Pulling into the parking space outside her house, Danni got out of her Malibu and scoured the street for the familiar black, full-size Blazer. It was not there. Perhaps she had run into a late surgery or had trouble on the road. The nurse’s mind thought for a minute to use the number of her cell phone but thought that it might seem too needy on her account. Walking up the steps to her front door, Danni paused and looked one last time up and down the street, but there was nothing. She entered the door and pulled it tightly closed behind her.
Her routine was running its normal pattern as she shuffled through the mail and sorted it out. It was an easy sort as everything was for her except one lone envelope addressed to Dr. Garrett Trivoli, M.D. She looked at the envelope curiously, as it was not the first from that same place. "Arizona, huh?" Danni tapped it on the palm of her hand. "They must be eager to entice her." She laid the letter on Garrett’s side of the desk and went on to her next chore, dinner.
Moving into the kitchen, Danni made herself a large salad for dinner and pulled out a chair to sit down and eat it. Her attention was distracted by the sound of someone trying the front door. With a surge of anticipation a mile long, Danni sprinted for the door, convinced that it was her missing roommate. Pulling the door open, Danni was surprised to see the figure of her brother poised to knock on the door. "Gar…Matt?" The look on her face was one of utter disappointment. "What are you doing here?"
"Hi, Sis! Nice to see you too." He said sheepishly.
"Oh, Matt, sorry, I forgot you were coming." She pulled the door wide open and welcomed him in. "Come on, let me get you something to drink. Have a seat and I’ll be right in."
Matt did so and took a seat in the first available chair. He watched as his sister went out on the doorstep and looked up and down the street for the familiar vehicle. Not having seen it, she came back in and closed the door.
"Water, juice, beer, wine?" she asked him as she breezed in toward the kitchen.
"A beer would be fine, Danni. It will help me to unwind."
"So, what’s so important that you need to come here to see me and to meet Garrett?" Danni yelled in from the kitchen. "Is mother in a snit about something?" She decided to play dumb and not acknowledge the letter she had received.
"Well, Sis," he took the beer and opened it. "Mother wanted me to check out this Garrett and make sure that you were being well taken care off." He eyed her rather flat stomach as she walked past him and thought about the possibilities. "How have you been feeling lately? I mean…nothing to put you into the hospital for?" He’d hoped that she would not be foolish enough to use some scumbag wannabe doctor to do an abortion.
Danni sat down on the couch and interlaced the fingers of her hands on her knee. "Now Matt, it’s just you and me here. Tell me what this is all about?"
"Mother seems to think that you are…or were…pregnant." He grimaced. "She even thinks that it was with twins, by Garrett of course."
Danni burst out laughing. "Me, pregnant?" She shook her head. "The woman is delusional, I’m still a virgin." The red blush started up her face with that statement.
"Well, you know Mother. It only takes one thing to get her going off on a tangent."
"And I bet that one thing was Brie."
"Well, Danni, you did give a few of us the idea."
"When, and how?" She was curious now more than angry.
"Let’s face it, Danni, you refused your wine at Christmas dinner, you took naps with Gunny and you were queasy when breakfast rolled around that next morning." He shrugged. "I even gave it a thought in the back of my mind."
"Why didn’t you just ask me? I would have told you."
"Hey, it was a holiday. Do I have to be a lawyer all the time?" They both chuckled at the thought.
"So why are you investigating this now?"
"Well, by Mother and Brie’s recollections, your phone conversations have been…" he cleared his throat, "rather explicit of what you and Garrett are doing in your time together."
"Huh?" Danni’s brow furrowed with concern. "I don’t understand. They asked me what was going on and I told them about our helicopter flights."
Matt tried hard not to laugh. "Well, do you remember telling Mother about you knowing how to watch out for ‘a spinning tail rotor’? Or that you and Garrett had been up and down so many times that it was taking up all your sleeping time?"
Danni put her face in her hands, embarrassed by what her mother had thought she was saying. "Oh, Mother!" The blonde blew out a long breath. "Okay, stop, I understand now." Then she looked up into Matt’s eyes. "But why does she think that I’m having twins?" Danni motioned toward her non-existent stomach full of twins.
"Mother said that she heard Garrett talking about not being able to wait until the twins would get here."
"Why would Garrett talk about twins? The only twins that we know of are Rene’s…" Danni stopped dead in her sentence. "Oh, good God. Mother heard Dr. Chabot talking about his twins. I bet that was the day that I thought I saw someone that reminded me of Mother at the hospital. That was the day that Gar lent him the Flight Suit." Danni shook her head in disbelief. "Okay, I can understand the twins now." She started to calm down.
"Don’t you think that it’s kind of funny?" Matt looked at her. "In an odd sort of way."
"Yes." They both lost it laughing at the misconception of the events in question. Only Mother would be able to pull that one off.
Danni thought for a moment and then decided to test the waters a little. "Matt, do you believe that every one has someone out there for them?"
"Gee, Sis, I sure hope so. Why, have you found your someone?"
"I think that I just might have."
He searched her face looking for some clue. "It’s Gar, isn’t it?"
Danni closed her eyes and nodded her head. She bit at her lip and then continued. "Matt, Garrett is a…"
"Hey, I’m home." The sound of the voice was all that Danni needed. She jumped up from the couch, moving toward the door and the figure that was coming in through it, setting down her duffel bag on the floor.
Grabbing the big hand in her small one, Danni pulled the lumbering surgeon over in the direction of her brother. "Matt, I’d like you to meet Garrett Trivoli. Gar, this is my brother, Matt." The blonde beamed with pride at the introduction of the two.
Caught off guard, Garrett offered her hand and smiled politely. "Hi, Matt. It’s nice to meet you." Her lopsided smile then came shining through as her eyes moved between the two. "Yeah, I can see the resemblance."
This last observation definitely broke the ice as Matt now returned the smile and stuck out his hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Dr. Trivoli."
"You can call me, Gar."
"Gar, then." He watched the change in his sister and knew what she was about to say when they had been interrupted. "So, you and my sister are…friends. I’m glad that someone is keeping an eye on her here in the big city." He winked and started to laugh. He liked the tall woman and decided that what he saw in his sister was nothing but pure love. A love like he had never seen her have before. Anything that could bring that to her was worth its weight in gold or at least his friendship.