Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux (29 page)

“You don’t have a steady woman either.” Brooks wanted his friend to see exactly what he was asking for. “Just take my advice, and leave that girl alone.”

**

Grey ushered the movers through his house to the guest bedroom quickly where he was secretly redecorated for the twins’ arrival. He had spent an ungodly amount of money on a local interior decorator that assured him that everything would be ready by next Sunday to surprise Ivy after church. With all the negative things that had transpired over the last few months, Grey felt the need to do something nice for Ivy and something that would ease his conscious about Kit.

He had only four months to prepare for what was to be two new additions to his family. And he had a gut feeling that those children belonged solely to him. Nicola was just a reminder of how close he had come to loosing Ivy, which was all the more reason to make an extra effort to be there for her now.

Watching the painters pull the error tape from the wall basing, Grey was in total approval of the newly painted powder yellow bedroom. Yellow was neutral and calming.

Proudly, he pulled one of the bears out of the Macy’s shopping bag and set it on the floor by the closet. He was excited now about the prospect of a family. And although he still fought with the rebellious spirit of a bachelor, he was starting to grow anxious of a new lifestyle with the twins and Ivy.

**

Across town, too sick to get out of the bed, Ivy lay in between her mass of pillows reading over her homework and sipping on chicken broth. It had been nearly three hours since her first attempt to get up and head to class, but she still felt dizzy and nauseous. Setting down her book, she grabbed her remote and turned down her radio to here a knock at the door. Looking over at the clock, she became a little alarmed. She wasn’t expecting company this afternoon.

She found her robe quickly, dressed and slid out of bed. Looking out of the peephole of her front door, she discovered her brother Emerald standing anxiously peering back at her under a yellow Hawaiian baseball cap. With utter excitement, she opened the door and screamed.

“Emerald!” Ivy said opening her arms wide.

“Ivy!” Emerald said picking her up off of the ground and spinning her around in her hallway. “Look at you.” As he set Ivy back down, his emerald green eyes were fixed on her stomach.

“Yeah, I know. I’m pregnant,” she said rubbing her top of her stomach. “Four and half months to be exact.”

“You look so beautiful,” he said in awe as he moved her hair from her shoulders. He adored his baby sister more than she would ever know and to see her in such as state was both exciting and painful.

“Thank you,” she said finally noticing he had company. “Who is this with you?” She closed her robe.

“Oh, this is Kakeline, my fiancé,” he said moving out of the way to reveal a tall olive-skinned girl with huge almond shaped eyes, full lips and a long flowing black hair.

“She’s so pretty,” Ivy said shaking Kakeline’s hand and quietly observing the one-carat solitaire that was showcased on her ring finger. “Hi. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you. My goodness, Emerald! I can’t believe that you’re engaged.” Ivy tried to close her mouth knowing that it was wide open now. Her brother had been a wild, carefree guy for as long as she could remember. Now, he was settling down. What had the world come to?

“Quiet as kept. We actually are married. We just haven’t told anyone. So, mums the word until after the baby okay.” He put his arm around his wife and kissed the side of her head.

“Sure, but why are you keeping it a secret?” She was confused at why he would want to hide such a thing. Their mother would be glad to see that the endless bounced checks, charged up credit cards and personal loans paid off.

“It happened just night before last. I got a call from Madison, and I was headed back this way. Kakeline didn’t want me to leave, but she didn’t want to follow me to the main land without knowing we had something…concrete.” Kakeline blushed as Emerald tried to explain.

“Well, there is nothing more concrete than marriage. I understand,” Ivy said taking Kakeline’s hand. “I wouldn’t have followed him either,” she said laughing.

“Anyway, we’re staying at Mom’s house for about two weeks. That should be sufficient time for me to find an apartment and for us to find jobs.”

“What about your family?” Ivy asked Kakeline.

“They do not know yet. We just up and left,” Kakeline said softly. “We plan to return in a month or two and get their blessings the right way. For now, they think that I’m off on another island at school.”

“So you took the semester off?” Ivy asked concerned.

“Yes. I felt it was best.” Kakeline showed signs of disappointment.

“Well regardless of all that, welcome to the family.” Ivy wrapped her arms around her and hugged her affectionately. She was glad that Emerald had finally found someone he could love.

“I’m going to take Kakeline back to Mom’s house, and let her get settled. We just drove from the rental lot directly to you. So, I’ll be back in a little while,” Emerald said kissing Ivy on the cheek.

“Okay, don’t be long,” she said holding the door as Emerald walked out. “It was nice meeting you, Kakeline.”

“You too,” Kakeline said waving.

Exhausted from the brief but emotional reunion, Ivy returned to her bed to rest. Who would have thought that her big brother would return home married? He had gone to Hawaii to find himself after he graduated from college. During this trip, he spent thousands of dollars on women, booze and lodging. One night while at a college party with some of his friends, he met Kakeline and what was supposed to be a one to two month high yetis became a six month stay. In reality, it was probably inevitable that he would marry. Ivy just never thought that he would do so before her.

Emerald was never marriage material. He was talk, dark, wild, extremely handsome and smart. He had modeled since his freshman year of college and had even been in some top men’s fitness magazines. Everyone thought that his future would be in the fashion industry until he went to Hawaii and discovered he had a better talent…business management. To pay for his stay, he started to work for the resort owner in his nightclub and ended up yielding a twenty-five percent increase in profit over only five months. Now that he was home, God only knew what he would do for work.

Excited that she had a new sister-in-law, Ivy nestled back down in her comforter and began to look over her work again. Halfway down the page the phone rang. Groaning, she picked it up.

“Hello,” she said impatiently.

“Ivy, it’s Nicola.”

“Oh. Hi.” She was surprised to hear from him.

“I saw that you called the other night, and I never got a chance to see what you wanted. How are you?” He truthfully just wanted to hear her voice.

“Not doing too hot. The babies have had me up all morning, but I can’t seem to get going. I feel so nauseous. All I’ve been eating is broth and crackers.”

“Um, I know that you called me the other night and you had a run in with a friend of mine. I’ve been meaning to call you and apologize for that,” he stuttered. “I’ve just been really busy with work.”

“Yeah, about that. I didn’t want anything. I was just calling to talk.” Ivy felt uncomfortable even discussing the rude woman.

“Well, maybe I can make up that situation to you. Have you eaten today?”

“I’ve been too sick to get out of the bed really. So no.”

“Good. I mean, not good. But it just so happens that I’ll be in your area in just a little while. You need something solid on your stomach,” he said closing the door to his office.
So, she really did just want to talk with me the other night.
His instincts about her were starting to be really good. “I could stop buy and bring you something.”

“You don’t have to go out of your way.” Deciding she would never finish her work, she set the papers down on her nightstand.

“Believe me. It’s no problem. Really.” He anxiously awaited her reply.

“Okay.” Ivy paused for a moment. What was she doing? Grey would have died if he had found out that Nicola was bringing her anything. Their agreement was that she would only see Nicola when it was his turn to take her to the doctor, but if she didn’t eat, she would end up in the emergency room.

“Great. I’ll bring you something by, and we can sit and talk for a while.” It had been three weeks since he had seen her face, and he missed her terribly.

“Okay,” she said seeing nothing wrong with his kind proposition as long as Grey didn’t show up. And that was highly unusual considering he was so busy with work these days.

Hanging up the phone, Nicola slid across his office floor in excitement. He was like a schoolboy again feeling his heart skip a beat when Ivy smiled and smelling her perfume when he thought of her late at night. If just for a moment, he was alive again. As he turned around smiling, Brooks threw a ball of waded up paper at him and bounced it off of his forehead. “What are you so happy about?”

“I thought I closed the door,” Nicola said calmly. It was time to put on the façade. He picked the paper up and threw it in the trashcan.

“You did, but you know I’m nosy, and I wanted to know who you were talking to all sweet and
quiet like
on the phone,” Brooks said closing the door behind him.

“I was talking to Ivy.” But Nicola was sure that Brooks already knew that. There was brief silence in the room as they made eye contact.

“About…” Brooks wished Nicola would take his advice and leave Ivy alone.

“Lunch. I’m taking her some over there in just a minute. She’s not feeling well.” Grabbing his coat, he walked pass Brooks who was leaning on Nicola’s desk looking through his paperwork.

“When you get back, we’ve got to review this new Intel on Caesar,” Brooks said yawning. The subject quickly changed but only for a brief moment.

“Cool.” Ivy crossed Nicola’s mind. He needed to go…now. “Look man, I’ll be back in about two hours. Call me if you need me.”

“Lunch is only one hour,” Brooks said playfully as he followed Nicola out of the office. “Don’t let me have to report your ass.”

“Go right ahead. Just remember, I have some good shit on you, too,” Nicola said closing and locking his door behind them.

“What happened to you being finished with the
women folk
?” The thought suddenly dawned upon Brooks. “Is Ivy not included? And what about Grey? How does he feel about you going to her house?”

“To hell with Grey.” Nicola tried to shrug off his nagging mother-like friend.

“Don’t you think he would consider this cheating? I would.”

“No. Now, what we did a few months back would be considered cheating. Taking a sick mother food is…charity.”

“Yeah, her husband will charitably kick your ass if he finds you at that woman’s house.”

“I’m on the clock, and if I recall correctly I took an oath to protect and serve. Besides, she is not married yet.”

“She’s close enough,” Brooks said shaking his head. “Don’t go over there and get your ass handed to you.” They both chuckled as Nicola headed out of the precinct flipping Brooks the finger.

**

If Ivy had had more energy, she probably would have gotten out of bed and dressed, but it seemed the more she wanted to get up, the more her body would not allow her. Evidently, she had used all her extra energy on getting up to see Emerald. Turning on the television, she fluffed her pillows behind her back and sprayed the air freshener beside her. At least, the apartment was presentable, even if she was not.

After watching a game show and flipping through the novel on her nightstand, she finally heard someone at her door. “I’m in here,” Ivy said brushing through her hair frantically. She didn’t’ want to look too messy.

Walking through the corridor, Nicola got a chance to see Ivy’s bedroom for the first time. Shyly, he smiled as he walked through her doorway. It was everything that he had imagined about Ivy’s personality.

“Hey,” Nicola said standing in the doorway.

“Hi,” Ivy said sitting up and smiling. Wow, he looked great. He was like a breath of fresh air in his faded denim jeans and University of Memphis blue pullover.

“Still not feeling well?” he asked shocked that Ivy was still in her nightgown.

“Not my best, but not my worse either.” She didn’t want to appear sicklier than she actually was. “You can put those bags in the kitchen,” she said noticing he was still carrying the groceries. “I hope you don’t plan for me to eat all of that for lunch.”

“Actually, I was hoping that you’d share. I stopped at this Chinese place by the precinct. They fix the best pepper steak in the world.”

“Well, what else do you have in there?” Ivy asked getting out of the bed.

“Don’t get up,” he said alarmed. “I’ll fix your plate and bring it to you.”

“I feel good enough to get up,” Ivy said sitting back down. Inwardly, she liked the attention from him even when she despised it from other people.

“No, you’re not well enough now, but you will be when I’m finished. I have just the right stuff to get you going again.”

“What got into you?” Ivy asked amazed by his concern.

“I just wanted to make sure that you were…okay,” Turning around, he headed for the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Nicola returned with a full plate of food and two glasses of orange juice for Ivy. Now shining with lip-gloss and a small pink bow that tied back her ponytail, Ivy sat at the end of the bed in her robe dangling her feet off the side.

“That didn’t take long,” she said reaching out for the plate.

“I hope I put enough food on here,” he said setting her glasses on the table.

“This is more than enough. What are you trying to do make me fat?” Giggling, she tasted her lunch. “Umm, this is good. I’m really starving.”

Still astounded after all this time at her beauty, Nicola stood across from her in silence. Making eye contact with him, Ivy blushed. She was starting to recognize his looks and could almost tell exactly what he was thinking.