Chapter 11

Standing in the doorway was Lula and Mary Lou.

Astonished, I stood there staring at them.

"Well, aren't you gonna let us in?" asked Lula.

I stepped aside to let them in.

Finally I managed to ask them what they were doing here.

They looked at each other and Mary Lou spoke up. "Well, after I spoke to you, I rang the office and asked Lula if she knew were you where staying, after I she told me that she didn't I asked her if she wanted to come with me, and of course, she jumped at the chance. I also filled her in on the story, I hope you don't mind" Mary Lou looked at me, I shook my head, well at least I wouldn't have to repeat that part of the story again. "Anyway" Mary Lou continued "just before we got on the plane for Reno, my cell phone rang, did I tell you I got a cell phone, Lenny bought it for me, so he could ring me if the kids became any trouble" she glanced at me, "oh, like I said, my cell phone rang, it was Joe, he'd got the number from Lenny, anyway he wanted to know if I was coming to see you, apparently he overheard the end of our phone call, when you said that you think you needed me there, anyway, I got the feeling that something was up, so we got here as fast as we could, Lula drove" I nodded, I knew how fast Lula could drive.

"And, that's not all" Lula said. "About 1/2 an hour after we landed in Reno, I got a call from Ranger, with almost the same message, except he rang the office first and Connie told him that we were on our way here, Connie was pretty pissed that she couldn't come, but you know that slime ball Vinnie wouldn't let both of us go at the same time."

We sat in silence for a while. Mary Lou was the first to speak up. "Steph, what happened? When I spoke to you this morning, both Joe and Ranger where here, but now both of them are on there way back to Trenton, and your still here"

I started to fill them in on the rest of the story, from the kiss to Joe's note, their faces went from blank to mouths open, jaws on the ground.

When I finished story telling hour, Lula was the first to speak up, "Dang girl, watcha gonna do?"

"I honestly don't know, I can either go back to Trenton and face then both, or I can still go to Philli, like Joe and I planned"

"You and Joe were going to Philli?" Mary Lou asked

"Yeah"

Isn't that where you went with the horses arse?"

I thought for a minute, "Shit, yeah, our crappy honeymoon"

"Do you think someone trying to tell you something?" Lula asked

"Like what, that I shouldn't honeymoon in Philli?"

"Or that Joe's not right for you?" Lula said

"Don't say that, Steph and Joe are meant to be" argued Mary Lou. "It was foreseen by Grandma Bella"

I sat on the bed, listening to then argue about who I was meant to be with. Then I passed out.

******

When I woke up I was in a hospital bed with an IV drip in my arm. I opened my eyes and glanced around the room.

On my left was Mary Lou, asleep in the chair beside me, looking to my right, Lula was flicking though a magazine.

"Lula?" I croaked

"Shit, Steph, you're awake. Mary Lou wake up, she's awake"

Mary Lou slowly opened her eyes. "God, Steph, you have no idea how worried we were"

"Wh, what happened?"

"Do you remember, you passed out while we were arguing"

I thought for a second, "Oh, um, can I get a drink?"

Wordlessly Lula handed me a glass filled with water.

"What day is it?" I asked, handing the glass back to Lula

"Friday 4th Feb, you've been out cold for 2 days" Mary Lou replied, "hey Lula, why don't you go and find a doctor, I need to talk to Steph"

"Sure, don't go anywhere"

When Lula left the room, Mary Lou said "You have no idea how worried I was, we just couldn't wake you up." I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "Hell, I promised myself I wouldn't cry" She took a moment to compose herself. "I rang your parents" Mental grimace, "Your mother wanted to come down here to look after you, but I told her that we were you, and that if anything happened, we would ring her straight away. I also rang Joe, now don't get angry, he needed to know"

"I didn't lose my baby did I?" I asked

"No, you were lucky, you should really talk to the doctor about this"

"Did you speak to Joe?"

"No, he wasn't home."

We just sat in silence until Lula came back with the doctor.

"Hello Stephanie, I'm Doctor Rogers, but you can call me Doctor Tim. I treated you when the ambulance bought you in."

"Um, Lula, I think we'd better leave them alone" Mary Lou said.

"Why?"

I looked over at her and glared

"Okay" she said, leaving the room with Mary Lou in toe.

"So Doc, what's up?" I asked

"Well, you passed out from dehydration and starvation, and you almost lost your child" Doctor Tim stated straight to the point.

I looked at him in shock, finally finding my voice, I asked "Will we be ok?"

"After a lot of rest, and we get some fluids into you, you should be fine. When was the last time you ate a full meal?"

I thought back, it was the night Joe and I arrived in Carson City. "Tuesday"

"You've been here for two days, which means before that, you hadn't eaten for 2 days, which isn't good. You've only just reached the end of your first trimester, which does mean that the chance of miscarriage is slightly less, but only if you look after yourself properly. You need to get plenty of iron in your diet, and you have to look at your diet, make sure your eating all the right things, you also need to exercise. Do you smoke?"

I shook my head no.

"Good. When do you have an appointment with your doctor?" Doctor Tim asked.

"I haven't made one"

"Well, usually by now, pregnant women have had a doctors appointment, just to check things, so I suggest that the moment you get back to Trenton, you make an appointment with your doctor."

"How long will I have to stay here?"

"All going well, we should check you out on Sunday morning. Any more questions?"

I shook my head no, and Doctor Tim left.

Ten minutes later Lula popped her head in though the door. "Is the coast clear?" she asked

"Sure, Doctor Tim left 10 minutes ago"

"So, what's the prognosis?"

"We're going to be fine, provided I look after myself. Where's Mary Lou?" I asked.

"Talking to your mother, well, she called Supercop first and got his answering machine again, then she called your mother. I don't think she'll be back for a while"

"Oh"

"Now, I did something productive, I called Connie and gave her an update, then I called Batman, and let his answering machine know what was going on."

"You did what? And how with you get Batm, I mean Ranger's phone number?"

"I swiped it from your cell phone months ago, and I called Batman, because he needed to know"

"So, how's Connie?" I asked

Lula spent the next 30 minutes filling me in on all the dirt that I had missed while I was away, from Joyce being arrested, and the fact the Lula got to go after her, that got a smile from me, especially when Lula told me how she sat on her. She also filled me in on the lasted gossip surrounding me. Some of which was very funny, other wasn't. Apparently the entire burg knew that Joe was with me, but that was old news. Lula told me that Connie had told her Joe had arrived home really late on Thursday night, and hadn't left his house since. He wasn't opening the door or answering the phone to anyway including his mother or grandma Bella. This had me a little worried.

Mary Lou came back later and filled me in on her conversation with my parents. Apparently dad was really upset, which was odd, but comforting all the same. Grandma wanted to know if she should go around to Joe's and shoot out his tires.

I spent the next two days resting in bed, bored out of my mind. Doctor Tim had confiscated my cell phone, so I couldn't call my mother, which was a blessing in disguise. But it also meant that I wouldn't know if Joe or Ranger had called. But I was sure that Mary Lou and Lula would tell me. They didn't visit me much over those two days, once I had woken up, they had found something else to do, what it was I didn't know.

I was laying in bed waiting for Doctor Tim to come and discharge when there was a knock at the door, and John and Lynn Lehuray popped their head in.

"Hey guys, come in"

"Are you sure?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for the doctor to come in and discharge me. How did you find out I was here?"

"Joe rang us, and told us you were here…" John replied.

"Did he ask you to visit me?" I asked

"Well, not in some many words, but he really, really sounded stressed. What happened between you two? The last time we saw you, you had just gotten your license and we were all getting ready to go to Incline Village."

I proceeded to tell them what had happened. A little over 20 minutes later they were up-to-date on the Steph and Joe story.

"What are you going to do?" asked Lynn.

"Dunno, go home I guess, try and patch things up. Or I'm going to go to Philli for a while."

John and Lynn stayed for another 10 min, until Doctor Tim came in with my discharge papers.

Saying goodbye to John and Lynn, I tuned to Doctor Tim and asked "Can I go home now?"

"Yes you can and I have called your friends, they are on their way in. I just have a few things to talk to you about. Do you remember all the things we talked about?"

I nodded "Yes"

"Good, because it's really important. Ok, don't forget to make an appointment with your doctor when you get home. When your friends get here, I'll send a nurse with your final papers and a wheelchair."

"Bye Doctor Tim, its been real, and don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I never have to see you again."

Doctor Tim laughed. "I hope I never have to see you again either" He waved as he left the room.

5 minutes later Mary Lou arrived with some clothes, thank god, because I had looked around my room and hadn't seen the clothes I had been bought in wearing.

Taking the clothes from Mary Lou, I got changed and told he about my visit from John and Lynn Lehuray and Doctor Tim.

"So what are you going to do?" Mary Lou asked.

"I'm not sure, I guess check out and go back to the hotel, stay there for a few days, then go home"

"That's not what I meant"

"I know, but…"

"But what? Make a decision Steph, it's either Joe or Ranger, and I think that you know who you want to be with, you just have to admit it to yourself"

"Your right, I do know which one I want."