Part 13

Richard had drawn Carter to one side and was lecturing him on money and finance, telling him how much the wedding had cost and explaining how he had set the money aside. Abby was amazed at John's forbearance, she would have punched Richard long before now, but it was the last part of their conversation that really caught her attention. Richard, the man who had valued money and position above all things the entire time she had known him, for whatever reason had absolutely no idea about who John was!

"So, John," Richard was saying, "you work with Abby at County. So what are you, third year, fourth year?"

"I'm Chief Resident."

"Chief Resident? Wow, good for you. Finally making some decent money then! I must admit I admire you for sticking with a County Hospital. Must give you a sense of moral purpose. I went over to the dark side I'm afraid: Private practice. Lots of money to be made but without the long hours and poor working conditions. You should think about making the switch. I mean, would you be able to give Abby this sort of wedding on your salary? And med- school bills to pay as well? You'll be saving forever before you're able to get any kind of decent place. Listen, if you like I can give you a couple of numbers, maybe even set up some interviews, see what you think."

"Thanks, but we're doing OK by ourselves. Besides I love it at County, and to be honest I couldn't imagine working anywhere else."

"Well, takes all sorts I guess! So, tell me more about you. How long have you and Abby been together?"

"Four months," Carter nodded in that way he had when answering a question, "but we were friends for a long time before that. Marrying her was the best thing I ever did," he added wistfully.

"Excuse me? Did you say marry?" Richard looked over at Abby and then back to Carter.



"I'm sorry," Carter said, "I didn't realize that you didn't know. Abby?" He grinned at Richard's obvious distraction. He may very well be a nice person once you get to know him, and his wife certainly seemed great, but there was something about him that rubbed Carter up the wrong way. He was such an obsequious little man; how had Abby ever married him?

"Yeah sweetie?" Abby walked over to Carter's side and put her arm around his waist. As she did so he put his arm around her shoulder and looked down at her. In the meanwhile Cathy had walked over to Richard's side and assumed a similar position.

"Richard didn't seem to know that we were married. Were you keeping it a secret or can we officially tell everybody?"

"Of course it isn't a secret!" She knew he was referring to the fact that they had tried to keep it hidden from the people at work and she laughed. "Richard, Cathy, I'd like you to meet John, my husband. John this is Richard and Cathy Lockhart!" She was enjoying herself, especially the look of disbelief on Richard's face, so she made a big show of introducing them formally.

"Pleased to meet you," John said, sticking out his hand towards Richard and smiling, playing along with Abby's game.

Richard took hold of the hand and shook it in a daze. He looked at Abby. "When did you get married again?"

"Ooh, almost 36 hours now!" She laughed as John bent down to give her a bear hug and a kiss. She laughed all the time now that she was with Carter, something she had hardly ever done while she was with Richard. "I would have said something earlier but I didn't want you to think that I was trying to upstage you, today of all days!"

"Upstage me? You come in wearing the most amazing dress in the world, looking absolutely fabulous, looking happier than I've ever seen you, and you say you weren't trying to upstage me? Sorry if I don't believe you." He was becoming irate, just as he had throughout their marriage, and Abby felt herself losing her temper as she replied.

"Oh come off it, Richard! What did you think? That I was going to mope over you forever? That I was going to come here and eat my heart out because you were getting married again? Guess what, I moved on, and I'm happy. I'm in love and I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world. And I can't believe that you'd think I did it just to score a point over you. God, how petty do you think I am?! I'm sorry, Cathy, you're lovely and I really wish you the best, but you've married the biggest dick on the face of the planet. Come on John, lets get out of here." She grabbed Carter's hand and began to leave the room, but a voice from behind stopped her.

"No, don't go Abby! Please stay." It was Cathy who had run after Abby and put a hand on her arm to stop her from leaving.

"I know Richard can be a bit difficult at times. You were with him for a long time so you know how he can get, but he's not always like this. Sometimes he can actually be sweet." Cathy gave Richard a little smile at this, and he had the good grace to look ashamed and stare at the floor. "So I'm sure he'll apologize and we can carry on like civilized people. Won't you Richard?"

Richard looked up and looked Abby directly in the eyes. "I'm sorry Abby. I shouldn't have attacked you for trying to be happy. And John, I'm sorry if I've created a bad impression. I can only imagine what Abby's told you about me and I go and prove it all by behaving like an idiot. I hope we can start over."

"My pleasure." Carter took hold of the hand Richard was offering and shook it. Abby was looking at Cathy in awe! How had she managed to get Richard to apologize? He never said sorry for anything in his life! There was definitely something about her that was good for Richard, and she was glad that he had found her. Carter broke the silence:

"So, I think a little drink is in order to celebrate both our good fortune! I'm going to grab a soft drink, anybody else want anything?"

Richard and Cathy asked for champagne, while Abby asked him to bring her back whatever he was having. He smiled and gave her a light kiss on the lips before heading towards the bar. Abby, Cathy and Richard moved towards a nearby table and sat down to wait for John. Abby followed him with her eyes, picturing what they would get up to as soon as they were alone in their apartment again, so she didn't at first notice Richard trying to talk to her.

"Abby? John seems really nice. I hope he doesn't think that I was trying to rub his nose in it. You know, force my money down his throat because I'm in private practice and he's just a county doctor…What's so funny? "

Abby had laughed outright at this, at the fact that Richard hadn't been able to connect the name Carter with the name of one of Chicago's wealthiest families. She considered playing with this for a while, but the looks of bewilderment she was getting from Cathy and Richard told her that they thought she was quite mad, so she decided to tell them the whole truth.

"Don't you know who John is?" she managed to choke out between gasps for breath. She had been so worried about creating a good impression that she hadn't realized how tense she was. Now that she had started laughing she just couldn't seem to stop.

"Yeah you said. 'John Carter'. He works at County General with you."

"And you met him at the museum benefit…" she was leading him along, trying to get him to fill in the blanks by himself, but he still looked lost so she decided to help him out a little more. "Hosted by the…"

"CARTER FAMILY FOUNDATION!"

Bingo! She could see the look of recognition in Richard's eyes as he registered who Carter was. He looked over to where Carter was still standing by the drinks table waiting to collect his drinks, and then straight back to Abby.

"Are you saying he is one of THE Carters? He's not just A Carter."

"Nope. Richard, you have spent the best part of 15 minutes talking to John Truman Carter III!"

Richard suddenly looked deflated and sank down in his seat, putting his hand over his eyes in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh my God Abby," he said, "I can't believe I was talking to him about the deal I got on this reception room. Christ, I think one of them owns this hotel!"

"What do you mean 'One of them'? They're not aliens! Anyway, John's coming back now and I want you to promise that you won't turn into a creep just because his family has a bit of money. Besides I'm 'One of them' now as well!"

At that moment Carter arrived at the table and put the drinks down in the center. He put his arm around Abby's shoulder and gave her a lingering kiss as he sat down in the seat next to her. After a few seconds he reluctantly broke the kiss and looked into Abby's eyes. She was smiling at him so he smiled back, and the smile was still on his face as he looked around the table first at Cathy and then at Richard, who seemed momentarily lost for words.

"So," Carter said, looking at Abby, "What did I miss?"



(Hope that was worth the wait. The characters of Cathy and Richard are poorly sketched, but they aren't really our main concern, are they? I'm on a roll, so I may have more to add in the next day or so. My degree results come out tomorrow, so depending on how well I do it will either be a happy chapter or a depressed chapter. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a 2:1!)