Stephanie
I carry Gabriella and get her all set up in the car. Ranger is driving as we head back to Range Men.
"thank you for kicking everyone out last night" I say yawning
"they will be waiting for us"
I look back at Gabriella who fell back asleep as soon as thee car start.
"I am happy to have them"
I lean my head against the window. This whole experience was a huge wake up call.
"Hal picked up your car and there is now four EpiPen in the glove compartment"
I made sure to get some before we were discharged this morning for my purse
"thank you"
he takes my hand
"it wasn't your fault"
I squeeze his hand but do not answer. It was my fault, no matter how many items he tells me its not, it is. We arrive and park. Ranger takes Gabriella. He is rubbing her back and she is starting to wake up. We take the elevator to the apartments. I see the door open and give a small chuckle. Lester and Hank are in there arranging at least 20 different stuffed animals. I see Ella setting up some food and coffee. She gives us a smile
"I am so happy to hear she is alright"
she walks over to us
"I made blueberry pancakes"
"pancakes?" Gabriella mumbled.
Ella laughed
"I had a feeling you would like them"
Ranger puts her down but Lester picks her back up for a hug
"and after your breakfast we can play with all your new stuffies"
he kisses her forehead. Tank kisses the top of her head
"I will see you later"
he nods to Ranger and I then leaves. Lester is sitting at the table with Gabriella in his lap
"wish I was that natural" I mumble to Ranger.
I have been so focused on Morelli and Ranger that I have not been putting my all into being a mother. I promised myself last night that has to end. I take the cup of coffee and the other plate of pancakes. Ranger is just looking at Gabriella
"I will be gone the whole day but call if you need anything"
I nod to him,
"Bye Ranger" says Gabriella
"bye boss" says Lester at the same time.
"so, do you have to work today Lester?" I ask him
"nope took my day off to stay with you two lovely ladies" he smiles at me
"what about going to the shore?" Gabriella looks confused
"the Jersey shore" I say again
"have you seen the ocean before?"
she shakes her head
"no when mommy and daddy went to the ocean I always had to stay with the nanny" she says taking a bite from the pancakes
"so we will have to get you a swim suit" I say
"already got her one just in case"
"Ella?"
"she helped"
I laugh but we finish breakfast
"I will go grab a few things and I will be right back" said Lester leaving
"do you want to take one of your new friends with us?" I asked
"no they will get sandy"
I nod
"come on let's get you ready"
Luckily, they already put sunscreen in my bathroom as well. Turns out Ella bought up matching white sundresses and woven straw hats. I put the one-piece bathing suit on her under the dress and I do the same with mine.
"we will apply some now and more when we get back"
"Helps prevents skin cancer" she says
"yes" I lather her up.
"I'm back" called Lester.
We walk out
"you two look so cute!" he says
"I brought the camera" he said pulling on out
"strike a pose" I pick up Gabriella
"smile"
she presses her face against mine and Lester takes the picture. He is wearing a navy-blue t shift and matching shorts
"I also got us something"
He pulls out three pairs of aviator sun glasses
"when did you get these?" I take a pair and he puts the small ones on Gabriella
"I got them yesterday I was going to give them as a surprise yesterday"
ouch
"I'm sorry about that"
he waves his head "water under the bridge now we have to show this baby the ocean"
I laugh
"are we going to get eaten by sharks?" asked Gabriela
"I highly doubt it"
"did you know until the 16th century, sharks were known to mariners as "sea dogs". This is still evidential in several species termed dogfish, or the porbeagle"
"I did not know that"
"I loved reading about sharks, I know a lot about them"
"really tell me more" I say to her
"Oh evidence for the existence of sharks dates from the Ordovician period, 450–420 million years ago, before land vertebrates existed and before a variety of plants had colonized the continents. Only scales have been recovered from the first sharks and not all paleontologists agree that these are from true sharks, suspecting that these scales are actually those of thelodont agnathans The oldest generally accepted shark scales are from about 420 million years ago, in the Silurian period"
I have no idea what that means but I should encourage her
"I didn't know that sharks were so old"
"oh yeah they are a very old fish, the most ancient and primitive sharks is Cladoselache, from about 370 million years ago, which has been found within Paleozoic strata in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. At that point in Earth's history these rocks made up the soft bottom sediments of a large, shallow ocean, which stretched across much of North America"
we get her in her seat. She shares a lot of facts about sharks on the drive. I have no heard her speak this much and the guilt sinks in again. I have not been encouraging her educationally. I know she is very smart and I should be stimulating her. Lester and I ask her questions about sharks until we finally park at the beach.
"wow" she says looking around
"remember, hold my hand at all times, never talk to strangers and keep your hat on"
I say to her as I lather on more sunscreen, Lester is pulling an umbrella out of the car.
"come on let's get a good spot"
I take off both Gabriella's and my sandals so we are walking barefoot in the sand. We walk until we find a spot that we have a little distance between people. Lester sets up the umbrella and lays out the blanket he brought
"I'm going to run up to the venders, be right back"
I nod
"do you want to put your toes in the ocean, its too shallow for a shark"
she looks nervous
"its okay"
I take her hand
"I will be there the whole time"
she nods and takes my hand as we walk down to the waves
"see its okay"
she looks at the water
"I didn't think I would get to see it in person"
we walk closer and she puts on foot in the water
"cold!"
she jumps that foot out
"well of course, I highly doubt the sharks would like to be boiled"
she gives me an unimpressed look. I laugh but we take a step further in
"its not so bad" she said after a minute.
"okay I'm done"
she tugs my hand to walk away from the ocean.
"it wasn't so bad" she nods.
Lester comes back
"okay I got a bucket and shovel" he says putting some things down
"I also got some lemonade, water and water wings incase you decide to go swimming"
she picks up the bucket
"what do you do with this?"
"we build castles" I say
"with what?"
I laugh. We spend the next little bit making sandcastle while Lester takes pictures
"Its castle Rane Men"
Lester and I both laugh
"where king Ranger rules" she says smiling.
Lester takes over helping building castles while I sit down and drink some lemonade.
"Gabby come have some water, you need to keep hydrated"
she nods and drinks some water
"do you want some lemonade?"
she tries a sip of mine
"that's good"
she sits in my lap and drinks her lemonade. We walk down the beach; she has no interest to go swimming but that's fine. She collects a few sea shells she says she is going to give to Ranger, Lula and Tank. We go to another stall for lunch.
"are you sure you do not want to try and go into the ocean before we go" I say taking a picture of her trying to burry Lester in sand.
She yawns
"no I'm okay"
she walks to me and puts her hands up.
"I think that is a sign this day is done"
I yawn too
"its been an exciting last two days"
I run her back. Lester packs up quickly and we are back on the road
"thank you for coming with us" I say to him. He smiles
"you're welcome"
I give him a smile and we drive home in silence to make sure not to wake Gabby.