Page 9 of Not In The Christmas Plan
I don’t hear anything Braxton says after that, but I do finally find my keys inside my purse. Now I need to find my shoes.
This don’t make no sense,I think, hustling from one side of the bed to the other.I had my shoes on all day, and now when I need to go somewhere they’ve up and disappeared off the face of the earth.
I fling the closet open and find a pair of flip flops with rhinestones I haven’t worn since college. I put them on anyway and get a glimpse of myself in the mirror hanging on the door. To put it mildly, I look a hot mess in my pajamas and flip flops.
“Eve, are you there?” Braxton’s voice breaks through the fog.
“I’m here,” I answer, turning away from the mirror. Who cares about fashion when you need to be there for your sister? “Which hospital did you say they’re transferring y’all to again?”
Braxton lets out another sigh. “Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. But look. Eve, I need you to listen… You can’t come.”
His words knock the wind out of me and my hand freezes before I can turn the doorknob.
“What?” I ask, hoping I didn’t hear him correctly.
“I’m sorry. There’s just already a lot going on here with the transfer and Ivy has to wait for her doctor to give the okay before she can be moved. They said the visitor restrictions are even more stringent there, and they gave me all these damn papers with all this information like I’m supposed to know what it all means.” I hear the shuffle of papers and edge of desperation in Braxton’s voice.
Putting myself in Braxton’s shoes, I realize how stressful the day has been for him. First it was running around the house to get everything ready for dinner. Then it was rushing to the hospital. Now it’s getting the babies transferred. It would be a trying day for anyone, let alone a first-time dad.
And if it’s been stressful for him, it’s been absolutely crushing for Ivy. Which is why I need to be there.
“But I can help,” I insist as my voice quivers.
“You can,” Braxton says gently before his next words break my heart. “At the house.”
I shake my head, already knowing what he’s about to ask me.
Ivy and Braxton decided to move into our childhood home when they found out Ivy was pregnant. Only, it took so long to get the move approved by Braxton’s job that they didn’t get here until she was six months along.
I’d planned to take off all of December to help prepare the nursery and go through Dad’s and my old things to clear the house and make room for their growing family.
Now Braxton is asking me to do it alone. Without him or Ivy. Without Dad. I know none of it can be helped, but the plan is officially off ruined.
“Braxton…” I begin.
“It would take so much stress off of us if we knew Nia and Amani had their room ready for when we get home. And you won’t even have to do it alone. Grant will help you.”
He wants me to spend more time with Grant? With my heart and sanity intact?
For a second, I consider faking bad reception, pretending that the call dropped, and racing to the hospital anyway. But the thought of Ivy coming back home, exhausted and with even less time on her hands, keeps me from bolting. If I can’t be by her side, the least I can do is make sure she has everything her and the babies need when she comes home.
“Eve, please,” Braxton says, his voice breaking again.
I let out a long breath and set my purse down on the desk. “You know it’s not even a question. Of course I’ll do this. We’re family. I just need you to promise to keep me updated. I want to know everything that happens.”
“I will.” Relief softens his voice, like a boulder’s been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you, sis. I know you’d rather be with Ivy, but I want you to know how much I appreciate this.”
Braxton runs through the logistics of everything that needs to be tackled while I’m here.
“I know,” I tell him when he repeats, ‘The diapers are in the closet,’ for the third time.
He’s obviously running on empty, and I need him to rest if he’s going to take care of my family.
“Don’t forget, it was already in the plan for me to work on the nursery,” I tell him. “You know I was all up in there, scoping the room out, as soon as I got here.”
“And don’tyouforget, you’re not alone. Grant will help too.”
I withhold a sigh.
