“Well, tell her that Jake and I say hi,” Laura said.
“I will. Thanks, Laura.”
“No problem.”
Meghan gave a little sigh of relief as she left the room. She was grateful that Laura had not asked any questions about the nature of the visit or what Danielle was bringing for her. It was embarrassing.
She took charge of Caydee five minutes later. Jake and Laura both kissed their daughter goodbye, told her that they loved her, and headed out the door. She took Caydee into the entertainment room, where she had a blanket on the floor covered in her favorite toys. There was also a mechanical swing and a standing bar that Caydee still did not use but was starting to express interest in. She put the child down on the blanket and then popped quickly back into the kitchen to let Elsa know about her impending visitor. Elsa merely grunted out a reply and went back to rinsing and cleaning the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
She sat down on the couch and continued to squirm back and forth, more freely now since no one but Caydee could see her doing it. Caydee played contentedly for ten minutes, at which point the intercom began to buzz out the sound that indicated someone was at the front gate and had pushed the button. That would be Danielle. Relief was here! Hopefully, anyway.
Caydee was still not crawling, so it was still safe to leave her unattended on her blanket for a minute or two. Meghan trotted to the office and looked at the computer screens. Sure enough, Danielle’s Toyota Camry was parked at the gate and her face was peering into the camera. She pushed the intercom button.
“Hey, Dannie,” she said. “I’ll open the gate for you. Pull forward just out of range of it and then stop there until it’s closed again. After that, just follow the road up and park in the circular driveway.”
“Okay,” Danielle’s voice replied.
Meghan went back to the entertainment room and picked up Caydee, hefting her into the crook of her arm. Caydee came willingly enough. She was always up for adventure and was never happier than when someone was holding her. Meghan carried her to the front door and opened it. She stepped out onto the porch. It was a beautiful central coast morning and the air smelled fresh and clean.
Danielle parked in the circular driveway and then stepped out. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a pullover shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail and her face looked tired. She carried a small, white plastic bag in her hand. It was the sort of bag that was usually found in hospitals to hold personal hygiene supplies for the patients.
“Hey, Meggie,” Danielle said. “Nice place you live in.”
“Yeah,” Meghan agreed. “It really is. Did you find it okay?”
“I missed the road on the first pass,” she said. “It’s not really all that well marked.”
“Jake and Laura don’t really like to advertise that this is their place,” she said.
“I guess that makes sense,” Danielle said. She walked up to her sister and gave her a one-armed hug. Meghan returned it after shifting Caydee a bit in her grasp. Danielle then looked at the child in her sister’s arms. “Wow,” she said. “She really has gotten a lot bigger since I saw her come into the world. I don’t usually get to see them again after they come out.”
“She’s sixteen and a half pounds now,” Meghan told her. “Caydee, this is Dannie. You probably don’t remember her, but she helped pull you out of your mommy’s tummy.”
Caydee looked the newcomer up and down placidly, showing no sign of distress or discomfort. She traveled a lot and met new people frequently and, as such, had not developed the instinctive fear of strangers that most nearly eight-month-olds displayed.
“Hi, Caydee,” Danielle said. “You really are a cutie, aren’t you?”
Caydee smiled. She knew she was a cutie. People told her that all the time.
“Come on,” Meghan said. “Let’s go inside.”
They went into the foyer and then into the formal living room and dining room beyond it. In the entertainment room, Elsa was waiting for them. Meghan made the introductions and the two women pronounced that they were happy to meet each other.
“I’m just going to show her the house real quick,” Meghan told Elsa.
“I would be happy to hold Miss Cadence for you while you give the tour,” Elsa said.
“Really? Thanks, Elsa.”
“My pleasure,” Elsa said, quite sincerely. Caydee was actually one of the joys of her life and she took every opportunity she could to interact with her.
Meghan handed her over and then turned to her sister. “Let me show you my room first.”
“Sounds good,” Danielle said. “Lead the way.”
Meghan led her out of the entertainment room and into the hall. Neither of them saw Elsa giving their retreating backs a little eye roll and a shake of the head. They were not putting anything over on her.
“So ... here’s where I stay,” Meghan told her sister once they were in the guest room.
“Not bad,” Danielle said appreciatively. “This is a guest room? It’s bigger than our master bedroom at home.”
“Yes, it’s very comfy. And I have the run of the whole house. Anyway ... did you bring the stuff?”
“I brought the stuff,” Danielle assured her, “although you could have just bought some at the drug store and saved me the trouble of swiping it from the hospital supply and bringing it all the out way here.”
“Are you kidding?” Meghan asked. “If I would have bought some, the whole town would’ve been talking about it. Pauline got them to kill that story about me, but I’m still the subject of endless gossip. I can only imagine what they would say about something like this.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Danielle said. She opened the bag she was carrying and pulled out a tube that resembled a travel size tube of toothpaste, but that was not what it was. The word Miconazole was written in large letters on it.
“You’re sure this will help?” Meghan asked, taking the tube and looking at it.
“Well, you have itching and a rash down there and you haven’t been having sex with anyone, right?”
“Right,” she said. “I told you that when I called last night.”
“It sounds like a yeast infection to me,” Danielle said. “And this is the cure. Want me to look at it to make sure that’s what it is? Believe me, I’ve seen my share of them where I work.”
She shook her head, mortified at the thought of her sister examining her vagina. “No, you don’t need to do that. I’ll take your word for it. But how did I get it? I’ve never had one before. I’m a clean person. I shower every night and wash myself down there. How does this happen?”
“It’s not necessarily being dirty down there that causes it,” Danielle told her. “In fact, sometimes having too good of hygiene can be the cause.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. Being too clean caused yeast to grow on and in your cooter? What kind of bullshit was that?
“Well, this is a little gross maybe, but a woman’s hoo-hoo is supposed to have a fairly good colony of bacteria living on it and in it. That bacteria is a woman’s friend. It keeps the Ph where it should be. And it keeps any yeast from growing there.”
“No kidding?”
“No kidding,” she said. “If you disrupt that bacteria, the yeast can grow unchecked. Are you taking any antibiotics?”
“No,” she said. “Just my birth control pills.”
“Have you been douching or anything like that?” she asked next. “Douching is not really good for you for this very reason.”
“No, I’ve never douched in my life,” she said.
“Hmm,” Danielle said. “Something must have killed those bacteria.”
A thought occurred to her. “What about the hot tub?” she asked. “It has chlorine in it. Could that do it?”
Danielle shook her head. “It shouldn’t unless they’re really flooding that thing with chlorine. That much would probably make it hard to even get in the water though.”