by Mynx, Sienna
Chapter Twenty-four
“Everything okay?”
“That’s strange.” She removed the phone from her ear and checked the LG display. “He’s not answering. Goes to voicemail.”
Denise leaned in, neck careening, eyes stretching, blatant in her nose dive into her sisters business. “Who you talking about… your fiancé?” she asked drawing out the word fiancé.
Daisy giggled. Her sister elbowed her, smiling.
“Yeah. Aiden. My boo-boo. He blew me up at breakfast. Now I can’t reach him. Guess he’s pouting. He gets testy when he doesn’t get his required dose of Daisy ‘lovin’.”
“Gurl, get over yourself.” Denise gave an eye roll but chuckled.
“He probably ran off with some Vegas stripper or showgirl,” Sandra teased.
“Pray he’s run off to get his life right with Christ instead,” Martha said as she walked down the aisle between the sisters. Denise and Daisy on one side, Janette and Sandra across, Martha had Amy at her side; hand held in hers they headed for the bench seats closer to the windows. The remark was caught by all. Daisy felt the appropriate sting. She gave her mother an impatient frown.
Martha settled into a row facing her girls, her posture unapologetic. Amy broke free of her grandmother and bolted for the bay windows, pressing her hands flat to the glass. She oohed and aahed at the private jets parked along the airstrip.
Daisy and her mom were doing better, but in truth, Martha Johnson would always have to be Martha Johnson. When Sandra snickered through the tension, Daisy cut her a threatening look. “Not funny.”
Sandra shrugged, “Bring Aiden home. Let Deacon Clarke lay hands on him. Bet that’ll get mama off your back.”
“Gurl, Deacon Clark is a drunk. If Aiden really wants to know the Lord, he should see the new pastor at Mt. Claire. Now he brings the word!” said Denise with a big grin on her face. Sandra’s eyes narrowed like a cobra ready to strike. Denise was the sweetest non-combative one of them all, and Sandra, the bully, always laid traps that she easily walked into.
“Mt. Claire, huh?” Sandra smirked. “Denise, you got issues.”
“How I got issues?”
“That man can’t preach, and everybody knows it. Yawl just running over there ‘cause he the hottest redbone in the Hollow.”
“Sandra, don’t start,” Daisy moaned.
“Whatever, your sister got a crush on him, along with every sister-mother in our church, and they’re trying to push their daughters on the poor man,” Sandra snickered.
“I’m married, hun. I only got eyes for my husband. And don’t be speaking nasty of a man of God. Touch not thou my anointed.”
“I’m stating facts. He can’t preach. And look who’s talking! You gossip more than anyone back home. All up in the business of who sleeping with whom behind the pulpit.”
“I do not!” Denise shouted. Amy turned from the window, and Martha looked up. Sandra dropped her voice. She leaned in to bring home her point. “I guess Arnold knows that you decided to do a solo for their Pastor Appreciation Day? You don’t belong to that church. Mama said you been going to bible study over there too,” Sandra smirked.
“Will you two hush!” Janette snapped, the tension so thick Daisy wasn’t sure if Denise would bring the tears or Sandra blow a gasket and make a scene. Janette spoke softly, drawing her eyes away from a pouting Denise and turning to Sandra on her right. “I’m the only one that had a long conversation with Aiden Keane. Trust me. He ain’t getting baptized. We’ll be lucky if the man can sit through Sunday service.” Janette’s attention returned to Daisy. “You ain’t playin, are you? Ya’ll are getting married in a church and not one of them funky little Elvis chapels in Vegas, right?
“Yeah, of course we gettin married in a church and I’ma wear white, too.”
“Hmpf!” Martha snorted. Sandra and Janette swallowed smiles.
“What’s funny? I’m wearing white!” Daisy announced, tossing her chin upward. To hell with what they thought. Aiden would want to see her in white. He really is her only concern. Pete didn’t count. She was with him when she was a girl. Now she’s a woman and Aiden Keane was the only man in between.
She sat back, smiling. Flashes of Aiden in the pulpit sitting in one of the Deacon’s chairs at her daddy’s church, tickled her. That would be something.
“What she smiling at?” Sandra asked.
“Shut up,” Denise hissed.
The Johnson clan gathered together in the private hanger, waiting on their flight. Daisy was granted the extra bonus of Aiden agreeing to let her family fly home on the jet. He was supposed to come to her tomorrow morning. Something at the casino required he stay the night.
"Grandma, I wanna go to Ben-tucky.” Amy turned away from the window just as a sleek pearl white Cessna lifted into the clouds. The smile she wore brought one to Martha’s face. “I wanna go on that airplane.”
“Kentucky baby. It’s called Kentucky.” Martha’s arms stretched out toward her, “C’mere.”
Amy went obediently. She dropped her head on Martha’s lap, hugging her knees. Daisy noticed how baby-like her little one was with her mom. Gone was the strong willed little-devil who wanted to dress her self and refused her mother’s kisses. Around Martha, Amy welcomed all the spoils of a grandmother’s love. That, in itself, was the reward for coming out of hiding and reuniting with her family.
“And you most certainly will come. You can stay with grandma. We can do lots of things.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I dunno, like bake a cake.”
“With purple icing?” Amy asked gleefully, eyes stretched into little round saucers. “I love purple cake!”
Martha laughed. Her hands went under Amy’s arms to lift her. Amy assisted by climbing on her grandmother’s lap. “With purple icing, and anything you want, sweetheart. You have cousins too. They all want to meet you.”
“What is they? Cuzzins?”
Martha chuckled. “Think of them as brothers and sisters.”
“Wow. I got two dads and now brothers and sisters. You hear that mommy! I got cuzzins!”
Daisy winked. “Yes you do.”
“So when are you coming home?” Janette asked. Denise and Sandra both looked on. Daisy had started the nervous habit of rubbing her thumb over the front touch pad of her cell phone to bring up the light display. She fought the urge to place another call. He needed her. She felt it.
“Soon,” she mumbled, eyes flipping up with long lashes shadowing the swirl of happiness in her dark irises. “I plan to get married at home and then there’s Pete.”
“How did that go?” Sandra sat straight up, her question just above a whisper. It didn’t matter; she could mouth the question and Martha Johnson would hear with those ears sharper than NASA’s sonar.
Daisy crossed her legs, tossing her curls with her hand. The truth was she felt great and she didn’t care that her mother and everyone else knew it. Everything felt great. Pete was great; Aiden was great and oh, was he ever. Life was good.
“Pete and I worked it out. He’s gone home. I think Nina left ahead of him, not sure. He didn’t say. But yeah, the talk with Amy… he was so good with her.”
“Pete’s a great kid,” Janette nodded.
“He’s a man. Used to be your man,” Sandra pointed at Daisy. “You telling me you don’t have any feelings for him now?”
Daisy looked at her sisters, stopping again on Sandra. “Feelings how?”
“Love girl. Don’t be dense,” Denise said. Martha was staring directly at her now. She pretended not to notice. Shifting in her seat, she crossed and uncrossed her legs before releasing a deep a sound of exasperation. “I will always love Pete. Don’t tell Aiden,” Daisy smiled. “Man is insane with jealousy over him.”
“You think that’s cute,” Sandra said, snidely.
“No, it’s just how he loves me. Maybe if Barry was ready to box someone over you, you’d understand,” Daisy shot back.
“Mmhmm. Well,
he should be jealous. You have to be careful how you start out a relationship. Karma honey. It’s like a boomerang,” Sandra snapped back.
“Oh give it a rest,” Denise quipped. “Sometimes you nit-pick worse than mama. It’s okay, baby-girl. A relationship requires work, no matter if the man is Satan or a prophet,” Denise winked. Martha huffed again, and the girls laughed.
Daisy included, “No seriously. I love Pete. He’s my first, you know. My first everything. When I saw Nina with him, I liked to died.”
"Jealous?” Janette asked.
“I guess,” Daisy shrugged. “Pete was always ‘mine’. Maybe it was wrong to think of him that way, but trust me, he felt the same way. Why do you think he hated Aiden so much?”
“Um, maybe cause the man pimped out his girlfriend.”
“Sandra!” Janette snapped.
“What? That’s how the kids say it.”
“It’s okay. She has a point. After… after all that I done. But today, when we sat with our daughter, we were a team. The past is over and we both agreed to move on. We just weren’t meant to be.”
“Interesting,” Sandra mumbled
Daisy checked the phone again. “Gimme a sec.” She got up, walking away, the back of her sundress sticking to her thighs. The temperature outside was approaching 90 degrees. The airport was muggy with sticky humidity. With both doors open and the air system out, she left her sisters sitting there fanning themselves and whispering. When asking about the delay, she was told early it was due to a refuel of Aiden’s jet. Funny thing was she was told that the jet had just returned. From where? She knew Aiden was still in Vegas. It just seemed odd.
"Hey, sweetie, it’s me. Why aren’t you answering your phone? Call me, okay? What time are you coming in the morning? Maybe you can come tonight… because I’m missing you, plus we're at the airport: me, momma and them. They will be gone soon. It’s just Amy and me… so? You called but you didn’t leave a message. Just call back, bye."
Daisy ran her finger over the button on the phone, disconnecting. Amy's laughter pulled her from her thoughts of worry. Her daughter sat on her mother’s lap, trying to read to her from an Aviation magazine. Martha tried to help, but Amy scowled, wanting to do it on her own. Her light colored eyes and the frown on her face were all so similar to Aiden’s. It gave Daisy pause, even now.
“No! I will do it!” Amy snapped, snatching at the magazine. Martha allowed it. Another small miracle, from Daisy’s perspective. Amy got down and stepped to the side, reading aloud, not wanting to be touched. Love affair over. Daisy shook her head. Her eyes moved to Sandra who was approaching fast. “Where is the bathroom? I gotta pee.”
“A grown woman gotta pee?”
“Okay tinkle! Don’t be cute,” Sandra half smiled, eyes searching. “Where is it?”
“C’mon, I’ll take you.”
“Did he call?”
“None of your business.”
"Told ya he’s with some hooker with a feather boa around her neck and dental floss up her butt.”
“Sandra, shut up.”
****
“Mr. Michaels, are you going to give me trouble today?”
Nina smiled, hand slipping to the inside of her white nurses coat to remove the packaged syringe.
“Where you been?” The older, balding man lifted on his elbows with effort. Having undergone a hip replacement and suffered the subsequent staff infection, his movement was limited. Nina was his nurse before she left and the only one that could deal with his tantrums. She and his wife were the only two to get him to take his meds and mind the doctor’s orders.
“So you missed me?” she asked removing the syringe. Nina took time to measure a withdrawal of Paracetamo from a tiny glass bottle she brought in with her.
“In your dreams, lady. Not into black girls,” he tossed. Her eyes lifted and he gave her a deep blush and smile. His wife told her he had a crush. Nina couldn’t believe the woman actually thought it was cute. Possibly, because she knew at 78 years old with a crush was harmless.
“Black girls, huh? Oh you’re breaking my heart,” she winked.
She checked the drip and the line to his IV. Finding things in order, she injected the painkiller into the clip giving the appropriate dosage. It took minutes, but she could see relief spread through the tightness in his face, easing the tension and stress lines around his eyes and mouth. His skin was pale and his face and hands were covered with aging liver spots. Color flooded his cheeks.
She patted his hand. “You didn’t finish dinner, did you?”
“Don’t want it,” he mumbled.
“Well, let’s see.” She capped the syringe, disposed of it properly and drew the tray around to his bed.
He was forced to a sitting position by a punch of buttons on the bed’s remote. Despite his protest, she presented the cold peas, potatoes and over cooked meatloaf.
“Try a little for me.”
“You eat it first.”
Nina laughed. “Nice try.” She scooped some peas and fed them to him. Not her job. Bea stayed on her constantly about the way she ‘took care’ of the patients, telling her she should go work for a Hospice instead. But Nina loved her work, loved people, loved being the one to help and right now, loved the distraction.
“Nina?”
She and old man Burton looked up. Simone’s head poked in—glasses riding the tip of her pointed nose—from the half open doorway. “Yes?”
“You have a visitor. In the waiting room.”
“Who is it?”
The door swung shut. Nina frowned.
“So you just going to abandon your duties!” he grumbled.
She touched his hand. “I expect you to finish the peas at least. They aren’t that bad. You need something on your stomach. I’ll be back.”
“You just got here! Damn nurses, as bad as my wife.”
Nina pointed a finger at him. “Eat.”
He forked some potatoes with a shaky hand and brought the food to his mouth, chewing and glaring. She smiled. “I’ll sneak you some jell-o too.”
Out in the hall, she found no trace of Simone. Nina checked the time on her wristwatch and confirmed she was due for her appointment. She scheduled it around her break. Dr. Budim would do the ultrasound. After the stress of Mango Grove, Nina felt so nervous.
As she walked the long quiet hospital wing, her mind drifted to Pete. Every quiet moment seemed to take her there. Today’s visitor would possibly be her best friend, Charlotte. She cried on her shoulder when she landed. Charlotte was the one that told her to make the appointment and get a check-up. Knowing Charlotte, she was here to make sure she did.
Rounding the corner, when she drew near the waiting room, she could see a man pacing. Her steps slowed as she got closer. Through the room’s glass window, she saw him clearly: Pete. Nina stopped in her tracks, watching. What was he doing here? She had no desire to get into it with him now. At work no less. She took a step back, but he looked up at that moment and saw her. That look paralyzed her.
“You’re back?”
“Yeah,” he said with a small smile. “I took the first flight out I could.”
“Why?”
“Why? Nina…why haven’t you accepted my calls?”
She said nothing. Why should she? She said all she had to say. He wasn’t listening. If she were honest with herself, she’d admit that she never thought he’d return to her this soon if at all. Even her best hopes for them had him weeks away from thinking of dealing with them.
“Nina.”
“Pete, I can’t.”
“Wait.” He walked around the dusty-yellow plastic chairs and waiting tables. “Wait, don’t say it. I fucked up… really bad.” He stopped so close to her she thought he’d touch her. He didn’t. “I’m sorry for… everything.”
“Everything like what?” she asked. The look in his eyes confirmed it. He was just saying what she wanted him to say. Nothing had changed. “Go, Pete. I have work to do.” She turned and walked ba
ck toward the doors.
“I’m sorry for forgetting,” he called out. Nina stopped. She looked back. Pete approached, hand going back through his hair nervously. “I’m sorry for forgetting what we have. What’s important. Why we fit and always will. How happy I am to be… be a daddy… because of you. I’m sorry I forgot, babe. I forgot what was most important to me. You. C’mon, girl, you know I love you.”
His voice, his words, all of it was too much too soon. She hated herself for weakening and for nearly rushing into his arms. Instead, she looked away because his blue eyes had her needing him so bad. “I have work to do.”
