“That’s how they got to us so fast,” I said as I remembered Jacob’s hand on my shoulder. “Poor little Kaia, she doesn’t stand a chance with you and her grandmother able to get into her mind.”
“I’m sure you’ll teach her to sing about doughnuts when she’s plotting something.” Adrienne rolled her eyes.
“Let’s have another baby. No, let’s have four. We’ll have them close together, so they can be playmates.”
Adrienne looked at me wide-eyed. “I distinctly remember you saying we should wait and see what this baby was going to do to us before we talk about having another one.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t drugged up then.” I picked up Drew and smiled at him. “Look at this handsome son of a bitch, will you?”
“Quiet down,” Adrienne said as she took Drew and stuffed him gently between my ribs and the car seat. “That pain pill is really doing a doozy on you.”
“Pills, I took two for the ride.”
“Hayden!”
“Huh?”
“Seriously, you took two?” Adrienne was looking deep into my eyes.
“Yeah, and I feel fine.” I winked at her. “And you look really fine. Ever done it in a cab?”
I came face to face with Drew. I wasn’t really sure if Adrienne was trying to shut me up with him or if I’d flopped over on the seat.
*******
“You look like shit, Hayden,” BJ rasped out when we walked into her room.
“Well, BJ, you look much the same,” I said with a smile. Both eyes were black, and her head was wrapped in a bandage. Her left leg was in some sort of contraption that I didn’t want to stare at too long. The cast on her left arm was covered in signatures and well wishes from the hospital staff. I saw Colie and Iris’s names there, too. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like I look. They say I might not be able to walk again. An old bird like me doesn’t recover as quickly as someone like you. I say it’s all what you tell yourself that you can and cannot do. I’m gonna walk, maybe not like before, but I’ll be on my feet, just you watch.”
“Where’s Audrey?” Adrienne asked.
“Out getting some fresh air. I have to run her out of here every so often. You mind lifting that cup up for me so I can have a sip?”
I held the cup close to BJ’s mouth, and she took several swallows through a straw. “I’m really very sorry about how things turned out.”
“It wasn’t your fault. We weren’t given a lot of choices, and I didn’t ask your opinion before I ran that car off the road.” BJ cleared her throat. “A little more water, please.” I held the cup back up to her lips, and she took another couple of long pulls from the straw. BJ looked over at Adrienne and smiled. “I hear you have a beautiful baby girl now. Congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you,” Adrienne said with a proud smile.
BJ turned her attention back to me. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you. Audrey was right. I’d gotten downright mean.” Her brow furrowed, and coupled with the black eyes, she looked downright scary. “It sucks when you get old. You retire and no one needs you anymore. I’d begun to feel useless. I took it out on Audrey and everyone around me.” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “I remember thinking when I floored that car that I was finally doing something important. I’m a hero now.”
“You are that,” I said with a smile.
“Does that mean we can come back and stay for free?” BJ asked with a cheeky grin.
“Yes, I’m sure the folks at The Cove would love to have you.”
“Brat.”
“What Hayden’s really saying,” Adrienne said, “is you’re always welcome with us.”
“But for free?” BJ asked, obviously wanting a clarification.
“Of course,” Adrienne said with a chuckle.
“I’ll be leaving here in a week. I’ll have to spend some time in rehab, but I expect next year this time I’ll be on my way back.” BJ winked at me. “That’ll give you enough time to prepare.”
“Consider me warned. I have to ask, what were you still doing on the island, and how did you end up in a car with Stinslin?”
BJ grimaced. “I wasn’t ready to go home, so we stayed a couple extra days at The Cove. I rented a car to look for some more damn birds. To tell you the truth, I hate birding, it’s boring. I was doing it for Audrey, though. Anyway, I rented the car and went back to pick her up, Stinslin got in, and well, you know the rest.” BJ cleared her throat. “I have nightmares. Do you?”
I shot Adrienne a glance and nodded. “When I’m not taking pain meds.”
“They tell me that’s normal.” BJ looked at Adrienne. “Come here, honey.” Adrienne stepped closer to the bed. “Make her talk to you about them. Don’t let her keep it all inside.”
“You’ve got her figured out, don’t you?” Adrienne said with a wink.
“I was a lot like her back in my day.” BJ looked at me. “That’s probably why I picked you to vent on. You’re tough. I knew you could take it. How ’bout a little more water?”
I held the straw to her lips, and BJ took a couple of swallows before lying back with a sigh and closing her eyes. “You’re tired,” I said. “We should go.”
BJ opened one eye. “Want some insight from an old woman?” Adrienne nodded, while I shook my head. BJ smiled. “You live in paradise. It makes you forget all the awful stuff going on in this world. If you’re not careful, you’ll forget how blessed you are, so when adversity comes, think of it as balance, then it won’t be so hard to cope with.”
“So the moral to the story is, when life serves you lemons, beat those bitches with a hammer.”
Adrienne rolled her eyes. “Forgive her, she took an extra pain pill, and she’s…well, this is normal.”
BJ grinned up at me. “You get the point. It took me landing flat on my back to appreciate that I have a damn good life.”
I patted BJ on the shoulder softly. “I got ya. Come back and see us next year. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
BJ closed the one eye that was still open and smiled. “We’ll go kite boarding.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Elaine stayed with us nearly a month after my parents left. She and Adrienne would take long walks on the beach or sit on the deck for hours and talk. What Adrienne said about their gifts canceling out each other, we learned was untrue. When things settled down and we all developed a routine, they became privy to each other’s thoughts. Incapable of keeping secrets, their relationship was sometimes tense but honest, and a bond formed so strongly between them I ached for Adrienne when Elaine told us she had to go back home. Elaine promised to return often, and we in turn promised to visit whenever we could.
“I don’t want to go when you take Aunt Elaine to the airport.” Kristen startled me. She’d sneaked into the house while I watched Adrienne and Elaine sipping coffee on the deck.
“You don’t like my driving?” I chided, knowing that like me she didn’t want to see Adrienne and Elaine say goodbye to each other.
Kristen looked sad as she peered through the window. “I’m going to help Iris. We’re going down to the fruit market. I’ll say my goodbyes before we leave.”
I poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of her on the bar. “Are you having regrets about your decision to stay on here?”
Kristen’s gaze remained fixed on the pair sitting on the deck. “No, I know this is where I belong. I love my cottage, and now that my stuff is here, the island feels like home.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. Adrienne and I are thrilled that you’re staying.”
Kristen’s gaze met mine. “You mean that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” I reached over and squeezed her arm. “Now Adrienne can get up in your brain, too. It’ll take some pressure off me.”
*******
The ride to the airport was quiet for two reasons. Kaia was asleep in what I liked to call the “baby bucket,” which Adrienne insisted on calling an infant carrier. And Adrien
ne and Elaine had gotten really good at talking in their heads—it pissed me off.
“It’s rude to speak in different languages when one person of the group does not.”
Adrienne looked over at me and grinned. “We’re not speaking a foreign language.”
“You know exactly what I mean. Kaia and I are offended. Kaia is especially worried about her mommy fine-tuning her ‘listening’ skills. She feels that puberty will be even more of a trauma with her momma in her brain.”
Elaine laughed, and I looked at her in the rearview mirror. She was staring down at Kaia as any proud grandparent would.
Adrienne reached over and ruffled my hair. “You’re right, we were being rude. We’ll try to do better in the future. As for Kaia, we’ll have a heart to heart when she wakes up.”
“The only thing that child will want to hear when she wakes is the sound of your bra being pulled away, so she can eat. I swear if she always eats like that, we’re going to have to build new cottages on the property and boost our clientele.”
Adrienne laughed at my comment, then sobered when the airstrip came into view. My heart broke when I noticed the sad expression on her face. I glanced into the rearview again, and Elaine looked just as forlorn. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I pulled passed the gate.
“Elaine—Mom, if you decide you want to make this place your home, all you have to do is say the word. We’ll have you moved in no time,” I said as we came to a stop.
Elaine tried to smile, but I saw the first of many tears trickle down her cheek. She leaned down and kissed Kaia on the head and breathed in her scent before climbing from the Jeep. She and Adrienne stared at each other before they embraced. They stood together for a few minutes crying and holding on as if they’d never be together again.
“Look at the baby, Hayden. Focus on anything but them,” I said under my breath. “Aw, damn.” I gulped for air and started wailing louder than Kaia when she was really hungry. Adrienne and Elaine welcomed me into their arms, and we stood there in a circle crying our eyes out until Kaia woke and joined in.
I reached into the backseat and plucked Kaia from her carrier as Elaine stroked Adrienne’s face and said, “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You’re more than I ever dreamed. I’m leaving you this time, but I promise to be back soon.”
“I love you, Momma.” Adrienne wrapped her arms around Elaine and buried her face in her neck.
I was again squalling louder than Kaia.
After Elaine had hugged us all and showered her grandbaby in kisses, she strode to the double doors of the airport. She turned and with a weak smile blew a kiss in our direction. We stood there long after the plane had taken off, and Kaia managed to fall back to sleep. We climbed back into the Jeep and headed home.
Adrienne looked so sad and leaned her head against the window. Her feeling of loss was palpable, and I wanted to pull over and take her into my arms.
“I’m not sad,” she said suddenly. “Well, I am sad that she had to leave, but…I’m happy, too. We have a beautiful daughter, and I have a mother and cousin.” Adrienne looked at me as her eyes teared again. “And I have you, my love, my life.”
I did pull over then. I wrapped Adrienne in my arms, and I held her as tight as my sore ribs would allow. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me,” I said as Kaia woke and began to holler. “And you too, milkaholic.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Life went back to normal for us, well, as normal as it could be for new parents. Speaking of, we had visits from them monthly. Mom and Dad would no sooner leave than Elaine would arrive. Then the Christmas holidays came and with it all the grandparents at one time. It was our very first Christmas in the new house and Kaia’s first ever, so it had to be special…right?
I took issue with the potted banana tree that Adrienne had strung with lights. It didn’t smell like Christmas to me, and it wouldn’t hold ornaments, so I enlisted the help of my brother, Jeff, who unfortunately couldn’t get away from work for the holiday. If Adrienne or Elaine knew about my plan, they didn’t let on.
“Is it fake?” Dad asked as we stood on the dock watching the supply boat slowly make its way in.
“Of course not. Fake trees don’t smell like Christmas. Jeff and Wanda picked it out. I told them I wanted a big one. I ordered a ton of ornaments, black and gold balls, too.”
“Jeff’s never seen the new house, though, he might’ve gotten something too big.” Dad had a faraway look in his eyes, and I knew what was on his mind.
“You’re thinking of the great Christmas tree disaster of eighty-two. It won’t be like that.”
“I cut limbs off of that thing for days. Your mother had it brought in on a truck. We had to take a chain saw to the trunk to get it into the tree stand…you did get a stand, didn’t you?”
“I did. All we have to do is get it up the stairs, and we’re golden.”
I was jumping up and down when the boat pulled up to the dock. They no sooner had the moorings in place and I was climbing aboard. “Hey, Calvin, you got something for me?” I asked excitedly.
“Sure do. I’ll get the guys to unload the boxes onto the dock. We’ll use the hoist for the large one.”
“Excuse me, but did you just say hoist?” my dad called out from the dock.
Calvin wiped at his sweaty neck with a towel. “Yeah, we can load it directly onto the flatbed if you want. You did bring a truck, right?”
Dad stared at me, his expression blank. “Is there a bar near here?”
*******
It took me a few hours, but I managed to find a truck big enough for the tree and a chain saw. It was dropped off in a clearing not far from the house. Dad had the measuring tape out. “We could cut three feet off this thing, and I think the tip would touch the ceiling. When I get home, I’m going to kill your brother.” He shook his head as he put his hands on his hips. “The width is an issue, too. Why don’t we put it up outside?”
“The house won’t smell like Christmas.”
“We could cut off a few branches and bring them in. That should be enough to smell up the house.”
It came to me then that I could play the guilt card. “Dad, this is your granddaughter’s first Christmas. She needs a tree in the house.”
And that’s all it took. Dad squared his shoulders. “It’s gotta be against a wall so we can anchor it, and for it to fit in your living room, we’ll need to shave the branches off of one side.”
“Works for me.”
Dad looked to the west. “We need to get started on this now before we lose the light of day. I need a pair of pruners. I’ll also need a hand saw, and, Hayden, beer, lots of beer.”
Winters aren’t severely cold in south Louisiana, but when wrestling with a Christmas tree from hell, one does appreciate a cool breeze. We had no such luck on the island. It was hot as shit, and an hour into the job, we’d only made a small dent in the foliage. We were both covered in sap and pine needles cursing like sailors when Adrienne came to find us with Kaia on her hip.
“Honey,” she said excitedly. “You got us a tree.”
“I was excited about it, too, until it whipped our asses.” I rubbed my forearms. “I think something is living in there, and it bites.”
Kaia grinned at me, and her little arm popped up, indicating that she wanted me to hold her.
“I can’t right now, sweetheart. Your mom is covered in sap.” I made a face. “Yucky, gooey stuff.”
Kaia responded with a smile and a giggle.
“We’ll be done soon, my little Buddha belly, and I’ll get you then.”
That was the first time I lied to my daughter—unintentionally, of course. We’d hacked, sawed, and trimmed the tree down to what we considered a manageable size. Naturally, everyone had gone to bed by the time we were ready to drag it up the stairs. Dad took the trunk and went up first. All I had to do was follow and give a push when it got stuck on a stair or the railing. Simple enough, but being a Tate, Dad missed a stair and
fell forward. I got a face full of tree.
“Hayden, honey, are you okay?”
I replied from deep beneath the boughs, “It’s okay, Dad, my other eye works perfectly fine. I really didn’t need two.”
At nearly one in the morning, Dad and I hoisted that big son of a bitch biting tree into the stand. It was crooked, and we cared not.
“Thanks, I really appreciate all the help.”
“You’ll forgive me, honey, if I don’t help string the lights tomorrow.” He looked bone tired, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that he had a big wad of sap on his forehead with pine needles sticking out of it. I was tempted to take a picture and tell Kaia a few years from now that Paw Paw was sprouting baby reindeer horns.
*******
The next morning, I was awakened with soft kisses. When I opened my eyes, Adrienne was above me sporting a huge grin. “The tree is magnificent, darling.”
I smiled up at her. “I’m glad you like it, baby, because we’re not taking it down until July.”
We laughed when we heard cooing and an occasional squeal coming through the baby monitor.
“I’ll translate that for you,” Adrienne said. “Kaia wants you to feed her breakfast this morning.”
“I’m happy to oblige.” I got up and went into the nursery. Big blue eyes peered at me over the bumper pad. “Your other mommy is warming up some rice cereal for you. I hear it’s got breast milk in it. We serve only the best at Château Tate, it’s vintage 2011.”
Kaia squealed when I picked her up. No sooner than I had her on my hip, she grabbed a handful of my hair.
“Now look, kiddo. You’re gonna have to let that go if I’m going to change your diaper.”
Kaia didn’t seem to agree. I gave her a few play bites on the belly until she let go with more squeals of delight.
“Is there anything you need to tell me before I bust the seal on this bad boy?” My hands were poised above the diaper. She looked up at me and grinned. “Dear Lord, it’s like a gel pack in here. How much did you drink last night?” I rolled up what felt like a ten-pound diaper and stuffed it into the Genie. “Breakfast and a bath are what you’re going to get, missy.” I put on the fresh bun cover, as I liked to call it, and grabbed up my little monkey.
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