It took two months for Perry to be permitted to travel. He and Della were leaving the following week. Della was no longer reliant on her cane. One night, Tony, Angela, and Mona went out for dinner. They had been helping Perry and Della so much that the couple told them to go out and have fun. Perry and Della stayed with the kids. "Della, dinner's almost ready," Perry called from the kitchen.
Della stood and walked to the stairs, "Samantha, Jonathan, it's time for dinner," she yelled up the stairs.
The two kids started hurrying down the stairs, "I can't wait to see what grandpa's made," Sam said. The kids were almost at the kitchen door when something shattered the front window. Suddenly, there was an explosion and the front door area was on fire. The explosion had knocked Della off her feet, "nana!" They yelled and began to run towards the woman.
"No, go outside," she said.
Perry came out of the kitchen, "Sam, Jonathan, go outside." Perry hobbled over to his wife who was still on the floor. He had been having trouble with his knee.
"Perry," she stopped to cough, "I can't walk." Perry began pulling Della up, "what are you doing?"
"I'm getting you out of here."
Della coughed as her husband lifted her into his arms, "Perry, put me down."
"I'm not leaving you to die." Perry carefully, but quickly, made his way out of the house. They could already hear sirens.
Angela, Tony, and Mona came running up, "dad, nana and grandpa are still in there."
Just then, Perry emerged with Della in his arms. He placed her on the lounge chair in the backyard before collapsing.
"Perry," Della said desperately.
"I'm fine," he said in exhaustion.
When the fire trucks arrived, they radioed for an ambulance. "Tony," Della choked out, "go with your father."
"Who's gonna go with you?"
"I will," Angela volunteered. "Mother, will you drive the kids?"
"Of course," Mona said.
When the paramedics arrived, they went to Perry first, "no, my wife, she needs you first."
The paramedics went to the woman who was struggling to breathe. The other set of paramedics tended to Perry. In the ambulance, Angela held Della's hand. She could tell that the woman was frightened. "Is she going to be alright?" Angela asked the EMT.
"I wish I could tell you. Could you try to help calm her down?"
"Sure," Angela said, "Della," she waited for the woman to look at her, "it's okay. Perry's okay," she said knowing what was stressing the woman out. "He just lost his balance when he put you down. He didn't land hard."
Della shakily removed her oxygen mask, "his heart," she croaked out before coughing.
Angela put the mask back on the woman, "Tony told the EMTs. They put a monitor on him and made a note."
When they arrived at the hospital, Angela held Della's hand until she let go to go to the waiting room. Della's heart rate went up and the medical staff called Angela over. She took Della's hand and helped her to calm down while the doctor and nurses checked her over. The staff had Della sit up and Angela sat on the bed next to her, with an arm around her. A nurse took off the mask and had Della cough up as much soot as possible. Angela rubbed the woman's back and reassured her the entire time. Before the mask was put back on, Della said her husband's name. A nurse walked in not long after, "Mrs. Mason, your husband asked me to let you know that he's doing fine. He's being treated for smoke inhalation. They did a scan to make sure he didn't break anything when he fell. They're pretty sure he didn't. Also, we're keeping a close eye on his heart. So far, so good."
Della smiled at the woman who smiled back before leaving. Angela helped her to lie down and bent down so that her head was close to Della's, "I told you." Della smiled and nodded.
Perry didn't break anything and his heart was fine. Della had injured her hip again. It wasn't broken, but it was bruised pretty badly.
The family went to visit Della and Perry once they were in their room. An hour later, Paul walked into the hospital room. Perry looked at the others, "could you all step out for a moment?" The family left, reluctantly. "What did you find out?" Perry asked as the door shut.
"Not much," he said. "The bomb wasn't strong enough to do more than it did. It went through the window when Della was the only one in plain sight. I'm thinking she was the target and they were hoping you wouldn't be able to get to her."
"So we need to find someone who hates me, but not Perry?" Della asked. "I can think of someone."
"I doubt she would do something like that," Perry said.
"Well, we can't go back to that house."
"No one can for now." Perry ended up booking suites for everyone at a nearby hotel. He wasn't sure how long he and Della were staying, but he made sure that the others could stay until the house was fixed up. Della and Perry were released four days later. They wanted to keep a close watch on the couple considering their recent health problems.