Forever Young: Blessing or Curse (Always Young Trilogy) (26 page)

What
if the baby didn’t turn out right?  How could she provide for it? 
Insurance might cover the costs, but she didn’t know how much. Could she count
on Roman to help financially if their child was deformed or sick?

More
what ifs plagued her. In real years she was over fifty-five. What if she died
giving birth? Who would care for her baby? She couldn’t count on Roman who
hadn’t wanted the child in the first place. Hopefully, Jeanne would step in.

What
if the baby didn’t make it? It would be hell losing her child after bonding
with it for so many months.

Still
more What Ifs flashed through her mind. What if labor lasted a long time? What
if it really hurt? What if the baby ended up in the wrong position and she
needed a cesarean?

Dorrie
groaned. She couldn’t handle any more exhausting scenarios. She stretched out
on the couch to close her eyes for a little while, and ended up falling into a
fitful sleep.

Halfway
through the night, she awoke disoriented, wondering where she was. When she
figured it out, she decided to get up. Holding tightly to the banister, she made
her way up the stairs to her lonely bed.

After
another morning of feeling unneeded and inferior, Dorrie met Kelly at the
cafeteria. She’d refrained from speaking to her friend about Patricia the day
before, but this time couldn’t resist spilling her guts. “You would not believe
this woman. She’s like a super whiz who immediately understands everything I’ll
say before I say it. I’m surprised she’s not a lawyer or something fancy,
instead of an office worker. With her smarts, she could be anything.”

“I’d
think that would make her easier to teach.”

Dorrie
smiled ruefully. “Not so. It’s the exact opposite. I’m working so hard to keep
her occupied I’m absolutely drained by the end of the day.”

Her
friend lifted her eyebrows. “I’d like to meet this paragon. If there’s
something wrong with her, I’ll find it.”

“Be
my guest. You’ll soon discover she’s absolutely in love with herself and hasn’t
a humble bone in her body.”

“If
that’s the case, she’ll be unbearable once she’s reverted.”

 “That’s
putting it mildly.”

“Just
for the heck of it, I’ll try lunching with her. I could use some entertainment,
with Doug on double shift.”

Dorrie
rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t wish that on you. You’d regret it for sure.”

“But
think of all the fun we’d have, rehashing what she says.”

“Best
not even try. She’s a complete irritation.”

“Maybe
you’re right. I don’t need any aggravation.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When
her cell rang the following Monday, Keith’s number flashed on Caller ID. She
pressed the button and said, “I’ll be right there.”

It
was a beautiful evening, still close to sixty out, so she may as well enjoy it.
That’s what she told herself as she slipped into the backyard and sat on the
wrought iron bench near the dormant rose bushes. “Okay, I’m back.”

“Listen,
Dorrie, I want to apologize. I should have called sooner, but you know me, I’m
all over the place. Anyway, the more I think of your situation, the more I feel
bad about what I said. It’s not my place to judge you.

“You’ve
had a tough time, going it alone, after being married to Larry for so long. I
understand how you could have taken a few drinks to unwind. I admire you for
deciding to go ahead and have the baby. Some women would have taken the easy
way out.”

Tears
welled in her eyes. “Thanks so much for your understanding, Keith. I’m so glad
we can be friends again. I hated the thought you didn’t trust me. As far as the
baby is concerned, I consider it a gift from God. It’s coming at a time when I
need someone to bond with. My life’s been pretty empty without Larry.”

“He
was a great guy. I miss him like hell, too. Listen, if you need any help at
all, I’m here for you. Please know that.”

“Thanks,
Keith. It’s very kind of you to offer. And again, don’t worry about what you said
before. I know it all came as a shock to you. It did to me, too, but sometimes
things happen for a reason.”

“I’m
sure you’ll be a great mother.”

“Thanks,
Keith. Well, enough about me. What’s happening in your corner of the world?
 Did you have a good Christmas and New Year’s? Have you found the woman of
your dreams yet?”

She
and Larry had had a running joke with Keith about his inability to settle down.
With his interests so prolific, he had small time to devote to a relationship.

“Are
you kidding? You know there’s not a woman on earth who’d have me.”

“One
of these days you’ll find one as busy as you and it’ll be the perfect match.
You know, like one of those long distance marriages in the movies where you
meet once a month on top of the Empire State Building, or some other special
place.”

“I’m
not sure even that arrangement would work. This week’s a model train exhibit,
classic movie marathon, a wrestling match, and a comic book convention for
starters, not to mention my day job at Chicago Chem.”

Dorrie
laughed. “I’m afraid moving from Tomahawk to Chicago has only fed your mania.
Now that you have so many choices it’s a wonder you find time to sleep.”

“Too
true. Sleep’s a last option when all else fails. Now, what about you? How’re
you getting along?”

“Fine,
except for the mood swings between absolute terror about childbirth and
excitement beyond belief. The due date’s almost a month away.”

 “You’re
a trooper. I’m sure you’ll pull through fine.”

“I
hope so. I’m trying to think positive, but sometimes it’s hard, especially with
all the weird stuff going on around here, keeping me on edge.”

“What
kind of stuff? Maybe I can help.”

“I’ll
tell you if you promise not to say, ‘I told you so,’ or anything like that,
okay?”

“I’ll
bite my tongue.”

“Well,
here goes. Steve probably told you about Mike’s dying, right?”

“Yeah,
I wish I could have made it to his services.”

“Anyway,
Mike had been taking the young pill for a few months, but Roman said his death
was unrelated. Now I’m not so sure it was.”

She
went to explain her growing misgivings and what she’d discovered on the iPhone.

“If
what you say is correct, it sounds like Mike didn’t stand a chance. My God,
Dorrie, are you sure you’re all right?”

 “I’m
fine, in fact better than ever. I don’t know if it’s because I had an
underactive thyroid to begin with, or just plain luck. Plus, now that I’m on
it, it’s not so simple to get off, especially with the baby dependent on it.”

“I
don’t like the sound of this.”

“It
gets more confusing. I didn’t tell you my house was broken into a few months
ago. My nerves were already on edge from that even before what happened to
Mike. I’d give anything to move back to Tomahawk, but the pill agreement and
the bad housing market keep me stuck right here.”

“That’s
not good.”

“And
there’s more.”

“Dorrie,
I thought I was leading an exciting life. Yours has mine beat, hands down.
Okay, what else?”

“I’d
convinced myself the break-in had to be for drug money and whoever did it
wouldn’t come back, but then Jeanne got me all nervous again.”

“Ah,
yes, your big sister. What was her contribution to your erratic life?”

“Well,
I was so worried about what I’d read on the iPhone, I brought it home and spent
an entire Sunday copying all of it onto my laptop computer.

“At
work, a few days later, by some coincidence, Roman mentioned the formula Larry
had vetted wasn’t the one he’d released, and  he’d improved it since then.
I was so relieved that I called and told Jeanne. She thought it was too
coincidental that out of the blue he’d mentioned about the improved formula,
and said she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d planted bugs in my house.”

“And
now you don’t know if you’re being watched, which of course makes you upset,
plus you can’t find a way out of your mess.”

“Right.
I’m on pins and needles. To top it off, the new computer I bought after the
house was robbed decided to crash when I turned it on a few days after putting
the iPhone stuff on it. Technical support diagnosed the problem as a
non-removable deadly virus. For now, I’ve decided not to go through the
aggravation of getting everything set up on another one and wondering if it
will crash.”

Keith
whistled. “Wow, Dorrie, that’s really wild. Still, you never know, with all the
espionage stuff going on these days, anything’s possible.”

Dorrie’s
heart sank. She’d hoped Keith would say Jeanne’s theory was way off the wall.

“It’s
a rotten shame you work in Chicago, Keith. I could keep you busy day and night
trying to solve my problems. You’d have a ball,” she said with a short laugh.

“I
love challenges and I’d be glad to take yours on; but unfortunately, I don’t
get a vacation for six months. Still, there may be something I can handle from
here. I hate to have all this stuff hanging over your head with your babe on
the way. Too bad your computer crashed or I could check out the formula, and
maybe throw some light on things.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

“Wait
a minute, Keith. I did send copies to my smartphone the same day I copied
everything to the computer. If you really want to take this on, I could e-mail
that to you, but it might take up a lot of space.”

“No
problem. Send it over. My computer has excess RAM and a giant hard drive. My
buddy, Larry, would want me to help.”

Dorrie
blinked rapidly to hold back tears. Keith and Larry had been so close. Too bad
Chicago Chem hadn’t had room for both of them. Then the whole nightmare would
not have happened and she’d still have her husband. Of course, she wouldn’t
have gotten the chance to be young again either, but that was irrelevant.

After
Keith had hung up, Dorrie set to work emailing the documents to him. When she’d
finished, it was so late she went to bed and crashed.

Tuesday
after work, before getting out of her car, she dialed Jeanne from her cell.

The
phone rang six times and went into voice mail. “Hi, Jeanne! Where are you, my
friend? You’ll never guess who finally called me yesterday. Give me a ring when
you can. I’ll be up until ten thirty. Oh, and by the way, if it makes you feel
good, he says you may not be a nut after all and your buggy ideas might have
merit. Don’t hold your breath, though. I’m still not totally convinced.”

That
would make Jeanne respond. She slipped the cell into her purse and hauled
herself into the house. Walking wasn’t exactly easy any more.

Ten-thirty
came and went. As she changed into her oversized tee shirt for bed, she
wondered if her friend was doing extra hours again at the wildlife park. Or,
maybe Jeanne’s bad luck with men had changed and she was out with a nice guy.
She deserved to be happy.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The
next day followed in irritating fashion, with Dorrie feeling like a third
wheel, and Patricia lording it over her, establishing dominance where Dorrie
previously had ruled. The woman was insufferable. 

Roman
didn’t treat her any better. Except for the barest of pleasantries, he ignored
Dorrie. When he did happen to glance at her, his eyes clouded and he frowned.
She hadn’t done anything wrong that she knew of, so she couldn’t understand why
he seemed so unhappy with her. She’d be leaving soon enough to have the baby.
You’d think he could make an effort to be nice until then.

At
lunch, she mentioned the tension at work to Kelly. While her friend sympathized
and tried to make her feel better, Dorrie knew what she really needed was a
long talk with Jeanne.

That
night and Thursday passed without a call from Jeanne. By Friday evening Dorrie
again sat on the couch in the family room scanning her brain to figure out what
she may have misconstrued in their last conversation. Nothing came to mind.

Why
didn’t Jeanne call? If they lived closer together, she’d drive over and make
sure nothing was wrong. To get her mind of her friend’s behavior, she turned on
the TV, but visions of Jeanne in dire straits passed through her mind, making
it impossible to concentrate on the program.

I’m
such a worry wart. She’s probably having a good time and will fill me in on it
later.

She
kept telling herself that, but somehow it didn’t ring true.

Her
cell rang, and she rummaged to find it in her purse. Keith’s number flashed.

“Wait
a minute. I’ll be right with you.” In case a camera was watching, she pasted a
smile on her face, and walked out the sliding door to her spot on the bench.