they still didn’t but I didn’t bother correcting her. It seemed an unseemly thing to do and say. I had no intentions of hoarding in on my sister’s new life. I thought the sun always shinned on her but I was intent to blaze my own path as usual. Sticking around to ride her coattails like I claimed I would seemed to be in bad taste.

 

“I suppose I could stick around for a while, just to see how it goes.”

 

From the corner of my eye I saw Rachel down her glass of champagne, her eyes fixated on me like a laser beam. I was officially stepping on her toes now too. Great.