In the morning, Holly visited her mother in the hospital room, she was improving but her oxygen levels still hadn’t quite returned to normal, so they were keeping her in for one more night. Holly tried to sit with her, but Kathy was tired and wanted to rest. Holly promised her mom that she would be back in the evening and went home with Eve to get ready to go to Lincolns house for lunch. Holly pulled out her phone and texted Lincoln. ‘Does your family know I am coming over for lunch? What did you say to them?’ She was excited to go and see them, but she did not know how to explain the situation to them.Lincoln texted back quickly. ‘Hey, beautiful. I was just thinking about you. Yeah, I hope you don’t mind, but I kind of told them I bumped into you this morning while I was at the store and invited you over. I am happy to tell them, if you are, I just didn’t know if you would be ready for that.’ Holly thought about it a moment, no, she defiantly was not ready for them to know ju
When Holly parked her car at the hospital, she checked her phone out of habit. The first one was from Lincoln. It just said wait up for me tonight. Did that mean he planned on coming over again? She hoped so. And the second one was from Maggie. ‘Is something going on between you and my brother?’ Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she read it. Had they been that obvious? Until now she thought they did rather well at hiding it.Holly did not know how to respond to Maggie’s text. Did she deny it? She wasn’t ready to spill the beans, but she didn’t want to lie to Maggie either. They just started being friends again. Deciding it was best not to say anything at all, Holly slipped her phone into her hand bag, ignoring both messages. She would get to them later. For now, she wanted to see her mom. Her mom was awake when they walked in there. “Hey, Mommy, how are you feeling?” Holly greeted her mother with a kiss to the cheek while she used the back of her hand to check her moth
Holly did everything she could to keep herself distracted until Lincoln’s visit. She took care of Eve, and when she was putting her to bed, she read every book on the shelf, some of them twice just to help keep herself keep calm. Her worries and doubts were like an internal storm inside her, fear struck like lightning, over and over again. She wished she was able to talk to her mother about this, although Kathy would probably just tell her to rip the band aid off. And if she spoke to Maggie about it, Maggie would be so happy that she would forget how afraid Holly felt. She was pacing the kitchen back and forth practicing how this should go when there was a knock at the door. She opened it, but before she could get a word in, Lincoln grabbed her and kissed her passionately. He only stopped when he felt like he was out of breath. “I have been waiting to kiss you all day.” He rested his forehead against Holly’s and smiled. He still couldn’t believe it; she was giving him a chance. “Li
When Lincoln arrived home just a little while later, he found his parents arguing, and Maggie trying to calm them both down. Everyone fell silent the moment they saw him. “You knew, and you didn’t tell me.” Lincoln didn’t have to say anything more than that, they knew exactly what he was talking about. “She finally told you?’’ Maggie gasped; she had not wanted to admit it, but she was starting to doubt Holly would ever say something. “Yeah, it’s great, she finally told me, but why didn’t any of you?” Lincoln felt so betrayed by them, he turned around and walked back out the door, his family begged him to stay, they chased him out to his car even, but he ignored them. He did not care what they had to say right now. How could they do that to him? “I told you this would happen.” Keith looked at his wife and daughter, he felt so bad for his son. Keith walked back inside, found his car keys and went looking for Lincoln. If his son wanted space he would give it to him, but his son was a
Holly loaded up the car, Lincoln and Maggie had already taken almost everything over that they needed last night, except for the food. A daunting feeling rested in the pit of her stomach. “Hey, you look a little sick, is everything okay?” Lincoln had noticed Holly was a little quiet as the three of them got into the car. He took her hand, but instead of that usual radiant smile, he received a grimace trying to pass as a smile. “What is wrong?” He asked, he knew there was something. “We’re just leaving our bubble and I am scared.” Holly admitted, she felt silly, she loved these people, she shouldn’t be worried about what they had to say but she was. “What are you scared of, Hol?” Lincoln kissed the back of her hand, he wanted to understand, hopefully he would know what to say to make her feel better. “Once we tell them, then it’s real. Once we tell them, then we are open to all their criticisms and advice, like what if they think we are moving too fast? I mean we kind of have, but
Lincoln caught up to Holly quickly at the car and helped her take the rest of the food out. “When did you find the time to do all of this anyway.” He looked at the plates impressed. “After we got home from the hospital, I put Eve to bed and then while I waited for you, I did this. Mostly because I was trying so hard not to completely freak out, but also because I am determined that Mom has a good day today.” Holly hoped if they could lift her spirits, it would make her fight just a little harder to live. As a nurse, she seen it time and time again, when a patient gives up hope, so does their body and they die soon after. “Hey, she will.” Lincoln comforted Holly. When Lincoln and Holly made it back to the room, they were pleasantly surprised to find Kathy out of bed. She was sitting at the small table with Eve, who was still infatuated with the optics on the small Christmas tree, she was showing her grandmother all the different colours. Holly set her food down and went to hug her
Eve wasn’t hungry when they got home, she had eaten enough at the hospital, she brushed her teeth and was ready for bed. Holly went to read to her like she did every night, but Eve asked Lincoln to read to her instead. Holly went in to help them sort out her pyjamas, and kiss her good night. As Lincoln tucked the blankets down by Eve’s side, she asked, “Is daddy going to sleep over tonight?” Holly didn’t know what Lincolns plans were for the night, it was his last night here, maybe he wanted to go home. She decided to just let him answer that one. “Yeah, is that okay with you?” He asked. “Mom, do you think he will say good morning to you really loud? So loud that I will have to leave like Aunt Maggie did?” Eve looked at her mother with such sincerity that Holly had to leave the room; she began to laugh so hard. “Get back here.” Lincoln whisper shouted at her in a panic. He was going to freaking kill Maggie, he swore to himself. At least he wasn’t eating anything this time. “Is
Because Lincolns phone was dead, he didn’t get any of the messages his family had sent him last night, or this morning. If he had, he would have left Holly and Eve at home. Holly, Lincoln and Eve pulled up at his parents’ house. Holly got Eve from the back seat and they were about half way up to the house when the front door flung open. Holly and Lincoln froze in shock, Sasha burst out the door. “Sasha, what are you doing here? “Lincoln finally stuttered; he was both surprised and angered to see her. “I think we were too rash; I know I said I got with you for the wrong reasons, baby, and I did, but I want you back now for the right ones. I really love you, I know that now, I can’t live without you. I flew in hoping to surprise you for Christmas and make it up to your family and then fly home with you today, but you weren’t here, and your parents wouldn’t tell me where you were.” She started to sob, that was until she saw Holly standing behind Lincoln and then her anger took over.