Doctors Orders (Book#1 Hope Ridge)

Chapter Four: A Road Less Traveled.

It's my big moving day. Last night, my parents had a huge dinner with a few of my dad's friends and Dr. Winston. He and I became good friends through all of this. He helped me a lot, and I'll forever be grateful to him.

After yet another attack of facial kisses from my over-dramatic mother, I am finally released from her grip and head towards the front door to my loaded-up Bronco. The door opened, and my father was standing there holding it for me to pass. I hear my mother following me close behind.

"You'll remember to call when you stop overnight?" she runs through her list of demands again. "Yes, Mum,"

"You have your phone charger? Your phone is fully charged still?" I heard my dad chuckling behind us as I passed by him. "Yes, mum."

"You have cash on you just in case there are no ATM's nearby?"

"Yes Mum"

"You have the correct address programmed into your GPS still? Have you checked to make sure?"

As I walk around my beast and open the driver's side door to hop in, I stop and turn to my parents. I smiled warmly. I am going to miss them both so much, it hurts to think I won't see them for at least a few months. They don't want to risk Nate finding out.

"Mum. I love you. I promise you Dad has gone through your checklist as well as his own. I promise I will call you both all the time once I'm set up and I promise I will call whenever and wherever I stop along my route." I paused. I don't want to cry. If I cry, then so does my mum and then my dad won't be able to hold it back, himself. He hates to cry in public.

"I'm going to miss you both so freaking much. I promise continual updates. I'll be okay, Mum. Dad has got it all handled. Dad, I'm my mother's daughter and no one messes with Mum, thus meaning no one messes with me. I love you both." I stretched my arms out for both of them.

"I'm so proud of you, Princess. We will visit just as soon as we can, I promise you that." My dad was my biggest fan and always has been. We just get each other. This was hard for him emotionally. I knew once they got back inside, he would try and busy himself with one of his many projects only to end up breaking into my Mum's arms. That is how he is. He bottles until he breaks down and cries it out, but only in my mother's arms.

My father always followed up those moments the next morning with “A real man is not afraid to cry in his wife's arms.”

He was right. When a man needs support, he shouldn't be afraid to let his wife support him. Too many men lose sight of the balance. I know Nate did. He never shared anything with me. He was very much a shallow closed book. Enough of that though, I don't want to dwell. Dwelling begets negative energies and I was finally free of the suck.

My mother wiped my face with her hands and then her own. Both holding back the dam.

"I love you, my darling Rubes. Please be careful."

"Don't worry. You have constant location access both on my phone and Betty"

My parents stared at me confused. "Betty? I didn't know you were taking anyone with you." my mother crinkled her forehead.

Chuckling, I pointed to my Bronco. " I named her Betty. Why? She's beautiful and pearl white. Betty White."

My father started laughing long before my mother understood the connection. We used to binge Golden Girls before I left for Uni. I love Rose, whereas my mother's favourite was Sophia.

"Too clever." my mother chuckles while shaking her finger at me.

After one more hug, I jumped into the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway. One more wave to my parents and I drove away.

It was weird looking back at my family in the rear-view mirror. It couldn't help me remind myself of all the fun I had mocking those moments in movies. I commented on how cheesy these scenes were, yet here I am starting back and fighting myself from turning around. I knew they wanted me to do it just as much as I wanted to, but they also knew this was my best route to moving on just as much as I did. I didn't turn back. I keep watching as they shrink into no longer visible and focus on the road ahead.

The drive was long but the scenery was incredible. More Canadians needed to drive across their beautiful country. It was inspiring.

I called my parents whenever I stopped for gas, food, and hotel stays. I send them constant pictures of some of my adventures in my new life.

I even sent a few breathtaking sunsets and sunrises overlooking fields or mountain peaks to Dr. Winston. He also required me to check-in. He did, after all, share my Dad’s views on a young lone female driving across the country, but like my Dad; he conceded to me just doing regular checks.

On the drive, I thought a lot about where I was to where I am now. I've changed a lot and a lot of that change is thanks to my parents and Dr. Winston.

I left Scarborough with no friends, and really only my parents and Dr. Winston on my contact list, but I realized on the drive; that was all I needed for now.

I didn't need the vast circle of friends I had while I was with Nate.

It was Nate who would need to be the showman, not me. All of our friends, he picked and approved of. It was why they supported him in the end.

While he loved to go out to fancy restaurants and drive the newest of cars or have the biggest house with more rooms than we'd ever be able to fill, all I wanted was a kayak, a cottage, and those beautiful sunrises.

I don't think I have ever been this excited about a new chapter in my life.

I did a lot of reflecting and I was happy that Nate didn't want to have babies right away. I would have always been tied to him if we had, and to be honest, I probably wouldn't have left him. I would have become the cliche unhappy wife; staying with the cheating, abusive bastard just for the children while never realizing not even the children were happy by the end of it.

Who wants that life? I am twenty-five and far too young to accept mediocre happiness.

Nate and I agreed that we would start a family when I turned twenty-five. We never did end up getting around to it, but I knew that once I started dating again- it would be with someone ready to start a family. Not right at that instant, but it wouldn't be a four-year push-off.

Most people didn't know it, but the longer a female waits to have children, the more likely the medical complications. The ideal age for a female to start having children is mid-twenties to early thirties. I am just entering that age bracket and all I want now is the start my very own family, a big one.

I thought about how things with Nate and I progressed. He was different from the beginning to how he is now. It's his face, his voice, but the feelings disappeared. I realize that now. I fell for the dream he sold me five years ago by giving him a chance despite his notorious reputation. I saw what I wanted, I guess.

He stopped trying a year before we separated. He left for a business trip and came back with a promotion and a coldness I refused to recognize as an obvious sign. Maybe that was when he had his first affair. Looking back now, I see how dramatic the change was, but I was ignorant of it. I tried harder to be who he wanted me to be. I took the blame and shame on myself for his change. I wouldn't do that again. I wouldn't change myself for anyone, platonic or romantic.

Who was I kidding? We were never right. Our marriage wasn’t as picture-perfect as many thought, it wasn’t even as mildly bumpy as my parents thought. There was a lot I allowed to slide. I know it was a form of conditioning. Looking back, I see it but I accepted it as my own fault. I probably would have accepted the cheating if it didn’t happen in front of my parents and Dr. Winston.

I could never allow them to see me that weak. It was the first time I really stood up for myself against Nate. I couldn’t have done it alone, I had already accepted too much.

I realized I did that a lot. Not anymore, though. This was a brand-new Ruby. Self-reliant as f**k.

I have the land, the house, the job, and the drive for babies; now I just need to find Mr. Right.

I also considered maybe the option of fertility clinics. I could do this on my own, but that was a last-resort plan. If I hit thirty and was still single, I would take a trip to the ol' sperm bank.

Whenever I thought about that, I wondered if I could just ask someone I knew just to donate for me. I immediately thought of Dr. Winston. He was a single male, with no children. He is a brilliant doctor and a very supportive friend. He's very handsome and if things were different and there was never a Nate, I probably would have crushed hard on him when he first transferred to the clinic.

He was tall, standing six feet one and he had dark features with those sparkling blue eyes that could light up a room. His big thick eyebrows only intensified the blue. He was lean but sculpted underneath those dress shirts he'd wear.

I had thirty seconds to ogle and fangirl over him when we first met. He looked like he had walked out of a catalog for Dr. Sexy R' Us. Thirty seconds turned into long minutes, but by the end of the shift, I moved on. I was a newly married woman at the time and I had to remember that.

I never entertained the idea of Dr. Winston again after that. I couldn't allow the thoughts or it'd become a habit. But boys, did I want that habit to form?

Dr. Winston was older than me by nine years, he had the salt and peppering on his temples and the wisps of silver threading through his trimmed beard. It looked really good on him though.

Being away and reflecting, I realized Dr. Winston would have been the guy I've always wanted. Nate was never my type but he worked so hard on the challenge to be that type, that we just came together. I thought I was happy, but what I realized was I was buying the image of my perfect type when it was never really there. Then I was trapped.

Dr. Winston was always the one to listen to me at the clinic; even before the cheating was discovered. We would talk throughout the shifts about the most random things.

I think because I had Dr. Winston at work to fill that void missing at home, I was able to delude myself into believing Nate and I were okay.

I missed Dr. Winston more than I thought. When I called him on the drive I would realize how lifted I was afterwards.

I blew that chance by marrying Nate too rashly, but at least Dr. Winston and I could still be great friends. After all, Nate was right. No man would want me now.

Hindsight is a funny thing, isn't it?

I finally arrived in my new town late in the evening; I decided I would camp out on my new land instead of struggling to find lodging at that hour.

Finding my land was easy with the GPS guiding me, lots of dirt roads leading there, but once I found it; breathtaking!

I couldn't believe this was my new start. I couldn't see all of it but the headlights and the full moon with the sky full of stars overhead; I was so happy I chose this plot.

I could hear the river running downstream to the side of me, the wind blowing through the trees surrounding me. It was magical.

I made quick work of setting up my three-man tent and a small little campfire.

I couldn’t wait for my parents to see this.

After sending off a quick text to both my parents and Dr. Winston, I laid back in front of the crackling fire and continued to take in my surroundings.

It was all worth it. It was. I had a smile on my face I haven't had in a very long time.

I am truly free from Nate now.