Lorelei and Me Pt. 03

I turned to Lori and said, "Can you keep an eye on her and help her? I'm going to go see how Carl is doing."

Lori nodded, pulled me into a hug, gave me a quick kiss on the lips and said, "I'll take care of her. You're my hero you know. As I watched you carry Carl out of the boat I flashed back to when you carried me from my car all of those years ago. Too bad you aren't Catholic because they'd make a saint of you! I love you!"

I kissed Lori and said, "I love you too. I'll be back in a bit."

I went into the room where Carl was. They had started oxygen and had attached him to the machine that monitored his heart rate and blood pressure. As I approached, the doctor on duty said, "Excuse me but only medical personnel are allowed in her at the moment. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

I stuck out my hand and said, "It's okay, I'm Ben Lawrence and I was the person who administered to Mr. Marks when he was hit by his heart attack." I stuck out my hand and he shook it.

"I'm Blake Gladstone. Ah, you're one of the guys with the clinic in Douglas. I've heard good things about you guys. My residency here is due to finish in a couple of months. Most of my work has been as an orthopedics."

I smiled and said, "Yeah, let me talk to my partner and see what he has to say, but I think an orthopedist would fit in nicely. So, how's Carl?"

"I've ordered an EKG and when that's complete we'll do an ultrasound. My guess is that he's ripe for bypass surgery, it's just a matter of figuring out if it's double or quadruple."

"Yeah, that's what I surmised. Who's the cardiologist on duty and has he or she been called?"

It's Dr. Sun Moon. She's been called and she said she'd be here in 20 minutes and that was 7 minutes ago."

"Great, I like her. She does good work."

At about this time the person with the EKG cart arrived, introduced herself to Carl and began attaching the electrodes to his chest. Blake and I watched as the readout printed and saw that his heart was far from stable. Blake gave him a spray of nitro glycerin under his tongue and then we waited until the ultrasound person was ready for him.

In the interim, Dr. Moon arrived with a big smile and a hug for me. "Hey Ben! What brings you here?"

"Well, Carl here had a heart attack in his boat near my house. So, Lori and I helped him out and now we'll leave him in your capable hands." I turned to Carl and said, "Carl, this charming woman is Dr. Sun Moon and will be your cardiologist. This is your lucky day because she's the best!"

Carl gave a little wave since he had an oxygen mask on his face. I told Sun what I had done and then Blake described what he had done while she read the EKG. She looked up smiled and said, "Okay, I need to see an ultra sound right now, so let's wheel him over there and get this ball rolling."

As Blake and a nurse got Carl ready to wheel over, I told Sun that Lori and I were with Carl's wife and that I'd get out of her hair. I told her she could call me and I could relate what's happening with Carl if that would make it easier on her. She told me she always preferred to talk to relatives face to face. I gave her a hug and said we'd talk later then.

I returned to the waiting room and found Lori and Isabel talking. Isabel looked pretty relaxed considering what was going on. When I sat down Lori told me that she had been telling Isabel about what would probably happen and that bypass surgery today was like tonsillectomies in the past, no big deal.

I told them that Sun was the cardiologist which brought a big smile to Lori's face. She turned to Isabel and said, "Carl is in the best hands in the state if not the country. Dr. Moon is great!"

Isabel furrowed her brow and asked, "If she's so good, what's she doing in this Podunk place?"

Lori looked at her and said, "Ben and I grew up in this 'Podunk' place. It may be small, but it has a lot to offer, from great people to great recreation and so on. Dr. Moon likes the lifestyle here because it's calm and nurturing. Less stress makes for a better life."

Isabel looked chastised and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to demean your home. Actually, we moved here for all of the reasons you mentioned. If Dr. Moon is as good as you say she is, well I'm glad she's here and not in New York or somewhere."

Lori laughed and said, "It's fine. Once you live here a while you'll wonder why you didn't come sooner."

I told Isabel about the EKG and that they had taken Carl for an ultrasound and then Dr. Moon would determine what steps to take next.

After an hour, Dr. Moon came out to see Isabel, introduced herself and then said, "Your husband is going to require a quadruple bypass right away. The only problem is that we don't have a cardiac qualified nurse on duty."

Lori spoke up and said, "I'm cardiac qualified. I worked at Georges Simmons in the cardiac wing for one and a half years. I'd be happy to help."

Sun smiled and said, "Great! Mrs. Marks, we'll get to work on your husband. Come on Lori."

The two of them walked off with Sun briefing Lori about what was happening. I was guessing that there were some complications with Sun requiring a better trained nurse. I felt my stomach rumble with hunger so I looked at Isabel and said, "They're going to be quite a while, so let's go somewhere and get some lunch because the food here is awful!"

We went to a café and had a leisurely lunch. I could tell that she was worried, so I tried to keep the conversation going and as light as possible. After lunch we returned to the hospital so I took Isabel to the surgery waiting area. Several hours elapsed with Isabel falling asleep holding onto my arm with her head on my shoulder. I sat back and closed my eyes as well.

Finally, Lori and Dr. Moon came into the waiting area still dressed in their surgical scrubs. They both had smiles on their faces so I knew the news was going to be good. Dr. Moon sat next to Isabel, took her hands in hers and said. "Your husband is going to be fine Mrs. Marks. Frankly, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did before he had an episode. Anyway, we did a quadruple bypass due to some serious blockage. Your husband will require a serious lifestyle change. He needs to lose weight, at least 50 pounds and he needs to seriously alter his diet. More green vegetables and less to no red meat. He should eat more fish and chicken. I'll send some dietary information with him when he checks out. I'm going to keep him here for several nights just to keep an eye on him. So, with that having been said, do you have any questions for me?"

Isabel looked at me and Lori and then said, "Actually, Ben and Lori explained things very well. When may I see him?"

"I'll take you to him now. He's still out from the anesthesia but will be coming around shortly. It will comfort him having you with him when he comes to."

Isabel walked with Sun while Lori hung back and then we followed slowly. I held Lori's hand as she said, "Carl was one lucky SOB! Sun worked magic on that man. He died twice before we we're ready to put him on the heart/lung machine to do the bypass. His heart was pretty damaged, but with Sun's and your help he should live to a fairly old age. I can't believe how lucky we are to have her here!"

I stopped Lori in the middle of the corridor, pulled her into a hug and gave her a loving kiss. An orderly passing by cried out, 'Get a room!' as he laughed. I broke the kiss, looked Lori in the eyes and said, "You told me I was your hero earlier, well you're my hero as well. Thank you for volunteering to help save Carl's life. I love you!"

Lori smiled and said, "Maybe we're both destined for sainthood!" We both laughed and headed for Carl's room.

We hung out at the hospital until Isabel was ready to leave. We took her home and told her that their boat would be fine at our place and that I would drive it over the next day. As Lori and I drove home she looked at me and said, "Well, that was a hell of a day off! I'm sorry we didn't get to fuck, but I'm too exhausted right now!"

I laughed and said, "Me too! You must be starving. I'll make us each a grilled cheese and some soup while you shower, okay?"

"That sounds perfect!"

We did manage to have wild sex the following day.

The days and weeks drifted by without too much in the way of trouble. Carl and Isobel became patients of our practice with Carl taking Dr. Moon's warnings very seriously. As a matter of fact, he got into exercising so much that he started a health club with very affordable membership dues. He would have Max or me give lectures about various health related issues in exchange for free memberships to his club for our families.

When Blake finished his residency, he accepted our offer to join our team at our clinic. He turned out to be very capable and was liked by our patients and staff. His orthopedic skills were quite handy.

During one Saturday in mid-August, Lori and I lay in bed drowsily after waking up. We had had a very long hard week at work and were looking forward to doing nothing all weekend. As we lay there just enjoying a lot of nothing, Lori asked, "Will you make love to me?"

I had to smile because I was always willing to make love to her. I rolled onto my side and pulled her to me and into a kiss. I had read so many stories and things about morning breath, but the two of us never experienced that issue. As we kissed, Lori rolled onto her back and pulled me on top of her. She reached between us, placed my erection at her opening and then I pushed forward slowly. God, the feeling was sublime as I inched my way in slowly, enjoying every millimeter as her vagina enveloped me.

When I had bottomed out, Lori held me close and whispered in my ear, "I love you so much Ben. Now give me our girls." Lori had foreseen in the aftermath of an accident, when we first actually met, that we would have twin girls and then a boy a year or so later. Everything that she had foreseen during that episode had come to fruition, so I had given up any skepticism I may have had.

I whispered back, "I love you too, Lori and I'd be happy to give you our girls." I then began stroking in and out of Lori lazily, enjoying the tenderness of the moment. We kissed and moaned with happiness until I felt Lori stiffen up as her climax hit. Her climax pushed me over the edge as I shot a week's worth of sperm deep into my wife and lover.

Lori held me tight as we both came down from our orgasms. We lay entwined for quite a while until the call of nature overrode our bliss. When we had our coffee and breakfasts ready, we wandered naked out to the end of the pier and dangled our feet in the water. As we ate, we also talked, with Lori saying, "I'm pretty sure that was the one to knock me up. We should, probably, get a more child friendly vehicle like a van or something. I like the ones with sliding doors on both sides for easier placement of children in child seats. We should also start looking for a place to live closer to or in town. I'd like our kids to be able to walk to school and maybe we could walk to work like we did in Baltimore. And, you know the sooner we get going on these things the less stressful it will be once the girls arrive."

I chuckled, looked to my right at Lori and said, "You haven't been wrong in your premonition yet, so, yeah, let's do it. What do you want to look for first, a car or a house?"

Lori smiled at me and said, "A house will be harder to find, so I vote we look for that first. I pretty much know which van I want, so that's no problem. Can we start looking for a house today?"

I chuckled again and said, "We can do anything you want, so, sure, let's look for a house."

When we had finished our breakfast, we wandered back to the house and then sat in the living room with my laptop and began looking at Zillow for places for sale in our area. We both zeroed in on an old Victorian style place that was 1 block from the grade school and three blocks from our clinic. We both confessed to each other that we had always liked that place before one of the previous owners ruined the outside with a weird type of siding. When we checked the realtor's website we discovered that there was an open house there that weekend. So, we quickly showered, dressed and headed for town.

When we pulled up to the place, we stood out front and pictured in our minds what the place would look like when we were finished restoring it. As we walked inside we were greeted by the realtor and were handed a printout of high points of the house and the asking price. Lori and I strolled through the place and pointed out things we liked such as the woodwork throughout, the built-in bookshelves, the oak floors and the pocket doors.

The kitchen held a lot to be desired. There were only four drawers and the appliance placement was unsuitable. There was a large pantry off of the kitchen which was nice. There were stairways up and down from the kitchen. One leading down to the basement and the other to the upstairs, which is where we went next. There were five very large bedrooms upstairs with a fairly large bathroom and a hallway between the stairs. All of the rooms had oak floors up here as well. We discovered another stairway up that led to the attic which was quite nice and had a lot of floor space.

We sat on a bed, looked at the sheet and then each other. Finally, I said, "This is what I think. I think we need to find the best house restoration folks around and return this place to its former glory. However, I want it modernized at the same time. We should have the place gutted, insulated, re-wired, re-pipe the radiators after flushing them, install insulated windows that emulate the double hung ones already here, refinish the woodwork and floors and modernize the kitchen and bathrooms. They're asking $55,000 for the place and I'm willing to give them their asking price just so we can get someone to start working ASAP.

"On the outside, I'd like to restore the place to its former look and have it re-roofed. All of this will probably cost more than the house, but I think it would be worth it. What do you think?"

Lori laughed and said, "I agree. Let's go back down for a second." We walked back down the back stairway into the kitchen and then to a door from the kitchen to a three-season porch. She pointed to the porch area and said, "We should extend the kitchen out this way to make it larger. That way we can have an island in the middle with a gas stove top, counter space, drawers and places to sit and eat or talk. What do you think?"

"If we do that I'd like to add on another three-season porch. I always liked the one at my Dad's place. So, should we make an offer?" Lori nodded and hugged me, so we went in search of the realtor and when we found him, I said, "We'd like to make an offer on the place if we could. How should we go about it?"

"Well, you can tell me and I'll pass it along." He handed me a clipboard with a preprinted sheet of paper, so I filled it in and handed it back. He looked it over and then saw that I was offering the asking price which caused him to smile. He turned to me and said, "I'll think the sellers will jump at your offer. They've been getting nothing but lowball offers. Do you have financing arranged?"

"Yep. We will have an inspector go through the place before anything is finalized, of course. So, let us know if the seller accepts our offer and then I'll get you a check for our earnest money. You have my cell number."

Next, we drove to Lori's parent's place so we could talk to Jerry and use his connections. When we arrived, we got our usual warm welcome and as we were herded out to the patio Lori told her folks what we just did. Her Dad cogitated for a few seconds and the said, "That's the old Balzac place. The old man used to brag about how he was related to Honoré de Balzac, the writer and playwright. He was a nice old guy and gave the best Halloween treats. In his day, that place was the nicest in town. The last few people who bought it ruined it, well, at least the outside. What's the inside like?"

"Well Dad, that's why we're here. The inside is well worn, but you can see how wonderful it must have been years ago. We both remember how it looked when we were kids and though it was faded from its original glory, it was still awesome. We want to totally rehab the place inside and out, so we need your connections to find the best possible people. We want to make some changes on the inside to modernize it a bit, but we still want to keep the original ambience. Oh, and we need a good inspector to check things out as well."

Jerry looked at both of us, smiled and said, "I can't wait to see the finished product. You know, there are probably pictures of the place when it was new at the library. They're probably black and white and from the newspaper, but they might help you get your desired results. I'll call Darien Johnson about doing an inspection of the property and I'll call Björn Johannsen about your renovation work. I'll have them both call Ben's phone?"

Lori nodded so I said, "Sure, just tell them both if I'm with a patient I won't answer and to leave a message and I'll call back." We were invited to stay for dinner, but we deferred wanting to spend the rest of the weekend quietly like we had planned.

When we got home, we stripped naked and sat out on some lounge chairs on our porch and watched the action on the lake. After several hours, Lori said, "We're going to love our new house. I have a really good feeling about it. It will be great for the kids. So, what do you want to do for supper?"

Days and weeks passed by quickly. Our offer was accepted pending a good outcome on the inspection. When we met with the inspector he told us the house was very sound and very well built. There were a few things that needed fixing to bring it up to code, especially the wiring because it had the old knob and post 30-amp service. We told him that the things he pointed out were things we were going to improve on anyway, so he told us that we had a good house.

With our contingency met we arranged for a closing date and that we would be paying cash. When we were at closing, the guy we were buying from said, "If I knew you were paying cash I would have charged more."

I laughed and replied, "If you had it would still be on your hands. Don't be so greedy, it can bite you in the ass!"

We had arranged to meet with Björn Johannsen, the guy doing the renovation at the house as soon as we closed on it. When he arrived, we shook hands with he and his main assistant who was called Paco. As we went inside, the two men smiled brightly so I asked, "Are you two imagining how much money you're going to make or what a nice canvas you have to work with?"

Both men laughed as Paco said, "The money is nice, but this place is going to be a joy to work on." That made me feel really good about these guys. I told them that our main goals were to insulate the place, replace the windows and upgrade the electrics while maintaining the character. Björn told me that was what they did best.

We walked through the place and I pointed out things we wanted done, especially in the kitchen and a new 3 season porch. He said that wouldn't be a problem. Björn told me that the interior walls were lath and plaster, that they'd be messy to remove and that replacing them would require doubled up drywall. He said that when they had finished we wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Björn also recommended a guy to do the outside. He turned out to be on Jerry's list, so I called him for and interview. His name was Jay and he turned out to be really nice and saw the potential in the house and what we wanted to do with it.

Before long we got all of the necessary permits and work began on the house. Every day after work Lori and I would walk over to the house and see how things were progressing. At first it was pretty strange as the outer siding was being stripped away. In time the place started to look more like the old pictures we saw. As each wall was done, new windows were installed. When the kitchen extension was being dealt with, it was weird to see a big hole in the house. There were several dumpsters as they filled them with all of the old siding and clapboard.