New Beginning Part Two by Min Melinda fell asleep sobbing with her mother holding her, whispering soft words of encouragement and love. As she held her sleeping child, Miranda thought about the events of the last several days. All the pain from the wedding, the accident, and now with the assault on Geoff, and her subsequent firing, it was just too much. "What am I going to do now? This is so discouraging." She sighed. Gently laying her daughter back on the pillows, she sat down in the chair next to her to think. The door opened, and Joe Early poked his head in. Seeing Miranda in the chair, he smiled. "How's my patient doing?" "Not very well, I'm afraid. I gave her some bad news and it upset her. She cried herself to sleep." Miranda looked at her old friend. "Joe, when did I get old? I never thought about the consequences of any of my actions and look what happened. I've never been fired from a job in my life. What are we going to do?" Joe looked at his patient, assessing her condition. Then he walked and squatted down next to Miranda's chair. Taking her hand, he said, "You are not alone in this. You have Melinda, and Mike, and you have your friends. And you have me. Besides, with your credentials, you should have no problem getting another job. And as your oldest friend, let me remind you, you're only as old as you feel. Come on; let me buy you dinner. And who knows, maybe a solution will present itself." "Joe, what would I do without you? I can't leave. What if kidlet here wakes up?" She pointed to her daughter. Just then, the door opened, and Dr. Mike Morton walked in. He smiled at Joe and Miranda, and said, "How is she?" Miranda smiled at her 'second child', and told him what had occurred earlier. He looked at her, smiled, and said "things have a way of working out, you never know." Joe asked Mike, "what are your plans? I want to take Miranda out for a bite to eat, and she doesn't want to leave Melinda alone." "I'll stay with her, and keep an eye on her. You two have a good time, and relax; she's in good hands. Okay, "Mom?" "What a wonderful child you are. You always were my favorite 'son'." She patted him on the cheek the way a mother does to her child. Morton blushed, then laughed. "Yeah, right get out of here, you guys. He sat in the chair Miranda had vacated and opened his magazine. *** As Johnny entered his house, the phone was ringing. He picked it up. "Hello?" "Hey, Junior, where've you been? Jo and I were starting to get concerned. Everything okay?" Johnny smiled. "Hey, Pally, I've been over to Rampart, I pulled a lateral muscle this morning, and went over to have it checked out." Roy's voice on the other end of the line grew concerned. "Are you okay? Why didn't you call me? I would've driven you to the hospital. You sure you're okay?" "It wasn't that bad - besides after I got checked out, I stopped in and saw Doc Mulvaney, and met her mom. She's a doc, too. She's really very interesting." Roy smiled at the tone of his partner's voice. "I'm sure she is. How's the doc?" Johnny smiled. "Roy, she's incredible. She bowls, she's got a horse, and we have a lot more in common. We talked for hours." JoAnne took the phone away from her husband. "Johnny, are you hungry? We're going to eat dinner in about an hour or so. Come on over, okay? Then you can tell us all about your trip to the hospital." "I'll be there in a half an hour, and I'll bring the ice cream. Bye." Joanne hung up the phone and looked at her husband. "Honestly, Roy, sometimes I feel like we've got three kids, instead of two." "I know, but Johnny is Johnny; he never changes. I expect we'll hear all about today at dinner." *** Meanwhile, at the Byzantine Restaurant, Drs. Early and Mulvaney were just digging into their salads when a tall, handsome man approached their table. "Excuse me, Dr. Early, may I interrupt?" "Of course Mr. O'Brien, may I present my very dear friend, Dr. Miranda Mulvaney? Her daughter is a patient at Rampart, recovering from an auto accident. Miranda, this is Nathan O"Brien, our hospital administrator." Miranda gave him her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. O'Brien." Looking at Joe, who nodded, she asked, "would you care to join us?" Nathan O"Brien sat down. "Yes, thank you, I won't interrupt for long. I'll get right to the point. Dr. Mulvaney, I am familiar with your career, and your achievements in pediatric medicine. Your paper on pediatric cardiology was very informative. As it happens, we have an opening on our pediatric staff, and we are looking for someone of your experience and qualifications to fill it. I know you are here because of your daughter's injuries, but would it be possible for you to stop by my office tomorrow and we cold discuss it further?" "Mr. O'Brien, would it be possible for me to stop by around 9:15 tomorrow morning? I would like to discuss this matter further." O'Brien smiled, then said, "I am looking forward to it, Doctor. Doctor Early, enjoy the rest of your evening. Good night." Joe smiled at him, "Good night, Mr. O'Brien." Miranda looked at Joe. "Did you do this? Did you set this up?" Her eyes filled with tears. "Joe, thank you. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled. "That's a nice start. What are friends for? Let's check out the dessert menu." He was about to speak further, when He was interrupted by the maitre' d. "Dr. Early, I have an urgent phone call for you." *** Back at the hospital, Melinda Mulvaney had awakened to find her childhood friend sitting in the chair next to her. "Hi, what's going on? Where's Mom?" She looked around the room searching for her mother. "Joe took her out for supper. She looked like she hadn't eaten in a while, so they went out. How're you feeling?" Melinda struggled to straighten up and gave up. "I don't suppose you'd like to give me a hand?" "Here." He repositioned her in the bed, and then gave her a hug. "Better?" "Thanks, Big Brother. I'm still not up to much. I guess I was more tired than I thought. Johnny Gage was here and we talked for hours. He's a really nice guy." Mike frowned. "He's not so nice if he's tiring out patients. He knows better than that. I guess I'll have to have a talk with him. He knows the rules. Patients need their rest." Melinda glared at him. "Look, you leave Johnny alone. He was just trying to be kind to me, and you may not say anything to him. Got it?" "Okay, calm down, little sis. I won't say anything." "Besides, you never cared before who I talked to. What's the problem with Johnny?" "The problem, dear girl, is that our friend Gage has a reputation with the ladies. At least he did before his wedding fiasco. I don't want to see you get hurt again." "Mike, you have nothing to worry about. We're just friends and that's the way it's going to be, for awhile, anyway. I have no desire to start something new, when I'm not sure how to finish the old yet. "You still care about Geoff, don't you?" Mike's soft brown eyes looked deeply into hers. Her eyes filled with tears. "No, I just hurt too much. He hurt me too much. How could he do that? How could he sleep with Denise, and get her pregnant, when he knew that I wanted to wait until after the wedding? Why couldn't he wait? Are all men like that?" Mike sighed. "Lindy, not all men are like that, just the ones who can't keep their pants on. I don't know why he did what he did, but I do know one thing, it's his loss. The next guy..." "There is not going to be a 'next guy'. Not for a good long time. Besides, I can't chase them on one foot now, can I?" She grinned. "You are impossible." "Yup." For the next hour or so, the two sat and remembered days gone by, when they were children. They laughed remembering all the trouble they got into, such as the failed 'go-cart-off-the-barn-roof' adventure, and the times they got into trouble just for thinking about trying a new stunt. "Hey, remember the time the twins down the road dared you to walk on the peak of the barn roof?" Mike asked. "Yeah, if I remember correctly, that was the time your mother and mine came running out of the office screaming bloody murder. I got distracted, and fell off the roof right into the manure pile. YUCK!" She shook her head and made a face remembering that incident. "They had to hose me off, remember?" "Uh huh, and then we got grounded for a month, you for trying it, and me for not stopping you. Like there was chance of that ever happening." They looked at each other and burst out laughing. The door to the room opened and Dr. Kelly Brackett walked in. He took in the sight of the two of them laughing, and smiled. He said, "Laughter is the best medicine, and I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. However, you do look a little tired. Maybe we need to limit your visitors?" "No, you don't need to limit my visitors, I promise I'll try to rest more, okay?" Before he could answer, the door opened again, and Dixie poked her head in. "Kel, we've just got word there's a major pile-up on the 405. We've got at least 25 victims coming in. I've called Joe; he and Miranda are on their way back. Mike-" "I'm coming Dix, See you later, kiddo." He gave her a hug. "I wish I could help..." "Get some rest. Doctor's orders." Melinda hugged him, and then settled down to rest. As her eyes closed in fatigue, she thought, "my turn's coming, I can't wait to get out of here and back to work. My life really is starting over. I've met some wonderful new friends, I'll be starting a new job soon, and Mom and Mike are here with me. I can't wait to see what's next. Author's notes: The two incidents described here actually happened, and I lived to tell about it. John, aka Hunky Guy, thank you for reading this and my other stories, and for all the love and encouragement. Janet, thank you for all of your kind words and for the encouragement. |