House Divided (17 page)

Operation “Get Aunt Lu to Call Brady by
his God-Given Name” started the next day. Brady was going to take a half-day
off and meet me at the hospital. I got to the hospital early to make sure my
aunt’s hair and make-up was just like she liked it. I knew he wouldn’t win any
points if he showed up and she didn’t feel like she looked her best. I even
brought her some new Auburn blue satin pajamas. I got her as dolled up as I
could for being in the hospital. I thought she was beautiful, with or without
cosmetics, but it’s what she thought that counted the most.

Brady came around noon. He knocked on her
room door. I took a deep breath and answered it. My aunt had the curtain pulled
around the bed so she couldn’t see who it was immediately. I opened the door to
find my country boy looking like a world-class city boy in his dark business
suit and tie. To say he was handsome was an understatement. He was also holding
a beautiful gardenia plant. He had asked the previous night what my aunt’s
favorite flowers were. He gave me that smile I loved so much, but I could tell
he was nervous. I admit, I was too.

He kissed me on the cheek. “Darlin’.”

I took his free hand and squeezed it tight
and led him into the unknown. I had him pause at the curtain. I peeked around.
“You have a visitor.”

She looked up from her steamy soap opera
and looked mildly interested. I pulled Brady over to the dark side to meet his
fate. When she saw him, she sat up straighter and stiffer. She looked over to
me, and I smiled and tried to plead with my eyes to please be nice. She, on the
other hand, kept a straight face. She looked back over at Brady.

Brady took that as his cue. “Ms. Eaton,
I’m happy to see you looking so well and healthy.” He walked over and set the
flowers on her bedside table. “These are for you,” he said nervously.

She looked over to the flowers. “Thank
you,” she replied begrudgingly.

Brady smiled his sweetest country boy
smile. “You’re welcome, ma’am.”

That wasn’t the right thing to say. I
should have warned him.

“I don’t like to be called ma’am.”

I looked at Brady to see how he took the
first punch in the ring with the champ.

He surprised me and her. “Would you prefer
we just skip all the formalities and I’ll start calling you mom?”

I had to put my hand to my mouth before a
gasp of shock came out.

My aunt’s face reddened. She was
flustered. I had never seen her flustered. Brady, on the other hand, looked as
calm and collected as ever. He just kept smiling at her.

“You may call me Luanne in private. During
board meetings, it will still be Ms. Eaton.”

“Well thank you,
Luanne
.” 

Ok, so round one went to Brady.

I reached for his hand and brought him to
sit on the couch with me. I don’t know why, but I felt a little awkward holding
Brady’s hand in front of my aunt. It was silly, I know. I mean, I’m twenty-seven
years old. Maybe if she wasn’t so tense. I could tell she was trying her
hardest to be civil. I had to remind myself that Brady looked like a younger
version of the man that broke her heart. I’m sure this wasn’t pleasant for her,
and I don’t think she quite knew what to do with Brady. He’d just bested her,
and she was never bested.

She turned off the T.V. and looked over at
us. I was still smiling nervously.

“So, why aren’t you at the bank this
afternoon?”

Great, she was going to give him the third
degree.

He looked over at me lovingly. “I’m here
to see Ellie in action in the children’s ward.”

She looked at him shrewdly. “Why do you
call her Ellie?”

A thoughtful gaze crossed Brady’s face.

I was interested to hear what he had to
say. I had never asked him why. I just figured he liked the name.

He brought my hand up and kissed it.
“Well, when we were in junior high, my friends would ask me who I liked, and
since I couldn’t tell anyone that I liked Ella Eaton, I came up with a
combination of her first name and last initial, so that I wasn’t lying, but no
one would know who I was talking about. We didn’t have any Ellie’s in our
school, so everyone assumed she lived somewhere else. I never corrected them.”

He looked over at me again. I had tears in
my eyes. He had never told me that. He smiled sweetly at me and then looked
back over to my aunt. “I thought about her so much that, in my mind and heart,
she became Ellie.”

I looked over to my aunt to see her
response. I think she was a little impressed, but she wasn’t ready to give in
yet. Her look seemed to say, “I’ll give you that one.”

I thought we had had enough of our first
little experiment. I jumped up. “I think we should head down to the pediatric
ward.”

Brady eagerly stood up next to me, which
made me think he was calm and cool on the outside, but maybe not so much on the
inside. I walked over and kissed Aunt Lu on the cheek and told her we would be
back later. I stressed ‘we’
so she wasn’t surprised. Also, I wanted her
to get used to ‘we’.

“It was nice to see you, Luanne. You look
lovely, by the way,” Brady added.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. That was
a little overkill.

“Well … you two enjoy the children.”

As we entered the hall, Brady put his arm
around me. “She’ll be calling me Brady in no time.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, darlin’. I had her eating out
of the palm of my hands.”

“Were we just in the same room? I think
you’re lucky she didn’t eat you for lunch.”

He stopped for a second and kissed the top
of my head. “You just wait, Ellie. She’s going to love me.”

“I hope so.”

We walked out to my car first, to retrieve
the boxes of books and toys. When we reached the car, I stopped before I opened
my trunk. “Brady, why didn’t you ever tell me the story about my name?”

He hugged me and laughed. “You’ve never
asked.”

I hugged him tighter. “So how long have
you liked me?”

“Well that’s easy. Forever.”

“We didn’t even talk to each other until
ninth grade.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t
want to before then.”

“When did you know you loved me?”

He pulled back, but he still held me. This
way I could look into his eyes, those eyes that told me he loved me. “To know
you is to love you. But the first time I realized it was our first kiss on the
tire swing.”

I sighed. “I loved that old swing. Is it still
there?”

Brady grinned. “No. I replaced it with a
new one.”

“Oh.”

Brady leaned in closer. “I have the
original swing at my place.”

I reached up and kissed him. “Have I
mentioned how much I love you lately?”

“I love you, Ellie. Every time I drove by
that swing, I thought of us, and I thought it might be all I would ever have of
us, so I took it.” He pulled me even closer against him. If that was possible.
“But I like this arrangement much better.”

“Me too.”

After a few more stolen kisses we finally
made it up to the pediatric ward where we spent the loveliest of afternoons. If
I didn’t know I was in love with Brady before, watching him play and talk to
those kids would have cemented it. We met those that could come to the play
area, and I read to them. Some of the children knew my books, and they were
excited to meet me, but Brady soon became the king of their hearts. While I was
reading to them, Brady was very animated and got the kids riled up and excited.
He had the kids cheering and oohing and aahing. It was great. I decided from
then on I would bring Brady to all of my readings. After I was done reading, we
handed out the books and dolls. Brady was especially sweet to one little girl
named Rosie, who was six and had leukemia. She was the sweetest little thing.
Brady took the dolls and acted out the books for her as I read. She hadn’t been
able to come to the playroom because she was too sick. To see her smile was the
best present. She asked if she could have an extra book and doll for her little
sister. I was more than happy to give her anything she asked for.

I left there feeling so elated, but yet
overwhelmed with grief at the same time. To see what some of those children and
families dealt with on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis was heartbreaking.
But then, to see their courageous, sweet spirits was amazing; and to be able to
bring smiles to those darling little faces was incredible.

Then there was Brady. I had no doubt he
was going to be an amazing daddy someday, and I was so blessed that he wanted
me to be the momma of those lucky kids. I was almost hoping we would go back to
my aunt’s room and she would accidentally, or on purpose, call him Brady. Then
I would be honor-bound to book the church. Who cared if his family hated me and
shunned us for the rest of our lives? True, for some reason
I
kind of
did. I knew I probably shouldn’t, but I knew what they were capable of. I had
firsthand experience.

We didn’t say anything as we walked toward
the elevator. It really was emotionally overwhelming to be with those wonderful
children. I knew Brady felt it too. We got onto the elevator, and we were the
sole occupants.

Brady embraced me. “I love you.”

I returned the sentiment. I think when you
experience what we just experienced, you realize how short life is and you need
to tell the people you love how you feel about them. I wished the elevator ride
was longer. I loved being in his arms.

As soon as we exited, he held onto my
hand. “It’s show time, darlin’. Watch and learn.”

“You really think she’s going to call you
Brady today?”

“Yep. I hope you’ve been looking at
wedding dresses.”

I actually had made a wedding Pinterest
board the day before. I had never done it before because I kind of stayed away
from anything to do with weddings; they were depressing to me. I wasn’t sure I
would ever have one of my own, so I figured why bother. My agent, Olivia, who
followed me on Pinterest, even called me about it, wanting me to spill my guts.
I gave her a very watered down, noncommittal type overview. She knew there was
more, but she knew better than to push. That’s why we have a great business and
personal relationship.

I had found some dresses I liked. I wanted
something simple and elegant. I knew Aunt Lu would want to be involved when the
time came, but I didn’t think she was quite ready for it yet. I didn’t want to
do too much planning without her. I was her only child, and I wanted her to get
the whole experience, like she deserved.

We walked into her room to find her
sleeping. I quietly walked to her bedside and kissed her forehead. She opened
her eyes and smiled at me. Then she looked to the left at Brady and harrumphed.
I tried not to laugh or smile.

Brady didn’t act bothered by it. “You
would have been so proud of Ellie today. Those kids just loved her and her
books.”

“I’m proud of Ella Lu every day.” 

Again, Brady was not deterred by her
seemingly grumpy attitude toward him. “Another thing we have in common,
Luanne.”

He really was too much. I figured I better
interject before someone got hurt, and by someone, I meant Brady. “Brady was
amazing too, the kids loved him. He does great Calliope and Jane impressions.”

She looked at him with her scrutinizing
eyes.

“I’ve had plenty of experience. I’ve been
reading those books to Caroline for the past two years. You know Caroline,
Luanne? She’s Kendra and Benjamin’s daughter.”

She looked at him like he was dense. “Of
course I know who Caroline is.” But at least she threw in that she thought she
was a darling girl.

I told my aunt we were taking Caroline out
tonight and about Brady’s standing date night with her. I was trying to think
of anything to help her see that Brady really was wonderful. She didn’t really
respond, but I think that was the best we could hope for today. We didn’t stay
too much longer.

When we left, Brady made a last attempt.
He bravely picked up her hand. “It was really lovely to see you, Luanne. Ellie
and I really look forward to you being home so we can have more time together
with you.”

I could tell she was trying her hardest
not to pull her hand away, but she behaved, and for a second I thought she was
going to say his name; I swore I saw her lips look like they were going to form
a ‘B’. Brady looked so hopeful, but it was all for naught.

“Well, just make sure you take care of my
girl, and don’t keep her out so late.”

“I promise you, that is my priority,” he
said with a hint of disappointment as he released her hand.

I kissed her goodbye and whispered in her
ear, “Thank you. I love you.”

She gave me a knowing look. “I love you
more than air, Ella Lu.”

And with that, we left. Once in the hall,
I wrapped my arm around his waist. “There’s always tomorrow.”