Sorry for taking a few days. Work has been crazy! Hope you enjoy!
"Hello" her grandmother says wondering who would be calling this early.
"Hi grandma it's Holly." Holly says shyly into the phone knowing that she hasn't spoken with her grandmother for a while.
"Hey sweetie, I haven't heard from you in awhile." Holly's grandmother says into the phone.
"I know, and I'm sorry. There really aren't any excuses for me not calling." Holly says upset that she let her schooling and work replace her family that she had left.
"It's okay, I am proud of you for what you have accomplished already in your young life, but what's going on?" her grandmother asks since she is calling out of the blue like this.
"Marie and Ashley were in a car accident last night, and I came up to the hospital when I was informed about it. The thing is that Ashley is going to be released in a couple of hours and Marie will be here for a while longer. Do you think you could stay with Marie so that I can take Ashley to my house just until she wakes up?" Holly says trying to get everything out before her grandmother starts asking questions.
"What?! A car accident are they going to be okay? Yes I can come up there for a few days what hospital?" Her grandmother rambles on but agrees to come without hesitation. She raised both Holly and her sister and was the kindest and most caring person she has ever met.
"We are at Montgomery Regional Hospital, but you have a couple hours to get here so take your time." Holly says excited to see her grandmother, but upset about the circumstances.
"Okay I know where that is, I'll leave now because it's going to take me a couple hours to get there. See you in a bit sweetie." she says before hanging up.
Holly is glad that her grandmother can come to stay with Marie for a couple days so that she can spend some time with Ashley and she won't have to be stuck in this hospital. Holly hated being in the hospital and was grateful when Gail offered to stay with her when she was hurt.
As Holly makes her way back into Ashley's room Gail looks up. "What did she say?" Gail asks going over to where Holly is standing just in case Ashley is listening.
"She said that she could come, she will probably be here in a few hours." Holly says to Gail smiling.
"Well that's good right, are we just going to take Ashley home?" Gail asks wanting to know the plan.
"I was going to go check on Marie and then when they release Ashley take her back to my apartment." Holly says before looking over to Ashley then back to Gail.
"Gail it's your day off you said you had errands that you needed to run. You don't have to stay with us all day." Holly says not wanting Gail to feel burdened by her family that she doesn't know anything about.
"Babe" Gail says looking into Holly's eyes. "I would rather spend the time with you and Ashley then go run my errands they weren't important anyways." Gail smiles and gives Holly a quick peck before realizing that Ashley was still lying in the bed a few feet away.
"Okay if you're sure. I would love for you to hang out with us. You are really good with her just from the little time that I've seen you with her." Holly says knowing that Gail was always more comfortable around children than adults.
"I'll be right back." Holly says leaving to go check on Marie who is still the same as she was last night. Once she spends a little bit of time with her she starts to leave when she sees her grandmother talking to a nurse outside in the hall.
"Hey grandma." Holly says walking over to her a little nervous since she hasn't seen her in awhile.
"Holly, it's so good to see you." Her grandmother says going to give her a hug.
"It's good to see you too." Holly says squeezing her grandmother tighter before pulling back smiling.
"Marie is in here." Holly says leading her grandmother to her. Once they get into the room Holly steps to the side so her grandmother can get closer.
"Oh Marie." Her grandmother says as she brushes the hair out of Marie's face and gives her a kiss on her forehead.
"What did the doctors say?" she asks looking back to Holly.
"He was telling me last night that she should be awake by the end of the week at the latest." Holly says walking closer to Marie's bed.
"Where is Ashley, I would like to see her." Her grandmother asks while looking at Marie.
"We can go see her now if you would like, just come with me." Holly says walking out to go to Ashley's room.
As Holly enters she sees Gail sitting by Ashley's bed reading her a book that she must of borrowed from the children's room down the hall. Gail hears someone behind her and stops reading to turn towards the noise. She smiles seeing that it's Holly but sees someone close behind her.
"Grandma!" Ashley yells sticking her hands up reaching for her great grandma to give her a hug.
Gail stands up to move out of the way so Holly's grandmother can approach them.
"Hey sweetheart." she says going to give Ashley a hug.
"I didn't know if you were coming. Aunt Holly and Gail came last night, they are fun." Ashley says smiling up at her great grandmother.
"Did they? I'm so glad that you had fun with them." Her grandmother says looking over to Holly and to the woman that is standing next to her that she doesn't recognize.
"I'm going to go outside so that you can have some time with them." Gail says feeling a little uncomfortable.
"No stay. Please." Holly says whispering as she puts her hand on Gail's wrist not wanting her to leave.
Gail doesn't say anything, just nods her head.
"Grandma?" Holly says as her grandmother walks over to her and Gail.
"This is Gail my girlfriend. Gail this is my grandma." Holly says introducing them to each other.
"Hello ma'm. It's great to finally meet you." Gail says putting her hand out for Holly's grandmother to shake.
She looks at Gail for a second then shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you too." Her grandmother says smiling.
"We were going to take Ashley to my apartment as soon as the doctor comes in to release her. I'll come back up to see Marie during the week and if she wakes up while we aren't here, then you can just call me if that's okay." Holly says hoping that everything works out with this set up.
"That's fine sweetie. Maybe you can give me your address just in case I want to come see you or Ashley." Her grandmother suggests.
"Of course." Holly says as she sees Ashley's doctor walk into the room.
"Hello Ms. Stewart, ma'm." He says to Holly and her grandmother while Gail still stands out of the way.
"Hello Dr. Watson." Holly says going over to Ashley while Dr. Watson checks her out.
"I'm just checking her vitals one last time and if everything looks good then you may take her home after you sign the discharge papers." He says checking over Ashley as she grabs for Holly's hand.
Holly takes it and stands right next to her niece making sure she is comforted. After a few minutes the doctor speaks again.
"Okay she looks great. You can take her home as soon as you want and the papers will be at the receptions desk." Dr. Watson says to Holly before smiling at Ashley as he leaves the room.
"You hear that Ash, you can go home with me now." Holly says smiling down at the little girl.
"What about my mom?" Ashley asks concerned.
"Grandma is going to stay here with your mom while she sleeps and then we will come right back up when she wakes up okay?" Holly says rubbing the little girl's arm.
"I get to go home with you and Gail now?" Ashley says trying to understand.
"Yes you do." Holly says as Gail just stands back not wanting to interrupt.
"Yeah!" Ashley says smiling up at Holly releasing her hand and grabbing her stuffed animal.
Holly turns to face her grandmother and Gail.
"Okay grandma we are going to take Ashley now, but if you need anything or need me to come back up here just call please." Holly says taking a step closer to her grandmother as Gail walks over to Ashley gather up her things around her bed.
"Sounds good honey." Her grandmother says giving her a hug and a kiss on her cheek.
"Thanks again grandma for coming, it means a lot." Holly says trying to hold back her tears.
"Anytime." She says before walking over to Ashley giving her a hug and letting her know that she will be with her mom the whole time. She then turns towards Gail.
"Bye Gail it was nice to meet you, hopefully we can talk soon so that I can get to know the person who has captured my niece's heart." She says giving Gail a hug also.
"Yes that would be great, maybe once things settle down we can all have dinner." Gail suggests as Holly's grandmother just nods before leaving the room to go stay with Marie.
When they have everything ready to go they start to head out to the reception desk to get Ashley discharged. Once the papers are signed they head out to the car as Gail grabs one of Ashley's hands and Holly grabs the other. When they get to the car Gail puts everything into the trunk as Holly gets Ashley buckled into her seat.
The ride to Holly's apartment is relatively quiet with Ashley singing along to the radio on the songs that she knows. It's a good thing she doesn't understand what is wrong with her mother or her mood would be completely different.
Once they get to Holly's apartment, Holly walks with Ashley into her apartment while Gail gets everything out of the car and follows shortly after.
Ashley looks around and smiles. "I like it Aunt Holly. You have a big TV too." Ashley says going to sit on the couch.
"Well I have a guest bedroom that you will get to sleep in. It can be your room while you stay here, does that sound good?" Holly says standing in front of her niece.
"Oh wow. Yes Aunt Holly. Can I see it?!" Ashley says excitedly standing up taking Holly's hand to have her show her.
"Okay, okay. Let's go look." Holly says leading Ashley to "Her" room.
"It's just a bed, but we can go get you some clothes tomorrow and toys to make it feel more like your own." Holly says knowing it isn't really a kids room.
"I like it! The bed is so big!" Ashley says letting go of Holly's hand going to lay on it.
Gail walks up behind Holly and rests her hand on Holly's lower back gently.
"Guess she likes her new room." Gail smirks at Holly.
Holly looks over to her and smiles. "Guess she does, I told her we could go get some clothes and toys for her tomorrow."
"That's a great idea." Gail says as she looks over to Ashley.
"Hey Ashley, do you want some lunch? I can make you something. Macaroni and cheese okay?" Gail asks.
"Yes! Can I watch a movie while we wait?" Ashley asks getting off of the bed going to stand next to Holly.
"Sure, I think I have a few kid movies that you would like. Why don't we go look while Gail makes lunch." Holly says going into the living room with Ashley close behind.
Holly puts in a movie for Ashley to watch while they get the food ready. Once Gail is finished Holly goes to get Ashley who has fallen asleep on the couch.
"Why don't I go lay her down in the guest room for awhile then she can eat once she wakes up." Gail says as Holly just nods before going to put the food away. Gail goes over to Ashley and picks her up careful not to wake the little girl. She takes her into the guest room and pulls the blanket back to lay her down. Once she has her in the bed and she knows she is comfortable she covers her up and gives her a light kiss on her forehead.
It's hard to believe that she has only known this little girl for a couple days and she already has a soft spot for her.
Gail leaves the room and heads into the living room where Holly is reading a book.
"Hey." Holly says looking up when she sees Gail walking in to sit next to her.
"Did you get her in bed?" Holly asks setting the book down.
"Yeah I did. She is such a great little kid." Gail says wondering why she hasn't met her before now.
"I know you don't like to talk about your sister and your niece, but I can tell you love both of them very much, so why don't you see them or talk about them more?" Gail asks knowing this may be a touchy subject but she wants to understand.
Holly sighs and looks away for a second before getting ready to speak.
"My sister and I used to be really close. I would see my niece as often as I could when I wasn't in school or working and we would always make time to see each other. One time I had a three day weekend so I decided to go see her and introduce her to my girlfriend at the time. When we got there everything was fine, but as soon as I introduced my girlfriend to my sister everything changed." Holly says taking a second to compose herself before continuing. Gail can tell this really hurts her.
"My sister said that she never wanted to see me again because she didn't believe in the choices that I had made. I didn't know my sister was against it or felt so strongly because we never really talked about it. After that day I tried staying in contact with her so I could see her and Ashley, but she didn't want too. After awhile I stopped trying, and it hurt. I wish I could of changed her mind, but she wouldn't talk to me." Holly says with tears running down her face as she tries to wipe them away with the back of her hand.
"Wow. So because you like women she basically disowned you?" Gail says in shock.
"I guess you could say that. I didn't really have time for relationships, and I was never dating anyone that I wanted her to meet so it was never an issue. I didn't think she would have a problem with it but I guess I was wrong." Holly says still upset.
"That's why you haven't seen her or your niece. That isn't right Holly, she can't hold this against you. What is she going to think now?" Gail asks knowing that they are watching her daughter.
"I don't know Gail, I hope she's okay with me watching Ashley, but obviously she has no other choice. Who else does she have." Holly says with a shaky voice.
"I'm guessing your grandmother is okay with everything?" Gail says basing her opinion on how cordial Holly's grandmother was when she met her in the hospital.
"Yes she was fine with it once I told her that's why when I went to see Marie I thought she would be fine with it too." Holly says trying to calm down.
"Well maybe your sister will feel differently after what's happened. It's not fair that Ashley can't see you because of this. The fact that she knows who you are still means that your sister must talk about you and miss you too." Gail says trying to comfort Holly with her words.
"I hope so, but we can't worry about that now we need to focus on Ashley and hoping that my sister is okay." Holly says with tears still in her eyes.
Gail puts her hand on Holly's cheek caressing it softly wiping away all of her tears that are falling. "Okay we will. We can worry about it later." Gail says trying to understand how Holly can still care for her sister so much after what she did.
"What about work, what are you going to do?" Gail asks Holly knowing that she has already missed a lot of time.
"I'm going to call them and tell them my situation and hopefully they can have someone cover for me. What about you?" Holly asks.
"I could take some days off to stay with you if you want me too." Gail says knowing that Holly may want someone with her.
"No Gail you should go into work, we both can't miss a bunch of time. I would still like it if you could come by after though and stay with me?" Holly asks nervously not knowing if Gail is going to want to spend the time with her with Ashley here now.
"Yeah of course I will. I want to stay with you and help you as much as I can." Gail says going in to give Holly a sweet kiss before pulling back when she hears footsteps coming into the living room.
"Aunt Holly?" Ashley asks rubbing her eyes.
"Hey sweetie, you have a good nap?" Holly asks standing up to go kneel in front of the little girl.
Ashley just nods. "I'm hungry." she says
"Gail made the macaroni and cheese that we can heat up." Holly says picking her niece up to bring her to the kitchen table.
Gail starts to heat up Ashley's food while Holly sits her down and gets her some juice.
Things are going to change over the next couple of weeks, but all Holly can do is hope everything works out in the end.