Three Sisters of Delta Gamma Ch. 08

Anna and Kathy walked with Layla to the kitchen and worked to prepare the lunch. Each talked about the gifts they'd received from their loved ones and about Amy's many gifts.

Eric said to Amy, "Sweetheart, why don't we go up and change for lunch? I'll help you put on one of your pretty dresses."

"Can I wear one of the new ones?"

"I think mommy will want to wash those before you wear them."

"Why?"

"They may have dirt or chemicals on them that need to be washed off."

"Awww daddy. They look clean."

They walked upstairs with Amy continuing to argue her case.

Angelo said to Steve, "She's an amazing little girl. When I first saw her, I thought she was older, just small for her age. When Layla told me she was four, I almost fell over. I've never seen a child with the vocabulary and obvious intelligence she has at this age."

Steve responded, "She watches shows like Sesame Street and has us read to her every night. She is reading some words now but she's memorized many of her books. She loves to play games and her imagination is top notch. She describes these long conversations she's had with her dolls and the details are such that I never know if she's had that discussion with a person or not."

"She goes into kindergarten next year?"

"Yes, in September. But Eric is thinking about seeing if she can get into first grade. The only problem is she will be smaller than others in the class and bigger kids like to bully the smaller ones."

"Somehow, I don't think she'll tolerate bullying too well," Angelo replied.

"Right, she'll figure out how to deal with it, I'm sure."

"Has Eric decided about medical school yet?"

"Yes, he's applying to several major programs. We hope he gets into Penn as that is close by and will make it easier on everyone."

Angelo smiled. His cousin worked in the office of admissions at Penn. It's time to call in some favors, he thought.

When the meal was ready and the blessing asked, Eric requested everyone's attention. "Last night, I asked Mr. Russo for permission to ask Layla to marry me." Kathy and Steve cheered while Angelo and Anna smiled.

Eric joked, "After a lot of debate and exchange of a very large sum of money, papa gave his permission." Everyone including Layla laughed.

Angelo responded, "I had to pay Eric a fortune." This time everyone roared, except Layla who gave her dad a stand-down stare.

Everyone talked about the wedding plans. Layla and Eric wanted to have the wedding in late August, before school began, and asked if they could have the ceremony at the house next to the river. Both liked a meadow that was just below the house. Layla said she didn't want a big church wedding, like her sister had. The meadow could easily hold 200 people and that was more than they thought would be invited. Angelo was delighted. Janice's wedding had cost a fortune when almost 400 came.

"Mommy, you said I could help plan the wedding. What can I do?"

"We need to decide where to have the food and drinks for everyone after the service. Where would you like to do it?"

"Would everyone fit in the kitchen and sitting room?"

"I don't think so."

"The patio is large. What about putting the food and drinks there?" Kathy asked.

"What do you think about renting a large tent and put it next to the patio?" Eric asked.

"That'd be good." Amy replied. "What about parking for everyone?"

"Good question, Amy. What about parking?" Layla asked.

Eric replied, "We might have to offer valet parking. I could talk to the school down the road and see if we could use their parking lot on a Saturday. The valets could shuttle everyone to the house."

Steve added, "A nice donation to the school might help the decision. Amy, would you go with me to talk to them."

"Okay."

"Amy, you're a great wedding planner," Anna said.

"Thank you. I'll talk to Miss Annie and get more ideas." Everyone smiled.

Eric's cellphone rang and he went to the sitting room to talk. It was Melissa.

"Merry Christmas, Melissa.

"Yes, we just finished lunch with Layla's parents. Now is a perfect time.

"Great, see you then."

"Melissa is coming over. Evidently Santa left a gift for Amy over at her house."

"Daddy, Santa wouldn't do that. Mommy must have bought me something."

"Maybe so."

"But I didn't get a gift for her."

"Amy, I'm sure she's not expecting anything."

"But I want to give her something if she got me something."

"Amy, that's not necessary. She's getting a blessing by giving you something. Have you heard that it's more blessed to give than receive?"

"No. But I know I'm happy when I give something to a friend."

"What do you want to give her?"

Amy ran into the garage and got a box out of the trash bag. "Grandma, can I have some wrapping paper and tape?"

"Sure, sweetheart. What are you going to wrap?"

"It's what she needs to help her."

Kathy brought the paper and tape to her and Amy ran upstairs.

"Can I go with you Amy?" Layla yelled as she ran up the stairs.

"No mommy."

****

Melissa arrived late afternoon. Anna and Angelo were still there and were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful and personable she was. From what Layla had told them, they were expecting much less. Pleasant greetings were exchanged. Melissa carried a bag with a large binder and a wrapped gift.

Amy heard her arrive and ran down to greet her. "Hi mommy. Merry Christmas."

"Hi Amy. Merry Christmas. You look lovely this afternoon."

"Thank you."

Eric said, "Please come in and have a seat. The fire is nicely warm and we're just making hot chocolate."

"You remembered how I love hot chocolate."

Eric replied, "Of course." She smiled.

Anna said, "We need to be going. I'm still recovering from last night."

"Oh. We heard all about the party you had. Sounds like it was fun," Kathy said.

"We had 26 in the house and it was loud. Amy had fun, didn't you sweetheart?"

"Yes, I did. The cookies were very good." Everyone laughed once again.

Angelo and Anna kissed Amy and Layla and shook hands with everyone else as they departed. It had been a wonderful visit and they felt very good about Layla marrying into this family.

Melissa and everyone returned to the sitting room as hot chocolate was poured and enjoyed. Amy wanted milk and a cookie, of course.

"Amy, I have a little gift for you. I was trying to think of something that you would enjoy and that could teach you important information. Can you open it and see what you think?"

Amy ripped open the beautiful paper and saw a box with an apple on it. Eric looked at Melissa and frowned. Amy opened the box and found the newest model of iPad.

"Oh, wow. Thank you mommy." Amy had no idea what it was.

"Mommy and daddy, I loaded some apps that are age appropriate for Amy and all the bad things on the Internet are blocked. It's a Wi-Fi only model so there are no monthly charges and she can't buy stuff through the apps."

Eric smiled and replied, "Thank you. You answered my concerns." Layla grinned.

"Amy, I want you to learn as much as you can and so much good information is available on the Internet. The games you can play are really cool. And there are some great books on there just for you."

"I like it, mommy. Can I bring it with me when we visit?"

"I'd like that. We can play games together and I can show you how to look up answers to questions you have."

Amy walked over to show her gift to her grandparents.

Melissa whispered to Eric, "Can we meet somewhere without Amy. I have something for you and Layla."

"Sure." Eric walked over to his mom and whispered to her.

Kathy said, "Amy, let's go up and play. I'm dying to see that new horse book of yours."

"Okay. I saw Terry in the book. He smelled but I liked him."

Layla grinned and shook her head.

After Kathy and Steve walked up with Amy, Melissa pulled a large three ring binder out of the bag.

"When I was in jail, I had a lot of time to think. I was able to save what little money they paid me to work in the laundry and bought this binder, cheap notebook paper and some pens. I started writing about my life for Amy to read one day when she was ready."

Eric and Layla glanced at each other. This was impressive.

"I wrote everything in the form of vignettes. When I started, I had no idea what I'd end up writing about and in what order I'd write them; so I did each as a separate story. They are now in chronological order, or as close as I can make them. I'd like to give this to you to read and decide when each one can be given to her. Some of the really ugly ones should be read when she's an adult and can understand adult issues. A lot of the early ones are about growing up, about my dolls and toys, when I met Eric, my love of Eric and all the things we did together. I wrote about the loneliness I felt when he was in the military. I wrote about getting pregnant and having Amy. I wrote about getting into drugs and the effect that drugs had on me, and I wrote about betraying our marriage. I wrote about selling my body to get money for drugs. I wrote about an abortion I had and how terrible I later felt about killing my baby." Melissa started crying.

Tears were beginning to run down Layla's cheeks.

"I wrote about being in jail and about the woman from the church who came to talk to me about God. I wrote about the small New Testament she gave me and how reading it changed my life. I wrote about being arrested and strip-searched and sentenced to jail. I wrote about women in jail with me and what I learned from them. The last one was written this week after Amy was found.

Eric replied, "This is heavy stuff."

"It is," Melissa responded, "But I owed it to her. I never really knew if I'd see her again but I wanted her to know about me from my own hand. I wanted the lessons I learned to benefit Amy and maybe lower the chances of her going through the same problems. This book was supposed to come to you if I died. Thank God, I survived and can give it to you in person. Please read it and you two decide the timing, if ever, you want her to read each story."

Eric responded, "This is very special, maybe life-changing for her. Thank you for doing this."

"Just so you know, I am sick. I have hepatitis C from all my drug use but it's not yet affecting my health. It may eventually kill me, but it's very slow and I may live a normal life span. About 50% of the people with it do. I am getting treatment but there's a lot of uncertainty." Tears were flowing.

Layla moved to sit beside her and hugged her. Eric walked to get tissues and returned to hug both of them. Eric turned some of the pages and could instantly see the enormous effort Melissa had put into this. The script was perfect and had obviously been written over from a rough draft. Everything was in Melissa's beautiful handwriting. There must have been five hundred pages.

"Melissa, this is very important for Amy and she will value this all her life," Layla said.

"I hope so. I never want her to go through what I did."

Eric looked up and saw Amy walking down the stairs with a present. The wrapping looked like a four year old did it but that wasn't important. Kathy and Steve walked down behind her. Kathy was crying and Steve's eyes were red.

"Mommy, I have a present for you."

"Oh, sweetheart, you didn't have to give me anything."

"I want to." She handed it to Melissa and then crawled up into Layla's lap and tucked her head into her chest.

Melissa opened it and was totally overcome with emotion. She cried as she looked down at Miss Annie in the box. "Amy, you cannot give me Miss Annie. She's your best friend."

"I know but you need her. She helped me when I was lonely. She was my best friend and mommy when I needed one. Now I have two mommies and you need her."

"Sweetheart, you can't just give away your best friend."

"We talked and she wants to help you. I can see her when I come for a visit."

Melissa looked at Layla and Eric who both had tears running down their cheeks. They nodded. Melissa reached and pulled Amy to her for a hug and kiss.

"Amy, this is the best gift anyone has ever given me. I will treasure her all my life. But I want you to know that you can have her back anytime you need her. She will always be your friend. I love you so much and she loves you too."

Layla said, "Amy, I'm very proud of you. This is hard for you to do and it takes great courage."

She crawled back into Layla's arms and gazed at Miss Annie. She had already kissed her goodbye before she put her in the box.

"Miss Annie likes to sleep with me and I know she wants to sleep with you. Please hug her and give her a kiss before you go to sleep." A tear rolled down Amy's cheek.

"I will. And when you visit me, she will sleep with you."

As her tears flowed, Melissa looked at Eric and said, "I've a new chapter to write."

End of Chapter 8. Please vote and leave comments.