Before Dorothy had something to eat, Michaela walked her past the kitchen, to the downstairs bathroom, and had her wash her face with soap and warm water. She then told her to rinse her mouth with a solution of saltwater. Since her lip stopped bleeding, Michaela felt comfortable serving her supper.
Dorothy didn't eat much. She pushed most of the food around her plate and answered the children's questions. She told them over and over that she was okay, she had just fallen off her bike. It was an excuse that the kids accepted.
Later that night, Michaela put Brian to bed and set up a movie for Matthew and Colleen in the basement. It was one of her favorite movies as a child, FernGully: The Last Rainforest. She put fresh sheets on Matthew's bed and was now examining Dorothy in his room.
"Thank you for doing this," Dorothy said, as Michaela gently touched her face, "I would never do this, but I didn't have anywhere else to go. I hope I still have a job here, even though I brought my problems to your door-step and I'm sleepin' in your son's bedroom."
"Of course you have a job here," Michaela said. Upon examination, she found that someone had punched Dorothy in the face, and more than once. She didn't feel any fractures or see anything that would warrant an x-ray. She did see evidence of broken capillaries near the cheekbone, where she'd been hit. The bruising around her eye and cheekbone was terrible. Right now, it was slightly off color, swollen, and sensitive to the touch. Michaela knew that by tomorrow morning, the right side of her face was going to be blue, purple and black, "Besides, Matthew and Colleen both thank you for the excuse to sleep in the basement."
"The kids are so sweet," Dorothy said as Michaela examined her bottom lip, "Colleen didn't have to sleep down there."
"I know," Michaela said with a laugh, "If Matthew was getting to sleep down there, then I had to let Colleen sleep down there too or I would never hear the end of it."
"You hafta pick your battles with children, don't ya?" Dorothy commented, remembering her kids when they were young.
"You do," Michaela sighed, "There are some things that I won't compromise on, but that was not something worth fighting over tonight."
"Not many houses are built with basements anymore," Dorothy said, changing the subject.
"I elected to have a basement in this house," Michaela said and then told Dorothy a little bit of her family history, "My grandmother's house had a basement. My grandmother never threw anything away. That was the part of the house where she kept all of her stuff from decades past," Upon her examination, Michaela concluded that Dorothy's lip was bruised and swollen. There was a small abrasion, but it didn't warrant sutures, "Whenever I went into the basement, I felt like I was walking into a 20th century museum. That basement was also where my sisters and I would find most of our Halloween costumes."
"Did she have dresses from the '60s down there?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes," Michaela answered, remembering her grandmother fondly, "She had pieces from earlier decades too. My mother used to try to convince her to get rid of some of it. She suggested that she give some of her stuff to charity, or sell it, but my grandmother grew up during the Great Depression."
"So she couldn't get rid of anything," Dorothy said, "My mother was the same way."
"Yes," Michaela confirmed, "I don't have anything like that in my basement. Since I remember my grandmother's basement so fondly, I wanted to create a fun space for my children. The television is down there, along with the Apple TV and Nintendo Switch. I don't let my children watch TV or play video games very much, but I try to watch a family movie with them at least once a week."
"You are good for keepin' them away from that," Dorothy said, "There are far too many children obsessed with television and social media, my grandchildren included."
Michaela sighed, "Each of my children has a tablet. They can't download anything without my permission, and I can check what's on their tablets from my tablet. I let them use the tablets for educational purposes and games. None of them are allowed on social media."
"Brian has a tablet too?" Dorothy asked in confusion. She figured he was too young for one.
"He has a Leappad," Michaela said, "It has preschool learning games on it. It's the only electronic toy that he has. In fact, the tablets are the only electronic toys that any of the kids have. Other than the stuff in the basement."
"I see," Dorothy said.
"They aren't allowed on their tablets for more than thirty minutes a day unless it's for a homework assignment," said Michaela. She applied a small bit of Neosporin on Dorothy's lip abrasion and then sat down next to her, "Same with the Nintendo. You know that already, you're my nanny."
"Yes and they are good at followin' the rules. Why are you so strict about that?" Dorothy asked, "I think it's a good thing, but I have found that many parents aren't strict about it. My daughters aren't. It seems that my grandchildren do everything in front of a screen."
"Well," Michaela said, " Their…well, it was my fault too. Matthew used to play with electronic toys non-stop from age five to six. Colleen was still a baby and Brian wasn't born yet. The more he played with electronics, the more he wanted to play with them and nothing else. It was like an addiction, so I put a stop to it. I have always compared it to letting them eat sweets. As far as I'm concerned, they can have sweets, but in moderation. They can't eat sweets twenty-four hours a day, it's dangerous to their health."
"You're a good mother," Dorothy said honestly.
"Thank you," Michaela said, "We've got to talk about your injuries now."
"Okay," Dorothy said nervously.
"I'm going to give you some over-the-counter ibuprofen to help with the pain and swelling. I think the over-the-counter stuff will be strong enough, but if it isn't, we'll go to my office tomorrow and I'll write you a prescription for something stronger," Michaela explained.
"Thank you," said Dorothy.
"I'm going to give you a cold compress that I want you to keep on your face for twenty minutes," Michaela instructed, "I'm not seeing signs of a concussion, but to be on the safe side, I'm going to wake you in the middle of the night to ensure that things have not gotten worse."
"You don't have to worry about that," Dorothy told Michaela, "I don't think I'll sleep a wink tonight."
Michaela didn't like the sound of that. She had to ask another question before she could get to that one, "Are you hurt anywhere else on your body?"
"No," Dorothy answered plainly and honestly.
Now Michaela had to ask the hard question, "Who hit you, Dorothy?"
"Nobody," she lied anxiously, "I, I, I ran into my bedroom door in the dark."
When Michaela heard that answer, she wanted to ask her if she ran into her door before or after she ran into someone's fist? Based on Dorothy's injuries and her actions of that night, that answer was a clear and obvious lie that made no sense. So Michaela had a dilemma. Dorothy was hurt and likely embarrassed. She wanted her privacy and wanted Michaela to respect that. On top of that, this was the first and only time she'd seen Dorothy in this condition, and she wasn't Dorothy's friend, she was her employer. If Michaela challenged her explanation, Dorothy could simply quit her job and never come back, and Michaela would never get a chance to get to the bottom of this. She decided to accept the lie, and watch Dorothy carefully from here on out.
"I will get you the ice," Michaela said, getting up to leave, "Please get some rest."
"Thank you," Dorothy said.
It was Friday, late-morning, and Sully was driving his truck down the road. He turned down Third Street, a street that Sully usually tried to avoid because that's where his father-in-law's store was. He knew that any chance encounter with Loren could lead to a public argument, which was something he didn't want.
However, Third Street was also the street where his new friend worked. He and the beautiful Dr. Mike had a playdate planned for tomorrow evening, but Sully was itching to see her now. It was half past eleven and Sully wondered if she'd made any lunch plans yet.
Michaela sat inside her office. Her eleven o'clock appointment had canceled, so she had extra time in her office for lunch and for online shopping. She also planned to call Dorothy to see how she was feeling.
It had been a couple days since Dorothy stayed the night, and Michaela had seen her since, because Dorothy was her nanny after all. Since the incident, Michaela was trying to become better friends with her, so perhaps Dorothy would feel more comfortable confiding in her.
As she was sitting in her office, Michaela's cell phone rang. It was Sully.
"Hello," She said, answering as soon as she saw his name flash on the screen.
"Mornin', Dr. Mike," Sully greeted her kindly, "How are ya?"
"Fine," she replied, not being able to help smiling wide, "How are you?"
"Doin' well," he answered, "I'm at the stoplight on Third and Olympic Avenue."
"So you're right outside?" Michaela asked, recognizing her office cross streets.
"Sure am," Sully admitted with a chuckle, "I was wonderin' if you had any lunch plans."
Michaela closed her eyes, feeling butterflies flapping their wings in her stomach, "I brought my lunch today, and was planning to eat in my office."
"How about instead of eatin' in your office, you eat in the park?" Sully suggested, "There's a public park, oh about two miles away. It's a nice day today, we probably won't get too many of those for a while. There are lots of trees in the park, you can see all the pretty Fall colors."
"You've talked me into it. Will you be giving me a ride to the park?" Michaela asked, starting to flirt.
"Yes, Ma'am," Sully said, flirting back, "There's a McDonalds that I need to stop at on the way."
"You don't eat that kind of food all the time do you?" Michaela asked, a little repulsed, "It's very bad for your health."
Sully chuckled into the phone, "Not all the time, but I do like the occasional Big Mac every once in a while."
She decided that she could live with "every once in a while". She got up from her desk and got her coat, purse, and lunch bag and asked, "So you're outside?"
Sully parallel parked next to the front door of her office and answered, "I'm at your door."
Sully and Michaela sat at a picnic table in the park, each with their lunch in front of them. Michaela had a salad that she brought from home, and Sully had his Big Mac.
"So I've never asked you, what do you do for a living?" Michaela inquired curiously.
"I own a cattle ranch," Sully said.
"What do you do specifically?" Michaela asked curiously. Her knowledge of ranches and farms was limited.
"I'm the owner. I own the land and all the cattle and other animals on it. I'm responsible for all purchases and expenses that keep the ranch goin'. I make all the business deals and make sure we're followin' all legal ordinances," Sully explained and then sipped his Sprite through a straw, "I also participate in the day to day stuff like herdin' cattle to and from different pastures on my land, and protectin' the herd from wild animals and occasional poachers. I do have business partnerships with local large animal vets, but sometimes in an emergency, I've had to provide veterinary care to the animals."
"How did you get into that field?" Michaela asked, wanting to know more. She hoped she wasn't blushing, because as he was describing what he did, she imagined him in a cowboy hat, riding shirtless in the sun, with a sheen of sweat coating his muscular chest. The mental image reminded her of the sexy man calendar that her sister Marjorie sent her, and all of her sisters, to celebrate Marjorie's divorce from their ex brother-in-law, Everett.
"I inherited the ranch," Sully said honestly, "The Sully Ranch has been in my family for a few generations now. My father ran it before he died. His second-in-command ran operations in my name until I was old enough to take over. She still runs the day to day operations for me. She hires and fires for me, and so on."
"Why didn't your mother take over operations?" Michaela asked.
When Sully heard that question, he realized that she didn't know what his family history was. Why should she know? He hadn't told her yet, "My parents died when I was 10. My mom that you met, is actually my foster mother. We're real close."
"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry to hear that," Michaela said, feeling slightly embarrassed, "Are you an only child?"
"No, I had three brothers. One of them was my brother by blood. The other two were my foster brothers," Sully said.
"What do you mean by were?" Michaela asked and then wondered if she was getting too personal.
"My older brother, Brecken, and my foster brother, Walter, died too. My foster brother, Daniel, is still livin'," Sully confessed.
Michaela was astonished. He had a lot of darkness in his life. He was more like her than she thought. She thought that she was the only one that was so unlucky to have lost as many people as she had and all at the same time. He'd lost a lot of people too.
When Michaela hadn't said anything to him in two minutes, he decided to change the mood of the conversation.
"Not everyone dies around me, I promise," Sully joked, not knowing what else to say. He hoped that his revelation hadn't scared her away. He didn't imagine it would, but it was kind of a downer, "I've just had some bad luck."
"I didn't think anything like that, Sully," Michaela said a little tensely.
"Why don't we talk about somethin' else?" he suggested with a nervous laugh, "Somethin' lighter."
"I think that's a good idea," Michaela agreed. Michaela had planned to wait until they met again at Ice Cream Social to talk to Sully about baseball, but she thought that now was as good a time as any, "My son tells me that you coach little league."
"I do," Sully said, smiling at her. He always liked talking about baseball, "I've coached Zachary since tee-ball. This is a big year because this will be the last year that I'm coachin' him officially. I'll always coach him as a father. He's in minors right now. He'll go to juniors next year and he'll have more seasoned coaches than me."
"You don't sound like you want to give up coaching," Michaela commented.
"I'm not," Sully said, "I plan to put my daughter in tee-ball when she's old enough. Then I'll coach softball."
"How do you know that she'll take to it?" Michaela asked curiously, "I once tried to put Matthew in piano lessons and he didn't take to that at all."
"Hanna's already taken to it," Sully explained, "For her last birthday, I got her a plastic and foam tee-ball set. It's lightweight and pink and she loves hittin' the ball."
"You're very in tune with your children," Michaela commented.
"I take that as a very big compliment," Sully said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Matthew's never played," Michaela said, "Since he met Zac at school, he's really taken to baseball and I would like him to try out."
"Tryouts are on February 15th, next year," Sully said and then he noticed Michaela smiling and he asked her, "What?"
"That's my birthday," Michaela told him, "I guess I already have plans."
"You're a nice mom," Sully said, "Tryouts usually end by the mid afternoon. You'll have time to have a birthday celebration in the evenin'," Sully took mental note of her birthday. If they were still friends, and he had a hunch that they would be, then he would need to do something special for her birthday. Take her out to dinner? Bring her some flowers? Maybe both.
"February 15th is four months away," Michaela mentioned. She really wanted Matthew to have something to do now, "Is there anything that he can do in the meantime?"
"Since your son hasn't played before, does he want to come to conditionin'?" Sully asked.
"Conditioning?" she questioned.
"Yeah," Sully said, "Another thing I do at the ranch is run a baseball trainin' camp every Saturday durin' the off season so the boys keep their skills up. It's from 7 to 11 am. I train Zac and a few other boys that have been playin' with us since tee-ball."
"What do you do during training?" Michaela asked.
"Practice," Sully said, "Pitchin' and throwin', catchin', runnin', battin', team buildin'... Once a month, we meet at the field and I take them to the battin' cages."
"You do all that for your son?" Michaela asked, she was truly amazed. The last time she met a good father, it was her own father. She was very impressed.
"Yeah," Sully said with a laugh, getting a chance to look into her eyes. Every time he looked into her green and brown eyes he felt goosebumps rise in his skin and tingles shoot down his spine, "It gives me a chance to spend time with him and share somethin' that I love with him. My father, and I mean my birth father, used to coach me and my older brother. Later on, our foster father carried on the tradition just to get to know us better. I played in high school too."
"That's wonderful," Michaela said, not wanting to break eye contact.
"I know we're goin' out tomorrow night, but why don't ya come to my ranch tomorrow mornin' with the kids?" Sully suggested, "Matthew goes to school with Zac, so he probably already knows Ben. There are two other boys, Cody and Mason, that go to a different school that'll be there too. Ben usually brings his little sister, Rosemary, who's about Colleen's age. Usually, she plays with Hanna, but I think she'll like playin' with Colleen. They might already know each other."
"Colleen has never mentioned anyone by the name of Rosemary," Michaela said, "Matthew has mentioned Ben before."
"Then they'll get a chance to meet," Sully said, "That just leaves the toddlers. I think Brian would like playin' with Hanna's tee-ball set."
"That sounds great," Michaela said, "Do we need to bring anything?"
"Nah, just yourselves," Sully said, "But I must ask, are your kids afraid of dogs?"
"Dogs?" Michaela asked. They'd never been around dogs, so she wasn't sure if they were afraid of them or not, "Why?"
"I have a big dog named Wolf," Sully explained, "He usually comes with me wherever I go, but he picked up a thorn in his paw last week and has been recuperatin' at home."
"Does he bite?" Michaela asked.
"Only if he senses a threat," Sully said with a grin, "You and the kids ain't a threat."
"Very well," Michaela said, still unsure of the dog, but had the feeling that she could trust Sully to not let anything bad happen, "We'll be by tomorrow at seven."
"I'll text ya my address," he said.
To be continued, Please leave me a review! I love reading them!