Max and Kimberly Burger went to visit his parents two weeks after Violet's wedding. The couple had been engaged for a year and hadn't picked a wedding date. Perry had also just had knee surgery after losing a hundred and fifty pounds. The young couple walked into the living room where Perry was resting. "What are you two doing here?" Perry asked.
"We have something to tell you," Max said, "where's mom?"
"Kitchen," Perry said.
Della walked into the living room, "I thought I'd heard you two," she said as she hugged them.
"Mom, sit with dad, we have something big to tell you," Max said.
Della took a seat by her husband, "did the two of you finally set a wedding date?"
"Yeah, we did," Max said.
"It's about time," Perry said.
"When is it?" Della asked.
"Actually, it was three days ago," Max revealed.
"What?" Della asked in shock.
"You eloped?" Perry asked.
"We felt that it was right for us at this moment. We'll renew our vows on our one-year anniversary so you can all be there."
"It's not the same," Della said, upset.
"Mom, we wanted to do it this way."
"You could have at least let us be there," Della said emotionally.
"Why did you elope?" Perry asked. "You two kept talking about a traditional wedding. What changed?"
Max and Kimberly looked at each other for a moment before turning to his parents, "we're going to have a baby." Della and Perry were speechless. "We know that we didn't have to get married, but it was important to us to be married when they were born."
Kimberly finally spoke, "I didn't want to be pregnant at my wedding and by the time anything could be planned, I'd be showing."
Della and Perry were happy about another grandchild. They had two others on the way. They were disappointed that they weren't present for their son's wedding, but it was done and there was nothing they could do to change that. Max was happy and that's all that mattered.
Della was stunned when she saw Laura Robertson. The woman had stopped Perry while he was on his way back from the bar. After they had finished talking, Perry decided to take Della back to the room. "Did you decide to return to the room because you were afraid I'd take my shot and smack her?"
Perry smiled, "no," he said, "I just didn't want to be near her."
"What did she say?"
"She said she was sorry about her behavior all those years ago."
"She should be, but do you believe her?"
"I don't know. I don't really care either."
Later that night, Laura barged into the Masons' hotel room, "Perry!"
"Laura, what the hell?"
"The door was unlocked."
Perry sighed, "what is it?"
"My husband's been arrested for murder. He didn't do it and I need your help to prove it."
Perry looked at his wife for an answer, "you're going to do it eventually. Might as well save us some time and agree now," she said.
"Alright, but we need to have some ground rules. You can't just barge in here. If you want to meet, it has to be on my terms."
"Yes, thank you, Perry," she said as she threw her arms around him.
Perry showed her out and locked the door behind her. He returned to the living room where he saw his wife smiling, "what?"
"How you get yourself into these messes, I'll never know."
"Let's just go to bed."
The two went to their room and crawled into bed. As always, Perry held his wife until they both fell asleep.
The next day, Della gave her best fake smile when she answered the door to find Laura. "I think Perry's expecting me," Laura said.
"He is," Della waved the woman in, "he had to go out, but have a seat. He should be right back. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Oh, no thank you," Laura said as both women sat. She noticed the photo by Della, "is that your family?"
Della looked at the photo and handed it to Laura, "yep, they're all grown up. Maureen just welcomed her third daughter, Hope, with her husband. Vince and his fiance are getting married next month. Vivian and Max's wife, Kimberly are both expecting in two months. Violet and her husband are expecting their first child in November."
"You have a beautiful family," Laura said.
"Thank you," Della smiled proudly.
"I'm sorry for that day at Perry's office. My behavior was disgraceful. Especially, in the presence of children."
"Apology accepted," Della said, "although, Maureen may not forgive you."
"Why?"
"She's the one who stomped on your foot."
"Yeah, that was more painful than you'd think."
"You're not the only one she's done that to. Maureen is very protective of me and Perry."
"Perry told me the other night that you nearly died the last time you gave birth."
"I was three weeks overdue with twins. I was in terrible pain and my blood pressure was high. It was three and a half days between the time my water broke and the time the first baby was born. After the second baby arrived, I hemorrhaged."
"Believe it or not, I'm glad that you're alright. You make Perry happy and it would have destroyed him to lose you. I care for him a great deal. I just want him to be happy."
Perry entered the room, "everything alright?" he asked nervously.
"Fine," Della said.
"Your wife was just showing me this lovely photo of your family."
"Well, we both like to brag about them," he smiled.
"You should," Laura said.
"Well, I'll leave you two to talk," Della said.
"You're not going to take notes?" Perry asked.
"I think you've got this one covered. Besides, I have a few things to do."
"Like what?" he asked just as the door closed. Fifteen minutes later, Laura left. "Alright, Della, she's gone," Perry yelled.
The door opened, "finally," Della said.
"Did you get those 'things' done?"
"Yes, I did," Della smiled.
"Now, when did you have this photo developed, picked up, and framed?"
"I may have squeezed all of that in yesterday."
Perry chuckled, "you're something else."
"Hey, I took my shot." Both Della and Perry smiled in reference to that day they returned to work after the boys were born. Perry was able to get his client acquitted, but unfortunately, the killer was Laura.
