Chapter 29
An Imperfect Life - Responses
Thursday, July 4th
On Monday, shortly after Amelia had read Olivia's letter, she had found time to call her daughter and catch up on the latest news. The two giggled and chatted for a few minutes before inviting Lissa to join them in the conversation. Together, the three enjoyed thirty minutes of conversation. Shortly after Amelia explained the foster situation with Molly, the baby awoke from a nap and called out for company. After insisting that Amelia text pictures of the baby, the girls told her goodbye.
Now able to revel in the quiet of the morning while Owen fed Molly and tended to breakfast, Amelia propped up her pillows and sat up in bed. She couldn't remember the last time she actually wrote a letter, but she soon remembered how much she enjoyed doing so. During the first few weeks, Ryder had called and letters weren't necessary. For some unknown reason, the calls stopped and the letters started. Amelia hesitated to ask why, guessing Ryder had been caught with his pants down. Truly caught with his pants down. She reasoned that sometimes it was better to not know his actions and experiences.
July 4th. Happy Birthday to Lucas.
Dear Ryder,
I can't begin to tell you how much I've missed you. We are having a fun summer with the Littles, but our family feels incomplete without you, Nolan, Lissa, and Olivia. Of course, your absence tipped the scales – we were fine with the others being absent. Ha ha.
You were right – Dad and I have been working hard. We've tried to scale back our hours so we can spend more time together as a family. June was a snap – our residents and interns were nearing the end of the year. Once the new interns arrived on July 1st, Dad's been busy assessing their abilities, observing their readiness and assigning them to specialties. Dr. Webber requested to take a sabbatical this summer and will return on September 1st. Until then, Dad has the extra workload related to residency. I think he enjoys it and didn't realize how much he missed that job. The down side is that he's seldom home.
At least I see him at the hospital, right? Every now and then, we end up operating together. Even though we both try to run the surgery, I still enjoy working with him. He's usually working on someone's guts while I work on the patient's brain, so Dad is just out of range for me to shove, poke, or otherwise harass. Damn, that's frustrating. Ha ha.
Not long ago, Dad and I were called down to a trauma in the ER. When we entered the room, my resident and her intern were working on a tiny baby. Sadly, the little girl was banged up. Karev noticed evidence of mistreatment and a CT showed a brain bleed. Before I knew it, I was repairing the teeny, tiny vessels that had come close to rupturing.
The baby, Molly, pulled through the surgery with flying colors. Her resilience amazed us all, and I'll admit that I had to create reasons to go check on the brown eyed beauty. Although I never caught them in the act, Dad and Dr. Karev did likewise.
Long story short, Molly needed medically-trained foster parents. Since that's a rarity, I finally wore Dad down and convinced him to agree to foster Molly. She's fit right into the chaos at the Lake House. Even after just a few weeks, it seems difficult to remember life without her.
Remember how low key and easy going Lucas was when he was a baby? Molly has him beat. Her smile graces her face regularly and her eyes sparkle with wonder as she gazes at her surroundings and at whoever is with her. She cries just enough for us to be sure that she's developing and healing well and babbles nearly non-stop in an attempt to be part of the conversation.
Lucas reminds me of how you were with the twins – he's constantly trying to coax Molly to laugh. His work is easier than yours was – she falls for his antics, silly faces, and boy noises without fail. Every single day, Lucas points out how much he likes being a big brother. I try reminding him that she's not staying with us forever. He shrugs and states with confidence, "We'll see."
The twins are hot and cold about Molly. When Anna is in a solid space, she watches Molly from a distance and occasionally interacts with her. She reminds me of people who are awkward around babies and seem not to know what to do. If she's in a funk, Anna ignores the baby completely. I guess that's better than having her complain about the baby.
Ria has been having mood swings the past couple weeks. Most of the time, she's her sweet self and adores Molly. Out of the blue, she becomes hormonal, snappy, crabby and easily annoyed. Dad's in denial and convinced she's coming down with a virus. He keeps checking her temp and her tonsils, which only aggravates her further. Having lived through this with Livs, I'm convinced it's not a virus. Brace yourself – our sweet 9 year old seems to be entering puberty little by little. Sigh…
The Littles constantly bring up how much they miss you. The dogs miss you too – some days, they'll mope at the end of the driveway and wait for the gate to open. When it does, their heads pop up with anticipation. When they notice you're not the one coming through the gate, they plop their heads on the cement and whine. The other night, I opened your bedroom door to put some stray laundry away. Both dogs came bounding toward me and rushed into the room looking for you. When they discovered you weren't there, Bogey grabbed one of your t-shirts in his mouth and nosed it. It's his woobie now and he takes it everywhere. Barkley snuggles him all the time – I think she's trying to comfort him.
Believe it or not, Barkley and Bogey are now tended by Annabelle. She volunteered to help Lucas one evening and has taken over all the dog-related tasks. They're pretty spoiled by her – she brushes them non-stop and plays fetch with them every day. Dad found her snuggled in their garage bed with them the other night. She was sharing the weight of the world that she'd been holding inside – just like you used to do. Dad and I both became a little teary as we recalled the memories of our little Ryder and his best friends.
If you noted the date of the letter, you may be wondering why I'm not frantically preparing for our annual 4th of July bash. This year, at Luke's insistence, we postponed the party. He wanted the whole family here for his birthday. We figured that we'd combine his birthday with a going away party for Lissa and Nolan in late August. Our 4th of July event is such a given for so many of our friends that Dad and I sent out cards announcing the new date. As I gaze out the window, I'm relieved by the date change – the rain is pouring down in buckets. I can't imagine having to move the party inside. Instead of entertaining today, we're going to let the Littles have a PJ day and watch movies. Life has been so busy that a truly low-key day will be sublime.
I want to hear about the glider experience. Any other flying stories? And what's up with this 'friend' that you mentioned? Ryder Blake, are you feeling ok? You don't seem to be yourself. A friend that's a girl? Yeah…none of us are fully convinced, pal.
Dad's footsteps are in the hall. If I'm lucky, that means he's bringing me breakfast in bed. I'll sign off for now and wait to hear back from you.
With all the love in the world,
Mama Bear
Owen pushed open the bedroom door by leaning his back against it. As he entered the room, he turned and revealed a tray full of goodies. "Ria made the eggs and Lucas made the toast. I handled the sausage and hash browns. Anna supervised and Molly slept," he detailed.
"Thank you, Owen," Amelia spouted with a smile. "You are fantastic."
He kissed her as he set the tray down on the nightstand and wrapped his arms around her. Dying to return to bed and make love, he lost himself in their kisses. Within moments, he was on top of her. The blankets and his clothes served as temporary barriers that he hoped would soon disappear. As Amelia's hands unbuttoned his jeans, he offered a sultry smile and ripped off his shirt.
"This," Amelia purred, "is my kind of breakfast in bed."
Mixing a chuckle with a groan, Owen hummed as he kicked off his jeans and caressed Amelia's breast. Just as he turned onto his back but before his naked butt slipped under the comforter, the couple heard a small voice.
"Umm…" Ria announced with the baby in her arms, "Molly's stinky." Upon hearing her name, Molly babbled with joy. "And, Daddy, why are you nakey and why is your wiener sticking up?"
"How about if you take Molly to the nursery and one of us will be right there to change her," Owen suggested as he grabbed the corner of the comforter and threw it over himself. Ria backed out of the room and Owen slowly closed his eyes and shook his head. He grumbled sarcastically, "That was great."
Amelia tried to sympathize, but couldn't contain her laughter. She moved her eyes toward Owen's hips and assured him, "You know, Daddy, I am A…OK… with your big wiener and nakey ass."
"Very funny," Owen huffed as he crawled under the blankets. "Can you change Molly? I'm not sure I can ever look Victoria in the eye again." He covered his face with his hands as he exhaled slowly.
"Owen…" Amelia teased as she brushed her fingers against his cheek. "It happens to most parents." Owen rolled his eyes as he threw a pillow over his reddened face. "Besides, Handsome," she continued as she slipped into a robe, "it'll give her something to talk about in therapy someday."
As Amelia left the room, Owen threw a pillow at her. When it hit her, she glanced over her shoulder and winked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
Although the day was supposed to be free from stress and responsibility, Amelia found herself at the hospital that afternoon. Derek was operating on a passenger who had been ejected from a vehicle in a drunk driving incident, and Nelson was performing surgery on an older gentleman who had been rushed in with a blown aneurysm. Although Nelson was concerned that the man would not survive surgery, there was enough hope to proceed with intervention.
Amelia frowned at Owen as she ended the call and stated, "Hospital."
"I figured," Owen nodded as he held Molly in one arm and fed her with the other. "You're third up – what could be that critical?"
Grabbing her hair and exhaling loudly, Amelia gathered her keys and purse as she shared, "Kid dove into the lake and encountered a rock."
"Paralyzed," Owen commented with a grim tone.
Amelia leaned over to her husband with a sigh, "Hopefully not, but probably so." She pecked Owen on the cheek and kissed Molly's head, "You'll let the Littles know? I gotta run – I'm hoping to beat the ambulance there."
"Yeah," he promised slowly. "Go… but drive carefully." Molly watched Amelia head for the door and began to cry. Her sadness increased as she heard the garage door.
"Right," Amelia called out, having heard his instructions before the garage door closed. She backed out of the garage quickly and drove away.
"Oh, Molly," Owen comforted as he patted Molly's back, "She'll be home later." He walked to the play room and let the kids know that Amelia had to rush to work and that he was going upstairs to rock the baby. Mesmerized by the movie, they all muttered, "Uh huh" without eye contact or emotion. Singing Billy Joel's Goodnight My Angel, Owen slowly made his way upstairs as Molly howled in his arms.
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Once Molly calmed down and began to doze, Owen placed her in the crib. Letting her sleep this late in the afternoon would mean that she wouldn't go to bed as scheduled. Just the same, he was relieved to have a few moments of peace and quiet. He tiptoed out of the room and headed to the Master Bedroom.
Changing his shirt for the third time that day, Owen threw on a scrub top that had made its way home accidentally. When he turned back toward the door, he spotted the breakfast tray and went to collect it. On the floor under the tray, he discovered Amelia's letter to Ryder. Without reading it, he folded it and put it in his scrub top pocket.
After carrying the tray to the kitchen and cleaning it, Owen checked on the Littles and proceeded to his home office. He turned on the baby monitor so he could hear Molly and slipped a piece of paper out of the printer.
4 July
Ryder – I just discovered Mom's letter to you and thought I'd add my own note. Sounds like the summer is keeping you busy and engaged – it's almost like a pre-boot camp. Just wait for that…argh.
I didn't have a chance to read your letter nor Mom's response, but Mom tells me you have made some friends. One's a girl, huh? Really? Fess up, Ry – you can admit it to your old man. Is she a friend who just hasn't become a girlfriend yet? I didn't realize the summer was co-ed – I'm sure you were probably aware of that before you signed up. Ha.
How much free time do you have? Have you been off campus? Explored the area at all?
We had hoped to be Seattle tourists this summer and have seen some of the sights. Half the time, either Mom or I get called in. We've talked about trying to scale back, but it's difficult to find a way to be part-time at the hospital. The other day, we took the kids to the Space Needle. I think Anna was more excited that we let her have a Coke at the restaurant than she was about the view. Lucas kept your mom on her toes – she was uneasy having him running around up high. Before long, he was in trouble and required to hold her hand constantly. Ria didn't like being off the ground. In the end, Molly and I were the only ones who enjoyed ourselves. Oh…Molly – she's a baby we're fostering. Mom operated on her and fell in love. I have to admit Molly's captivating. I'm nuts about her too.
Did Mom tell you I hired a lawn service? How much does that get you going? I couldn't keep up with it myself and the kids are only so much help at their ages. Once you're home, I'll stop the service (just kidding).
I've been thinking about your car. Did you decide if you want to replace the Mustang? You're still home for another year, but the car won't go to the Academy with you after that. They have regulations on that for first year students, right? I had an idea the other day – maybe you could drive Nolan's Jeep or Lissa's car. They're planning to leave them here. Why they don't sell them, I'm not sure. As long as we're storing them, we might as well drive them. Think about it - we can figure that out when you return.
The dogs are great. Bogey isn't interested in running with me anymore. I think he's developing some arthritis in his hip. As long as he doesn't overdo it, he manages well. Barks still runs with me most mornings. She's such a wonderful companion. They miss you. Anna's been spoiling them with loads of attention, but they know you're not around. Bogey drags one of your shirts around like a baby blanket. He's grieving his boy.
I'm coordinating the intern/resident transitions this year, which I am enjoying. Some days, I wish that was the extent of my responsibilities. Being Chief is usually great, but sometimes it wears me down.
There's the news I have to share. Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love, Dad
