Evie swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and nodded, not sure why concert tickets to something she’d seen many times over the years were making her so emotional. “Well, thank you for coming on Christmas Eve to stay with her, Sister. I know she misses spending time with you.”
“It’s no problem.” Sister Mary Francis took her hand and patted it. “I’m happy and honored to be the one she asked for.” She paused, clearly debating saying more. “I know you don’t get the same comfort from the church your mother does, but if you ever need to talk, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”
Evie nodded and smiled. “I will, thank you.” She cleared her throat and brought the nun to the living room. “Sister Mary Francis is here, Mom.”
Her mother looked up and smiled happily, holding out her hand to her friend. Evie glanced at Tommy, who was dressed in expensive cashmere pants and a holly-green sweater.
“Since Thorn and Nissa have disappeared and you’re all dressed up, I guess I’m the last to know about this.”
Tommy chuckled. “You have forty-five minutes. Go change.”
Shaking her head, she kissed her mother’s cheek, thanked her for the tickets, and hurried out of the room to change.
Chapter Thirty-Five: When the Storm Breaks
Evie
Christmas morning dawned with rain as a storm system moved through the northeast with unseasonably warm temperatures for the city. Evie was woken early by the sound of rain and wind lashing against the windowpane, and dragged herself out of bed slowly. Sister Mary Francis had texted that the nurse had arrived at eight thirty and gotten her mother ready and into bed for the night. She was sleeping soundly, and to take their time, she was enjoying watching old Christmas movies on Tommy’s big screen, which gave Tommy, Nissa, and Thorn a good chuckle when Evie shared it with them.
After the concert, they had driven around for a little while, looking at the Christmas lights and decorations people had put up around Brooklyn. Tommy even had the exterior lights on the towers set to green and red, and he’d arranged the windows to spell out HAPPY HOLIDAYS. When they got home, Thorn drove Sister Mary Francis back to her apartment in Morningside, and Evie poked her head into her mother’s room before heading down to her apartment for the night.
Changing into a pair of yoga leggings and a t-shirt, she headed up to Tommy’s penthouse to make breakfast and get the turkey in the oven. She was just putting the quiche in the oven when Tommy came down the stairs and kissed her cheek.
“The nurse is downstairs waiting to come up.” He told her as he walked quickly to the elevator. “I feel like I should ask her what drugs they give her to help her sleep, because she never made a peep the whole night.” He ran his hand through his hair as the doors opened. “Meanwhile, I was up a dozen times to check on her.”
Evie shook her head as he got on the elevator and shut the oven door. The nurse told them that between the fatigue her mother felt because of the cancer and the drugs they had her on to keep her comfortable, she spent most of her time napping, something she hadn’t done much of the previous day, so Della sleeping soundly through the night wasn’t that surprising to her.
She had the runny oatmeal the hospice suggested for her mother’s breakfast ready and on the table when the nurse wheeled Della out of the bedroom. After they had her set up and eating with Tommy and Nissa, Evie walked the nurse out.
“She’s pretty tired today,” the nurse said with a smile. “So, I wouldn’t expect too much from her.”
“Do you think we overdid it?” Evie asked, anxiety creeping in. She didn’t want to push her mother too hard or make her feel worse.
“Not at all.” The nurse shook her head as she fastened her coat. “She told me all about watching your recital and The Nutcracker, and how nice it was to spend the evening with Sister Mary Francis. I just wanted to prepare you in case she naps off and on.”
After breakfast, Thorn joined them to open gifts, stepping off the elevator with a large pot of the Bela Corba he’d promised cradled in his arms.
Della had asked them to donate to the Calvary instead of giving her presents, and since the hospice had done everythingpossible to make her last months comfortable and dignified, they were more than happy to do so. Evie had also made a substantial donation to the Church of Notre Dame in her mother’s name, since Father Garrick and Sister Mary Francis had done so much for both of them over the last few years. When Evie gave her the thank-you letter, Della had cried quietly, overwhelmed.
She sat back in a chair now with a cup of tea and a blanket over her lap, watching them open presents. Every so often, she reached out and ran her fingers through Evie’s hair as Evie sat on the floor at her feet.
Tommy was notoriously difficult to buy for. He always reminded them he didn’t expect gifts, because if he wanted something, he usually just bought it. So Evie and Thorn had gone in together, surprising him and Nissa with a safari trip to the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in Botswana. Evie was rewarded with a bear hug from both Tommy and Nissa that lifted her off her feet, and Thorn received a handshake and shoulder slap from Tommy and kisses on both cheeks from Nissa, which made the big blonde blush faintly.
Nissa gave Tommy a mezuzah, a brushed-silver bar with a bronze shin symbolizing protection. She explained he didn’t have to put it up yet, but she wanted him to have it. Tommy immediately stood up, found his drill, and hung it next to the elevator.
Tommy and Nissa bought Thorn a new home theatre system, and Evie got him all his favourite movies. She still wasn’t entirely sure why he gravitated so strongly toward animated films with adult humour like Megamind, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon, or toward action movies with a comedic edge, but she suspected it had something to do with the parts of adolescence he never truly got to experience.
Della knitted them all sweaters for Christmas, surprising Evie, who hadn’t known her mother could knit.
“Oh, I used to knit all the time,” Della said when Evie asked. She chuckled softly, her voice a little thin. “Whenever you had ballet practice or your riding lessons, I’d knit while I waited for you. You wouldn’t remember. I stopped after you quit ballet. I picked it up again at the Calvary. I don’t have the energy to do much else.”
Thorn paid for her yoga studio membership for another year, added several new yoga outfits, and finished her gifts with a giant teddy bear that was almost as big as she was.
“For when I am away and you miss me,” he said with a proud grin.
Tommy and Nissa gave Evie a new Volvo XC60, telling her it would be ready for pickup in the new year. When she protested that her car was only five years old and still worked perfectly fine, Tommy waved her off.
“I already traded it in and paid for the Volvo. No use arguing with me about it.”
