by Sadie Grubor
I laughed and shook my head.
"I'm fine. Thank you." Then I started coughing.
"That cough doesn't sound fine." He stepped forward.
I waved him off as I got up and walked toward the door of my room heading to the kitchen for juice.
"Where are you going?" His hand grabbed my arm and spun me around. The damn warmth hit my skin at his touch causing forbidden feelings in my body. I jerked my arm back as he pulled his hand away. "Sorry."
"Kitchen, juice," I coughed out and started walking again. At the top of the stairs I could feel his presence next to me.
"I can get it for you. Go back to your room." He pushed passed me and started down the stairs. He turned at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at me with his brow furrowed.
"Go back to your room. I don't need germs spread throughout the house." His tone was stern and scolding.
I was still trying to fight off the coughing when he returned with three glasses; water, orange juice, and grape juice.
"I wasn't sure which juice you preferred."
I grabbed the orange juice and drank greedily.
"Thank you." I breathed out when I was finally able to speak without hacking up a lung.
"You're welcome." He stood there looking at me for a long time and I caught myself fidgeting from his stare. Before I could say anything he turned around and grabbed his things from the table. "I'll be in my office if you need anything, and Mrs. Baker is around the house this afternoon."
"Okay, thanks again." I curled back up on the couch.
"My office is closest though." He mumbled as he walked out the door and shut it behind him.
I stared at the door for awhile before I finally turned to the TV movie that was playing. At some point I fell back to sleep.
Chapter Five
By Monday morning I was still sucking on cough drops and popping cold and sinus pills like an addict, but at least I was able to function. I was able to get Victoria up, dressed, fed, and to school. Once I dropped her off I headed to the grocery store and to the bank. I also decided to make a last minute shopping trip. Victoria's birthday was a couple of weeks away and I wanted to get her something without her seeing it.
When I arrived back to the house I unloaded the groceries with the help of Mrs. Baker. Once they were all put away I headed upstairs to put away the other items I had picked up; shampoo, soap, tampons, all those fun little necessities. I also wanted to wrap up Victoria's birthday present and get in a short nap.
I picked Victoria up on time and we were on the drive back to the house when I decided to bring up her birthday.
"Someone has a birthday coming up." I sang.
She had a small smile on her lips.
"Aren't you excited? You're going to be seven!" I was full of enthusiasm, but she seemed very reserved.
"Yes, I'm excited." I wasn't buying it.
"Why the gloom and doom face?"
"Gloom and doom?" She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah, you know sad face? What's going on?"
"Nothing," she shrugged, "My birthday isn't a big deal."
"You are way too young to say birthdays aren't a big deal. Why aren't you excited?"
She shrugged again.
I was determined to get her pumped up. I parked the car in the driveway and as she was getting out of the car I got an idea.
"What kind of party do you want to have?"
"Oh, Grandma always has a tea party on the Sunday after my birthday." She pulled her bag out.
"Oh. Your friends like that?" It sounded awfully stuffy to me.
"My friends aren't there. It's grandma, Aunt Allison, and Aunt Rissa."
We walked into the house and she dropped her bag on the floor before hopping up onto the stool at the bar. I pulled out the snack I had prepared for her and slid the plate in front of her.
"So, you don't have like a kid's birthday party or a sleepover?"
She shook her head no, since her mouth was full.
"Well…that sucks!" I slammed the palm of my hand to the counter. Her eyes widened at me. "Let's have a sleep over."
She swallowed quickly.
"You mean have girls over and we all sleep in my room?"
"Yep, we eat popcorn, watch movies, dance around and sing, and, heck, we can dress up too." I grabbed a carrot stick from her plate and took a bite out of it.
"Really?" I finally saw the excitement that was missing from her eyes earlier.
"Heck yeah!" I laughed. "I'll get some invitations tomorrow while you are at school and then you can pass them out Wednesday. Okay?"
She nodded enthusiastically as I began to form the party plan in my head. While she finished her snack and did her homework I made a list of things to get for the party.
Victoria took twenty five invitations to school and by the following weekend we had ten RSVPs. The week before her party there were four more RSVPs. Apparently getting a chance to have your child in attendance for a Bishop birthday party was "all the rage", at least this is what Ella and Amber told me.
Victoria was so excited about her party that we had to go over every detail during every trip from school to the house or to one of her afternoon lessons.
"Ashley told me today she has already put together her best outfit and accessories for the fashion show. Laura and Jessica said they are ready too. What movies are we going to get? Am I getting a cake?"
I started laughing.
"Breath girl, breath!"
We giggled.
"What movies do you want? I can stop and get them if you don't already own them." I teased. "And, yes, you are getting a cake. I ordered it today; vanilla with whipped cream icing just like you wanted."
"YES!" She pumped her fist in the air. I laughed at her excitement.
The week concluded and it was Friday. Roberto had a hard time keeping Victoria focused on her Spanish lesson due to her extreme excitement about the party tomorrow. He eventually gave up and ended up listening to her talk about her party for the last thirty minutes of their lesson time.
"She is definitely excited about her birthday." He smiled at me as I walked him to the door.
I nodded with a smile.
"This is the first year out of the three I have been working with her, that she ever mentioned her birthday." He looked at me for a long moment, but I wasn't quite sure how to read his expression. After the long moment he spoke. "Well, good evening."
"Night," I closed the door and headed to the kitchen.
Victoria was sitting at the counter on a stool kicking her feet back and forth. "Look!" She held up a picture, it was of her, Miranda, and me standing side by side on Halloween.
"That's a good one." I smiled and went to check on the chicken.
"When did you get these?" She asked in a quizzical tone.
"I just picked them up today. They had been done for a few days, but I kept forgetting to stop and pick them up." I flipped the chicken and started mashing the potatoes. "Hey, go wash up for dinner please."
"Okay!" I heard her little feet hit the tile floor as she got down. "Oomph!' I heard her gasp out and turned to see if she was okay. "Sorry, daddy." Her tone was low and worried.
My eyes widened slightly when I saw she had run directly into Dr. Bishop as he entered the kitchen. I quickly looked at the clock. What was he doing here? Didn't he have a meeting with the seven hounds of hell or something?
"Its…please be careful." His tone was stale and low.
"Yes, sir," she mumbled and walked away. I heard the water turn on in the downstairs bathroom.
"I will be leaving this evening and will not be back until Sunday. My mother will be stopping to pick up Victoria late Sunday morning for her birthday party." I could feel my stare turn cold as he spoke. How could he leave for his daughter's birthday? Why didn't he participate in her life? Then he set down a tiny blue box on the counter. "This is her present from me. Could you please see –?"
Victoria came bounding back into the kitchen.
"Maybe you should give it to Victoria yourself." I knew it came out short, but I couldn't help it. I turned back to the potatoes before I said anything else to get me fired.
"Give me what?" The stool squeaked as she climbed back onto it.
There was a long silence and I could feel his stare in the back of my head.
"Happy Birthday," He said monotone.
I heard Victoria gasp. "A present?" I turned to see her little face turn up to him adoringly.
"Oh, thank you daddy!" She threw her arms around his waist. I smiled and turned back around.
"You are, uh, welcome. Okay, let go…so you can open it." I swear for a moment the ice in his voice melted. I heard paper ripping and then Victoria giggled.
"It's beautiful! Sophia look," I turned around, still stirring the potatoes. "It's a mermaid!"
She smiled widely. In her hand was a silver, maybe platinum, necklace, with a mermaid pendent dangling from the chain.
"It will look beautiful on you." I smiled, happy for her, and turned back to work on the vegetables.
"Thank you so much daddy. Can you put it on me?"
"Umm…sure." His tone was cold again and I wanted to throw the spoon at his head. I was whisking the gravy when his voice filled the kitchen again. "What are these?"
"Those are the pictures from Halloween. Sophia just got them today." She was obviously ecstatic her father was holding a conversation with her for a change.
"Who is this?" He asked bitterly.
"That was Sophia's prince." Victoria giggled.
I unintentionally snorted out loud. It was silent for awhile.
"I'm going to finish packing." And with a sudden abruptness, Dr. Bishop left the kitchen. We didn't see him again.
The next day I dropped Victoria off at Karate class and went to pick up the birthday cake and other things for the party. When we returned home we started to set up for the party.
We decorated the kitchen with pink and silver decorations. Set the cake out on the large kitchen table no one used. Mrs. Baker helped me remove the chairs and table from the large dining room, so I could surprise Victoria with a rented platform that looked like a runway. It was only about four inches off of the ground, but Mrs. Baker and I decorated the far wall with pink and silver in an attempt to make it look like a runway. I even thought to rent mirrors like they have a ballet studio so they could all see themselves on the one wall.
Around three in the afternoon the guests started to arrive. Each was given a tiara and a feather boa when they walked in the door. Their things were taken to Victoria's room and we all congregated in the kitchen.
Once our confirmed sixteen girls had arrived, the party began. We ate the many appetizers I had ordered, sang happy birthday and ate cake. Then it came time for the fashion show, so I herded them all upstairs. Everyone started changing into their fashion show outfit.
"Sophia, where is yours?" Victoria looked at my curiously.
"I, uh, actually I didn't plan on wearing one." I laughed. "I'm going to be the photographer." I held up the camera I was going to use.
"Come on girls! We have to find Sophia an outfit!" Victoria ran out of her room. I followed them into my room.
"What are you doing?" I yelled after them. When I walked into my room, there were five of them in my closet and six of them sitting on my bed. The remaining girls were still in Victoria's room getting dressed.
"This is perfect." Victoria's voice was a little muffled from being in the back of my closet.
"That's pretty." Jessica chimed in. "Put it on!" Laura jumped up and down.
Victoria handed me the one good dress I owned. It is my date dress. A dark blue halter dress that stopped just above my knee. Having an empire waist and the skirt pleated out around, it was almost like a dark blue version of the famous Marilyn Monroe dress that she wears and it gets blown up around her. I loved this dress.
"I don't think I should risk messing up this dress. It's my really good dress." I whined.
"Come on", "Please", "You can be careful". I finally gave in to all of their pleas and put the dress on.
Next it was time for hair and make-up. Victoria and Laura worked on my hair, Jessica and Tabitha did my makeup. Once they were finished, Becky and Samantha showed up with 'accessories'. They decided I needed a white feather boa, a super long strand of white pearls, and they picked out some silver heels I had in the back of my closet. I laughed at myself when I looked in the mirror, but got a hold of myself quickly.
"Great job ladies. I look hot!" I did a pose, one hand on my jutted out hip and the other hand at the back of my head as I made a big pucker face. They all started laughing. "Okay! Time for the runway! Follow me." I led them all down the stairs to the dining room, which was now converted into our fashion show venue.
"When did you get this?" Victoria squealed in delight.
"This is so cool!" Another girl yelled with excitement. Internally I was feeling smug and patting myself on the back.
"Everyone line up." They did as instructed. I turned on some music and then started sending them up on the runway one at a time. Standing at the end of the runway I took pictures of them as they walked; making sure to shout things like a photographer. "Work it", "That's it", "Hold it", "Smile", "give me serious", "give me fun", "smile with your eyes Becca", etc. God, I watch a little too much 'Next Top Model'.
Everyone took their turn, including me. Some walked down multiple times. We laughed, sang, danced, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the runway. After turning off the music I sent them upstairs to change and wash up. Still in my 'fashion outfit' I headed to the kitchen to make popcorn and get drinks.
When I arrived upstairs with the large bowls and the drinks, half of the girls were cleaned up and changed. I could hear the others still in the bathroom. I got to work setting up the movie. We were starting with 'Enchanted', then 'The Princess Bride', and going through a list of movies Victoria requested, though I was pretty sure they wouldn't make it past the second one.
The blankets and mattresses were all pulled out and gathered in the middle of Victoria's large room. I curled up on a bean bag chair next to Victoria and Laura, at their request. I cheered for the evil queen in 'Enchanted' when she turned into the dragon, and they all tossed popcorn at me. The last thing I remember was the priest in 'The Princess Bride' saying 'twooh love'. When I woke up, I was covered with a fluffy pink blanket and everything was off. I wondered if one of the girls had taken care of everything.
I pulled the feather boa off of my neck and put the strand of pearls on Victoria's dresser before I walked around quietly picking up the garbage and the bowls. Once they were all collected I went to the kitchen. Along the way to the kitchen I groaned at the mess I would be cleaning up tomorrow, but was also a little surprised it wasn't worse. Sixteen girls can do a lot of damage.
While I was rinsing out the popcorn bowls I heard a noise behind me and spun around quickly, dropping the sponge on the floor. I clenched my chest and attempted to catch my breath. Dr. Bishop was standing in the center of the kitchen looking around.
"Sorry," his voice was the normal glacial tone.
"It's okay. I didn't, uh…I thought you were on a trip." I said in a low tone and picked up the sponge.
"I suppose you did." He was being very short.
I rinsed out the bowls and took a deep breath before turning back around. He was closer than before.
"Is there a particular reason this place is a disaster and there are twenty little girls in my home?" He crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's just a party for Victoria, for her birthday. I wanted to –"
"You didn't feel the need to run this past me before you did it?" He spat out.
"I apologize. I didn't realize you would have a problem with it." I paused and swallowed my anger. "I simply wanted to give her a party with her friends."
"Her party is tomorrow with my family." He snapped.
I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't bite my ton
gue without biting it entirely off and swallowing. And frankly I like my tongue where it is, so I unleashed.
"A party with children her own age is quite different from an adult tea party. I'm sure she enjoys her time with your family; however, every kid should have a party with children their own age. I will clean up the mess tomorrow and you will never know it occurred." I pushed away from the sink and headed out of the kitchen.
Once I was in my room, I stripped out of the dress and hung it back up before jumping in the shower. After drying and dressing for bed, I sat waiting again for him to show up and fire me. But just as before, it never came.
The next morning a stream of nannies arrived to pick up Victoria's friends and I got Victoria dressed for her tea party day. Mrs. Ilene Bishop, Dr. Bishop's mother, arrived around ten in the morning to retrieve Victoria and take her over to her house. It was typically my day off, but while Victoria was gone I cleaned up the birthday mess. Miranda called while I was cleaning and then showed up to help.
"I can't believe you had a party." Miranda giggled. "I bet he was pissed off."
"Oh, he was mad, but that just pissed me off."
"What's strange is he was never around this much when I was living here, I don't know what's going on, but it's just weird." Miranda paused from mopping the floor for a moment, before she shook her head and continued her circular motions.
"I don't know, but someone needs to pull the glacier out of his ass." I tried to stifle my laughter, but I busted up until I had tears. Miranda was laughing herself to tears.
"Don't you mean exercise the demons?" She laughed out. I howled in laughter.
When we were finished I took Miranda out for a late lunch, early dinner, for helping me. She asked me about my writing and I asked her about wedding planning. After quite a few hours, Benji and Lucas joined us and we had a good time laughing and drank a few too many drinks.
Lucas dropped me off at the house and slightly staggering into the house, I prayed that Dr. Bishop was nowhere to be seen. I was beyond happy I didn't run into him between my walk from the front door and my stop in Victoria's room to make sure she was all tucked in. Then I hit my bed and fell asleep instantly.
Weeks went by and there had been no real interaction with Dr. Bishop. Victoria's was going through her typical weekly routine. However, the day of the first snow, in November, I decided homework could wait for a little bit.
