Tina had mixed emotions about letting Louise contact Rudy, but in the end, she knew her sister was an adult and capable of making her own decisions. Still, she was glad that Zeke had taken Lily and the twins to play laser tag in hopes of getting them calm, so they would be quiet, and Louise could rest.
"Rudy is coming over." Louise announced about fifteen minutes later.
"Are you sure you are up for visitors?" Tina questioned.
"Tina, it's just Rudy." Louise reminded.
"I know but he did kind of break your heart last time you talked." Tine replied.
"He was grieving his father. Rudy gets a little crazy when he is upset. Remember when his mom married Paul and he tried to call in a bomb threat to Pickles cause Ms. Labonz kept bringing it up?" Louise recalled.
"Yeah, but Louise don't put yourself in a bad place. You just got out of the hospital. You almost died. You really need to take it easy." Tina pleaded.
"Yes mommy" Louise cooed.
"Louise" Tina warned.
"I am thirty years old; Tina I think I can handle this." Louise insisted.
"Fine but I am going to be in the kitchen and if I hear anything I don't like. I am kicking him out of my house and forbidding you from ever seeing him again." Tina replied.
"Do I have a curfew?" Louise questioned.
"Louise! Stop kidding around! I am being serious! I don't want you to get hurt!" Tina barked.
"I can handle myself." Louise scoffed.
"I know Louise, but I am still your big sister." Tine reminded.
Louise finally managed to get rid of Tina. She wondered if this was payback for her how protective she had been of Tina during their teen years. Before Tina finally saw the light and started dating Zeke. The key difference there was most of Tina's high school boyfriends were losers. Well Jimmy Junior was OK, but he was gay as hell. Seriously how the hell did Tina not see that? Louise knew when she was nine. Whatever. No use thinking about Tina. She had Rudy to deal with. She could handle Rudy. He was Rudy. Maybe not totally harmless but after twenty years of friendship. Louise knew she could hold her own.
Rudy arrived about five minutes after Louise finally got Tina off her back. She rose to answer the door, but Tina beat her to it. Reminding her that she was supposed to be resting. Because apparently walking to the door was too strenuous. Even though her doctor wanted her to slowly ease back into life. What did he know? He just twelve years of medical education and fifteen years of experience. Clearly, he knew nothing compared to Tina Binge Watched Every Medical Drama Ever Belcher. At least Tina gave them privacy.
"Hey" Louise greeted.
"Hello, I am glad to see you are doing better. You gave us quite the scare." Rudy replied.
"Yeah, I guess almost dying isn't as much as I cracked it up to be." Louise laughed.
"Aw the museum trip. The day we became best friends." Rudy recalled.
"Yeah" Louise replied.
"I am surprised you want anything to do to me." Rudy admitted.
"You broke my heart Stieblitz. I guess that's why I got so sick." Louise replied.
"That's what Tina told me. I guess she hates me now." Rudy sighed.
"Do you really feel that way about me? Or was it just because you were grieving your dad?" Louise asked.
"It was all too much." Rudy admitted.
"It's going to be a while before I can totally trust you. I may never be able to, but I do miss you. I don't want to lose you." Louise replied.
"Yeah, I understand" Rudy assured.
"I heard about Sylvie. I am sorry." Lousie apologized.
"I guess I deserved it." Rudy laughed.
"Why? You love that girl. Chloe is the worst. I don't know why you married her." Louise commented.
"Because you dumped me, and I convinced myself it was Chloe or nobody." Rudy admitted.
"That surgery I had in high school. When I was sick all the time. It was a hysterectomy for cancer." Louise confessed.
"Tina and Zeke told me." Rudy replied.
"Really?" Louise questioned.
"It was when you were sick. Your family was convinced that the cancer was back." Rudy clarified.
"I guess they also told you that the reason I broke up with you. Is that you wanted a family, and I could never give that to you." Louise guessed.
"We could have had a family. We could have adopted or used surrogacy. If you didn't want kids. The two of us could have been a family." Rudy replied.
"You would have been OK with that?" Louise asked.
"If I had known." Rudy replied.
"I never really wanted a baby, but I always liked the idea of being a foster parent. At least I did after that talk they gave us at school about kids in foster care." Louise admitted.
"I always wanted to adopt to. I kind of know what it feels like to be alone." Rudy agreed.
"I guess Tina was right. We would have both been saved a lot of heartache if we'd just had this talk fourteen years ago." Louise laughed.
"That's hindsight for ya." Rudy replied.
"You don't really hate me? Do you?" Louise asked.
"No" Rudy assured.
"Why are we so bidding at this? Are we not meant to be after all?" Louise wondered.
"I don't know. I think we have just both been through a lot and sometimes that makes us stupid." Rudy stated.
"You always were the wise one." Louise replied.
"You had a lot of wisdom yourself." Rudy replied.
"You don't have to butter me up. I am probably going to forgive you. I mean you are my best friend." Louise pointed out.
"Some friend" Rudy scoffed.
"Look you didn't know, and you have a right to say I'm irresponsible. Because let's be real I am." Louise sighed.
"You were irresponsible when we were nine! Everybody is irresponsible at nine! Even me I could have grabbed my inhaler from my backpack, but I didn't! I could have told you how I really felt about the bounce house, but I didn't! From what I see you are a very respectable woman, and I should not have lashed out like that. Grieving my dad is no excuse." Rudy explained.
"It absolutely is an excuse. God I can't imagine losing my parents. I know it's going to happen someday, but your dad was so young. And it must have been a horrible way to go. For you to have to watch. God, Rudy if it had been my dad or mom. I would have probably said things ten times worse." Louise admitted.
"He said he had nine months. I really thought he would live longer. Hell Patrick, Swayze lived almost two years with it and that was so long ago. I thought he would be OK." Rudy sobbed.
"Yeah, me too." Louise whispered.
"I still have my mom and Paul, but I don't know I was always closer to my dad and now he's gone." Rudy whimpered.
"Nobody is ever really gone." Louise reminded.
"I know but I can't ever have another conversation with him or see him outside of photographs and memories. Chloe kept me apart from him for so long. I lost the last years and didn't even know it!" Rudy cried.
"At least you were there are the end?" Louise offered.
"I just feel like I'm letting everybody down. I wish I could go back to my high school self and tell myself to never date Chloe. Tell myself what I know now about you. Maybe then things would have been different." Rudy sniffed.
"Or you would have still wanted children and broken up with me. Causing me to become a super villain." Louise suggested.
"Hehe" Rudy laughed truly laughing for the first time in months.
"There's my happy boy!" Louise cried.
"You always could cheer me up." Rudy recalled.
"We really were a pair." Louise added.
"Hey, I am sorry, but I have to get going." Rudy sighed studying his phone.
"So soon?" Louise asked.
"I am flying to California tomorrow. I have a custody hearing." Rudy announced,
"I would ask if you wanted me to join you, but I still have to take it easy." Louise replied.
"I would love to have you but knowing Chloe you showing up would make things worse. Just offer me good luck and a shoulder to cry on if things don't turn out the way I want." Rudy requested.
"Of course," Louise assured.
Louise breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that things had gone well. She was still hurt and angry, but it felt so good to talk to Rudy again. Zeke was less than thrilled about the interaction and Louise could hear Tina and him fighting about it from their room. She wasn't sure when Zeke and Tina became her second parents and even though she would never admit as much. She kind of liked it. Especially with her actual parents down in Florida now.
Rudy paced nervously around his hotel room. The truth was he wanted Louise with him. He knew she was sick and needed to recover but part of him wished that she had joined him. He hated that he was doing this alone. He hated that even though Sylvie had said numerous times that she wanted to stay with him, there was still a good chance he was going to lose. His heart was heavy, and he was tired. There was a knock on his door. It was his lawyer. It was time to head to the courthouse.
Sylvie shifted nervously in the court bench. She had really taken the ease of the initial custody agreement. She said she wanted to stay with her dad and his lawyer deemed she was old enough to decide. The judge took their side, and she was free to go. She had really screwed up going to that party and for what? So, a few drunk teenagers may have thought she was cool? What a waste.
"I want the court to know that everything that happened the night of the party was my fault. My dad left me in the care of a trusted friend who had to deal with an emergency with my friend's older brother. The other older brothers made a poor decision to host a party while the adult was gone. I made an even worse decision to try and join the party. I wanted to fit in but there were better ways to go about it. I could have joined a club or just put myself out there more. My father and Ms. Belcher did nothing wrong. I have never had much of a bond with my mother. My dad has always been the one who cared for me. For that reason, if he will have me. I want to stay with him, and I promise to never do anything so stupid again." Sylvie testified.
The jury was dismissed after Sylvie's testimonial. Rudy waited with bated breath. This was it. The jury was deciding his and Sylvie's future. He prayed they made the decision he wanted. He needed his girl back. He needed Louise back, but right now the focus was on Sylvie. Chloe smirked at the table across the aisle. At one point he had admired her "confidence" but now he knew she just used her looks to get what she wanted. She was the snakiest of the snakes. The jury returned about twenty minutes later. They handed the judge an envelope.
"The jury declares that Sylvia Chloe Stieblitz shall be returned to the custody of her father!" The Judge declared.
"What?!" Chloe cried.
"Everybody just feels that Sylvie is better off with her father." The foreman informed Chloe.
"Whatever! I am still young and hot. I can have another baby with a real man and this one I won't let turn into such a loser!" Chloe scoffed.
Two days later Rudy and Sylvie were returning to Seymour's Bay. Rudy was beyond relieved to have his girl back. Chloe was still trying to fight him, but Sylvie stood firm. Rudy knew just how lucky he was things. Could have very easily gone the other way. He had Sylvie back and soon he would have Louise back. He made a promise to be more appreciative. Because a few weeks ago it had really looked as if his life was over. He had two second chances. One he deserved and the other not so much, but he had them, nonetheless. He vowed then and there to never take his girls for granted again.