Page 27 of Tom's Chance
“Ah, got it, you were saying?”
“Oh, I ran to the bathroom and started the coffee before I fed these little piggies and when I got back, they had latched onto her. I let them and only took them off her when it was their turn to feed.”
“That’s good,” Tom said, and they finished feeding them and after making a nest for them in the warming blanket, they changed their gloves and removed Rose from the cage. Lorissa smiled when Baby stood and watched their every move.
Tom removed Rose, and laid her on the table. The first thing they did was listen to her lungs, and when they agreed they sounded clear, she removed the tube from her throat, then stopped the medication. As Rose rested, Tom removed the IV and took the bandages from Lorissa. It was like they had workedtogether for years instead of this being their second time together.
They both stood and watched as Rose slowly woke. Tom picked her up, looked at her, and carried her over to the corner where Lorissa had laid some pads down. They didn’t want her to have an accident all over them, the table, or the cage. Thirty minutes later, she relieved her bladder, and Tom picked her up again and placed her in the cage. Though she was extremely groggy she flopped around, and when she spotted her puppies, she immediately messed up their nest, made a different one and after licking each one, she settled down and fell asleep.
“Good,” Lorissa sighed. “She didn’t reject them. I know she’ll be tired for hours, if not a couple of days, but I think I’ll wait to stop feeding them to see if she can take back over.”
“I don’t think it will affect them, but you might want to continue to feed them until the sedation is completely out of Rose’s system.”
“Crap, I didn’t think of that.” She looked at him with wide eyes. “Do you think when they latched on this morning it would affect them?”
“Not if it was only a little bit, but we’ll have to keep an eye on them to make sure.”
They stood there for almost thirty minutes watching them sleep, and then returned to the kitchen.
“I need to talk to you.”
CHAPTER 11
Tom’s expression was serious,and Lorissa took a seat, drew in a deep breath, and let it out in a rush. “About?”
“Rose and Baby’s owner.”
“Oh, what did you find out?”
“It’s not pretty.”
“Talk to me, Tom. I need to know.”
“Yeah, you do. First, I drove by their house and it’s nothing but a burned-out shell. There is only one wall still standing, and that is charred black.”
“Damn, did they find out what happened?”
“Yes, I know you don’t know them, but the five men who found me to tell me about Rose and Baby are all brothers. One of the brothers is a fire investigator. He ruled the fire arson.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. It seems that the Bickers were havingmarital problems. Mrs. Bickers is some high-powered executive in Denver, while Mr. Bickers lost his job a few months ago. As far as I know, there are no human children in the marriage. Both are in their forties, and it’s my understanding that Rose and Baby are Mrs. Bickers’ children. She doted on them.”
“Okay, but what happened?”
“I don’t know it all, but ever since Mr. Bickers lost his job, according to friends, neighbors, and family, it was like a switch flipped in his brain. All of a sudden, his wife’s job was too much for him to handle. He wanted her home to cook, clean, and wait on him hand and foot. Again, this is all speculation, but she basically told him that if he hadn’t, and I’m sorry about the language, but it’s rumored that she told him that if he hadn’t fucked his way out of his job, then he could do the housework now that he had nothing.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Again, this is all speculation, but Mr. Bickers was caught with one of his female coworkers in a compromising position. He said it was consensual, she’s saying she was told if she didn’t do it, then she would lose her job, since he was the boss. Because of what he told her, she was too scared to report him.”
“Oh crap, that’s huge.”
“Yes, it is. Again, I don’t know all the particulars. I’m only telling you what I was told. I got this information directly from Sheriff Jim. He said thatbecause Mrs. Bickers wasn’t the little woman that stayed home and wasn’t there when he lost his job, he went on a rampage. He destroyed the house, and when Mrs. Bickers came home from a conference, while she was in the house giving loving to Rose and Baby, and their babies, Mr. Bickers set the house on fire.”
“Please tell me Mrs. Bickers didn’t die.”
“Not yet, but it’s not good. It appears, based on the statements from the Falco brothers, and video cameras, Mrs. Bickers tried to protect Rose and Baby as best she could. She was able to get them close to the outside, but not all the way out. Again, I have no clue what happened, neither does anyone else, but as we speak, Mrs. Bickers is in the burns unit at a hospital in Denver. She had third degree burns over eighty percent of her body.” Tom paused and shook his head sadly. When Lorissa reached out to take his hand, he grasped it like a lifeline.
