Chapter 61: Only One Way to Find Out

October 28, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“What’s your costume for tonight, Pumpkin?” Dad asked as we cuddled early on Saturday morning.

“A sexy chemistry professor!” I giggled. “Will you dance with me?”

“I already have a sexy chemistry professor!” Dad said. “Why do I need another one?”

Mom was SO lucky to have him! I squeezed my arm around his chest and breathed in, smelling his soap and deodorant. I wanted to say ‘because I was better’, but that would cause trouble. He wasn’t ready to hear that, and I was afraid he might never be.

“It’s actually Princess Jasmine, from Aladdin,” I said. “Stephie is coming as Princess Diana, and you can guess Ashley’s costume!”

“Cinderella! Is Nicholas coming as Prince Charles?”

I giggled, “He got fake ears!”

Dad laughed hard, “That’s awesome!”

“What are you wearing?”

“My formal kimono and a katana,” Dad replied. “Your moms are wearing their kimono as well.”

“I like that! It looks SO nice on you. But you should come as Aladdin!”

“So I’m YOUR date, and not your moms’?”

‘In my dreams!’ I thought, but couldn’t say.

“Will you dance with me?” I asked.

“Of course! I always do. What are you doing today?”

“Hanging out with Maria Cristina, Rachel, and Tiff. We’re going shopping.”

“I’ll hide my credit card!” Dad chuckled.

“Are the boys staying the night?”

“Yes. Eduardo and Elyse will use Winter’s old room and your brothers will sleep in their old room with Albert.”

“Breakfast is ready!” Mom said from the door to the sunroom.

“Bummer,” I sighed, reluctantly getting up from the chaise.

Dad got up, too, and we went with Mom to the kitchen where my sisters, brother, and Maria Cristina were waiting so we could all have breakfast together. After breakfast, I went up to my room to get dressed for my shopping trip. I wrote in my diary, then went to find Maria Cristina. She and I said ‘goodbye’ to everyone and then left in Dad’s BMW for Rachel’s house where Tiffany was waiting. The four of us got in the car, with Maria Cristina driving.

“Michigan Avenue first?” she asked as she turned onto Michigan Avenue.

“Yes!” all three of us others agreed.

“Do you guys wanna come over and use the sauna after we shop?” I asked.

“Sure!” Rachel agreed immediately.

“I have to wear a bathing suit,” Tiffany said. “Can I borrow one? If not we have to stop at my house first.”

I rolled my eyes, “Your mom is really concerned about you being in there naked with other girls?”

Tiffany laughed, “I think she’s worried we’ll invite BOYS!”

“I’ve been in there tons of times with my brothers and friends. It’s no big deal.”

“I want to go in there with your DAD!” Rachel giggled.

“Rachel,” Maria Cristina cautioned.

“Sorry, MC!” Rachel replied.

“We can stop at your house on the way home,” Maria Cristina said. “You can get your costume for tonight as well. And you, too, Rachel.”

“What are you coming as, MC?” Rachel asked.

“Mike and I decided not to wear costumes,” she replied.

“You’re coming naked?” Rachel asked with a smirk. “Cool!”

“You know that’s not what I meant!” Maria Cristina said, but she was laughing with the rest of us. “What about you, Rachel?”

“Mom and I are coming as twins! We have identical outfits, we’ll wear identical makeup and jewelry, and we had our hair cut identically.”

“Tiff?” Maria Cristina asked.

“A co-pilot. Albert is coming as a pilot. One of Birgit’s dad’s friends got us the outfits. Amber is coming as a flight attendant!”

“What about Jesse and Kelly?” Rachel asked.

“They’re keeping it a secret,” I replied. “My other brothers are coming as werewolves.”

“What’s left to do?” Kara asked after we filled the fridge in the attic room with beer and soft drinks.

“I think that’s it for now,” I replied. “Elyse, Eduardo, and the boys will be here around 4:00pm along with Stephanie and her kids. That’s when we’ll start getting the food ready. Molly and Bret will come about the same time; they wanted to spend the afternoon in Chicago. I ordered Chinese to be delivered at 5:30pm so we could all eat together and not worry about cooking.”

“Let’s go to the ‘Indian’ room. The kids are all out until late this afternoon.”

I took Kara’s hand and we went downstairs to the ‘Indian’ room where I put on music. Kara pointed to a basket chair so I sat down and she cuddled in my lap.

“You don’t fit quite as well in my lap as my daughters or Katt,” I teased.

“But YOU fit very nicely in me!” Kara teased back.

“What’s up with the cuddling in the chair?”

“Nothing, it was just something different. We usually use the floor pillows, and today I decided I wanted to do this.”

“How will things change now that Val is bringing a date to tonight’s party?”

“Nothing changes, except perhaps our Friday night assignations,” I replied. “She was never going to be like Suzanne.”

“Or Leigh?”

“That remains to be seen, but she’s likely longer term, yes. Are you OK with me buying Suzanne a bracelet?”

“Rubies?”

“Yes.”

“Of course that’s OK. You’ve traditionally bought those for the important girls, and Suzanne certainly is one. I still say you should do what she teased you about!”

I chuckled, “And you! Can you imagine what would happen if I actually let Birgit sell raffle tickets?”

“Hilarity!” Kara replied. “Absolute hilarity!”

“Right, like the ‘hilarity’ which would have ensued if she had been permitted to hand out twenty-seven ‘lose your virginity with my dad’ coupons?”

“Yes!” Kara replied.

“You don’t REALLY mean that!”

“No, I don’t. That would have been a nightmare in the end, because SOMEBODY would have discovered it and all hell would have broken loose!”

“Exactly.”

“So, of all the girls who are going to be at the party tonight, which one do you want to sneak off with?”

“Just one?” I asked.

“You’re going to say Jess and me, aren’t you?”

“Yes!”

“So, besides Jessica and me, and excluding the girls in committed relationships?”

“Nice try! If I tell you, you’ll try to orchestrate something for your own amusement! You’ll just have to wait for Suzanne to come back so you can watch again!”

Kara laughed, “Who? Me?”

“Yes, my lovely voyeur, you!”

“Is it MY fault if it turns me on to see you deflower a girl?”

“No, not at all! I wasn’t suggesting there was anything wrong with it, just that if I were to let on, you might be your usual troublemaking self!”

“Perhaps!”

“And I am NOT going hunting tonight,” I said.

“But if an opportunity arises?”

“I’ll worry about that when and if it happens.”

“Will you tell me if I promise to behave?”

“That would have to include not sharing the information with anyone, especially our daughter!”

“I won’t.”

“Fatimah,” I replied.

“The dusky, Arab maiden who just moved in across the street?”

“Yes.”

“How old is she?”

“Sixteen, according to Maria Cristina.”

“Is she invited to the party?”

“No. I didn’t think it wise for Maria Cristina to invite her, or her parents. They’re observant Muslims and our Halloween parties aren’t exactly suitable! We’ll invite them over on a Sunday when we don’t have a Rap Session.”

“If she won’t be at the party, then she doesn’t count! I said girls at the party!”

“So you did. There actually isn’t anyone. You know I had a thing for Lieutenant Nomura, but she’s engaged, so that’s not happening. I’ll just dance and have a good time. I’ve already had my dance card mostly filled by pre-teen princesses!”

Kara laughed, “Did you hear about Nicholas?”

“Fake ears to come as Prince Charles? I have to give Tom credit on that one for sure!”

“Where to, next?” Maria Cristina asked.

“Gurnee Mills,” I said. “Aunt Kathy said they have some really good discounts at the outlet stores.”

“Is that OK with you other girls?” Maria Cristina asked.

“Cool with me,” Rachel agreed.

“Me, too,” Tiffany added.

“We’ll probably be too late for the sauna if we go that far north,” Maria Cristina said.

“We can do the sauna tomorrow afternoon,” I offered. “Today is a shopping day!”

“Yes!” my friends agreed.

“How is college going, MC?” Rachel asked.

“It’s good, but it’s also tough. This is my final year, then I start medical school.”

“You’ll have Mom for anatomy, right?” I asked.

“Easy A!” Rachel declared.

“No way!” I laughed. “Mom will make it even HARDER on MC than she does everyone else!”

“That’s true,” Maria Cristina agreed. “She won’t want to seem to be playing favorites.”

“And your new boyfriend?” Rachel asked.

“Things are fine with Mike. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

“The guys in my class are all losers, jerks, dweebs, or all three!”

Tiffany and I both laughed.

“What about Juniors or Seniors?” Maria Cristina asked.

“Being older doesn’t make you less of a jerk in High School!” Rachel said. “I wish there were guys like Jesse.”

“You said you didn’t want a loser, jerk, or dweeb!” I teased. “My brother is all three!”

“I thought you guys had a truce!” Maria Cristina exclaimed.

“So?” I giggled. “That doesn’t mean we don’t still tease each other occasionally! But he’s dating Kelly for Loki knows what reason!”

Maria Cristina laughed hard.

“You really are your father’s daughter! But what’s wrong with Kelly?”

I realized I’d just done what Dad had told me not to do and if I said anything more, and it got back to him, I’d be in big trouble.

“I just think there were other girls who were better, that’s all,” I said. “But I know it’s up to him, not me.”

“You’re saying I should try to go out with Jesse?” Rachel asked. “He’s a year younger!”

“So?” I asked.

“He’s seeing Kelly steady,” Maria Cristina said. “You don’t want to interfere. But Birgit is right about the age issue; one year isn’t a big deal.”

“But I like older guys,” Rachel said. “They aren’t as dumb as High School boys!”

“Oh yes they are!” I giggled. “Just look at my dad!”

That made Maria Cristina laugh, though I didn’t think she knew about my dad and Rachel. Rachel was SO lucky that she’d been able to be with my dad, but it had also made her not interested in High School boys. She’d gone on a few dates, but hadn’t found anyone she really liked.

“Your dad isn’t THAT bad,” Maria Cristina said. “But he is a boy!”

All three of us girls laughed at that.

“Hey, Squirt!” I said when my sister came into the house just before 4:00pm.

“Hi, big brother!”

“I meant to ask yesterday, but do you have all the papers ready for the 8th?”

“Yes. Gwen will file that morning and Ed and I will sign our asset division that afternoon. Then it’s just allowing the cogs to grind. But basically, at that point, I’m free.”

“Still planning the trip during Christmas break?”

Stephanie smirked, “I just need to find the two sailors who’ll have leave for me to take on a sexual odyssey in St. Martin!”

“I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding a pair of takers. You’re very sexy, given your advanced age!”

“How is it even remotely just that men look distinguished and women look old? Well, except Kara. She’s going to be gorgeous at sixty!”

“And so will you,” I replied. “Where are the kids?”

“Next door at Penny’s with your two girls and Penny’s kids. Penny’ll bring them over later.”

“Anyone home?” Elyse called out from the foyer.

“In the kitchen,” I called back.

Elyse, Eduardo, Matthew, and Michael came in and after everyone greeted each other, we all got to work setting up for the Halloween party. The Jaegers and the Kallases arrived just after we finished our dinner. Stephanie took charge of completing the party setup so that Kara and I could walk to the hospital to meet Jessica. She was waiting for us with a very pretty redhead.

“Steve, Kara, this is my med student, Ivy O’Shea. Ivy, meet Kara and Steve.”

“Nice to meet you!” Kara said.

“Same here,” I said. “How was your day?”

“Long,” Jessica sighed. “And ugly. Would you mind if Ivy came to the party to relax?”

“Not at all. What happened?”

“A fire in a one of those wood-frame houses that’s divided into four apartments not too far west of the Ryan. We received ten residents plus two firefighters; Cook County got six we couldn’t take.”

“I hate to ask...”

“Three dead; one with full-thickness third-degree burns over more than seventy-five percent of his body; the other about fifty percent.”

“Damn,” I sighed. “Prognosis is bad?”

“Terminal for the first one, I’d guess, once you add in the lung damage from smoke inhalation, but I’m not a burn specialist. The likely terminal one is a fireman from Tom’s Company. He’s still here, along with the rest of the guys who went off shift.”

“Does Bethany know?”

“She’s with him. I’m not sure they’ll make the party. Ivy handled it better than my Resident.”

“Then she’s better than I am,” I replied. “I don’t think I could deal with what I think you had to do. Escharotomy, right?”

“Yes, so he could breathe. The Resident turned green and had to leave.”

“Then he did better than I would have,” I said. “I’d have thrown up and passed out IN the trauma room. Which firefighter?”

“Lieutenant Nicholson. The floor collapsed under them during a rescue.”

“Damn. He has a couple of kids, if I remember from the party we had last year when Tom was promoted.”

“Two teenagers,” Jessica said.

“Let’s get you home. There’s leftover Chinese, and there’s more than enough for Ivy if she’s hungry after a day like today.”

“Either you deal with it or you don’t work in the ER,” Ivy said. “I’ll eat, thanks. And I could use a good stiff drink!”

“There’s plenty of that at the house in addition to the food!” I said. “Let’s go.”

We walked more quickly than usual to get back to the house, introduced Ivy, and then Kara, Jessica, and I went up to our bedroom. Jessica stripped off her clothes and got into the shower.

“Does Ivy need a shower?” I asked.

“She showered before we left,” Jessica replied.

“I almost lost it when she said she needed a good stiff drink!” Kara declared mirthfully. “I had a very DIFFERENT final word form in my mind!”

“Of COURSE you did!” I chuckled.

“Tiger, this is NOT a setup, but she’s single and obviously had her tests.”

“But you don’t know if she’s positive or negative, right?”

“Do you REALLY think that’s private?”

“No,” I chuckled. “I’m sure you have ways of finding out. How much does she know?”

“Once she showed she was mature enough to handle perhaps the most unnerving procedure we have to do, I invited her to the party and filled her in on the circus. I promise I didn’t make any offers or commitments. Ask her to dance.”

“If she’s not swarmed by horny Navy men first,” I chuckled. “But she works at the hospital.”

“Consider it a waiver, if it happens,” Jessica replied.

I wasn’t sure about that, as she couldn’t waive MY rules. But I let it go for the moment. Jessica finished her shower, dried off, and then the three of us put on our kimono and I strapped on my katana. We went downstairs to the kitchen where Stephanie was just taking the food out of the oven. She set the dishes on the island and Jessica and Ivy both sat down to eat.

“I’m going to call Bethany and see if she needs anything,” I said.

Kara and Jessica nodded and I left the kitchen as my sister asked what had happened. I went to my study and closed the door, then dialed Bethany’s cell phone.

“Hi, Sweetheart,” I said when she answered.

“I take it Jess told you?”

“Yes. What did the burn specialist say?”

“Let me move away from everyone,” she said.

“OK.”

It was about thirty seconds before she started speaking again.

“Lieutenant Nicholson has severe lung damage. The faceplate on his mask broke. His O2 saturation is bad, and combined with the burns, he’s not going to make it. The company is sitting vigil here at the hospital.”

“Jess was pretty sure that was the case. What about the other one?”

“The young girl he was trying to rescue. She has a good chance to make it, but it’s going to be touch and go and depend on infections.”

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.

“Not right now. The firemen will take care of everything.”

“If I remember right, he has a couple of kids.”

“A son and a daughter, thirteen and sixteen. Captain Jenkins’ wife is taking care of them right now.”

“If you need anything, anything at all, you call.”

“I will.”

“Tell Tom I’ll say a prayer.”

“Thanks. He’ll appreciate it.”

“Where are your kids?”

“Here in the playroom. I was going to call Kathy to come get them. No reason they should miss the party.”

“I’ll tell her and Kurt and send them on their way.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

“Remember I love you,” I said.

“I do!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, then went back to the kitchen.

“Kathy, Bethany would like you and Kurt to go to the hospital to get Nicholas and Bobby. I suspect they’re in the playroom, which is between the burn unit and the regular ICU on the 2nd floor.”

“We’ll go right away. Jessica told us how bad it is.”

They left, leaving Kristin, Katherine, and Keith with Birgit, Matthew, Michael, and Jesse. Jessica and Ivy finished eating, and I helped Stephanie wash the dishes they’d used and put away the leftovers.

“Anybody home?” Samantha called out.

“Kitchen!” I called back.

“Benjamin!” Ashley squealed, running for the door.

““Dad?” Stephie said, coming into the kitchen. “Where is Nicholas?”

“Kurt and Kathy went to get him and Bobby. One of the firemen was hurt very badly.”

“Did you fix him, Mom?” she asked.

“We did our best,” Jessica replied. “Other doctors are taking care of him how.”

“He’s going to die, isn’t he?” she asked, sounding sad.

“I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible, yes.”

“Oh. Do I know him?”

“I don’t think so.”

More guests began arriving and after Kurt and Kathy returned with Bethany’s kids, I went up to the attic room and put on some music. I was immediately accosted by my daughters who had followed me upstairs. Birgit had the first dance, then Stephie, then Ashley. Once I finished, I made my escape downstairs so I could mingle with the adults as the kids all made their way up to the attic room.