When the Barones left, Frank and Marie had told their daughter that they would return closer to her due date. Robert and Amy had stayed a bit longer. The rest of the family thought they were just staying to bond with the other expectant couple, but there was more to it.
"Amy and I were wondering if you could help us find a place out here?" Robert asked.
"Really? Why?" Maryanne questioned.
"Well, we decided to move out and we really do love coming here. I decided to retire," Robert answered.
"You haven't told ma?" Maryanne guessed and Robert shook his head, "listen, if you want to move out here then just let me take care of everything. You'll have enough to deal with when you tell ma."
Robert and Amy left a few days later. Maryanne had talked her neighbor into selling their house to her. She put it in Robert and Amy's names and got Robert a job with a security company where he could work from home whenever he wanted and make a good living. She also invested some money for him. Robert couldn't believe his sister did all of this for him. Marie was devastated to find out that not only were Robert and Amy moving all the way across the country but that Maryanne was helping them.
When Maryanne was seven months pregnant, she began to have more swelling in her feet. It made being on them more painful than before. Ray was in town to cover a game and Maryanne offered to let him stay with her and Richard.
"What's wrong?" Ray asked as he followed his sister to the sitting room.
"What?"
"You're limping," Ray pointed out.
"My feet are just swollen." Maryanne tried to sit but was having a great deal of difficulty. Ray eventually walked over and helped her, "thanks."
"Yeah, sure," Ray said.
"How mad is ma?"
"She's not mad," Maryanne glared at her brother, "okay she furious."
"I did it because Robert and Amy asked for help."
"Yeah, they told her that."
"I didn't do it to hurt her."
"They told her that too."
"Then what's she mad about?"
"She thinks you should have known better and that you should have told them to talk to her before you did anything."
"Things are never going to change. I'll never do anything right."
"Yeah, but that's how it is with all of us. We should form a support group."
"You wouldn't be in it."
"What?"
"You're the golden child. You can do no wrong."
"That is not true. Ma doesn't think I spend enough time with her."
"Which is why she's always at your house bugging the hell out of your wife."
"Yeah, I can't believe Debra hasn't run away."
"It was hard to get her to leave Milan."
"It was hard to get her to leave here." Both were laughing when Maryanne gasped, "Hey, what's wrong?"
After a moment Maryanne looked at her brother, "I think that was a contraction." Twenty minutes later, Maryanne had another one, "Ray, it's too soon." She began to panic.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna drive you to the hospital just to be on the safe side," Ray helped her up, "we'll call Richard once we're there."
Ray took his sister to the emergency room. He told Richard that he would call if she was, in fact, in labor and to wait to come until then. "Mrs. Thorpe," the doctor began, "you are just having Braxton hicks contractions. I don't see any signs of labor. However, your blood pressure is too high for my liking. If something is causing this then you need to find a way to get rid of that stressor."
"I wouldn't say that to her unless you want to testify," Ray said. After Maryanne was discharged, Ray took her home. They had called to tell Richard that it was false labor. Ray took his sister upstairs to rest and then called the paper to tell him that he couldn't cover the game due to a family emergency. Something he didn't tell his sister before. He made another phone call while she slept.
"Listen, ma, you need to get over this whole thing," Ray said.
"What?"
"Ma, I just got back from the hospital."
"What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, ma, but Maryanne thought she was in labor. It was just false labor, but her blood pressure was too high. If her stress isn't reduced then the babies could come early or something could happen to them and Maryanne. Do you want that?"
"No," Marie answered.
"Look, I'm sad that Robert is moving because that means my brother and sister will both be far away. This is their life and they need to do what makes them happy. I'm sure that you will be more than welcome to visit. Besides, Robert is retiring so that right there is something you have wanted for a long time."
"True," Marie said, "I'll think about what you said, Raymond."
After they hung up, Ray went to check on his sister who was waking up, "what time is it?"
"A little after three."
"Aren't you supposed to be at the game?"
"Yeah, um, I called the paper and told them I had a family emergency."
"Really?"
"Well, I couldn't leave you here alone. I guess I could have called Cybill or had Richard come home, but it didn't feel right. Besides, Richard had some surgery he was doing today."
"Cybill actually had a shoot today too."
"See, I had to stay, and I wanted to."
"Thank you," Maryanne smiled.
"I talked to ma and told her to get over it."
"That couldn't have gone well."
"I told her what happened and she's gonna think about everything I said."
"What did you say?"
"That this is affecting you and the babies. I figured that would get her."
"Well played," Maryanne said.
"Why don't you go back to sleep?"
"I may not have a choice," Maryanne said as her eyes began to close.
While everything that day was out of character for Raymond, the look on his sister's face when she thought she was going into early labor triggered something in him. She looked absolutely terrified and that's a look he had never seen on his sister before.