Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 147

Bob POV

'Babe, that house you wanted is gone, but the one next door is still available.' I called out to Pam, who was making us a snack; we decided to buy a house. I thought it would be better than raising a child in an apartment; we both wanted space for the child to run around, and this house was near Hank. Pam and Kitty got along well so far, and Pam thought it would be nice to be close to her. Some she could go to for advice on the little one; being a nurse, too, would give her peace of mind.

We were both keen on making life suitable for the child. We talked long into the night about all sorts of things, each having slightly different opinions on a number of them, but one that we both agreed on was selling our apartment and getting a house. The one Pam liked the most was gone, so we are going for the second choice, right next door; if we get to know the new owners, we will rib them for getting the house first. I am sure they will rib right back about us needing to be faster.

'Call the realtor and get her over here so we can put an offer on the other one. Please.' I called a woman named Sarah, who would be over in half an hour to draw up the offer. I liked this young lass, and we will give her our apartments to list and sell for us. 'Do you want new carpet and paint the walls?' I needed to know the level of work I would have when we moved in.

'Nope, the carpet looked new, and I want to wait to find out the child's s*x before painting the room; we can put wallpaper in the nursery with those children's motifs; they looked cute. Please visit J o b nib.com and search the book title to read the entire book for free. Pam pointed to a booklet she picked up at the paint store and other little color charts. I thought I would spend my weekends painting and making changes, but I looked forward to it more than I had when we had Thomas.

'Have you thought more about the wedding? I know Hank's friend would do the ceremony, but do you have friends or family you want to invite?' We had been working on learning more about each other, and from what I can gather, she has had a hard time since college, and work was all that drove her to get up each day. Between us, we both have had it rough one way or another and have turned to work to drown out our worries.

'No, just me. We can get a few close friends if you want from the force, but I thought mainly family, something small!'

'What about who will walk you down the aisle, or should I say the pathway.' I chuckled.

'Maybe Jacko? I get along well with him.

'I was going to have him as my best man.' I retorted with a pout.

'Okay, how about Thomas? or Hank? or Scott. She was giving out names of people we both knew, and she had met since joining Jacko's team and no one from her prior life. That was odd. Did she have no friends come to think of it? She has never mentioned any in our conversations. 'Yeah, we will work it out!'

Sarah came, and we drew up the offer and listed both our apartments simultaneously. Later that evening, Sarah called to say the offer was accepted and agreed we could take vacant possession now. We offered to pay rent, but the owner wanted something else. Sarah said she would be over in the morning with the keys. As tomorrow was Sunday, we suggested one of us would drop by on Monday and pick up the keys, as we would be out for the day.

'Are you nervous about telling the others?' I asked as we snuggled up on the lounge. She had her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her hair with my right hand while my left one held her close to me. I liked the smell of her shampoo and the softness of her hair; I could run my fingers through it for hours if she would let me.

'More scared of Bethany than anyone else. She can be a force to be reckoned with when she is worked up, and I do not want to be on the receiving end of her wrath.

'That she can be, but she has had to learn to be that way; I was not a good father and let things slide that I should not have. Sunday sports day was the only day Bethany and Thomas were mine, and I loved that they enjoyed the sports. It gave us something in common that Wendy and Cynthia hated so that they would spend the day out together. It never entered my head to be concerned that Bret spent his time with them; I was just happy to have my kids with me.' I am still angry I did not pick up on all of that. We could have solved this case years ago if I let my detective side out at home instead of keeping the peace.

Morning came, and we both got ready to go to Hank's. I brought a couple of cases of beer, but we can use both. We would join Bethany and Theo in their car service and worry later about how we were getting home.

As usual, Bethany arrived ten minutes early; she was always one to be early. Something about Wendy causing her problems if she was late and on time was late. It may have been hard then, but she learned a few tricks to stay out of Wendy's way.

We enjoyed the drive to Hank's. We had seen on the news about the little girl and how the public and media were camped outside the hospital. It was wild, but Robson sounds like he got it all under control. The extra security at the doors and bollards around the place to make space for emergency vehicles made sense. Scott would have given them a lot of ideas for future problems as this sort of rush fades away, and new ones might come back as more and more news on how the aftercare is going. 'The little girl doing okay?' Pam asked just before we pulled up at Hank's.

'Yes, she is a fighter. The parents are too; she had been moved and is in Theo's care now.

'You don't stay with the child?'

'Nope, my task is to give them a new heart and hope they have the strength to get through the operation. After the heart functions as it should, Theo takes over. Most of these patients are his, and I am the last resort when all other measures have failed! 'Why is that?' Pam was really interested, which made me wonder if the family had heart problems.

'Most kids adapt well and bounce back quickly, but there are a few that, no matter what you do, just never bounce back fully, and children can drop so fast and unexpectantly.

'There is no pattern to why they suddenly drop?'

'No, not yet. Part of the research, but it is still hard, as you cannot dig around in the heart after the child is on the slab and it is too late for them. All the scans in the world cannot predict a sudden drop.'

We arrived at Hank's, and we all piled out. Theo was attentive to Bethany, and I did the same with Pam. Seeing this made me smile. I would not have dreamed this type of day would ever come. Greetings were made, and we headed downstairs to the den. Theo had asked us all to meet down there. He had an announcement; I would add mine after he said his peace.

'Make it quick, Theo, the games are on soon. Hank bellowed out, making us all laugh.

'Yeah, come on, you two, hurry up!' Jacko added, and the two laughed together.