Wood Green Wonder
"Psychologist Dr. Nadine runs her practice from Wood Green, but when patient Chris's therapy becomes mutual attraction, she refers him out and takes him in—to her heart and her bed."
Chris had been seeing Dr. Nadine for six months. She'd helped him through depression, divorce, starting over.
Then she said something that changed everything.
"Mi can't see yuh anymore."
His heart dropped. "I'm not ready to stop therapy—"
"Is not about therapy." She looked away. "Is about mi. Mi developed feelings. Is unethical. Mi referring yuh to mi colleague."
He took the referral. Improved dramatically with the new therapist.
Three months later, he walked back into Nadine's waiting room.
"I'm not here as a patient."
She looked up, thick and professional and trying to hide how pleased she was.
"Then why yuh here?"
"To ask you to dinner. As a man asking a woman."
Dinner was professional distance crumbling. Both had waited. Both had hoped. Both had followed the rules.
"Mi thought about yuh every day," she admitted.
"I never stopped thinking about you."
"Then stop talking and show mi."
Her flat was minimalist. Her body was anything but. That thick frame in his arms, finally, permission granted.
"Yes! Chris! Right there!"
All the sessions of careful distance, of professional boundaries, released in passionate relief.
"Don't stop! We waited so long!"
"Is this ethical now?" he gasped after.
"Completely." She kissed him. "Yuh my partner now, not my patient."
"Partner?"
"If yuh want."
"I've wanted since session one."
Dr. Nadine Baptiste-Chen still practices in Wood Green.
Her husband Chris volunteers at her mental health charity.
Best referral she ever made.
Best decision he ever accepted.
Wonder found.
In Wood Green.
In each other.