Chapter 3: Stay

The next morning Ana dressed in a pair of yoga pants, a tank top, and a long sweater that fell to her hips and was loose enough in the middle to help hide her growing stomach. With her tennis shoes on she walked quickly down to the kitchen where a woman that looked like a cook and Mrs. Burns were tidying up the kitchen. Mrs. Burns showed Ana to the breakfast nook telling her she would bring her some breakfast.

Ana sat down next to Nicholas appearing to startle him as his face was buried in the gossip section of this morning's press release. Mrs. Burns handed her a plate with eggs and sausage links on it and indicated a tray of assorted pastries in the middle of the table. Ana thanked the housekeeper warmly and grabbed a croissant that she had cut open and smeared strawberry jam in. Nicholas watched what Ana was doing with interest. He found that he wanted to know what she liked to eat.

Mrs. Burns asked if she wanted coffee and Ana asked her if they might have decaf tea instead.

Nicholas leaned forward his current bite forgotten on his fork for a moment. "Do you not like coffee, Ana?"

"I love coffee but sometimes I have too much of a good thing. I am on a caffeine break." Ana explained to Nicholas.

"What kind of doctor are you?" Ana inquired about her new friend.

"I am a specialist trauma surgeon." Nicholas replied after swallowing his bite of food. "I do surgeries on people that have been stabbed, assaulted, or have severe internal bleeding from an accident. I work with severe trauma situations."

Ana nodded interestedly. "I was a hospice nurse for cancer patients once upon a time."

Nicholas's head swiveled to look at her. "Where did you take your schooling?"

"At Stanton Nursing School. Oh... You said your last name was Stanton, didn't you? You're that Stanton?" Ana sighed. She needed to get out of here. He was too high profile to stick with. Ana might as well put a sign on herself that said, 'Here I Am: punish me.'

"Most people like finding out I am the person they are friends with." Nicholas was genuinely concerned about her reaction.

Ana finished eating and set her fork on her plate. "Can you take me into town on your way to the hospital and drop me off?" Ana asked without preamble.

"What? Why? I thought we agreed you would stay here for the time being." Nicholas asked half panicked. He wasn't ready for her to leave.

"Now that I know who you are it might not be a good idea for me to hang around. I know for a fact that your name is always in the papers. It's nothing personal I assure you, but it just might be best if I moved on." Ana felt conflicted about leaving. She couldn't think of a better place to hide out for a bit, but the risk of the paparazzi was too great.

"What if I took some time off and came out here and stayed out of the public eye for a while." Nicholas asked the petite woman.

"You can do that?" Ana asked, actually curious.

"I own the hospital. I can do as I please. I would be on-call for major emergencies but yes, I can do that." Nicholas took a drink of his coffee.

"No, that is way too much effort for someone you barely know." Ana told him embarrassed that she was disrupting his life.

Nick sighed. "I haven't taken a vacation in years Ana. I am overdue. Let me do this, it will make me happy. Please?"

Ana studied Nicholas's face as he looked at her with an earnest expression. "Why is it so important to you to keep me here?"

Nicholas ran a hand through his hair messing it up where he had combed it back making him look rakish. "I don't know. I don't like the idea of you being out there alone or you gone and never finding you again. Please just stay here. We can keep life quiet if that is what you need. Whatever you are hiding from must be truly awful."

Ana set her napkin on the table. "What I am hiding from is the worst sort of hell and the repercussions for being found cannot be spoken of aloud. Do not doubt me when I say being caught would be my last day on earth. I can't be found out because of your proclivity to catch drama. I need to go."

"I do not catch drama." Nicholas said irritably.

"Oh yeah, what does the paper say about you this morning?" Ana asked holding out her hand.

"It's nothing, a side story." Nicholas balked at her reading what it said.

"Fine, I'll get my bag." Ana said standing to head upstairs.

"No, Ana." Nick cursed before handing over the paper.

Ana read the headline 'The War for the Stanton.' Ana hooted with laughter as she read. Miss April Reynold's and Olivia Croft are at it again. Throwing red wine at each other and shouting curse words. Apparently, Dr. Nicholas Stanton was on a date with one April Reynold's when his date of two nights earlier Olivia Croft decides she would not come out of the bargain short-changed and demanded he choose which girl he liked better to which Stanton replied neither and a war commenced as each girl decided to determine the outcome for herself.

Ana was hanging on to the chair to keep from falling, she was laughing so hard trying to picture Nicholas's face. "You got problems. You think you're a playboy." Ana wheezed out. Ana worked her way upstairs and into the room she had spent the night in and started gathering her stuff together. She had counted her money last night. She had seven thousand and fifty-eight dollars.

Nicholas stepped into the room and closed the door. "Did you mean you would be killed if someone from before found you?"

"I know a secret that one of the most powerful men in the world would do almost anything to hide." Ana said carefully.

"What man? You can tell me. I am powerful enough to protect you." Nicholas urged the woman wanting desperately to understand and help in some way.

Ana sighed heavily. "Do you believe me when I say I know who you are. The man with the medical empire. You own every hospital in the country and many around the world. Plus, much more. I was brought up learning who the players of the big game are. I know who you are. Do you believe that?"

Nicholas nodded slowly not sure where Ana was going with this.

"Then believe me when I tell you that you don't have enough power to protect me from what's hunting me." Ana stated sadly and continued to pack her bag.

"Just stay here and we'll hide out together. No more paparazzi. We will be completely incognito." Nicholas laughed, feeling like he was pitching a spy film.

"Why? You barely know me." Ana turned to look at Nicholas.

"I like you and I haven't liked a woman in well pretty much ever. I just don't want you to go away before I can even find out what that means." The doctor groaned trying to figure out why this was so hard.

"Nick, I am not available to be liked." Ana said carefully. "My entire life is a train wreck."

"I am not asking for anything except for you to let me be your friend, Ana. What do you have to lose? You are in a safe place where you can hide out and no one will find you if you don't want them to." Nicholas cajoled her hoping she would choose to stay.

Ana wasn't sure what to say to him, so she stayed silent for a moment thinking.

"Look," Nicholas said walking closer to her. "I will go to work today and set things up to take a month off. That will give you plenty of time to figure out what you need to do. No one comes out here. You will be able to hide. You can be my companion for my long overdue vacation. Can we do that?" Nicholas finished speaking with a small smile that he directed at her.

Ana did need to figure out what she was going to do, and this estate was removed from high society life or the survival mindset of the impoverished class. One thing that had been great about Scott Devon was that he never socialized, and she had been able to hide in her world without living the life of a socialite.

Ana finally nodded, thinking she had very little choice. "We can try that if it makes you happy." Nicholas smiled grasping her hand and squeezing lightly.

"I am off to work then. I will see you this evening." Nicholas gave her a large grin then turned and walked briskly out the door.

"That man could charm the pants off a snake." Ana muttered quietly.

Mrs. Burns walked quietly into the room. "Nicholas has been like that since he was a tiny boy. He got away with so much... quite the charmer."

Ana was wondering if she was about to get told off, so she stayed quiet and calm.

After several minutes of silence Mrs. Burns finally spoke. "Nicholas has never brought a woman to his family home before..." Then the housekeeper left the room. Ana couldn't help but wonder why her?