Theodora guided Daisy, her bright blue Jeep, east on SH-96, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she passed Hardscrabble Mountain. She hadn’t counted how many times she’d driven this road since her sister, Cleopatra, had been involved in a head on collision three months previous, but it had been a lot, and every time she passed the section of highway where Patty’s mangled Subaru Outback had landed after the crash, Theo made sure to keep her gaze averted. The car had been squashed, then what remained of it had been cut open by the Jaws of Life before Patty’s broken body had been extricated from it. She’d been lucky to come out of the accident alive. Now, it felt as if the rest of her family would be lucky if they survived her rehabilitation.
Theo moved her eyes up to catch a glimpse of her niece, Indigo, in the rearview mirror. The now four-year-old was reading a favorite picture book to the tie-dyed stuffed cat she’d named Pickles who sat in her lap. The child’s voice was lyrical, and Theo let it wash over her much like the sunshine that fell through the windshield and onto her face.
There was something magical about both Indigo’s lilting tones and the way the winter sun felt on her skin, and she took a deep breath as they drove further east on SH-96 toward Wetmore and CO-115. She and Indigo had made this seventy-eight-mile trip to the rehabilitation wing of Abbey Heights Hospital in Colorado Springs twice a week for the last three weeks. Today was Thursday, which meant it was milkshake day. Indigo was still learning the days of the week, but Theo was sure the child knew it was milkshake day.
Not quite an hour and a half later, the two of them made their way through the front door of the hospital, both of them carrying backpacks—Theo’s a plain navy blue, and Indigo’s a bright lime green. They held hands, and in Indigo’s free arm, she cradled Pickles. Theo carried four tall, domed cups from Sonic in a brown cardboard beverage holder in hers.
“Well, what do we have here?” Theo heard as the two of them walked through Patty’s door. “It’s the milkshake brigade.”
Indigo looked up at the dark-haired woman wearing turquoise-colored scrubs who stood in her mother’s hospital room. She smiled up at her and gave her a nod. “Hi, Birdie.”
“And hello to you, too, Miss Blue. Can I help you hand out your treats?”
“Yes, please.” Indigo’s attention moved from the therapist to her mother who sat propped up in her bed. “Hi, Mama,” she greeted, walking cautiously to Patty’s bedside.
“Hello, sugar,” Patty responded. “How are you today?”
“I’m good. It’s Thursday, so there was no school.”
“Oh, lord,” Mamie said, shaking her head. “She sounds a lot like her mother already.”
“I’m so sorry, Birdie,” Theo apologized. “If I’d known we were going to see you today we would have brought you a milkshake.”
“Mmmm…” Birdie said, taking the beverage carrier from Theo’s grasp. “And what flavor would you have chosen for me?” Theo watched her, trying to determine the answer to the woman’s question. Birdie pulled one of the cups from the holder and handed it to Mamie who sat in a recliner next to Patty’s bed. “Vanilla,” she said, “without whipped cream or cherries. No frills. Quite tasty, but no nonsense.”
“Down to business,” Mamie agreed. “When things get too complicated, I get suspicious.”
“You think someone’s hiding something behind all that whipped cream and those cherries?” Patty teased.
“If you’ve got to sweeten something up, it’s because it’s rotten on its own.”
“I’m not so sure that way of thinking should pertain to ice cream, but whatever floats your boat.”
Birdie pulled another cup and presented it to Theo. “Hot fudge.” The therapist smiled. “Whipped cream and a single cherry. You love food, and you love chocolate.”
“Who doesn’t?” Theo asked.
“Apparently Mamie,” Patty said.
“Well, I agree with Theodora, here. I love chocolate, but this girl goes one step further.” She looked at Theo. “You know how therapeutic food can be. This shake is just like you. Classic with just a little bit extra.”
“Extra,” Cleopatra said. “That’s our Theo alright.”
Theo ignored her sister and gave Birdie a smile, unwrapping her straw.
“And then there’s this gorgeous little thing.” Birdie turned and looked at Indigo who had put her backpack on the small table that sat in the corner of the room. The little girl had climbed into a chair and her feet swung above the floor. “Strawberry with whipped cream, and let’s see,” she looked down into the plastic dome lid and tried to count. “There must be at least six cherries in here.”
“I love cherries.”
“As you should,” Birdie told her. “All sweetness and light—”
“Or,” Patty interrupted, “if you think like Mamie, rotten to the core.”
“Shut up, Cleopatra.”
“No,” Birdie said, shaking her head. “These two are a match made in heaven.” Birdie put the cup down on the table in front of Indigo. “And then there’s Cleopatra.” She pulled the last cup from the holder. “Peanut butter. Whipped cream and a cherry.”
“Well, that one’s not difficult.” Mamie was fanning herself with a bedraggled copy of US Weekly, and while everyone else in the room was wearing winter apparel, she was dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt. “This is also a match. They’re both completely nuts.”
Theo took a pull from her straw and watched the therapist.
“That’s one theory,” she agreed.
“I like it,” Theo said. “Let’s go with that one.”
“And you would take a banana shake,” Patty said, throwing a sharp look at Birdie.
“Well, I’ll admit, there are a lot of people who say I’m plum crazy, that’s for sure,” she said, flashing a bright, white smile. “I’d almost have to be bananas to do what I do.”
“That’s right,” Patty encouraged, “just keep ‘em coming. I’m keeping track. There will be hell to pay when I’m well enough to deliver it.”
“We’re all waiting with bated breath,” Mamie informed her eldest.
“I’ll make sure I bring you a shake next week,” Theo told Birdie.
Birdie gave Theo a wink. “I’m like Goldilocks, here. I like a lot of cherries.”
