Chapter 6

March 16, 2008 DAY TWO, BOULDER — Same Morning.

Lillian took the empty bottle out of the baby boy's mouth. Not a sound or twitch of movement came from the baby boy. He had what looked like a small contented smile on his face. Lillian put him down into the crib, and tucked the blanket up under his chin. She smiled, feeling contented also.

Amos had already left to go to his apartment to pick up some items, so Lillian poured herself another cup of coffee and sat down. She extended her feet and legs out and leaned back into the comfort of the chair.

Almost instantly, her mind went back to the move up to her home.

March 14, 2008: Denver, Colorado

Amos, Lillian, and Maureen had most of the equipment they were going to take with them packed. They had unhooked the incubators and tied the air tubes and cables up with plastic tie wraps so that nothing would get tangled up or ripped off during the move.

They had sat down and were having coffee, when the two swinging doors popped open.

Caitlin and Deirdre hollered, "Hi, Mom. Hi, Amos," as they came through the doors. They both stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing Lillian. Lillian's mouth dropped open and she hastily shut it again.

"My God, Maureen, they are lovely," said Lillian.

"No, they're not! Both of them are dirty, their hair is a mess, and their dress is horrible," said Maureen.

Caitlin's T-Shirt read 'The BUCK stops here' with an arrow pointing down and a three inch gap between shirt bottom and low rider jeans.

Deirdre's T-Shirt read 'Eat Until I Scream' again with an arrow pointing down with a three inch gap between shirt bottom and low rider jeans.

"They are dressing just like little sluts. I know I've taught them better, and they do have nice clothes. They just want to embarrass me and piss me off."

Maureen then looked back at the twins.

"Deirdre, Caitlin, this is Dr. Lillian Porter and she runs the obstetrics ward here. One of these days you are going to need her services, so play nice. I have accepted an invitation for all of us to stay up at her home in Boulder," Maureen explained.

Lillian looked at the two young women, "You are both lovely young ladies and it is a pleasure to meet you. I will enjoy having you stay at my home."

Deirdre and Caitlin looked at each other and turning to Lillian, Deirdre said, "Dr. Porter, it is nice to meet you. We both look forward to seeing your home and living there. We do not always act and dress this way."

Caitlin finished it by saying, "We were just having some 'girl' fun. There isn't anybody to really see us or 'appreciate' what we are wearing. Besides, Mom is going to really have a cow when she sees what is downstairs."

Caitlin and Deirdre looked at each other and burst out laughing. Maureen just looked down at her coffee cup, shaking her head. Amos grinned from ear to ear.

Lillian asked, "Will this 'thing' down stairs cause your mother to blush?"

Both girls looked at each other, and looking at first their mother and then Lillian, they just nodded their heads. Lillian grinned, "I think I might enjoy this, as I do like to see your mother red of face."

Amos spoke up then, "Let's get this stuff packed and downstairs. We are going to load up one of the new Ambulances with the littl' uns, and follow Dr. Porter to Boulder. I am going to ride in the ambulance with the babies, and Maureen will drive it. You two will have to ride drag."

An hour later, the babies, the incubators, and all sorts of medical paraphernalia had been loaded into the new ambulance, and into Dr. Porter's Jeep Wagoneer.

Maureen turned to Deirdre and Caitlin, "What is this thing that is going to embarrass me? Is it what you are driving? If so, go get it, and let's get this over with."

Caitlin and Deirdre looked at each other and then back at the group. "We'll be right back," they said in unison and took off at a run towards the front of the hospital.

In a couple of minutes, a bright red Hummer rounded the corner from the front of the hospital and in large black script letters on both the driver and passenger doors was the legend, '2 Doe, Will Rut!'

"Hey mom, how do you like it?" Caitlin asked, rolling down the Hummer's window.

Maureen's complexion turned redder than normal, then scarlet, and finally purple.

"You little shits!" she hissed.

Maureen turned, and without another word climbed into the ambulance driver's seat and slammed the door shut. Lillian bent over, laughing so hard that she couldn't control herself. Finally, she sank to her knees, still laughing,

"Poor Maureen, she must take so much from these two." She didn't know or care whether anybody heard her or not.

Amos had turned his back and was leaning against the ambulance with one hand, the other holding his stomach. He was laughing, but trying to make no sound. His laughter burst forth, though, and tears came to his eyes from laughing so hard. He dried his eyes with his coat sleeve.

He opened one of the ambulance's rear doors, and climbed into the back. He slapped the back of the driver's compartment, alerting Maureen he was ready to go. Maureen flipped on the intercom.

"Don't you say a fucking word, Amos! Not a fucking word!"

She then flipped the intercom off, and pulled out of the ER parking lot.

Lillian walked up to the Hummer before Caitlin could roll the window up. "Well, I guess that congratulations are in order, you two. You really embarrassed your mom. I loved it," Lillian said grinning.

Deirdre leaned forward from the passenger side, "Don't worry, Dr. Porter, it's good for mom's circulatory system, so we'll keep on being ourselves. Besides, we may look and behave like overgrown children, but when the time to be serious comes, we will be there. We are adults, ready to assist in whatever is needed."

Lillian nodded her head, "I sort of thought that was so, somehow. But I think your mom has a problem with her self image of being a 'black sheep', and worried that you two will turn out to be the same. Anyway, wait until the ambulance pulls out and then follow your Mom. Stay at least four or five car lengths or further in back of her. This way you can see any hand signals that she might have to make in addition to the vehicles signal system."

"Okay," said Caitlin and rolled up the window and settled back into the driver's seat. She glanced over at Deirdre, "Are we ready to grow up, yet?"

Deirdre looked at her, "Nope! We don't have to for at least another forty or fifty years. Then we'll act like proper ladies, and get rocking chairs and spittoons."

Caitlin cracked up, but Deirdre just sat there, dead-pan.

The trip to Boulder was quick and uneventful, except for seeing a guy pedaling along on a bicycle on one of the overpasses. All three vehicles honked and waved, but the guy gave no indication of a response at all.

Lillian's home was in an exclusive allotment. All the houses appeared to be set in miniature hills and valleys that somewhat protected the houses from strong winds, snow, sleet or rain.

Lillian pulled into a cul-de-sac which featured three totally different styles of homes, hers being a two story Mexican styled hacienda. Lillian drove under a central arch and drove into the main courtyard. She pulled almost completely around the central patio's fountain and garden, which measured at least forty feet long by thirty feet wide.

Everyone got out of their vehicles and met by the fountain portion of the center garden. Lillian grinned and said, "Welcome to my home."

"Holy shit," Caitlin said, turning her head from one side to the other, trying to get a grasp on the size of the place. "This is bigger than the fucking Holiday Inn."

Upon hearing that, Maureen snapped back to reality and stopped gawking at the place.

"Caitlin Renee, watch your mouth! We are guests here, and you will mind your P's and Q's."

Lillian laughed, "Maureen, it's okay. This place is a little overwhelming when first viewed. I thought the same thing to myself when my dad and I came out here to find me a place to live. For everybody's information, I'll give you a little rundown on the place. The second floor is mainly bedrooms, specialty rooms, and several suites for guests. Bottom floor left hand side is the formal living room, a den, and my library/office. Bottom floor center is the main entertainment room, dining room, and kitchen. Bottom floor right is my personnel medical offices where I treat special patients who can't afford the services of regular doctors or who fall through the cracks of welfare and social programs."

Maureen turned back towards Lillian and said, "Lillian, this place is just gorgeous. Where do you want us and where are we going to put the babies?"

Lillian grinned at her, "Maureen, we will use the upstairs family room and the kitchenette for the babies. Everybody will be traipsing in and out of those rooms, anyway. That's because the swimming pool, whirlpool, Jacuzzi, and sauna, are right outside of it. The bedroom at the end of the left hallway, is mine."

"Amos, I think you and Maureen should take the bedrooms on either side of the family room/kitchenette. I know the twins will probably want one of those two bedrooms, but I think you and Amos should take them. I have a baby monitoring alarm in my bedroom and I'll just plug several of the monitors in the family room for the babies. This way, one of us will surely hear them or be alerted if something goes wrong with one of them. I have complete monitoring systems over in my medical offices, but I don't believe we will need them."

Amos just nodded his head, and started back to the Ambulance. He stopped, turned back around, and looked at Lillian.

"Doc, let's get all the vehicles unloaded first, and get all of our stuff up to the respective rooms. The babies will be fine in the ambulance, until we can get ready to move them upstairs. There is going to be a lot of trips up and down getting all this stuff unloaded and set up."

"Amos, you're right, but it won't be that strenuous. There is a large elevator in each wing to the second floor. If you and the twins can just place everything in the elevator and send it up, Maureen and I will unload from the second floor and send it back down for the next load. Shouldn't take but about two trips for everything and two trips for the babies," Lillian responded.

True to her prediction, it only took an hour and a half to get everybody's luggage, belongings and the babies up to the second floor and into the different bedrooms.

Caitlin and Deirdre decided not to unload the computer equipment at all when they were told that their bedroom already had a computer in it, which was hooked up to a central server. There was also a complete entertainment center and a small bathroom with shower. After checking everything out in their bedroom, they headed for the family room.

Lillian was getting drinks out of the refrigerator in the kitchenette, as Maureen and Amos were standing by the kitchen center island. Looking up, she noticed them first.

"Want something to drink?"

Their "Yes, what do you have?" caused Lillian to look back into the refrigerator.

"We have Coke, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Ginger Ale, milk..." and then Lillian was interrupted.

"Caitlin, Deirdre, answer Dr. Porter. She asked you if you wanted something to drink," Maureen stated with her hands on hips.