Authors: BL Miller
Just as the theme music was ending the announcement came over the loudspeakers that visiting hours were over. "I guess that's my cue to leave," Veronica said reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow." She stood up and picked up her jacket. "Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into the pocket and pulled out a business card and pen. "Let me leave you my number in case you want to call or if you want me to bring you anything." She scribbled her private phone number down on the back of the card and set it down on the bed tray before picking up the empty food boxes and bag. "Really, if you want or need anything, just give me a call. I'm usually up until eleven." She smoothed an imaginary wrinkle on the blanket before donning her bomber jacket. "Rest well, Rose. I'll see you tomorrow."
"I don't want to keep you from your work."
"Trust me, I'd much rather be here than there. I'll be by sometime after breakfast. Remember what I said. Call me whenever you want to, even if it's just to talk." Just to be sure, Veronica pushed the phone a bit closer on the side table.
"Thanks. Good night, Veronica."
"Hey, call me Ronnie. All my friends do," she said with a smile.
"Ronnie. Good night, drive carefully." Rose did not notice the look that flashed across the older woman's face before being covered with a fake smile.
"Good night, Rose."
********************
Ronnie was curled up in bed with Tabitha laying next to her, when the phone rang. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was almost eleven. "Hello?"
"Um…hi, it's Rose. I hope I'm not calling too late."
"No, no you're not calling too late at all." She sat up, much to Tabitha's displeasure. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I um…I guess I just wanted to…see how Tabitha was," came the lame excuse. Ronnie smiled, propping a pillow behind her back and leaning against the oak headboard.
"The purr machine is fine. You want to say hi to her? She seems to think that wherever I am is a good place for her to be." Without waiting for an answer she put the phone near the cat. "Say hi to Mommy, Tabitha." She held it there for a few seconds before putting the receiver back to her ear. "Did you hear her purring?"
"Yeah." Ronnie could feel the smile through the phone and in turn smiled herself. "Is there anything you want me to bring tomorrow? I'll probably be there around ten or so."
"Um…if it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you think you could check my mail for me?"
"Damn, I completely forgot about that. I'll have to stop at the post office and put a forwarding address in for you before that jerk Cecil starts going through your mail."
"Oh…I don't know where you could have it forwarded to."
"I'll take care of it, don't worry. But yeah, I'll swing by there tomorrow and see if you've gotten anything."
"I'd really appreciate it." There was a momentary silence before Rose continued. "Ronnie?"
"Yeah?"
"Um…sleep well, okay?" That caused the executive to smile again.
"You too, Rose. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night."
"Night." She waited a few seconds before pushing the off button on the phone and putting it back in the charger on her night stand. Tabitha crawled onto her chest and began trying to imprint her paw marks on Ronnie's internal organs. "Oof, I don't think so, Missy," she said, gently pushing the cat back onto the bed and receiving a dejected meow in response. "Come on, I've got a lot of things to take care of tomorrow. It's a huge bed. There's plenty of room without you having to be right on top of me." Nonetheless, the black-haired beauty ended up falling asleep with the purring feline curled up against her.
The alarm went off at six as usual, announcing the start to Ronnie's day. "Mrrow?"
"In a minute," she replied sleepily, throwing the blankets off and sticking her feet into the soft blue slippers waiting next to the bed. With eyes half closed, she trudged into her bathroom. Returning a few minutes later, teeth brushed and bladder emptied, she stripped off her sweats and donned her light gray spandex workout suit before heading for the basement.
Ronnie's private gym was the envy of any fitness junkie. With the exception of the room that held the furnace and water heater, the rest of the basement was devoted to her myriad of benches, machines, and mats. Growing up in the house that was now hers and hers alone, Ronnie had often dreamed of renovating the once musty basement into a place where she could just be herself, pumping iron and working up a healthy sweat. Her goal was accomplished with the private gym. The room was brightly lit with overhead fluorescent fixtures and enhanced by the walls of mirrors. She grabbed a fresh towel from the shelf, turned on the stereo, and headed for the stair climber to get warmed up.
Duran Duran blared through speakers placed throughout the large room while Ronnie pushed her calves and thighs to the limits on the stair climber. In her own private haven, no one could hear her singing to the music, see the sweat forming on her brow, neck and chest, or notice the way she pushed herself. She prided herself on her fit body and strength but both required constant maintenance. Twenty minutes climbing stairs that never went anywhere and she moved on to the next piece of equipment, taking the time to tie her hair up to keep it off her face and the back of her neck. She checked the amount of weights on the bar before lying down on the bench, pulling the bar off of its rest, and bringing it down to her chest. She wiggled her fingers to make certain her hands were in the proper position and began her grueling repetitions, pushing the barbell up to maximum height before lowering back down to her chest. Then it was off to the leg press, the crunch machine for her abdominals, the forearm grips, then the skiing machine for a good overall workout. By the time the CD was finished, Ronnie was a mass of well-earned sweat and muscles that begged for a break. She threw the soaked towel into the hamper near the door and made her way back to her bedroom where she peeled the sweat covered spandex from her body and entered her bathroom. Her showerhead sent pulses of hot water against her body, massaging while cleaning. Ten minutes with the hair dryer and Ronnie was refreshed and ready to face whatever the day had to offer.
Snow had fallen during the night, covering the city with a light coating of white. The bright blue Cherokee made its way up the narrow Albany streets, fighting the rest of the Friday morning traffic. She found a parking space on Morris Street and carefully made her way up the stairs to retrieve Rose's mail. She picked through it, planning on leaving the junk mail for Cecil to deal with when one small envelope caught her attention. She tucked it into the inside pocket of her bomber and returned to the warmth of her sport vehicle. Only then did she pull it out and examine the return address. D. Bickering, RR 3 Box 4120, Cobleskill. Cobleskill, known more for its agricultural college than anything else, was a small village over an hour away from Albany. It was thought of as being mostly farmland, although there were a fair number of residents in the area. The overwhelming majority was either farmers or people who were willing to travel forty minutes or more to get to work each day, so far from any real cities was the village. Ronnie shoved the letter back into her pocket and put the Jeep into gear, determined to get to the hospital and hand the letter to Rose before the urge to go home and steam the envelope open got the best of her. She desperately wanted to know how the mysterious Delores Bickering fit into Rose's life and why the young woman with no money was writing checks to this person.
Ronnie arrived just as the nurse finished checking Rose's vitals. As expected, the young woman's face showed the pain that the drugs could not completely erase. "Hey you," she said softly, drawing Rose's attention from the nurse to her.
"Hi," the blonde woman smiled. "Looks like the snow got you."
"Just a little," Ronnie replied, brushing the melting flakes off her dark hair and the shoulders of her soft brown jacket. "Should I come back in a little while?"
"I'm almost done," the nurse said without looking up from her task. She stood and made several notations on Rose's chart. "There. All finished for now." She peeled the latex gloves off into the red waste container. "Doctor Barnes will be in to see you in a little while," she said before leaving the two women alone.
Curiosity won out the instant they were alone. Ronnie pulled the envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Rose. "Here's your mail."
The smile that had been on the young woman's face melted at the sight of the writing on the envelope. She opened it and read the words written on spiral bound notebook paper while Ronnie set her attaché down on the floor and hung her coat over the back of the chair before taking her usual seat next to the bed. Rose was quiet as she finished reading the letter and put it back into the envelope. "Could you do me a favor and bring me my checkbook tomorrow?"
"Is something wrong? Anything I can help with?"
"No, it's just something I have to take care of." She could not bring herself to meet the piercing blue eyes looking at her. "I hate to ask, but could you spare an envelope and a stamp too?"
"Of course, Rose," Ronnie replied, still dying with curiosity about the contents of the letter.
"Look…if you have a debt that you need help paying…" She regretted the words instantly, thinking that her new friend would be offended.
"No, it's not that. It's from someone I used to live with." Rose's head never lifted up and her whole mannerism changed, withdrawing into herself.
"A boyfriend?"
"A foster mother. I lived with her for about two years. She took care of me when no one else would." The blonde woman's shoulders slumped and she let out a defeated sigh. "She's had a hard time since the state took away all the kids she was caring for. You don't want to hear about this," she said, giving her new friend a way out if she wanted it.
"Sure I do," Ronnie said, reaching over to clasp the smaller hand within her own. "That letter seemed to really bother you. Care to share?" She expected Rose to elaborate a little about Delores but was surprised to find the letter pushed into her hand.
"I think that will pretty much explain everything."
Ronnie looked at Rose before opening the envelope and reading the letter.
Rose,
I haven't heard from you for a while. Things are really hard here. I can barely keep a roof over my head much less anything else. The idiots at social services don't understand nothing I tell them. I know your busy with your life and don't have time for an old lady like me but you have to remember that I took care of you when no one else would. I opened my home to you, gave you food and made sure you got to go to school. You've been good about trying to help me but I really need more than what you've been sending. You know it costs a lot to feed someone else's kid. Without me you would have starved. I was there when you needed someone to take care of you. I'll be looking forward to whatever pit…pittnce…whatever little amount you can send me.
Your auntie Delores
Ronnie folded the note back up and shoved it into the envelope, trying to keep her temper in check, which was quickly becoming hard to do. Setting the envelope down on the bed tray, she gripped the side rails of the bed so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She took several breaths to try and calm down before feeling green eyes looking at her expectantly. "You don't owe her, Rose," she said through gritted teeth, unable to bring her head up to meet the gaze.
"I feel like I do," the young woman said sadly. "When I was living with her, there were four of us. She always made it clear that the state didn't give her enough to take care of us."
"Bullshit." Ronnie stormed out of her seat and went to the window, looking out at the light snow falling. "I have no right to tell you what to do with your money, Rose, but she's just using you, playing on your sympathy. As long as you keep giving her money, money that you can't afford to spare, she'll just keep coming back for more." She turned to look at the young woman. "Did she once thank you for the money you've sent so far? No, she just said that you needed to send more. She is guilting you into giving her money. Whatever debt you think you owe her, it's been paid long ago. Now she's just sucking you dry." Not wanting to upset Rose any more than she was, Ronnie returned to her seat and lowered her voice, "Not once did she ask how you were doing, not even one kind word. That letter was nothing more than 'send me money'. You don't deserve to have your kindness taken advantage of like that, Rose. You're too good a person to be treated like that."
"She's the closest thing I have to family," the young woman protested, albeit weakly. She had never shared this problem with anyone else before and was surprised to see her friend's reaction. Rose had heard for so long about how she owed Delores for taking care of her that she believed it to be a debt that she would never be able to repay, regardless of her personal feelings about it. To have someone voice the feelings that had been buried deep inside her was something she did not expect.
"You don't need family like that. You deserve better," Ronnie said. She gave a resigned sigh. "I told you I would bring you your checkbook and I will. I'll also bring you the stamp and envelope but I really wish you'd think about this before you send her any more money." She reached out and took Rose's hand in her own. "Promise me that you'll give this some thought first, okay?"
"Okay," the young woman replied, drawing a smile from Ronnie. "Let's talk about something else instead, okay?"
"Sure, name it."
"Why don't you tell me about your family? I'd love to hear about them."
"It's not as interesting as you might think." Ronnie was going to try and worm her way out of it but the expectant look on Rose's face changed her mind. "All right, but I'll warn you, it's pretty boring." She shifted in her seat, wishing she had worn jeans instead of her dress slacks. "I'm the oldest of three. There's me, Susan, and Tommy. Susan is the complete opposite of me. She runs Cartwright Insurance. She's married to Jack; he's a lawyer downtown." She grinned as if sharing some big secret. "Susan wears more makeup than Tammy Faye Baker and she thinks she's a knockout. But she can add numbers in her head faster than a calculator and brought the insurance division up from average earnings to being one of our leading revenue producers. I have to warn you though, don't ever let her catch you alone at a party. My sister is the biggest gatherer of gossip and information in the state. Once she gets hold of you she won't let go until she knows everything down to your blood type."