Ashley had just been told by the doctor that he wanted to keep Christopher in the hospital for the night, just to make sure his injuries weren't too serious at all. She didn't want to leave him there alone, but being the brave boy that he was, he told her to go back home and rest. He said he would be okay, and that all he wanted to do was sleep anyway. She gave him a little hug and a kiss on the cheek and called a cab to come to pick her up.
When she got back home, she got as cleaned up as she could get and then made herself a little snack. She was in the middle of fixing up a plate of fruit when her cell phone rang. "Hello." She answered, not even bothering to see who was calling.
" I heard there was a tornado there in Oklahoma tonight. Are you okay, honey? What about the kids?" The voice of her mom came through the phone, and it sounded like she was in a panic.
" I'm a little banged up and Christopher is in the hospital. He got tossed around a bit and had to get stitches." She told her mother. " Arielle is more than fine, but she is mad as ever at me. I had no choice after having a run-in with Taylor's wife Natalie to tell her about who her father was."
" I told you that was a disaster waiting to happen, Ashley. But you never have listened to me, and you never will." She could hear a sigh from her mom. " I bet she's not even talking to you, is she?"
" Barely. She's not with me at the moment, or I would let you talk to her. She is with her dad right now." She sighed herself. " Not only did she run off on me earlier to go find him, she actually managed to do so. Now he thinks he has every right in the world to take her away from me."
"As I said, it was all a disaster waiting to happen. You just never did think before you acted. You had to know it would come down to this."
" Yes. You were right, mom. I'm a screw-up." She hung up on her and continued to throw some fruit onto a plate. Putting the container back in the fridge then, she took her plate into the living room and turned on the tv.
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The next morning, Arielle woke up on the couch around 7:00 and forgot for a moment where she was at. Rubbing at her eyes, she slowly sat up and looked around her. Feeling a little sore from how she slept, she rubbed at her shoulder before reaching for her cell phone, which was beside her on the end table charging. She unplugged it and looked to see if she had missed any calls. All she had was a text from her best friend back in Colorado.
Please let me know if you are okay. I saw on the news there was a tornado there in Tulsa and if I don't hear from you, I will go insane!
She smiled as she typed in her text back to Rachel. You don't have to worry about me. Just say a prayer for me for Christopher. He is in the hospital. She thought about her brother and wondered how he was. Her smile turned to a frown. She wanted to call him up but knew it was too early to call. And she still didn't want to talk to her mom.
Standing up, she set her cell phone back down and looked through the clothes Natalie and Taylor had taken her out shopping for before bed the previous night. She picked out a Vera Wang watercolor tank top and a pair of black shorts to wear and took them into the bathroom to change into.
Once she was dressed and her hair was brushed out, she went into the kitchen and made up a pot of coffee. Then she decided to make up some pancakes and eggs for everyone as well and did just that. The smell of the food and coffee seemed to wake Taylor and Natalie up, who came into the kitchen around 8:00 looking like they had barely slept.
" Something sure smells great in here." Taylor smiled at Arielle and went to the cupboard to get a coffee cup. " You like to cook, Arielle?"
" A little bit." She smiled back. " I help mom out sometimes, or just cook something up for Christopher whenever he gets hungry, which is like all the time."
