What will House and Cameron find out at the Corrigans? And will everything continue to go well for Monique and Randy's visit?
Hope you enjoy these chapters.
Chapter 57.
Cameron took her time removing the old monitor device, examining it, and exclaiming, 'See, there's damage to it."
Michelle looked closely. Cameron knew she wouldn't see anything, but she trusted the doctor.
Cameron prepared the applicator to affix the new dot, keeping up a running commentary about kids and their moms to put the child and her mother at ease. Finally, she couldn't stall any longer. She took Vanessa's arm and applied the dot.
Vanessa frowned. "Mom says I can't see Kyle until I'm all better."
"That's probably a good idea," Cameron told her, wondering if the boy was in the house. "You don't want your baby brother to get sick, too, do you?" Cameron asked.
Vanessa shook her head. "Will I be better tomorrow?"
Cameron pursed her lips while she thought what to tell her. "Let me examine you."
She knew perfectly well that Vanessa's vitals were normal, but she pulled out a penlight and checked her eyes. She also felt the glands in her neck, listened to her lungs and heart, checked her temperature with a hand scanner. "Everything is fine right now. I'll see what the monitor says tomorrow and call your parents to let them know whether you're well enough to see your brother."
The child grinned.
"Kyle hasn't shown any signs of illness, has he?" Cameron asked Michelle.
"No!"
"He's here isn't he? May I examine him?"
The woman's forehead furrowed. "Okay."
#
House heard the women coming out of Vanessa's room, and quickly limped to the bathroom. His search of Kyle's room had been fruitless. Could there be any clues in the bathroom? He doubted it.
##
"Will your husband be home soon?" Cameron asked casually as they walked to the baby's room. She'd been surprised that Josh wasn't there.
"Oh!" Michelle swallowed.
Cameron wondered if she was preparing to lie.
"He missed so much work while 'Nessie was in the hospital that he's working extra hours," Michelle finally said.
"Leaving you home alone with a sick child and an infant?" Cameron raised her eyebrows.
Michelle shrugged. "I don't mind."
House picked that moment to poke his head out of the bathroom. "Are we ready to go?" he asked.
"I'd like to take a look at Kyle first," Cameron replied.
"Kyle?" He played dumb.
"Vanessa's baby brother." Cameron knew full well he was aware who Kyle was, and probably even that he was there.
"Oh, yeah."
The three of them entered Kyle's room. Cameron walked to the crib and smiled down on the infant. "He's sleeping comfortably." She didn't want to disturb him, but she needed to check his vitals and get basic samples.
Conveniently, Kyle began to squirm and his eyes flickered open, eyes the same blue as Vanessa's. Cameron turned to Michelle. "May I?" At Michelle's nod, she lifted the sleepy boy. "Hi, Kyle," she cooed.
She used her hand scanner on him. No fever and a normal heart rate. She removed a blood sampling syringe from her bag and took a small sample from one of the baby's tiny fingers. It would have to be enough.
"Well, he seems fine. Let's just keep him that way." Cameron settled the boy in his crib.
"Of course," Michelle said. "Thank you for coming by today, Dr. Cameron."
"Why did your husband say Vanessa had been in Denver before you went to La Paz?" House asked.
"What?" The man's sudden questions always unnerved Michelle.
"Kyle was born here, at PPTH, and then you went to Bolivia." House wasn't sure of the timeline, but waited for her to correct him.
"Oh!" She couldn't think fast enough to lie so Michelle said, "We WERE in Denver before Vanessa and I went to La Paz. She didn't come to New Jersey with me."
House and Cameron exchanged a surprised look. "You returned to the States to give birth but left your daughter behind in a foreign country?" Cameron asked.
"She was still recovering from her operation. I couldn't take her."
"Then why didn't you have Kyle in Bolivia?" House asked. After all, the Corrigans had trusted the Bolivian doctors to operate on Vanessa. "It couldn't have been to ensure his US citizenship because he'd have it automatically since you're a citizen. You are, aren't you?"
"Of course!" Michelle sighed, resigned to explain further. "I came to New Jersey because my mother broke her hip. She lives in Pennington, between Princeton and Trenton."
The doctors nodded.
"Taking care of her became more difficult as my pregnancy progressed, so my sister came out from Denver to help," Michelle went on.
"And after Kyle was born, you returned to Bolivia?" Cameron asked.
"Yes. I missed my little girl so much!"
"Of course you did. She's a sweet child. I'm glad to see her looking so well today." Cameron turned to House. "Ready?" They'd found out all they could for now.
He nodded and they left. On the ride home, Cameron told him what Michelle said about her husband.
"There aren't any men's toiletries in the bathroom, either," he revealed. "I wish we'd put the locating dot on Josh Corrigan instead of Vanessa. I wonder where he's gone now."
Chapter 58.
"Well, I'm off for the hospital board meeting." Justin wiped a bit of tomato sauce off his mouth as he stood up from the dining room table.
Audra had made another delicious meal for her husband and her two guests, this time lasagna. "Good luck." She rose to kiss Justin goodbye.
"I hope you ladies have a good evening, too," he told them. "See you later." He headed out.
Justin met Cuddy outside the conference room five minutes before the board meeting was supposed to begin.
"The fuel cells are the third item on the agenda," she told him, "so you'll have to wait out here until we're ready to discuss them."
He sat on a bench outside the room, trying to be patient. Use of these cells had become a passion for him. Finally, twenty-five minutes after the meeting began, Cuddy came out to get him.
When she and Wilson married, one of them had to step down from the board. He'd happily agreed to be the one. Besides the hospital administrator, the board now consisted of four doctors from the hospital, including Arthur Billings, four major contributors, and a member of the hospital legal staff.
"For those of you who don't know him," Cuddy began, "this is Justin Appleton. His wife and mother-in-law are doctors at this hospital, and his family have been donors for many years, giving generously to PPTH. Last week Justin came to me with an idea based on something Appleton Industries is doing in their residential and commercial properties. I've seen how the idea is working at their corporate headquarters, and hope you'll listen to what Justin has to tell you tonight."
"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy," Justin said. He took out his minicomp and proceeded to tell the board members all about the fuel cells, with photos and diagrams to prove his point.
###
"Justin's a great guy." Randy finished her last bite of food.
Audra smiled. "I'm a very lucky woman." Despite her worry about not being pregnant yet, she did count her blessings. "I hope the board agrees to buy fuel cells for the hospital."
"But he's not the one selling them, is he?" Monique asked.
"No, but he believes in how important it is to use them, even if it's only as a back up power supply."
Audra began to collect the plates.
"You know, if you weren't a doctor, you could make it as a chef," Randy told her.
"I guess I had good teachers, first my grandmother and then Nancy. I'll just put away the leftovers and clean up, and then we can go."
"We'll help," Monique offered and Randy nodded in agreement. Working together, they finished quickly. Monique took her sketch pad and they each grabbed a lightweight jacket. They got into Audra's car for the short trip to Tori Conway's boutique.
Becca and her entourage hadn't arrived yet. Tori was happy for the time alone to greet Monique. "It's been too long," she told the younger woman as she hugged her tightly. Monique had liked to hang around the shop when she was in high school and developed a friendship with Emily's aunt based on their mutual interest in fashion.
"I understand there were a few dresses that the attendants liked, but none of them looked good on more than one of them?" Monique asked.
Tori nodded. "I've brought the two they liked the most, I hoped they might give you some ideas." She led the designer to where the two dresses were hanging. "The first looked great on the fuller figured women, but made the thin ones look like boys, while the second suited the taller and slimmer ones better."
Monique studied the two and took out her sketch book. "The first dress isn't that different from one of my ideas." She showed the drawing to Tori. Perhaps if she made some adjustments to the bodice and neckline, it would be more attractive on slimmer women. While she pondered that, the other women began to arrive.
"You came!" Becca exclaimed, rushing to Monique. "Oh, I am so grateful and so thrilled that you're doing this for us."
Monique smiled at the bride-to-be, and Tori said, "Monique thinks she can modify one of the dresses you liked so that it's flattering to everyone."
But Monique was now looking at the second dress. "You know, if we use the shoulder treatment from this one...hmmm...yes that would work very well!"
"She's fabulous, isn't she?" Randy said softly to Audra as she watched Monique do her thing.
Audra smiled. "Yes she is."
Monique began a new sketch incorporating her ideas so she could show the women what she had in mind. As they stood around watching her, there were lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs'.
Tori had to excuse herself as the door opened on two other customers. One of them, a tall, well-dressed, middle-aged black woman glanced at the group of women crowded around someone with a sketch pad.
"Monique?" she said in surprise.
Monique looked up. "Mom?"
