THE EMEREALD CITY FREE FAMILY CLINIC
CHAPTER 8
My wife's hands begin to pull away from mine but I stop them and hold them tighter as I say "Shit…that's not what I meant…not what I meant at all…not the way you are thinking right now. Shit…I need to think before I speak…let me try again Arizona". I move closer to my wife as I place her hands with mine in my lap as I begin again. "Christina and I went to that conference in Boston. When we arrived at the hotel hosting the conference we were approached by a young woman who introduced herself to Christina as Dr. Carpenter and very much wanted to talk to her alone. Christina asked me to go and get our information packet from the front desk while she talked to Dr. Carpenter. I was about to walk away from the two women when Dr. Carpenter extended her hand to me and says "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name" and I turn around to reciprocate her handshake as I say "Dr. Callie Torres". As this woman is shaking my hand she says "Dr. Callie Torres, the Head of Orthopedics at Grey+Sloan Memorial Hospital" and I say "Yes one in the same" and then this woman asks me "Dr. Callie Torres who is married to Dr. Arizona Robbins, Pediatric surgeon" and I remark again "One in the same" as she lets go of my hand and says "Very nice to meet you, Dr. Torres" as I feel a little creeped out at her slight grin on her face, as it seems so familiar for some reason, and say "Likewise" as I walk away from the two women. I walk up to the front desk to check Christina and I in and retrieve our information packets but when I turn around to search for the two women they are no where to be found. I walk around for a few minutes more and stop outside of some small room off the main lobby area and before I call Christina's cell phone to find where she is, I hear her talking very loudly at Dr. Carpenter. There is a partition just inside the door so neither woman sees me enter the room as I stand and listen to their argument". I stop for a minute to take a drink of water, Arizona hands me the water bottle and says "Calliope, you didn't listen in" as I shake my head in the affirmative.
Then I continue "Arizona, I know that I shouldn't have and Christina already reprimanded me for doing so, but you need to hear what was said between them alright". With my wife nodding her head yes, I continue with my story. "The argument began with Dr. Carpenter asking Christina why she was not accepted in the Cardio-Thoracic program at Grey+SloanMemorialHospital. Christina told her that it was because of her academic scores and that she has been the head of this department for over twenty years now she does not feel she needs to tell every applicant why they have not been chosen and this line of questioning is very inappropriate. Then Dr. Carpenter asks her "So it's not because of my name or my namesake then"? Christina walks right up to the good doctor and says "First of all, keep your voice down and no it is not because your mother in her sick and twisted mind named you after a woman who scorned her all those years ago…it is because you are not good enough to be in my program. So whatever or however your mother and you have schemed your way into this conference today you will not be meeting your namesake as you call her…do I make myself perfectly clear". I hear a faint "yes" come from Dr. Carpenter as I watch Christina walk away from her but before Christina could make it out the door we both hear Dr. Carpenter say "Well if I can't meet the great and powerful Dr. Arizona Robbins maybe I can tell her wife about me". Christina turns on a dime and is facing Dr. Carpenter again but before she can say a word I come out from the partition and say "What is it exactly do you want to tell me about you? And who the hell are you anyways"? Christina turns to face me and says "Callie don't…she's nobody" just as Dr. Carpenter walks away from Christina and says "We have not been properly introduced. My name is Arizona Robin Boswell Carpenter".
I watch the color drain out of my wife's face as she hears me say the woman's name as I say to my Arizona "Are you alright babe…do you want me to stop with the story"? Arizona rises up off our bed as she grabs her robe to cover her nakedness as she hands me my robe to do the same as she says to me "I need something to drink" and makes her way out of our bedroom. I quickly follow closely behind her until we reach the kitchen. My wife reaches for a bottle of white wine and two glasses and then advances towards the living room where we both take a seat on the sofa. She hands me the bottle of wine and the glasses as she silently asks me to pour each of us a drink. While downing the first glass of wine with ease, my wife holds onto the second glass for dear life as she says to me "What…what…why…why Calliope" as I begin to finish the story. "It seems, from what I could gather from the young doctor, that Dr. Boswell…Lauren…when she left Seattle all those years ago she met a man and got pregnant. She married this man and they had this baby whom she named after you. Eventually the marriage did not work out and they divorced. But she told the young Dr. Carpenter before she died two years ago that the reason she named her daughter after you was because she fell madly and deeply in love with you and when you sent her away, because you still loved me and wanted our marriage to work, the only way she could hold on to you was by naming her daughter after you. Lauren told her daughter on her death bed that when she decides to have children of her own someday to name the child after someone she loves with all of her heart because there is no greater joy in life than to have that special someone with you in your heart everyday". I place my wine glass on the coffee table in front of the sofa as I smile and a little laugh comes from my mouth as I say to my wife "I guess I can see her point of view on the subject" as my wife hastily says "Please Calliope, don't think for a minute that she has a right to do what she did to her own daughter". I take my wife's hands in mine as I say "I can see her point about naming our children after the people we love. I named Sofia after my grandmother who I will always love and we named our sons after your father and mine and after Mark because we love them. That is what I mean when I say that I can see her point on the matter but I too do not like the idea of her naming her daughter after you. I liked the fact that in all of the land there is only one Arizona Robbins and she is my wife". I lean into my wife's embrace as I kiss her gorgeous pink lips and whisper into her ear "What do you say we stop talking about this now and make our way back to our bedroom before the children arrive home from their party". My wife wraps her body up into mine as I carry her back to our bed and for the next several hours we make mad passionate love to one another.
The smell of coffee brewing and bacon and sausage sizzling in the frying pan and the sound of chatter amongst family and friends wakes me up to find my beautiful brunette haired wife spread out on my naked chest. I move the abundance of hair to find her breathtakingly stunning face as I move it off my naked chest to hold it up as she is still snoring and I kiss her deeply to wake her up this morning…the morning of our daughter's wedding day. Just as my wife wakes up from my delicious kiss our bedroom door burst open to find our sons holding a tray of food and hot coffee as I hurry as wrap the blanket over my wife and I as I say "Boys" and they both just smile as Carlos says "Please mama, I saw more of your fantastic rock hard body when I was five and you were chasing mami around the house when you thought we were all asleep and you both were naked". My wife pokes her head out from under the blanket to say "Carlos Mark, you watch yourself mister" as our sons laugh a bit but when my wife speaks to our youngest son he apologizes profusely for his actions. My wife and I finish our breakfast as we exit our bed to get dressed for the day. I come out of the bathroom to find my wife talking to Christina as they are making the bed. My wife informs our friend of the discussion we had last evening as Christina says to me "I know that I probably should have told you both when she first applied for an internship at the hospital but I thought that I handled the situation". I tell our friend thank you for her concern and then I add "What Lauren…Dr. Boswell did after she left Seattle is all on her. This child…this daughter of hers is all her doing and after today I would really like not to discuss this matter again. That part of my life…that part that I am not proud of is long gone. Calliope forgave me for what I had done and we have built a life together that I am so very proud of…so this discussion stops here today. This is a wedding day…our daughter…your goddaughter Christina is getting married today. So let's focus on that and not on something I had no control over then or now and never wish to discuss again. Do I make myself perfectly clear, ladies"? I walk out of our bedroom but first I kiss my wife and hug our daughter's godmother as the two of them say back to me "Perfectly" and follow me out to join the rest of our family with the biggest smiles on our faces because it is a wedding day…our daughter Sofia's wedding day and nothing else matters.