Page 9 of Heartbeat
“Nice to meet you all.”
“These are my brothers, Mateo and Gabriel.” Just as I suspected, the gray-eyed men were indeed Bishops.
After the introductions, the interview questions that followed were expected. They grilled me on my education, experience, and my surgery and procedure rates. Everything that I’d expected and prepared for.
When the interview was concluded, I was offered the job and an amazing contract. I didn’t want to seem too eager, but they had other candidates ready and willing to take the position if I didn’t sign before I left.
The money I would be making was astronomical compared to my salary now, not that it mattered, I had plenty of money; it was the principle. However, the thing that had me signing so quickly was that they made me Assistant Director of the Neurology department.
I would never regret signing the contract, but I felt like I’d just made a deal with the devil for some reason.
CHAPTER 5
RAVEN
Iloved my mother with all my heart, but Josephine Bedeau-Bishops was doing a jig on my very last nerve. If she changed her mind one more time about the napkins for this damned benefit, I would run headfirst into a brick wall to put myself out of this misery.
“Mama, the colors are blue and white. The navy blue is almost the exact match as the new hospital wing. It will coordinate perfectly.” My voice was level but only by the grace of God himself.
“I don’t know, Rae. I don’t want things to be too matchy-matchy. I need something to stand out and pop. I need to give the people a little flavor.” Mama bit her lip as she scanned over the same napkins for the millionth time.
This is the very reason I didn’t have time to help her with the planning. My Mama didn’t want my help, she wanted someone to give her ideas that she could turn down and do what she wanted anyway. Usually, I wouldn’t mind, and I would nod mindlessly telling her things were fantastic, but I had a huge client making my life miserable at the moment.
Cullen McGregor was from one of the wealthiest families in the states. The McGregor clan had encroached Founder’s Island while I was living my best life at design school in Europe. Once I returned, all I heard about were the McGregor’s.
The grandfather started a pharmaceutical company, and now it was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Cullen was the eldest son and decided he wanted to expand their laboratories to Founder’s to be close to BHM because it was the leading research hospital in the world. It was a smart business move.
It was a natural progression that one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and the leading private hospital would somehow connect. And because our family had ties in business, I landed the account to furnish the multi-story complex that would house McGregor Pharmaceuticals. I was ecstatic initially, but after two months of back and forth nitpicking from Cullen, I was ready to pull my hair out by the root.
“I think I’ll go with the cream and navy striped napkins.” My mother’s musing gained my attention. I wanted to roll my eyes because that was my first suggestion, but I smiled because at least she’d finally made a decision.
“What do you think, Rae?” my mother questioned.
“Whatever you think, Mama.” There was no way I would tell her to get them, she would just turn down the idea and start all over.
“Okay, yeah. We’ll go with those, and the matching place settings…” My mother continued talking, but I tuned her out when my phone buzzed in my hand.
It was another email from Cullen rejecting yet another main office design mock-up. I had sent over several of his initial requests and recommendations. And he’d denied every one of them. He wouldn’t just say no, that would be too nice. He’d send scathing emails questioning my competence.
Everything I chose was to his specifications. The color scheme, the type of wood his desk should consist of, the furniture, down to the wood grain of the flooring. He really should’ve just done the job himself. I would’ve quit except this was the most significant undertaking of Timeless Designs since I started the business.
My company would get recognized for my accomplishments as a designer and not because my last name was Bishops. I was proud of my company because I started it on my own without my parents. I scraped and saved and worked several jobs to get my company off the ground. It was making a profit without the support or backing of my family.
Then when I turned twenty-five, I received a portion of my trust fund from my grandfather on my mother’s side who had set up trust funds for all of his grands. I invested that money into my business, and I didn’t look back.
My father was pissed, but he couldn’t do shit about it. I didn’t need my father’s money; I was doing just fine without it. But my grandfather’s help guaranteed I would never have to ask my father for anything, not that he would give it to me anyway.
“Raven? Girl, you always have that doggone phone,” my mother huffed.
“Mama, I have to work. We’ve been at this for two hours already. I told you I could only have thirty-minutes today, but you insisted on me coming.” I reminded my mother that I had told her repeatedly to schedule her appointments for the planning on the weekend. However, Miss Josephine didn’t want to listen.
“I don’t know why you work so hard, Raven. You need to be looking for a husband and settle down and give me grandbabies.”
“With what man, Mama?” I rolled my eyes. “You act like you don’t have two whole other daughters to give you grandbabies.”
“Robin is a doctor, and Dove has her schooling. That leaves you, my sweet Rae.” She smiled, but her words still stung. In other words, my sisters were doing extraordinary things and couldn’t stop to have children, and I wasn’t.
“Well, I wouldn’t put all your eggs in that basket. I don’t want kids,” I said dismissively. I began to type out an email when my mother snatched the phone from my hands.