Exception (51 page)

The story followed with Taylor telling her that Jody and Johanna had cleaned the mess in the bathroom and brought her a change of clothes. That information left Emily feeling like crap for paying them no attention at all, and, despite Taylor’s assurance that both women understood perfectly and didn’t harbor any animosity towards her, she was determined to send them flowers and a thank you note as soon as the gift shop opened.

Morning came, shining bright light on their faces as they continued to cuddle and talk. Despite having spent the whole night awake and being physically tired, neither of them could sleep.

Emily paced the small waiting room. All of the calmness and peace she’d felt while resting in Taylor’s arms that night was long gone. From the moment one of the nurses informed them that visiting hours were only an hour away, her anxiety began building up again.

Her pajamas were replaced by her favorite jeans and a white long-sleeved thermal shirt beneath the gray sweatshirt Jody had brought her. Taylor had forced her to eat breakfast at the hospital’s cafeteria, which her stomach was now threatening to expel.

Emily tried to focus her nervous energy on anything but the glass door that connected the room to the nurse’s station. Her eyes scanned over her surroundings for what felt like the first time. Two identical green couches and a few green armchairs lined the white wall, from which pictures of mountains hung in leaf-green frames. The window from which Emily had watched the snow fall the night before was the only one in the room, and a flat screen TV hung from the wall opposite.

“Stop fidgeting and sit down. They’ll call you soon enough,” Taylor told her, his annoyance at her stalking back and forth reaching its limit.

She rolled her eyes at him and continued pacing. “I can’t remember if the TV was on or off.” She voiced the thought she’d been obsessing over for the past fifteen minutes.

“It was on. Simon turned it off right after he got here. Now, come here and sit with me.”

Despite her anxiety she couldn’t ignore the look he gave her or the arm stretched towards her. She walked in the direction of the couch intending to take the seat next to him, but Taylor had other plans and, once she was within arm’s reach, he held her by the waist and brought her to his lap. The swiftness of the motion extracted a small giggle from her lips.

“Much better, in my arms and giggling, just the way I like to see you.”

Before she had a chance to say something back, her phone vibrated with yet another incoming message from Zack, who had been texting her pictures of Alice since he’d arrived at the hospital again. The comfort of Taylor’s arms and the cuteness that was her niece were good distractions—for a few seconds at least, and then she was back to fidgeting mode.

“Fucking Chuck,” Emily cussed again.

She’d been doing that on and off for the last twenty minutes since her brother-in-law had left the waiting room to go visit his wife. Taylor had tried to reason with her, explaining that he was her husband and it was only natural that he would be the first in during visiting hours, but it had been useless. Understanding her need to be angry at things, he let her curse as much as she wanted to, especially since, unlike the maddening pacing, seeing her use such uncharacteristic language was hilarious.

As if on cue, the glass doors opened and in came a red-eyed, puffy-faced Chuck followed by Lisa, the gray-haired nurse who was looking after Charlotte. Finally breaking into a smile, Emily kissed Taylor’s cheek and followed Lisa into the hallway, completely ignoring her brother-in-law when she passed by him.

Her sister was in farthest room, separated from the nurse’s station and the other patients by a glass door. The room was not as silent as you would think an ICU room would be. The doctor and the nurses on call were quiet, speaking to each other in hushed tones but the room buzzed with various sounds coming from the machines connected to her sister.

Charlie’s face lit up when she saw her sister walk into her tiny room. She wanted to stand up and bring Emily in for a tight hug, but the array of tubes and wires connected to her arm and chest wouldn’t let her. Adding to her discomfort, her empty womb was still pretty swollen and sensitive.

As the two pairs of blue eyes found each other, Emily’s filled with tears again. This time, they were happy ones. “How are you?”

“Aching a bit. Pissed that I can’t see my daughter and scared shitless. Other than that I’m fine. Come sit.”

Emily smiled, thinking how obsessed everyone was with having her sit, but she did as her sister asked. Taking a seat next to the bed, she handed her phone to Charlie who stared at the picture on the screen like it was the most amazing work of art in the world. “Mommy, this is Alice Anne Watson-Bennet. Makes good on her name too, little troublemaker.”

There were tears in Charlotte’s eyes. “Chuck said she’s tiny, but perfect.”

“That she is and, according to Z, she’s cute as a furless kitten.”

The two sisters giggled. Charlotte continued to stare at her baby for a little longer, thanking her lucky stars that, according to her doctor, she’d be out of ICU within the next hour and would finally be able to take a trip to visit her Alice.

“He took it like a daisy, didn’t he?” Charlotte asked, returning the phone and cleaning her tears. Emily knew immediately who her sister meant; Chuck’s name was written all over the question.

“Pretty much. I almost bitch-slapped him a few times,” Emily teased with a knowing smirk.

“So, Taylor told you about that?” Charlotte laughed. “Sometimes he deserves it. Sorry I kept you waiting so long.”

With a smile that was somewhere in between happy and sad, Emily carefully maneuvered the tubes so she could hold her sister’s hand. Almost instantly, both pairs of eyes were filled with tears, and they stared at each other in meaningful silence.

“No fair, calling me Lottie when I was in the worst pain I’d ever felt and bleeding to death.”

Emily’s wet eyes gave her sister the most sincere annoyed look she could muster. “Don’t start. You’re the tape that holds me together. I had to remind you to fight harder and not leave me.”

“By calling me the nickname our dead brother used. That’s a low blow, Emmy.”

“I agree. It’s also a stolen blow, or don’t you remember calling me Millie back in California?”

Charlotte’s brow almost touched her hairline in an attempt to hide her snickering. “Touché.”

The two sisters shared a smile and, just like that, the humor was gone. With her nerves working overtime, Emily started fussing with her sister’s messy hair.

“How did you hold up?”

“I didn’t,” Emily admitted, receiving a reproachful look. “I mean, I obviously did better than that wimpy husband of yours, but after you left my side, my zombie version came back with a vengeance.”

Charlotte looked at her sister with those sad eyes and pursed lips that screamed “Oh, Emmy”, but the youngest one simply ignored and continued to answer the question. “I told you already, you’re my tape, and the fear of losing you made our worst memories come back to haunt me. When the doctor told us that you basically flatlined, I almost got lost in zombie-land again.”

There was no need for Emily to finish the story. Chuck had told Charlotte that Taylor had held Emily the entire time and had spent the night with her, which brought an even deeper appreciation for him, and confirmed her speculations about her sister’s feelings for him.

“He’s a good man, that Taylor. And, by the looks of you, there’s new tape around you, sissy.”

The mixed feelings in Emily’s eyes and lips, tugged at her sister’s heart, but it also brought her hope, knowing she wasn’t that far from confronting her feelings.

“
A
ND HOW
are things there?”

The morning of December twentieth arrived with the first heavy snow falling over New York City, much of it already sticking to the ground. Taylor paced in front of the large windows in his apartment, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs as he talked to Emily on the phone.

“The same.” The tiredness and strain in Emily’s voice was too clear. “Zack was just here for breakfast. He talked to Charlie for a long time, but it didn’t help much.”

“What did he say? Is Alice better?”

“Yes, she’s been getting better and better. But some of her blood work still isn’t as good as Z would like, and she’s still a few pounds too light. He said they’re keeping her at the hospital for at least another week. Charlie on the other hand . . . ” A long sigh sounded in Taylor’s ear before Emily continued. “She does nothing but cry, Tay. It breaks my heart.”

“I know it does, but you’ve got to be strong now. Let her talk or cry or whatever she needs to. Just be there for her.” He’d been giving her that advice a lot lately, and it helped more than he’d imagined it could.

When he heard the sound of Emily’s almost silent sob, he followed his own advice and let her shed her tears. Hearing her cry was probably the hardest part of everything that was happening. He felt like the worst man on the planet for hearing the woman he loved cry on an almost daily basis and not being able to do anything other than listen to her. He had to refrain from jumping in his car and riding to New Haven as he was.

“Oh, babe. It’s okay,” he said, soothing her. During the month since Alice’s birth, the nickname became second nature to Taylor, and it was no secret how much both of them loved it.

Emily missed every little thing about the comfortable routine they’d spent months creating and, above anything else, she wanted to be with him. A good portion of her days was spent daydreaming about packing her car and driving to his apartment, but with her sister being such a mess she knew she couldn’t. So she spent her time wearing some of the t-shirts he’d left in her apartment and treasuring the little bit of intimacy the pet name provided.

That entire month, the one thing keeping both of them from completely losing it, was the prospect of heading to Toronto for New Year’s Eve together. But, with the uncertainty of Alice’s discharge from the hospital, and Charlotte’s growing anxiety, the plan was canceled and in less than a day Taylor would leave for his hometown, and they would spend two weeks apart. As much as she wouldn’t let herself admit it, she knew that was the real reason for her tears.

“I just hate the mess all of our lives are in and, mostly, I hate how much I miss you,” she admitted between sobs.

“I don’t. In fact, I love how much you miss me,” he teased, successfully extracting a giggle from her. “And if that’s why you’re crying, I bring good news.” Emily made an “um” noise that let him know he had piqued her interest.