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I couldn’t wait to see Remi’s face when the entire group of us started dancing for her. The only thing that would make it better would be if she were dancing beside us. Lacking that, the best thing would be letting her dance along on top of her bed, so she’d be able to see us all. Two of her regular nurses from the oncology floor, Dr. Radar and Alissa, the nursing student that Remi had gotten attached to the last time she was a patient down there, would join us. Having Kat and Roma join in was even better.
After she got out of isolation, she’d have to be in the hospital for at least a week more, but when that day came I hoped to have the entire family in attendance.
“Mommy!” Remi demanded again. I looked at my face in the mirror. I had on blush, lipstick and a bit of eyeliner, but I was not overly done up. My hair was down because I knew Chase liked to thread his hands through it. I smacked my lips together to evenly distribute the lipstick, then turned back to Remi.
“Mommy!”
I laughed again. “Remi, settle down, honey. Daddy’s plane lands in about an hour, so I’ll leave soon. Why don’t you watch TV or read a book while you wait? It will make the time go more quickly.” We’d spent so much time in the hospital, I’d had a lot of time to teach Remi to read, and do basic addition and subtraction. She was well ahead for her age.
“I wish I could come,” she said, jumping as high as she could, then pulling up her legs so she’d fall back on the bed on her bottom and she bounced a couple of times before coming to a stop on the mattress.
“I know. Nana is coming with Aunt Kat to be with you while I go to the airport. Maybe you can draw Daddy a picture while you wait?” I sat down on the big chair that was pulled close to the glass and facing Remi’s bed.
“Okay,” she said. “Mommy?” she asked thoughtfully. “Will we go on an airplane when Daddy takes me to the castles?”
“Probably, sweet pea, but we have to make sure you’re all better first. There are a lot of germs and colds on airplanes.”
She’d come to a better understanding of the reason she had to be in isolation during the engrafting of Chase’s bone marrow. “Hmmm,” she said. “Do you think Daddy will like my dress?”
“I think he’ll love it! It’s beautiful! Aunt Kat has good taste in dresses.”
“Do you think it looks like a princess? It’s not long. Princesses have long gowns.”
“Princesses wear shorter dresses in summer,” I offered. She seemed to accept my answer as a plausible explanation. “Is the sky blue at night, too?”
“That’s an interesting question, Remi.”
She jumped down off of the bed and started to twirl. “‘Cause, my room is pink but at night it’s dark, and I can’t see the pink, but if you turn on the lights, it’s pink. Is the sky like that?”
I was delighted by her inquisitive mind. “Well, that sounds logical, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, ‘cause the sun is like a big light bulb.”
“You’re right, it is. A huge light bulb.”
“Uh huh.”
“Remi, be careful,” the nurse who was attending her murmured. She was sitting in a chair, still wearing the protective garb.
“Maybe I can borrow one of those outfits to go on the plane.” She pointed to the nurse. “Cept, I don’t think it’s very princess-y. At all.”
“Where’s my girl?” Roma called from the doorway of the room.
“Nana! Auntie Kat!” Remi was quite taken with Chase’s side of the family. Remi ran to the window and plastered both hands flat against it.
Kat and David and Kevin and Jodi had visited with their kids last week, and Remi had a hundred questions about the dogs, the tree house, and fort. Jensen was an only child and she had no other cousins. The closeness of Chase’s family was a blessing.
“My goodness! Look how beautiful you look!”
Remi beamed at her and twirled around. “Auntie Kat has good taste in dresses!” Her toothless smile was radiant.
“Right, because my skills are so honed from picking so many out for my boys,” Kat smiled ruefully, taking a seat on one of the sofas. “I loved getting it for her. I loved picking out all of the little extras.”
“You did a terrific job,” I said. I crossed my arms and leaned on the arm of the sofa. Roma was already sitting on the chair nearest Remi. “She loves it. She hasn’t felt good enough to care what she was wearing for so long, but she’s been twirling in that dress all morning.”
“We’ll go on a shopping spree when you get out of here, Remi,” Roma told her. “Your Mommy and you, Kat, Jodi, Mandi, Mellie, and Nana will take Grandad’s wallet to the mall.”
Kat rolled her eyes and looked at her watch. “You better get going, honey. You look great. Brother dear won’t know what hit him.”
