Chapter 9
"Katie?" Sadie replied while pulling herself up in the bed.
The two women locked eyes for what seemed like decades, and a huge stench of awkwardness began to fill the air.
Katie's eyes flew open wide, and she was visibly speechless.
"Baby, Is there something that you needed?" I asked trying to cut the tension that was so thick it could only be cut with an extremely sharp steak knife.
"Uh… No, I just wanted to peep in on you; Me, Bridge, and Courtney were going to lunch and I wanted to know if you wanted me to take Leah? " Katie said as she began to slowly back pedal towards the door.
"Umm… Sure." I replied while fiddling with Sadie's chart.
"Okay, Bye Baby." She said before giving me a kiss on the cheek and walking off.
"Well that was awkward." Sadie nervously chuckled
"Yea, So I really need to consult you about your heart right now." I seriously stated while pulling up a chair alongside Sadie's bed.
"What caused your heart attack was a coronary artery spasm, in which the artery closed…" I explained before Sadie cut me off.
"DJ, I've had a heart attack before, I know what causes them, and last time I made a plan of what I would do if I had another, and I don't want to get the surgery." Sadie gingerly asserted while giving me a sad smile.
I scrunched up my face in confusion, "Why would she want to give herself a death sentence?" I thought to myself.
"Why don't you want the treatment?" I inquired while propping my chin atop of my fist.
"Because, DJ," she sighed," when it's my time to go, it's my time to go." Sadie sighed while giving me a reassuring pat on the arm.
"Well is there anything else you wanted before, you know…" I awkwardly asked while talking with my hands.
"Well," she calmly clarified," I want to see Katie again." Tears began to well up in her eyes," Could you do that for me?"
I soon began to have that slight burning sensation in the corner of your eye before you're about to cry, "Yea, I think I could do that for you."
I gave Sadie a comforting hug, smiled at her, and went back to the Nurse's Station.
A few hours later Katie and Leah were snuggled up on the couch together watch various cartoons and munching on various snacks during commercials. Leah was lying in Katie's lap, and Katie was drifting to sleep until Leah popped up.
"Miss Katie?" Leah inquired while rubbing at her eyes. "Yes Love-Bug."
Leah placed her small and pudgy hands on Katie's face which was plagued by a confused expression. "Do I have a mommy?"
The wind was knocked out of Katie," What'd you say baby?"
Leah's eyes welled up and her lip began to quiver," Do I have a mommy?"
Katie couldn't even believe what she just heard. How was she supposed to answer that question? Tell her the truth? Simplify it for her?
"Yes, yes you do baby and she loved you very much." Katie explained while wiping the bubbling tear out of Leah's eye; then, doing the same to her own.
"Where is she?" That was next question to come out of her mouth.
"Well Love-Bug," Katie sighed and began to rub her temple with her index finger," I don't really know, but, where do you think she is?"
Leah shrugged and gave Katie a small smile, "I'll have to think about that one but, right now I wanna go to bed."
Katie smiled back and guided the small girl to her bedroom, and proceeded to soothe her to sleep by humming a lullaby and rubbing her tight and dark ringlets. The older female pulled the bedspread up to the toddler's chest and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Good Night Leah, See you in the morning. I love you."
Little did she know, I was watching her from the doorframe; I couldn't help but to let out a soft chuckle and walk out of the bedroom in front of Katie. As soon as the door clicked closed, she asked me," How long have been home?"
"Long enough to see you do the cutest thing ever." I cooed while giving her quick peck on her delicate dimple. A slight blush appeared upon her face and then she hastily grabbed my hand and dragged me to the couch.
Flustered I asked," What got into you?"
She let out a heavy sigh and ran her hands through her thick ebon locks. Her hesitance began to make me a little nervous. "Is there something you need to tell me?"
She sighed again and bit down on her lip," Leah asked me," her voice began to crack and tears began to well up in her eyes," Leah asked me, Did she have a mommy."
I felt my heart sink down, so far down… I knew the day would come when she asked but, I didn't know that it would be so soon.
I swallowed hard and wearily questioned," So what did you tell her?"
A single tear made its way down Katie's somber face," I said she does have a mommy and she loves her very much."
I pulled Katie into a powerful embrace; we were plagued by a silence. All that was audible was the light sniffle that Katie would produce in between her silent weeping. "And DJ, that wasn't all she asked; She… she asked me where she was, and… and…"
Katie's sobs became slightly heavier and she became limp in my arms; and, that when I lost it; we were both borderline hysterical. Tears were flying left and right and there was nothing we could do to make them stop.
I buried my face into her midnight tresses and whispered," and you didn't know what to tell her did you?"
She calmly pulled her head way from my chest and looked up at me with her bloodshot eyes which were normally full of joy and laughter and muttered," I told her that I… I… That I didn't know." When she finally let out that last sentence a strangled sob emerged from her throat. I just held her even closer to me; I wanted to make the tears stop. "Then, I asked her, where she thought her mommy was."
Cries made my body shudder, and I felt Katie's hot tears starting to soak my shirt; I placed my hands around her petite shoulders and stared deep into her tear-filled doe eyes and wiped the tears from each of her eyes and placed a kiss on her forehead and pull her back to me.
I held her until the wave of weeping overcame us and a wave of slumber moved in. We both fell asleep on that couch; or well Katie at least.
Waking up midway through my slumber I groggily looked over to the kitchen. I squinted my eyes as much as possible just to make out the numbers on the microwave clock; 2:18 it read in electric blue digits. I cautiously tried to remove myself but, Katie would stir or let out some random muttering everytime I would move a muscle.
So a paternal instinct moved in and I picked up Katie like a sleeping child and moved her to my bedroom and laid her down like a sleeping baby; which was for the most part. I looked down and smiled at how innocent she looked. Have you ever noticed that people always look much younger and innocent in their sleep?
Anyway, I gave her light peck making sure not to wake her up. She stirred and moaned," Yes, I'll marry you DJ."
I dismissed it as a dream and went to my master bathroom to try to complete my nightly routine.
A bright light shown into my pupil," Daddy, You gotta' wake up!"
It was no one other than my early-bird of a daughter pulling on my eyelid. "I gotta' get up?" I mimicked while rubbing my eyes wiping all reminders of my peaceful siesta.
"Yes, yes you do daddy! Because, because I'm hungry!" Leah squealed full of energy while jumping on top of me like the two baby bears in the book "Hop on Pop".
I playfully slung my daughter over my shoulder and slightly tickled her teeny feet. "Well daddy has to brush his teeth real quick and then we will get you some breakfast okay." Leah nodded and slid down off me like a fireman's pole and hopped to the bathroom behind me.
I went through the typical steps of dental hygiene and Leah watched each one intensely as if she was processing it to keep in her memory forever. As soon as I finished I asked the first question that popped into my head, "Where Katie, Leah?"
"She said she was going to visit an old friend who really needed her." Leah replied while scratching her bed-head.
"Well Leah, since it's just us did you want to go to IPOW?" I asked while stooping down to her level.
"Of course Daddy!" She replied with her eyes opening wide.
"Well then go get dressed baby." I charmingly commanded while closing the door behind her.
I quickly took a shower and threw on some jeans and a casual button shirt; then I waited on my daughter.
I couldn't believe that I was waiting on my three year old daughter to get dressed. So, I decided to go back to room and see what was taking so long. I opened the door to find my little girl perfectly coordinated in a maroon turtleneck, dark wash jeans, and chocolate brown riding boots. But what really caught my attention was her hair; it was pulled back into a nice, neat ponytail.
"Are you ready?" I asked. She turned around and gave me a big, toothy grin; instead of replying verbally she just grabbed my hand and led me to the car.
"Daddy, could you help me color this?" Leah asked while pushing a color sheet of a waffle towards me. I happily obliged; I began coloring the extremely cartoon picture with an overly waxy crayon. After about six minutes we finished coloring the green waffle that we dubbed Wayne.
Our food came and Leah dug into her waffles which were garnished to look like a smiley face. I nibbled at my egg and sausage platter. "So Leah, What did you want to do today?"
"I just want to spend it with you daddy!" She exclaimed between bites of waffle and sips of milk. I smirked and took a sip of my orange juice hoping that the citrus liquid will hold me over until lunch.
"Hey honey could I ask you a question?" Leah gave me a very quizzical look and nodded her head yes.
"Okay, well you know what being married is right?" I inquired just to make sure I wouldn't be talking to a brick wall. "Yea daddy, it's when two grown-ups love each other a lot and wanna be together forever, right?"
I was surprised at the extremely mature answer that came from my toddler. "Yes that's right," I gave a small smile," So what would you say if I told you I wanted to ask Miss Katie to marry me?"
"No way, you and Miss Katie are going to get married?!" Leah gasped while giving me a "Home Alone" face. "Only, if she says yes when I ask her."
"Well daddy, I hope she says yes." Leah mumbled through a mouthful of waffle. "Leah," I chided," don't talk with food in your mouth."
She swallowed and gave me a quick apology. We left the International Place of Waffles.
As we were in car I decided to ask Leah a question that would brighten her day. "Leah do you want to go look at some puppies?"
I didn't even need a word to come out of her mouth that expression; that innocent expression filled with jubilation and merriment was all I needed.
Meanwhile…
"Hey Sadie." Katie whispered while taking a seat next to her fading friend. You could see Sadie beam on the inside when she heard her name coming out of Katie's mouth.
"Hi Katie." Sadie whispered through tears. Katie then broke down in tears also the two women embraced. And, nothing else could've been more powerful.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry" Katie repeated over and over like a broken record. Sadie just replied its okay and held her once distant friend close.
There are no words to describe how remarkable that reunion was, it was just like, it couldn't be like anything else nothing compares to the reunion of the friendship of Katie and Sadie.
Note: Also, that was only the first part of Katie and Sadie's reunion! I am so sorry this chapter took so long but, I do think it was well worth the wait. As for Sadie's part in the story- I don't know what her part in the story is so… I need you guys' suggestions! So leave you suggestions in a review and tell me how this chapter made you feel if you want to. So just review and tell me what you think!
