“Noted.”
“I’m wondering, Antee Bear, if you’ve brought anything to keep Goldilocks entertained for a short time?” Mamie asked looking over at Theo. “We’ve had a talk with the doctor this morning, and the four of us need to have a meeting.”
Ten minutes later, Indigo was watching Tangled, her favorite movie, on a tablet while she continued to sip on her strawberry shake.
“Cleopatra still has at least two more surgeries ahead of her,” Mamie said.
“It might be more than that,” Birdie added. “That right wrist is troublesome, and then there’s that hip.” She shook her head. “I’m going to do everything I can to help rehabilitate her with physical therapy.”
“Honestly, I’d rather have surgery,” Patty said, and Theo watched her, realizing her sister spoke what she believed to be the truth.
“If you didn’t hate me just a little, I wouldn’t be doing my job,” Birdie told her.
“I hate you more than a little.”
“Then I’m even better at my job than I thought.”
“The reason for this meeting,” Mamie said, steering the conversation back with a stern tone in her voice, “is that Doctor Garrett thinks Patty might be able to leave the hospital in a couple of weeks. We need to figure out what that’s going to look like.”
“That’s great, Patty,” Theo told her sister, a smile lighting her face. “I’m so happy that you won’t be here much longer.”
“Even if that means I need to move in with you?”
Theo blinked. “Well, if that’s what works best then yes,” she said without hesitation.
“We thought about moving her into Murphy House,” Mamie said, “but because there’s no real bedroom on the main floor—”
“I mean, I guess it doesn’t really matter,” Patty said. “It’s not like I have a whole lot of privacy right now, anyway, but it would be nice to at least have a door to my room.”
“And stairs are out of the question,” Mamie added.
“Of course. Glory’s room works perfectly,” Theo agreed. “You wouldn’t have to navigate any stairs, and there’s a master bath with a big tub.”
“Not to mention the personal chef that comes with the residence.”
Theo looked up at her mother, then moved her eyes back to Patty. “You know I’m more than happy to cook for you. And Indie’s at the barn,” she said. “If anything might accelerate your healing, it would be your daughter.”
“Am I supposed to be grateful that you’re willing to share her?” Patty asked snidely.
“Cleopatra.” The sharpness of Mamie’s tone brought Theo back to her childhood for a moment and made her sit up a bit straighter.
“I’m aware of the fact that I haven’t known you all that long, but it seems to me that your sister has been doing everything she can to help you with your recovery,” Birdie told Patty.
“I’m not all that surprised you’ve taken a liking to Theodora,” Patty shot back snidely. “If you can’t remember that it’s me you’re working for, we can end this by terminating your employment right this very second.”
“That won’t be happening,” Mamie stated. “You’ve been through four physical therapists. You sent three of them running the other direction, two of them crying I might add. You will not be doing anything that might encourage Birdie to jump ship. Besides, you know living with Theodora was never an option.”
“I’ll be moving in with this breath of fresh air, and I don’t sleep on cots or in sleeping bags or on couches,” Birdie informed Theo. “You may have a beautiful room for Patty in your home, but I hear there’s not another bedroom in your house for me.”
“No,” Mamie said, “there’s not. But the bungalow has two bedrooms in it.”
Theo threw a backwards glance at Indigo. The child was watching her movie and pulling the dregs of her milkshake from the bottom of the cup.
“It’s only got one bathroom,” Patty said.
“That’s not a problem for me.”
“It is for me.”
“Why?” Mamie asked, sounding irritated.
“It’s all your fault,” Patty said, aiming the complaint in Theo’s direction. “You got me all excited about Glory’s bathroom.”
“I’ll need your help,” Mamie told Theo, ignoring Patty’s comment. “We’ll need to move all of Indie’s things out of her bedroom and into the barn, including the bed. I would never ask Birdie to sleep on a twin sized mattress. I’ll call and get a queen set ordered.”
Theo understood immediately who the “we” was that Mamie referred to. “I’ll talk to Jordan about it,” she said. “We can get it done right away. Just let me know when the new bed will be delivered, and I’ll make sure to be there to let them in.”
The next half an hour was spent discussing how to accommodate Patty’s return to Whisper Creek. There were a surprising number of details that would need their attention, and by the time Mamie declared the room too hot and stuffy for her to concentrate any further and brought the visit to an abrupt end, Theo felt more than a little worn out.
“What was that all about?” Patty asked, irritated.
“You think she’s upset with you?” Theo looked up to see that one of Birdie’s eyebrows was raised.
“You’d think she’d be happier. Since that old woman hit me, Mamie’s had every excuse to boss people around even more than usual.”
Birdie shook her head. “I know you’re the queen, Cleopatra, but not everything is about you. If you’d pay attention to something other than yourself for fifteen seconds you might notice that your mother is going through menopause.”
“Has been for a while,” Theo said with a nod. “Those hot flashes look brutal.”
