“Are you excited for Daddy to come home from practice, Little Tulip?” I ask Gracie as I clean up the living room from the hurricane of toys littering the floor. “Then we get to go to the zoo and see all kinds of animals. It’s going to be so much fun!”I think I may be more excited than she is.
She babbles on as she watches me place her toys, then crawls toward the ones I’ve just placed in the open bins, reaches in, andtakes them back out.Well, I think it’s time to change this storage system.
Deciding it’s futile to keep picking up since she seems determined to keep everything out, I get up from the floor and walk over to the kitchen, where my spaghetti sauce is just about done cooking. Using the wooden spoon, I stir it and taste. With a satisfied nod, I shut off the burner and set the spoon to the side.
Gracie suddenly giggles, and I turn to watch what’s making her laugh, but as I do, my hand bumps into the end of the spoon, sending it flying off the counter. I try to catch it before it hits the ground but instead hit it and make it change trajectory, landing on my very white shirt and leaving a very large reddish-orange stain.
“Shoot!”
I pick up the wooden spoon that now rests on the floor and place it in the sink, then look back at Gracie, making sure she’s still playing before scurrying down the hall to the laundry room.
I open the dryer, hoping to find something to change into, but then remember I had brought the clothes upstairs this morning when I see its empty interior. “Damn it.” I hate leaving Gracie alone downstairs even if it’s just for a minute. But I don’t really have a choice. If I don’t wash this off quickly, it’ll take the devil’s work to get the stain out.
I rush back to the open space of the kitchen and living room to find Gracie making her way to me. I head over to the stairs, looking back to see her following me on four legs.
“I’ll be right back, Little Tulip. You stay down here while I change shirts. It will only take a minute, okay?” I open the gate, quickly shutting it behind me.
I take one last look at Gracie, who waits patiently on the other side, then run up the stairs into the room Greyson and I share and go to the closet. Grabbing the first shirt I find, I hurry torip off the stained shirt and pull on the navy-blue long sleeve I grabbed, then pick up the white shirt and turn for the door.
But just as I take my first step toward the bedroom door, a few bumping sounds catch my ear, and then a blood-curdling scream pierces through the air.
I fly out of the room to the stairs, and the view I have when I look down nearly brings me to my knees. Gracie lies on her back at the bottom of the steps, screaming at the top of her lungs with the baby gate wide open.No… that’s not possible. I closed it.
“Oh my God!”
I bolt down the steps, nearly tripping as I make my way to my little angel. When I finally get to her, I kneel by her side and inspect her body quickly. Nothing looks out of place or at a strange angle, though she has a cut on her forehead and chin where a bit of blood leaks out.
I want to pick her up, but I’m afraid to cause more damage if something is wrong. But then she kicks her feet, hands coming up to her face as she moves her head from side to side. That alone lets me know she doesn’t have any major back or neck injury. I quickly gather her in my arms, bringing her to my chest as she screeches for dear life.
“Oh, baby. I’m here. I’ve got you. Shhh, shhh. It’s okay. You’re okay,” I try to say with a calm voice to reassure her, but my heart is beating erratically and I’m freaking out internally. My mind feels frozen, and I don’t know what to do.
“Oh God! What happened?!”
I look up to find Cecilia staring with a panicked look as she holds her son back from coming our way.
Tears pour out of my eyes as I rock back and forth, trying to soothe the little girl in my arms. “I don’t know. I don’t know how she got through the baby gate. I was only gone for seconds. A minute max, and then I heard her falling down the stairs,” I rush out over the screams. “I don’t know what to do.”
Cece lets go of Dante and kneels beside me. “It’s okay, Em. We’ll take her to the hospital. She’s most likely crying because of the shock more than the pain. But we’ll get her checked to make sure. I’ll grab your bag. We’ll take my car, and you’ll sit in the back with her in your arms. Just wrap a blanket around her to keep her warm.”
My friend helps me to my feet with Gracie still held tightly to my body. Cecilia rushes off to collect my purse and cellphone, then grabs a throw blanket from the back of the couch. We hurry to the front door, and I slip on my shoes while Cecilia grabs Dante.
Once out of the house, we run to her car. Cece places her son in his car seat as I hop into the back seat on the other side, passing the seat belt over Gracie and me as I rock her back and forth.
“Oh, sweetheart, you’re okay. We’re gonna get you checked out. You’re okay, baby. Shh…” I whisper into her ear as she continues to wail.
Her fists cling to my shirt as she tries to get closer. I can’t stop crying as the sound of her cries shatters my heart into a million pieces.I want to take this pain away from her, but I can’t. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.
I look down at her, inspecting her cuts once more. There’s blood smeared along my neck and the top of my shirt, but they don’t seem to be bleeding too heavily.I just hope she won’t need stitches… Greyson is going to kill me.
My body trembles as I press my head back into the seat and close my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath.I need to be strong right now for Little Tulip. When I open my eyes, I find Cecilia looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“She’s going to be fine, Em. This isn’t your fault. Accidents happen.”
“It shouldn’t have happened. I need to call Greyson. He’s going to be worried if he comes home and finds us gone.”
“I’ll call him when we get to the hospital, just focus on Gracie and breathe.” Her eyes leave the road for a second to look at me once more. I nod as more tears roll down my cheeks.
GREYSON
