15. Staten #2
“Because you’re a hater,” Cam noted with a shrug.
“Your siblings adore me. You just don’t want to like me because you think I’m here to take something from you, but I’m not.
The sooner you see that, the better off we’ll all be.
If you haven’t noticed, we kind of walk on eggshells around you, and I don’t think that’s fair to anyone. Do you?”
“What’s fair?”
“Not you,” Cambrie tittered.
Lifting my head from the bed, I locked eyes with my daughter first and smiled. I reached out and stroked some of her hair.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” She guiltily looked down at the hospital sheets.
“You got something you want to talk to me about?” I pried.
“It doesn’t matter.” She plucked at the sheets with her fingers like she was picking lint.
“It does to me,” I responded, clearing my throat. “You scared me, baby girl. You can’t just run off like that.”
“I didn’t think you would notice. You were in your own little world with Cambrie all night,” she pouted.
“Tavi, haven’t I always tried to make time for you and your brothers and sister? Even since Cam’s been around?”
“Yeah,” Tavi admitted like it would cost her.
“And she’s made an effort to get to know you, but you keep shutting her down.
Tonight, she’s the one who found you and prayed over you and sat with you until the medics came to get you,” I explained, watching her gaze shift to Cambrie briefly before returning to the hospital sheets covering her lower half.
“Do you think now you can try and give her a chance? I care about her, and she ain’t going nowhere, so it would be nice if you tried to be OK with this.
She’s not your mother, and she’s not trying to be, but she’s who I want to share my life with.
Your mother and I love you. We just aren’t in that place where we should be together. Don’t you want us to be happy too?”
“I guess,” Tavi sighed with an eyeroll.
“Girl, you know you already kind of like me,” Cambrie teased. “You just feel like you’ll be disloyal to your mother if you do, but . . . she’s a grown woman, and she’s always going to be your mother.”
“It feels like she’s mad at me,” Tavi voiced. “She didn’t want us to come home for the summer, and she doesn’t talk to me and Saga like she used to since she left.”
“That’s not on you, Tavi,” I spoke up. “Your mother is going through some things, and it has nothing to do with you kids. She loves you. She just needs to figure out how she’s going to move on with her life. She’s on her way now to come and check on you.”
“Thank you for helping me, Cambrie,” Tavi mumbled, sniffling.
Cambrie’s head whipped in her direction so fast she almost caught whiplash when she faced her.
Pressing her hand against her chest, her mouth slipped open while her eyes bucked.
Slowly, the door to her room was pushed open, and Dr. York entered wearing a smile.
She stopped at the foot of Tavi’s bed and peered up at the monitors to check her vitals.
“How are we feeling, Ms. Tavi?”
“My leg and side hurt.”
“Yeah, I expect you will be in a little bit of pain for a while, but we have medicine we can give you for that. Now that you’re awake, we have to schedule your surgery to fix that leg of yours.”
“Surgery?” Tavi repeated fearfully as her eyes stretched in her head.
“Unfortunately. You messed that leg up pretty bad, sweetheart. So tomorrow morning we’ll take you in to repair it and get you in a cast. You’ll be in that for about 6-8 weeks.”
“What! That’s like the whole summer!”
“I’m sorry. You have to heal though.” Dr. York’s head tilted in empathy.
My daughter’s head slipped against the pillow behind her, and she looked like she wanted to cry. Slowly bringing myself to my feet, I turned to the doctor.
“Is there anything else she needs?”
“After surgery, she will need physical therapy until she is able to have full use of her leg again. We recommend two to three sessions per week with a licensed therapist. Our psych team would also like to set up a session with her.”
“Psych team? Like a mental therapist?” I queried, glancing at Cambrie on the opposite side as she stood and faced me.
“Yes. Considering Tavi ran away, they just want to evaluate her.”
“Evaluate? For what?” I sneered.
“Staten, calm down, baby. This is routine,” Cambrie assured me. “It’ll be fine. I think it’ll also be good for her. To talk through her feelings with someone. Listen, I can even do the physical therapy if you want. I’m still licensed.”
“Is that so?” Dr. York peered at her over the rim of her glasses.
“Yes. It’s only been a few months since the clinic I worked for closed, but I have a résumé and my certifications and everything.”
“Well, that’s wonderful. I think it would be good for her to have someone she knows rooting for her.
The nurses will come in and prep you for surgery tomorrow, so tonight I just want you to try and rest. If you’re in any kind of pain, just press the button on the remote beside your bed, and the nurse will come in.
Do you have any more questions?” Dr. York peered around at us.
“No.” I waved her off, still spiraling about this therapy shit.
Physical, I got, but I didn’t like the stigma being placed on Tavi that something might be wrong with her. Like she knew something was on my mind, Cambrie rounded the foot of the bed and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Hey, this is all good, Staten. Therapy isn’t a bad thing, and it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with her.
Trust me. I’ve talked to a lot of kids and helped them.
Some of them come in there defiant and not wanting to talk to anyone at first. They shut down or get defensive, but over time, they figure out how to communicate and open up.
Just . . . give it a chance.” She ran her hand across my chest and lifted both brows.
“Aight, but the minute she says she don’t want to do that shit, she doesn’t have to.”
Tavi’s door swung open, but this time, my other three kids came rushing inside. Rossi and Marcella weren’t far behind, and I couldn’t help but sigh in frustration because I’d told them to stay put. My mother immediately saw the irritation on my face.
“Don’t give me that look. You knew I wasn’t going to listen,” she quipped. “How is she?”
“She’s stable,” Cambrie answered.
“Well, since you went and got yourself hurt, I guess that should be your lesson learned in all this. I was going to whup your behind myself when we found you, but I am glad you’re OK.
” Rossi’s gaze softened on her granddaughter before focusing on me.
“Ivo is in surgery, but the doctors believe he will be fine. The bullet didn’t pierce any major arteries, and it went straight through.
Brick is asking for you though. They are downstairs on five.
I’ll sit here with her for a minute until you get back. ”
“Yeah, we’ll keep little Miss Thing company,” Marcella interjected as she stepped past my mother and set her Hermes tote on a nearby counter.
“Come on. Let’s go check on Ivo and Emerald.” Cambrie nudged me to the door but pivoted briefly to face Tavi. “We’ll be back. Get some rest.”
“Can we watch TV?” Piaget and Rogue hopped on the bed with Tavi while Saga lingered at her side with his hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts.
They all seemed to be relieved more than anything that their sister was OK.
Minutes later, Cam and I arrived downstairs, where we found Six and Brick seated in the waiting room and Emerald wearing a hole in the floor, much like I was not long ago.
“Hey!” Six leaned forward. “How’s Tavi?”
“She’s fine. Surgery in the morning for her leg, but she’s going to be OK,” I told them.
“Thank God.” Six sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“Brick, what you got?” I questioned, approaching my brother as he studied his phone screen with a disturbed expression.
He swiped his beard before looking up at me.
Before he could respond, the double doors at the end of the hall swung open and out stepped a team of doctors and nurses chatting lowly among one another.
An older white man with white hair and a full beard removed his scrub coat while approaching.
“Are you the family of Ivo Marek?”
“Yes.” Brick nodded. “How is he?”
“Stable. Everything went well. He’ll be in recovery soon, and he was already coming out of it when we closed him up,” the doctor informed us.
“Thank you so much,” Emerald gushed, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes in silent prayer.
“No problem. You can see him two at a time once he’s moved. I have to go check on something, but I’ll follow up with him before we move him to a more permanent room.” The doctor stepped away, and Six jumped up to hug Emerald.
“See, I told you it was all going to be OK. Talk about a crazy night though.” Six pulled away from Emerald, and Brick sat forward, studying his phone screen and biting his thumbnail.
“What’s wrong?”
“Moniece sent the footage.”
“And?” I prodded, trigger finger itching.
Whoever took a shot at my brother was about to feel me. Our family had taken too many L’s lately, and although he was safe, shit could have easily gone another way.
“It was Jordan’s car. The plates match and everything,” Brick announced.
“What!” Emerald screeched. “Are you serious? That bitch tried to kill him!”
“Let’s go.” I waved Brick toward me.
“There’s something else.” Brick looked around before rising to his feet. “I texted Sol to go over to the house and check on her. Jordan’s dead.”
“The fuck?” Emerald gasped.
“Looks like an overdose,” Brick declared. “She found a bunch of pill bottles, and Jordan was on the bathroom floor when she got there.”