The Maroon Beret

-Sean-
“Well Kelsi, it looks like you are....” I suck in a breath.

“...Not pregnant.” I sigh from relief, and I hear almost everyone else in the room agreeing with me.

“WHAT?” She starts screaming. “What do you mean I’m not pregnant? Is this some kind of conspiracy against me?! Sean, tell them I’m pregnant! Tell them they’re lying! I’m having your baby!”

Paul motions towards the door and two police officers step into the locker room. They grab Kelsi by her arms, despite her lashing out at them, and practically carry her out still screaming for me to tell them she’s pregnant.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the craziest woman I’ve ever met.” Braydon Coburn says, shaking his head.

“Is she going to leave me the hell alone now?” I ask Paul.
“We’ve obviously notified the police that she was here, in violation of the restraining order. We had to play out the situation first to prove that she was lying, but now she will be arrested. If you’d like to press charges, Officer O’Reilly is here and he’ll talk to you.”

I remember him from the whole thing with Anne. I liked him. I nod my head and follow Paul out of the locker room where Officer O’Reilly is waiting for us.

“Hello again, Sean.” He says, sticking out his hand.
“Officer O’Reilly. It’s nice to see you again.” I respond, shaking it.
“Let’s talk about what’s going on. I’ll get your official statement and we can figure out where you’d like to proceed from there.”

We stand there for a while- me telling him everything I know about Kelsi, and him writing it all down, occasionally asking me questions. It makes me angry all over again, and a couple of times I have to stop mid-sentence to regain my composure. This girl just infuriates me. Eventually I get through the whole story.

“Well, there is definitely enough evidence here for you to press charges on her. I’m not sure if it’s enough to warrant jail time, but it’s something. We can get her on stalking, excessive harassment, and breaking and entering. She will, at the very least, be placed under house arrest or have to wear an ankle monitoring device.” He says.

“Thank you so much, Officer O’Reilly. It’s been so frustrating having to deal with her. And with Charlie coming home soon, it’s good to have her out of my hair. Charlie has enough to worry about, she shouldn’t have to deal with Kelsi too.” I say.

“How is Charlie doing?” He asks. “I saw the press conference. I’m glad to hear she’s coming home soon.”
“She’s okay, I guess. Considering the circumstances. I talked to her two weeks ago when she woke up from her coma. I don’t think it had all sunk in yet, though. She, um- She lost part of her leg in the explosion. Above her knee.” His face falls.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to make it work.”
“Charlie is easily one of the strongest women I have ever met. I know she will adapt to her new circumstances, and will flourish at whatever she does.”
“You’re so kind. I’ll make sure to tell her I saw you the next time I talk to her.”

We say our final goodbyes and I head out to my Rover. This bull shit has cut into my plans for the day. I really wanted to work on temporarily upgrading certain areas of the apartment for when she comes home, but I’ve also been looking into more permanent fixtures for when we buy our own house. I’ve been doing a lot of research on what amenities amputees usually need and I have a decent idea about what I should do.

The main concerns for amputees are the bathrooms. Since they can’t bathe with a prosthetic on, they have to have somewhere to sit down.

As it is, our apartment is a terrible place for someone with only one leg to live. I was going to go look at bath tub and shower options today. I’ve read about a couple companies that have tubs with doors on the side, so she wouldn’t have to worry about stepping over the edge. And it has a fairly wide seat, so she and I could both sit in it. It’s mainly for older people, but one website I found said it works great for amputees as well. The shower options are a little easier to choose from. I really just need to find one with a stable seat and a floor-length door. Unfortunately the lease on our apartment says I can’t make any permanent changes to anything. So the only thing I can do right now for the bathroom in the apartment is get a removable seat for her.

The other thing I have to do today is much more important. I made a couple of calls the other day, and made an appointment with a realtor to look at houses again. We had a few ideas before, but now things have changed. We need certain amenities that we didn’t pay attention to before. Or at least we need the space to put them in. Steve, the realtor, has found three houses he believes would suit the new demands, and is going to show me all three of them today.

I drive to the first one, which is a little bit out of the way. It’s a nice house, though. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The downstairs is an open floor plan, and the kitchen is fairly updated. The basement is unfinished, but is big enough that it could easily be made into whatever we want. The washer and dryer are in a small closet in the back of the basement, which could be a problem for Charlie. I’ve read that stairs aren’t a problem when an amputee has both hands available. But they can be difficult when carrying something. The stairs to the second floor are narrow, which could also be a problem for Charlie. The master bedroom is fairly large. Big enough for a king sized bed and some pieces of furniture. The master bathroom, though, is a little on the small side. There is a walk in closet next to it, where we could expand. But that would be a big project, and certainly wouldn’t be done any time soon. The other bedrooms are smaller, but big enough for a kid. There are only three of them though, and none would be big enough for multiple children. That would limit us to only three kids, and no room for guests to spend the night. Finally he takes me out to the back yard. It’s pretty big, and has a medium sized pool. There’s enough room for a dog to run around, and it’s already fenced in, which is a plus.

“So what do you think?” Steve asks.
“It’s a nice house....” I start. “But it’s definitely not the one.”
“I had a feeling. It has some of the qualities you were looking for, but not all of them. That’s why I showed it to you first. Come on, let’s go see the second one.”

The second house is a lot closer to Philly, which would be nice on game days. It’s got 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.The downstairs is closed in, but I can see where we could easily blow out a couple of the walls and open it all up. The kitchen isn’t in terrible shape, but the appliances definitely need to be upgraded. There are actually two basements. One is underneath the garage where I could easily make a man cave. The other is a normal basement, and is partially finished. There are carpets and dry wall, but the ceiling is unfinished and the water heater and sump pump are both out in the open. It would definitely need a little bit of work, but it’s not impossible. The washer and dryer are on the first floor, which would be easier for Charlie. The biggest turn-off for this house is the size of the rooms. The master bedroom is so small, we would probably have to down size our bed to a full. Not that it would be impossible, but we’ve both gotten so used to having a big bed. The master bathroom is huge, which is a big plus. There is more than enough room to put in both a shower and a tub that would meet Charlie’s needs. The other bedrooms are even smaller, but two could easily be transformed into one big room, if that’s what we decided to do. We could probably have three or four kids comfortably. The last thing is the back yard. It’s no where near as nice as the one at the first house, but it’s still nice. It’s big enough that if we wanted to put in a pool or a hot tub, we could. We would have to fence it in for our future dog, but that’s doable.

“So.... Better or worse than the first one?” Steve asks.
“Definitely better over all. But it’s still not the right one. It would need a lot of work, and the bed rooms are just a little too small.”
“At least we’re headed in the right direction though. I think the last one is going to be your favorite. It’s a lot more expensive than these two, but it’s also got more of what you were looking for.”
“Let’s go see it, then.”

The last house is actually two streets over from where the Timonen family lives, so I automatically know it’s in a good neighborhood. It’s only about a ten minute drive to the practice facility, which is really nice. It has 6 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The first floor is wide open, and the ceilings are vaulted in the middle of the house. Steve tells me that the master bedroom is actually on the first floor, which is perfect for Charlie since she wouldn’t have to worry about going up and down steps. It’s probably about twice the size of our bedroom in the apartment now. The nicest thing about it is that the master bathroom already has a walk-in shower AND a jacuzzi tub. Looking at them, we would probably have to upgrade the shower. But the tub is set in such a way that it wouldn’t be a problem for Charlie to get in and out on her own. And it’s plenty big that the two of us could easily relax in it together. Upstairs, there are two wings on either side of the house. One side has three bedrooms, and one side has two. The two bedrooms are slightly bigger than the three, but all five are a decent size. The two bedrooms could probably have two kids each, giving us room for seven children. I’m not really sure if Charlie wants that many, but hey- it at least gives us that possibility. Each wing has its own bathroom, too. The washer and dryer are both on the first floor towards the back of the left side of the house, down a hallway leading towards the garage. The master is in the back as well, but on the right side.

The kitchen is absolutely massive, and it looks brand new. Steve tells me the counter tops are actually man-made granite, which is apparently a lot cheaper and environmentally friendly than real granite, with the same appearance. They’re also a lot easier to maintain. The hardwood floors are also environmentally friendly, and are actually bamboo. The big surprise there is that they have a heating system underneath of them for the winter. The basement could definitely use a lot of work. Like the rest of the house, it’s gigantic. But it’s also completely unfinished. That would probably be a project we would have to spend a lot of time on, but we have the opportunity to do whatever we want with it. It’s actually big enough that we could probably split it up and make a guest bedroom and bathroom down there, and have room to make either a man cave or a play room for the kids in the rest of the space. At this point, I’m pretty much already sold on this house. But we still have the back yard to look at. I have no problems with it, though, as it is by far one of the nicer back yards I’ve ever seen. The deck has been redone recently, and has room for a huge hot tub, a table and chairs, and a pretty nice sized grill. Part of it is screened off, and Steve tells me that it can be transformed into a sunroom when the weather gets cold. The rest of the yard is flat, and there’s enough space that we could put in a pool either in-ground or above. It isn’t fenced in, but we could easily fix that. The thing I really like is that there is a huge tree in the back of the lot that definitely looks sturdy enough for a swing. Charlie had one in her back yard growing up, and I know she’s always wanted one in our future house.

We’re back in the kitchen before I finally say anything to him.

“This is the house.” I tell Steve.
“Do you want to know the price first, before you make that decision?” He asks. “Or at least wait until she comes home?”
I think about it for a second.
“No. As long as it’s within the price range I gave you, it’s definitely worth it. And I know Charlie will love it.”
“It’s at the top of your budget, but it’s still within the limits.”
“This is our house.”
“Alrighty then, let’s go fill out some paperwork and we can put an offer down.”

He heads for the door but I just stand there for a second, taking it all in.

This is the house that Charlie and I are going to raise our family in.