CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Khloe looked at the chart of her next patient and frowned. A seventy-three-year-old woman who hadn’t been to a doctor in almost seven years. She was complaining of abdominal pain, among other things.

“Here are her labs,” said Kelsey, handing her the results. “Blood sugar is high, cholesterol, triglycerides, all out of whack. Her blood pressure is high. This lady has the makings of a disaster.”

“Great,” frowned Khloe. “Welcome to the team, right?”

“Don’t worry, honey,” laughed Kelsey, “it gets better. Come on.”

They walked into the room to find the old woman seated on the table, wrapped in the gown they’d left her. Unfortunately, she had all of her clothing on beneath it.

“Mrs. Grenadin, we needed you to remove your clothing,” smiled Kelsey.

“I ain’t removin’ my clothes for nobody but my husband, and he’s dead. So unless you got him here, this is how it’s stayin’.”

“Alright, ma’am,” nodded Khloe. “I’ll see if I can take care of things this way. To start with, your blood work doesn’t look good, and your blood pressure is sky high.”

“Well, I don’t feel so good either,” she said. She lifted her right bottom cheek from the table and expelled a large gas bubble. “Woo-ee, that feels better.”

“Yes, ma’am, I’m sure it does,” smirked Khloe. “Do you often have gas like that?”

“All the time. Grandmama always said, better out than in, or you’ll explode.” Khloe and Kelsey laughed, shaking their heads.

“Well, you won’t actually explode, but it can be uncomfortable. It’s alright if you need to expel that, but perhaps it’s your diet. What do you normally eat?”

“Now, see, I’m not a big eater at all,” she said, looking at the two young women. Kelsey smiled at her, nodding as she looked down at her weight of two hundred and thirty-one pounds. The woman couldn’t be more than five-feet-two.

“Give me an example of what you had yesterday,” smiled Khloe.

“I had half a pound of bacon, five eggs, two pieces of toast with butter and jelly, and one of them cinnamon buns your bakery makes. Them things are so good,” she smiled.

“Yes, ma’am, they are delicious,” said Khloe. “What about lunch?”

“Oh, I had leftovers. A few pieces of fried chicken, fried okra, fried tomatoes, half-dozen grilled shrimp, and some dirty rice.”

“For lunch?” asked Kelsey for clarity.

“That’s right. Dinner was light. I had fried oysters with one of them big wedge salads, lots of blue cheese dressing, bacon, and a piece of pecan pie to treat myself.”

“Ms. Grenadin, you’re consuming far too many calories for a woman your age and size,” said Khloe. “I’m not concerned about your weight as much as I am about your health, and unfortunately, the two are connected.”

“Oh, I know I need to lose a few pounds, but I just haven’t been very active lately.”

“Yes, ma’am, a few pounds would help you, but I’m more concerned about the rest of this. You’re at great risk for a heart attack or stroke, type II diabetes, even blood clots. Do you have access to a walking trail or a pool that you could walk in or swim in?”

“Don’t know how to swim,” she said, shaking her head. “Why on earth would I walk in a pool?”

“Well, it’s less stressful on your joints but gives you the same benefits as if you were walking on a path or trail of some sort,” said Khloe.

“Look, I appreciate your worry, but I’m all alone and don’t have anyone to walk with. Ain’t no fun to walk out there with no one,” she said, shaking her head.

“You know what, I have an idea,” smiled Kelsey. “I’ll be right back.”

“While she does what she needs to do, let me check a few things,” smiled Khloe. To the best of her ability, she listened to her heart and lungs and retook her blood pressure. None of them made her jump for joy, but it also didn’t create any further alarm as to her risks.

“Well?”

“I’m still concerned, ma’am.”

Kelsey entered the exam room. Behind her were Ambry, Cole, and Bailey.

“Hello there,” smiled the older woman. “Aren’t you the prettiest children I’ve ever seen?”

“Thank you,” smiled the triplets.

“Ms. Grenadin, this is Ambry, Bailey, and Cole. They live on our property here with their parents. They’re wonderful children with more energy than they need. They’ve offered to walk with you every morning.”

“Every morning? What about school?” asked the older woman.

“We go to the school on our property, ma’am,” said Cole. “Kelsey said you live just across the road on the river side. We could come get you at seven, walk for thirty minutes, and still be in school on time.”

“I’m up by five every morning,” she nodded. “I don’t sleep like I used to.”

“We get up early too,” smiled Bailey. “Our mom said we’re driving her crazy, so we’d like to not drive her crazy anymore.” The woman chuckled at the children, shaking her head.

“I guess I’ve got myself some walkin’ partners,” she smiled.

“We could start now by walking you home,” said Ambry. “If you need help at your house, I love cleaning and redecorating.”

“Aren’t you the nicest children ever? Alright then, let’s go.”

“Ms. Grenadin, I’ve written a few prescriptions for you. I’ll have them filled and delivered to your home. I’d like to see you in two weeks. Please try to watch what you eat, stay away from anything fried, and stick to the walking routine for now. I’m sure you’re going to do great.”

Kelsey and Khloe watched as the triplets chattered away at the older woman, walking her out of the clinic and across the road to her side of the street.

“Okay. Out with it. How did you convince those three to walk with an old woman every morning at seven?” smiled Khloe.

“Easy. It got them out of certain chores with their parents. Sadie was more than happy to have them gone from the island mansion early. She loves those kids, but the girls are seriously hormonal right now, driving poor Cole mad, who ends up driving his mother mad.”

“Well,” laughed Khloe, “hopefully, they’ll keep her busy, or we’re going to lose her.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Come on. The diner sent over lunch for us. We can take a break and eat, then finish up with a few more patients this afternoon.”

“I’m starving!” said Khloe.

“All that sex will do that to you,” smirked Kelsey. Khloe blushed, shaking her head. “Don’t be embarrassed. Believe me, once Noa and I got together, we never stopped. That man is, well, he’s something else.”

“I think they’re all something else from what I’ve seen and heard,” smirked Khloe. “I have a feeling that Charlie has been using each one of them as inspiration for her books and protected them by giving them other names.”

“What do you mean?” frowned Kelsey as she took a seat and pulled the salad toward her.

“I mean, look at the last book, Wolf Triplets .”

“I read it,” smiled Kelsey. “It was fantastic!”

“Oh, I agree,” she laughed. “But you can’t tell me that those triplets didn’t remind you of the Wolfkill triplets. East, Eazee, and Rett. Their descriptions were identical to them, their bodies, well, I haven’t seen those in their entirety yet, but…”

“Oh, they damn sure matched their bodies,” said Gabi, grabbing a grilled chicken sandwich. Kelsey and Khloe stared at her. “What? Come on. You know I promised not to be as graphic any longer. All I can say is that everything in that book pretty much matched the real thing.”

“My goodness,” blushed Khloe. “How am I ever going to keep a professional demeanor around them knowing all that?”

“Don’t worry about it,” laughed Kelsey. “They’re pretty much used to Gabi. Anything you would say would be a walk in the park.”